Background
Aoki Kon-yo was born in 1698. His father, Tsukudaya Han’uemon, was according to some accounts a merchant of the province of Omi, according to others a fish seller of Nihonbashi in Edo.
Aoki Kon-yo was born in 1698. His father, Tsukudaya Han’uemon, was according to some accounts a merchant of the province of Omi, according to others a fish seller of Nihonbashi in Edo.
Kon’yo studied under the Confucian scholar ltd Togai in Kyoto and became an expert in economic affairs. He joined Noro Genjd in applying himself to Dutch learning, at first studying under the head of the Dutch trading office, who resided in Edo, and later gaining permission to travel to Nagasaki to continue his studies there.
At the order of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, he joined Noro Genjd in applying himself to Dutch learning, at first studying under the head of the Dutch trading office, who resided in Edo, and later gaining permission to travel to Nagasaki to continue his studies there.
He was treated with favor by the magistrate Ooka Tadasuke, and through the latter's introduction gained employment in the Tokugawa shogunate. He was assigned to a scries of posts connected with the supervision of official archives, and in 1767 was promoted to the post of director of the Momijiyama Bunko, the shogunate library.
At the same time he traveled about the country collecting rare old documents that he found in the possession of temples and shrines.
He wrote a work called Banshoko on the subject, which he presented to Shogun Yoshi- mune in 1735, and as a result the sweet potato came to be widely cultivated, winning for Kon’yo the name Kansho-sensei, ‘‘Sweet Potato Scholar.”
Among his works arc Oranda viojiryakko (‘‘Notes on Dutch Letters”), Oranda kaheiko (‘‘Notes on Dutch Currency”), etc.
He became interested in the cultivation of the sweet potato as a means of relieving famine.
father: Tsukudaya Han’uemon