Thinking Like a Man: Tadano Makuzu (1763-1825) (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)

THINKING LIKE A MAN BRILL’S JAPANESE STUDIES LIBRARY edited by H. BOLITHO AND K.W. RADTKE VOLUME 24 THINKING LIKE ...

Author: Bettina Gramlich-Oka

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THINKING LIKE A MAN

BRILL’S JAPANESE STUDIES LIBRARY edited by H. BOLITHO AND K.W. RADTKE

VOLUME 24

THINKING LIKE A MAN Tadano Makuzu (1763-1825) BY

BETTINA GRAMLICH-OKA

BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2006

Cover illustration: Hanging Scroll Sakurabana. Poem by Mazuku. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

The book was printed with the financial support of the Förderverein japanisch-deutscher Kulturbeziehungen e.V., Köln (JaDe).

ISSN 0925-6512 ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15208-3 ISBN-10: 90-04-15208-3 © Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands

IN MEMORIAM HELMUT WILHELM GRAMLICH (1928–95)

CONTENTS Conventions and Abbreviations List of Illustrations

........................................................

ix

..............................................................................

x

Acknowledgments ..................................................................................

xii

Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Makuzu’s Place in Japanese Literature .......................................... 4 Makuzu’s Place in Intellectual History .......................................... 8 Contents ............................................................................................. 12 Part One

Makuzu’s Life .....................................................................

17

Chapter One Remnants of Legends .................................................. Legends of Samurai and Scholars: The Nagai Family ............... Legends of Samurai and Scholars: KudĿ Grandparents ............ Makuzu’s Parents: Superior Man and Poet ................................... Heisuke ....................................................................................... Heisuke’s Education .................................................................. Makuzu’s Mother ...................................................................... Among Lords, Scholars, and Poets ..............................................

24 25 27 32 33 34 41 49

Chapter Two Heisuke’s Legacy ......................................................... Makuzu’s Education ........................................................................ Heisuke’s Proposal ........................................................................... The Ezo Affair .................................................................................. Gods of Misfortune .........................................................................

66 67 72 82 89

Chapter Three The Crafting of the Author Makuzu ................... Departure to Married Life .............................................................. The Poet Makuzu .......................................................................... The Victim Makuzu ...................................................................... Mukashibanashi ............................................................................. From Victim to Activist ................................................................

96 97 107 117 127 132

Chapter Four Makuzu and Bakin ................................................... 139 Epistolary Intrusion ....................................................................... 143 Producing a New Form of Filial Piety ....................................... 147 Bakin’s Empathy ............................................................................ 151 Promoting the Agenda .................................................................. 153 Bakin’s Dilemma ............................................................................ 156 The End of the Relationship ...................................................... 163 Work of Regret ............................................................................... 165

viii

CONTENTS

Hitori Kangae (Solitary Thoughts) ...............................

168

Chapter Five Critique of the Masculine Way ................................. The Masculine Way ........................................................................ 'H¿QLQJ*HQGHU The Body Beneath the Skin ....................................................... Woman’s Place in Society ........................................................... Transcending Gender by Enlightenment .................................. Confucius and Women ..................................................................

173 174 186 192 200 205

Chapter Six The Rhythm as Guide ................................................ The Rhythm between Heaven and Earth ................................. The Rhythm’s Genealogy ............................................................. The Dimension of Time ............................................................... The Dimension of Space .............................................................. The Rhythm and Japan-centeredness ........................................

209 210 215 223 227 232

Chapter Seven The Human Condition and Society ..................... Decoupling the Individual from Heaven ................................... Human Nature and Morality ........................................................ Good and Evil ................................................................................. Human Competition ...................................................................... Human Agency and Ikioi ............................................................... Accommodation of Human Nature ...........................................

241 242 243 246 250 255 258

&KDSWHU(LJKW 7KH5K\WKP$SSOLHG:LOO%HQH¿W$OO Kokueki %HQH¿WWRWKH&RXQWU\ To Order the Country and Save its People (Keisei Saimin) ..... The Ikioi of Money ........................................................................ The Lord Who Knows Arithmetic ............................................. Kokueki by Means of Knowledge .............................................. Makuzu’s Vision .............................................................................

267 271 276 279 283

Epilogue .......................................................................................

287

Part Two

List of Works Cited ............................................................................. 290 Works by Makuzu ......................................................................... 290 Other Sources ................................................................................. 291 Index ........................................................................................................ 305

CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS CONVENTIONS 1DPHVDUHJLYHQLQWKH-DSDQHVHRUGHUVXUQDPH¿UVWIROORZHGE\SHUVRQDORUVREULTXHWV$IWHUWKH¿UVWDSSHDUDQFH,UHIHUWRWKHLUSHUVRQDO or artistic name, with the exception of Tanuma Okitsugu, who is better known as Tanuma. Ages are given by traditional Japanese reckoning, one or two years older than by Western count. Years have been converted from the lunar to the Gregorian calendar, while days and months are left in the original numbering, e.g. 1755/2/20 or twentieth day of the second month of 1755. I ignore thereby the complexity of the conversion, since some days of the twelfth month in the lunar calendar fall into the next year of the Gregorian calendar. All translations from the Japanese are the author’s unless otherwise indicated. MEASURES 1 koku 1 ryĿ (koban gold piece) 1 shaku 1 ri

about 180 liters (47.5 gallons) about 4,000 mon (copper coins) about 30 cm (1 foot) about 3.9 km (2.5 miles) ABBREVIATIONS

DK HJAS HK JJS KMZ MB MN MNZ NKBT NKT NST SHS TMS

DokkĿron Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Hitori kangae Journal of Japanese Studies Kamo Mabuchi zenshŗ Mukashibanashi Monumenta Nipponica Motoori Norinaga zenshŗ Nihon koten bungaku taikei Nihon keizai taiten Nihon shisĿ taikei Shin HokkaidĿshi Tadano Makuzu shŗ

ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS Map 1 Edo ................................................................................... Map 2 Sendai and Environs ........................................................

23 95

FIGURES Hanging Scroll Sakurabana ....................................... 2 Makuzu’s Names ...................................................... 10 Grave of KudĿ JĿan ................................................. 29 Grave of KudĿ Heisuke ........................................... 34 Aoki Kon’yĿ ............................................................. 36 Tanuma Okitsugu ..................................................... 40 Abbreviated Genealogy of Makuzu ........................ 44 Letter by the family friend Mishima Kageo ............. 46 Ground plan of Katsuragawa Hoshŗ’s house ........... 52 Matsumae han-i Maita Gentan monogatari no omomuki (The Story of Maita Gentan, physician to the Matsumae domain) by Maita Gentan ............. 54 Figure 1-9 Seadrifter Daikokuya KĿdayŗ and his companion Isokichi ................................................. 55 Figure 1-10 KikkĿden by Kamo Mabuchi .................................. 58 Figure 1-11 Frontispiece of the Cruydt-Boeck by Rembert Dodonaeus ........................................... 60 Figure 1-12 Store for Foreign Curios .......................................... 63 Figure 2-1 Grave of Kada Tamiko ............................................ 69 Yoshio KĿgyŗ ........................................................... 74 Figure 2-2 Figure 2-3 ľtsuki Gentaku ........................................................ 75 Figure 2-4 Matsudaira Sadanobu ............................................. 83 Figure 2-5 Introduction of Heisuke’s medical treatise Kyŗon sode goyomi .................................................. 85 Figure 2-6 Hayashi Shihei ......................................................... 86 Figure 2-7 KudĿ BankĿ monjo by KudĿ Heisuke .................... 87 Figure 3-1 House of the Tadano Family in Sendai ..................... 98 Figure 3-2 House of the Tadano Family in Nakaniida .............. 99 Figure 3-3 Makuzu’s letter to husband Iga ........................... 101 Figure 0-1 Figure 0-2 Figure 1-1 Figure 1-2 Figure 1-3 Figure 1-4 Figure 1-5 Figure 1-6 Figure 1-7 Figure 1-8

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 3-4 Figure 3-5 Figure 3-6 Figure 3-7 Figure 3-8 Figure 3-9 Figure 3-10 Figure 3-11 Figure 3-12 Figure 3-13 Figure 3-14 Figure 4-1 Figure 4-2

Figure 4-3 Figure 4-4 Figure 5-1 Figure 5-2 Figure 6-1 Figure 6-2 Figure 6-3 Figure 6-4 Figure 6-5

Makuzu’s writing sample for stepson Naosaku ....... Matsushima ........................................................... Makuzu’s composition, sent to Shimizu Hamaomi in Edo, including his correction marks .................. Shimizu Hamaomi’s letter attached to Makuzu’s composition ............................................................ Grave of Murata Harumi ....................................... Grave of KatĿ Chikage ........................................... Grave of Shimizu Hamaomi .................................. Hagi-ni’s letter (1) to Makuzu ............................... Crest of the Tadano Family .................................... Makuzu’s record of game of incense ..................... From Hagi-ni’s mistress to Makuzu ...................... Takizawa Bakin ..................................................... Takizawa-ke hĿmon Ŀrai jinmei bo (Records of visitors to the Takizawa house) with the entry of Makuzu ............................................................. Hagi-ni’s letter (2) to Makuzu .............................. Grave of Makuzu .................................................. Kaitai shinsho; Adam Kulmus’s Ontleedkundige Tafelen; Jŗtei Kaitai shinsho ................................. First page of DokkĿron by Takizawa Bakin ........... First page of Hitori Kangae (copy made in 1926) Kamo Mabuchi ...................................................... Jisanka by Tadano Makuzu ................................... Motoori Norinaga ................................................. Kamo Mabuchi’s chashaku (tea scoop) .................

xi 106 108 112 113 114 116 117 123 134 135 138 140

145 161 164 183 205 210 216 218 220 228

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ichigaya, Tokyo, 1996. My encounter with Tadano Makuzu began in a coffee shop. Kate Nakai and Umezawa Fumiko, my advisers for my Masters thesis at Sophia University, mentioned to me that Tadano Makuzu’s collected works had been published only recently, and knowing of my interest in the lives of women during the Tokugawa period, they thought it would be worthwhile for me to look into her work. With the book in my suitcase, soon after I left for California. In September 2003 I submitted my dissertation on Makuzu to the Institute of Japanese Studies at Tübingen University, Germany. Two and a half years later, this book is completed. During these years my research has been nurtured in several academic communities. From my alma mater, Tübingen University, I received the greatest support that a student could wish for. I was an unconventional student: I left Germany for Japan after my undergraduate studies, never to return permanently. Klaus Antoni, Viktoria EschbachSzabo, and Klaus Kracht helped me overcome bureaucratic obstacles arising from my absence from Germany and were approachable at all times, offering their intellectual advice and academic support. Auditing Herman Ooms’s seminars at UCLA and Anne Walthall’s at UCI ZDVPLQGRSHQLQJ,ZDVWUXO\IRUWXQDWHWRKDYHPHWVRPHRIWKH¿QHVW VFKRODUVLQRXU¿HOG:LWKRXW$QQH¶VJXLGDQFHLQSDUWLFXODULQZULWLQJ my dissertation, which must have been trying at times, I doubt that I would have come this far. Our translation group—Janet Goodwin, (OL]DEHWK /HLFHVWHU <XNL 7HUD]DZD DQG $QQH :DOWKDOO²FRQ¿UPHG and reinforced my decision to work on Makuzu despite the initial dif¿FXOWLHV,KDGZLWKKHUWKRXJKWDQGZLWKKRZWRFRQFHSWXDOL]HLWLQD larger framework. After the translation of Makuzu’s Solitary Thoughts had been published in Monumenta Nipponica, we continued our regular meetings (now also joined by Kristine Dennehy), where we read and discussed my manuscript chapter by chapter. I learned to keep WLJKWGHDGOLQHVEXWPRUHLPSRUWDQW,SUR¿WHGIURPWKHLUH[FHOOHQWDQG stimulating critique, which I miss dearly. I am in particular thankful for having met Elizabeth, who shares not only my interest in Tokugawa history but also similar life choices.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

xiii

During my research in Japan many scholars mentored, inspired, and supported me. I would like to thank many of them for their valuable assistance and guidance, including my former advisor at the RikkyĿ University, Arano Yasunori, and my advisor at Ochanomizu Women’s University, ľguchi YŗjirĿ. I am especially grateful to Kado Reiko, Seki Tamiko, Shiba Keiko, and Suzuki Yoneko who shared with me their knowledge, expertise, and their sources on Makuzu. My mentors, Kate and Fumiko, who continue to share their vast knowledge with me, have my deep respect and gratitude. While I transformed the dissertation into a book, Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, became my new haven. William Johnston and Steven Angle introduced me to academic life from the other side of the classroom; but they also gave me needed advice about the publishing process. Others who have read my entire manuscript are Gregory Smits and the reader for Brill. I appreciate all their suggestions and hope to have responded to most of them. Their input adds to the invaluable comments on the presentations that I gave at various conferences over WKHSDVW¿YH\HDUV,DOVRZRXOGOLNHWRDFNQRZOHGJHWKHHQFRXUDJHPHQW I received at various stages of this project, even though I cannot properly thank everyone to whom I am indebted. Any errors that remain, of course, are mine alone. Some short segments have been published in “Tadano Makuzu and Her Hitori Kangae,” MN 56:1 (Spring 2001). Portions of chapter 5 have been published in “A Woman’s Critique of Male Academics in Early Nineteenth Century Japan,” in Kulturwissenschaften und Frauenstudien, ed. Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo et al., vol. 1 (Tübingen: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 2005). Financial support was provided in the summer of 2004 by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; the ideal working conditions of that summer and the following one, when I was close to Kate, Lynne Riggs, and Takei Masako, who offered me concrete advice, enabled me WREHPRVWHI¿FLHQWLQWKHVKRUWSHULRGRIWLPHDYDLODEOH0\WLPHLQ7Rkyo was also enriched by the Saturdays I spent with the members of the Katsura no kai, who introduced me to the wealth of Tokugawa women’s writings and their meaning for women today. Gaye Rowley deserves special thanks for helping me to gain access to the Waseda University Library. Laura Mercs, Yui Suzuki, and Andrea Vogt know best how much I relied on them in recent years, and I appreciate their friendship. My mother, Charlotte Gramlich, and my sisters and brothers have my deepest affection for always being there for me.

xiv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special gratitude goes to Tadano Hama and her family, who invited me to their home and spent hours in the heat of the summer showing the relentless historian materials that were kept in heavy boxes. I am KRQRUHG WR EH DEOH WR SUHVHQW KHUH IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH VRPH LPDJHV RI what she showed me. In addition to Laurence Marceau who introduced me to Brill, there are two individuals who helped with getting the manuscript ready for Brill’s printer: my editor Julia Perkins at Wesleyan University, who did an excellent job in responding to all my particular requests, and my husband Oka Kiyoshi, who created the graphics and images. Finally, the book is dedicated to Kiyoshi, Dai, and Shin for sharing the journey, and to my in-laws, Oka Masahiko and Tomiko, without whom I could not have accomplished half of the research I did while I was in Japan. New York, Winter 2006

INTRODUCTION 2QH PRUQLQJ LQ WKH HDUO\ IDOO RI D WKLUW\¿YH\HDUROG ZRPDQ left the shogun’s capital, Edo, on her journey to the northern domain of Sendai. The woman, Tadano Makuzu ྅㔕┷⴩ (1763–1825), left her birthplace for the home of her newly wedded husband.1 It is with this departure that the story of the poet and thinker begins. The starting point is the woman’s choice, as Makuzu began actively collecting and preserving her literary productivity from this moment in time.2 Even though the same lord employed both her new husband and her family, Makuzu had never before left Edo. Makuzu was born in 1763 as KudĿ Ayako ᕝ⸠࠵ࡷᏄ, the oldest daughter of the physician scholar KudĿ Heisuke ᕝ⸠ᖲຐ (1734–1800), who served the Date ௿㐡 family of the Sendai domain in Edo. Makuzu’s mother was the daughter of a fellow physician serving the same domain. Makuzu’s childhood, her ten-year service as a maid-in-waiting, and her care of her father’s household all took place within the city limits of Edo. Makuzu’s marriage, to which she dutifully agreed according to her father’s wishes, was meant to promote her brother’s career within the domain’s bureaucracy by building stronger ties with a Sendai domain retainer. In her new role as a second wife, Makuzu started to develop a literary voice, expressing her impressions of her new environment and of the people she met. What has brought her fame in recent years, however, is the political voice with which she freely criticized the scholars and lords of her time. 1 Makuzu was her artistic name and Tadano her married name. For consistency I refer to her throughout as Makuzu, not least because her collective works are called Tadano Makuzu shŗ ྅㔕┷⴩㞗 (Collected Works of Tadano Makuzu), ed. Suzuki Yoneko, SĿsho Edo bunko, vol. 30 [Tokyo: Kokusho KankĿkai, 1994]; abbreviated hereafter as TMS). In doing so I disregard that she signed her works and letters with different names, an indication of her multiple personae depending on age, stage in life, and addressees. See Figure 0-2. 2 Makuzu herself states that she started writing in Sendai (Hitori kangae ≺⩻ [Solitary Thoughts], in TMS, p. 291; abbreviated hereafter as HK, indicating the publication in TMS). We know that Makuzu had been skilled from an early age in composing poems, but no traces of her work remain from her earlier life in Edo. The sudden change in the volume of her literary output, which is effectively displayed in her collected works published in 1994, can be partly explained by the possibility that much of her early writing was lost, but the large amount of poetry and prose that she produced from the PRPHQWVKHOHIW(GRWHVWL¿HVWRKHUDSWLWXGHDQGKHUVWURQJPRWLYDWLRQWRZULWH

2

INTRODUCTION

Figure 0-1. Hanging Scroll Sakurabana. Poem by Makuzu. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

Women of the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) have long been neglected in modern scholarship, in particular with regard to their own agency. Although publications increasingly unearth the lives and works of Tokugawa women, the assumption persists that the early-modern period was the dark ages for women.3 Recently, however, among the few women writers whose works are known in and outside of Japan, Makuzu has attained a distinguished position.4 Even though her life course is quite 3 For concrete examples, see footnotes 15 and 16. The number of Japanese publications continues to grow. See, in particular, the works by Maeda Yoshi, Shiba Keiko, and
INTRODUCTION

