EARLY MODERN JAPAN 2009 When Eccentricity Is Virtue: Virtuous

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When Eccentricity Is Virtue: introduction, Kōkei recounted his friends' opposition: "'This account . . . has many people of virtu- Virtuous Deeds in ous deeds (tokkō no hito) appearing one after an- Kinsei kijinden other. We shouldn't call them kijin. Isn't this (Eccentrics of Our Times, 1790)∗ the standard way (tsune no michi) people nor- mally follow? What do you mean by this?'"3 Kōkei also interspersed stories of virtuous deeds ©Patti Kameya, Kent State University throughout the remaining four volumes, lending the whole an air of reverence, rather than hilarity. As found in the Daoist classic the Zhuangzi, Such stories accorded equal dignity to a range of the term kijin (Ch. jiren 畸人) evokes a tradition classes and renown, from the Ōbaku monk that reveres difference and individuality. 1 In Tetsugen (1630-1682) in the second chapter, to Tokugawa Japan Daoist ideas, particularly that of merchant Muromachi Sōhō (dates unknown) in the kijin, enjoyed a great deal of popularity the fourth, to a humble Yamashina farmer in the among literati (J. bunjin, Ch. wenren), people third. Since Kōkei wrote of virtuous deeds with scholarly, literary, and other creative aspira- throughout the text, rather than only in the begin- tions. Merchant class scholar Ban Kōkei (1733- ning, his writing suggests a personal commitment 1806) aspired to be like a kijin, taking up a Daoist to ideas of virtue. Given this, readers cannot pen name, and many of his friends did the same.2 ignore the idea of virtuous deeds in Kinsei kijin- Given this, one might conclude that in his bio- den. graphical sketch collection Kinsei kijinden (Ec- Considering the historical context of Kinsei ki- centrics of Our Times, 1790) Kōkei filled the jinden, it might appear that Kōkei included the pages solely with stories of crazy Daoist-style "virtuous deeds" stories to appease Tokugawa sages, or eccentric artists. authorities. Without a doubt, Tokugawa intel- To the consternation of his friends, however, lectual and commercial concerns not only ac- Kōkei devoted the opening chapter of Kinsei ki- commodated power, but also used it for its own jinden to the idea of virtue, rather than eccentri- purposes. In Japan in Print, Mary Elizabeth city per se, including many people known for Berry explored how the creation of the "library of their virtuous deeds (J. tokkō, Ch. dexing 徳行) public information" negotiated Tokugawa authority on the one hand, and the market economy, such as Confucian scholars Nakae Tōju (1608- 4 1648) and Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714). In his which encouraged freedom on the other. This explanation seems appropriate since Kinsei kijinden appeared during the Kansei Reforms (1787- ∗ The present form of this work was complet- 1793), a time when Chief Senior Councilor Ma- ed in part with funds from the Research Council tsudaira Sadanobu (1758-1829) overhauled gov- of Kent State University. Many thanks to Tim ernment bureaucracy and finances. The reforms Scarnecchia and Tanya Maus, who gave helpful included the 1790 Proscription of Heterodoxy comments on this version of my project. (igaku no kin) that required Song Confucianism in shogunal academies, and restricted publica- 1 See, for example, a reference to kijin (translated as "the man alone") in Martin Palmer, 3 Ban Kōkei, Kinsei kijinden, ed. Munemasa trans., The Book of Chuang Tzu (London: Isoo (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1972) [hereafter KKD], Penguin Books, 2006), 54-55. 9. 2 Kōkei's name Kandenshi ("child of the 4 See Berry, Japan in Print (Berkeley: fallow field") recalls the Daoist thought of University of California Press, 2006), 160-173. Zhuang Zhou and Laozi celebrating the useless. For an extended discussion on the tensions The writer Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) used the between public and private spaces through art, name Senshi Kijin, and poet Chōmu (1732-1795) see Mary Elizabeth Berry, "Public Life in drew his name from a story of Zhuang Zhou Authoritarian Japan," Daedalus 127, no. 3 dreaming he was a butterfly. (Summer 1988): 133-165.

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tions that questioned the government or threat- ness and Filial Piety) compiled biographies of ened public morals.5 Although the Kansei Re- exemplary people — faithful servants, chaste forms did precipitate incidents such as the 1791 wives, filial children. This collection saw print punishment of comical prose writer Santō Kyō- in 1801, eleven years after the publication of Kin- den (1761-1816), they did not create ideological sei kijinden. While Kōgiroku outlined the merits uniformity among the populace. Since the intel- of people with righteousness and filial piety, lectual landscape continued to foster multiple and rather than kijin, many of them had also appeared often syncretic strains of Daoist thought, Confu- in Kinsei kijinden.8 cianism, and Buddhism, we cannot explain the Less than a decade before Kinsei kijinden was "virtuous deeds" stories in terms of a desire to completed, another biographical collection ap- conform to official policy. Furthermore, the peared that also used stories of unusual people to Kansei Reforms and Kinsei kijinden fall within a recognize and recover a shared past. Hōsa kyō- tight time window, making a cause-and-effect shaden (Biographies of Nagoya Madmen, 1779) relationship unlikely. Kōkei's introduction is celebrated difference and deplored the self- dated the sixth month of 1788, suggesting that the interested behavior of society. As it was never manuscript was already complete twelve months published, it did not enjoy the same influence as after Sadanobu took office.6 Since Kōkei's writ- Kinsei kijinden, but in the introductions we can ing reflects a great deal of care, he probably did see a similar impulse to evoke the past.9 In his not complete the entire manuscript in a year re- introduction, Ban Kōkei hinted at a nostalgic per- acting to the newly restrictive environment. In sonal motivation to write: "[I will tell] only of my each of the one hundred-plus stories, Kōkei used fond remembrances these days of things that language styles to suit the individual in question, stuck in my heart, the pathos and humor of peo- with more colloquial language for commoners ple of old about whom I have heard over the and more formal prose for scholars.7 This sug- years, and of my own friends."10 The author of gests Kōkei's commitment to showing off the Hōsa kyōshaden also wished to write of strange distinctive qualities of individuals, not ideologi- people in response to a changed world: "And so, cal conformity. why are there so many of those petty people over- A look at the field of biographical writing at running society with their honeyed words, acting this time suggests that Kinsei kijinden was a re- like conventional worldly people in the decadent sponse to the official corruption and popular un- Final Age! I have strong feelings about this. rest that inspired the Kansei Reforms, rather than Following those sentiments, I write this preface a response to the Kansei Reforms themselves. sighing and shedding bitter tears."11 In 1789, Matsudaira Sadanobu commissioned a biographical collection that resembled the virtu- 8 Kokushi daijiten, 2nd ed., s.v. "Kōgiroku." ous deeds stories in Kinsei kijinden. Thus, For further discussion of Kōgiroku in relation to Kōkei and Sadanobu both collected stories of Kinsei kijinden, see Patti Kameya, "Paupers, notable individuals in the recent past, with the Poets, and Paragons: Eccentricity as Virtue in implicit purpose of teaching their readers. Al- Kinsei kijinden (Eccentrics of Our Times, 1790)" though the organizing principles of these collec- (unpublished Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, tions differed, they both appealed to a common 2006), 212. moral heritage. Kōgiroku (Record of Righteous- 9 Nakano Mitsutoshi, introduction to Kinsei kijinden (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2005), 13- 5 See Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, s.v. 14. "Kansei Reforms," and Heibonsha sekai 10 KKD, 10. daihyakka jiten, 2nd ed., s.v. "Kansei kaikaku." 11 Tajihi Ikuo and Nakano Mitsutoshi, eds., 6 See KKD, 12. Tōdai Edo bakemono, Zaishin kiji, Kana sesetsu, 7 See Furusō Masami, "Kinsei kijinden: Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei 97 (Tokyo: Tayōna jinbutsuzō wo kaita gabun denki shū," in Iwanami Shoten, 2000), 46. Translation Koten no jiten (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, referred to W. Puck Brecher, "Making Do with 1986), 12:43. Madness: Applications of Aesthetic Eccentricism

