Yushima Seidō
湯島聖堂
Taiseiden (Main Hall) of the Yushima Seidō
Religion
Affiliation	Confucianism
Rite	Japanese Neo-Confucianism
Location
Location	Bunkyō, Tokyo
Country	Japan
Shown within Tokyo Show map of Tokyo Yushima Seidō (Japan) Show map of Japan
Geographic coordinates	35°42′03″N139°45′59″E / 35.70083°N 139.76639°E /35.70083; 139.76639
Architecture
Founder	Tokugawa Yoshinao
Completed	1632
National Historic Site of Japan

Yushima Seidō^[1] (湯島聖堂,lit. 'Yushima Sacred Hall'), is aConfucian temple (聖堂) in Yushima,Bunkyō,Tokyo,Japan. It was established in end of the 17th century during theGenroku era of theEdo period. Towards the late Edo period, one of the most important educational institutions of theshogunate, theShōhei-zaka Gakumonjo (昌平坂学問所)), orShōheikō (昌平黌), was founded on its grounds.

In 1632,Tokugawa Yoshinao, the 9th son ofTokugawa Ieyasu anddaimyō ofOwari Domain was granted permission to build an academy inEdo for the study and propagation of Confucianism. The first structure, the Sensei-den (先聖殿), constructed by theneo-Confucian scholarHayashi Razan (1583–1657) in his grounds at Shinobu-ga-oka (now inUeno Park). Under succeeding generations of Tokugawa shoguns and under the leadership of theHayashi clan,Japanese Neo-Confucianism, particularly as developed in the teachings ofZhu Xi became the official orthodoxy and basis of the political philosophy of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The fifth shogun,Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, moved the building to its present site in 1691, where it became the Taiseiden (大成殿) of Yushima Seidō. The Hayashi school of Confucianism moved at the same time, and after theKansei Edict solidified the position of neo-Confucianism the official philosophy of Japan, the school became a state-sponsored academy in 1797, the most important school of this kind in the country for the sons ofhatamoto and many of the sons of variousdaimyo. The school was known as theShōhei-zaka Gakumonjo (昌平坂学問所) orShōheikō (昌平黌), after the supposed birthplace area ofConfucius (昌平,Shōhei in Japanese). The rector of Shoheikō was for all intents and purposes at the head of the educational system in Edo. The academy covered a much larger area than the current grounds of the temple, including where the modern Tokyo Medical and Dental University stands. In addition to lectures at the academy, ceremonies were held in spring and autumn at the adjacentConfucian temple.

In 1871, after theMeiji Restoration, Neo-Confucianism fell from official favor and the academy was closed, although it is considered one of the direct precursors of theUniversity of Tokyo, which was established five years later.

In 1872, Japan's first teachers college was built on the site of the academy. Part of the grounds became the site of Japan's first museum, which was later relocated to Ueno to become theTokyo National Museum. The country's first library, the predecessor of theNational Diet Library was also constructed on the grounds. The grounds became aNational Historic Site in 1922.^[2] The surviving Edo period structures were all destroyed in the1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. The current Yushima Seidō building was designed byItō Chūta and was completed in 1935. The opening ceremony for the new building was attended by representatives of both theRepublic of China andManchukuo. Today,Tokyo Medical and Dental University occupies part of the grounds.

The school had three kinds of students: direct trainees of the Shogunate bureaucracy (稽古人,Keikonin), resident trainees (書生,Shosei) and free listeners (聴聞人,Chōmonjin) attending only open lessons. The Keikonin were from thehatamoto andgokenin families in Edo, direct vassals of the Shogunate. A small dormitory for them was available, but its capacity was limited, and most Keikonin students would commute daily from their Edo estates. A larger dormitory was available for the Shosei resident trainees, who were coming as scholarship students from allHan fiefs of the country. Besides lessons, the Shosei students lived on campus and spent a lot of time scholarly debating among themselves, naturally creating a strong alumni network spanning all over the country, which was key during the Meiji restoration.^[3]

An introduction by a Keikonin following by an interview by the teaching staff was needed to enroll the school. Courses were focusing on confucian teachings with in-depth studies from start to end of Chinese texts. Unsurprisingly, theFour books and Five classics were studied extensively. On top of lessons for the resident students and the Keikonin, there were open courses available to the common people every day.

