Matsuura Takeshirō
Matsuura Takeshirō | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 10 February 1888 | (aged 69)
Other names | Matsuura Takeshirō ( (initial spelling) Matsuura Hiroshi ( (imina) Matsuura Shichō ( (azana) Bunkei ( (Dharma name) Hokkai Dōjin ( (art name) |
Matsuura Takeshirō (
Name
[edit]The fourth child of Matsuura Tokiharu (or Keisuke) (
Life
[edit]Matsuura Takeshirō was born on the sixth day of the second month of Bunka 15 (1818) in the village of Sugawa, later Onoe (ja), now Matsusaka, in what was then Ise Province, now Mie Prefecture.[5] The samurai family is said to have had ancestral connections with the Matsuura clan of Hirado Domain in Hizen Province, northern Kyūshū.[5] Takeshirō's father Tokiharu was a devotee of the tea ceremony and haikai and had studied under fellow Matsusaka scion Kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga.[6] As his older brother was destined to take over as head of the family, Takeshirō knew from a young age he would have to venture forth in the world.[5] Billed as his birthplace, his boyhood home in Matsusaka (designated a municipal Historic Site) lies on the Ise Kaidō (ja), the road that was once thronged with pilgrims to Ise Jingū, the 1830 pilgrimage alone seeing some five million visit the Grand Shrine.[5][8]
The young Takeshirō began calligraphy lessons at the local Sōtō Zen temple of Shinkaku-ji (
In Tenpō 4 (1833) he abruptly set out from home, seemingly spurred on not only by wanderlust but also financial indiscretion, having been obliged secretly to sell some family heirlooms to settle debts run up buying books and antique curios.[5][6] A letter written shortly after his departure notes his intentions to travel first to Edo, then Kyōto, before heading to Nagasaki, whence he would sail for Morokoshi, and perhaps even onwards to Tenjiku.[5] Though he did not make it as far as China and India, his travels did take him along the Tōkaidō to Edo, where he stayed with Yamaguchi Gusho (ja), learning from him the art of seal carving that is understood to have supported him on his travels, before heading along the Nakasendō to Zenkō-ji; he also climbed nearby Mount Togakushi (ja), in what is now Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park.[6] The following year, yatate and notebooks to hand, he travelled from Kinki to Chūgoku and Shikoku and back; the next, through the Kinki, Hokuriku, Kōshin'etsu, Tōhoku (including Sendai and Matsushima), Kantō (where he served for a period at the mansion of Mizuno Tadakuni in Edo), Chūbu, and Kinki regions to Shikoku again; in 1836 he followed the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage route, then traversed the Kinki, San'in, and San'yō regions (including Tomonoura); the next year took him from San'yō around Kyūshū, due to travel restrictions entering Satsuma disguised as a Buddhist monk.[6][7] In 1838, at the age of 21, he was taken seriously ill in Nagasaki during an epidemic.[6][7] His father passed away that year, his sister and a brother having died several years previously.[6] While in Nagasaki, encouraged by the Zen monk who nursed him back to health, he entered the Buddhist priesthood, at Zenrin-ji (
Having reached as far as what is now Ajigasawa at the northern end of Honshū, he was unable to cross over to Ezo due to strict restrictions on travel imposed by the Matsumae Domain, turning back instead to Rikuzen Province.[6][7] In 1845, at the age of 28, for the first time he crossed the Tsugaru Straits, to Esashi, which he left disguised as a merchant, travelling the length of the island for the next seventh months: he walked, with local Ainu as his guides, along the southern Pacific coast from Hakodate to the tip of the Shiretoko Peninsula, where he erected a marker inscribed "Ise Province, Ichishi District, Kumozu River, South: Matsuura Takeshirō" (
He did not return to Ezo until 1856, some seven years later.[7] In the interim, he published multi-volume "diaries" of his first three visits, and interacted with many leading figures of this turbulent period.[7][9] His house began to be frequented by the shishi or "men of high purpose" and he was in contact with sonnō jōi thinkers Aizawa Seishisai and Fujita Tōko (ja), as well as Ikeuchi Daigaku (ja), Rai Mikisaburō (ja), Umeda Unpin (ja), and Yanagawa Seigan (ja).[9] 1853 saw the arrival of Perry's "Black Ships" in Edo Bay; when they returned the following year, at the instigation of the Uwajima Domain, Matsuura Takeshirō followed their progress, giving rise to his Shimoda Diaries.[7] He was also in touch with Yoshida Shōin who, in an 1853 letter of introduction to an Ōsaka gunsmith, wrote critically of the Bakufu's response to Perry's arrival at Uraga and Putyatin's at Nagasaki, while recommending Matsuura Takeshirō as one who had left his mark all over the country, had intimate knowledge of Ezo, and had the question of coastal defence at his heart.[9] In his autobiography, Matsuura Takeshirō writes of Yoshida Shōin's stay over the New Year of 1853/4, when they stayed up till dawn discussing this topic.[9] After the 1854 Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity, 1855 brought the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia; exercised by the need for greater oversight and security on the northern borders, that year also the bakufu assume direct control of Ezo, excepting the immediate environs of Matsumae Castle.[7][10]