3

ordinary for a woman of her status during the Tokugawa period, her writings document an idiosyncratic thinker, which calls for our reconsideration of the early-modern period and its society’s tensions and undercurrents. In the scholarly world, Makuzu’s political treatise, Hitori kangae ≺⩻ (Solitary Thoughts, written from 1817 to 1818),5 which challenges and criticizes shogunal and domain politics, is credited DV D WH[W WKDW VLJQL¿FDQWO\ H[SDQGV DQG DOWHUV RXU SHUVSHFWLYH RI WKH Tokugawa period on various issues, in particular with regard to gender ideology. In this essay Makuzu provides the reader, in addition to the opportunity to re-envision women’s history, with a window into the thoughts of a woman who explicitly addressed the reasons why the early-modern period in Japan is considered to be male-centered and male-dominated. Another, but closely related, reason why Hitori kangae does not correspond well with our understanding of Tokugawa history is Makuzu’s refusal to be limited by the gender boundaries that precluded women from participating in intellectual discussion. With Hitori kangae Makuzu entered the public realm, a taboo for women, as she herself observed.6 Hitori kangaeWHVWL¿HVWRDZRPDQ¶VNQRZOHGJHRIWKHVRFLRSROLWLFDOSUREOHPVRIWKHFDSLWDODQGRIOLIHLQD¿QDQFLDOO\WURXEOHG domain. Moreover, Makuzu does not hold back in arguing for drastic reforms, which she explains by comparing current conditions in Japan with those of foreign countries. In writing a political treatise, she reached the zenith of her literary role, not as a female poet, but as a serious author, operating in the exclusive preserve of male academia, which sets her apart as a woman and a thinker.7:KHQRQHRIWKH¿UVW ⣵㤮 (1787–1861), see Patricia Fister, “Female Bunjin: The Life of Poet-Painter Ema SaikĿ,” in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600–1945, ed. Gail Lee Bernstein (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 108-130, and Breeze through Bamboo: Kanshi of Ema SaikĿ, transl. Hiroaki Sato (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). For Matsuo Taseko see Anne Walthall, The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). 5 Hitori kangae has been translated into English. See “Solitary Thoughts. A Translation of Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori Kangae,” transl. Janet K. Goodwin et al., part 1, MN 56:1 (Spring 2001), part 2, MN 56:2 (Summer 2001). Abbreviated hereafter as MN 56:1 and MN 56:2. 6 In the letter called Towazugatari ࡛ࡢࡍ࠿ࡒࡽ (A Tale No One Asked For), in TMS, p. 374; and in the Letter called Mukashibanashi ᪿࡣ࡝ࡊ (Tales from the Past), in TMS, p. 374. 7 The bibliography of works by women lists only three critical commentaries by women, of which Makuzu wrote two. The list excludes court women and wives and daughters of daimyo. See Kuwabara Megumi, “Kinseiteki kyĿeibunka to josei,” in Nihon josei seikatsu shi, ed. Joseishi sĿgĿ kenkyŗkai, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1990), p. 181 and p. 188. The source is Joryŗ chosaku kaidai, compiled by Joshi

4

INTRODUCTION

readers of her treatise, the famous author Takizawa Bakin ⁢Ἁ㤷⌾ (1767–1848), was so impressed by this woman that he claimed she was “thinking like a man,” he illustrates well the deep-seated correlation between gender and intellectual discourse.8 In analyzing a woman thinker, therefore, I unveil a gender discourse that is deeply embedded in academic discourse. This is all the more important since Makuzu’s attack on the male-dominated discourse of Tokugawa intellectuals that ignored women is a sensitive issue that persists even to this day. ModHUQVFKRODUVLQWKH¿HOGRILQWHOOHFWXDOKLVWRU\RI7RNXJDZD-DSDQKDYH ignored the category of gender, and if there is a concern with women it is only in passing. I hope my discussion will open a new forum for debate.

MAKUZU’S PLACE IN JAPANESE LITERATURE The shifts of scholarly and ideological trends in Japan illustrate and H[SODLQWKHDWWHQWLRQSDLGWR0DNX]XDQGKHUZRUN0DNX]X¿UVWZRQD degree of fame during the Meiji period (1868–1912), when writers based in Sendai acclaimed her as a poet of remarkable skill.97KH¿UVWRIKHU works to be published were essays and poems, written in the Japanese style (wabun ࿰ᩝ), dealing with the Sendai region.10 Early biographers Gakushŗin [1935] (Tokyo: Higashi Shuppan, 1997). 8 Takizawa Bakin frequently refers to Makuzu in this way; see Takizawa Bakin, DokkĿron ≺⩻ㄵ (Discourse on Solitary Thoughts), in TMS, p. 310 (abbreviated hereafter as DK, indicating the publication in TMS); Untitled Letter from Takizawa Bakin to Tadano Makuzu (twenty-fourth day of the third month of 1819), in Nakayama Eiko, Tadano Makuzu (Sendai: Maruzen Sendai Shiten, 1936), p. 103; and Takizawa Bakin, Makuzu no ouna ┷⴩ࡡ࠽࠹࡝ (The Woman Makuzu) included in Toen shĿsetsu ඟᅧ ᑚㄕ (Stories of the Rabbit Grove), vol. 1 of 2nd series of Nihon zuihitsu taisei (Tokyo: Yoshikawa KĿbunkan, 1973), p. 253. 9 Makuzu’s renown during her lifetime is not easy to trace. According to Nakayama Eiko, Makuzu had poetry students in Sendai (Nakayama Eiko, Zoku—Miyagi no Josei [Sendai: KonkĿdĿ, 1988], p. 24). Nakayama also mentions some of Makuzu’s students by name: Takeda Umeko Ṃ⏛ᱭᏄ and Tadaki Naoko ఢᮄ├Ꮔ (Nakayama 1936, p. 15). Makuzu’s sister Taeko mentions that a nun from Ise, called Kaion-ni ᾇ㡚ᑷ, has learned about Makuzu’s talent and meant to visit her in Sendai (see the letter by the sister to Makuzu, cited in Kado Reiko, “Tadano Makuzu ate no imĿto Hagi-ni kara no shokan,” Edo-ki onnakĿ 12 [2001], pp. 84-87). Takizawa Bakin promoted Makuzu’s talent when he sent out copies of some of her manuscripts to his friends, but this occurred around the time of her death and afterward. It is probably due to his copies that so many of Makuzu’s writings have been preserved. 10 Isozutai ࠷ࡐࡘࡒࡥ (From the Seashore) and ľshŗbanashi ዚᕗࡣ࡝ࡊ (Stories from ľshŗ ZHUHERWK¿UVWSXEOLVKHGLQEdo jidai joryŗ bungaku zenshŗ, vol. 3, ed. Furuya Tomoyoshi [1918] [Tokyo: Nihon Tosho Sentă, 1979]). Makuzu presumably

INTRODUCTION

5

went on to fashion her into an exemplar of local culture. The portrayal GHSLFWVKHUDVD¿OLDOGDXJKWHUZKRIROORZHGKHUIDWKHU¶VZLVKWKDWVKH marry a well-off samurai, even though it meant leaving her beloved Edo for Sendai, to her an unknown region in the far north. Despite her isolation there, she devoted herself to looking after her husband’s house during the extended periods when his duties kept him in Edo. Without any children of her own, she dedicated herself to raising her KXVEDQG¶VFKLOGUHQIURPKLV¿UVWPDUULDJHDQGEHFDPHDPRGHOHGXFDtor who paid particular attention to the instruction of girls.11 The main VRXUFH IRU WKLV SRUWUDLW RI 0DNX]X¶V ¿OLDO SLHW\ ZKLFK ZDV H[SORLWHG within the new terminology of good wife/wise mother (ryĿsai kenbo Ⰳጏ㈴ẍ), was Mukashibanashi ࡳ࠾ࡊࡣ࡝ࡊ (Stories from the Past, 1811–12), a six-chapter narrative relating Makuzu’s personal history and describing life in the northern domain of Sendai, published in a series on women writers during the Taisho period (1912–26). With this new nationwide recognition, Makuzu gained a place among women writers. Mukashibanashi has been published four times within the past eighty years.12 Her status incorporated a contradiction, however: Makuzu was the exception to the long silence of women of the Tokugawa period, but she also represented virtuous womanhood, true to Confucian ideals. The interpretation of Makuzu’s works illustrates in particular many of the issues of category and canon that affect the reputations of Tokugawa-period women writers. Since the Meiji period, women’s writings have commonly been categorized as joryŗ bungaku ዥὮᩝᏕ (literature by women writers).13 This creation of a canon of women’s WH[WVLQWKHPRGHUQSHULRGHVWDEOLVKHGDQDUWL¿FLDOGLFKRWRP\RIJHQcompleted both in 1818. Isozutai, a travelogue about a trip in the Sendai area, has been published seven times; ľshŗbanashi, which relates twenty-nine stories Makuzu had heard, most of which take place in the Sendai domain, has been published at least three times. Both are also included in TMS. 11 Nakayama Eiko gives an overview of literature on Makuzu, written primarily by scholars based in the Sendai area prior to 1936 (Nakayama 1936, pp. 13-24). 12 MukashibanashiZDV¿UVWSXEOLVKHGLQLQSendai sĿsho ௜ྋཽ᭡ (Sendai series), ed. Sendai SĿsho KankĿkai, vol. 9 [1925] (Sendai: HĿbundĿ, 1972). Other editions appeared in 1969, 1984, and 1994. Abbreviated hereafter as MB, indicating the publication in TMS. 13 Tokugawa women’s travelogues, collections of poems, novels, and essays— among them Makuzu’s work—became available in published form and were embraced in the same way as the work of their Heian period (794–1185) sisters, namely as part of joryŗ bungaku. See Tomi Suzuki, “Gender and Genre: Modern Literary Histories and Women’s Diary Literature,” in Inventing the Classics, ed. Haruo Shirane and Tomi Suzuki (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), pp. 71-95, for an analysis of joryŗ bungaku.

6

INTRODUCTION

dered literature that served to marginalize women and their writings.14 The emergence of a Japanese national literature (kokubungaku ᅗᩝᏕ) that intertwined gender and genre is one of the reasons why women writers of the Tokugawa period, such as Makuzu, when compared to their male peers, until recently have been little known outside of Japan. Widespread belief in women’s apparent suppression in the Tokugawa period only contributed to this “vanishing” of the Japanese female voice.15 The view that there is not much in the way of literary works by Tokugawa women has been prominent and is articulated to this day in Western scholarship.16 Even as there has been a noticeable rise in publications dealing with women writers, the complex relationship among gender, genre, and politics persists. Makuzu’s political treatise, Hitori kangae, highlights the inherent problem of consigning women’s literary production to joryŗ bungaku. Just as Tokugawa poets with expertise in Chinese 14 This dichotomy is most evident in the well-known gendered binary of the distinction into female (kana syllabary) versus male (Chinese) language. Heian women’s literature written in kana was embraced as indigenously Japanese, while the use of Chinese (kanbun ₆ᩝ) was deemed masculine and foreign. There is a growing literature that concentrates on the subject of canonization and gender politics. See the essays by Tomi Suzuki 2000; Joshua S. Mostow, “Modern Constructions of Tales of Ise: Gender and Courtliness,” in Inventing the Classics, ed. Shirane and Suzuki, pp. 96-119; Atsuko Sakaki, “Sliding Doors: Women in the Heterosocial Literary Field of Early Modern Japan,” U.S.–Japan Women’s Journal: English Supplement 17 (1999), pp. 3-38; Joan Ericson, “The Origins of the Concept of ‘Women’s Literature’,” in The Woman’s Hand: Gender and Theory in Japanese Women’s Writing, ed. Paul Gordon Schalow and Janet A. Walker (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), pp. 74-115. 15 For instance, the statements that express the notion that Tokugawa women did not write, or if they did, they did so with less quality: Japanese Women Writers, ed. Noriko Mizuta Lippit and Kyoko Iriye Selden (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1991), xii: “When feudalism was established, women ceased to write, and there ensued a long period of silence in which women lost a major voice in literature… classical female-style literature and expression virtually vanished….” Or see Donald Keene, Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), p. 165: “The Heian tradition of writing by women was broken when the court society itself lost its importance and when the position of women came to be threatened by the hostile attitudes of the feudal government.” 16 In Travelers of a Hundred Ages, Donald Keene cites only three Tokugawa women poets, depicting them as exceptions to the rule (Donald Keene, Travelers of a Hundred Ages [New York: Columbia University Press, 1999], pp. 376-40). Haruo Shirane mentions literary women only in passing (Haruo Shirane, Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900 [New York: Columbia University Press, 2002]). Rebecca L. Copeland regrets in the preface to The Father–Daughter Plot that no female Tokugawa poet is represented (The Father–Daughter Plot: Japanese Literary Women and the Law of the Father, ed. Rebecca L. Copeland and Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen [Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001], ix). For a critical discussion of the “invention of women’s liberation,” see Sakaki 1999.

INTRODUCTION

7

OLWHUDWXUHDQGSRHWU\GRQRW¿WFRPIRUWDEO\LQWRWKLVFDWHJRU\LQFUHDVHG awareness of the political treatise Hitori kangae led researchers to see Makuzu, too, in a different light.177KH¿OLDOGDXJKWHUDQGGXWLIXOZLIH became for some a voice challenging the Tokugawa social and political order.18 2WKHUV LGHQWL¿HG KHU DV D SLRQHHU IHPLQLVW RU D IHPDOH FULWLF of established norms, a tendency that still prevails within academic circles in postwar Japan.19 Nakayama Eiko, one of the earliest biographers of Makuzu, praises her as the earliest female scholar of the 300 years of the Tokugawa period, who, unfortunately, Nakayama argues, was ahead of her time.20 Makuzu’s predictable popularity within women’s history has since risen and has led a number of Japanese scholars to analyze various aspects and selections from her crucial text Hitori kangae.21 Makuzu has probably never been better recognized than she has been recently. A historical novel about her early life is well known and most of the recent academic books on women of the Tokugawa period mention her at least by name.22 Makuzu’s reputation as an exceptional female thinker was especially enhanced by the publication in 1994 of Tadano Makuzu shŗ ྅㔕┷⴩㞗 (Collected Works of Tadano Makuzu), which has at last made available the greater part of her writings, including a more complete version of Hitori kangae and many pieces SULQWHGIRUWKH¿UVWWLPH23 This collection enables us to read not only her poetry, but also her various essays and even some letters, conve1DND\DPD(LNRSXEOLVKHGWKH¿UVWFKDSWHURIHitori kangae in 1936, based on the only manuscript then generally known. 18 6HH1DND\DPDSZKRLGHQWL¿HV0DNX]XDVWKH¿UVWWRDGYRFDWHZRPen’s liberation from Confucian tradition. 19 For such a recent assessment, see in particular the article by Kitada Sachie, who suggests, by using Makuzu and Shimizu Shikin ΰỀᰐ⌾ (1868–1933), a continuity of the notion of gender differences from the Edo to the Meiji period (Kitada Sachie, “Makuzu kara Shikin e,” Nihon bungaku 43:11 [1994], pp. 56-65). 20 Nakayama calls Makuzu joryŗ daiichi no gakusha ዥὮ➠ୌࡡᏕ⩽ (Nakayama Eiko, Kokin gosensai no hitori [Sendai: ShĿrinsha, 1961], p. 155). 21 In chronological order the main publications on Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori kangae are: Nakayama 1936; Shiba Keiko, Edo jidai no onna-tachi: HĿkenshakai ni ikita josei no seishin seikatsu [1969] (Tokyo: Katsura Bunko, 1999); Seki Tamiko, Edo kĿki no joseitachi (Tokyo: Aki ShobĿ, 1980); Honda Masuko, Edo no musumegatari (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1992); Suzuki Yoneko, Kaidai ゆ㢗 (Bibliographical essay), in TMS, 1994; ľguchi YŗjirĿ, Josei no iru kinsei (Tokyo: KeisĿ ShobĿ, 1995); Kado Reiko, Edo joryŗ bungaku no hakken (Tokyo: Fujiwara Shoten, 1998). 22 For the historical novel, see Nagai Michiko, Kuzu no ha shĿ: Ayako, Edo o ikiru (Tokyo: PHP Bunko, 1996). 23 TMS 1994. The collection, however, does not include all of her writings, as some are still coming to light. 17

8

INTRODUCTION

niently compiled in one substantial volume, a wealth of information that is fortunate enough to have survived the perils of time. Combined, they offer a glimpse of Makuzu’s upbringing in Edo in the latter half of the eighteenth century and of her life in Sendai during the Bunka–Bunsei eras (1804–1830).

MAKUZU’S PLACE IN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY In Japanese academia recognition of Makuzu does not go beyond the disciplines of women’s literature and women’s history.24 Makuzu did not change the course of history nor did she do anything with far-reaching consequences that would therefore receive general attention. However, she was not a “solitary” thinker. Anyone familiar with the late Tokugawa intellectual landscape will notice that quite a few of Makuzu’s ideas, even when they cannot be reduced or traced back to one particular book, are not all that unusual, but belong to a corpus of litHUDWXUHWKDWHQMR\HGSRSXODULW\DVWKHIDPRXVDXWKRURISRSXODU¿FWLRQ Takizawa Bakin remarks in his response to Hitori kangae, DokkĿron ≺⩻ㄵ (Discourse on Solitary Thoughts, 1819).25 When investigating KHUWKRXJKWZH ¿QG WKDW 0DNX]XVKDUHV LGHDV DERXWRWKHUFRXQWULHV history, and economic conditions with a group of scholars, even though she has not simply received passively and then echoed their ideas. HowHYHU KHU JHQGHU DQG LWV UDPL¿FDWLRQV KDYH SUHYHQWHG 0DNX]X IURP being treated thoroughly within mainstream and in particular within intellectual history. The reasons for the neglect of Makuzu can be found in the gender ideology of the Tokugawa period and in our acquiescence in that discourse, as well as in our categorization of scholars into intellectual ¿HOGVDQGVFKRROV6LQFHHitori kangae presents the notion of a woman who sees Confucian texts as harmful, not only to the scholars who pursue their study, but to society as a whole, Makuzu is often considered as belonging to the nativist school (Kokugaku ᅗᏕ). Others have likened her views on economics, especially her criticism of the samurai for not recognizing what any merchant knows, to the mercantilist writ24

In particular, Seki Tamiko deals in one chapter of her book with a lengthy analysis of Makuzu’s Hitori kangae (Seki 1980). The recent article by Maeda Tsutomu, “Tadano Makuzu no shisĿ: kokugaku to Rangaku to no kĿsaku,” Nihonbunka ronsĿ 12 (2004), Aichi KyĿiku Daigaku Nihonbunka Kenkyŗshitsu, pp. 55-80, is an exception. 25 For instance, DK, p. 315 and p. 355.