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By pairing Hōsa kyōshaden and Kinsei kijin- issues.14 den, we can understand a larger body of work that If ethics were Kōkei's main concern, why identifies a community defined by a shared heri- would he use the figure of the kijin? It is here tage between writer and reader. The author of that Kōkei departed from Sadanobu's Kōgiroku. Hōsa kyōshaden branded his compilation with the While Kōgiroku was written to foster Confucian place name of Hōsa, identifying a community values, Kōkei wrote Kinsei kijinden to celebrate blessed by the presence of "madmen." By dub- the idea of individual commitment to one's own bing his work Kinsei kijinden, Kōkei defined his values. In other words, Kōkei supported the community in terms of time, specifically "our idea of individualism, rather than conformity, as times," a time shared between himself and his the main idea behind kijin. Kōkei reconciled readers. Kinsei kijinden took its place in the ethics with the idea of kijin by pairing virtuous catalogue of publisher Zeniya Sōshirō, among deeds with the idea of "wonder," an idea that in- other works affirming a common culture through spired awe because of difference from the ordi- a range of artistic and intellectual activity. Al- nary. In the following passages he linked virtu- though there are several works on kyōshi (comi- ous deeds with the ideograph for wonder 奇 (J. cal Chinese poems), the bulk of the catalog is ki, Ch. qí), rather than 畸 (J. ki, Ch. jī) of kijin, devoted to poetry and sencha (steeped tea). and encouraged his readers to understand virtue There are also a number of medical and Confu- 12 in terms of novelty. Thus, by connecting the cian texts. Looking at Kōkei's work as a ideas of virtue and individuality, Kōkei wrote whole, we can also confirm Kōkei's concern with Kinsei kijinden as an ethical text, and a funda- community identity, rather than light entertain- mentally moral project.15 Concluding his ac- ment. Kōkei's other work is comprised largely count of Kaibara Ekiken, he wrote, "Before and of serious writing addressing two aspects of iden- after Jōkyō and Genroku [1684-1704] there were tity widely debated at this time, namely ethics many famous Confucian scholars, and wondrous and Japanese language studies. Kōkei headed a deeds and wondrous stories (kikō, kiwa); now school of Japanese prose writing (wabun) and with just these two teachers, Tōju and Ekiken, I enjoyed fame in his time as one of the four best 13 make the opening move of this chapter on virtu- Japanese-style poets of Kyoto. In 1792 and ous deeds (tokkō no kan)."16 To express the idea 1793, he wrote two kakun, or household moral of "opening move," Kōkei used the characters 嚆 codes, demonstrating his commitment to ethical 矢, a term that is ordinarily read kōshi (heralding arrow) but was glossed as hajime (beginning). This term appeared in the context of a Zhuangzi in Tokugawa and Meiji Japan" (unpublished passage that instructed to allow people to live Ph.D. diss., University of Southern California, freely and revel in their individual strengths: 2005), 440. See also Brecher's discussion on 149-50, 152-53. [In response to the question, "If the 12 Sasaki Harutaka, comp., Wakatakeshū world is not ruled, how can you improve (Kyoto: Sasaki Chikuhōrō, 1975). For further people's hearts?"] Laozi said, "Take care discussion of the publisher, see Munemasa Isoo, Kinsei Kyoto shuppan bunka no kenkyū (Tokyo: Dōhōsha Shuppan, 1982), 45. 14 For further discussion of Kōkei's kakun, 13 For Kōkei's wabun activity, see Kazama see Patti Kameya, "When Businessmen Discuss Seishi, "Ban Kōkei to wabun no kai" in Ronshū Art: Communities of Arts and Ethics in Ōmi kinsei bungaku, vol. 5, Akinari to sono jidai: Merchant kakun," paper presented at the Associa- kyōdō kenkyū, ed. Takada Mamoru (Tokyo: tion for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Chicago, Benseisha, 1994), 279-80. For Kōkei's poetic Ill., March 28, 2009. credentials, see Munemasa Isoo, "Shinninhō 15 Nakano Mitsutoshi also addresses the shin'ō wo meguru geibunka tachi," in Nihon ethical concerns of Kinsei kijinden in his intro- kinsei bun'en no kenkyū (Tokyo: Miraisha, 1977), duction to Kinsei kijinden, especially p. 14. 203-253. 16 KKD, 25.

