Masatoshi Okochi - Masatoshi Okochi

Mechanical engineer and businessman. Born in Tokyo on December 6, 1878, as the eldest son of Okawachi Masatada (1844-1901), feudal lord of the former Otaki Domain (Otaki Town, Chiba Prefecture). He studied at the First Higher School, and graduated from the Department of Military Engineering at the College of Engineering of Tokyo Imperial University in 1903 (Meiji 36). He served as a lecturer and assistant professor (also serving as a shipping engineer) at the same university, and from October 1908, he studied abroad at his own expense in Germany and Austria, before becoming a professor at Tokyo Imperial University in 1911. He founded the Society of Fire Warfare, and researched artillery structure and external ballistics, earning a doctorate in engineering in 1913 (Taisho 2). He was later elected to the House of Peers, and in 1921 became the third director of the RIKEN Foundation (RIKEN), and in 1927 (Showa 2), he founded Rikagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd., of which he became chairman. Furthermore, in 1942 he served as chairman of the Industrial Machinery Control Association, a member of the Research Mobilization Council, an advisor to the Institute of Technology, and an adviser to the Ministry of Munitions, but in 1945 he was imprisoned in Sugamo Prison in Tokyo on suspicion of war crimes, and was released the following year in 1946, banned from holding public office, and resigned as director of RIKEN.

During his time as director of RIKEN, he reformed the organization of the institute, making each laboratory independent, entrusting the chief researchers with themes, budgets, and personnel affairs, and allowing them to use research funds freely. Furthermore, within the RIKEN conglomerate, he commercialized research results in the form of synthetic alcohol (Rikushu) and Vitamin A (Riken Vitamin), obtaining funding for the institute, establishing finances, and producing numerous world-class research achievements. As the background to these activities, from around 1935 he advocated the idea of ​​"scientific industry," criticizing the weak technological foundations of Japanese capitalism, and advocating "agricultural and industrial ideology" to relieve the exhaustion of rural areas caused by cold damage in the Tohoku region and the Showa Depression. These were some criticisms of the system, and had a strong influence on intellectuals at the time, but in the end, scientism, which was opposed to capitalism, did not lead to a change in the economic system, and the relief of rural areas was centered on engineering, which took advantage of cheap labor and feudal human relationships. These claims ultimately played a role in mobilizing science and technology under the wartime economic system. He also achieved great things in the field of engineering, such as inventing a manufacturing method for piston rings in 1933, and the Okochi Prize was established in his honor in 1955. His major works include "Industry in the Countryside" and "Capitalist Industry and Scientific Industry."

[Satoshi Ihara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

機械工学者、実業家。明治11年12月6日、旧大多喜藩(おおたきはん)（千葉県大多喜町）の藩主大河内正質(まさただ)（1844―1901）の長男として東京に生まれる。第一高等学校に学び、1903年（明治36）東京帝国大学工科大学造兵学科を卒業、同大学講師、助教授（海運技師兼任）を経て、1908年10月からドイツ、オーストリアに私費留学ののち、1911年東京帝国大学教授に就任した。火兵学会を創設し、火砲構造や砲外弾道学を研究し、1913年（大正2）工学博士の学位を得た。その後、貴族院議員に選出され、1921年財団法人理化学研究所（理研）の第3代の所長に就任、1927年（昭和2）には理化学興業株式会社を興し、会長となった。さらに1942年産業機械統制会会長をはじめ、研究動員会議会員、技術院参与、軍需省顧問などを務めたが、1945年（昭和20）戦犯容疑で東京の巣鴨拘置所(すがもこうちしょ)に収容され、翌1946年出所、公職追放となり、理研所長を辞任した。

　理研所長時代、研究所の組織を改革し、各研究室を独立させ、主任研究員にテーマ、予算、人事を一任し、研究費も自由に使わせた。また理研コンツェルンにおいて、研究成果を、たとえば合成酒（利久酒）、ビタミンA（理研ビタミン）などの形で商品化して研究所の資金を獲得し、財政を確立、数多くの世界的な研究業績を生み出した。こうした活動の背景として、1935年ごろから「科学主義工業」という思想を掲げ、日本資本主義の性格からくる技術的基礎の脆弱(ぜいじゃく)な面を批判し、東北農村の冷害や昭和恐慌による農村の疲弊を救済する「農工両全主義」を唱えた。これらは一定の体制批判もあり、当時の知識人たちに強い影響を与えたが、結局、資本主義に対置された科学主義は経済体制の変革につながるものではなく、農村の救済も安い労働力と封建的な人間関係を利用した工学中心のものであった。これらの主張は結果的に戦時経済体制下で、科学技術動員の役割を果たすものとなった。1933年ピストンリングの製法の発明など工学部門での優れた業績もあり、彼を記念して1955年大河内賞が制定された。主要著書に『農村の工業』『資本主義工業と科学主義工業』がある。

［井原　聰］

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