金田一春彦先生が亡くなったというニュースを見て、わたしが子供の頃に持っていた「疑問」を思い出した。わたしが子供の頃からずっと持っている国語辞典の編集者は「金田一京助」と「金田一春彦」だ。確か京助さんの息子が春彦さんだと聞いたことがある。今でこそ「金田一」が苗字だってことはわかるけど、当時は「金田（かねだ）」が苗字で「一春彦（いちはるひこ）」が名前かな？それとも「かねだいち、はるひこ」かな？とか思っていた。のちに金田一春彦先生がテレビによく出るようになって「きんだいち、はるひこ」というのが判明。それにしても珍しい苗字だよね。
May 21, 2004
Dr. Haruhiko Kindaichi
Seeing the news that Dr. Haruhiko Kindaichi passed away, that reminded me of a question, which I had had when I was a child. The editors of Japanese dictionaries which I had from my childhood were Dr. “Kyosuke Kindaichi” and Dr. “Haruhiko Kindaichi”. I’d heard that the son of Kyosuke was Haruhiko at that time. Now I know “Kindaichi” is a last name. I wondered that “Kaneda” (the Japanese reading of a Chinese character of “ Kinda”) was the last name and “Ichiharuhiko” was the first name, or that “Kanedaichi Haruhiko”. Later I saw Dr. Haruhiko Kindaichi on TV frequently to get to know the right way to read was “Kindaichi Haruhiko”. That’s an uncommon last name, isn’t it?
