was a ''

Confucian scholar Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

in late

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 ...

Bakumatsu period 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 government. ...

Japan.

Biography

Satō was the second son of Satō Nobuyoshi, a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...

in the service of

Iwamura Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Mino Province in what is now the town of Iwamura, Gifu. It was centered around Iwamura Castle, and controlled parts of Mino and Suruga Provinces. Iwamura Domain wa ...

, a minor (20,000 '' koku'') domain with holdings in

Mino Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * Mi ...

and

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrev ...

s. He was born in the domain's ''shimoyashiki'' ('lower residence') in

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 ...

, and subsequently followed in his father's footsteps in service of the domain in 1790. In 1793, Matsudaira Norihira, the third son of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of Iwamura was adopted by the Hayashi clan, the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

advisors to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

, taking the name of

Hayashi Jussai was a Japanese neo-Confucian scholar of the Edo period. He was an hereditary rector of Edo’s Confucian Academy, the ''Shōhei-kō'', also known at the ''Yushima Seidō,'' which was built on land provided by the shōgun. The ''Yushima-Seidō, ...

. Satō was assigned to accompany him as his valet, and also entered the Shōheizaka Gakumonjo school for Confucian studies. He was a quick learner, and by 1805 had risen to the position of head of the school and was recognized as a Confucian master with many of his own disciples. Following the death of Hayashi Jussai in 1841, he was appointed as chairman of the school. Satō taught the orthodox

Cheng–Zhu school The Cheng–Zhu school (), is one of the major philosophical schools of Neo-Confucianism, based on the ideas of the Neo-Confucian philosophers Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, and Zhu Xi. It is also referred to as the Rationalistic School. Metaphysics Zh ...

Neo-Confucianism 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 ...

which was favored by the shogunate, but he was also instrumental in the spread of

Yangmingism School of the Heart, or Yangmingism, known in Mandarin as (), lit. 'heart study' and in Japanese as (), is one of the major philosophical schools of Neo-Confucianism, based on the ideas of the idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Shouren (who ...

, which became an influence on the incipient ''

Sonnō jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement soug ...

'' anti-foreigner movement in 19th-century Japan and was an integral part of the ideologies 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 r ...

. Over time, Satō had 3,000 students, including

Sakuma Shōzan sometimes called Sakuma Zōzan, was a Japanese politician and scholar of the Edo period. Biography Born Sakuma Kunitada, he was the son of a samurai and scholar and his wife , and a native of (or Shinano Province) in present day's Nagano Pref ...

Watanabe Kazan was a Japanese painter, scholar and statesman member of the samurai class. Biography He was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo (now Tokyo) to a poor samurai family, and his artistic talent was developed from an early age. His family served the ...

Yokoi Shōnan was a Bakumatsu and early Meiji period scholar and political reformer in Japan, influential around the fall of the Tokugawa bakufu. His real name was Yokoi Tokiari. Life and career Yokoi was a ''samurai'' born in Kumamoto, Higo Province (pre ...

Nakamura Masanao was a Japanese educator and leading figure during the Meiji period. He also went by his pen name . Biography Born to a samurai family in Edo, Nakamura was originally a Confucian scholar. In 1866, as an academic supervisor, he accompanied a ...

and many other figures who were highly influential in Bakumatsu-period Japan. In 1854, he assisted

Hayashi Akira (also known as ''Hayashi Fukusai'') was an Edo period scholar-diplomat serving the Tokugawa shogunate in a variety of roles similar to those performed by serial Hayashi clan neo-Confucianists since the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was the here ...

(the sixth son of Hayashi Jussai) in the negotiations which concluded in the

Convention of Kanagawa The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the Kanagawa Treaty (, ''Kanagawa Jōyaku'') or the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity (, ''Nichibei Washin Jōyaku''), was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March ...

between Japan and the United States which effectively ended Japan's centuries-old national isolation policy. Satō died at the age of 88. His granddaughter was the mother-in-law of historian Taguchi Ukichi. Another granddaughter married a businessman, Yoshida Kenzō, and became the adopted mother of

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

Shigeru Yoshida (22 September 1878 – 20 October 1967) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. Yoshida was one of the longest-serving Japanese prime ministers, and is the third-long ...

. Satō's grave is at the temple of Jinko-ji in

Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It ...

, Tokyo. The grave was designated a National Historic Site in 1949. However, it is not open to the public.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Issai 1772 births 1859 deaths Japanese Confucianists Japanese writers of the Edo period People from Musashi Province