Kimura Kenkado

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  • Born: 1736
  • Died: 1802
  • Other Names: 孔恭 (Kôkyô)
  • Japanese: 木村 蒹葭堂 (Kimura Kenkadou)

Kimura Kenkadô was a prominent honzôgaku (natural sciences) scholar and cultural figure of the mid-18th century.

A saké brewer from Osaka, Kenkadô was deeply involved in scholarly and cultural circles in his city, and beyond. Ike no Taiga, Ike Gyokuran, Matsura Seizan, Masuyama Sessai, and Tani Bunchô were but a few of those with whom he had significant interactions or lengthy relationships.

In 1764, he interacted with members of a Korean embassy to Edo,[1] and recorded some of the details of the meeting in his diary, Kimura Kenkadô nikki.

Among the many works to which he contributed was the Morokoshi meisho zue, a set of six woodblock-printed volumes describing famous places in China.[2]

His adoptive son Sekikyo 石居 also took on the name Kenkadô.[3]

References

  1. Chôsen tsûshinshi to Okayama, Okayama Prefectural Museum (2007), 69.
  2. Gallery labels, British Museum.
  3. Watanabe Miki 渡辺美季, "Ryûkyû Shuri no zu, Ryûkyû Naha zu: Koga rekishi hakubutsukan zô Takami Senseki kankei shiryô yori" 「琉球首里ノ図・琉球那覇図ー古河歴史博物館蔵 鷹見泉石関係資料より」, Tôkyô daigaku shiryôhensanjo fuzoku gazô shiryô kaiseki sentaa tsûshin 東京大学史料編纂所附属画像史料解析センター通信 90 (Oct 2020), p15.