was a ''
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 t ...
'' scholar,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
and
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
during mid-
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
Japan. Along with
Kada no Azumamaro
was a poet and philologist of the early Edo period. His ideas had a germinal impact on the nativist school of National Learning in Japan.
Life
Azumamaro was born the second son of Hakura Nobuaki (1625-1696), father of a scholarly family that ...
,
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie ...
, and
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 theologians of the Shintō religion. His literary name was , and his primary assumed name was . He also ...
, he was regarded as one 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, rel ...
, and through his research into the spirit of ancient Japan (through his studies of the ''
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
'' and other works of ancient literature) he expounded on the theory of ''
magokoro
is a principle known in Japan related in particular to the origin of the country, the .
It has also been described in Japanese literature. Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) devoted about 35 years of his life to the elaboration of a Commentary (Koj ...
'', which he held to be fundamental to the history of Japan.
Independently of and alongside his contemporary
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie ...
, Mabuchi is accredited with the initial discovery of
Lyman's Law, governing ''
rendaku
is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of a non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word. In modern Japanese, ''rendaku'' is common but at times unpredictable, with certain words un ...
'' in the
Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
, though which would later be named after
Benjamin Smith Lyman
Benjamin Smith Lyman (11 December 1835 – 30 August 1920) was an American mining engineer, surveyor, and an amateur linguist and anthropologist.
Biography
Benjamin Smith Lyman was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard Uni ...
.
Biography
Mabuchi was born in 1697 in the village of Iba in
Tōtōmi Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The or ...
(currently part of the city of
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
Ha ...
), as the third son of Okabe Masanobu. The Okabe were hereditary ''
kannushi
A , also called , is a person responsible for the maintenance of a as well as for leading worship of a given .* ''Kannushi'' (in Japanese), Iwanami Japanese dictionary, 6th Edition (2008), DVD version The characters for are sometimes also re ...
'' of
Kamo Shrine in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...
, but his father was from a
cadet
A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...
branch of the clan and was a farmer. In 1707, he began training under Sugiura Kuniakira, a ''kokugaku'' scholar with a private academy in Hamamatsu and a disciple of
Kada no Azumamaro
was a poet and philologist of the early Edo period. His ideas had a germinal impact on the nativist school of National Learning in Japan.
Life
Azumamaro was born the second son of Hakura Nobuaki (1625-1696), father of a scholarly family that ...
. Mabuchi married in 1723, but his wife died the following year. At the age of 37, Mabuchi moved to Kyoto to study directly under Kada no Azumamaro. Following the master's death in 1736, Mabuchi moved to
Edo
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
in 1738 where he taught ''kokugaku''. In 1746, he was hired by
Tokugawa Munetake, the head of the
Tayasu branch of the
Tokugawa clan
The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful '' daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this cl ...
.
Mabuchi's works include commentaries on the ''Man'yōshū'', ''
norito'' (Shinto prayers), ''
kagura
is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase , indicating the presence of gods () in the practice.
One major function of is , involving a procession-trance process. Usually a female shaman will perfor ...
'' (Shinto dances), the ''
Tale of Genji
Tale may refer to:
* Narrative, or story, a report of real or imaginary connected events
* TAL effector (TALE), a type of DNA binding protein
* Tale, Albania, a resort town
* Tale, Iran, a village
* Tale, Maharashtra, a village in Ratnagiri distri ...
'', the meaning of poems, and other ancient works and their themes. His disciples included
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie ...
, Arakida Hisaoyu, Kato Chikage, Murata Harumi,
Katori Nahiko, Hanawa Hokiichi, Uchiyama Matatsu, and Kurita Hijimaro, and also included several women.
In 1763, while Mabuchi was on his way to
Ise Shrine
The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and .
The Inner ...
, Motoori Norinaga sought him out and became a disciple. This single night of discussions, later known as "the night in Matsuzaka", was the only occasion on which Norinaga directly received teaching from Mabuchi, although the two men later corresponded.
Mabuchi died in 1769 in Edo, at the age of 73. His grave can be found in the
Tōkai-ji cemetery in
Shinagawa
is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies.
, the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total are ...
and was designed a
National Historic Site in 1926.
An explanatory marker stands at the site of Mabuchi's residence in Edo (
Hisamatsu-cho,
Nihonbashi
is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...
,
Chūō, Tokyo
is a special ward that forms part of the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyobashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metrop ...
), and a memorial museum was built beside the house where he was born in Hamamatsu.
See also
*
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 t ...
*
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
*
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...
*
Kada no Azumamaro
was a poet and philologist of the early Edo period. His ideas had a germinal impact on the nativist school of National Learning in Japan.
Life
Azumamaro was born the second son of Hakura Nobuaki (1625-1696), father of a scholarly family that ...
*
Japanese nationalism
is a form of nationalism that asserts the belief that the Japanese are a monolithic nation with a single immutable culture, and promotes the cultural unity of the Japanese. Over the last two centuries, it has encompassed a broad range of ideas ...
*
Keichū
(1640 – April 3, 1701) was a Buddhist priest and a scholar of Kokugaku in the mid Edo period. Keichū's grandfather was a personal retainer of Katō Kiyomasa but his father was a ''rōnin'' from the Amagasaki fief. When he was 13, Keichū left ...
*
Magokoro
is a principle known in Japan related in particular to the origin of the country, the .
It has also been described in Japanese literature. Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) devoted about 35 years of his life to the elaboration of a Commentary (Koj ...
*
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie ...
*
Ueda Akinari
Ueda Akinari or Ueda Shūsei (, July 25, 1734 in Osaka – August 8, 1809 in Kyoto) was a Japanese author, scholar and '' waka'' poet, and a prominent literary figure in 18th-century Japan. He was an early writer in the '' yomihon'' genre an ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabuchi, Kamo no
Kokugaku scholars
18th-century Japanese philosophers
1697 births
1769 deaths
People from Hamamatsu
Japanese writers of the Edo period
18th-century Japanese poets