Mitsukuri Genpo
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270px, Former Genpo Mitsukuri House in Tsuyama was a
samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
, medical doctor, ''
rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: , ), and by extension , is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the countr ...
'' scholar, author and translator working for
Tsuyama Domain 270px, Matsudaira Naritami, 8th daimyo of Tsuyama 270px, Kakuzankan, han school was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now northern Okayama Prefecture. It controlled most of Mimasaka Province and wa ...
during late
Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
Japan. His given name was Teiichi.


Biography

Mitsukuri Genpo was born in what is now the Nishishinmachi neighborhood of the city of
Tsuyama, Okayama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. In February 2023, the city had an estimated population of 97,507 in 45,653 households and a population density of 190 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Tsuyama is located in nort ...
. He was the third child of the clan doctor to
Tsuyama Domain 270px, Matsudaira Naritami, 8th daimyo of Tsuyama 270px, Kakuzankan, han school was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now northern Okayama Prefecture. It controlled most of Mimasaka Province and wa ...
, Mitsukuri Sadayoshi; however, his father died when Genpo was age 4, and his elder brother died when Genpo was age 12, making him heir to the family estate. After studying
Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
and astronomy at the
han school The ''han'' school was a type of educational institution in the Edo period of Japan. They taught samurai etiquette, the classical Confucian books, calligraphy, rhetoric, fighting with swords and other weapons; some also added subjects such as m ...
, he was sent to
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
for three years of medical studies in 1816. In 1819, after his return to Tsuyama, he opened a clinic and married the following year. He was granted a stipend of 50 ''
koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...
'' by Tsuyama Domain and a staff of ten assistants. In 1823, he was ordered to accompany the ''
daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to ...
'' Matsudaira Naritaka to
Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...
. He then studied
western medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
in Edo under Udagawa Genshin (1769–1834). In 1834 he opened a training center in Edo, but fires and failing health led him to turn to translation. In 1839, he became the official translator from Dutch at the Observatory of the Shogunate government. He was asked to assist in negotiations involving Russian admiral
Yevfimiy Putyatin Yevfimiy Vasilyevich Putyatin (; 8 November 1803 – 16 October 1883), also known as was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. His diplomatic mission to Japan resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855, for which he was ma ...
's visit to
Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...
in 1853, and later translated the letter by United States president
Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...
brought to Japan by the
Perry Expedition ] The Perry Expedition (, , "Arrival of the Black Ships") was a diplomatic and military expedition in two separate voyages (1852–1853 and 1854–1855) to the Tokugawa shogunate () by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of this expedit ...
demanding an end to Japan's sakoku, national isolation policy and opening to foreign trade. The following year he participated in the negotiations with the Americans that led to the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa. In 1856, Gempo became an instructor at the newly established ''
Bansho Shirabesho The ', or "Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books," was the Japanese institute charged with the translation and study of foreign books and publications in the late Edo Period. Origin The institute was founded in 1856 that catered to the s ...
'', established by the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...
. Gempo was a prolific author and translator, writing Japan's first medical magazine "Taisei Meiko", and more than 160 books covering a wide range of fields such as medicine, languages, Western history, military science, and religious studies. In 1862, he became a ''
hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...
'' of the shogunate. He died in Edo in 1863 and his grave is now at the
Tama Cemetery in Tokyo is the largest municipal cemetery in Japan. It is split between the cities of Fuchū, Tokyo, Fuchu and Koganei, Tokyo, Koganei within the Tokyo Metropolis. First established in April 1923 as , it was redesignated Tama Cemetery in 1935. ...
. Genpo's birthplace still exists in Nishishinmachi, Tsuyama and is preserved as a museum. It retains the appearance of a merchant house from the Edo period, and was designated as a National Historic Site in 1975.


See also

*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Okayama) This list is of the Monuments of Japan, Historic Sites of Japan located within the Prefectures of Japan, Prefecture of Okayama Prefecture, Okayama. National Historic Sites As of 6 August 2019, forty-seven Sites have been Cultural Properties of J ...


References


External links


Tsuyama city home page

Former Genpo Mitsukuri House home page
{{Authority control 1799 births 1863 deaths People of the Edo period People of Bakumatsu Samurai Japanese physicians Hatamoto Japanese translators Rangaku Tsuyama Historic Sites of Japan Scientists from Okayama Prefecture