This is part 5 of my series on Shinto as a civil religion, you can find the other parts here.
Kokugaku, roughly translated as national teaching, was a kind of Japanese philology focusing on analyzing and philosophizing old Japanese texts, to return to a historical Japanese teaching. Phew! Before Kokugaku the study of Japanese history and texts was always connected to the study of China. That this changed, depended on many different factors. The fact that Japan closed its borders around the same time Kokugaku started to emerge is no coincidence. It might have increased thoughts about Japanese uniqueness and increased interest in Japan without Chinese influences. Besides this, there was also an increasing interest in becoming educated in Japanese history and texts. Said with other words, there started to be money in teaching “only” Japanese history.
Because of the old text’s connection to the kami and Shinto, Kokugaku also became connected to these. This connection became clear when Mootori Norinaga (1730-1801) started studying the “Kojiki” or “Record of ancient matters”. (published in 702). Where Kokugaku scholars had put Japanese culture above other Asian cultures, Norinaga now used Shinto and the kami to place Japanese culture above the entire world. He would justify this through Japan’s creation and connection to the kami.
Hirata Atsutane
Norinaga managed to uplift Kokugaku to a popular study. By doing so he paved the way for the reconstruction of his personal Shinto tradition. But Kokugaku didn’t manage to capture the majority of the people until Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843), Norinaga’s self-pronounced successor.
Atsutane is in many ways a kinda of historical enigma. Not much is known about his early years besides the fact that at 19, he ran away from home to go to Edo (Tokyo today). Here he would survive by doing odd jobs until 1801 when he discovered Norinaga’s texts. Despite never actually meeting Norinaga, Atsutane would claim that Norinaga came to him in a dream. This claim would set the tone for the rest of Atsutane’s writings, which often contained supernatural and unprovable claims. In 1806 Atsutane would open a school in Edo named the Masugenoya, where he would spread his teachings in Kokugaku.
If you have any comments or questions please write to me here, or on my Instagram!
Sources
Theodore De Bary, William(ed.). Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume Two 1600-2000. Colombia University Press: New York, 2005. Print.
Hardacre, Helen. Shinto: a History.
Leave a Reply