Naka Michiyo (那珂通世)
Michiyo NAKA (February 6, 1851-March 2, 1908) was a historian in the Meiji period. It is said that Naka was the first person who created the concept of Oriental history.
Biography
Michiyo was born as the third son of Moritoku NAKA, a feudal retainer of the Morioka clan. His childhood name was Sojiro. As he achieved excellent academic records at the domain school, Michiyo was requested by Goro EBATA, a scholar of Chinese classics and a lecturer of the domain school, to join the Ebata family, and was adopted by Ebata at the age of 14.
Since his adopted father changed his surname to 'Naka' later, Michiyo followed him to call himself 'Michiyo NAKA.'
After the Meiji Restoration, he enrolled Keio University in 1872 and studied English. In 1876, at the age of 26, he released 'Study of Ancient Japanese Characters' in the "Yoyo-sha Journal." After that, he worked as a teacher at schools for teacher training and junior high schools under the old system of education, then later on, he contributed to the development of education for women, serving as the principal of Chiba Normal School and Tokyo Women's Normal School. Afterwards, he became a teacher at Daiichi High School (the first old-education-system high school) and Tokyo Higher Normal School, and worked also as an instructor at the Literature school of Tokyo Imperial University from 1896. In the meantime, he released many results of his practical studies about the history of Japan, Korea, and China. Also, it is said that he was nicknamed 'the bicycle doctor' because he traveled nationwide and overseas for his studies by bicycle, which was rare at that time.
In 1901, he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature. His representative works include "Overview of Chinese History" (1880-1890, three volumes, published by Iwanami bunko: although it is an unfinished work, the book was read also in China due to its concise and objective style), and 'Study of Ancient Calendar' (presented for "History Journal" and collected in "Study of Ancient Calendar," revised book compiled by Kagehide MISHINA), a paper that studied about the Japanese calendar systems base on 'Shinyu-kakumei-setsu' (a prediction of revolution in Kanototori of the Chinese astrological calendar). Also, he introduced to Japan "The Secret History of the Mongols," which he translated into Japanese and titled "Real Records of Genghis Khan."
Incidentally, he was on good terms with Konan NAITO, who also came from the Morioka Domain, while Kurakichi SHIRATORI was one of his students when he worked as a teacher at junior high schools. Misao FUJIMURA, who committed suicide at Kegon Falls, Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, with the farewell note titled 'Gonto no Kan' (Thoughts at the edge of Kegon Falls), was Michiyo's nephew.