Naozou Nakamura

Japanese: 中村直三 - なかむら・なおぞう

Year of death: August 13, 1882 (Meiji 15)
Year of birth: Bunsei 2.3.8 (1819.4.2)
He is one of the three great farmers of the Meiji period, along with Nara Senji and Funatsu Denjihei. He was born as the son of Zengoro in Nagahara Village, Yamabe County, Yamato Province (Tenri City). His family had fallen into poverty during his great-grandfather's generation, and his father was a night watchman at the Nara Magistrate's Office. He took over that job to make a living. As a boy, he studied at a temple school in the neighboring village of Nagara, where he distinguished himself, and as he grew older, he studied Sekimon Shingaku and worked hard to spread it. He began working on agricultural improvement around the time of the peasant uprising in Nagahara Village in 1856 (Ansei 3), and explained to farmers who were dissatisfied with the excessive tax burden how to improve farming and increase production. From 1863 (Bunkyu 3), he collected superior rice varieties and conducted comparative tests, researching his own unique breeding method to discover even better varieties, and disseminated the results through his Shingaku friends. After the Meiji Restoration, he was commissioned by various feudal domains in Yamato Province to make traveling tours to provide guidance on agricultural improvement, and was widely known for his skill as a speaker. In 1875, he was employed by Nara Prefecture, where he was in charge of plant trial cultivation, and at the same time worked on cultivating upland cotton distributed by the Ministry of the Interior. In the same year, he traveled to Tokyo to deliver trial autumn cotton plants to the Agricultural Promotion Bureau, and met Tsuda Sen, broadening his horizons. In 1887, he was invited by Akita Prefecture, where he worked hard on rice variety testing and improving rotten rice, and also provided guidance to Ishikawa Rikinosuke and others. In the same year, he exhibited 321 varieties of rice and their experimental tables at the First Domestic Industrial Exposition, and won an award. In 1888, he left Akita Prefecture and returned home, but was later invited to provide agricultural guidance in Miyagi, Sakai, Ishikawa, and Osaka prefectures. He died of cholera at the age of 64. His books include "Isenishiki" (1865) and "Methods of Seed Selection and Improvement" (1881). References: Yasuda Ken, "Naozo Nakamura and the Agricultural Improvement Success Story" (The History of the Development of Agriculture in Japan, Vol. 2), Oshima Kiyoshi et al., "Portraits of Old Farmers" (Meiji Ideologues)

(Taguchi Katsuichiro)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治15.8.13(1882)
生年：文政2.3.8(1819.4.2)
奈良専二,船津伝次平とならぶ明治三老農のひとり。大和国山辺郡永原村(天理市)に善五郎の子として生まれる。生家は曾祖父の代に零落,父は奈良奉行所の夜警番。彼もその仕事を継ぎ暮らしをたてる。少年時代,隣の長柄村の寺子屋に学び頭角を現し,長じるにおよび石門心学を修め,その普及にも尽くした。農事改良に取り組んだのは安政3(1856)年永原村に農民騒動が起きたころからで,貢租の過重に不満を持つ農民に,農事を改良し生産を高める方法を説いた。文久3(1863)年から稲の優良種を集めて比較試験を行い,さらに優れた品種を発見する独自の品種改良法を研究,その結果を心学仲間を通じて普及させた。維新後大和国の各藩から委嘱されて農事改良の巡回指導を続け,講話の巧みさもあって広く知られた。明治8(1875)年奈良県雇となり植物試作掛を担当,かたわら内務省配布のアップランド棉の栽培にも当たる。同年秋棉の試作株を勧農寮に届けるため上京,津田仙にも会い視野を広げる。10年秋田県に招かれ,稲種の試験,腐米改良に尽力,また石川理紀之助らの指導に当たる。同年第1回内国勧業博覧会に321種の稲種とその実験表を出品,受賞。11年秋田県を辞し帰郷したが,その後宮城,堺,石川,大阪の各府県に招かれ農事を指導した。コレラに罹り64歳で没した。著書に『伊勢錦』(1865),『種子精選改良法』(1881)などがある。<参考文献>安田健「中村直三と農事改良事蹟」(『日本農業発達史』2巻),大島清他「老農の群像」(『明治のイデオローグ』)

(田口勝一郎)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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