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Hirata Atsutane | |
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 Self-portrait by Hirata, made in 1841 at the age of 65. | |
| Born | Ōwada Taneyuki (大和田胤行) (1776-10-06)October 6, 1776 |
| Died | November 2, 1843(1843-11-02) (aged 67) Kubota Domain, Dewa Province, Japan |
Hirata Atsutane (平田 篤胤; 6 October 1776 – 2 November 1843) was a Japanese scholar, conventionally ranked as one of theFour Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies,[1] and one of the most significant 19th centurytheologians of theShintō religion. His literary name wasIbukinoya (気吹舎), and his primary assumed name wasDaigaku (大壑,Great Abyss)[1]. He also used the namesDaikaku (大角),Gentaku (玄琢), andGenzui (玄瑞). Hispersonal name wasHanbē (半兵衛).
Hirata was born as the fourth son of Ōwada Seihē Toshitane (大和田 清兵衛 祚胤), anObangashira (low-ranking)samurai ofKubota Domain, in what is now part of the city ofAkita in northern Japan. Little is known of his early childhood, but it appears he was impoverished and faced hostility from his step-mother. He left home in 1795, renouncing his ties to his family and to the Domain and traveled toEdo and worked as a laborer and as a servant, while pursuing opportunities to studyrangaku,geography, andastronomy. In 1800, at the age of 25, he caught the attention of Hirata Tōbē (平田藤兵衛), a scholar and instructor in theYamaga school of military strategy, formerly ofBitchū-Matsuyama Domain, who adopted him and from whom he received the family name of Hirata. Around this time, he met his future wife, the daughter of Ishibashi Tsunefusa (石橋常房), ahatamoto ofNumazu Domain, whom he married the following year. Evidently the two became romantically involved while Hirata was working as a menial servant in the Ishibashi household.[2] Taking his family name, she was known as Hirata Orise (平田織瀬). Orise died in 1812.
Hirata claimed to be a descendant ofTaira no Masakado.[3]
While in Edo, Hirata was a student of theNeo-Confucianism ofYamazaki Ansai (1619–1682); however, his interests were very broad. Concerned byRussian raids and incursions into northEzo (today'sSakhalin and theKuril Islands), he studied modernDutch medicine under the surgeonYoshida Chōshuku [ja]. His studies under Yoshida included at least one human dissection.[4] He later turned towardsDaoism as found in the works of the Chinese philosopherZhuangzi. He learned about the works ofMotoori Norinaga, the founder of thekokugaku movement, in 1803, two years after Motoori's death. Hirata claimed later to have received the mantle ofkokugaku teacher in a dream directly from Motoori Norinaga, but the story is apocryphal. Originally, he published under the name ofMasuganoya (真菅乃屋), meaning "house ofsedge", but during a tour of rural shrines in 1816 he acquired an ancientstone vessel flute which he cherished dearly and changed his publishing name to Ibukinoya, or "house of breath". He became a student ofMotoori Haruniwa, and read voraciously the ancient and Chinese classics, foreign works byNicolaus Copernicus andIsaac Newton and treatises on Buddhism and Shinto. He was also a prolific writer. Representative works in the study of ancient Japanese traditions includeTama no mihashira,Koshi seibun,Kodō taii andZoku shintō taii, and the commentariesKoshichō andKoshiden. He is also noted for his studies of ancient Indian and Chinese tradition (Indo zōshi andMorokoshi taikoden), and texts dealing with the spirit world, includingSenkyō ibun andKatsugorō saisei kibun. His early workHonkyō gaihen indicates an acquaintance with Christian literature that had been authored by Jesuits in China.
Though he is traditionally ranked fourth in the lineage ofkokugaku scholars, Hirata actually represents a break with the purely scholarly urban culture characteristic of the revival of classical nativist learning, and represents a trend toward a populist message. Hirata laid particular emphasis on reaching the average man, and adapted his own style to them by employing at times the vernacular idiom. Hirata frequently expressed hostility to the Confucian and Buddhist scholars of the day, advocating instead a revival of the “ancient ways” in which theemperor was to be revered. Hirata's first published work,Kamōsho (1803) was a scathing attack on the works of Confucian philosopherDazai Shundai (1680–1747) on Buddhism, and resulted in an invitation to teach from the Yoshida family, the hereditary clan leadingYoshida Shinto.
The contents of his 1841 treatiseTenchō mukyūreki, in which he suggested that loyalty to the Emperor ought to take precedence over loyalty to one's lord (i.e. theshogun), angered the rulingTokugawa government, and he was sentenced tohouse arrest in Akita until his death in 1843.
Hirata's activities eventually attracted over 500 pupils, including Okuni Takamasa and Suzuki Shigetane. Hisnationalist writings had considerable impact on thesamurai who supported theSonnō jōi movement and who fought in theBoshin War to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate during theMeiji Restoration.
Hirata's influence onkokugaku has recently been thought to be overestimated. While he is called one of the "four great men of kokugaku", this is a phrase he invented himself. His work more often influenced religious groups than the government in theEmpire of Japan.
Among Hirata's more enduring contributions to Japanese thought was to remind all Japanese that they were descended from thekami, not only the Imperial family and certain aristocratic families. As he put it, "this, our glorious land, is the land in which the kami have their origin, and we are one and all descendants of the kami. For this reason, if we go back from the parents who gave us life and being, beyond the grandparents and great-grandparents, and consider the ancestors of ancient times, then the original ancestors of those must necessarily have been the kami."[5]
A poem by Atsutane, collected byTsunoda Tadayuki in Ibukinoya kashū (氣吹廼舎歌集), was included in the 1942Aikoku Hyakunin Isshu [ja].
Spread the righteous path across the countless countries of the endless blue sea
青海原潮の八百重の八十国につぎてひろめよこの正道を
Hirata died at his home in Nakakame-cho, Akita in 1843, and as per the provisions of his will, was buried on a hillside in the city.39°43′43″N140°08′14″E / 39.72863931°N 140.1372221°E /39.72863931; 140.1372221 The tombstone is a natural stone simply inscribed with his name, surrounded by a stone fence and a stonetorii gate are placed at the entrance. The tomb was designated aNational Historic Site of Japan in 1934.[6]