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how you play with people's hearts. Peo- society, regarding the elderly who work towards ple's hearts should not be shoved down or benevolence and righteousness, and the young pushed up, for this yo-yoing up and down who are loyal and filial, deeds of people like makes the heart either a prisoner or an them ought to be called wondrous (奇 ki)."19 avenging fury. . . . At rest, it is as deep as Since Kinsei kijinden identified the individual the abyss; when it is active, it is like a star as a source of moral authority, the "virtuous in heaven. It races beyond anything that deeds" stories cannot be explained in terms of seeks to bind it, for this is in truth the yielding to Tokugawa authority. Rather than 17 heart of humanity!" power, this study will focus on understandings of individual moral authority. This will help us Kōkei started Kinsei kijinden with Confucian understand why Kōkei and his contemporaries scholars to celebrate their novelty, the wonder chose to write of both aesthetic and ethical topics, that they inspire. Thus, the virtuous teachers and how a community of readers negotiated be- served to establish the concept of kijin, rather tween authority and freedom. While I cannot than stand as a foil for the more chaotic or "con- confirm how all readers responded to Kinsei ki- ventional" kijin. jinden, I would like to suggest that Kinsei kijin- By designating virtuous people (tokkō no hito) den became popular in part because it both af- as kijin, Kōkei identified a moral crisis where firmed individual nature and resonated with read- virtuous deeds were rare. In this sense Kinsei ers' anxieties about the moral climate of their kijinden shares its impulse with Kōgiroku. At times. the same time, in a departure from Kōgiroku, In much current scholarship on eighteenth- Kōkei raised a call to return to a more authentic century Japan, the wondrous kijin figure often time of following the "standard way" (tsune no appeared as a way to propose societal alternatives. michi) with kijin leading the way. In his intro- While such work did not exclude the problem of duction, Kōkei likened his society to a room full ethics, it tended to focus on kijin as outsiders or of drunks, where they have lost their ability to eccentrics in terms of artistic and intellectual ex- practice virtuous deeds. In this context, kijin pression. On the artistic side, Lawrence Mar- appeared wondrous by being in touch with this ceau described the world of the "bunjin bohe- lost past, and following the "standard way" of mian," and in his discussion of eccentric artists virtuous deeds: "[Considering people who do John Rosenfield translated the word kijin as "ex- virtuous deeds is] like having a solitary sober traordinary persons."20 In the intellectual realm person among people drinking into the night, for- Tetsuo Najita noted the intersection between getting the time and day. . . . [To] my own Confucianism and Daoism, writing of Confucian- drunken eyes people devoted to the standard way trained scholar kijin as seekers of alternative (tsune no michi) appear wondrous (奇 ki). . . ."18 ways to know the world.21 W. Puck Brecher In this way, Kōkei evoked an idea of individual virtue, where virtuous people followed their own paths as individuals, setting themselves apart 19 KKD, 9. Translation referred to Law- from "people in society." In other words, their rence E. Marceau, Takebe Ayatari: A Bunjin virtue itself made them individual and worthy of Bohemian in Early Modern Japan (Ann Arbor: remark as kijin. Individual virtue encompassed Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michi- not only attunement with an authentic "standard gan, 2004), 262-263. way," but also individual inclination. For Kōkei, 20 Marceau, Takebe Ayatari; John M. Rosen- initiative should arise not from promise of a re- field, Extraordinary Persons: Japanese Artists ward, but from individual nature. In his intro- (1560-1860) in the Kimiko and John Powers duction he continued, "compared to people in Collection (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1988). 17 Palmer, 84. Wade-Giles Romanization 21 Tetsuo Najita, "History and Nature in has been converted to Pinyin. Eighteenth-Century Tokugawa Thought," in The 18 KKD, 9. Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4, Early

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wrote of aesthetic eccentricism as a way to out of conscious choice. Kōkei appears to have "[make] habitable an uncomfortable world." 22 been the first to connect the idea of virtue specifi- While Brecher mentioned the idea of Confucian cally to the figure of the kijin, which Kōkei's con- influence in writings on kijin and other strange temporaries associated with Daoist texts. people, his work focused on the aesthetic aspects Kōkei's unconventional stance provoked a con- of this problem, rather than on ethics.23 siderable literary response in his own times. This study will directly address the ethical im- Kōkei's friends did not agree with his wide- plications of intellectual and aesthetic eccentri- raging interpretation of kijin, and one kijin-related cism. In it, I will examine stories of "virtuous text directly parodied Kōkei's concept. Tōsei deeds" (tokkō) in Kinsei kijinden to demonstrate chijinden (Fools of These Times, 1795) was a col- the essential relationship between kijin and virtue lection of stories of foolish people, focusing on in the thought of Ban Kōkei, where tokkō is an the Osaka pleasure quarters. The author, who enactment of personal potency rather than con- wrote under the pseudonym Tengō Dōjin (Crazy formity to a moral norm. Specifically, I will Tortoise Daoist Adherent), wrote: show that Kinsei kijinden arose from several traditions where virtue is individual, by tracing sto- Matters of virtuous deeds (tokkō) we rytelling and intellectual traditions in both Chi- will not put in at all. We will not discuss nese sources and contemporaneous Japanese in- skill in poetry, writing, calligraphy, or pic- tellectual trends. Kōkei drew his ideas of indi- tures either because they do not relate to vidual nature as virtue from an ongoing tension in the classy aesthetic of the pleasure quar- Chinese tradition between virtue as an individual ters (sui). If you ask why, it is because it trait and virtue as a norm, in texts such as the resembles [the biographies of recluses] Analects of Confucius and the anecdote collection Honchō tonshi and Fusō in'itsuden, and it Lienüzhuan (Stories of Exemplary Women, Liu might be disagreeable to boors (yabo).24 Xian, c. 1 c. B.C.E., hereafter Exemplary Women). Kōkei negotiated these conflicting poles through The writer's objections point out a central tension the idea of sincerity. More immediately, tokkō lying in Kinsei kijinden: the opposition between in Kinsei kijinden emerged from a tradition where hilarity of foolish behavior, and virtuous, con- tokkō characterized a wide range of people found templative, and often eccentric recluses. This in the Wei-Jin anecdote compilation Shishuo underscores that Kinsei kijinden more properly xinyu (A New Account of Tales of the World, here- belongs among the accounts of recluses from an- after Tales of the World). This study closes by cient to medieval Japanese history than with the contextualizing the idea of virtue in Kinsei kijin- loud boorish humor of the pleasure quarters, and den within Tokugawa Japanese thought, namely further demonstrates that in the eyes of his con- Confucian scholars Itō Jinsai (1627-1705) and temporaries, Kōkei's work cannot be placed Ogyū Sorai (1666-1728). These scholars asso- alongside that of Santō Kyōden. Writings such ciated virtue with the individual, and opened the as this show a surprised response to Kōkei's pair- discussion of virtue to diversity rather than con- ing of virtue and eccentricity. formity. This idea of virtue as personal power Instead of opposing ideas of orthodoxy and informed the "virtuous deeds" stories in Kinsei heterodoxy, this study will address how individu- kijinden. Given the long-standing tradition of virtue as 24 Tōsei chijinden, in Naniwa suijinden, ed. individual in early Chinese texts and Tokugawa Kaneko Kazumasa and Ōuchida Sadao (Kyoto: thought, Kōkei might have written of virtue in Kamigata Geibun Sōkan Kankōkai, 1983), 70. Kinsei kijinden as a matter of course, rather than Honchō tonshi and Fusō in'itsuden are biographies of recluses published in the early Modern Japan (New York: Cambridge Tokugawa Period. For further discussion of the University Press, 1989), 645-59. relationship between Tōsei chijinden and Kinsei 22 Brecher, 25. kijinden see Kameya, "Paupers, Poets, and 23 Brecher, 21-29, 108-10, 150-159. Paragons," 197-200.