INTRODUCTION

9

ings of the Confucian scholar Kaiho SeiryĿ ᾇಕ㟯㝘 (1755–1817).26 Still others have seen her approach to argumentation as similar to that RIWKRVHZKRZHUHLQÀXHQFHGE\:HVWHUQVWXGLHV5DQJDNX⹊Ꮥ). All these attempts to explain Makuzu’s eclecticism,27 best shown in Hitori kangae, fall short in that a categorical emphasis on certain intellectual schools, such as Confucianism, Kokugaku, and Western learning, fails to describe intellectual ventures by individuals such as Makuzu or her father, KudĿ Heisuke.28 One of the subsequent problems that arises from this kind of often retroactive categorization into schools of thought is that only the scholars who made lasting achievements or who were associated with intellectual traditions that continued over time are considered to be representative and worth discussing by the modern historian, while others who failed to leave behind an intellectual legacy are ignored.29 An additional problem attributable to this kind of taxonomy is that various intellectual activities and debates escape our purview, since in the late Tokugawa period many intellectuals were engaged in GLVFXVVLRQVWKDWZHUHQRWUHVWULFWHGWRRQHSDUWLFXODUGLVFLSOLQDU\¿HOG RUVFKRROWKH\SDUWLFLSDWHGLQYDULRXVZKDWZHPD\FRQVLGHUFRQÀLFW26

Suzuki, in TMS 1994, p. 560. See Tetsuo Najita, “Method and Analysis in the Conceptual Portrayal of Tokugawa Intellectual History,” in Japanese Thought in the Tokugawa Period, 1600–1868: Methods and Metaphors, ed. Tetsuo Najita and Irwin Scheiner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), pp. 13-14, for a discussion of “eclecticism” and “fusion” of differing ideological frameworks in the Tokugawa period. 28 5DQJDNXIRULQVWDQFHEHFDPHD¿HOGGLVWLQFWIURPRWKHUVRQO\DIWHU6XJLWD*HPpaku ᮙ⏛⋖Ⓣ (1733–1817) late in life wrote his famous Rangaku koto hajime (Origins of Dutch Studies, 1815), where he defended his interest in Western knowledge. Or, as Timon Screech puts it, “Genpaku invented a lofty initiation for Rangaku as a way RIHQKDQFLQJWKHPDUJLQDOL]HG¿HOGVRFLDOO\´7LPRQ6FUHHFK³7KH9LVXDO/HJDF\RI Dodonaeus in Botanical and Human Categorisation,” in Dodonaeus in Japan: TranslaWLRQDQGWKH6FLHQWL¿F0LQGLQWKH7RNXJDZD3HULRG, ed. Willy F. Vande Walle [Leuven, Belgium: University of Leuven Press, 2001], p. 223). ľtsuki Gentaku wrote Rangaku kaitei (Ladder of Dutch Studies) in 1783, published in 1788, but it was written for people who, like Shiba KĿkan, were mesmerized by ran (rankuse ⹊⒯) (SatĿ ShĿsuke, “ľtsuki Gentaku koden,” in ľtsuki Gentaku no kenkyŗ, ed. YĿgakushi kenkyŗkai [Kyoto: Shibunkaku Shuppan, 1991], pp. 6-7). In the same way, according to Susan Burns, it was in the early Meiji period that the “school” of Kokugaku had became canonized and disciplined by a history of the genealogy of the “great men” (Susan Burns, Before the Nation [Durham: Duke University Press, 2003], p. 11). See also Mark McNally, ZKR LOOXVWUDWHV +LUDWD$WVXWDQH¶V LQYHQWLRQ DQG FODLP RI WKH ¿HOG RI .RNXJDNX DIWHU Norinaga’s death (Mark McNally, Proving the Way: &RQÀLFWDQG3UDFWLFHLQWKH+LVWRU\ of Japanese Nativism [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005], p. 1). 29 As Margarita Winkel explicates, many independent scholars who were not employed or had no schools on their own have fallen into oblivion (Margarita Winkel, Discovering Different Dimensions [Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leiden, 2004], p. 11). 27

10

INTRODUCTION

Figure 0-2. Makuzu’s Names: (from left) Ayako (letter from Shimizu Hamaomi), Machi (letter to Iga), and Makuzu (Scroll Sakurabana). Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

ing, circles.30 As Tessa Morris-Suzuki suggests, “in many of the most interesting economic works of the period … intellectual currents are not counterpoised, but inseparably intermingled.”31 )RUWKHVHUHDVRQV0DNX]XGRHVQRW¿WVTXDUHO\LQWRDQ\FDWHJRU\ thus it is only through a broadened scope of analysis that we come to XQGHUVWDQG EHWWHU KHU FRVPRORJ\ DQG QRWLRQV )RU LQVWDQFH ZH ¿QG that the assumption that politics and poetics are two different modes of intellectual endeavor is contradicted in that Makuzu reveals their connection. Instead of entering the world of literati (bunjin ᩝெ), I will HPSKDVL]HLQVXEVHTXHQWFKDSWHUV$QQD%HHUHQV¶V¿QGLQJVLQZKLFK she argues that the literati who withdrew from society in the eighteenth century as an expression of discontent with a social order that offered few options for success, never existed in the sense in which modern scholarship describes them. Instead they were “only members of a diffuse intellectual landscape.”32 For example, it is in contemporary de30

Winkel 2004, pp. 11-12. Tessa Morris-Suzuki, A History of Japanese Economic Thought (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 31. 32 Anna Beerens, “Intellectual Networks in 18th Century Japan, Image and Reality,” 31

INTRODUCTION

11

bates on poetic theory that Makuzu found inspiration and the language to express her own political views. In this book I will explore Makuzu’s views and offer the context in which they were formulated. While Makuzu thought differently because she was excluded from academics (the conventional education that offered a didactic system), the intellectual trends of her time still serve to explain the mode in which she worked. Drawing in various ZD\VRQWKHYLHZVHVSRXVHGE\RWKHUV0DNX]XUHÀHFWHGRQWKHFRQWURYHUVLHVRIKHUWLPH+HUSRVLWLRQKRZHYHUFRQ¿QHVKHUPDLQO\WRWKH position of the observer, emphasized by her gender. Makuzu was fortunate in that she had direct access to scholarship in the house in which she grew up. During the Tokugawa period, knowlHGJH²WKHSUHVHUYH¿UVWRI%XGGKLVWFOHUJ\DQGODWHURIOD\VFKRODUV who provided the rulers with this tool of power—became widely dispersed among the populace with the ever-increasing availability of books. One consequence of this increase in intellectual access and output was the opening of schools. The establishment of private schools, domain schools, and local schools (terakoya ᑈᏄᒁ), as well as the growth of book-printing and the spread of lending libraries from the latter half of the eighteenth century onward, generated a widespread rise in education and, therefore, knowledge.337KHFRQÀLFWFDXVHGE\ the dispersal of the power of knowledge that formerly was identical with the power of rule was more intensely manifested over time. Harry Harootunian interprets this late-eighteenth-century phenomenon within the cultural center of Edo as a shift from a “culture of play” to a “play of culture,” in which the “search for new and different forms of knowledge and the search for ways to implement them” made obvious WKHFRQÀLFWVEHWZHHQWKHUXOHUVZKRRXJKWWRNQRZDQGWKHUXOHGZKR ought to follow.34 The new forms of knowledge could not be accommoPaper presented at Workshop of EAJS, Paris (July 2002). See also Willem Boot’s reYLHZDUWLFOHLQZKLFKKHGLVFXVVHVEULHÀ\WKHbunjin category as being not suitable as an analytical tool (W. J. Boot, “Exercises in Biography: The Case of Takebe Ayatari,” MN 60:3 [2005], pp. 404-05). 33 On education, see Ronald P. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies [1965] (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1992). For schools, see Richard Rubinger, Private Academies of Tokugawa Japan (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982). Margaret Mehl introduces the Bakumatsu woman teacher Miwada Masako (1843–1927) in Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2003), pp. 82-89. For details about books, see Peter Kornicki, The Book in Japan: A Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001). 34 Harry D. Harootunian, “Late Tokugawa Culture and Thought,” in Cambridge His-

12

INTRODUCTION

dated within the existing ideals of the social order. Makuzu’s upbringing and her thoughts written late in life are evidence of the change in power relations based on intellectual capital. The following includes a biography about the woman philosopher Makuzu but it is also a window into the intellectual debates of a group of people that have otherwise been ignored. I mean to decipher the collective knowledge that comes to light in Makuzu’s writing; to embrace the concurrent existence and intersection of a variety of different intellectual schools and circles, which reveals Makuzu, despite her original thoughts, as a child of her time. For my investigation, circles and networks of people are crucial for understanding who and what kind of knowledge came together in the cultural center of Edo and especially in her father’s household. Through Makuzu’s writings we obtain the miFURVFRSLFYLHZRIVSHFL¿FLQWHOOHFWXDOWUHQGVDQGDFWLYLWLHVRIWKHVFKROars and lords who joined in gatherings at the KudĿ house with ease. Apparently, in the various salons and circles of Edo, social boundaries ZHUHQRWGH¿QLWH,WLVLQWKHVHWWLQJRIWKLVXUEDQVRFLDOHQYLURQPHQWRU as Harootunian suggests, “social surplus,” where Makuzu’s nurturing is rooted.35 This scrutiny of a physician’s household in the center of the shogun’s capital hints at one possible image of the public sphere in the late Tokugawa period.

CONTENTS An essential component of an analysis of Makuzu’s thought is the context of her life story. I refrain, as does Anne Walthall in her biography of the Bakumatsu poet and political activist Matsuo Taseko ᮿᑹኣເ Ꮔ (1811–94), from creating a heroine.360DNX]XZDVQRWDSXEOLF¿JXUH DQG,GRQRWVHHN¿QDOO\WRDGGDZRPDQWRWKHUDQNVRIIDPRXV7RNXJDwa intellectual men, such as Ogyŗ Sorai Ⲯ⏍ᙺᚑ (1666–1728) or Motoori Norinaga ᮇᑽᐃ㛏 (1730–1801), whose thoughts had unquesWLRQDEOHUDPL¿FDWLRQVLQWKHFRXUVHRIKLVWRU\0DNX]XZDVQHLWKHUWKH leader of a new school nor a statesperson, nor was she directly involved in politics. Her achievements did not bring her national fame, nor was she working from behind the paper screens in a lord’s or shogun’s mantory of Japan, ed. Marius B. Jansen, vol. 5 (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1989), in particular pp. 171-72. 35 Harootunian 1989, p. 171. 36 Walthall 1998.

INTRODUCTION

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sion, manipulating political events. In fact, in the later, most productive part of her life as a writer, she was alone and in isolation, which may perhaps explain why she made the decision, rare among women, to put her political thoughts in writing. Makuzu may be unique in that she wrote a political treatise, but she is not alone in voicing her opinions and critique of political and economic issues.37 Nonetheless, Makuzu, in writing Hitori kangae, gained an exceptional position, and thus the attention of both academics and non-academics. 7KHIROORZLQJDFFRXQWLVWKH¿UVWLQDQRQ-DSDQHVHODQJXDJHWRGLVcuss Makuzu at length.38 My analysis of Makuzu’s life and work is GLYLGHGLQWRWZRPDLQSDUWV7KH¿UVWSDUWGHVFULEHVKHUSDWKWKURXJK life, and the second concentrates on her thoughts as expressed primarily in Hitori kangae. The description in Part One is based on the idea of interpreting Makuzu’s conscious process of self-representation. I do not attempt to portray the person Makuzu, but to provide insight to the self-crafted persona, the narrative voice Makuzu. I examine the various layers of her narrative, layers that are not placed over each other in a smooth or linear fashion, but that rather, while fragmented and disjointed, nonetheless reveal the evolution of an author.39

37 The diaries of women in particular deserve our attention. For instance, a couple of decades after Makuzu we have the testimony of the hatamoto (bannerman) daughter and wife Iseki Takako ஬㛭㝧Ꮔ (1785–1844), whose diary describes events in Edo during the TempĿ reforms. A thorough discussion is still needed. For an introductory analysis, see the essay by Seki Tamiko, “TempĿ kaikaku-ki no ichi-hatamoto josei no shĿzĿ,” in Nihon no kinsei, vol. 15: Josei no kinsei, ed. Hayashi Reiko (Tokyo: ChŗĿ KĿronsha, 1993), pp. 317-46. There is also the wife of a daimyo, NaitĿ Jŗshin’in හ ⸠ඖ┷㝌 (or Mitsuko ⦶Ꮔ, 1800–80), whose diaries are full of current events. For a good overview of the wealth of literature, see the recent publication by Shiba Keiko, Kinsei no onna tabi nikki jiten (Tokyo: TĿkyĿdĿ Shuppan, 2005). 38 In Japanese, Nakayama Eiko’s biography is still the only lengthy account. Seki Tamiko’s article focuses mainly on Hitori kangae. Kado Reiko has a book forthcoming. In non-Japanese languages, see my publications in the bibliography. Otherwise, Mary Beard offers perhaps the earliest account of Makuzu in English. She gives a short biography and a brief statement of the main issues Makuzu discusses in Hitori kangae (Mary R. Beard, Woman as Force in History: A Study in Traditions and Realities [1946] [New York: Persea Books, 1987]). Leon Zolbrod, in his biography of Takizawa Bakin, PHQWLRQV0DNX]XEULHÀ\/HRQ0=ROEURGTakizawa Bakin [New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967], pp. 83-85). Jennifer Robertson mentions Makuzu in a footnote, referring to secondary literature (Jennifer Robertson, “The Shingaku Woman: Straight from the Heart,” in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600–1945, ed. Bernstein, p. 90). 39 I borrow here from Donna Perreault, “Woman as Other, Other as Author, Author as … Man? The Authobiographical Dimension of The Second Sex,” in Women and Autobiography, ed. Martine Watson Brownley and Allison B. Kimmich, Worlds of Women, No. 5 (Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 1999), pp. 113-30.

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INTRODUCTION

Makuzu’s decision to become active as the only remaining member of her family leads me to follow her footsteps in recounting her life in the way she saw it necessary to do so. Thereby I preserve Makuzu’s LQWHQWLRQV UHYHDOHG LQ KRZ VKH GHIHQGV DQG MXVWL¿HV KHU FUDIWLQJ RI various identities in prose and poetry. Chapter One sets the stage for 0DNX]X¶VLQWHQWLRQWREHLGHQWL¿HGDVWKHKHLURIKHUDQFHVWRUV¶OHJDF\ It recounts the tales of her ancestors and their ambitions. I demonstrate how Makuzu invented a past that made sense to her and explain the part she played within that past. Chapter Two captures Makuzu’s endeavor to portray her father’s accomplishments in the larger context of contemporary political events, in particular her perspective of her father Heisuke and his achievements during the latter half of the eighteenth century, roughly the eras of Tanuma Okitsugu ⏛἗ណḗ (1719–88) and Matsudaira Sadanobu ᮿ ᖲᏽಘ (1758–1829). She illustrated for her contemporaries how Heisuke participated in the political realm and therefore in historical events. 0DNX]X HPSKDVL]HG KLV LQÀXHQWLDO SRVLWLRQ LQ RUGHU WR GLVSOD\ WKH strong father–daughter relationship that is of great importance to her own identity. Chapter Three describes how Makuzu felt about going to Sendai to live with the family of her husband, which was her way of taking responsibility as the oldest daughter of the house.40 She lamented being lonely and often desperate, but solitude and the new country also stimulated her. The brush became not only her companion, but also a tool for understanding her new environment by processing it in literary productivity. Over the years, Makuzu broke away from her focus on her natal family and underwent a deep identity crisis. The chapter describes how Makuzu liberated herself from the bond to her father, EXWDWWKHVDPHWLPHXVHGWKLVERQGWRDUJXHWKDWVKHZDVIXO¿OOLQJKHU ¿OLDOGXW\$IWHUWZHQW\\HDUVVKHFDPHWRDUHVROXWLRQWKDWIRXQGLWV literary expression in her life work, Hitori kangae. Chapter Four introduces how Makuzu bluntly approached Takizawa Bakin in order to get her manuscript of Hitori kangae edited for publication. Here I discuss the way in which she defended and politicized her new identity as the carrier of her father’s legacy, and how she was aware of the fact that she needed help from a celebrated author. From her correspondence we are introduced to a more immediate picture of 40

HK, p. 283.

INTRODUCTION

15

Makuzu: a woman, conscious of her gender and place in society, who is pleading to be accepted. Part Two of my study analyzes Hitori kangae, in which Makuzu gives expression to her political and socioeconomic views. It is the thinker and reformer Makuzu who opens a platform for discussion and debate against the prevailing scholarship. Chapter Five illustrates how Makuzu argues for the separation of gender from intellectual discourse in order to allow her to partake in its debates. It will become evident that Makuzu employed here a different set of strategies to justify her status and position within society in order to write a political treatise and thereby to invade male-dominated academics. She crafted her own GH¿QLWLRQVRIJHQGHUsatori ࡈ࡛ࡽ (enlightenment), and knowledge. Chapter Six deals with Makuzu’s particular notion of a worldview called the “rhythm between heaven and earth,” a concept that is notable for its lack of metaphysics and morality. I discuss Makuzu’s cosmology within the context of the late Tokugawa period intellectual discourse of various scholars who are prominent today. For Makuzu, experience and observation led to the conclusion that the individual ought to be suborGLQDWHGWRWKH³UK\WKP´DFRQFHSWVKHQHYHUFOHDUO\GH¿QHV0DNX]X¶V interest in these matters is not from a metaphysical perspective, but with regard to the “rhythm’s” relationship to human behavior and social RUJDQL]DWLRQ6LJQL¿FDQWO\EHFDXVHWKH³UK\WKP´GLIIHUVDFFRUGLQJWR time and place, described by Makuzu as “the pulse of the time,” we ¿QG KHU SDUWLFLSDWLQJ DQG UHÀHFWLQJ LQ FRQFXUUHQW GLVFXVVLRQV DERXW “Japan” in a new world order, an order that was marked by the emergence of imperialism and nationalism. Makuzu’s notions of society and the human condition are discussed in Chapter Seven, which demonstrates how her view of society differed from prevailing views, expressed particularly in Confucian terms. Competition is in her view a common human trait that is responsible for malfunctions in society. Her suggestion is that laws should accommodate this human drive and accordingly bring peace to the realm within the prevailing status society. We see how Makuzu, after removing metaphysics as a presupposition, combines morality with empiricism in order to suggest a new political order. Chapter Eight deals with Makuzu’s concrete political ideas for reform. Like her father, Makuzu’s main purpose in composing her treatise is to give advice to the rulers. Indeed it is in her reform plans where ZH¿QG+HLVXNH¶VOHJDF\PRVWXQVZHUYLQJO\SHUSHWXDWHG7KHQRWLRQRI

16

INTRODUCTION

kokueki ᅗ─EHQH¿WIRUWKHFRXQWU\ DGYDQFHGE\+HLVXNHLVFHQWUDO to her ideas. Her utilization of kokueki ideology shows how she engages LQ D OLYHO\ GLVFXVVLRQ DPRQJ VFKRODUV PHUFKDQWV DQG RI¿FLDOV DV WR how to ameliorate the economic misery of the country as a whole. Her view was based on her knowledge of foreign systems, in particular that of imperial Russia. She uses Russia as a metaphor to envision a whole that otherwise would remain in parts. At the same time, throughout Hitori kangaeZH¿QG0DNX]XPDNLQJXVHRIKHUNQRZOHGJHRIIRUHLJQ ways in order to give herself the authority to be political. Since Makuzu did not reject the principle of a status society, she advises state-directed control by the warriors over the national economy. Underneath Makuzu’s iconoclastic cosmology of the “rhythm between heaven and earth” we recognize a vision of a stronger central government that has been shared by other thinkers as well. This similarity may have prompted Bakin to proclaim that Makuzu was “thinking like a man.”

