A biography had been compiled from the writings under Tomekichi Maeda’s dictation and an actual biography of Mr. Tomekichi Maeda had been published as a part in“ the series of biographies on stock farmers of pasturing cattle in Japan, volume 1” by Kouhei Kaneda in 1886. Tomekichi Maeda was born in 1840 and was raised in an atmosphere of freedom with an emphasis on agriculture at Kazusa State near Edo （capital of Japan） through to 1858. In 1861, after he had worked for 2 years as an attendant for a senior councillor of the Tokuga shogunate in Edo, Maeda he moved to Yokohama. He then worked as an artisan making sweet bean paste and as a salesman of drinking water. Westerners in the foreign settlements at Yokohama had brought new experiences into Maeda’s conceptine fo life in future. He was surprised their well-constructed physiques. He had given attention to something nourishing about the diet of foreigners living in the settlements of Yokohama, particularly the emphasis on dairy and beef products. He understood that their eating behavior was a desirable way to improve the poor physique of the Japanese people. Maeda had been employed on a dairy farm as a dairyman for 3 years from August 1861 and founded a milk shop with Japanese cattle in September 1863. In 1867 he was appointed officially as a specialist by High Officer Kousei Yuri of the Accountant to the lecturer on dairying at the Stable in Kijibasi, Tokyo and at the Cattle and Horse Company in Tukiji, Tokyo, from 1868 to October, 1871. Maeda left this position in November 1871 and started to develop a full-scale new business of dairying in Tokyo with high quality foreign dairy cattle. The cattle were selected in situ by Maeda himself and his nephew, and imported directly from the U.S.A in two lots of 159 and 300 head in 1874 and 1879, respectively. In 1873 when an epidemic affecting cattle disease broke out, he sold immediately all his cattles and was subsequently sent to prison for a few days because he had sold infected cattles. Many owners of dairy farms had come from those attending Maeda’s lectures on dairying at the Stable and the Cattle and Horse Company, and no small number of others were directly given his specific guidance on dairy farming. It is for the reason that Tomekichi Maeda has been called an originator of the dairy industry in Japan.

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An another biography, entitled “Great Dairy Merchant Tomekichi Maeda” was handed down to Mrs.Atsuko Itoh who is the fourth-generation descendant of Tomekechi. The authors, who have received a copy of this biography and other relevant documents from Mrs Itoh, were interested in the straightforwardness of the text covering the whole of his life, different from those works published as a series. The biography is still in a manuscript state and the authorship and documentation date are unclear. The manuscript is 27.7 centimetres long and 20.7 centimetres broad with seven leafs of paper bound in Japanese style. Maeda’s personal record in this biographywas suspended in the latter part of autumn in 1888. As compared with the previous manuscripts that records had covered until in 1885, Other events that occurred between 1885〜1888 have been incorporated into the Maeda’s record. Although Maeda had a long life for 1840〜1902, records of his life since 1890 have not been clear. In this paper, some new information is provided, especially an account of his circumstances in the latter part of his life.

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