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als were seen as moral beings amidst the diversity others without exerting physical force. . . ."25 of thought in eighteenth-century Japan. By in- Later scholars also maintained this distinction vestigating the intersection between virtue and between the pre-Confucian and Confucian tradi- individuality, we can learn how Tokugawa Japa- tions. In his translation of the Analects, Edward nese might have seen kijin as actors of individual Slingerland used capitalization to differentiate possibility, and consider how difference in early virtue as a norm from Virtue as an individual modern times might have defined a community quality, showing that both forms coexisted in the positively rather than negatively. This study Analects.26 seeks to attain a broader understanding of differ- Both Kinsei kijinden and the Analects linked ence and community identity in early modern individual virtue with the ability to accomplish times, before powerful influences such as mass goals, demonstrating pre-Confucian virtue. In media, the modern nation-state, and technology- both texts, people responded positively to virtue centered conceptions of historical progress. as a personal inner quality. In one passage of the Analects, Confucius' disciples attributed his Virtue as Personal Potency effectiveness to his individual personality: "Our Master obtains [information about foreign gov- Virtue as it appears in Kinsei kijinden comes ernments] by being courteous, refined, respectful, from pre-Confucian tradition, where virtue ap- restrained and deferential."27 Because Confu- pears as a power of the individual. Although cius looked inward to attain his goals, rather than many of the "virtuous deeds" tales seem to con- at his own motives, he could learn carefully firm moral norms, Kōkei emphasized the idea of guarded information. Confucius was effective individual commitment, where the individuals’ because he worked from his own strengths, not beliefs gave them the power to do extraordinary because he followed customary rules. In notes things. In effect, the virtuous deeds emerged to his translation, Slingerland captured the es- from the individuals’ inner natures rather than sence of this passage with a quote by Qing Neo- from inculcated ideology. In other words, moral Confucian scholar Lu Longqi: "The sage seeks power arose from the self rather than from com- things by means of virtue, unlike ordinary people munity ideals. who seek things with their minds."28 From the time of Confucius there coexisted To discuss this idea of personal potency, Kōkei two meanings of virtue, virtue particular to an gravitated towards the idea of sincerity or makoto individual, and prescriptive moral virtue. While as a kind of moral power. Instead of societal Confucius is credited with taking the former and values, sincerity addressed the individual's sense steering it toward the latter, we see evidence of of fulfillment. Through this idea of sincerity, both continuing until Kōkei's time. In pre- kijin could invest their actions with their inner Confucian tradition the ideograph toku 徳 (J. personalities, and enjoy personal effectiveness, as toku, Ch. de) signified "potency," as opposed to its conventional translation of "virtue." Toku 25 A. C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao: was a specific property and power defining a per- Philosophical Argument in Ancient China son or object so that it might be as various as (Chicago: Open Court, 1989), 13, quoted in there are people. Contemporary scholarship on Nanxiu Qian, Spirit and Self in Medieval China: Chinese classics has also observed this idea of The Shih-shuo hsin-yü and Its Legacy (Honolulu: virtue as personal potency. A. C. Graham ex- University of Hawai`i Press, 2001), 127. Wade- plained, "De [J. toku], which has often been Giles Romanization has been converted to Pinyin, translated as 'virtue' (to be understood as in 'the Japanese gloss added in brackets. virtue of cyanide is to poison' rather than in 'vir- 26 Edward Slingerland, trans., Confucius tue is its own reward'), has been traditionally Analects with Selections from Traditional used of the power, benign or baleful, to move Commentaries (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2003), xvii. 27 Slingerland, 4. 28 Slingerland, 5.

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did Confucius in the passage mentioned earlier. fashion of prescriptive Chinese biographical In Kōkei's accounts, sincerity inspired a response precedents. In these stories Kōkei featured in the natural world, demonstrating the power of wifely virtue and heroic deeds alike. Closing personal virtue. For example, the woodcutter the account of warrior wife Nagayama Shōko, Seishichi was described thus: "he epitomized the Kōkei asserted that "Shōko's wifely virtue (fu- sincerity (makoto) of filial piety." Seishichi's toku) is like that of stories of clever women, sincerity was expressed in his satisfaction over chaste women, brave women, and so forth written his great efforts, and in nature's response to his up honorably in Chinese books — no, I would filial behavior. In the story, Seishichi completed say it even exceeds that."31 Chinese literature two people's share of labor to buy rich foods for abounds with stories of heroic women, ranging his mother, who had served as a wet nurse in a from dynastic histories to individual works such wealthy household. One day, as Seishichi pre- as Exemplary Women. Although the precise pared to go to purchase quail, two quails fell to impact of Exemplary Women in Tokugawa Japan the ground outside his house as if Heaven were is not clear, Song Confucian-inspired Ming edi- responding to his filial intentions.29 Given the tions of this text enjoyed repeated publication in poverty of the woodcutter, it would have been a Tokugawa Japan.32 Exemplary Women merits large enough feat to simply feed the two of them. discussion here because it offers fertile ground Instead, Seishichi cheerfully exerted the extra for comparison in the portrayal of women as in- effort to satisfy his mother. Kōkei wrote of Sei- dividuals. shichi as a person who acted filial as a matter of Exemplary Women upheld women as both in- course, and his power to move nature arose from dividuals of sparkling intellectual virtue, and his sincerity. paragons of morality and chastity. While earlier Along with nature, people also responded to editions emphasized the former, Ming (1368- the sincerity of kijin, underscoring the link be- 1644) editions prioritized the latter. 33 Kinsei tween virtue and individual power. In Kōkei's kijinden echoed both Exemplary Women themes portrayal of Kameda Kyūbei, filial piety was an of personal sacrifice and individual intellectual essential part of his personal potency. To ex- virtue. More importantly, it featured the idea of press the idea of sincerity, Kōkei described virtue as personal potency through the idea of Kyūbei's inner qualities instead of his actions sincerity, through the story patterns and the lan- alone. According to Kōkei, Kyūbei's neighbors guage used to describe the women. One such "felt his filial heart in his constant comings and story was originally written by Andō Tameakira goings" where Kyūbei visited his father two or (1659-1717) in an almanac-like work, Nenzan three times a day from the break of dawn, and uchigiki (Nenzan's Hearsay, 1713), and was cop- appeared at the sound of a cough. Kyūbei's ied by Kōkei almost verbatim.34 Evidence sug- neighbors could not but yield to the power of his "filial heart": they tore down the walls of a vacant 31 KKD, 32. house to make it easier for him to reach his fa- 32 30 Shimomi Takao, "Ryū Kō Retsujoden ther. Just as people of foreign lands responded kenkyū josetsu," in Hiroshima Daigaku bungaku to Confucius' personality by giving him the in- kiyō 47, special issue (Hiroshima: Hiroshima formation he needed, Kyūbei's neighbors re- Daigaku, 1987): 26, 38. The same information sponded to his filial nature by facilitating his ac- reappears in Shimomi Takao, Ryū Kō Retsujoden tivity. no kenkyū (Tokyo: Tōkai Daigaku Shuppankai, In addition to sincerity, stories of women in 1989), 28, 39-40. Kinsei kijinden manifested the idea of individual 33 Lisa Raphals, Sharing the Light: virtue as physical power and mental acuity, in the Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China (Albany, N.Y.: State University of New 29 KKD, 44-46. Although elsewhere in the York Press, 1998), 137-38. text makoto appears as the character 誠, in this 34 For the original text, see Andō Tameakira story the term appears in phonetic script. (Nenzan), Nenzan uchigiki, in Zuihitsu taikan, vol. 30 KKD, 49-50. 6, Chinsho bunko, ed. Tanabe Katsuya, Inoue