PART ONE

MAKUZU’S LIFE Women’s lives, as the lives of men from lower classes or minorities, used to be orphaned by biography. Their lives were deemed ordinary or atypical compared to famous men’s lives. In recent decades, however, examining exactly the ordinary and the trivial in order to supplement grand histories has enriched our understanding of the complexities and trajectories of historical events.1 Biographies are usually informed by autobiographical accounts, yet the genre of autobiography is complex, as an emerging literature demands a rethinking of representation about and around oneself, in particular the selves of women, and the histoULDQFDQ¿QGPXFKVWLPXODWLRQLQWKHVHQHZSHUVSHFWLYHVDQGWRROVIRU describing lives.2 Tadano Makuzu produced a wide range of literary styles, but we are led more intimately to her life story through her auto/ biographical writings, which include letters, diaries, and a long narrative.3 A more critical analysis of female texts with regard to language, style, form, and context must inform the multitude of possible interpretations, in particular since gender and genre are deeply immersed in sociopolitical trends. There is a long tradition in Japan of expressing oneself in an autobiographical style, yet the production by writers of either gender in the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) remains generally little explored.4 In particular, while the diary literature of the Heian period (794–1185) is well known as a genre of women’s self-writing, until recently we have 1

See The Human Tradition in Modern Japan, ed. Anne Walthall (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 2002) for examples of these “supplementing” biographies of men and women in the context of Japan. 2 The wealth of new terminology alone, such as self-writing, periautobiography, auWKRELRJUDSK\ DXWRELRJUDSKLFV HWF LOOXVWUDWHV WKH HIIRUW WR UHGH¿QH ³DXWRELRJUDSK\´ See, for a discussion, Lois W. Banner, “Biography and Autobiography: Intermixing the Genres,” a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 8:2 (Fall 1993), pp. 159-97. Saeki ShĿichi presumes that in Japan biography as a genre is younger than autobiography, which is the opposite of the European experience (Saeki ShĿichi, “Autobiographical Literature in Japan,” Japan Echo 10:3 [1983], p. 72). 3 I refer here to auto/biography, since Makuzu did not intend to write her life story per se. Instead her intentions were to narrate her family’s biography. 4 With the exception of Matsuo Taseko by Walthall 1998.

18

PART ONE

tended to overlook those works written by Tokugawa-period women.5 As more and more writings by these women come to light, the oftenclaimed gap of almost one thousand years between representations of the female self in the Heian period and modern times is becoming increasingly problematic.6 Yet in a recent publication about autobiographies of Meiji women, the author states “during the long interregnum between the Heian period and modern times—when women’s narrative voice was all but silenced—that legacy [of Heian women writers], and that permission, was very deeply buried.”7 Therefore, although scholars in Japan have been introducing women writers of the Tokugawa period in recent decades, there is still a vacuum in English literature. Makuzu left various autobiographical texts behind, but the one for which she is eminent today is Mukashibanashi (Stories from the Past), her longest work, which she started writing in 1811 at the age of 49.8 Clearly, however, it would be misleading to call Mukashibanashi a memoir or autobiography in the tradition of male self-representation, despite the fact that it entails much about Makuzu herself. Rather, Makuzu’s narrative of her life reveals trajectories of others, in particular that of her father. 5 See, for a new discussion, John R. Wallace, Objects of Discourse: Memoirs by Women of Heian Japan (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2005). The famous exception is the Tosa nikki, a kana diary that was written by a man. For an analysis, see Lynne Miyake, “The Tosa Diary: In the Interstices of Gender and Criticism,” in The Woman’s Hand: Gender and Theory in Japanese Women’s Writing, ed. 6FKDORZDQG:DONHUSS,QUHFHQW\HDUVWKHOLWHUDU\¿HOGKDVVHHQD revision in how to interpret these diaries by revealing the gendered language and genre FDWHJRUL]DWLRQRIHDUOLHULQWHUSUHWDWLRQVDQGP\GLVFXVVLRQSUR¿WVIURPWKHLUDQDO\VHV A large corpus of literature deals with the critique of the female/kana and male/Chinese dichotomy. See in particular the article by Joshua Mostow, “Mother Tongue and Father Scripts,” in which he offers a reconsideration of what he calls a “grandmatology” that envisions women’s writings of the Heian period “not just as a ‘room of their own’ but DV DQ HQWLUH FRXQWU\´ +H VKRZV LQVWHDG KRZ ÀXLG WKH ERXQGDULHV EHWZHHQ -DSDQHVH and Chinese were regardless of gender. Joshua S. Mostow, “Mother Tongue and Father Script: The Relationship of Sei ShĿnagon and Murasaki Shikibu to their Fathers and Chinese Letters,” in The Father–Daughter Plot, ed. Copeland and Ramirez-ChrisWHQVHQVSHFL¿FDOO\SS)RUDUHSUHVHQWDWLYHFROOHFWLRQRIHVVD\VRQWKHLQYHVtigation of gender and genre, see The Woman’s Hand: Gender and Theory in Japanese Women’s Writing, ed. Schalow and Walker. 6 See Saeki 1983, pp. 72-75, for an overview of autobiographical writings in Japan, which includes both men and women. In recent years, more than 150 more diaries written by women in the Tokugawa period have been recovered, which promises the rewriting of the standard history of Tokugawa literature. 7 Ronald P. Loftus, Telling Lives (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004), p. 22. 8 The original manuscript contains six parts in three books. See Nakayama 1936, pp. 13-14, for information on existing manuscripts. Also see Suzuki, in TMS, pp. 564-65.

MAKUZU’S LIFE

19

Mukashibanashi is not presented in chronological or even thematic order. The six chapters of the often-disconnected collection of anecdotes were later to be assigned to the genre of zuihitsu 㝮➱ (miscellany).9 The chapters deal with her ancestors; the vast network of people around the parental houses of the KudĿ ᕝ⸠, the Kuwabara ᱋ཋ, and the Nagai 㛏஬ families; the strange tales and mysterious occurrences that preoccupied the neighborhood of her childhood in Edo; and her new environs of Sendai. The personal narrative that is otherwise only about the past or about events that are not directly related to Makuzu is interrupted only once by her immediate and present voice, when she learned of her husband’s sudden death.10 ,WLVGLI¿FXOWWRDVFHUWDLQZKHWKHURUQRW0DNX]XKDGDEOXHSULQWDW hand for writing a life story. Makuzu acknowledges having read the famous autobiographical account Oritaku shiba no ki ᢙࡽࡒࡂᰐࡡエ (Told Round a Brushwood Fire, written 1716) by Arai Hakuseki ᩺஬Ⓣ ▴ (1657–1725).11 Yet there is no resemblance in form or style between it and any of her works. While Hakuseki in his account is the main persona in word and deed in a portrayal of male public life, Makuzu assumes primarily the role of narrator. The stylistic boundaries that Makuzu faced as a writer trained in Japanese style prose and poetry (wabun ࿰ᩝ) may be one explanation for this divergence, interdependently with her status and gender. When we compare Mukashibanashi to the court women’s diaries of the Heian and Kamakura periods, which Makuzu knew so well, it is possible to see that she may have emulated this tradition in revealing her life. Needless to say, Tokugawa society and Makuzu’s status within society were unlike the society and status of her female ancestors. Still, there is a similarity between her and them. For example, The Confessions of Lady NijĿ (Towazugatari ࡛ࢂࡍ࠿ࡒࡽ, 1307) was written at a time when its author was removed from the political center, as Makuzu was by her move from Edo to Sendai. Both Lady NijĿ and Makuzu, when they took up their brushes to write, were isolated but well educated and informed enough to describe and criticize the respective parts of society in which they lived. In such a situation, social position is just as important as gender. Indeed, there is evidence that men, too, reached 9

See Linda Chance for the categorization of the genre in the Taisho era. Linda H. Chance, “Zuihitsu and Gender: Tsurezuregusa and The Pillow Book,” in Inventing the Classics, ed. Shirane and Suzuki, in particular p. 137 and p. 146. 10 MB, p. 135. 11 MB, p. 126.

20

PART ONE

for the brush especially in times of social marginality with the aim of VHOIGHIHQVH$UDL+DNXVHNL VHOILGHQWL¿FDWLRQ
MAKUZU’S LIFE

21

to clarify things about her father and her uncle, Kuwabara Takatomo Jun ᱋ཋ㝛᭽⣟ (1744–1810). People, Makuzu claims, among them her younger sister Taeko ࡒ࡫Ꮔ (or ᰳᏄ), who was sent away as a child to live with others, do not know the truth. When Makuzu wrote Mukashibanashi, her father had been dead for twelve years, her uncle for two. Her uncle had a splendid career that he was able to pass on to his son, while the KudĿ household was more or less extinct; in fact, it was a Kuwabara offspring who continued the KudĿ family. Makuzu saw that everything that her father should have deserved her uncle had actuDOO\DFKLHYHG7KXVKHUXQFOHLVNQRZQDVDQXSULJKWDQG¿QHSHUVRQ whereas her father’s confrontational behavior (wa sarenu ࿰ࡈࡿ࡟) is interpreted as symptomatic of a weak character (ki yowaki Ẵࡻࢂࡀ). Heisuke’s reputation in the public eye and even among family members is tarnished, and thus, with the proverb “Without telling the shameful, there is no gain” (haji o iwaneba ri ga shirenu ᜕ࢅ࠷ࢂࡠࡣฺ (⌦) ࠿ ࡊࡿ࡟), Makuzu gives her side of the story.16 Like other female autobiographers, Makuzu elevates the father’s role in the daughter’s accession to a family legacy.17 The self-absorbed tension in her written testimony, not unknown in court women’s diaries, constructs the father’s political aspiration as an element in her VHOILGHQWL¿FDWLRQDQGWKHUHE\LQWKHSURFHVVVKHUHFUHDWHVERWKKHUVHOI and her father, KudĿ Heisuke. However, while in court literature, as GLVFXVVHGE\(VSHUDQ]D5DPLUH]&KULVWHQVHQZH¿QGXQGHUO\LQJLVsues of “guilt and evasiveness” in the authors’ quests for comfort and VHOIFRQ¿UPDWLRQ0DNX]XH[HPSOL¿HVLQHitori kangae her independence.18 Perhaps one of Makuzu’s reasons for writing Mukashibanashi was in the end as a means of justifying an annotated history “no one had asked for.”19 16 MB, p. 72. The editor of the TMS, Suzuki Yoneko, gave both Chinese characters ฺ SUR¿W DQG ⌦ (reason), both being read ri. In Nakayama Eiko’s edition of Mukashibanashi (1984), only ⌦ is given. 17 See Edith Sarra, “Towazugatari: Unruly Tales from a Dutiful Daughter,” in The Father–Daughter Plot, ed. Copeland and Ramirez-Christensen, pp. 89-114. 18 Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, “Introduction,” in The Father–Daughter Plot, ed. Copeland and Ramirez-Christensen, pp. 12-13, and Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, “Self-Representation and the Patriarchy in the Heian Female Memoirs,” in ibid., p. 83; Sarra 2001, p. 111. 19 Makuzu wrote a letter called Towazugatari on the eleventh day of the third month of 1819 (Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 374-78). In the Heian period, the term Towazugatari has been used typically to denote a type of speech by women in distress or moments of crisis whose “strange outburst, uncalled for and unbecoming,” delivers this unaskedfor tale. In the Kamakura period we see that the term is also used to express “triviality and irksomeness” (Sarra 2001, pp. 92-93).

22

PART ONE

%\IROORZLQJWKHSURFHVVRIKHUUHÀHFWLRQVWKURXJKRXWWKHERG\RI her works, we can see how Makuzu crafted various identities by reinventing the past that led to the “Makuzu” known to us today. In the course of her writings, for instance, Makuzu changed her name. While this was common practice and concurrent with the rites of passage during the Tokugawa period, it also illustrates that her identity was never VWDWLFEXWÀXLGWKURXJKRXWKHUOLIHWLPH20 More fundamental and crucial evidence of Makuzu’s coping with the form and content of her autobiographical pieces is the way in which her literary voice differs from one piece to another. We detect Makuzu’s discovery of her own literary voice, developing from a writer and poet in the forms in which she was trained, into a serious author, a process that reaches its apex with Hitori kangae.21 The following four chapters describe Makuzu’s epistemological crafting of her identity as the heiress of the family legacy. All her accounts aim at this goal, some directly, others more discreetly. While I put Makuzu’s narratives into chronological order for the modern reader’s convenience, we should not forget that Makuzu herself did not adhere to a linear trajectory, just as her accounts are not always even or without contradictions.

20 For example, Makuzu signs letters addressed to her husband Iga with Machi ࡱᆀ. On the envelope of the letter is written that she used the name Machiko ࡱࡔᏄ (Kado Reiko, “Tadano Makuzu no otto Iga ate shokan,” Edo-ki onnakĿ 11 [2000], p. 73). Her teacher, Shimizu Hamaomi ΰỀ℀⮟ (1776–1824), addresses her in his letters as Ayako ⥜Ꮔ and ᩝᏄ (TMS, p. 529 and p. 530). She signed Hitori kangae as Makuzu ┷⴩ (HK, p. 260). See Figure 0-2. 21 ,KDYHEHQH¿WHGIURP'RQQD3HUUHDXOW¶VDQDO\VLVRIWKHWUDQVIRUPDWLRQRI6LPRQH de Beauvoir from a writer to an author, in which Perreault considers authorship to be male (Perreault 1999, pp. 113-30). For instance, Makuzu’s words, “Given that I have the body of a woman (onna no mi ni shite ዥࡡ㌗࡞ࡊ࡙) I do not worry about things that I should feel embarrassed about. However, I do not seek to say improper things. They should be corrected to make them suitable for people’s hearts,” indicate WKDW0DNX]XVHHVKHUVHOIRQWKHWKUHVKROGEHWZHHQZULWHUDQGDXWKRUGH¿QHGE\JHQGHU discourse. The two available transcriptions of the letter diverge in this passage. I follow the text of DokkĿron as reproduced in Shin enseki jisshu, 1912, p. 396: ohokenaki koto tomo o mĿsu haberi shi wa, anagachi hito no kokoro o kaku torinaosan to ni wa arazu ࠽࡮ࡄ࡝ࡀࡆ࡛භࢅ⏞ࡌ౜ࡽࡊࡢࠉ࠵࡝࠿ࡔெࡡᚨࢅ࠾ࡂཱི├ࡈࢆ࡛࡞ ࡢ࠵ࡼࡍ (Takizawa Bakin, DokkĿron, in Shin enseki jisshu, vol. 2, ed. Hayakawa JunsaburĿ [Tokyo: Kokusho KankĿkai, 1912]).

Map 1. Edo.

CHAPTER ONE

REMNANTS OF LEGENDS The story that Makuzu imparts about her life centers on the story of her family and of friends of her father, the physician KudĿ Heisuke. That Heisuke was a physician is vital. The latter half of eighteenth-century Tokugawa society’s ambiguity and gray zones are most transparent when we consider the position of the physician. This social caste belonged to the clerical group in the service of the shogunate or domain lords, who wore long sleeves and shaved their heads like the Buddhist priesthood, following the Ashikaga tradition that endowed them with Buddhist ranks, or to the group of lay-physicians (zoku-i ಐ༈ or machi isha ⏣༈⩽), who were not employed by a domain, but who practiced medicine for a fee, and who could dress and groom like commoners. Yet both groups were neither commoners nor samurai. Through her selective accounts of the lives and activities of a physician’s family in Edo, Makuzu brings to the fore a social group that otherwise is easily overlooked.1 The ambiguity of the physician’s status may have led Makuzu to actively promote her family’s stature by establishing a strong link to samXUDLDQFHVWU\0DNX]XGH¿QHVKHUJHQHDORJ\LQWHUPVWKDWPDGHVHQVH to her audience. Lineage had become particularly important in the late Tokugawa period, and needless to say, was sought after in a society built upon status hierarchy. During the Kansei ᐰᨳ period (1789–1800) the shogunate ordered the Hayashi ᯐ school of Confucian studies to compile under the lead of Hotta Masaatsu ᇷ⏛ḿᩌ (1758–1832) genealogies of all the important samurai houses that were permitted audience with the shogun.2 These genealogies conferred political power, and, by extension, economic power. In particular at a time when the 1 ,Q-DSDQHVHZH¿QGVRPHDFFRXQWVGHDOLQJZLWKSK\VLFLDQKRXVHKROGVVXFKDV,PDLzumi Mine’s ௑ἠࡲࡠ account of her upbringing during the late nineteenth century in the Katsuragawa ᰿ᕖ family. Imaizumi Mine, Nagori no yume: Ran’i Katsuragawa-ke ni umarete (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1963). For an analysis of the activities of Katsuragawa Hoshŗ and in particular his brother Morishima ChŗryĿ ᲻ᓞ୯Ⰳ (1756–1810), see Winkel 2004). About the Honda ᮇ⏛ family of village physicians in the same period, see Sugano Noriko, Edo no mura isha (Tokyo: Shin Nihon Shuppansha, 2003). 2 Kansei chĿshŗ shokafu ᐰᨳ㔔ಞㅎᐓㆍ (Kansei Revised Samurai Genealogies, 1799–1812).

