The Meguro Fudo Ryusenji Temple fair on October 28 is full of "Sweet Potato Festival". Kunyang Aoki, a Confucian and Dutch scholar in the middle of the Edo period, is buried here. The death date is October 12, old calendar, but after the war, the Sweet Potato Festival began to be held in conjunction with fair. Born in Nihonbashi, he opened a school at a Yorikiyashiki in Hatchobori. He is a person related to Chuo-ku, who saves famine by spreading sweet potato cultivation, and is also said to be the founder of Dutch studies.
Aoki Koyo was born in 1698 (1698) in a fish wholesaler in Odawara-cho, Edo Nihonbashi. Commonly known as Buzo, Koya is the name. He studied with Confucian Togai Ito in Kyoto, returned to Edo, and opened a private school in Hatchobori's town, magistrate's office Yoriki and Enao Kato. At that time, there were 200-300 tsubo of the powerhouse, which could not be rented to merchants, but could have been loaned to doctors and Confucians. In this land, my father and mother died, and each mourned three years each. During this time, the "Kunyo Aoki-sensei's Monument" (upper left in the photo) built on the Meguro Fudo precinct said, "... I forbidden sake meat and eat evening porridge ... ". It is said that Enao Kato, who saw how to spend his time just thanking his parents, named Koya to the town magistrate, Tadasuke Ooka.
Koya wrote "Banshoko" and preached that sweet potatoes were suitable for salvation crops. This book was presented to the 8th Shogun Yoshimune, and sweet potato cultivation was recognized as a shogunate measure. In 1735 (1735), in addition to Koishikawa Oyakuen and Yoseisho, the power supply area Shimousa Ma Kamura (currently Makuhari, Hanamikawa-ku, Chiba-shi) and Kazusa Fudodo Village (currently Kujukuri-cho, Yamatake-gun, Chiba-shi) It was cultivated in a prototype area. At present, there are monuments of "Aoki Kunyo Sweet Potato Prototype" (lower left in the photo) and "Among" in the land of Makuhari (near "Keisei Makuhari Station"). Only the current location (Makuhari) was successful, and (Omitted) sweet potato cultivation in Makuhari gradually increased, and thanks to Tenmei's great famine ... On the other side of the road is Koya Shrine (lower right in the photo), which is enshrined as "Imojin-sama".
Yoshimune was keen on the introduction of Western studies, and Koya learned Dutch. He also met Dutch trading post in Nagasakiya and compiled his work. Ryotaku Maeno is said to have received a Dutch hand from Koya. That fruit led to the publication of the Demolition Shinsho. It is said that the study of Dutch studies in Japan begins in Koya. In 1739 (1747), after becoming a Confucian of the rating office, he worshiped a mansion at 4-chome, Kibikicho (currently near the right slope of Kabukiza). He died at the age of 72 in 1769 (1769), and has a grave (nationally designated historic site = right photo) at Meguro Fudo Ryusenji Temple. ●Akira Makibuchi