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gests that Kōkei chose to copy Tameakira's work lowed her to act effectively. Tameakira's word because of his high regard for Tameakira as a choices connected Shōko's inner qualities with person, and for his work. Kōkei praised her effectiveness in the vignette where she killed Tameakira's writing in Kinsei kijinden, stating an amorous intruder while her husband was away. that his writing revealed the "gentle, respectful" He used the words isagiyoki kokoromochi, which nature of the writer. 35 Because in some in- can be translated as either "pure intention" or stances he referred to other sources without copy- "ready intent," expressing both Shōko's courage ing them, we might imagine that Kōkei copied in physically fending for herself, and her readi- Tameakira's words because they moved him, and ness to explain the events frankly to her husband. because the spirit of the account matched what he This word choice underscored her personal power, wished to convey.36 In any case, this account where Shōko remained above suspicion of keep- demonstrated how Kōkei's ideas of personal vir- ing a lover, and the household could continue life tue resonated with those of others in his times. as before.39 In a similar spirit, Kōkei explicitly Like Kōkei, Tameakira used language that re- connected kijin individual personality to effec- flected the idea of sincerity, in order to stress a tiveness in the story of a peasant woman known relationship between Shōko's personality and only as the wife of the woodcutter Shichihei. others' responses to her. His vocabulary empha- With the term kokoro kikitaru (literally "heart- sized Shōko's emotions so that her actions re- mind being effective"), Kōkei linked her quick sulted from her will, rather than from social con- thinking and her brave action. When she went ditioning. In Tameakira's account, Shōko's sin- to look for her husband in the mountain, she cere personality showed through her care for a found his abandoned pack in the road and an child that her servant conceived by her husband. enormous snake hanging overhead. Surmising Shōko adopted the servant's child as her own, and that the snake swallowed her husband, she res- according to the account the child saw Shōko as cued him by cutting the snake open with a sickle his real mother.37 Although Tameakira did not as it swallowed her.40 use the word makoto, he did use terms such as In one case, Kōkei used the word toku to de- "loving care" (aiiku) and "abundant capacity for scribe a situation that showed personal potency in empathy" (kannō no kotowari munashikarade). failure. By including this story, Kōkei empha- Here, kannō 感応 is a Buddhist term for a sized its power to move the reader. Kai Kuriko "sincere heart" that reaches the gods and Buddhas. was killed in the middle of a landslide, and her This term resembles the idea discussed earlier of body was found holding the hand of her younger sincerity influencing nature and people.38 biological son while carrying her twelve-year-old Both Tameakira and Kōkei described a adopted child on her back. Her story spread woman's success resulting from her personal throughout the land because she protected the power guiding her actions. While the original adopted household heir over the child that she meaning of toku meant to persuade without force, bore. Kōkei's language reflected his belief that in the case of women toku gave them the strength Kuriko acted out of sincerity, rather than out of to carry out force when necessary. Shōko's social conditioning. Kōkei wrote, "Due to this power seemed to emanate from her will, and al- disaster, can't we say that this virtue (toku) 41 showed all the more?" Yorinori, Inoue Yorikuni, Umezono Ken, and The stories of virtuous women in Kinsei kijin- Murase Kentarō (Tokyo: Kokusho Shuppan den crystallized the idea of virtue as personal, Kyōkai, 1911). rather than as a set of societal standards. Kōkei 35 KKD, 217. was drawn to these figures for their qualities as 36 For example, see Kōkei's handling of the individuals, namely their sincerity and effective- story of Hyōta in Kameya, "Paupers, Poets, and Paragons," 144-146. 39 KKD, 31-32. See also Andō Tameakira 37 KKD, 31. (Nenzan), 22-23. 38 Nakano Mitsutoshi, notes to Kinsei kijin- 40 KKD, 35-37. den (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2005), 37. 41 KKD, 32-34.

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ness. The next section will address the idea of Wo and Zigong. Those known for ad- virtuous action in biography, shifting the focus of ministrative skill (Ch. zhengshi, J. seiji): this discussion from the nature of virtue, to virtue Ran Qiu and Jilu. Those known for cul- as used to describe individuals. tural learning (Ch. wenxue, J. bungaku): Ziyou and Zixia.43 Tokkō as an Expression of Individuality in Biography In later times the Four Branches appeared as a template for grouping individuals. In the Wei- When Kōkei dubbed his first chapter the "vir- Jin periods (220-420 C.E.), a time when Confu- tuous deeds chapter," he drew from precedents cianism shared intellectual currency with Bud- that associated tokkō with people, the Analects of dhism and Neo-Daoism, author Liu Yiqing (403- Confucius, and A New Account of Tales of the 444) used the Four Branches as titles for the first World. In his foreword to Kinsei kijinden, chapters of A New Account of Tales of the Kōkei's friend Rikunyo referred to both of these World.44 These four chapters also appeared in texts, indicating their impact on their intellectual subsequent anecdotal collections such as Kong world. These precedents approached tokkō with Pinzhong's Xu shuo (1158), and He Liangqun's Yu different emphases: the Analects on moral stan- lin (1551). Such examples are recognized as dards, and Tales of the World on individuals. imitations of Tales of the World.45 Given that Tokkō appeared in the Analects in the context of these four chapter titles did not appear as a tradi- discussing Confucius' disciples, alongside other tion in other collections of tales, one can con- skills later dubbed the "Four Branches of Confu- clude that Tales of the World turned the discus- cian Learning" (Ch. Kongmen sike). While sion of the Four Branches in a new direction. these skills later appeared as titles for the first The use of tokkō in Tales of the World differed four chapters of Tales of the World, Tales of the from the Analects in terms of emphasis. Emerg- World recognized multiple kinds of virtuous ing from an eclectic intellectual environment, deeds, and as a result the individual rather than a Tales of the World focused on the power of indi- single standard for virtue shone forth. As I will viduals, rather than on any particular school of show, Kōkei's use of tokkō came closer to that of thought. Tales of the World arose from Wei-Jin Tales of the World. elite literati culture, specifically the pastime of In its initial conception, the Four Branches ap- character evaluation. Like the Analects, Tales of peared as a set of standards by which people can the World linked individuals with a trait, and used be evaluated. This idea of the Four Branches is the human figure as a role model. In Tales of preserved in the foreword to Kinsei kijinden, the World, however, the author was concerned where Rikunyo stated that the kijin "from the core with the appeal of individuals, and resisted in- deviates from the Four Branches of Confucian flexibly defining traits and values.46 Learning."42 In the section referring to the Four While Tales of the World had been known in Branches, the Analects of Confucius listed tokkō alongside three other traits, each followed by the 43 Slingerland, 112. Chinese and Japanese name of Confucius' disciples excelling in that glosses added. trait. By discussing virtuous deeds as a "branch 44 See Qian, 126, and Wai-Yee Li, "Shishuo of learning" separable from others, the Analects xinyu and Aesthetic Self-Consciousness in the advanced the possibility of tokkō as an area at Chinese Tradition," in Chinese Aesthetics: The which an individual may surpass others: Orderings of Literature, the Arts, and the Universe in the Six Dynasties, ed. Zong-qi Cai Those known for virtuous conduct (Ch. (Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press, 2004), dexing, J. tokkō): Yan Hui, Min Ziqian, 250. Boniu, and Zhonggong. Those known 45 Qian, 194. for eloquence (Ch. yanyu, J. gengo): Zai 46 Zong-qi Cai, "A Historical Overview of Six Dynasties Aesthetics," in Chinese Aesthetics, 42 KKD, 3, 5. 5.

