refers to a school of Japanese historical and

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

studies that arose in the

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

Early history

The school had its genesis in 1657 when

Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese daimyō, daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming ...

(1628–1700), second head of the Mito Domain, commissioned the compilation of the '' Dai Nihonshi''. Among scholars gathered for the project were Asaka Tanpaku (1656–1737), Sassa Munekiyo (1640–1698), Kuriyama Senpō (1671–1706), and Miyake Kanran (1673–1718). Under the influence of Ming loyalist thinker Zhu Shunshui (1600-1682), the fundamental approach of the project was Neo-Confucianist, based on the view that historical development followed moral laws. Tokugawa Mitsukuni believed that Japan, as a nation that had long been under the unified rule of the

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 ...

, was a perfect exemplar of a "nation" as understood in Sinocentric thought. The ''Dai Nihon-shi'' thus became a history of Japan as ruled by the emperors and emphasized respect for the imperial court and

deities. In order to record historical facts, the school's historians gathered local historical sources, often compiling their own historical works in the process. Early Mitogaku scholarship was focused on historiography and scholarly work.

Later history

Around the end of the 18th century, Mitogaku came to address contemporary social and political issues, beginning the era of Later Mitogaku. The ninth Mito clan leader,

Tokugawa Nariaki Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭, April 4, 1800 – September 29, 1860) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography Clan leader ...

(1800–1860), greatly expanded Mitogaku by establishing the Kōdōkan as the clan school. In addition to

Confucianist 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 ...

and

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 ...

thought, the school also absorbed knowledge from medicine, astronomy and other natural sciences. The Later Mitogaku era lasted until the

Bakumatsu were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...

period. The school exerted a major influence on the

sonnō jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s, during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sou ...

movement and became one of the driving forces behind the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. However, it failed to gain the protection of the new government. The ''Kōdōkan'' was disbanded and its library largely taken over by the state.

Present day

The ''Mito-shi Gakkai'' of Mito city, Ibaraki prefecture, is undertaking research into the historical and ideological aspects of Mitogaku. Major works of the school include '' Shintō shūsei'', '' Dai Nihon Jingi Shi'', and '' Jingi Shiryō'', and collections and studies of

fudoki are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...

and studies of the '' Kogo Shūi''.

Notes

References

* Koschmann, J. Victor. ''The Mito Ideology: Discourse, Reform, and Insurrection in Late Tokugawa Japan, 1790-1864''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. {{Authority control Confucianism in Japan History of education in Japan Kokugaku Mito Domain Schools in Japan

Early history

Later history

Present day

See also

Notes

References