REMNANTS OF LEGENDS

25

social imaginary and social reality had become increasingly uncertain, there was a need to produce a genealogy that established one’s standing in the present. It therefore was desirable for the lower ranks, too, to construct their lineages in the same manner. With Makuzu’s parents both hailing from physician’s households, her efforts to establish her descent IURPVDPXUDLKRXVHVPXVWEHVHHQZLWKLQWKLVJHQHUDOWUHQG:H¿QG here her family’s aspirations and her claim to her own identity.

LEGENDS OF SAMURAI AND SCHOLARS: THE NAGAI FAMILY Since Makuzu’s paternal grandfather could trace his lineage back to former castle owners, she elaborated generously on this side of her family tree. Makuzu’s father, KudĿ Heisuke, was born into the Nagai 㛏஬ household but was adopted in his early teens by KudĿ JĿan An’yo ᕝ⸠୓ᗙᏭୠ (d. 1755/2/20).3 In a letter Makuzu introduces her father as the third son of the physician Nagai Taian 㛏஬ኬᗙ (no dates), who was employed by the Kii ⣎௿ domain (today Wakayama ࿰ḯᒜ prefecture).4 However, she added, “The ancestor of the Nagai family was a daimyo by the name Nagai ShirĿzaemon 㛏஬ᄿ㑳ᕞ⾠㛓, lord of a castle in Harima ᧓☳ (today HyĿgo ඹᗔ prefecture).”5 Makuzu, after establishing her impressively distinguished lineage, informed her reader, in this case Takizawa Bakin, about the fate of the Nagai family that led to their present condition of being merely physicians. 3 Adoption was a common practice in both samurai and non-samurai families during the Tokugawa period, which evidently offers ample room for choosing one’s lineage. +HLVXNHDQG0DNX]XERWKLGHQWL¿HGWKHPVHOYHVZLWKWKH1DJDLIDPLO\ZKRZHUHRQFH castle owners, perhaps since the KudĿ ancestors were only retainers. Paternal heredity may have been one of the decisive factors, but I assume there are many instances that can prove the opposite. For a discussion of some responses by Japanese Confucian scholars to Chinese norms of family rites, see Kate Wildman Nakai, “Chinese Ritual and Native Japanese Identity in Tokugawa Confucianism,” in Rethinking ConfucianismHG%HQMDPLQ$(OPDQHWDO/RV$QJHOHV8&/$$VLDQ3DFL¿F0RQRJUDSK6Hries, 2002), pp. 258-91. About KudĿ JĿan, see Sendai jinmei daijisho, ed. Kikuta TeigĿ (Sendai: Kikuta Sadao, 1933), p. 328. 4 Letter called Mukashibanashi addressed to Takizawa Bakin, in TMS, p. 371. In the narrative Mukashibanashi Makuzu once calls Taian JĿan ୓ᗙ, which is actually the name of Heisuke’s adoptive father KudĿ JĿan (MB, p. 31). This may be a copying mistake. Nakayama Eiko’s biography cites from the TaikĿki ኯ㛯エ, where the castle’s name is Noguchi 㔕ཾand the family’s name is Nagai 㛏஬ (Nakayama 1936, pp. 2526). The castle fell under Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s ㇇⮟⚵ྚ attack. 5 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 371. Makuzu uses the alternative name for Harima, Banshŗ ᧓ᕗ.

26

CHAPTER ONE

According to Makuzu’s story, the actions of one person changed the family’s fate irreversibly. Makuzu told remorsefully the legend of this individual (Makuzu’s great-grandfather), whose disrespect and ignoUDQFHRISURSHUHWLTXHWWHLQIURQWRIDQRI¿FLDOFDXVHGWKHIDPLO\WRORVH everything, land and title.6 Her ancestor went to Osaka, which became WKHVWDJHIRUDVZRUG¿JKWEHWZHHQKLVVRQ1DJDL7DLDQDQGWKHRI¿FLDO With a splendid tale of vendetta accentuated by dialogue and appropriate weather conditions, the tension is built up to end unexpectedly. Her JUDQGIDWKHUFRPHVRXWRIWKH¿JKWDVWKHZLQQHUQRWGXHWRKLVVNLOOEXW due to the help of a bystander who distracted the attention of the foe.7 ,QMXUHGIURPWKLV¿JKW7DLDQODWHURQIRXQGDPHDQVRIHDUQLQJDOLYLQJ as a physician.8 In the narrative we can discern Makuzu’s disappointment; more striking, however, is her skill as a writer. With this almost tragicomic tale of former lords, Makuzu introduced the family’s intention to restore the family to samurai status. Her grandfather Taian became a doctor for the Kii domain in Edo, although, according to Makuzu, not a very good one. Being bulky and strong, he would show his former samurai rearing when he announced his arrival at house visits in such a loud voice that the house would tremble.9 However, Makuzu persisted, becoming a physician was only a means for survival and for that reason Taian taught his three sons the arts of the samurai, unwaveringly harboring the desire to restore fame to his family.10 In order to re-establish his family in its former status, he prepared his sons for this task, as Makuzu explained: [My grandfather] Taian had three sons, each of whom he let learn only the skills of the samurai as if they were laymen (zokutai ಐమ) [and not physicians].11 Although he was already over forty, he never mentioned his children to his lord, who found it strange.12

When pressed by his lord, Taian explained that he did not want his sons to become physicians. His lord, according to Makuzu, impressed by his display of such ambition, permitted Taian’s oldest son to become a 6

Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, pp. 371-72. MB, p. 180. 8 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 372. The Kii domain is governed by one of the Three Houses of the Tokugawa family (gosanke ᚒ୔ᐓ). 9 MB, p. 181. 10 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 372. Also see MB, pp. 31-32. 11 Taian had three sons and one daughter: ShirĿzaemon or ChĿan 㛏ᗙ, Kisuke or Kiji ႌ἖, and NagasaburĿ 㛏୔㑳 or Heisuke. The daughter died young (MB, p. 31 and p. 32). 12 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 372. 7

REMNANTS OF LEGENDS

27

samurai in his employ. “He carried the name Nagai ShirĿzaemon [like the founder of the lineage], which was a great honor and everyone was full of joy.”13 Apparently, however, Taian’s aspirations to restore the family’s name to the ranks of famous warriors died in the end with his sons, despite ShirĿzaemon being a judo expert and the other an archer.14 ShirĿzaemon later found employment with the Kaga ຊ㈙ domain, but without making his name known. Taian’s second son, Kisuke ႌຐ, was an archer who had a reputation for leading a life of pleasure, and while he later became a monk at the Kiyomizu ΰỀ temple in Kyoto under the name Junshin’in 㡨ಘ㝌, again he did not enter the ranks of famous people. Only Taian’s third son, Heisuke, would achieve renown, though for his political activities rather than for his expertise in martial arts. Moreover, Heisuke’s path led him to become not a samurai but, ironically, a physician. Perhaps since Taian had already secured for one son the position of a retainer, he sent off his youngest son, Heisuke, to a physician’s career through adoption by another physician, KudĿ JĿan.15 One reason for this step, which was contrary to Taian’s ambition to raise all his sons to samurai status, was Taian’s friendship with JĿan, with whom he shared a similar course of life.16

LEGENDS OF SAMURAI AND SCHOLARS: KUDľ GRANDPARENTS Makuzu’s focus in her discussion of the KudĿ family, whose lineage hailed from lower-ranking samurai, shifts from military expertise to intellectual and scholarly capabilities. Makuzu informs her sisters in Mukashibanashi of the pitiful fate of her adoptive grandfather JĿan, and how regrettable it is that hardly anything is known about him, since he was a remarkable physician and vastly learned.17 Makuzu’s adoptive 13

Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, pp. 372-73. MB, pp. 32-33. ShirĿzaemon’s judo teacher was Shibukawa BangorĿ Ῠᕖఔ஫ 㑳 (no dates, probably fourth generation; MB, p. 108). Apparently, in Kaga no one knew DW¿UVWWKDW6KLUĿzaemon was an accomplished judo teacher until he was challenged to compete (MB, pp. 33-34). Kisuke probably went to Kyoto much later, since Makuzu PHQWLRQVKLPDQGKLVDQHFGRWHVDV¿JXULQJODUJHO\LQKHUFKLOGKRRGPHPRULHV.LVXNH apparently remained close to his younger brother Heisuke, while ShirĿzaemon was, according to Makuzu, almost like a father to Heisuke (MB, p. 35). 15 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. 16 MB, p. 26. 17 MB, p. 26. Heisuke regretted this too, having learned from a stranger he met in a teahouse how great JĿan’s medical skills had been. 14

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great-grandfather KudĿ JĿan Shin ᕝ⸠୓ᗙಘ (no dates) was serving Matsudaira Ichi no Kami ᮿᖲᕰḿ in Bungo ㇇ᚃ (today Oita prefecture).18 After a new chief retainer (karĿ ᐓ⩹) planted discord, Shin and his son, JĿan An’yo, were dismissed.19 As a result, the father committed suicide and the son took revenge with his sword in Osaka, in front RI WKH VKRJXQ¶V FDVWOH $IWHU D ORQJ ¿JKW -Ŀan (An’yo) successfully struck down his enemy. Taken to prison, apparently he was well treated E\HPSDWKHWLFRI¿FLDOV1RQHWKHOHVV0DNX]XLQIRUPVXVRQKLVZD\WR the bathhouse the night before his execution, JĿDQÀHGVLQFHKHGLGQRW want to die in this humiliating way. He forced a passer-by to hand over his swords, but because they were of low quality, JĿan went to a swordseller to exchange them by force.20 Here Makuzu’s tale stops. The end of the narrative does not serve her aim of depicting her grandfather JĿDQLQDQDI¿UPDWLYHOLJKW²KHÀHGIURPWKHDXWKRULWLHVLQRUGHUWR escape decapitation and he did not do what tales of vendettas prescribe, namely commit suicide—and thus the latter part of his life as a physician is told on a different occasion. True heroism was not to die by one’s own sword, but to live on and to make a name for oneself, which was most important to Makuzu in her own chosen role of the heiress. Therefore, to avoid the discussion of the latter part of JĿan’s life, she resumed that in choosing life her ancestors were able to redirect their family’s fate. Both warriors, KudĿ JĿan DQG1DJDL7DLDQGLGZKDWWKHLU¿OLDOGXW\UHTXLUHGRIWKHPQDPHO\WR avenge their fathers. After settling the affairs to which they were morally bound, they chose life over death. This practical and, to Makuzu, UHDVRQDEOH GHPRQVWUDWLRQ RI ¿OLDO SLHW\ DGYDQFHG WKH IDPLO\¶V QDPH Above all, however, we detect that Makuzu relishes putting these tales onto paper for future generations to enjoy. What follows is the portrayal of a sophisticated man, a quite different type of samurai than Nagai Taian was. JĿan went from Osaka to study medicine under the distinguished Nakarai ༖஬ family in Kyoto.21 According to one early secondary source, the Confucian scholar Ayabe Keisai ⥜㒂⤅ᩢ (1676–1750) is already said to have been JĿan’s 18

Probably Matsudaira Ichi no Kami Chikazumi ᮿᖲᕰḿの⣟ (1703–39, r. 1715–

39). 19 The KudĿ ancestors lived in the Kitsuki domain of Nomi-gun in Bungo ㇇ᚃ⬗ ずᮺ⠇⸤. Hokumon sĿsho (Northern gate series), ed. ľtomo Kisaku, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Kokusho KankĿkai, 1943), p. 15. Hereafter cited as ľtomo 1943. 20 MB, pp. 181-83. 21 Cited by ľtomo 1943, p. 15. The Nakarai family in Kyoto is a well-known family of physicians.

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Figure 1-1. Grave of KudĿ JĿan, ShinkĿji Temple, KĿtĿku, Tokyo.

teacher in his home domain of Kitsuki ᮺ⠇ in Bungo, and during his sojourn in Kyoto, apparently the famous scholar ItĿ TĿgai ௿⸠᮶ᾥ (1670–1736) was his teacher.22 At one point JĿan must have decided to leave the Kamigata ୕᪁ region for Edo. He began his new career as a physician by renting land in TenmachĿ ఎ㤷⏣, north of Nihonbashi ᪝ᮇᶣ, one of the most expensive areas at the time.23 When he gave directives for his house to be built he said, “I need a wide entrance, because lords bring presents and a small doorway would not allow the handling of larger gifts.” Sure enough, Makuzu was later told, wealthy and high-ranking people came to see him for his medical skills. Soon KHHYHQKDGWKUHHRI¿FHVLQZKLFKKHWUHDWHGKLVSDWLHQWV24 JĿan’s ambition did not end there. When he was in his mid-thirties, he found employment with the retired lord of Sendai, Date Yoshimura ௿㐡ྚᮟ (1680–1751, r. 1703–43).25 This appointment raised his status from a town physician to that of an attendant physician (gokinju ᚒ ㎾⩞) with permanent duty in Edo (Edo-jĿzume Ờᡖᏽョ), and the 22

Sendai jinmei daijisho, p. 328. For an example of prices in the area, see ľedo happyaku yachĿ (Tokyo: Edo-Tokyo-Hakubutsukan hen, 2003), pp. 176-77. 24 MB, p. 29. 25
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generous stipend of 300 koku. However, because of the privileged duty in the inner quarters where he would have contact with women, he was required to have a family of his own. Within days after his employment was decided, his marriage to the twenty-year-old Oen ࠽ࢄ ࢆ was arranged.26 His old friend from Osaka, Nagai Taian, agreed to give JĿan his youngest son, Heisuke, then known as NagasaburĿ 㛏୔ 㑳, for adoption. Makuzu informs us that swiftly, within twenty days, JĿan had his own family.27 Just as her grandfather was a man of ambition and sophistication, the women in the household, according to Makuzu, were remarkable as well. JĿan’s new wife Oen had served in the same women’s quarters as JĿan’s mother.28 His mother had found employment as a nurse (dakimori ࡓࡀࡵࡽ) to the infant lord of a certain Kuroda 㯦⏛ family after WKH\FDPHWR(GR+HUDSSHDUDQFHZDV¿QHEXWVKHZDVSURXGVWULFW and fearless, with a voice like thunder, making everyone in the inner quarters afraid of her. No one could ever please her but one, Makuzu’s eventual grandmother, Oen. JĿan’s mother’s fondness for Oen was a VXUSULVHWRHYHU\RQHZKRKDGNQRZQWKLVGLI¿FXOWZRPDQ29 Much had to do, Makuzu was told, with the unwavering determination that Oen displayed in the women’s quarters. Oen’s portrayal is representative of Makuzu’s view of her female ancestry. Oen was the oldest daughter of a retainer in the employ of a large daimyo household. She entered service at the customary age of sixteen, but since her parents had been overprotective, she could neither write nor read. All the other maids laughed at her, saying that it was hard to believe that a girl of her age could not even write the simple syllabary. Shaken by this humiliation, Oen decided to study at night after everyone had gone to bed. Half a year later she was able to write and before the year had passed she was better than most of those who previously had mocked her. After two years she had even moved up from a simple maidservant to the imposing rank of a secretary (o-daisho ᚒ௥᭡).30 26

MB, p. 19. 0%SS(OVHZKHUH0DNX]XVD\VWKDWWKHER\RI¿FLDOO\EHFDPH-Ŀan’s son at eleven, but moved only two years later, at the age of thirteen, into his new home (MB, pp. 26-27). Actually in 1746 Heisuke was already about thirteen years old and hence it is more likely that he moved right away. 28 MB, p. 35. 29 MB, p. 27 and p. 35. 30 MB, p. 35. Oen’s family lived either in Atagoshita យᏸୖ or Nishinokubo けࡡ ஁ಕ. For a general overview of the ranks among the women employed in the shogun’s quarters, see the articles by Matsuo Mieko, “‘Jochŗ bungenchĿ’ ga kataru Ŀ-oku,” Rekishi yomihon 6 (1998), pp. 192-201, and Iwashiro Noriko, “E-sugoroku ni miru machi 27

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31

Her amazingly strong resolve must have pleased JĿan’s mother, who then decided that the girl was the perfect match for her son. Makuzu proved to her readers not only that in the past the women in her family had been educated and had served in prestigious positions, but also that they were determined, illustrating how determination is a character trait that runs in her family. The promotion to serving one of the largest domains certainly brought JĿan a much-desired rise in status, but he already must have been quite wealthy. In order to be near his lord, JĿan moved with his new family into the row houses (nagaya 㛏ᒁ) provided for retainers on the grounds of Date Yoshimura’s residence. The lower mansion of Sodegasaki ⾿ࣧᓧ (today’s Shinagawa ဗᕖ, Higashi Gotanda ᮶஫ ཬ⏛) was built in 1737 close to an unpopulated hill on the southwest border of Edo, surrounded only by farmland and temples. The wild terrain lent credence to many stories of mysterious events that took place in both the row houses and the main mansion. To Makuzu’s delight, she learned that lights would mysteriously be blown out, mosquito nets would fall down, and many strange things happened, occurrences that she enjoys passing on in detail.31 Makuzu informs us that people in the lord’s mansion in Sodegasaki considered JĿan to be rich and would always ask him for money. JĿan strongly disliked the idea of lending money, so when asked he would wrap the money and give it away as a gift. This went on for years, as Makuzu grumbled, until one by one KLVWRZQRI¿FHVKDGWRVKXWWKHLUJDWHV32 Makuzu blamed this attitude toward money on the fact that he was the son of a former samurai, a status-bound illness that, she would later argue with more vigor in Hitori kangaeGH¿QLWHO\QHHGHGWREHFXUHG Certainly it was not material wealth that preoccupied JĿan’s mind. JĿan’s true ambition was, just like that of his dear friend Nagai Taian, to restore the family to the rank of samurai. But his approach was different. His routine was to be on duty at the lord’s mansion from dawn until late in the evening, which did not leave much room for leisure, yet he always found time to improve his expertise in swordsmanship, judo, DQGDUFKHU\7RIXO¿OOKLVDVSLUDWLRQWKRXJKZHOHDUQIURP0DNX]X that he took a strong interest not only in the martial (bu Ṃ) but also in the cultural (bun ᩝ) arts, the accomplishments of the ideal samurai. His musume to Ŀ-oku,” Rekishi yomihon 6 (1998), pp. 248-53. 31 About the incidents in the mansion and row houses, see MB, pp. 19-23. 32 MB, pp. 30-31.

