湯川秀樹的父親小川琢治（1870-1941）是京都帝國大學地質學教授，他學識淵博，兼通文史，與歷史學者內藤湖南（1866-1934）與哲學家西田幾多郎交誼深厚；母親曾就讀東洋英和女校，是當時少數通曉英語的女性；書法老師山本竟山則為知名書法大家。這樣兼容理學與文學的家庭氛圍，孕育出在各領域皆有所建樹的學者──長子芳樹（1902-1959）是冶金學者；次子茂樹（1904-1987）為中國史學者；三子秀樹為理論物理學家；四子環樹（1910-1993）則專研中國文學。此外，物理學家中谷宇吉郎（1900-1962）則是與湯川秀樹相知最深的友人之一，其以雪花的研究聞名，也擅長散文寫作。本單元展出湯川秀樹家族與周圍學友的墨跡，呈現二十世紀前半日本知識圈兼容理性與感性的文化樣貌。

 

Hideki Yukawa’s father, Takuji Ogawa (1870–1941), was a professor of geology at Kyoto Imperial University—an erudite scholar well versed in both the sciences and the humanities, and a close friend of the historian Konan Naitō (1866–1934), and the famous philosopher. Yukawa’s mother, a former student of Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin, was among the few women of her time fluent in English. This unique family—harmonizing scientific inquiry with literary cultivation—nurtured a generation of accomplished scholars: the eldest son Yoshiki (1902–1959), a metallurgist; the second son Shigeki (1904–1987), a scholar of Chinese history ; the third son Hideki, a theoretical physicist; and the youngest, Tamaki (1910–1993), a Sinologist.
Among Yukawa’s closest intellectual companions was the physicist Ukichiro Nakaya (1900–1962), renowned for his pioneering research on snow crystals and celebrated for his elegant essays.
This section presents handwritings by Yukawa’s family and scholarly circle, offering a glimpse into a cultural milieu where rational inquiry and literary sensibility intertwined.