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Japan since the Heian Period (794-1185), it had a both were praised for their filial devotion. considerable impact on Kōkei and his peers. Wang, reduced to a skeleton, kept to his Along with Daoist thought, Tales of the World bed; while He, wailing and weeping, per- evoked an exotic world to which Tokugawa lite- formed all the rites . . . . rati aspired. Tokugawa bunjin shared many val- [After the Emperor expressed concern ues with Wei-Jin society, namely immersion in about Qiao] Liu Yi [said to the Emperor], aesthetic pleasures, and the celebration of diverse "He Qiao, even though performing all the strengths in the individual. In other words, To- rites, has suffered no loss in his spirit or kugawa bunjin embraced strangeness and health. Wang Rong, even though not uniqueness as a defining value for their commu- performing the rites, is nonetheless so nity. Rikunyo asserted in his foreword that emaciated with grief that his bones stand Kōkei's writing rivaled that of Liu Yiqing, most out. Your servant is of the opinion that likely referring to his individual-centered writ- He Qiao's is a filial devotion of life, while ing.47 Beyond Kōkei's circle, Tokugawa Sino- Wang Rong's is a filial devotion of death. philes learned about Wei-Jin gentry life through Your Majesty should not worry about Wang Shizhen's Shishuo xinyu bu (Companion to Qiao, but rather about Rong."51 A New Account of Tales of the World, 1556), creating sufficient demand for this text to warrant By including divergent stories and opinions in the the two known Japanese editions dating from tokkō section of Tales of the World, Liu Yiqing 1694 and 1779. 48 One such man of letters, Hat- affirmed a range of behavior as virtuous without tori Nankaku (1683-1759), modeled his everyday adhering to a single standard. While a later tale life on the stories found in Tales of the World. asserted that Wang Rong in fact violated propri- Nankaku further demonstrated his interest in the ety in his grief, this too was included in the tokkō text when he created a Heian/Kamakura Period (c. section.52 9th-14th c. C.E.) version of Tales of the World, Similar to the stories in Tales of the World, Daitō seigo (Japanese Tales of the World, Kōkei portrayed kijin in a way that celebrated 1750).49 individuality, rather than one idea of virtue. In the original Chinese Tales of the World, Liu This appeared particularly strongly in stories of Yiqing focused on the remarkable nature of the foolish people, where tokkō affirmed the ideas of individual, departing from the Analects' use of the kijin rather than any particular social standard, tokkō. Thus, tokkō appeared as a way to discuss and the kijin themselves seemed to benefit the a variety of people, not as a single universal qual- most. Such stories demonstrated that individu- ity. While in the Analects tokkō appeared as a ality is by definition virtue. For example, Itō single pursuit at which certain disciples of Con- Kaitei (1685-1772), son of eminent merchant fucius excelled, in Tales of the World multiple scholar Itō Jinsai, took extreme measures to sat- kinds of tokkō received recognition. 50 For isfy his sincere desire to help others, even when example, Wang Rong and He Qiao performed the actual benefit to others was unlikely. Kōkei two kinds of filial piety. Given the extreme included many vignettes that highlighted his sin- nature of the behavior, these stories were not in- cerity. In the account, Kaitei's younger brothers tended to provide role models, but to celebrate found that they could prevent him from finding their virtue as individuals. out about their nighttime trips to the pleasure quarters by yelling, "Fire!" whereupon he would Wang Rong and He Qiao experienced the loss of a parent at the same time, and 51 Richard B. Mather, trans., Shih-shuo Hsin- yü: A New Account of Tales of the World (Ann 47 KKD, 3, 6. Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, 2002), 9. 48 Qian, 323 and 476. Wade-Giles converted to Pinyin. The emperor 49 Qian, 319, and Nihon koten bungaku da- that appears in the story is Emperor Wu (Sima ijiten, s.v. "Sesetsu shingo." Yan, r. 265-290). 50 Qian, 104-5. 52 Mather, 12.

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rush to the roof and miss their late arrival. Jinsai and Sorai: Virtue and the Individual While Kaitei seemed to be deceived every time, he later explained that he knew the ruse, but From the outset, Kinsei kijinden was a project wanted to act in case there actually were a fire. that recognized and celebrated individual virtue In another case, he pulled out a floorboard to as found in the human world rather than in uni- search for a pair of fire-tongs, because he feared versal norms. In his introduction to Kinsei ki- that someone might later hurt himself by falling jinden, Kōkei encouraged his audience to accept through that floorboard, and accidentally stepping diverse ideas of what is admirable or noteworthy, on them. 53 In this case, too, Kaitei himself specifically to accept tokkō as wonder, a property seemed to benefit more than any other person. of kijin. In this way, Kōkei upheld multiple Kōkei also included kijin who defied society ideas of good found in his society: by performing virtuous deeds for their self- fulfillment. Here, too, we see a dissonance be- [My friends] responded forcefully, ". . . tween the individual's idea of virtue and those of among [the kijin] there are also people society at large. Kōkei retold the well-docu- who squandered their assets and steeped mented story of the loyal servant Hachisuke of themselves in the mad aesthetic life, Sunpu, where Hachisuke refused to leave his abandoning their homes and living as they master even after the family lost their fortune and please. You can't compare them with the dismissed the other servants. Kōkei stressed wonder (奇 ki) in virtuous deeds (tokkō). that Hachisuke acted not out of obedience, but I said, "Although there was wild and self- out of his personal joy of service, "disregarding ish behavior, I recorded instances among his own body by . . . living off of leftover rice and those with taste or things worth showing. doing many other such things, for the pleasure of It is like mixing gems and common stones, seeing joy on his master's face [shu no yorokobi but this is one kind of wonder (奇 ki), and 54 wo miru wo tanoshimite]." Kōkei noted that that is also wonder (奇 ki), and there is when a local official berated Hachisuke for serv- absolutely no need to split hairs. Only I ing his worthless master, once again Hachisuke did not include here unfilial and unloving tearfully protested out of his desire for fulfill- people who drift in elegance and leave ment: "if I am not there who will save him from 55 themselves to dissipation, or distrustful starvation?" In this story, Kōkei described and disloyal people based in success and Hachisuke's personal potency to move the official pursuing the ways of the world, not even with the term "attaining sincerity" (至誠), show- if they were crazy stories that would make ing how his virtue had the power to influence you chuckle."56 others as well. In the above discussion, I have traced the idea By prioritizing loyalty and trust, Kōkei reinforced of virtue as a property of the individual between the idea of the self as a source of moral power, Kinsei kijinden and Chinese tradition. The best- where virtuous deeds arise from inner personality, seller status of Kinsei kijinden in the Tokugawa and are not done to satisfy a moral standard. marketplace hints at the willingness of the read- This echoed not only debates in Chinese tradition, ing public to embrace the idea of individualistic but also those in his own times. virtue. In the Tokugawa intellectual landscape, As with that of Chinese precedents, Kōkei's in- there emerged further strains of thought that con- tellectual climate was animated by a tension be- firmed the link between virtue and individuality. tween virtue as prescriptive and virtue as individual. While Kōkei's use of tokkō was informed by early Chinese texts, it had its deepest reso-

53 KKD, 37-38. 56 KKD, 9-10. Translation referred to 54 KKD, 43. Marceau, 263, and Nakano, notes to Kinsei 55 KKD, 43. kijinden, 15.