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large library of precious old books (densho ఎ᭡) is well remembered by Makuzu, who recalls the trouble of having all his books aired every year. JĿan also took up a new style of drawing, which back then was still a rare pastime, Makuzu contends, compared to her own time when painting in the Dutch style had become the latest fad. ShĿgi ᑑ Პ (Japanese chess) and tea ceremony were other interests JĿan enjoyed in his scarce spare time.33 While Nagai Taian, coming from a rural samurai family, promoted only military expertise (bu)—judo and archery—and perhaps due to this fact his family fell into oblivion, KudĿ JĿan further engaged enthusiastically in cultural sophistication, which gave him an aura of the Confucian ideal of a superior man (kunshi ྦ Ꮔ). This ideal emerges even more clearly in Makuzu’s portrayal of her father, Heisuke, whose role as a carrier of culture could substitute for his lack of samurai status. Makuzu’s emphasis on the fact that Nagai Taian sought by all means, particularly in martial arts, to restore the family’s status as samurai, necessarily excludes women from her narrative. In the case of the KudĿIDPLO\KRZHYHUZKRSXUVXHGUH¿QHPHQWDQGXUEDQLW\WKH great-grandmother and daughter-in-law who worked in the vicinity of the higher society are depicted in some detail.

MAKUZU’S PARENTS: SUPERIOR MAN AND POET The fanciful tales about Makuzu’s ancestors become simple once we come to her parents’ generation. The times of vendettas are over, land and titles are lost, and the stage is handed over to the generation of established physicians who cater in their profession to lords and townspeople. Makuzu describes the city life of Edo from the perspective of a commoner who grew up in the heart of Edo. Her accounts depict WKHGDLO\OLIHWKDWVKHZLWQHVVHG¿UVWKDQG\HWDOVRDGGUHVVFRQFUHWHO\ the agenda of raising her own identity as the intellectual and poet of samurai stock. This is emphasized by Makuzu’s claim for both parental families’ descent from noble lines of the late tenth century: “Though my father is of the Minamoto ″ lineage he was adopted into the Fujiwara ⸠ཋ family. My mother stems from the Sugawara Ⳛཋ family of poets. From generation to generation the families have been serving the 33

MB, p. 18.

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lord of Michinoku ࡲࡔࡡࡂ>6HQGDL@ZLWKWKHLUPHGLFDOSUR¿FLHQF\´34 Her account to Takizawa Bakin of her lineage demonstrates that her father Heisuke incorporated both the image of the military family of the 0LQDPRWRZLWKLWVIDPRXVZDUULRUVDQGRIWKHFXOWXUDOO\UH¿QHGFRXUW family, the Fujiwara, while her mother embodied noble poetic sophisWLFDWLRQH[HPSOL¿HGE\6XJDZDUDQR0LFKL]DQHⳚཋ㐠┷ (845–903). The obvious conclusion is that Makuzu herself embodies all of these qualities.

Heisuke In the center of Makuzu’s biographical portrayal of her family stands her father, Heisuke, serving her objective to consign his name to posterity. By the 1810s, when Makuzu wrote Mukashibanashi, Heisuke had been dead for a decade and his fame had faded. Makuzu asserts to her readership that her father was an exceptional man in many ways, but due to a series of unfortunate events his historical presence had fallen into oblivion. Makuzu’s fear that he would be forgotten is not far-fetched, since it is a fact that modern historians rely heavily upon her portrayal in their analysis of Heisuke’s work and life.35 One reason is the paucity of other sources. From Heisuke’s apparently extensive works only a few are extant, among them the report that earned him renown, as I will discuss in more depth in the next chapter. An epitaph and a short biography by ľtsuki Gentaku’s ኬᵫ⋖Ἁ (1757–1827) grandson written decades after Heisuke’s death serve the historian as HYLGHQFHRIDPDQZKRHQWHUHGKLVWRU\KDYLQJLQLWLDWHGWKH¿UVWVWHSV toward the colonization of Ezo.36 It is thus through Makuzu’s brush that the life and thoughts of the political advisor Heisuke, which she claims to transmit in her work Hitori kangae, gain some larger dimension. In fact, through her contemporary eyes—although in a selective account—we encounter a network of otherwise unrelated people around Heisuke, who populate our textbooks. 34

Nanakusa no tatoe ୏⛸ࡡࡒ࡛࠻ (Seven Flowers), in TMS, p. 378. The research on Heisuke is light. See, for instance, Hokumon sĿsho, ed. ľtomo Kisaku, 6 vols. (Tokyo: Kokusho KankĿkai, 1943), or Shichinomiya KeizĿ, Michinoku rangaku kotohajime (Tokyo: Shinjimbutsu ľraisha, 1977). 36 The few entries about Heisuke are compiled by ľtomo 1943, pp. 15-19. ľtsuki Nyoden ኬᵫዯ㞹 (1845–1931), Gentaku’s grandson, wrote a short biography of Heisuke (cited in ľtomo 1943, p. 20). 35

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Figure 1-2. Grave of KudĿ Heisuke, ShinkĿji Temple, KĿtĿ-ku, Tokyo.

Heisuke’s Education KudĿ JĿan imposed a strict regimen on his recently adopted son, Heisuke. After he learned that Heisuke, as the youngest son of the Nagai family, had not yet received a proper education, JĿan one morning grabbed a copy of the Great Learning, read it three times out loud and told his son to recite it by the next morning. Makuzu implies here that the former samurai from the countryside, Nagai Taian, apparently thought it unnecessary to provide his son with a literary education. Heisuke, who therefore had never learned any Chinese characters, DVNHGKLVDGRSWLYHIDWKHU¶VPHGLFDOVWXGHQWVWR¿QGWKHPIRUKLPLQWKH dictionary. He would not eat or rest until he managed to go through the text line by line. After one full day he managed somehow to read the Great Learning to his adoptive father. JĿan praised him, “Well done!” but added, to Heisuke’s worst fears, “Now, let’s move on to the Analects!” He recited the book three times to Heisuke and left the house to follow his daily routine. In this fashion Heisuke learned after just ten days to read the Four Books, only to continue in the same manner again

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35

with the Five Books. Makuzu was told that after two or three months Heisuke was able to read all the relevant works that were indispensable for a solid education.37 In displaying Heisuke’s delayed schooling, Makuzu emphasized how Heisuke’s path diverged greatly from that of his natural father. She also hints at one of her recurring observations: intellectual prowess was not an innate quality, but was the result of self-discipline and determination. Heisuke’s medical training was peculiar as well. Surprisingly, JĿan, who was so strict with Heisuke’s classical education, did not train his only son and heir in the medical profession, but only in the preparation of medicine. As a consequence, according to Makuzu, Heisuke studied medicine with his natural father, Taian, and the town physician, EndĿ Sansei 㐪⸠୔┤ (no dates).38 Makuzu also informs us that her father had experience with a different trend in medicine. When he was still single, he went with a teacher of anatomy (kaitai no shi ゆమࡡᖅ) and IRXURU¿YHRWKHUVWXGHQWVWR6X]XJDPRUL㕝࠿᲻ in Shinagawa to observe the dissection of the corpse of a prisoner.39 This event is remarkable, since Makuzu places the dissection prior to 1763, when she was ERUQ &RPPRQO\ QRWHG DV WKH ¿UVW GLVVHFWLRQ IRU VWULFWO\ DQDWRPLFDO research is Yamawaki TĿyĿ’s ᒜ⬝᮶Ὂ (1705–62) 1754 dissection in Kyoto. The best-known observation of a dissection in Edo, however, occurred only in the spring of 1771 and led to the famous book Kaitai shinsho ゆమ᩺᭡ (New Book of Anatomy, 1774).40 Makuzu, who understands the later importance of such knowledge, thereby situates 37 MB, p. 25. The Four Books are the Analects, Book of Mencius, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean. The Five Books or Classics are Book of Changes, Book of Documents, Book of Poetry, Spring and Autumn Annals, and Book of Rites. 38 MB, p. 25. MB, p. 114. 39 MB, pp. 178-79. Makuzu converted this event into an eerie story, showing her VNLOOVDVDZULWHUZKRLVIDPLOLDUZLWKFXUUHQWWUHQGVRISRSXODU¿FWLRQ³,WZDVDWWKH end of the tenth month and Heisuke decided after the dissection to stop in Shinagawa’s pleasure quarters. The night was cold and windy, and even drinking did not make him feel at ease, nor did the woman. When they lay down they heard a cuckoo calling close by, which made the woman cling to him in fear. At dawn, after Heisuke went home as usual, he suddenly realized that it was strange to hear a cuckoo at this time of the year. Since the woman’s conduct (soburi ࡐࡩࡽ) was also unusual, Heisuke concluded that something was wrong with this house.” Suzugamori is located in Minami-ľi ༞ኬ஬ 2-5. In particular the Kubi arai no ido㤫ὑ࠷ࡡ஬ᡖ, “well for washing the heads,” is still a locus for ghost appearances. 40 Kaitai shinsho is the translation of the Dutch version of Adam Kulmus’s Anatomische Tabellen, 1722 (Dutch title: Ontleedkundige tafelen, 1734) by Sugita Gempaku, Maeno RyĿtaku, and Nakagawa Jun’an, of whom the latter two were acquaintances of Heisuke; Gempaku may also have been an acquaintance.

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Heisuke among leading peers in medicine.41 This claim to intellectual superiority is further enhanced in Hitori kangae where she mentions that she saw a Western anatomy book at home, of which only a few circulated in Edo at that time.42 Another interest that Heisuke pursued, and for which he is known today, was economics. Makuzu mentions that Heisuke was a student of the famous scholar Aoki Kon’yĿ 㟯ᮄ᪳㝟 (1698–1769). Many later commentaries claim that Heisuke studied Rangaku (Western studies) under Kon’yĿ. Makuzu, however, referred to Kon’yĿ as a Confucian scholar ( jusha ൰⩽).43 As mentioned previously, the categorization into strict ¿HOGVLQWKLVWLPHSHULRGLVQRW constructive and the fact that Figure 1-3. Aoki Kon’yĿ. Courtesy of Waseda UniMakuzu mentioned Kon’yĿ’s versity Library. attention to economic affairs and Heisuke’s preoccupation with the same subject leads me to assume that this may have been their common interest.44 Makuzu argues 41 That her claim has some validity is supported by an early biographical account’s mention of Heisuke studying medicine under Nakagawa Jun’an ୯ᕖῗᗙ (1739–86), who was part of the Kaitai shinsho project. Sendai jimbutsu shi, ed. Imaizumi TorashirĿ (Sendai: Hayakawa Katsu Hansho, 1909), p. 63. 42 See chapter 5 for more details. 43 MB, p. 111. Makuzu calls Kon’yĿ BunzĿ ᩝⶮ. 44 There are indications that Heisuke and Kon’yĿ knew each other through several people. Makuzu explains that Kon’yĿWKHVRQRID¿VKVKRSRZQHULQ6KLPEDVKLGLVliked townspeople so much that he sold his share (kabu ᰬ) to become a Confucian teacher. Kon’yĿ decided to pack his bundle and leave for Kyoto to study under ItĿ TĿgai, who had a special interest in economic issues. KudĿ JĿan, as mentioned above, was also a disciple of TĿgai, though probably some years after Kon’yĿ had returned to Edo and had opened a school for Confucian studies in HatchĿbori ඳ୍ᇷ (MB, pp. 111-12). The other link between Heisuke and Kon’yĿ is KatĿ Enao ຊ⸠ᯖ├ (1692– 1785), a Matsuzaka ᮿᆊ samurai who held the rank of a police constable (yoriki ୙ ງ LQWKHRI¿FHRIWKHWRZQPDJLVWUDWHEdo machi bugyĿ Ờᡖ⏣ዅ⾔). Enao was so impressed by Kon’yĿ’s strict performance of mourning for his parents—altogether he mourned for six years—that he found him employment in 1739 with his superior ľoka Tadasuke ኬᒱᚽ┞ (1677–1751), the legendary commissioner and judge, and rented

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that scholars like Kon’yĿ who had practical and mundane (zoku ಐ) concerns are rare. She praises in particular his exemplary occupation with economic issues that include peasant taxes and foreign trade, for instance his concern with the shogunate policy in the 1760s to counteract the increasing dependence on the importation of ginseng root.45 By EULHÀ\VKDULQJZLWKKHUUHDGHUVKHURZQNQRZOHGJHDQGFRQFHUQZLWK economic affairs, Makuzu goes on to trivialize and personalize this information that heightens her father’s position among leading scholars of her time, and hence herself, by adding that when Kon’yĿ started his VHUYLFHDVDQRI¿FLDOLQFKDUJHRIWKHVKRJXQDWHOLEUDU\KHDVNHGWREH DGGUHVVHGIURPWKHQRQZLWKWKHKRQRUL¿FDGGUHVVRI³sama” ࡈࡱ.46 :KLOH LW LV GLI¿FXOW WR WUDFH +HLVXNH¶V PHQWRUV DQG WKH VXEVWDQFH of their guidance in detail, Heisuke had already inherited his adoptive father’s position as a physician in his early twenties. The retired lord Yoshimura had been fatally ill and JĿan was exhausted from his daily strenuous duty of attending him.47 After Yoshimura’s death in the second month of 1751, JĿan moved from Sodegasaki to Tsukiji ⠇ ᆀ (today ChŗĿ-ku ୯ኳ༇), where his mother retired from her service and came to live with them.48 However, JĿan was still busy taking care of patients at his former lord’s mansion in Sodegasaki, which was a disto him a space to live on the grounds of his residence in HatchĿbori. Either way, at some point Kon’yĿ and Heisuke had become neighbors in Tsukiji. After retirement, Kon’yĿlived in a humble house in Atagoshita, where Makuzu would visit his widow with her mother (MB, p. 112). Interestingly, Kamo Mabuchi ㈙Ⱪ┷Ῑ (1697–1769), too, rented land from KatĿ Enao in HatchĿbori, around 1742. Enao was a sponsor and disciple of Mabuchi upon the latter’s arrival in Edo in 1736. Mabuchi most likely was an acquaintance of Makuzu’s grandmother, Kuwabara Yayoko ᱋ཋࡷࡻᏄ (no dates) (Ibi Takashi, Edo shiikaron, [Tokyo: Kyŗko Shoin, 1998], pp. 348-49). The Hatchôbori area was a place where many constables (yoriki ୙ງ) and patrolmen (dĿshin ྜྷᚨ) of the town magistrate lived. See the Maps from ľedo happyaku hachichĿ, number 50 and 51, p. 43. 45 About the ginseng monopoly, see Koyama Yukinobu, “Kinsei chŗki no bĿeki seisaku to kokusanka,” in Atarashii Kinseishi, ed. Sone Yŗji and Kimura Naoya, vol. 2 (Tokyo: Shinjimbutsu ľraisha, 1996), pp. 141-86, in particular, pp. 157-58. Another matter that Kon’yĿ took up was the new land distribution in Sodegasaki after the retired lord Date Yoshimura, KudĿ JĿDQ¶V¿UVWHPSOR\HUSDVVHGDZD\LQ7KHSHDVDQWV ZHUHZRUULHGDERXWKRZWKHODQGZRXOGEHGHFODUHGHLWKHUDVXSSHURUDVORZHU¿HOGV which were taxed differently (MB, p. 112). Kon’yĿ’s treatise about the sweet potato, BanshokĿ ⶵ⸁⩻, 1735, which offers a dietary alternative in times of famine, later brought him the name Master Sweet-potato (Kansho-sensei ⏉⸩඙⏍). 46 MB, p. 111. Kon’yĿZDVERUQLQWRWKHIDPLO\RID¿VKPRQJHUDQGZDVWKHUHIRUH of commoner status. 47 MB, p. 42. 48 MB, pp. 27-28. JĿan’s mother received a generous allowance for her service in the mansion.

