抄録
Although Funatsu Denjibei was a trained farmer, he worked at the Komaba Agricultural School, where he managed the farm and lectured students on traditional agricultural techniques. All the other teachers at the Komaba Agricultural School were foreigners and lectured the students on Western Agricultural Science.
In this paper, we clarify Funatsu Denjibei’s attitude toward Western Agricultural Science.
Funatsu Denjibei contributed to the establishment of modern agricultural science in Japan by imparting empirical knowledge to agriculturists. He kept company with the other foreign teachers and acquired knowledge on Western Agricultural Science from them and the young agriculturists who graduated from the school. Although he used some of this knowledge, it did not influence his agricultural techniques. The agricultural techniques that he advocated had accumulated over years of experience. He attached great importance to them and when the ideas held by other agriculturists ran contrary to his experience, he always retorted and strongly questioned their opinions.
