- 著者
-
有坂 道子
- 出版者
- 国立歴史民俗博物館
- 雑誌
- 国立歴史民俗博物館研究報告 (ISSN:02867400)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.116, pp.111-125, 2004-02
地域蘭学の展開を考えるにあたり、これまでの在村蘭学研究において都市域を扱った研究が少なかった点をふまえ、本稿では、江戸時代中・後期に大坂で活躍した町人知識人である木村蒹葭堂を取り上げ、蘭学者との交友内容を明らかにすることを通じて、いわゆる「蘭学者」ではない蒹葭堂の、蘭学との関わり方について考察した。蒹葭堂は、造り酒屋を営む商人であったが、文人、蔵書家、文物収集家、本草・博物学者として著名で、きわめて広い交友関係を持っており、交遊の様子は彼の残した日記や取り交わされた書状から読みとることができる。蒹葭堂は当時の大坂を代表する知識人であるとともに、多方面にわたる活動の中に蘭学知識の影響が見られ、蘭学者や蘭学関係者とも交流している。ここでは、大槻玄沢と宇田川玄随が蒹葭堂に宛てて出した書状を素材に、彼らの間でどのような知識や情報が求められたのか、互いをどのように位置づけていたのかについて検討を加えた。大槻玄沢が蒹葭堂に宛てた書状からは、蒹葭堂が玄沢に西洋物産に関する情報やオランダ語を始めとする外国語の訳述を依頼していたこと、一方の玄沢は蒹葭堂の本草・博物学者としての知識を求めていたことが知られる。また、宇田川玄随の書状では、蒹葭堂の卓論や新説に対する期待が示され、蘭学者である彼らに有益な知識を与えうる人物として蒹葭堂を評価していたことが分かる。蒹葭堂は蘭学者としてではなく、博物学者としての求知心を持って蘭学的知識を積極的に吸収しようとし、蘭学者の側も、蒹葭堂のような蘭学に対する学問的好奇心を持つ人々から影響を受けていたと言える。それぞれが得意とする分野の知識を交換することで、知的刺激を受けていたのである。蒹葭堂と同様に、蘭学知識や情報を求める人々は多く存在しており、彼らを含んで蘭学の広がりを考えていく必要がある。With regard to the study of the development of regional Rangaku, among the research that has been conducted on Rangaku in villages there has been little that has dealt with urban regions. Thus, the topic of this paper is Kimura Kenkado (1736-1802), an intellectual who was active in the latter part of the Edo Era, and makes a study of Kenkado's association with Rangaku, though he himself was not a "Rangaku scholar", through bringing to light his relations with his friends and acquaintances who were Rangaku scholars.Though Kenkado was a merchant who operated a sake brewing business, he is famous for being a literatus, collector of books, a collector of cultural artifacts, and a scholar of natural history. He had an extremely extensive network of acquaintances and friends and it is possible to learn about his friendships through the diaries he left behind and the exchange of letters between himself and friends. As well as being a good example of an Osaka intellectual of his day, there is evidence of the influence of Rangaku on his activities covering a wide range of fields and his interaction with Rangaku scholars and persons associated with Rangaku. Using the letters sent to Kenkado by Otsuki Gentaku and Udagawa Genzui, I also make an examination of the nature of the knowledge and information that these men were seeking and how they regarded each other.We learn from the letters sent by Otsuki Gentaku to Kenkado that Kenkado sought from Gentaku information on Western commodities and relied on him to translate Dutch and other languages, while Gentaku sought from Kenkado knowledge he had as a scholar of natural history. The letters of Udagawa Genzui reveal a great interest in Kenkado's clever arguments and new theories, from which we may conclude that these Rangaku scholars regarded Kenkado as a person who was able to give them useful information.Kenkado sought to actively absorb information on Western subjects through his thirst for knowledge as a scholar of natural history and not as a scholar of Rangaku, and it is also fair to say that the Rangaku scholars too were influenced by people like Kenkado who had a scholarly curiosity in Rangaku. This exchange of information relating to the various fields in which they had their own expertise served as an intellectual stimulus.There were many people like Kenkado who where interested in obtaining information on Western subjects, and these people need to be included in studies on the spread of Rangaku.