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nance with understandings of virtue articulated Kōkei opened Kinsei kijinden with the story of by Tokugawa thinkers Itō Jinsai and Ogyū Sorai, a warrior-class sage, Nakae Tōju (1608-1648). the forefathers of kogaku, ancient language stud- Kōkei's account stressed Tōju's idea of virtue ies in Japan. Although Kōkei lived after Jinsai based on individual nature, supporting the logic and Sorai, he shared personal points of contact of virtue as a kijin quality. In Kōkei's eyes, Tōju with both of them. Kōkei's close friend Ri- qualified as a kijin because he thought and acted kunyo was a son of Jinsai's student Naemura in accordance with his inner character. This Kaidō (1684-1748), who was featured in Kinsei idea resonated with the idea of sincerity men- kijinden. Kinsei kijinden included other mem- tioned earlier, and the idea of virtue and potential bers of Jinsai's school, like Jinsai's son Kaitei, in all people found in the work of Jinsai and Sorai. and pupils of the school such as Namikawa Ten- In the account, Tōju declared that the truly virtu- min (1679-1718), Akō Incident poet Onodera ous freed themselves from rules, and trusted their Hidekazu (1643-1703), and eccentric scholar Kon own instincts, rejecting the distinctions made by no Ransai (1650-1731). Jinsai's most prominent Song Confucian scholarship: son Tōgai (1670-1736) also appeared in one story. Although Kōkei disliked Sorai and his school for [Tōju told his students,] "Even though their arrogance, they too shared overlapping cir- it does not belong in the same class as the cles. Sorai's pupil Hattori Nankaku and Kōkei desire for fame, the desire to only investi- were roughly contemporaries in Kyoto. Kōkei's gate the customary rules (J. kakutō, Ch. friend Rikunyo also studied Chinese poetry (J. getao 格套) is like losing the vital power 57 kanshi) under Nankaku's pupil. These points behind your true nature. We must re- of contact reinforced their strongest link, their lease the heart and mind (kokoro) con- common interest in the study of ancient language. cerned with details, and not be mired in Jinsai and Sorai's work in ancient language in- them, instead believing one's own true fluenced both the study of Japanese language and heart and mind (mizukara no honshin)." understandings of virtue, in that it focused on the His students were immediately greatly human world based in historical texts, rather than impressed, and burst into energy.60 58 the world of universal truths. Given this, their thought allowed variety in defining good, and Through the terms kokoro and mizukara no hon- was not inclined to adhere to inflexible rules. shin, Kōkei articulated Tōju's idea of self that is Drawing on Mencius, who predated Song Confu- at its best when free from prescriptive ideas of cian metaphysics, Jinsai saw a moral order that good. In this way, Kōkei advanced the core idea 59 affirmed the potential for good in people. In that goodness started from the self rather than Sorai's reading of ancient texts, virtue was as from the outside, resonating with the idea of vir- multiple as there were human beings. By focus- tue as an individual property. ing on a world defined in historical texts, these According to Kōkei, Tōju abandoned Song thinkers identified virtue within the human com- Confucianism because it taught falsely that in- munity. These ideas linking virtue and the hu- flexible rules could create good people. Tōju on man experience allowed Kōkei to make kijin vir- the other hand taught that truly virtuous action tuous. started from within individual nature, expressed by the ideograph for "heart" often translated as 57 Takahashi Hiromi, Kyōto geien no "heart-mind," shin. In the story, Tōju asserted nettowaaku (Tokyo: Perikansha, 1988), 89-90. that Wang Yangming's Confucian teachings were 58 Tetsuo Najita, "History and Nature in correct because they recognized that "heart-mind Eighteenth-Century Tokugawa Thought," 599- 610. 60 KKD, 18-19. Translation referred to 59 Tetsuo Najita, Visions of Virtue: The Nakano, notes to Kinsei kijinden, 24, and Wing- Kaitokudō Merchant Academy of Osaka Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press, 1987), (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), 27-29. 655.

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(shin) and deeds from the start are one. For this everyday activity was directed by the concept of reason, when there are good deeds (zen), you a way, something that occurred naturally, not by a cannot have a person whose heart-mind is not prescriptive idea of virtue. He specified, "The good, and also you cannot have a person whose way (michi) involves flowing activity while vir- heart-mind is good and deeds are not good."61 tue (toku) refers to what preserves things as they Tōju argued for moral action coming from the should be. The way naturally directs (ryūkō) heart-mind, an expression of the self. For Tōju, activities while virtue makes things what they then, virtuous action emerged naturally, as a re- are." Jinsai's words were tinged with moral im- sult of the individual's own quality. In this way plications when he asserted that virtue "preserves even though he used the word zen rather than things as they should be," but he clarified that toku, his thought approached the pre-Confucian "virtue makes things what they are," showing that use of virtue, where virtue is an individual prop- virtue was a defining property, not an earned state erty. of moral rectitude.63 Like Tōju, Jinsai and Sorai sought alternatives In Kinsei kijinden Kōkei demonstrated thought to Song Confucianism and inflexible rules. similar to that of Jinsai in his tales of ordinary While Jinsai and Sorai had different ideas on the people who did good deeds in the course of their role of the individual in virtuous behavior, their daily lives. By describing people who acted in definitions for the word "virtue" supported the accordance with their natures, Kōkei affirmed the idea of multiple and diverse ways to be virtuous. idea that virtue lay inside individual nature. Jinsai defined the term "virtue" (toku) in Gomō Under an entry headed, "A Yamashina farmer and jigi (On the Meaning of Terms in the Analects and five noteworthy people," an old beggar woman the Mencius, 1683) and Sorai in Benmei (The known only as Kame of Rōya refused a reward Rectification of Names, 1737). In their discus- for finding and returning a lost item. In Kōkei's sions of virtue and virtuous behavior, they es- account, the old woman explained her behavior in chewed the idea of a single path of behavior for terms of her own personality rather than shared all people, so that the individual, rather than rules, ideas of virtue: "If I were inclined to take this, I had a role to play in the definition of virtue. In would have sold the item and kept the money."64 Jinsai's discussions of both toku and tokkō, virtue Thus, Kōkei's ideal virtuous deed was performed was an individual's defining property rather than as a function of one's character. In that same an ideal. Sorai wrote of individual virtues (toku), section, Kōkei also described two other people, which differed for each person. both poor, returning money and refusing any re- Jinsai's thought resembled Tōju as portrayed in ward. Kinsei kijinden, in that virtue remained an essen- In keeping with the idea of individual nature as tial potential for all people, rather than something virtue, Kōkei included a wide range of kijin, acquired or earned. Jinsai's concept of virtue demonstrating the diversity behind individual vir- worked alongside his idea of "way" (michi), tue. This resembled the thought of Ogyū Sorai, which he associated with activity. In Gomō jigi, who understood virtue to correspond to the indi- Jinsai's explanation of virtue relied on pre- vidual, not the reverse.65 Sorai believed that one Confucian concepts emphasizing virtue as a property rather than an ideal: "Purging and expel- Tōgai, ed. Yoshikawa Kōjirō and Shimizu ling is the way of medicine; healing and promot- Shigeru (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1971), 37, 127. ing life is its virtue. Burning and scorching is 63 Tucker, Itō Jinsai's Gomō Jigi, 112-113. the way of fire, while cooking food and heating 62 Original translation includes glosses in both beverages are its virtues." According to Jinsai, Romanization and Japanese script. See also "Gomō jigi," in Nihon shisō taikei, 33:36-37 and 61 KKD, 19. 127. 62 John Allen Tucker, trans., Itō Jinsai's 64 KKD, 127. Gomō Jigi and the Philosophical Definition of 65 Tetsuo Najita, trans., Tokugawa Political Early Modern Japan (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 113. Writings (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University See also Nihon shisō taikei, vol. 33, Itō Jinsai, Itō Press, 1998), xxi-xxiii.

