Shunzo Yanagawa

Japanese: 柳川春三 - やながわしゅんさん

1832‐70 (Tenpo 3‐Meiji 3)
A Western scholar, he was also known as a pioneer in the newspaper world. Born in Nagoya, his real name was Nishimura Tatsusuke, later Ryozo. He studied Dutch studies under Ueda Tatewaki, an artillery expert from the Owari domain, and Ito Keisuke, a physician, and in 1856 (Ansei 3), he moved to Edo and took the name Yanagawa Shunzo. The following year, he became acquainted with Mizuno Tosa-no-kami Tadahisa, a senior vassal of the Wakayama domain, and began working for the domain's Dutch Studies Institute. In 1864, he became a professor at the Kaiseijo (formerly the Western Book Research Institute) of the Edo shogunate, and in March 1868, he was appointed its director. He had a great talent for languages, and was proficient in Dutch studies as well as English and French, publishing many translations and contributing to the introduction of Western academic studies.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

1832‐70(天保3‐明治3)
洋学者。新聞界の先駆者としても著名。名古屋の生れで，本名は西村辰助，のち良三。尾張藩の砲術家上田帯刀（たてわき），医家の伊藤圭介に蘭学を学び，1856年(安政3)，江戸に出て柳川春三と名のる。翌57年，和歌山藩の重臣水野土佐守忠央の知遇を得て同藩の蘭学所出仕。64年さらに江戸幕府の開成所(もとの洋書調所)教授となり，68年3月には同所頭取に任ぜられている。語学の才能が豊かで，蘭学のほか英語，フランス語にも熟達し，多数の翻訳書を出版して西欧学術の導入に貢献した。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Seigan Yanagawa

>>: Yanagawa Kengyo