The Asiatic Society 
of Japan

Prof. Taketoshi Hibiya, PhD, Honorary Advisor of SDM Research Institute, Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, and Dr. Akie Kawagoe, Associate Professor, Bunkyo Gakuin University

The first modern Japanese-German dictionary was published in 1877 by two people who lived in the suburbs in the northern part of Tokyo. They were rich landowners with large farms and were important representatives of the suburban area. One was Mr. Kenjiro Hibiya, who was an ancestor of the next speaker Professor Taketoshi Hibiya. Wealthy people who lived in the Adachi area raised the education level in society during the late pre-modern age, and even in the suburbs people were interested in foreign countries.

Dr. Akie Kawagoe is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Business Administration at Bunkyo Gakuin University. Her work focuses specifically on the history of craft industries and comparison of craft techniques around the world. Her approach also has a contemporary perspective, such as organizing modern craft with authentic techniques. Prof. Kawagoe is a member of the museum council of Adachi City Museum.

The background for publishing the Wa-Doku-Taiyaku Jilin (和獨対譯字林) has been made clear through research by Mr. Fumio Tada, Curator at Adachi City Museum. Just after the Meiji restoration, the dictionary was needed to learn science, medicine, technology and political systems from European countries, in particular from Germany. Kenjiro Hibiya and Suikei Kato decided to publish a Japanese-German dictionary and this was done in 1877. The authors were Totsuo Saida, Daikichi Naba and Heiroku Kunishi, who were young former warrior class people. The dates of obtaining government licenses for the printing and issue of the dictionary are clear: they were 24th January 1876 and 19th October 1877, respectively. However, there is less codicological information, in particular where the printing papers were produced, what sort of type face was used, where the dictionary was printed, where the bookbindery was and so on.

We observed the printing paper carefully using a digital microscope. We found rag and epidermal cells for wheat and mineral powder for filling material. Furthermore, we found micrometer-sized Prussian blue powders. Through the above scientific observations, we determined that papers were produced from European countries and imported through the channel of Lehmann, the supervisor from Germany. The type face used for the roman characters were purchased from the American Presbyterian Mission Press in Shanghai. However, the type face for the Japanese characters was prepared by Tomiji Hirano’s workshop. We do not yet know where the dictionary was printed. For the book binding, kettle stich and a support have been observed. However, it has not been clarified where the bookbindery was and where the book binding took place. One possibility is that it was done in Yokohama by a Chinese craftsman.

Dr. Taketoshi Hibiya is an Honorary Adviser of the SDM Research Institute, Keio University and a guest researcher of Bungei Material Laboratory, Jissen Women’s University, in the interdisciplinary field between humanity and science. He received a PhD in Engineering in 1978 from Keio University and received a PhD in Literature in 2016 from Jissen Women’s University.

Dr Hibiya was born in 1945. After graduating Graduate School of Keio University, he was engaged in research on electronic material and space engineering in NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories during 1971-2001. He was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering Course at Tokyo Metropolitan University from 2002 to 2007. He was a Professor of the Graduate School of System Design and Management at Keio University from 2007 to 2011. From 2016 he was a guest researcher of Jissen Women’s University.

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