Yamaoka Matsuake

Japanese: 山岡浚明 - やまおか・まつあけ

Year of death: October 15, 1780 (November 11, 1780)
Year of birth: Kyoho 11 (1726)
A Japanese scholar from the mid-Edo period. His real surname was Otomo. He was commonly known as Sajiemon and his childhood name was Senjiro. His pen names were Yakanro Shujin, Umebashi Sannin, Otomo no Sukune, Muko Sannin, and Tansai, and after shaving his head he used the names Myoamidabutsu and Myoa. His mad name was Okura Senbun. He was the second son of Kagehiro, the third head of the prestigious Yamaoka family of vassals to the shogunate. His older brother had already died when he was born, and when his father died in 1737 (Genbun 2), when he was 12 years old, he inherited a stipend of 450 koku. In 1749 (Kan'en 2), at the age of 24, he joined the Nishimaru page group. In the same year, he wrote the humorous book "Kaku Fujin Den" under the name Dororo, and published it in 1753 (Horeki 3). In the same year, he was excused from his position due to illness and joined the small construction group. At the age of 34, he became a pupil of Kamo no Mabuchi, and thereafter devoted himself to the arts, with a particular focus on the study and revision of Japanese classics. Around the age of 40, he became estranged from his teacher. In 1771, at the age of 46, he was granted his long-cherished wish to retire, and immediately shaved his head and changed his name. In his later years, he travelled to Kyoto, Osaka and Mutsu, and finally died in Kyoto. His collection of Japanese and Chinese classics, Ruiju Meibutsu Ko, which he began writing around the fifth year of the Horeki era, shows his devotion to Qing dynasty textual research, while his talent for intellectual humor, as seen in Jifujinden and Itsuzhumonshu (1771), is one of the finest of his time. He was highly esteemed by Hiraga Gennai and Ota Nanpo, and was an intellectual who demonstrated the depth of his understanding of mid-Edo literature, from the refined to the vulgar. <Works> Ruiju Meibutsu Ko (1974, reprint) <References> Nakano Mitsutoshi, "Yamaoka Junmei Chronology Study" (Edited by the Society for Research on the History of Early Modern Literature, "Various Issues in Early Modern Literature 2")

(Robert Campbell)

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

Japanese:

没年：安永9.10.15(1780.11.11)
生年：享保11(1726)
江戸中期の国学者。本姓大伴氏。通称は左次右衛門,幼名千次郎。号を盍簪楼主人,梅橋散人,大伴宿禰,武庫散人,澹斎といい,剃髪後は明阿弥陀仏,明阿を用いた。狂名大蔵千文。幕臣の名家山岡家3代・影煕の次男。出生時に兄はすでに没し,12歳の元文2(1737)年に父が死去すると跡式450石を相続した。寛延2(1749)年,24歳で西丸御小姓組に番入り。同年に洒落本『跖婦人伝』を泥郎子の名で執筆,宝暦3(1753)年にこれを刊行した。同じ年に病気を理由に御番御免となり,小普請組入り。34歳より賀茂真淵に入門,以来,日本古典の校勘研究を本領とした学芸に出精した。40歳ごろから師との間が疎遠となった。明和8(1771)年46歳のとき,念願であった隠居が許され,忽ち剃髪,改号した。晩年は京阪や陸奥に遊び,ついに京で客死した。宝暦5年ごろに起稿した和漢古典の叢書『類聚名物考』は清朝考証学への傾倒を示す一方,『跖婦人伝』や『逸著聞集』(1771)にみる知的諧謔の才能は,当代有数のものといえる。平賀源内,大田南畝などに重んじられ,中期江戸文芸の高雅卑俗にわたる懐の深さを身をもって示した知識人であった。<著作>『類聚名物考』(1974,復刻)<参考文献>中野三敏「山岡浚明年譜考」(近世文学史研究の会編『近世中期文学の諸問題2』)

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