Elekiteru - Electric

It means a friction generator, or electricity. It is an abbreviated form of the Dutch word electriciteit. In the Kosei Shinpen (1811-1839), known for its historical description of the electric generator, it says that it was an electric generator. Machino Nobutsugu, who wrote Toka Zakki (1813-1828), copied out the Complete Book of Electric Generators (Horiguchi Tadashi, 1814) in his book, which says that the electric generator was presented to the government by the Dutch around the time of the Horeki era (1751-1764). It is also found in the cargo manifest of a Dutch ship that arrived in Nagasaki in 1773 (An'ei 2). Its first appearance in literature was in Goto Rishun's (1696-1771) "Koumodan (Holland Stories)," but Morishima Nakara (Manzotei) criticized Rishun's drawing of an electric guitar in his "Koumo Zatsuwa" (1787) as not being based on the real thing, and included a drawing that he said was a copy of an item in his family's storehouse. In 1770 (Meiwa 7), Hiraga Gennai obtained a broken electric guitar from Nishi Zenzaburo (?-1768), an interpreter, in Nagasaki, and restored it in 1776 (An'ei 5), becoming famous for making replicas as well. The elekiteru creates static electricity by rubbing glass against tin foil, and today, elekiteru made by Gennai are preserved at the Postal Museum in Tokyo and the Hiraga Gennai Memorial Museum in Shido, Sanuki City, Kagawa Prefecture. Hashimoto Soukichi conducted experiments with static electricity and wrote Oranda Shisei Elekiteru Kyuri Gen (1811), and Takamori Kanko (1750-1831) is said to have made and improved many of them. Elekiteru were prized as a spectacle and medical device.

[Satoshi Ihara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

摩擦起電器のこと、また電気の意味。オランダ語のelectriciteitの略訛(りゃっか)したもの。エレキテルの歴史的叙述で知られる『厚生新編』（1811～1839）には越列吉低力的乙多(エレキテリテイト)とある。『燈下雜記』（1813～1828）を著した町野傭次(まちののぶつぐ)はこのなかで『野礼幾的爾(エレキテル)全書』（堀口多著・1814）を筆写、そこには、宝暦(ほうれき)（1751～1764）のころオランダ人が公儀に献上したとある。また1773年（安永2）長崎入港のオランダ船の積み荷明細書にそれがある。文献上の初出は後藤梨春(ごとうりしゅん)（1696―1771）の『紅毛談(オランダばなし)』であるが、森島中良(もりしまなから)（万象亭(まんぞうてい)）は『紅毛雑話』（1787）で、梨春のエレキテル図は実物に基づかないものと批判し、家蔵の品を写したという図を載せている。1770年（明和7）平賀源内は長崎で通詞(つうじ)西善三郎(にしぜんざぶろう)（？―1768）から故障したエレキテルを入手し、1776年（安永5）にこれを修復、模造もして有名となった。構造はガラスと錫箔(すずはく)とを摩擦して静電気をおこすものであり、源内作のエレキテルは今日、東京の郵政博物館と香川県さぬき市志度(しど)の平賀源内記念館に保存されている。橋本宗吉(そうきち)は静電気実験なども行って『阿蘭陀(オランダ)始制エレキテル究理原』（1811）を著し、高森観好(たかもりかんこう)（1750―1831）は数多くを製作、改良したといわれる。エレキテルは見せ物や医療器として珍重された。

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