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 a
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 ...
priest.
Biography
Tsunoda Tadayuki was born in 1834 in the remote village of Nagadoro (now within the city of Saku,
Nagano Prefecture
is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...
), the second son of , a
kannushi
, also called , is the common term for a member of the clergy at a responsible for maintaining the shrine and leading worship of the there.* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The chara ...
of the local Chikatsu Shrine. Additionally, his father served as a tutor to the Naitō
daimyo
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to ...
of
Iwamurada Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Iwamurada Jin’ya, located in what is now part of the city of Saku in Nagano Prefecture.domain school, the . Little is known of his early life and childhood.
In 1855, he absconded from his domain and travelled to
Edo
Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...
in order to study under the
mitogaku
refers to a school of History of Japan, Japanese historical and Shinto studies that arose in the Mito Domain (modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture).
Early history
The school had its genesis in 1657 when Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628–1700), second head o ...
theorist
Fujita Tōko
was an influential samurai scholar who was considered a major representative of the Mito School during the late Edo period. His work would formalise an understanding of the , the national polity of the late Tokugawa shogunate.
Biography
Fuji ...
. Around that time, he formally became a disciple of the kokugaku theologian Hirata Kanetane, heir to the legacy of
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 ...
.
Later, in 1863, Tsunoda was one of a group of anti-foreign extremists who carried out the at
Tōji-in
is a Buddhist temple of the Rinzai Tenryū sect located in Kita Ward, Kyoto, Japan, and one of two funeral temples (''bodaiji'') dedicated to Ashikaga Takauji, first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga dynasty. Its main object of worship is Shakyamun ...
in the vicinity of
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
. He was thereafter hunted by shogunate spies and hid for several years in the residence of , a fellow Hirata disciple, in the Ina Valley of the
Tenryū River
The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river.
Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shizuoka Prefec ...
.
In 1867, with the imminent outbreak of 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 ...
, Tsunoda came out of hiding and, under the assumed name "Yonegawa Shinanō", entered into the service of . When Sawa was appointed governor-general of Northern Japan within the revolutionary Imperial Army, Tsunoda served as liaison with the
Kubota Domain
was a Han (Japan), feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita, Akita, Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governe ...
and was involved in that domain's defection from the shogunate.
Alongside many other Hirata disciples, Tsunoda attempted to enter into political service after the conclusion of the war. However, the progressive establishment, fearing that Hirata primitivism would obstruct the national modernization program, sought to expel Hirata influence from the government. As a result of this, Tsunoda was dispatched to serve as a provincial shrine priest and thereby removed from direct involvement in national affairs.
Shrines to which he was attached included Hirota, Shimogamo, and finally
Atsuta Shrine
is a Shinto shrine, home to the sacred sword '' Kusanagi no Tsurugi'', one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan—traditionally believed to have been established during the reign of Emperor Keikō (reigned 71–130 CE). It is located in Atsu ...
where he served as high priest. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1914.
To the end of his life Tsunoda despised all things Western, and made a point of never wearing a single piece of Western clothing. Only once, on the occasion of an audience with
the Emperor
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...
, was an exception made for a
suit
A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...
.
Legacy
Tsunoda, under the fictional name , is a major character depicted in
Shimazaki Tōson Shimazaki (written: , or ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Aki Shimazaki (born 1954), Canadian writer and translator
*, Japanese idol and singer
*, Japanese speed skater
*, Japanese volleyball player
*, Japanese v ...