Under the new shōgun Tokugawa Iesada, and with the situation in Ezo in light of Russian activity increasingly a priority, the significance of his endeavours began to receive recognition from the top: in 1855 he was given ten ryō of gold by the bakufu, with twice as much arriving in the next few days from Tokugawa Nariaki, daimyō of Mito Domain, and Date Yoshikuni, daimyō of Sendai Domain.[5][6] He received instructions to travel to Ezo again, this time as an employee of the bakufu, for further work on its geography, to investigate its mountains and rivers, and the potential for new roads.[5] Over the next three years, three visits would ensue—indeed, one theory sees those earlier not as private initiatives, but operations in the pay of the bakufu, connecting this to the obstacles placed in his way by the Matsumae Domain.[5] Joining the expedition headed by Mukōyama Gendayū (ja), he completed a circuit of the island, travelling clockwise from Hakodate, also crossing the Sōya Strait to the northern regions of Ezo, as far as what is now Poronaysk, on Sakhalin.[5] Mukōyama died along the way, Matsuura himself so ill that he composed a death poem.[5] The following year, abandoning plans for further investigation of Sakhalin, he followed the courses of the Ishikari and Teshio Rivers, from their mouths to their upstream regions.[5] His final visit, in 1858, included investigation of the interior of the centre and the east of the island, around Akan.[5][7] His surveys covered both physical and human geography, and suggestions for the development of the land and the advancement of its inhabitants.[6] Records of these three years run to 117 volumes, while he also aimed at a wider audience through works such as Ezo Manga and a series of travelogues full of detail on the local mountains and rivers, flaura and fauna, and the customs, legends, and material culture of the Ainu he encountered along the way.[5] Sympathetic to their plight, his 1858 Account of the People of Ezo in Recent Times (
As Bakumatsu drew to its close, as an authority on the north, Matsuura Takeshirō was visited by the likes of Ōkubo Toshimichi and Saigō Takamori, leading figures in the Meiji Restoration.[5] Ōkubo advocated a role for him in the new government, with responsibilities relating to the development of Ezo, and, after conducting a survey of the Tōkaidō, he was assigned a position in the administration of the short-lived Hakodate Prefecture (ja) and elevated to the Junior Fifth Court Rank, Lower Grade.[5][6][7] Shortly after he became Adjutant to the Governor of Tōkyō Prefecture; he was involved in dividing the prefecture into districts; and he was a herald during the transfer of the capital from Kyōto.[6] With the establishment of the Hokkaidō Development Commission (ja) in 1869, he was appointed a Development Commissioner (
Now 53, his house in Tōkyō was visited by artists, poets, and statesmen.[6] He continued to travel, collecting old coins, magatama, unusually shaped rocks, and the like, which he catalogued and exhibited.[5] He also engaged in the appraisal of artworks and dealing.[13] He followed up his lifelong interest in Sugawara no Michizane, as man, Tenjin, as kami, dedicating a series of oversized bronze mirrors, 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in diameter and weighing 120 kilograms (260 lb), to Tenmangū shrines founded in his honour, first Kitano Tenmangū (with a map of Hokkaidō, Karafuto, and Chishima on the mirror's reverse), later Ōsaka Tenmangū and Dazaifu Tenmangū, as well as at Ueno Tōshō-gū and Kimpusen-ji, and also smaller mirrors at twenty further shrines to Tenjin.[5][6] In 1881, he commissioned a painting from Kawanabe Kyōsai entitled Hokkai Dōjin Taking a Nap Under the Trees, a reworking of the traditional nirvāṇa painting (or nehanzu) that, completed five years later, shows a snoozing Matsuura Takeshirō surrounded by objects from his collection, in place of the usual mourners.[1] At the end of his seventh decade, he climbed Mount Ōdaigahara three times, maintaining the mountain trails and rest huts, as well as Mount Fuji.[5][7] In Meiji 21 (1888), struck down by meningitis, and elevated once more to Fifth Court Rank, he died of a cerebral haemorrhage.[5][6] His funeral expenses covered by the Emperor, he was initially laid to rest in Asakusa, his remains subsequently transferred and divided, in accordance with his last will and testament (entitled One Thousand Tortoises, Ten Thousand Cranes), between the Somei Cemetery (ja) in Tōkyō and his beloved Mount Ōdaigahara.[1][6]
