Household Agency Research Articles

Tokugawa Yoshimune's(_??__??__??__??_)interest in Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien(_??__??__??__??_)and other codes

Soon after Tokugawa Yoshimune (_??__??__??__??_) acceded to Shogunate on 1st year of Kyoho (_??__??_), 1716, he began to be much interested in the study of law and collected rare books of Japanese classical codes.On the other hand, he collected chinese books. First, he gave permission to the import of some kind of prohibited books on christianity-the books of technology and natural sciences written by those Cathoric priests who came to China at the last stage of Ming (_??_) dynasty. He then bought many Chinese books of code and geography. Among these Chinese codes, he had the most interest in Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien(_??__??__??__??_) The first copy in Japan of Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien was brought into Nagasaki (_??__??_) in 5th year of Kyoho, and he bought it. He further ordered Chinese merchants to bring one more copy, and he got it two years later. He ordered Fukami Kyûdai-u (_??__??__??__??__??_) to translate Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien into Japanese. Kyûdai-u was the son of Fukami Gentai (_??__??__??__??_), and was Yoriai Jusha (_??__??__??__??_) like his father Gentai. Gentai's grandfather was a Chinese named Ko-ju-Kaku (_??__??__??_ Kas-shou-chiao), and Gentai had worked at Nagasaki as an interpreter. He could speak good Chinese.Kyudai-u went to Nagasaki with the firstly imported copy and began to translate it, asking about the difficult passages to those recently arrived Chinese merchants there. He stayed at Nagasaki from December of 6th to Feburary of 12th year of Kyoho.During these years, while engaged in the translation, he helped Yoshimune to buy useful Chinese books, and helped to get from a Chinese answers to those questions about China which was given by Ogi-u Hokkei (_??__??__??__??_ or Soshichi _??__??_) at the command of Yoshimune. Shin cho tan ji (_??__??__??__??_) by Shu hai sho (_??__??__??_Zhû-pei-zhang) is one of records of those questions and answers. The Chinese who answered Kyudai-u's questions concerning Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien was Son ho-sai (Sun Fu Zhai _??__??__??_). We can prove the fact by his application for a license of trade, which is recorded in Wakan kibun (_??__??__??__??_). He applied for a license of trade for the reason that he liked to get a Chinese specialist about laws and official service to understand the discription in Ta-ch'ing-Hui-tien, for he could not illustrate some particular parts of the book, because he was a merchant and had no experiance as a government official. He left Nagasaki in November of 11th, and came back from China in December of 12th of Kyoho with Sin sho-an (Chèn Xié an _??__??__??_).Sin sho-an, with his name (_??_) Bing (_??_), another name (_??_) Dèng wei (_??__??_) (Syoan itself being his pen-name (_??_)), had domicile in Hang chou(_??__??_). and stayed at Nagasaki until 16th of Kyoho with Son-ho-sai.On 15th year of Kyoho, Yoshimune ordered Sin sho an to correct any possible mistake in Ogiu Hokkei's (_??__??__??__??_) revised copy of Táng lü-su-i (_??__??__??__??_) which done in 10th of Kyoho. Sin pointed out some words and phrases to be corrected and gave in the margin of Ogiu's book his opinion of each of Ogiu's point of mistake just above where the mistake was seen, and further more made a separate note gathering all these adaptations. Ogiu's revised copy and Sin's note are both kept in the library of the Imperial Household Agency.Shin sho an brought back a copy of Táng lü-su-i to China and showed it to L-i ting i (_??__??__??_)who was the Minister of Justice (_??__??__??__??_). And Li-ting-i wrote a preface to this important classical code. At that time, Táng-lü-su-i was very rare in China, perhaps it was impossille to find its complete copy. And on 21th of Kyoho, Sin visited Nagasaki again and brought a copy of Li-ting-i's preface written by his own hand. We can also see it in the same Library of the Imperial Household Agency.

皇居造営機構と技術者構成

The construction of Meiji Kyuden (the Imperial Palace) was commenced in 1883 and completed in 1888. The Bureau of the Imperial Palace Construction was the largest system of constructions in Meiji Era which was set up in 1882 and employed many engineers. These engineers were constituted writh the engineers of the Department of Public Works and the Imperial Household Agency and the other office. This paper describes on the change of the organigaation, the number of engineers, their past record, their careers in the construction works and considers on the significance which the Imperial Palace Construction had in the process of the development of Meiji Era's architectures.

設計図と作品の検討 : ボアンビルの赤坂謁見所・会食堂の研究・その 2

In the present paper, the plan, usage, outside view, style and interior decoration of the Reception Rooms in the provisional Imperial Palace, Akasaka, Tokyo are surveyed refering to the plans preserved in the Imperial Household Agency. This building was planned to be used for the audience and the reception to the foreign envoys and was the first Neo-Baroque style's building introduced in the Meiji era and the interior decoration in this building was designed very artistically.