was a leading academic in the

Kaitokudō The Kaitokudō (Japanese:懐徳堂) was a merchant academy located in Osaka, Japan, during the Tokugawa period. Although it opened its doors in 1724, it was founded officially in 1726 by Nakai Shūan. It remained a public institution until 1868, a ...

academy tradition of scholarship. He was the first son of

Nakai Shuan Nakai may refer to: People * Nakai (surname) * In botany, an abbreviation for author Takenoshin Nakai Places * Nakai, Kanagawa, Japan * Nakai District, Laos * Nakai Misl, former principality of the Punjab Region Others * Nakai (Japanese vocation ...

(d. 1758), one of the Kaitokudō's two founders, and was influenced by his teacher and mentor Goi Ranju (五井蘭洲:1697-1762). He became the administrative head of the Kaitokudō in 1797 during the

Tokugawa 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 characterize ...

in Japan. An extrovert known for his bureaucratic skills and his firm precise

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

, Chikuzan was vastly different in demeanour to his brother

Nakai Riken was a leading academic in the Kaitokudo academy tradition of scholarship. He was the younger son of Nakai Shuan (1758 d.), one of the Kaitokudo's two founding leaders, and was influenced by his teacher and mentor Goi Ranju. His intellectualised ...

, although their underlying epistemologies, beliefs and degree of tenacious individualism were similar. They both focused on the epistemological study of virtue in the merchant class of Tokugawa Japan, furthering the work of Goi Ranju and consolidating previous thought around the Kaitokudō school. Together, through their scholarly works they would bring a level of prestige to the Kaitokudō with their study of virtue. Ultimately they wanted to reconcile merchants and contemporary views of merchants in Tokugawa society.

Life and Philosophy

The first son of

, one of the two main founders of the Kaitokudo, he was just as adept in the external bureaucratic maneuvering of administration as his father. He attended the Kaitokudo from a young age, where his interests in the epistemological study of virtue were cultivated by the scholar Goi Ranju. Both felt that education should be their primary concern rather than working on the side to supplement their income, something symptomatic of many ''Jusha'' who preferred to operate pharmacies on the side. This earned them scorn from many of the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

merchants who contributed to the school's cost of operation. Both he and his brother Rikan took care of the elderly Goi in his later years, something for which both are remembered. While he was of superior intellectual capabilities compared to the successor his father supported in the academy, Miyake Shunro, his father subtly made a position of leadership for his son. Shuan left a fund of twenty ''kan'' to insure against emergencies to be managed by Chikuzan. In this way Shunro would be responsible for formal activities and Chikuzan would be in charge of financial activities "to assure the immortality of the academy-''Eitai sōzoku no yō''". (Najita 151–152). Chikuzan whole-heartedly denounced

Ogyū Sorai (March 21, 1666 – February 28, 1728), pen name Butsu Sorai, was a Japanese Confucian philosopher. He has been described as the most influential such scholar during the Edo period Japan. His primary area of study was in applying the teachings ...

and contended that all people have potential, even commoners could become scholars, while he also denounced religion and superstition.

Works

*''Hi-Cho'' – an emotional work written to denounce

and his

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...

. Said that Sorai simplified things too much and mistranslated the ancient works Mencius, Analects, etc. Was accused of attacking the person Sorai rather than the person's arguments in this work. *''Isshi'' 1797 – a laudatory history that underwent many drafts during the Tokugawa

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

. This body of work upset his brother due to the work's apologetic bias. This bias also earned him the respect and affection of the

. A work that reflects his own form of ''realpolitik''. This was a way for him to gain assurance from the Bakufu to continue running the Kaitokudo but corrupted his academic integrity. *''Sobo kigen''

Legacy

References

Najita, Tetsuo was an American historian. Biography A nisei, Najita was raised in Hawaii. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1958, and was named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. While in Grinnell, he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Najita completed a doctorat ...

. ''Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan. The Kaitokudo, Merchant Academy of Osaka''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakai, Chikuzan Japanese academics 1730 births 1804 deaths Japanese writers of the Edo period Japanese atheists 18th-century Japanese philosophers 19th-century Japanese philosophers