Mitsukuri Kakichi

Japanese: 箕作佳吉 - みつくり・かきち

Year of death: September 16, 1909 (Meiji 42)
Year of birth: December 1, 4th year of Ansei (January 15, 1858)
A Meiji-era zoologist. Born in Kajibashi, Edo. His grandfather was Mitsukuri Genpo, a Dutch physician from the late Edo period, his father Akitsubo and mother Hatsune. Mitsukuri Keigo and Kikuchi Dairoku were his elder brothers, Mitsukuri Genpachi was his younger brother and Tsuboi Shogoro was his brother-in-law. He studied at Keio University and Daigaku Nanko (the precursor to the University of Tokyo), travelled to the US in 1873, completed his zoology studies and returned to Japan in 1881. The following year he became the first Japanese professor of zoology at the University of Tokyo, a position he held until his death. In 1886 he founded the University of Tokyo's Misaki Marine Laboratory, and made Japanese zoology independent with a focus on research into marine animals. He is well known for his work on the development of turtles and the classification of sea cucumbers, but he was also interested in genetics and ecology, and contributed to the application of these sciences in the cultivation of pearls and oysters. He had a broad perspective, and while studying abroad he contributed many articles on American politics, culture, and society to the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, and was sent by the government during the Russo-Japanese War, where he played a part in making American public opinion more pro-Japanese. <Works> "New Theory of Animals" <References> Naohide Isono, "Mitsukuri Kakichi" ("Short Biographies of Modern Japanese Biologists")

(Naohide Isono)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治42.9.16(1909)
生年：安政4.12.1(1858.1.15)
明治期の動物学者。江戸鍛冶橋の生まれ。祖父は幕末の蘭医・箕作阮甫,父は秋坪,母はつね。箕作奎吾,菊池大麓は実兄,箕作元八は実弟,坪井正五郎は義弟。慶応義塾,大学南校(東大の前身)に学び,明治6(1873)年に渡米,動物学を修めて明治14年に帰国,翌年日本人として初めての東大動物学教授となり,没するまでその職にあった。明治19年に東大三崎臨海実験所を創設,海産動物の研究を軸として日本の動物学を自立させた。カメの発生学とナマコの分類で著名だが,遺伝学や生態学にも関心を示し,応用面では真珠やカキの養殖に寄与した。広い視野を持ち,留学中『東京日日新聞』にアメリカの政治,文化,社会にわたる寄稿を重ねたり,日露戦争時に政府から派遣されて米国世論の親日化に一役買うなどの側面もあった。<著作>『動物新論』<参考文献>磯野直秀「箕作佳吉」(『近代日本生物学者小伝』)

(磯野直秀)

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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