was a Japanese historian, educator, and author active during the early 20th century.

Biography

Ishihara was born in the vicinity of

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

city shortly after 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. His father was , a former

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

retainer of the

Kumamoto Domain The , also known as , was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Higo Province in modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture.

and staff officer attached to the 2nd Regiment of the , an armed anti-foreign organization established by students of the

kokugaku ''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label=Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to refo ...

theologian

Hayashi Ōen was a Japanese nationalist, priest, scholar of kokugaku, and Shinto fundamentalist. He was also a physician and military strategist. He is most often known by the pseudonyms or, rarely, . Biography A samurai by birth, Ōen was born the third ...

. In 1876, when Ishihara was three years old, his father participated in the Keishintō's assault on Kumamoto Castle. Although he survived the first engagement, Unshirō chose to commit

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

alongside a friend after the uprising's defeat by forces under

Kodama Gentarō Viscount was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a government minister during the Meiji period. He was instrumental in establishing the modern Imperial Japanese military. Early life Kodama was born on March 16, 1852, in Toku ...

. The young Ishihara was present when military police later arrived to search the family house, and he was thereafter raised by his mother and grandmother. Ishihara was distraught that the Keishintō would be forgotten while still branded insurgents, and devoted his life to gathering historical materials and testimony from surviving relatives of the men involved and investigating the truth of the uprising. Manuscripts collected by Ishihara included the , a brief account of the rebellion's planning and execution by the captured participant

Ogata Kotarō Ogata (written: 尾形, 緒方, 緒形, 小形, 小県 or 尾方) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese stock car racing driver *, Japanese chemist *, Japanese sprint canoeist *, Japanese painter *, Japanese ...

. In 1935, the results of his studies were published in

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

form under the name . He was also a member of the , an association for the support of relatives of Keishintō members and general education about the rebellion. Near the end of his life, Ishihara exchanged letters with

Tokutomi Sohō was the pen name of a journalist and historian active from late Meiji period through mid-Shōwa period Japan. Named Tokutomi Iichirō at birth, he was the older brother of noted author, Tokutomi Roka. Biography Sohō was born in Minamata, Higo ...

on several occasions. He died in 1936.

Legacy

Many of the documents collected by Ishihara were preserved at in Kumamoto. Ishihara's work was expounded upon by Hasuda Zenmei, one of the last kokugaku students and an early influence on the author

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, Nationalism, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was ...

. Later in the 20th century, material from the Sakurayama archive was examined by the author and historian . During the late 1960s, Araki collaborated with Yukio Mishima in the latter's preliminary research for the

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

novel

Runaway Horses is a 1969 novel by Yukio Mishima, the second in his ''Sea of Fertility'' tetralogy. Mishima did much research to prepare for this novel, visiting locations recorded in the book and studying historical information about the Shinpūren Rebellio ...

, which contains a depiction of the Shinpūren rebellion very closely modeled on Ishihara's text.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishihara, Shiko 1874 births 1936 deaths 19th-century_Japanese_historians 20th-century Japanese historians Japanese Shintoists Writers from Kumamoto Prefecture People from Kumamoto Prefecture