Hayashi Gahō
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, also known as Hayashi Shunsai, 林 春斎, , was a Japanese
Neo-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in t ...
philosopher and writer in the system of higher education maintained by the Tokugawa ''bakufu'' during the
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 characteriz ...
. He was a member of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars. Following in the footsteps of his father,
Hayashi Razan , also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher and writer, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four ''shōguns'' of the Tokugawa ''bakufu''. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japa ...
, Gahō (formerly Harukatsu) would devote a lifetime to expressing and disseminating the official neo-Confucian doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate. Like his distinguished father, Gahō's teaching and scholarly written work emphasized Neo-Confucianist virtues and order.


Academician

Gahō became the unofficial
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of what would become Edo’s Confucian Academy, the Shōhei-kō (afterwards known as the
Yushima Seidō , is a Confucian temple () in Yushima, Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was established in end of the 17th century during the Genroku era of the Edo period. Towards the late Edo period, one of the most important educational institutions of the sh ...
).Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.''. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 300. This institution stood at the apex of the country-wide educational and training system which was created and maintained by the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. Gahō's hereditary title was ''
Daigaku-no-kami was a Japanese Imperial court position and the title of the chief education expert in the rigid court hierarchy. The Imperial ''Daigaku-no-kami'' predates the Heian period; and the court position continued up through the early Meiji period. The ...
,'' which, in the context of the Tokugawa shogunate hierarchy, effectively translates as "head of the state university.'' In the elevated context his father engendered, Gahō worked on editing a chronicle of Japanese emperors compiled in conformance with his father's principles. ''
Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the ''American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...
'' grew into a seven-volume text which was completed in 1650. Gahō himself was accepted as a noteworthy scholar in that period; but the potent Shōhei-kō and Hayashi family links to the work’s circulation are part of the explanation for this work's 18th and 19th century popularity. Contemporary readers must have found some degree of usefulness in this summary drawn from historical records. The narrative of ''Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'' stops around 1600, most likely in deference to the sensibilities of the Tokugawa regime. Gahō's text did not continue up through his present day; rather, he terminated the chronicles just before the last pre-Tokugawa ruler. Gahō modestly observed that "in a book intended for the shogun's eyes, it is incumbent upon one to be circumspect." This book was published in the mid-17th century and it was reissued in 1803, "perhaps because it was a necessary reference work for officials." Gahō would become his father's successor as advisor to the shogun. He was, in his lifetime, the Tokugawa shogunate's chief scholar. After Razan's death, Gahō finished work his father had begun, including a number of other works designed to help readers learn from Japan's history. In 1665, Gahō published an anthology of historical poems (''Honchō Ichinin Isshu''). In 1670, the Hayashi family's scholarly reputation was burnished when Gahō published the 310 volumes of . Together with his brother, Hayashi Dokkōsai (formerly Morikatsu), Gahō compiled, edited and posthumously published selections from their father's body of writings: * ''Hayashi Razan bunshū'' (''The Collected Works of Hayashi Razan''), reissued in 1918 * ''Razan Sensei Isshū'' (Master Razan's Poems''), reissued in 1921 Gahō's son,
Hayashi Hōkō , also known as Hayashi Nobutatsu, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian scholar, teacher and administrator in the system of higher education maintained by the Tokugawa ''bakufu'' during the Edo period. He was a member of the Hayashi clan of Confucian ...
(formerly Nobuatsu), would eventually inherit the position as head of the Shōhei-kō or Yushima Seidō, as well as the honorific ''Daigaku-no kami;'' and his progeny would continue the Hayashi traditions. In January 1858, it would be the hereditary ''Daigaku-no-kami'' descendant of Hayashi Razan and Hayashi Gahō who would head the bakufu delegation which sought advice from the emperor in deciding how to deal with newly assertive foreign powers. This would have been the first time the Emperor's counsel was actively sought since the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The most easily identified consequence of this transitional overture would be the increased numbers of messengers which were constantly streaming back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto during the next decade. There is no small irony in the fact that this 19th-century scholar/bureaucrat would find himself at a crucial nexus of managing political change—moving arguably "by the book" through uncharted waters with well-settled theories as the only guide.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 324.


Selected works

* ''Kan'ei shoka keizu-den'' (with Hayashi Razan), a genealogy of warrior families. * ''Honchō tsugan'' (with Haayshi Razan), a history of Japan. * ''Kokushi jitsuroki''. * ''Nihon Ōdai ichiran''. * ''Kan'ei keizu'' (1643).


See also

*
Hayashi clan (Confucian scholars) The was a Japanese samurai clan which served as important advisors to the Tokugawa shōguns. Among members of the clan in powerful positions in the shogunate was its founder Hayashi Razan, who passed on his post as hereditary rector of the neo ...


Notes


References

* Brownlee, John S. (1997) ''Japanese historians and the national myths, 1600–1945: The Age of the Gods and Emperor Jimmu.'' Vancouver:
University of British Columbia Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...
. Tokyo:
University of Tokyo Press The is a university press affiliated with the University of Tokyo in Japan. It was founded in 1951, following the post-World War II reorganization of the university. Honors * Japan Foundation: Special Prize, 1990. Location The headquarters o ...
. *Brownlee, John S. (1991). ''Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712).'' Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. * Keene, Donald. (1999). '' Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Revealed through 1,000 Years of Diaries.'' New York:
Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
. * Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
.
OCLC 48943301
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard A. B. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869.'' Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society. * Screech, Timon. (2006). ''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822.'' London:
RoutledgeCurzon Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
.


External links


-- Tokyo's ''Shōhei-kō'' (Yushima Sedō) today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayashi, Gaho 1618 births 1688 deaths Advisors to Tokugawa shoguns Confucianism in Japan Japanese Confucianists Japanese philosophers Japanese writers of the Edo period 17th-century Japanese historians