Yamazaki Naomasa

Japanese: 山崎直方 - やまざき・なおまさ

Year of death: July 26, 1929 (Showa 4)
Year of birth: Meiji 3.3.10 (1870.4.10)
Geographer of the Meiji and Taisho periods. He established academic geography in Japan. Born in Tosa Province (Kochi Prefecture). Graduated from the Geology Department of the Imperial University in 1895. He studied abroad and learned geography under A. Penck in Germany. After returning to Japan, he became a professor at Tokyo Higher Normal School and Tokyo Imperial University, and also served as a member of the Earthquake Research Institute and a professor at Tokyo Bunri University. In 1911, he took charge of the geography course that was established in the Geology Department of Tokyo Imperial University, and in 1919, it was separated to form Japan's first geography department, and he became its first professor. In 1929, the geography department was also made independent at Tokyo Bunri University, and he became its first director. In 1925, he organized the Association of Japanese Geographers and was elected its first president. In the same year, he was one of the Japanese initiators of the establishment of the Japan Society of Pacific Relations, was elected vice-president of the International Geographical Union, and contributed to international exchange by organizing the Third Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress (Tokyo, 1926). His research achievements include the discovery of the cirques caused by glaciers on Mt. Shirouma, a theory on the quasi-plains of the Chugoku Mountains, and a theory on the Great Kanto Earthquake and structural geomorphology, all of which were collected in the posthumous "Collected Papers of Yamazaki Nogata" (1930). His "Dai Nihon Chishi" (1904-15), co-authored with his university classmate, Denzo Sato, was said to be the forerunner of modern geography.

(Hiroshi Ishiyama)

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

Japanese:

没年：昭和4.7.26(1929)
生年：明治3.3.10(1870.4.10)
明治大正期の地理学者。日本にアカデミックな地理学を樹立した。土佐国(高知県)出身。明治28(1895)年帝大地質学科卒。留学して,ドイツのA.ペンクに地形学を学ぶ。帰国して東京高等師範,東京帝大教授となり,地震研究所員,東京文理大教授を兼ねた。44年東京帝大地質学科に地理学講座が新設されると担当,大正8(1919)年分離して本邦最初の地理学科が創設されて,初代教授となる。昭和4(1929)年東京文理大でも地理学科を独立,最初の主宰者となった。大正14年日本地理学会を組織し,初代会長に選ばれた。同年太平洋問題調査会創立に際して日本側発起人のひとりとなり,国際地理学連合副会長に選ばれ,第3回汎太平洋学術会議(1926年,東京)を運営するなど国際交流に尽くした。研究業績に白馬岳の氷河によるカールの発見,中国山地の準平原論,関東大地震と構造地形論などがあり,没後刊行の『山崎直方論文集』(1930)に収録されている。大学同期の佐藤伝蔵と共著の『大日本地誌』(1904～15)は近代地誌の先駆といわれた。

(石山洋)

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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