Koganei Yoshikiyo
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Koganei Yoshikiyo (小金井良精, 1859-1944) was an anatomist and anthropologist in Japan.
[edit] Life
He was born as a child of an Echigo Nagaoka clansman (越後長岡藩士), graduated from Tokoh (東校=East school), which was a predecessor to the University of Tokyo medical school (東京大学医学部), in 1880. He then studied abroad in Germany, where he learned anatomy and histology. He returned home in 1885 and was appointed a Tokyo Imperial University medical school professor the next year, becoming the first Japanese lecturer on anatomy there.
After studying Ainu skeletons in 1888, he began working in anthropology. From the results of his Ainu research, he insisted that Kyu-sekkijidaijin (旧石器時代人=paleolithic man) was not Koro-pok-guru (コロボックル), but was included among Ainu.
From 1893 to 1896, he served as Teikoku daigaku Ikagaku daigaku Gakucho (帝国大学医科大学学長=the Imperial University medical college president), and in 1893 he established Nihon Kaibou gakkai (日本解剖学会=Japanese Association of Anatomists). In 1921, he retired from the professorate but continued active research.
[edit] Trivia
His wife Koganei Kimiko (小金井喜美子) was a younger sister of Mori Ogai, and was an essayist and poet.
A statue of Koganei Yoshikiyo is owned by the University of Tokyo.
Hoshi Hajime (星一), who established the pharmaceutical company Hoshi Seiyaku (星製薬), was his son-in-law, and Hoshi Shinichi, the science fiction novelist, was his grandchild.
