The Shinsen Eiwa Jiten' and it's Compiler, Tajiro Inami

Abstract

In 1888 Kyoka Izumi (born Kyotaro Izumi in 1873), who failed in the entrance examination of the Fourth Higher Middle School at Kanazawa, entered a private school kept by Tajiro Inami, and was soon left in charge of English lessons there, since he had attended a missonary school (the Hokuriku Eiwa Gakko) before and was very good at English.Tajiro Inami was also known as a compiler of an English-Japanese dictionary entitled 'the Shinsen Eiwa Jiten'. This dictionary was published in 1886 from the Unkondo's which had already issued a literary magazine, 'the kinjo Shishi'.Therefore, the advertisements of sale of Inami's dictionary were put in this magazine many times, and in addition so much information concerning English learning at Kanazawa or in Tokyo was reported.In this essay, I would like to give a full detail of the following items, amplifying the above-mentioned matter : 1. Biographical Sketch of Tajiro Inami.2. On 'the Kinjo Shinshi '.3. On 'the Shinsen Eiwa Jiten'.4. Situation of English learning at Kanazawa about the middle of 1880's based on the reports in the Kinjo Shinshi.