東京大学総合研究博物館所蔵 阿部正直コレクション目録
はじめに
気象学者で「雲の伯爵」とも称された阿部正直（1891-1966）は明治24年（1891）1月9日に備後国福山藩最後の藩主正桓の長男として東京で生まれた。大正11年（1922）3月に東京帝国大学理学部物理学科を卒業、大正14年1月理化学研究所写真乾板の物理的研究嘱託を経て、昭和3年（1928）御殿場に私立観測所阿部雲気流研究所を創立した。昭和12年、時勢の影響により阿部の観測所は中央気象台委託観測所となり、阿部自身は気象観測事務嘱託となったのを機に、御殿場に一般公開施設である雲気流参考館（のち阿部雲気流博物館と改称）を設立した。昭和16年1月4日中央気象台産業気象課勤務となり、同年10月13日に主論文「山雲の形と気流」で東京帝国大学より理学博士の学位を取得した。その後、大日本航空技術協会研究員、中央気象台研究部に勤務し、同御殿場臨時出張所長兼務、同研究部気象物理研究室長、同研究部長などを歴任し、昭和22年4月中央気象台気象研究所長となった。昭和24年6月30日に58歳で中央気象台を退職した。晩年は幼児教育に力を入れた。昭和30年に私立阿部幼稚園を創立してみずから園長となり、阿部幼稚園長在職中の昭和41年1月1日、心筋梗塞のため75歳で死亡した。
御殿場の阿部雲気流研究所における気象観測は、研究所が竣工した昭和3年（1928）10月から開始された。本格的に定期観測を始めたのは昭和7年7月からで、国際極年に合わせ中央気象台が富士山頂観測所を設置し通年観測を開始したことに呼応している。中央気象台勤務となり、理学博士の学位を取った昭和16年には阿部自身による観測はほぼ終了し、次男正庸に引き継いでいる。
阿部の研究は、雲の形と気流との関係を、通常の写真に加え、立体写真と活動写真を取り入れたことに特徴がある。とりわけ孤高の山である富士山には笠雲や吊し雲といった特殊な雲がかかることが多く、大正15年（1926）8月4日に御殿場市二ノ岡で後に翼雲と名付けた吊し雲を観測したことにより、富士山の雲形に魅了され、富士山にかかる山雲を本格的に観測研究するに至った。また、自宅に風洞実験施設を作り、富士山の模型を設置し、気流実験装置によって雲の発生を再現実験した。
さて、その阿部正直が遺した膨大なコレクションは平成25年（2013）の夏、東京大学総合研究博物館に寄贈された。同コレクションには、多様なサイズの紙焼き写真の他、ガラス乾板写真、フィルム、撮影機器や実験器具などの物品類、膨大な研究資料、図書、原稿類、学術雑誌、私物が含まれている。大正末期から昭和初期にかけての気象学コレクションとして重要であるとともに、映像技術の資料体としても極めて貴重な資料群である。本データベースでは、その一部を紹介する。
Abe Masanao Collection Database, The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT)
Introduction
The meteorologist Abe Masanao (1891-1966), also known as "the Count of Clouds," was born on January 9, 1891 in Tokyo, the elder son of Masatake, who was the last head of the Bingo Fukuyama clan. After graduating from the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Science of Tokyo Imperial University on March 1922, he was commissioned on January 1925 to conduct physical research on photographic plates by the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, and in 1928 he established the privately funded Abe Cloud and Air Current Research Observatory in Gotemba. In 1937, due to the geopolitical situation, the Observatory was entrusted to the Central Meteorological Observatory, and Abe was commissioned to conduct administrative work on meteorological observations. He then opened the Cloud and Air Current Reference Center (later renamed Abe Cloud and Air Current Museum). On January 4, 1941, he began working at the Service of Industrial Meteorology of the Central Meteorological Observatory. On October 13 of the same year, he earned his PhD in Science from Tokyo Imperial University with his dissertation Mountain Clouds, Their Forms and Connected Air Current. He later worked as researcher at the Greater Japan Aeronautical Engineers' Association and at the Department of Research of the Central Meteorological Observatory, successively serving as Director of its Temporary Agency in Gotemba, as Director of Meteorological and Physical Research of its Department of Research, and as its Director of Research. In April 1947, he was named Director of the Meteorological Research Center of the Central Meteorological Observatory. On June 30, 1949, he retired from the Central Meteorological Observatory at the age of 58. In his later years, he dedicated his efforts toward child education. In 1955, he established his own private kindergarten and became its director. On January 1, 1966, while still director of the kindergarten, he died at age 75 of a heart attack.
Meteorological observation at the Abe Cloud and Air Current Research Observatory in Gotemba began upon the completion of the observatory on October 1928. Observation was conducted regularly and systematically from July 1932 on, when for the International Polar Year the Central Meteorological Observatory established its observatory on the summit of Mount Fuji and began annual observation. In 1941, when Abe began working at the Central Meteorological Observatory and earned his PhD in Science, he practically ceased to conduct observations, leaving them to his second son Masatsune.
The main characteristic of Abe's work on the relationship between cloud form and air current lies in his application of photography, stereophotography and the cinematograph. An isolated mountain such as Mount Fuji is characterized by the formation of particular clouds such as cap clouds and tsurushi ("suspended") clouds. Since he observed on August 4 1926 in Ninooka (Gotemba City) a form of suspended cloud he later named winged cloud, Abe was fascinated by the cloud forms on top of Mount Fuji, and decided to observe and research systematically the mountain clouds forming atop Fuji. In his private residence, he built a wind tunnel in which he set up a model of Mount Fuji in order to recreate experimentally the formation of clouds using an experimental air current device.
In spring of 2013, the monumental collection left by Abe Masanao was entrusted to the University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT). The collection contains not only photographic prints of various sizes, but also photographic plates, films, objects such as cameras and experimental devices, but also a trove of research documents, books, manuscripts, scientific publications and personal items. It is precious, not only as a meteorological archive from late-Taishō and early-Shōwa-era Japan, but also as a collection of photographic and cinematographic documents. The present database presents part of this collection.