Yoshio KÅsaku
Yoshio Kosaku (吉雄 幸 作), also Yoshio Kōgyū (吉雄 耕牛); * 1724; † October 4, 1800 in Nagasaki ( province of Hizen, Nagasaki Prefecture today ); April 16, 1905 served as an interpreter in the Dutch trading post Dejima. At the same time he practiced as a collector and scholar from a great influence on the development of the "Holland Customer" ( Rangaku ) in early modern Japan.
Life
Kosaku was born as the eldest son of Yoshio Tōsaburō (吉雄 藤 三郎) in Nagasaki. Throughout his life he used further the names Sadajiro (定 次郎) Kōzaemon (幸 左卫 门) and as an author's name next Kōgyū occasionally Yōkōsai (养 浩 斎).
The linguistic mediation between the Dutch East India Company, which was allowed to form any own interpreter, and the Japanese authorities and merchants since 1641 was in the hands of a few, the government confirmed families. The history of the interpreter Yoshio family goes back to Kimotsuki Hakuzaemon (肝 附 伯 左卫 门), who served the Dutch trading post in Hirado and when it was moved to Nagasaki, was still employed. Kosaku represented the fifth generation of his family interpreters. From childhood he had access to the trading station so that it 1737, when he began his professional career with the rank of learning interpreters ' ( keiko - Tsuji ,稽古 通 词), probably has good Holländischkenntnisse. Already in 1742 he was appointed, junior interpreters ' ( ko - Tsuji ,小 通 词; lit. Little linguists ) and in 1748 at the age of 25 years for senior interpreters '; promoted ( lit. Great linguists ō - Tsuji ,大通 词). This rapid rise to the top of the interpreter hierarchy, which is usually claimed several decades speaks for an excellent command of the language and diplomatic skills in the field of tension often contrarian Dutch- Japanese interests. In the course of further career Yoshio accompanied 11 times as main responsible, Edo interpreters ' ( Edo -ban Tsuji ,江 戸 番 通 词) the Head of the Trading Station ( Ndl opperhoofd ) on the so-called Hofreise'nach Edo. He also took over as, annual interpreters ' ( nenban - Tsuji年 番 通 词) repeated the primary responsibility for keeping in touch on Dejima in each cycle.
The interpreters in Nagasaki enjoyed a privileged access to the Europeans to their goods, books and information. The claimed by the East India Company annual reports on the events in the world ( fūsetsugaki ) were also copied for personal use as everything seemed important. Since the office was inherited, the generations collects in the course in the homes of interpreters families a wealth of materials. Especially the property of Yoshio was filled with rarities from around the world, in the garden growing imported plants. The doctor Tachibana Nankei are in his diary a description of the European bath, a green-painted stairs, the curtains and chairs. These treasures and its extensive, paired with excellent knowledge of knowledge attracted visitors from near and far, including nearly all well-known scholars of the so-called Holland Customer ( Rangaku ): Aoki Konyō, Noro Genjo, Otsuki Gentaku, Miura bays, Hiraga Gennai, Hayashi, Shinpei, Kamei Nanmei, Maeno Ryōtaku, Sugita Genpaku and more. Otsuki Gentaku According to Yoshio formed in his privately operated school Seishūkan (成 秀 馆), more than 600 students from. 1788 visited the interest of western painting artist Shiba Kokan Yoshio's estate. The resulting, on this occasion in a mixed style portrait of the white-bearded Yoshio is obtained. On New Year of the western calendar people gathered in his house to, Holland New Year ' ( Oranda shōgatsu ). Otsuki Gentaku, which matured into an outstanding scholar, took over this custom when he was in Edo his own private school Shirandō (芝兰 堂) founded in the late eighties.
Kosaku, who developed a strong interest in astronomy, geography and especially to Western medicine, maintained a close working with the doctors of the trading post. Here are primarily Philipp Pieter musculus (Japan Stay: 1740-47 ), Doede Everts (Japan Stay: 1742-45 ), the Breslau George Rudolph Bauer ( Japan Stay: 1759-62 ) and Carl Linnaeus student and later successor at the University Upsalla, the botanist Carl Peter Thunberg (Japan stay: 1775-76 ) to call. Through these contacts and intensive literature studies, he accumulated considerable knowledge that has been handed down, surgery in the style of Yoshio ' ( Yoshio - ryū geka ). Yoshio's students studied the Dutch language and writing, diagnostic procedures, bloodletting, medicinal, antiseptic treatment, the therapy of tumors, fractures and dislocations. His relevant writings, translations or summaries of Western reference books circulated as handwritten copies ( shahon ) in large numbers. He knew the work of the surgeon Ambroise Paré, Lorenz Heister, Joseph Jacob Plenck and the gynecologist William Smellie and was demonstrably familiar with the reference works of Johann Jacob Woyt, Noel Chomel and François Halma. Among the variety of his writings, some have become well known: Orandaryū kōyakuhō (和 兰 流 膏 薬 方), Seikotsu yōketsu (正骨 要诀) Purenki baisōhen (布 敛 吉 霉 疮 篇) and In'eki hatsubi (因 液 発 备, 1815 posthumously printed). Yoshio, who had met through Thunberg propagated by Gerard van Swieten treat syphilis with mercury, was the first who applied the Liquor Swietenii in Japan.
Due to its prominent position in the interpreter hierarchy Yoshio was often involved in all important processes as language mediators and behind the scenes as a counselor. He scored certainly one of the best on the world informed the Japanese of his age. In retrospect of the 19th century, the translation of the " Anatomical boards " of Johan Adam Kulmus and their publication played under the title, New Book of Anatomy ' ( Kaitaishinsho, 1774) play a key role in the revival of "Holland studies," but it was Yoshio, the decades, laid the foundations for the independent study of Western medicine. Not without reason, the pioneers Sugita and Maeno Genpaku Ryōtaku asked him for a foreword for the Kaitai shinsho.
Yoshio died after 53 years in the service of the Dutch- Japanese agreement in the fall of 1800 in his house in town district Hirado (sic) from Nagasaki and was Zenrin Temple ( Zenrin -ji ,禅林 寺) with the posthumous name Kanda Kōgyū (闲 田 耕牛 ) buried.