※本記事にはアフィリエイト広告を含みます。
先日何気ない話の流れで伊能忠敬の名前が出てきた。
私は理系なので歴史的人物には大変疎く、「正確な地図を作った人」程度の情報しか知らなかった。
ただある日、「定年したらトライしてみたい趣味がある」と言う話を上司から聞いて、「そういえば伊能忠敬も50歳から地図作成し始めましたもんね。」という話になった。
確かに最近は60歳で定年退職した後にもう一度契約して働き続ける人、新しい分野にトライする人と色々なパターンがある。
日本では「人生100年時代」と言われるほど寿命も伸びてきているし、現代の60歳って本当に若いと思う。
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さてさて、そんなこんなで伊能忠敬の話に戻るが彼は元々酒造業を営む伊能家へ婿入りし、商人として成功を収めたとのこと。
いわゆる「やり手ビジネスマン」だったようだ。
そこから50歳頃勉強をはじめて地図を作成したそうだけど、この時に「年下の人から謙虚に学ぶ」姿勢があったからこそ成功できたのだろう。そして測量する時に何人か付き添いもいたらしいがきっと伊能忠敬の人柄が良かったからみんなついてきたのではないだろうか？
私もアルバイトや仕事勤めをはじめて思うのは、いくら役職が上でも年齢が上でも、「この人についていきたい」「この人の元で学びたい」という気持ちが根底にないと長くついていくことはできないということ。雑用を下っぱがするのはもちろんいいんだよ。でもどこかその人に対するリスペクトや信用があるから頑張れるのだと思う。
以前シンガポールの知人（女性）が小さな子供が２人いて会社でも役職についている中大学院を卒業した話を聞いた。
それまで勝手に「子供ができたら自分の時間はない」「役職就いたら仕事で忙しいから今更大学院には行けない」と思っていたのでどうやって時間をやりくりしていたのか聞いてみた。
夕飯を食べた後に子供は宿題をするからその時間に自分も勉強していたのこと。（基本的に授業もオンライン）そして大学院へ行こうと思ったのは、元々法律を勉強していたけど、近年は何をするにしても「システム」「AI」が絡んでくる。ここの知識がないから勉強しようと思った、とのこと。
なるほど。。！確かに今の時代は何をするにしてもシステムが絡んでくる。
そしてこのシステムは物凄いスピードで進化するから常に勉強しないと遅れてしまう。なんなら私より年下の子の方がこういった感覚に鋭かったりする。彼女は忙しそうではあるけれど、とても活力に溢れていた。
これは完全に私の推測だけど、きっと伊能忠敬も商人時代から常に「学ぶ姿勢」「誠実に取り組む姿勢」があったから成功したんだろうな〜
ベースがこういった性格だから商売でも地図作成も成功できたのかも。きっと他の分野に手をつけていたとしたら、そちらも成功していたと思う。
私は定年にはまだまだ遠いけど、チャレンジ精神を忘れずに、いかなる時も「学ぶ姿勢」を忘れずに過ごそう⭐️
2026.04.05 れもん
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The other day, in the course of a casual conversation, the name of Tadataka Ino came up.
As someone with a science background, I’m not very familiar with historical figures, and I only knew him as “the person who created accurate maps.”
One day, my boss mentioned that there was a hobby they wanted to try after retirement, and that led to a conversation like, “Come to think of it, Tadataka Ino also started making maps after the age of 50.”
Indeed, these days there are various paths people take after turning 60—some continue working on renewed contracts after mandatory retirement, while others try entirely new fields.
In Japan, people even talk about the “100-year life era,” and life expectancy has increased so much that people in their 60s today still seem truly young.
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Anyway, back to Tadataka Ino—he originally married into the Ino family, which ran a sake brewing business, and achieved success as a merchant.
In other words, he was what we might call a “sharp and capable businessman.”
He then began studying around the age of 50 and went on to create maps. I imagine that he was able to succeed because he had the humility to learn from people younger than himself. It’s also said that several people accompanied him during his surveying work, and perhaps they followed him because of his good character.
From my own experience working part-time and full-time jobs, I’ve come to feel that no matter how high someone’s position or how old they are, it’s hard to keep following them unless you genuinely feel, “I want to learn from this person” or “I want to work under this person.” Of course, it’s natural for juniors to handle miscellaneous tasks. But I think people can push themselves because they have respect and trust for that person.
I once heard about an acquaintance in Singapore—a woman with two young children—who managed to complete graduate school while holding a managerial position at her company.
Until then, I had assumed that “once you have children, you have no time for yourself,” or that “once you’re in a senior role, you’re too busy with work to go to graduate school.” So I asked her how she managed her time.
She told me that after dinner, while her children were doing their homework, she would study as well. (Most of her classes were online.) As for why she decided to go to graduate school, she said that although she had originally studied law, nowadays “systems” and “AI” are involved in almost everything. She realized she lacked knowledge in those areas and decided to learn.
That made a lot of sense. In today’s world, systems are involved in almost everything we do.
And because these systems evolve at an incredible speed, if you don’t keep learning, you quickly fall behind. In fact, younger people than me often have a sharper intuition for these things. She seemed very busy, but she was also full of energy and vitality.
This is purely my own speculation, but I imagine that Tadataka Ino must have always had a “willingness to learn” and a “sincere approach” even during his days as a merchant, which led to his success.
Perhaps it was this fundamental character that allowed him to succeed both in business and in mapmaking. I’m sure that if he had pursued other fields, he would have succeeded in those as well.
I’m still far from retirement, but I want to live my life without losing my spirit of challenge, and to always maintain a willingness to learn, no matter the circumstances ⭐️
2026.04.05 Lemon
投稿者
bonbons.citron39@gmail.com