Several kinds of examinations were performed, from theSodokuginmi (素読吟味, litt."Reading examination"), held yearly to evaluate younger trainees and whether they could continue or not their studies, to the prestigiousGakumonginmi (学問吟味, litt. "Scholar examination"), held only 19 times^[4] in the whole history of the school.

• Saitō Chikudō
• Takasugi Shinsaku
• Akizuki Teijirō
• Kume Kunitake
• Kurimoto Jōun
• Kiyokawa Hachiro
• Matsumoto Keido
• Edayoshi Shinyo
• Mishima Choshu

The colour scheme of the original Taiseiden is believed to have been one ofvermilion paint withverdigris. After being burnt down on a number of occasions, the Taiseiden was rebuilt in 1799 in the style of the Confucian temple inMito, which used black paint. This building survived through the Meiji period, was used to host theYushima Seidō Exposition in 1872, and was designated a national historical site in 1922, but was burnt down in theGreat Kantō earthquake of the following year. The current Taiseiden is inreinforced concrete and was designed byItō Chūta.

Since the Meiji restoration, Yushima Seidō has temporarily shared its premises with a number of different institutions, including theMinistry of Education, theTokyo National Museum, and the forerunners of today’sTsukuba University andOchanomizu University (which is now in a different location but retains "Ochanomizu" in its name).

Inside the compound is the world's largest statue of Confucius, donated in 1975 by theLions Club ofTaipei,Taiwan. There are also statues of the Four Sages,Yan Hui,Zengzi,Kong Ji, andMencius.

In the 1970s, the Taiseiden was used as the location for scenes inNTV'sMonkey television series.

Along with the nearbyYushima Tenman-gū, the Yushima Seidō attracts students praying for success in their examinations.

• List of Historic Sites of Japan (Tōkyō)
• Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) – neo-Confucianist teacher
• Fujiwara Seika – Japanese disciple of Zhu Xi
• Hayashi clan (Confucian scholars)
• Wagakukodansho, a shogunate-sanctioned education institute focused on Japanese classics and Japanese history
• Igakukan, a shogunate-sanctioned education institute focusing on traditional Chinese medicine
• Bansho Shirabesho, a late Edo period institute on the translation/study of foreign works

• Brownlee, John S. (1997)Japanese historians and the national myths, 1600–1945: The Age of the Gods and Emperor Jimmu. Vancouver:University of British Columbia Press.ISBN 978-0-7748-0644-2 Tokyo:University of Tokyo Press.ISBN 978-4-13-027031-1
• Brownlee, John S. (1991).Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712). Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.ISBN 978-0-88920-997-8
• Cullen, Louis M. (2003).A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-82155-1 (cloth)ISBN 978-0-521-52918-1 (paper)
• De Bary, William Theodore,Carol Gluck, Arthur E. Tiedemann. (2005).Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2. New York:Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0-231-12984-8OCLC 255020415
• Kelly, Boyd. (1999).Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing, Vol. 1. London:Taylor & Francis.ISBN 978-1-884964-33-6
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005).Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge:Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5OCLC 48943301
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard A. B. (1956).Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869. Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.OCLC 36644
• Screech, Timon. (2006).Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London:RoutledgeCurzon.ISBN 978-0-7007-1720-0.
• Yamashita, Samuel Hideo. "Yamasaki Ansai and Confucian School Relations, 1650–1675" inEarly Modern Japan, (Fall 2001). Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.

Media related toYushima Seido at Wikimedia Commons

• Tokyo'sShōhei-kō (Yushima Sedō) today

• Confucian temples in Japan
• Religious buildings and structures in Tokyo
• Education in Japan
• Buildings and structures in Bunkyō
• Edo
• Historic Sites of Japan
• 1632 establishments in Japan
• 17th-century Confucian temples
• World's fair sites in Japan

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• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
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• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Infobox religious building with unknown affiliation
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• Commons category link is on Wikidata