One-mat room
[edit]Around two years before his death, Matsuura Takeshirō appended to his house in Kanda a one-mat room, observing that, while various one-and-a-half-mat huts had been built, this would be the first measuring only one mat.[6] Helped by being 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m)[6] (alternatively, around 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 m)[13]) in height, he proceeded to live in this room for the remainder of his life.[6] Named One-Mat Room (
Select writings
[edit]- Journal of the Western Seas (
西海 雑誌 ) (1843) - Journal from the Shikoku Henro Road (
四国 遍路 道中 雑誌 ) (1844) - Diary of the First Voyage to Ezo (
初 航 蝦夷 日誌 ) (1850) (12 volumes) - Diary of the Second Voyage to Ezo (
再 航 蝦夷 日誌 ) (1850) (14 volumes) - Diary of the Third Voyage to Ezo (
三 航 蝦夷 日誌 ) (1850) (8 volumes) - New Leaves of Japanese Poetry (
新 葉 和歌集 ) (1850) - Shimoda Diaries (
下田 日誌 ) (1853) - Records from Surveys of the West, East, and North (按西・按東・按北
扈従 録 ) (1859) (32 volumes) (on the 1856 expedition) - Diary of Investigations into the Geography and Landscape of East and West Ezo in Yin Fire Snake (1857) (
丁 巳 東西 蝦夷 山川 地理 取調 日誌 ) (1859) (23 volumes) - Diary of Investigations into the Geography and Landscape of East and West Ezo in Yang Earth Horse (1858) (
戊 午 東西 蝦夷 山川 地理 取調 日誌 ) (1859) (62 volumes) - Ezo Manga (
蝦夷 漫画 ) (1859) - A Personal Account of North Ezo (
北 蝦夷 余 誌 ) (1860) - Tokachi Diaries (
十勝 日誌 ) (1861) - Yūbari Diaries (
夕張 日誌 ) (1862) - Nosappu Diaries (
納沙布 日誌 ) (1863) - Shiretoko Diaries (
知床 日誌 ) (1863) - Teshio Diaries (
天塩 日誌 ) (1863) - Diaries of Eastern Ezo (
東 蝦夷 日誌 ) (1865) (8 volumes) - Diaries of Western Ezo (
西 蝦夷 日誌 ) (1865) (6 volumes)
Hokkaidō Heritage
[edit]In 2018 a series of sixty-nine stelai inscribed with Matsuura Takeshirō's poems, markers denoting places he stayed, and other inscriptions and monuments in his honour was jointly designated Hokkaidō Heritage, an initiative aimed at valorization of the island's natural and cultural heritage, as Traces of Matsuura Takeshirō's Exploration of Ezo.[16][17] These include:
- Atsuma: a stele in Tomisato (
富里 ) erected in 1957 in relation to the hundredth anniversary of his two night stay in the vicinity in Ansei 5 (1858) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[18] - Bifuka: the site where the name of the Teshio River (from the Ainu for a fishing weir) was recorded in Ansei 4 (1857) (Municipal Historic Site)[18]
- Mashike: the site of his crossing the Nobusha River (
信砂川 ) in Ansei 3 (1856) (Municipal Historic Site)[18] - Obira: a statue and inscribed poem in Nishin Culture and History Park (にしん
文化 歴史 公園 )[17] - Shari: an inscribed poem in Utoro[17]
- Teshio: a statue and inscribed poem in Kagaminuma Seaside Park (
鏡 沼 海浜 公園 );[19] a marker of the place he stayed, referred to as Sakokaishi (サコカイシ), on the first night of his exploration of the Teshio River in Ansei 4 (1857), as recorded in his Teshio Diaries;[19] a marker near where Japan National Route 40 crosses the Onoppunai River (雄信内川 ), commemorating his sleeping out on his second night, when he was plagued by mosquitoes at Onkanranma (オンカンランマ)[19] - Toyotomi: a marker where he stayed in Wakasanai, near the rest stop Sand Dune Station (
砂丘 の駅 )[19]
Gallery
[edit]-
Letter sent by Matsuura Takeshirō shortly after setting out on his first journey in 1833
-
From the 1847 copy by Matsuura Takeshirō (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15] of Murakami Shimanojō's 1800 Curious Sights of the Island of Ezo (Hakodate City Central Library (ja))
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Hengaku or plaque with the shrine's name from Kumano Jinja in Iwanai (1857), calligraphy by Matsuura Takeshirō (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[20]
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Tsubo no ishi (1858), a table of distances in Ezo compiled by Matsuura Takeshirō (Sapporo Municipal Central Library (ja))
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Map of the Oshima Peninsula (1859) by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hokkaido University Library)
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From Experimental Investigations into the Montane and Fluvial Geography of North Ezo (1860) by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hakodate City Central Library) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15]
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General Investigation into the Montane and Fluvial Geography of the Ezo Frontier (1860), by Matsuura Takeshiro (Sapporo Municipal Central Library)
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Report containing the proposals for the new name for Ezo put forward by Matsuura Takeshirō in 1869; "Hokkaidō" (
北 加 伊 道 ) may be seen indented towards the end of the right-hand page -
List of the Kuriles by Matsuura Takeshirō issued in 1870 (Hakodate City Central Library)
