Yamazaki Yoshishige
Japanese essayist
Yamazaki Yoshishige (Japanese: 山崎 美成; Japanese pronunciation: [ja.maꜜ.(d)za.kʲi | jo̞.ɕi̥.ɕiꜜ.ɡe̞], 1796 – August 20, 1856), sometimes also Yamazaki Yoshinari or Yamazaki Bisei, was a Japanese scholar, writer, and pharmacist during the late Edo period. He is known for writing popular encyclopedic works, as well as for hosting the Society of Curiosity Lovers, in which Bakin and other intellectuals participated. Yamazaki Yoshishige has been called one of the greatest evidential scholars of his time.
He wrote under the art names Hokuhō (北峰), Kōmondō (好問堂), Taibonkyo (耐煩居), and Sanyōkyo (三養居).
Life
Yamazaki was born in 1796 in Shitaya, Edo (present-day Tokyo). He was the son of Nagasakiya, a pharmacist. In 1816 Yamazaki inherited his father's business but was unable to sustain it, preferring to focus on intellectual pursuits. He studied under the kokugaku scholar Tomokiyo Oyamada.
In 1820 he began writing entries for what would become the essay collection Kairoku (海録; Records of the Four Seas). He continued adding essays to it for another seventeen years.
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