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tance of about 8 km. Still only in midlife, exhaustion caused the illness WRZKLFKKH¿QDOO\VXFFXPEHGLQDWWKHDJHRI49 Heisuke had to succeed as physician at an early age, but apparently this caused no SUREOHP+LVIDWKHUDOWKRXJKQRWYHU\SUR¿FLHQWDWPDQDJLQJ¿QDQFLDO DIIDLUV EHTXHDWKHG KLP D WKULYLQJ ZHOOFRQQHFWHG RI¿FH LQ 7VXNLML which Heisuke, despite his youth, would expand in the near future. Despite Makuzu’s regrets that JĿan had had no intention of passing on any of his vast medical knowledge in any form, either through his son or in the form of writing, the reader is again drawn to Heisuke’s amazing capabilities.50 The medical occupation secured Heisuke a livelihood. He probably ¿UVWVHUYHGORUG'DWH0XQHPXUD௿㐡ᏺᮟ (1718–56, r. 1743–56) but soon thereafter served Munemura’s heir and son Date Shigemura ௿㐡㔔ᮟ (1742–96, r. 1756–90) with the same stipend of 300 koku.51 When he received orders to serve in Sendai, he thought of ways to avoid leaving Edo. Heisuke had many reasons to stay, among them his ailing adoptive grandmother, JĿan’s mother, and his adoptive mother, Oen. Providentially, at the mansion of senior councilor (rĿjŗ ⩹୯) Matsudaira Takemoto ᮿᖲṂඔ (1716–79),52 Heisuke made the acquaintance of a man who convinced Shigemura that Heisuke was indispensable and that it was extremely advisable for Heisuke to remain in Edo in order for him to be of service to powerful people (kenmon ᶊ㛓).53 According to Makuzu, this Sekiguchi HyĿdayŗ 㛭ཾඹኯኰ, who remains XQLGHQWL¿HGEXWZKRZDVDSSDUHQWO\DSHUVRQRIVRPHLQÀXHQFHDOVR VXEVHTXHQWO\XVHG+HLVXNHIRUYDULRXVRI¿FLDOIXQFWLRQV7KHIDFWWKDW Heisuke was in the mansion of Takemoto highlights and foreshadows Heisuke’s tasks and missions for his lord. His status as a physician gave Heisuke access to otherwise closed gates, and therefore Shigemura may well have asked him to make inquiries in his stead. This assumption is not unlikely since Shigemura once wrote that in order to improve his court rank, “he would have to buy off” Takemoto and Tanuma Oki49 According to Fujinami Kazuko, TĿkyĿ sĿtairoku (Tokyo: TĿkyĿ Meibo Kenshokai, 1940), p. 177. 50 MB, p. 25. 51 According to ľtsuki Nyoden. Cited in Nakayama 1936, p. 47, or ľtomo 1943, p. 19. 52 Makuzu calls him rĿjŗ Ukon-sama ⩹୯ྎ㎾ᵕ. MB, p. 99. Takemoto had alUHDG\ KHOG RI¿FH XQGHU 6KRJXQ
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tsugu.54 After following his father’s footsteps, Heisuke apparently became deeply involved in domain politics.55 At the peak of his career in WKH V +HLVXNH SDUWLFLSDWHG UHJXODUO\ LQ WKH ¿QDQFLDO SROLFLHV RI WKHGRPDLQ¿UVWDVWKHKHDGRIWKHSDJHVkoshĿgashira ᑚጞ㢄), then in the post of a deirishi ฝථྒྷZKLFKZDVDXQLTXHRI¿FHPDLQWDLQHG E\ WKH 6HQGDL GRPDLQ WKDW GHDOW ZLWK LWV ¿QDQFLDO DIIDLUV56 Heisuke apparently wrote a memo, called Kankenroku ⟮ず㘋 (Records of InVLJQL¿FDQW2SLQLRQV WRKLVORUG'DWH6KLJHPXUDZKLFKLVVDLGWRKDYH given his views on reforms in the domain, but which is unfortunately lost today.57 This corresponds with Makuzu’s account that Heisuke was called to Sendai in 1775, and again later, in 1778. After his lord’s request, Heisuke became a layman}letting his hair grow}which allowed him to use his talents ( jinsai ெᡧ IRURI¿FLDOEXVLQHVVLQWKH domain next to being a physician.58 Yet Heisuke’s role as a consultant ZDVQRWOLPLWHGWRKLVORUGKHDOVRIXQFWLRQHGDVD¿QDQFLDOFRQVXOWDQW and mediator of disputes, which has led a modern historian to call him D³¿[HU´59 6LQFH0DNX]X¶VIDWKHUUHFHLYHGD¿[HGVDODU\H[WUDVRXUFHV 54 Cited by Tsuji Tatsuya, “Politics in the Eighteenth Century,” in Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4: Early Modern Japan, ed. John W. Hall (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 461. 55 +HLVXNHZDV¿UVWFDOOHG6Kŗan ࿔ᗙ, as was the custom due to the priest-like status and appearance of a doctor. Later, when his lord asked him to become a layperson, KHZDVFDOOHG+HLVXNHDFFRUGLQJWR0DNX]X+LVRI¿FLDOQDPHmei ྞ) is Kyŗkei ⌣ ༽, his penname (ji Ꮚ) Genrin ඔ⌽, and his posthumous name (ྒ) is Shŗan, according to Suzuki, in TMS, p. 544. Heisuke’s common name (tsŗshĿ ㏳⛘) was BankĿ. Suzuki spells it ୒ක. Heisuke also signed one book with BankĿ ୒ᖶ, and his school’s name was BankĿdĿ ᬄຉᇸ 56 Sendai jimbutsu shi, p. 63. See also SatĿ ShĿsuke, “Keiseika Kazan to Kagakusha ChĿei,” in Watanabe Kazan, Takano ChĿei in Nihon no meicho, vol. 25 (Tokyo: ChŗĿ KĿURQVKD S$ERXWWKHRI¿FHRIdeirishi (also called shutsunyŗtsukai), see, for instance, the contemporary source by the Sendai retainer Tamamushi Jĭzď ⋚⹰༎ⶮ (1744–1802), called Jinsei ொᨳ (Rule of Benevolence) in Nihon keizai taiten (NKT), ed. Takimoto Seiichi [1929] (Tokyo: Meiji Bunken, 1969), vol. 28, pp. 233-34. 57 Nakayama 1936, p. 33. 58 See Hanshi daijiten, ed. Kimura Motoi et al., vol. 1 (Tokyo: Yŗsankaku Shuppan, 1988), pp. 117-18; MB, p. 79. ľWVXNL*HQWDNXZURWHWKDW+HLVXNHLQWKH¿IWKPRQWK of 1778 made use of 300 ryĿ for the domain (SatĿ ShĿsuke, YĿgakushi no kenkyŗ [Tokyo: ChŗĿ KĿronsha, 1980], p. 121). Original location: Kanto yĿroku ᏻ㏭こ㘋 9LWDO 5HFRUGV RI *RYHUQPHQW 2I¿FH YRO .\Ŀwa ஽࿰1 (Nineteenth day of the third month of 1801). Heisuke went accompanied by two men from his household, his disciple Higuchi Shiba ᵵཾྒྷ㤷 and his main clerk (otonoyaku ኬெᙲ) Yasubei Ꮽ ඹ⾠. We are not informed about the purpose of their trip, although it corresponds to ZKHQÀRRGVDQGFROGZHDWKHUFDXVHGJUHDWORVVHVLQWKHGRPDLQ¶VDQQXDOKDUYHVW0% p. 78). 59 See, for instance, MB, pp. 66, 71, and 78-80. Neighbors also—for instance, a certain Takano no HokuĿin 㧏㔕ࡡ໪᐀㝌—came often to ask for his advice. Heisuke’s friend, Hattori Rissai ᭱㒂ᰡᩢ (1736–1800), claimed that one motivation to live close

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of income from patients and clients who asked for Heisuke’s advice was helpful and always appreciated, particularly in view of his extravagant lifestyle. Makuzu’s account corresponds with others with regard to two prominent characteristics of Heisuke’s time, the An’ei ᏭỄ and Tenmei ኮ᪺ eras (early 1770s to late 1780s). One is that successful promotion in the public arena was not based on the ideals of capability and virtue, but on bribery. While this was a common trope used as a political stratagem by the reform Figure 1-4. Tanuma Okitsugu. ShĿrinji Temple, Toshima-ku, Tokyo. Courtesy of movement in the ensuing Kansei era, Shimizu Shoin. and according to Makuzu money and presents indeed changed hands freely, she touches upon yet another prevalent criticism, namely, the lack of general education when Tanuma Okitsugu was senior councilor (rĿjŗ), 1772–86.60 In Tanuma’s defense, Makuzu declares that some say that he was a bad person, while in her assessment he was only ignorant, not evil. Makuzu wrote Mukashibanashi in 1811–12, during the Bunka ᩝ໩ period (1804–14), an era, in Makuzu’s opinion, when it was common that people would read about long-standing matters. Back in Tanuma’s day, however, because he himself was not very erudite, he disliked others who were, and gathered uneducated individuals around him who would not outshine him; people who aspired to a career thus did not care for scholarship, in particular “book-learning” (shogaku ᭡ Ꮥ), echoing the Kansei reformers who inform our textbooks.61 Makuzu’s father, then, was an exception to the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of Tanuma’s era. In Heisuke’s case it was human curiosity that served as the center for his approach to knowledge and made to the KudĿ family was in case he needed Heisuke’s help (MB, p. 66). Makuzu calls Rissai Hattori ZenzĿ ᭱㒂ၻⶮ6KLFKLQRPL\DSFDOOV+HLVXNHD³¿[HU´ 60 MB, p. 127. 61 See also MB, p. 113. Others share Makuzu’s sarcastic view of Tanuma and his government, for instance the popular work Kasshi yawa ⏝Ꮔእヨ (Night Tales of the Kasshi Era) by the retired daimyo of Hirado ᖲᡖ in Hizen ⫟๑ Matsura Seizan ᮿ ὾㟴ᒜ (1760–1841), who wrote his work between 1821 and 1841. He also ridicules Tanuma’s lack of knowledge (fubun) (cited by Hall 1955, p. 57, footnote 2).

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him into a man of great knowledge (daichisha ኬᬓ⩽), as Makuzu calls him.62 Even when [my father] would say, “people are improperly curious” (hito wa yokaranu monozuki zo ெࡢࡻ࠾ࡼ࡟∸ይ࢞ࡑ)! then this was in truth his instruction. He encouraged each of us children to stand out [and to follow his path].63

While restoring the family to the rank of samurai was one of Heisuke’s goals, another more important goal was to achieve knowledge, to distinguish himself as an intellectual with the investigation of things—human curiosity—as his quest. We witness the shift from Nagai Taian’s aspiration to have the family’s name reinstated as samurai to his son’s quite different aim, namely WRDGYDQFHNQRZOHGJHDQGVFKRODUVKLS0DNX]XFODUL¿HV+HLVXNH¶VDWtitude in the following: My father did not distance himself from his father’s admonition [“Even if you fall down to commoner status, never have a vulgar heart! Don’t bring shame to your ancestors’ name!”]. A physician likes to gather and discuss thoughts about permanent truths (tenchi ni tĿrite ugokanu koto ኮᆀ࡞࡛࡮ࡽ࡙࠹ࡇ࠾࡟ࡆ࡛). Since he was not interested in bringing fame to his name as a physician (idĿ ni mei ༈㐠࡞ྞ), he later became a layperson (zokutai ಐమ).64

While the real motive was to gain scholarly prominence in a society that would not allow changing one’s legal status too easily, Makuzu LQGLFDWHVKHUHWKDW+HLVXNHZDVLQWHUHVWHGLQ¿QGLQJRXWDERXWWUXWKD feature of his profession. Makuzu’s emphasis on Heisuke’s antagonism to his time is supposed to justify his involvement with the highest ranks of the shogunate. Moreover, throughout Mukashibanashi, Makuzu points out that the decades of the 1770s and 1780s are best described as an intellectual wasteland, and only a few men, among them her father, were exceptions. Only they had a strong interest in economics, medicine, and science, and the goal of helping society as a whole.

Makuzu’s Mother Makuzu did not waste much ink on her mother.65 However, women occupy a particular place in Makuzu’s narrative since, as suggested 62 63 64 65

MB, p. 126. Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. Makuzu’s mother’s dates are about 1740–93.

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previously, their promotion could enhance her own position as well. As a woman in a male-dominated society, Makuzu needed the support of her female forebears. In order to legitimize her own identity, 0DNX]XKDGWRUHO\RQRWKHUZRPHQ¿UVWEHIRUHGHFODULQJKHUOLQNDJH to the public life of the men in her family, whereas in contrast women were irrelevant to men’s narrations of their (public) life.66 But it is not her mother whom Makuzu conceives of as providing her with a good example. The way Makuzu relates to her mother is complex. The reason may lie in Makuzu’s aim to construct an almost spiritual bond with her father in order to claim her chosen role as his legitimate successor, which does not leave room for a concurrently strong relationship with her mother. Another reason may be the position of the mother in their patrilineal society. What can be found already in Heian women’s literature is the absence of mothers (and children). Makuzu arguably replicates this trend: we never learn her mother’s name, or much else about her when compared to her father. Is it because the mother represents DQGV\PEROL]HVWKHIDWHDGDXJKWHUKDVWRH[SHFW",QRUGHUWRIXO¿OOWKH sociopolitical function of marriage, the daughter has to be married to a man selected by her father who will bring gain to the family name and who will produce healthy male and female progeny. The daughter sees in her mother the model for what she aspires to and at the same time rejects. Another reason for Makuzu’s portrayal of her mother may be found simply in the latter’s kin. Since both parental families, KudĿ and Kuwabara, served as physicians to the Date family, it was probably thought desirable to strengthen the bond by marriage. Makuzu’s mother at the DJHRIVL[WHHQPDUULHGWKHWZHQW\¿YH\HDUROG+HLVXNH2YHUWKHQH[W twenty-some years, he and his wife had eight children.67$IWHUWKH¿UVW born died before seventh night, Makuzu, born in 1763, became the oldest child. About three years later Heisuke’s designated heir, Motoyasu ඔಕ, was born. Next came a girl, called ShizukoࡊࡍᏄ then the third daughter, Tsuneko ࡗࡠᏄ IRllowed in 1774 by the second son, Motosuke ඔ㍧ , and at last the two youngest daughters, Taeko around 1778, 66 When we turn for instance to Arai Hakuseki’s autobiography for comparison, women are hardly mentioned, neither his mother nor his wife. See for an exception when he mentions his mother attending his sick father. See for the English translation, Joyce Ackroyd, transl., Told Round A Brushwood Fire: The Autobiography of Arai Hakuseki (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1979), p. 37. 67 MB, p. 52. MB, p. 14.

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and Teruko ࡙ࡾᏄ. The latter, born around 1786, thus was about twentythree years younger than Makuzu.68 The marital bond, however, did not generate the aspired-for amicability between the two houses. Already in the preface to Mukashibanashi, Makuzu is quite frank about how she positions herself toward the Kuwabara family: “The reason why I write about the Kuwabara family is only because of our mother.”69 As we will see, Makuzu vehemently disapproves of her maternal family, which cannot be explained simply because of some dissonance among family members. The reader is confronted with Makuzu’s view of a deep-rooted rivalry between the two houses that would lead eventually to the downfall of the KudĿ, a downfall that she blames indirectly on the Kuwabara. Even so, Makuzu outlines for her readers a distinguished lineage for KHUPRWKHUDQGHPEUDFHVWKHVWDWXVRIWKHDI¿OLDWLRQ$JDLQVKHWHOOV how a family of former samurai lost their employment due to ill fate and later on became physicians. Her grandfather, Kuwabara Takatomo Yukiakira ᱋ཋ㝛᭽ዯ❮ (d. 1775/6/11), began serving the Sendai domain in the fourth month of 1740 as a domain physician with 200 koku, six years prior to KudĿ JĿan’s appointment.70 He moved into a row house attached to the upper mansion of the Date clan in Shibaguchi Kaishu Ⱒཾᾇᡥ (today Shimbashi), and soon his skills earned him a further 200 koku and the title gohĿyaku ᚒዅⷾ among Date Munemura’s physicians with duties in Edo.71 68

MB, p. 14. Makuzu usually mentions only seven. Motoyasu was also called ChĿan 㛏ᗙ, Shizuko O-Yŗ ࠽ࡹ࠹or Yŗko ࡹ࠹Ꮔ, Motosuke was also known as GenshirĿ ″ᄿ㑳, and Taeko, who, according to Suzuki Yoneko, was also called Kachiko ࠾ࡔᏄ (Suzuki, in TMS, p. 544), was later known as Hagi-ni ⴏᑷ. 69 MB, p. 6. 70 His name could also be pronounced RyŗchĿ instead of Takatomo, but Takatomo was more common. AndĿ Yukiko, “Kuwabara Takatomo,” InĿ Tadataka kenkyŗ 16 (1998), p. 15 (cited as AndĿ 1998b).Yukiakira was a ban’i ␊༈, a physician who served in the outer (omote), not inner, quarters. See the following note for further explanation. 71 MB, p. 41; Nakayama 1936, p. 59; see also AndĿ 1998b, p. 15. The title gohĿyaku may be an adaptation of one of the titles that the shogunate gave to physicians, indicating that the physician is part of the medical administration of the domain. Being a doctor to the inner quarters (okuishi ዚ༈ᖅ), as KudĿ JĿan was, was more prestigious, since the physician was the personal doctor of the lord and his family. See also Yuki Terazawa, Gender, Knowledge, and Power: Reproductive Medicine in Japan, 1690– 1930 (Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA, 2001), pp. 47-48, note 37, for a brief description of these ranks. The contemporary use of the term appears to be vague, since, for instance, Makuzu herself uses the term hĿyaku ዅⷾ to describe the difference between a medical RI¿FLDOLHRQHHPSOR\HGE\VKRJXQDWHRUGRPDLQYHUVXVDOD\GRFWRUzokui ಐ༈). Hitori kangae tsuika ≺⩻㏛ຊ (Appendix to Solitary Thoughts), in TMS, pp. 308-09.

CHAPTER ONE

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Figure 1-5. Abbreviated Genealogy of Makuzu.

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Makuzu’s attachment to and talent for poetry can be traced back to her mother’s family. According to Makuzu, her grandmother Kuwabara Yayoko ᱋ཋࡷࡻᏄ (no dates) was very good at womanly tasks, including calligraphy, but was best known for an essay that gave a possible date for the composition of Utsuho Monogatari Ꮻ὘ಕ∸ㄊ (Tale of the Hollow Tree), a late-tenth-century tale of unknown authorship and date.72 Again, the women of two generations back are not undistinguished, but were extraordinary persons, leading the way to the granddaughter. However, the portrait of Makuzu’s mother is different. She was the ¿UVWERUQRIWKUHHFKLOGUHQDQGDSSDUHQWO\VKHZDVWUHDWHGZLWKXWPRVW care, like a princess.73 The parents loved and adored their daughter, which was different from the way her brother Takatomo Jun 㝛᭽⣟ (1744–1810) was cared for. Shime ࠎ, the brother’s wet-nurse—and, as we will see, in Makuzu’s view the source of much calamity—could not EHDUWKLVXQIDLUQHVV)RULQVWDQFHZKHQ0DNX]X¶VXQFOHZDVDERXW¿YH \HDUVROGWKHVLEOLQJVJUHZÀRZHUVDQGFRPSHWHGDERXWZKRVHZRXOG EORRP¿UVW6KLPHZDVHQUDJHGZKHQVKHVDZWKDWWKHER\KDGQROXFN with his plant, so she took out the tiny stems and replaced them with a ÀRZHUVKHKDGERXJKW74 It was not only Shime, however, who made Makuzu’s mother’s childhood miserable. While the grandparents doted on their daughter on the one hand, in regard to manners, they were overly proper and had their 72

According to MB, p. 13. Murata Harumi ᮟ⏛᫋ᾇ (1746–1811), student of Kamo Mabuchi and one of the most prominent poets in Edo at the time, was impressed by Yayoko’s outline and copied her essay (Tanaka KĿji, Murata Harumi no kenkyŗ [Tokyo: Kyŗko Shoin, 2000], p. 430). Harumi lent a copy of her essay called Discourse of the Tale of the Hollow Tree (Utsuho monogatari kĿ Ꮻ὘ಕ∸ㄊ⩻) in 1791. In 1808, Harumi’s disciple, and later teacher of Makuzu, Shimizu Hamaomi ΰỀ℀⮟ (1776– 1824), also made a copy (Maruyama Sueo, Sazanaminoya nenpu [Tokyo: Maruyama Sueo, 1964], p. 20). The Tempo-era diarist Iseki Takako also copied the manuscript. SeikadĿbunkĿ 㟴Ⴢᇸᩝᗔ, Tokyo, houses the copy of the manuscript. 73 Makuzu’s Kuwabara grandparents had three children: Makuzu’s mother, their son 7DNDWRPR-XQDQGDQRWKHUGDXJKWHUZKRGLHGRIVPDOOSR[DWWKHDJHRI¿YHZKLOH their father was accompanying his lord to Sendai (MB, p. 7). 74 MB, pp. 7-8. At meals the children had to eat what was served, or were not allowed to eat from any other dish at all. Jun did not like tofu, eggplant, or beans (sasage ࡈࡈࡅ) and would frequently get up from his meals hungry. Since it was always he and never his older sister who went hungry, the wet-nurse Shime thought of putting an end to it. One time, she put so much spice in Makuzu’s mother’s dish that she would not be able to eat and thus would be disobedient for once. According to Makuzu, Shime tried everything to make the boy look favorable (MB, p. 9). Makuzu quickly construes for her readers that Shime’s mean and belligerent spirit foreshadowed the curse on the KudĿ family that would escalate, as we will see (MB, p. 8). See chapter 3.