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Copy in Matsuura Takeshirō's own hand of his letter of resignation from the Hokkaidō Development Commission in 1870
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From Household Items of Ezo by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hakodate City Central Library) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15]
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Koroppokuru Beneath a Butterbur, by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hakodate City Museum) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15]
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Kamchatka Lily, by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hakodate City Central Library) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15]
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Rubbing of a mirror dedicated by Matsuura Takeshirō at Kitano Tenmangū depicting Hokkaidō and the islands of the northern seas
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People of Ezo Worshipping a Distant Mountain in the Bitter Cold (1882), by Matsuura Takeshirō (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[15]
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Tanzaku or poem card with calligraphy by Matsuura Takeshirō (Hakodate City Central Library) (Municipal Tangible Cultural Property)[18]
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Hokkai Dōjin Taking a Nap Under the Trees (1886), by Kawanabe Kyōsai[1] (Matsuura Takeshirō Memorial Museum)
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ The six names Matsuura Takeshirō put forward for consideration were Hitakamidō (
日 高見 道 ), Hokkaidō (北 加 伊 道 ), Kaihōdō (海 北道 ), Kaitōdō (海 東道 ), Tōhokudō (東北道 ), and Chishimadō (千島 道 ).
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Smith, Henry D. II (2014). "The Stuff of Dreams: Kawanabe Kyosai's Nirvana Painting of Matsuura Takeshirō" (PDF). Impressions. 35. The Japanese Art Society of America: 96–135.
- ^ a b c d "Matsuura Takeshiro". Matsusaka City. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
- ^ 「
北海道 の名付 け親 」松浦 武四郎 [Godparent of Hokkaido: Matsuura Takeshiro] (PDF) (in Japanese). Hokkaido Board of Education. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^ みんなでつくる
北海道 150年 事業 [Let's Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Hokkaido Together] (PDF) (in Japanese). Hokkaido Government. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak
松浦 武四郎 の生涯 [Life of Matsuura Takeshiro] (in Japanese). Matsusaka City. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Starr, Frederick (1916). "The Old Geographer: Matsuura Takeshiro". Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 44 (1). Asiatic Society of Japan: 1–19.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s
略 年表 [Table of Chronology] (in Japanese). Matsusaka City. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^
松浦 武四郎 誕生 地 [Birthplace of Matsuura Takeshiro] (in Japanese). Matsusaka City. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^ a b c d
幕末 の志士 との交流 [Intercourse with the Men of High Purpose of Bakumatsu] (in Japanese). Matsusaka City. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2020. - ^ "The Shaken Edo shogunate" (PDF). Shiraoi Town. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
- ^ a b
北海道 の名前 について [About Hokkaido's Name] (in Japanese). Hokkaido Government. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2020. - ^
天塩川 の歴史 [History of the Teshio River]. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Retrieved 30 July 2020. - ^ a b c d e Smith, Henry D. II (2012). "Lessons from the One-Mat Room: Piety and Playfulness Among Nineteenth-Century Japanese Antiquarians" (PDF). Impressions. 33. The Japanese Art Society of America: 55–69.
- ^ "Bicentennial Anniversary of the Birth of Matsuura Takeshiro". International Christian University. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g
函館 市 指定 文化財 1 [Cultural Properties Designated by Hakodate City (1)] (in Japanese). Hakodate City. Retrieved 26 July 2020. - ^
北海道 遺産 ・分布 図 [Hokkaido Heritage: Distribution Map] (in Japanese). Hokkaido Government. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2020. - ^ a b c
松浦 武四郎 による蝦夷 地 踏査 の足跡 [Traces of the Exploration of Ezo by Matsuura Takeshirō] (in Japanese). Hokkaido Heritage Council. Retrieved 25 July 2020. - ^ a b c d
市町村 指定 文化 材 一覧 [List of Municipal Cultural Properties]. Hokkaido Board of Education. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020. - ^ a b c d
松浦 武四郎 の足跡 [Traces of Matsuura Takeshirō] (in Japanese). Kamikawa General Subprefectural Bureau. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2019. - ^ "Kumanojinjahengaku Cultural Heritage Online"
熊野 神社 扁額 [Hengaku from Kumano Jinja] (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
External links
[edit]- Biography on Matsusaka City website (in English)