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could not apply one standard of behavior to all to heat water. The issue is whether one realizes people since all individuals were unique. In virtue through nourishment or whether one has Benmei, he wrote, "Every human being has an the virtue from the beginning."68 inner nature and is different. Thus virtue, too, is Sorai's thinking recognized people for their in- different from one person to the next . . . . Even dividual strengths. In the same spirit, Kōkei the teachings of the Sages, however wise, cannot focused on an idea of selfhood guiding virtuous be forced upon the people. Therefore, each and practice in his portrayals of kijin. Kōkei in- every one stays close to his inner nature and cluded a story where Jinsai's son Kaitei valued a nourishes it to realize its virtue."66 In this way, certain servant solely for his individuality. The Sorai's idea of virtue also approached the pre- servant took orders too literally, and as a result Confucian interpretation, where virtue was not a had no practical use. When told to "let the knife moral standard but a property that defined an in- rest" when cutting some abalone, he made a bed dividual thing. for the knife with brushwood sticks and a dish- In Sorai's view, since virtue was intimately cloth. 69 Still, Kaitei recognized this extreme connected with the self, virtuous living meant straightforwardness as a strength, and fostered it practicing that quality that makes one unique. in his household. This thinking echoed Sorai's In Benmei, he linked the virtue of the individual words, "if one's virtue has not been developed the to life practice, the Way. In the following pas- Way cannot be practiced." Sorai might have sage, Sorai identified a particular virtue (sono agreed with Kaitei's judgment on the grounds that toku) with an individual (sono hito): "[It is said in the servant as acting on his own virtue. the Book of Changes] 'If the effort is not from Above, in order to ground Kōkei's thought and within that specific person, the Way as a whole Kinsei kijinden in an intellectual historical con- will be in vain.' In other words, if one's virtue text, I have discussed Jinsai and Sorai's views of has not been developed the Way cannot be prac- the relationship between virtue and the individual. ticed."67 For Sorai, virtue was not simply an Sorai emphasized the realization of individual individual property, but realized through practice virtue, while Jinsai stressed the individual hous- that differed according to one's individual nature. ing the potential for good. By grounding their For this reason he quibbled over the passage by thought in the human world, Jinsai and Sorai Jinsai quoted earlier: "Jinsai did not . . . realize made it possible to consider virtue in terms of the that virtue and inner character were not the same individual self. things. It is as though he is casually saying that medicine has a healing virtue and fire the virtue Conclusion

66 Najita, Tokugawa Political Writings, 44. The idea of virtue (toku) lies at the heart of See also John A. Tucker, Ogyū Sorai's Kinsei kijinden. Kinsei kijinden arose from a Philosophical Masterworks (Honolulu: continuing tension between virtue as societal and University of Hawai`i Press, 2006),180-181 and virtue as individual found in both early Chinese Nihon shisō taikei, vol. 36, Ogyū Sorai, ed. texts and in Tokugawa Japanese thought. Dat- Yoshikawa Kōjirō et al. (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, ing back to pre-Confucian Chinese language, the 1973), 48 and 49. idea of virtue as personal potency reemerged in 67 Najita, Tokugawa Political Writings, 45. Chinese and Japanese intellectual history when My emphasis. See also Tucker, Ogyū Sorai's there was a renewed interest in creativity and in- Philosophical Masterworks, 182, and Nihon shisō dividual expression, such as in Wei-Jin China and taikei, 36:50, 212. The passage Sorai quoted in Tokugawa Japan. Building upon these ideas, appears in Takata Shinji and Gotō Mitomi ed., Ekikyō (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1969), 2:276- 68 Najita, Tokugawa Political Writings, 45- 277. Tucker's note on p. 371 also refers to 46. See also Nihon shisō taikei, 36:50, and Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes, The I Tucker, Ogyū Sorai's Philosophical Masterworks, Ching or Book of Changes (Princeton: Princeton 183. University Press), 349. 69 KKD, 38.

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Kōkei emphasized virtuous action as a function of personal potency within the kijin, rather than as a result of indoctrination. In this way, Kōkei showed his belief that virtue was not a single path, but many. With the ideas of sincerity and individuality, Kōkei demonstrated that the individual was both the source of virtue, and adequate justi- fication for performing virtuous deeds. By understanding virtue in terms of novelty, Tokugawa readers of Kinsei kijinden could be inspired by the wonder of virtue in troubled times. Throughout the Tokugawa Period, writers continued to explore and expand upon the relationship between virtue and the individual. While Kōkei linked kijin to virtue as an individual property, later writers developed this idea into a con- nection between kijin and identity. After the appearance of Kinsei kijinden, different communities compiled their own biographies of eccentrics, or kijinden, particularly geographical areas and artistic groups. Such kijinden helped create an identity for these groups. Two Tokugawa examples illustrate this point. Between 1831 and 1844 lower level warrior official Okamoto Shinko (1780-1856) and his collaborators compiled Tosa no kuni kijinden, a scholarly biographical collection of Tosa (present-day Kochi Prefecture) eccentrics. Blind haikai scholar Ta- keuchi Gengen'ichi (1742-1804) wrote the manuscript for Haika kijindan, a scholarly work published in 1816 that placed kijin in the context of the playful urban poetry form of haikai. Several other Tokugawa works on kijin and poetry followed. 70 After the Tokugawa Period, from Meiji to modern times, writers continued to com- pile kijinden, and to link kijin and identity. This trend underscores the power behind the idea of individual virtue, and the importance of the text Kinsei kijinden in early modern Japanese intellectual history.

70 Further discussion of these works appear in Kameya, "Paupers, Poets, and Paragons," 204- 207.