refers to a school of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

historical and

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 ''Shintois ...

studies that arose in the Mito Domain (modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture).

Early

The school had its genesis in 1657 when

Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese 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 the sec ...

(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). The fundamental approach of the project was

Neo-Confucianist 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 th ...

, 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 An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, 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 emphasised 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.

Late

Around the end of the eighteenth 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 prominent Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography C ...

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

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 r ...

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

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

period. The school exerted a major influence on the sonnō jōi 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. 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

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 Japanese philosophy Mito Domain Confucianism in Japan

Early

Late

Present

See also

Notes

References