was a Japanese

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

, student of Hirata

kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

, and low-ranking retainer of the Naegi Domain. He also used the name . His eldest and third sons were and Aoyama Tanemichi respectively.

Biography

In 1852, Aoyama enrolled in the Ibukinoya academy founded by

Hirata Atsutane was a Japanese scholar, conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies, and one of the most significant 19th century theologians of the Shintō religion. His literary name was , and his primary assumed name ...

. At the time, the Ibukinoya was led by Atsutane's adopted heir Hirata Kanetane. Because his superior Tōyama Tomoyoshi was both a

sōshaban were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Conventional interpretations have construed this Japanese title as "master of ceremonies" Created in 1632, this ''bakufu'' title identified an official selected from the ranks of the ...

and

wakadoshiyori The ', or "Junior Elders", were high government officials in the Edo period Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). The position was established around 1633, but appointments were irregular until 1662. The four to six ''wakadoshiyori'' we ...

, Aoyama was able to stay informed on political developments of the time. One such event was the attempted assassination of

Andō Nobumasa was a late-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 5th ''daimyō'' of Iwakitaira Domain in the Tōhoku region of Japan, and the 10th hereditary chieftain of the Andō clan. He was the eldest son of Andō Nobuyori and his mother was a daughter o ...

. During his studies under Kanetane, Aoyama inducted a number of other students into the Ibukinoya, particularly from the region surrounding his native Nakatsugawa. The kokugaku scholar Suzuki Shigetane was excommunicated by Kanetane for

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

after having sought to find

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

s for removing unworthy

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

s from the throne. Suzuki was later murdered at his home in 1863. The assassin was allegedly Aoyama, although it is unclear if Kanetane himself had any involvement. and were also suspects in the killing. Aoyama and his son Naomichi assisted the new government's fledgling bureaucracy during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

. During that time, Aoyama was assigned to a post in the

Department of Divinities The , also known as the Department of Shinto Affairs, Department of Rites, Department of Worship, as well as Council of Divinities, was a Japanese Imperial bureaucracy established in the 8th century, as part of the reforms. It was first establish ...

. As part of the Hirata school's nativist program, they spearheaded a violent campaign of anti-Buddhist persecution. This saw the demolition of the , the Naegi domainal

bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant ju ...

, as well as the destruction of numerous other Buddhist facilities. Shocked by this as well as the accompanying purge of

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

education, a number of Confucian

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

of Naegi planned a revolt. The conspirators included the local leaders , , , , and . Aoyama detected the conspiracy, however, and orchestrated the arrests of those involved on January 12, 1870. On May 6 of the same year, Aoyama was joined by fellow scholars Ogiwara Itsuo and for a festival honoring the spirits of the

Four Great Men of Kokugaku The Four Great Men of Kokugaku (國學の四大人, ''Kokugaku no shitaijin'' or ''Kokugaku no shiushi'') are a group of Edo-period Japanese scholars recognized as the most significant figures in the Kokugaku tradition of Japanese philology, relig ...

. In 1876, the Aoyama house was destroyed by an

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

attack. Aoyama himself died in 1891.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoyama, Kagemichi 1819 births 1891 deaths Samurai Kokugaku scholars People of the Boshin War Japanese nationalist assassins Japanese Shintoists 19th-century Shintoists Meiji Restoration