Shizuko Wakamatsu

Japanese: 若松賤子 - わかまつ・しずこ

Year of death: February 10, 1896
Year of birth: Genji 1.3.1 (1864.4.6)
A translator from the Meiji period. Born in Amidacho, Wakamatsu, Aizu County (Aizuwakamatsu City). She was the daughter of Shimada Katsujiro, a samurai of the Aizu domain. Her real name is also written as Koshi or Yoshishi. Wakamatsu Shizuko is a pen name meaning "Woman born under Christ, born in Wakamatsu." She was five years old when Aizu was attacked during the Boshin War. She experienced poverty and hardship and her family was torn apart. In 1870 (Meiji 3), at the age of seven, she was adopted by Okawa Jinbei, the head clerk of Yamashiroya, a raw silk merchant in Yokohama, and at the age of nine, she entered the school of the missionary Miss Kidder (later Ferris Girls' School). Even after her adoptive family fell into decline, Shizuko was loved by Kidder and stayed at the boarding school, and was baptized at the age of 14. In 1882, at the age of 19, she graduated and became a teacher at her alma mater. In 1887, she contracted tuberculosis. In 1890, she married Iwamoto Zenji, vice principal of Meiji Girls' School and editor-in-chief of Jogaku Zasshi. In the midst of childbirth, housework and illness, she continued to write novels in colloquial style, essays for women's enlightenment, and, using her excellent English skills, translated many English novels and poems into "Jogaku Zasshi" and other publications. Her translation of Burnett's "The Little Prince" is a masterpiece. Shortly after the Meiji Girls' School burned down, she died of a heart attack and was buried in Somei Cemetery. The violinist Iwamoto Mari is the daughter of her eldest son, Shomin. <References> Yamaguchi Reiko, "Look at Me Tokuto"

(Takayo Kano)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治29.2.10(1896)
生年：元治1.3.1(1864.4.6)
明治時代の翻訳家。会津郡若松阿弥陀町(会津若松市)生まれ。会津藩士島田勝次郎の子。本名は甲子,嘉志とも表記。若松賤子は「若松生まれのキリストのはした女」を意味するペンネーム。戊辰戦争会津攻めの際に5歳。貧窮困苦と一家離散を経験した。明治3(1870)年7歳で横浜の生糸商人で山城屋の大番頭大川甚兵衛の養女となり,9歳のとき宣教師ミス・キダーの学校(のちのフェリス女学校)に入った。養家の没落後も賤子はキダーに愛されて寄宿学校にとどまり,14歳で受洗。明治15年に19歳で卒業と同時に母校の教師となった。20年に結核発病。22年に明治女学校教頭で『女学雑誌』主筆の巌本善治と結婚。出産と家事と闘病生活の中から言文一致体の小説や女子啓蒙の随筆など,またすぐれた英語力を用いて英語の小説や詩の翻訳を多数『女学雑誌』その他に書き続けた。バーネット原作の『小公子』の訳は傑作。明治女学校焼失直後,心臓麻痺のため死去,染井墓地に葬られた。バイオリニストの巌本真理は長男荘民の娘。<参考文献>山口玲子『とくと我を見たまえ』

(加納孝代)

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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