HIRATA KOKUGAKU and the TSUGARU DISCIPLES by Gideon
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SPIRITS AND IDENTITY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY NORTHEASTERN JAPAN: HIRATA KOKUGAKU AND THE TSUGARU DISCIPLES by Gideon Fujiwara A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2013 © Gideon Fujiwara, 2013 ABSTRACT While previous research on kokugaku , or nativism, has explained how intellectuals imagined the singular community of Japan, this study sheds light on how posthumous disciples of Hirata Atsutane based in Tsugaru juxtaposed two “countries”—their native Tsugaru and Imperial Japan—as they transitioned from early modern to modern society in the nineteenth century. This new perspective recognizes the multiplicity of community in “Japan,” which encompasses the domain, multiple levels of statehood, and “nation,” as uncovered in recent scholarship. My analysis accentuates the shared concerns of Atsutane and the Tsugaru nativists toward spirits and the spiritual realm, ethnographic studies of commoners, identification with the north, and religious thought and worship. I chronicle the formation of this scholarly community through their correspondence with the head academy in Edo (later Tokyo), and identify their autonomous character. Hirao Rosen conducted ethnography of Tsugaru and the “world” through visiting the northern island of Ezo in 1855, and observing Americans, Europeans, and Qing Chinese stationed there. I show how Rosen engaged in self-orientation and utilized Hirata nativist theory to locate Tsugaru within the spiritual landscape of Imperial Japan. Through poetry and prose, leader Tsuruya Ariyo identified Mount Iwaki as a sacred pillar of Tsugaru, and insisted one could experience “enjoyment” from this life and beyond death in the realm of spirits. The Tsugaru nativists’ cause was furthered when their domain of Hirosaki switched allegiance from the Tokugawa to Imperial forces in the Boshin War of 1868 to 1869, and a domainal samurai from their group fought and died for the emperor. This young samurai was among 64 fallen soldiers who were honoured and deified in the shōkonsai ritual performed by Shinto priests of the group, an event which distinguished the domain as a loyal supporter of Imperial Japan. In conclusion, I describe the Tsugaru nativists’ experience of modernity, as members carried out religious reform, immortalized the domain through editing histories and poetry collections, and observed the rise of Hirata nativism in the creation of the Meiji state, only to witness its decline in a society which modernized rapidly, while embracing new and foreign intellectual influences. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………ii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………...iii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………….….v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Overview………………………………………………………………………………..1 On Statehood, Nation, and Modernity…………………………………………….……3 Research on Hirata Kokugaku and the “Boom” of Recent Years……………………..12 The Objectives of This Study and Chapter Overview………………………………...24 CHAPTER 2: HIRATA KOKUGAKU AND ITS NATIONAL NETWORK Overview………………………………………………………………………………29 Hirata Atsutane: Early Years………………………………………………………......29 Beginnings of Hirata Kokugaku ……………………………………………………….34 Spirits, the Kakuriyo Realm, and Ethnographic Studies………………………………37 Looking Northward…………………………………………………………………...43 Atsutane’s Later Years………………………………………………………………..48 Hirata Kokugaku Network: Ibukinoya, Kanetane, Nobutane, and the Disciples……..53 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….61 CHAPTER 3: HIRATA KOKUGAKU IN HIROSAKI DOMAIN Overview……………………………………………………………………...…63 History of Late-Tokugawa Hirosaki Domain………………………………………...63 Tsuruya Ariyo and the Tsugaru Disciples……………………………………………77 Pursuit of Poetry and the Ancient Way………………………………………………87 Informational Network…………………………………………………………….…94 Relations with Morioka and Akita Disciples…………………………………………96 Characteristics: Townspeople and Shinto Priest-Centered Group………………..…104 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...106 CHAPTER 4: HIRAO ROSEN I: LIFE, ART, THOUGHT, ETHNOGRAPHY Overview…………………………………………………………………………….108 Hirao Rosen: Early Years……………………………………………………………109 Study of Folk Culture………………………………………………………………..115 1855 Visit to Ezo…………………………………………………………………….119 Between Ezo and Tsugaru……………………………………………………………130 After Returning to Tsugaru…………………………………………………………..133 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………135 iii CHAPTER 5: HIRAO ROSEN II: CONCEIVING OF TSUGARU AND IMPERIAL JAPAN THROUGH ETHNOGRAPHIC AND KOKUGAKU STUDIES Overview…………………………………………………………………………….137 Studies of Local Life and Japan in Tokugawa Times……………………………….138 Gappo kidan (Strange Tales of Gappo )……………………………………………..142 Tani no hibiki (Echoes of the Valley )……………………………………………….150 Yūfu shinron (New Treatise on the Spiritual Realm )………………………………..161 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..177 CHAPTER 6: TSURUYA ARIYO: MOUNT IWAKI AND SPIRITS Overview…………………………………………………………………………….179 Mount Iwaki in Ariyo’s Waka Poetry……………………………………………….180 The Gods and Mount Iwaki…………………………………………………………188 Ken’yū rakuron (Treatise on Enjoyment in the Visible and Invisible Realms )……..…191 Reception of Kokugaku Religiosity and its Practice………………………………..195 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..198 CHAPTER 7: THE RESTORATION YEARS: THE BOSHIN WAR AND SHŌKONSAI RITUAL Overview…………………………………………………………………………...201 The Boshin War and its Northeastern Front……………………………………….201 Yamada Yōnoshin: A Hirata Disciple’s Loyalist Death…………………………..206 Shōkonsai in Hirosaki: Calling Back the War Dead………………………………212 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………221 CHAPTER 8: RISE AND DECLINE OF KOKUGAKU : TSUGARU DISCIPLES AND MODERN SOCIETY Overview…………………………………………………………………………..223 History of Meiji Period Hirosaki………………………………………………….224 Tsugaru Tsuguakira: Last Daimyo, First Governor………………………………226 The Transformation of an Educational Institution………………………………..227 The Hirata Academy in Early Meiji……………………………………………….231 The Tsugaru Disciples in Meiji……………………………………………………236 Osari Nakaakira, Ono Iwane, and Shinbutsu bunri ………………………………...243 Shimozawa Yasumi: Immortalizing “Tsugaru”…………………………………....248 Hirao Rosen: The Twilight Years………………………………………………….253 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….261 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….263 TABLES….………………………….…………………………………………………….278 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………279 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 List of Hirata Disciples in Tsugaru v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study on intellectual networks and conceptions of community in nineteenth-century Japan was supported by the goodwill and generosity of my mentors, colleagues, friends, and family. I would first like to thank Peter Nosco for teaching me to think about intellectual and social history. My study of kokugaku began when I read his work as an undergraduate. His guidance and encouragement these several years have enabled me to now make my own small contribution to the field. I thank Nam-lin Hur for introducing me to Japanese history, and for his patience in teaching me the joy of grappling with primary documents. My thanks go to Harjot Oberoi for urging me to ask larger questions and to push me to address them. I express gratitude to Kojima Yasunori for introducing me to Hirao Rosen and Tsugaru, and for helping me to navigate through both research materials and the region. I thank the people at Hirosaki University for kindly facilitating my research there from 2010 to 2011 funded by the Japan Foundation. I am deeply indebted to Hasegawa Seiichi for helping me to contextualize my work within a larger history, and for arranging access to archives throughout Aomori. For their support and feedback on my work, I express appreciation to Watanabe Mariko, Kitahara Kanako, and Yamada Itsuko. For assisting me to access valuable materials for research, I acknowledge gratitude to Sato Akira at the Hirosaki City Library and Honda Shin at the Aomori Prefectural Museum. I also thank Miyakawa Shinichiro, Fukui Toshitaka, Ono Masahiko, Tsurumaki Hideki, and Mikuni Ryoichi for their help. To Miyachi Masato I express gratitude for permitting me to participate in the monthly seminar hosted by the Hirata Shrine in Yoyogi, Tokyo. From scholars of this seminar I received invaluable feedback and help with reading hand-written documents. I thank Endo Jun, Nakagawa Kazuaki, Yoshida Asako, Kate Wildman Nakai, Matsumoto Hisashi, and Kumazawa Eriko. vi I thank Anne Walthall for kindly sharing her insights on Hirata kokugaku through conversations, seminars, and close readings of my work. For kindly commenting on my research I thank Helen Hardacre, Bettina Gramlich-Oka, Caroline Hirasawa, Shion Kono, Peter Flueckiger, Job Jindo, Fujita Keisuke, and Niels Van Steenpaal. Many thanks go to Sato Hiroo at the Department of Japanese Intellectual History at Tohoku University for his continued guidance since my years there in the M.A. program. I appreciate constant encouragement from Takahashi Akinori, Motomura Masafumi, Kirihara Kenshin, Okawa Makoto, Nakajima Eisuke, Suzuki Hirokata, and Morikawa Tamon. The Department of Asian Studies and the University of British Columbia have been an ideal place to carry out my doctoral work. For their advice in scholarship and professional development, I wish to thank William Wray, Sharalyn Orbaugh, Joshua Mostow, Christina Laffin, and Jessica Main. I thank Nathen Clerici for our many sparring sessions where we exchanged numerous ideas in multiple