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Figure 1-6. Letter by the family friend Mishima Kageo. In the possession of the Tadano family. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

children on a tight leash. Makuzu’s mother underwent a strict education in reading, composing poetry, and other womanly tasks such as sewing. After things were settled in the morning and evening, she and her brother Jun had to practice writing daily in front of their parents.75 Another tradition at the Kuwabara house was the recital from a collection of Japanese and Chinese poetry, a favorite of their parents, with which the children had to comply with much aversion every morning

75 MB, p. 11. Makuzu’s mother learned calligraphy in the style of ryŗmoto 㱗ᮇ from Date Munemura’s scribe Tamate HachirĿemon ⋚ᡥඳ㑳ᕞ⾠㛓 (no dates). The ryŗmoto-school was started by a monk in Kyoto at the beginning of the Tokugawa period.

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before breakfast.76 In this way, her mother learned by heart the classical canon of poetry, though without much delight, according to Makuzu.77 Although Makuzu’s mother did not enjoy her literary education under WKH¿UPKDQGRIKHUSDUHQWVVKHZDVDFFRPSOLVKHGLQZULWLQJDQGSRHWU\ DQGWKHUHE\IXO¿OOV0DNX]X¶VDLPWRSRUWUD\WKHZRPHQLQKHUIDPLO\ZKR are her gender models, in a positive light.Makuzu’s mother most likely was trained in poetry by Mishima Kageo ୔ᓞᬊ㞕 (also known as Jikaku ⮤ つ, 1727–1812), who may have been an earlier acquaintance of Makuzu’s grandmother Yayoko.78 However, even though Kageo, who was a student of Kamo Mabuchi ㈙Ⱪ┷Ῑ (1697–1769), praised her poetry, Makuzu’s mother would never let her family read or listen to her poems.79 Makuzu without doubt sympathizes with her mother’s hardship. In the case of Makuzu, we see that she has warm respect for her mother and her comprehensive education, but certain remarks about the latter’s frail health and looks are noteworthy.80 Makuzu reports, for instance, that her mother often wore her hair simply tied together in the back, and had never been dashing or fashionable. Makuzu attributes her mother’s unattractiveness as a woman to the latter’s upbringing, namely, that she was dressed by her grandmother, Yayoko, in an outdated kimono style. But her weak constitution also prevented her from making an effort over her looks.81 Makuzu praises her mother’s dutiful responsibility as 76 Makuzu cites the collection as RĿeishŗ ᭹ホ㞗 (MB, p. 10). There are two famous compilations: Wakan RĿeishŗ ࿰₆᭹ホ㞗 by Fujiwara no KintĿ ⸠ཋප௴ (966–1041), and Shinsen RĿeishŗ ᩺᧕᭹ホ㞗 by Fujiwara Mototoshi ⸠ཋᇱಆ (1060–1142). 77 MB, pp. 11-12. Among the works Makuzu’s mother learned are Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems (Kokinshŗ ཿ௑㞗), New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems (Shinkokinshŗ ᩺ཿ௑㞗), Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari ௿ເ∸ㄊ), the Tales of Yamato (Yamato monogatari ኬ࿰∸ㄊ), and Jisanka ⮤ㆥḯ (Excerpts from the Shinkokinshŗ, compiled during the Muromachi period). 78 MB, p. 13. Makuzu informs us of the long relationship between her mother and Kageo, who lived in their neighborhood. (MB, p. 13 and p. 41.) According to Nakayama Eiko, Kageo was a dry-goods seller for the shogunate (gofuku shi ࿇᭱ᖅ), who lived in SukiyachĿ ᩐᐞᒁ⏣ (Nakayama 1936, p. 3 and p. 62). There is basically nothing available in English about this poet. See Figure 1-6 for a letter by Kageo that is kept by the Tadano family. According to Suzuki Yoneko, Mishima Kageo learned poetry from the courtier family Arisugawa ᭯ᰠᕖ and Kada Arimaro Ⲭ⏛ᅹ‫( ‮‬1706–69) was his teacher for Ancient learning. Kageo and Kada Tamiko Ⲭ⏛ⵤ⏍Ꮔ (1722–86), Makuzu’s teacher, were friends and they gathered for poetry sessions with Murata Harumi and KatĿ Chikage ຊ⸠༐ⶩ (1735–1808). Suzuki Yoneko, “Kinsei kĿki ni okeru shutai to hyĿgen: Tadano Makuzu o megutte,” Nihon bungaku 44 (1995), pp. 43-44. There will be more about Harumi and Chikage in chapter 3. 79 MB, p. 13 and p. 41. Makuzu recalls only one poem by her mother, called “The Misty Moon in Spring” (MB, p. 42). 80 MB, p. 13 and p. 24. 81 MB, p. 10. When the shogunate physician and mentor of the Kuwabara house

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a parent. She would always get up at night to tend to the children herself instead of waking up the maids to do so. She even nursed her second son Motosuke herself instead of using a wet-nurse, which was a rather uncommon practice. During her married life, however, half the month she was ill. What usually started with a headache would be followed by not being able to eat for two or three days, until she would have to lie down.82 Makuzu’s emphasis that her grandparents treated her mother most preciously, which is somewhat unexpected since the son usually occupied a special place within a family’s household hierarchy, apparently explains her weak disposition as an adult. Thereby she absolves her mother herself of blame. Still, it is her mother’s frailty versus Heisuke’s physical strength that LVVLJQL¿FDQW+HLVXNHZDVVWURQJO\EXLOWOLNHKLVIDWKHU1DJDL7DLDQWKH country samurai. According to Shichinomiya KeizĿ, Heisuke was tall (6 shaku, about 180 cm), and his language and conduct were those of a samurai.83 He enjoyed lifting a sen’ryĿbako ༐୦⟵ (wooden treasure box with iron bands that could hold about 1000 ryĿ, weighing empty roughly about 19 kg) with his left arm, doubly impressing those who did not know that he was left-handed.84 Moreover, according to a maidservant of the Nagai household, the young Heisuke was as handsome as an actor and always drew attention from young women on the streets of KĿjimachi 㯔⏣. Probably the fact that Heisuke had his hair knotted in the back was to his advantage, since later, groomed with the shaved head of a physician, he apparently looked only ordinary.85 Makuzu’s description of his physical appearance as healthy and handsome offers an ideal that is in sharp contrast to her mother’s weak constitution and plainness, in particular when we consider how Makuzu, who did not have children of her own, mentions that she herself was Tachibana Ryŗan ᶪ㝧ᗙ (1728–83) came to sojourn with them, the maidservants in his company would always make fun of Makuzu’s mother. 82 MB, p. 13. 83 Shichinomiya 1977, p. 108. 84 Cited by ľtomo 1943, p. 20. Heisuke’s left-handedness is mentioned in Sendai jimbutsu shi, p. 64. 85 MB, p. 24. According to the KĿjien, this hairstyle sĿhatsu ⥪㧝 was common among Confucian scholars, priests, yamabushi ᒜఄ (mountain or itinerant priest), rĿnin, and doctors. The hair is not shaved, but tied back in a knot. Usually, physicians would shave their heads as the Buddhist clergy did. Heisuke kept his hair until he succeeded his adoptive father, KudĿ JĿan. Secondary literature diverges regarding his hairstyle afterwards. Some say he never shaved his head (see for instance Nakayama 1936, p. 33), but even Makuzu mentions that he had been shaved, until he took the name Heisuke and became a layman (kanzoku 㑇ಐ) in his forties (MB, p. 79).

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the healthiest among her siblings, including her brothers.86 Because of her gender, however, Makuzu was also indebted to her maternal linHDJHRISRHWV7KHGLYLVLRQRIJHQGHUDWWULEXWHVLQWRZKDWZDVVLJQL¿HG as masculine and feminine, at least in her perspective, was therefore FRPELQHGLQRQHSHUVRQD0DNX]XLGHQWL¿HVZLWKWKHUREXVWQHVVRIKHU samurai-like father, yet she also claims her mother’s poetic lineage.

AMONG LORDS, SCHOLARS, AND POETS In order to complete the legends around her family, Makuzu illustrates in much detail Heisuke’s social standing among other men who, by the time she was writing, had already become legends. In doing so she augments her father’s and eventually her own position, because her narrative affords insight into the upbringing that led her, a woman who was not directly partaking in his network of scholars, to emerge as a thinker. By illustrating the connection among men who advanced knowledge in YDULRXV¿HOGVDQGLQWHUHVWVLQKHUIDWKHU¶VJHQHUDWLRQURXJKO\IURPWKH 1750s to the 1780s, Makuzu’s accounts agree with what is frequently described the zenith of the high culture of the Tenmei period (1781–88). While Makuzu does not offer too much about Heisuke’s own medical or scholarly apprenticeship, which took place before her time, she provides a lively description of a group of people who were engaged in scholarship, poetry, and the arts at the peak of Heisuke’s career. A newly developing urban culture would combine and integrate the pleasure quarters, the theater, and poetry salons.87 Yet we too easily disconnect the activities of poets from those of Confucian scholars, SK\VLFLDQV IURP DFWRUV RU SRSXODU ¿FWLRQ ZULWHUV IURP HFRQRPLVWV even though the fusion of their thoughts can be found precisely in those VRFLDOJDWKHULQJVDWZKLFK³OHDGLQJ¿JXUHVRIGLYHUVHPHGLDTXDUUHOing schools, and representatives of the most exclusive, as well as most popular artistic traditions” came together.88 It is in these networks that 86

MB, p. 14. See Haruko Iwasaki, The World of “Gesaku”: Playful Writers of Late Eighteenth Century Japan (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1984); Beerens 2002; Andrew Markus, “Shogakai: Celebrity Banquets of the Late Edo Period,” HJAS 53 (1993), pp. 135-67; Howard Hibbett, The Chrysanthemum and the Fish: Japanese Humor since the Age of the Shoguns (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2002). 88 Markus 1993, p. 167. Andrew Markus refers here to celebrity banquets (shogakai ᭡⏤ఌ, literally, calligraphy and painting gatherings), but as will become evident from the following, it appears to be true also for Heisuke’s house. See also Najita 1978, pp. 87

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ZH¿QGWKHPRUHOLEHUDOFXOWXUDOODQGVFDSHRIWKHODWH7RNXJDZDSHriod, in which what Harry Harootunian calls the transformation of the “culture of play” into “the play of culture” took place.89 The KudĿ household was one such exciting place where visitors from all walks of life could interact, facilitated by the fact that Heisuke was DSK\VLFLDQ$VPHQWLRQHGHDUOLHUSK\VLFLDQVZHUHDQLOOGH¿QHGJURXS within the legally instated status society of the Tokugawa shogunate, who, Yuki Terazawa maintains, “could move up in the social hierarchy and break through status boundaries.”90,QRXUVSHFL¿FFDVHVKRZHYHU the medical profession was taken up for the most part by unemployed former samurai, and hence we witness the halt of a decline in social status rather than a rise in social standing.91 Heisuke’s status and position, WRRZDVGH¿QHGZLWKLQWKHYDJXHSDUDPHWHUVRIWKLVVRFLDOJURXS+H was an attendant physician to a lord, which was more prestigious than belonging to the general administration (omote ⾪), but he was also a lay-physician who treated other patients.921H[WWR¿QDQFLDOLQGHSHQ13-14, for his discussion of the fusion of differing ideological frameworks during the Tokugawa period. 89 Harry D. Harootunian 1989, p. 171. See for the political critique in the form of humor in the late Tokugawa period, Hibbitt 2002, in particular chapters 3 and 4. For a VSHFL¿F³SOD\´RIFXOWXUHVHHWKHIDPRXV1HZ
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dence, which his lord apparently tolerated, Heisuke could thereby offer with his highly regarded residence a site where people from the highest to the lowest standing could meet more freely and without jeopardizing or compromising their own positions.93 The architecture of the house in Tsukiji built by grandfather KudĿ JĿan emphasized the family’s status and its purpose of accommodating a lavish lifestyle. The house, in addition to, again, a wide gate, had as DVLJQL¿FDQWIHDWXUHDEDWKPDGHRIF\SUHVVZRRGEXLOWLQWRWKHVHFRQG ÀRRUWRUHFHLYH+HLVXNH¶VYLVLWRUVZKRFDPHDVSDWLHQWVEXWZKRDOVR gathered to enjoy his company, or to ask him for advice.94 Just as his father, JĿan, used to do, Heisuke invited guests from broad strata of society, not only lords and direct retainers of the shogun (hatamoto ᪕ ᮇ), but also scholars, poets, and actors.95 Heisuke was not as interested in poetry or calligraphy as were the female members of his family;96 he was more interested in gardening, the collection of Dutch objects, the theater, and in culinary expertise.97 Daimyo and actors alike who praised his renown as an expert chef would come to enjoy the gastronomic feasts of “Heisuke’s cuisine” (Heisuke ryĿri ᖲຐᩩ⌦) at his house in Tsukiji.98 Thus it comes as no surprise that Makuzu remembered her childhood as prosperous for her family: after all, only one other place in the neighborhood—a Buddhist temple—bought more tofu in a year.99 ZDVMXVWDVEOXUU\DQGZKRDUJXHGDJDLQVWSHUVRQDO¿QDQFLDOSUR¿W 93 Heisuke was certainly not an exception. Indeed a comparison with other physicians’ houses used for social gatherings would be valuable. For example, Heisuke’s acquaintance and shogunate physician Katsuragawa Hoshŗ was known as one of 18 connoisseurs (tsŗ ㏳) of his time, and his younger brother Morishima ChŗryĿ became a ZULWHURISRSXODU¿FWLRQgesaku ᡑష). See Imaizumi 1963, p. 258, and Winkel 2004. For comparison, see Figure 1-7 for the ground plan of the house of the Katsuragawa family. Presumably, the KudĿKRXVHZDVODUJHUDQGKDGDVHFRQGÀRRU 94 MB, p. 81. 95 According to Suzuki Yoneko, even gamblers came to Heisuke’s house (Suzuki, in TMS, p. 545). This might explain Makuzu’s preoccupation with the issue of gambling in Hitori kangae. Suzuki cites, probably from SaitĿ ChikudĿ ᩟⸠➁ᇸ (1815–52), a Sendai retainer who wrote about Heisuke (cited by ľtomo 1943, p. 22). But SaitĿ never met Heisuke in person. Makuzu mentions acquaintances who met with bad fates after being drawn into gambling, but she does not refer to “gamblers” in her home. 96 There is one Chinese poem (kanshi ₆モ) that Heisuke apparently wrote for family friend and poet Mishima Kageo (cited in Sendai jimbutsu shi, p. 64). 97 MB, p. 11. 98 Sendai jimbutsu shi, p. 64. About Edo-period cuisine and restaurants, see Nishiyama Matsunosuke, Edo Culture (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997), pp. 144-78. Makuzu lived in Tsukiji when she was young and moved only later to SukiyachĿ, Nihonbashi (MB, p. 97 and p. 104). 99 About 20 ryĿ a year (in MB, p. 91). If we calculate that 1 block of tofu was about

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Figure 1-7. Ground plan of Katsuragawa Hoshŗ’s house. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

Heisuke’s broad interests, ranging from cooking to gardening, can explain the hospitality of his house to some extent, but it was foremost his reputation as a physician that made him well known beyond the city limits of Edo. Already by his early thirties he had drawn disciples from all over Japan to his medical school.100 One reason for his fame from Matsumae ᮿ๑ in Ezo ⼆ኻ (today Hokkaido) to Nagasaki in Kyushu may have been Heisuke’s output of more than 100 medical books, of which regrettably only one has survived.101 Makuzu’s account of Heisuke’s school, however, does not describe the daily routine, cur14-15 mon, and 4,000 mon are about 1 ryĿ, the KudĿ household would have consumed about 5,000 blocks of tofu a year. The temple was probably Nishi-Honganji けᮇ㢢 ᑈ in Tsukiji, today’s ChŗĿ-ku. Makuzu’s recollection of a celebration in 1776 reveals much about the atmosphere of cultural and intellectual sophistication in their house. Makuzu was about fourteen when Heisuke added a garden pavilion (azumaya ᮶ᒁ) to their house and also decided to renovate the inside, which made the house even more remarkable. The celebration of the construction was a big event (MB, pp. 79-81). 100 MB, p. 45. The name of the school was BankĿdĿ ᬄຉᇸ (mentioned by Suzuki, in TMS, p. 545). The name can be found in the introduction to Heisuke’s medical book; see the next footnote. 101 Cited by ľtomo 1943, pp. 17-19. Heisuke’s medical book is called Kyŗon sode goyomi ᨾ⒊⾿ᬲ. The book, of which one still extant copy was in the possession of Mishima Kageo, describes a “warm disease therapy” that Heisuke taught his students. The book was written in 1797 (Kansei 9) but was published in 1815, long after Heisuke’s death in 1800.

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riculum, how many students were enrolled, their skills as physicians, or even the name of the school. Instead we learn trivia such as that Heisuke’s disciples had a common element in their names, like disciples at most schools do.102 Makuzu goes on to address some particulars of Heisuke’s students, EXW ZLWKRXW LOOXPLQDWLQJ WKHLU VLJQL¿FDQFH LQ ODUJHU HYHQWV103 Maita Gentan ⡷⏛ඔ୸ (no dates), for instance, is such a case. Gentan, who was from the Matsumae domain, which controlled some parts of Ezo, ZDVDERXWQLQHWHHQ\HDUVROGZKHQKH¿UVWDUULYHGDW+HLVXNH¶VJDWH Makuzu recalls that after his long trip from Matsumae on a boat that carried salmon roe (sujiko ➵Ꮔ), Gentan looked quite forbidding and KLVGLIIHUHQWGLDOHFWGLGQRWLPSURYHWKH¿UVWLPSUHVVLRQKHPDGHZKHQ he appeared at the KudĿ residence. Without any references and with the men of the house out on duty, the women had pity for him and offered him some shelter. A couple of days later, they at last found out why he had come to Heisuke and soon enough he proved to be a valued student. While Makuzu does not refer to the importance of Gentan in subsequent events at all, such as his vital role in the gathering of information for Heisuke’s legendary report Thoughts on Rumors about Kamchatka (Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ ㉝⼆ኻ㢴ㄕ⩻, 1781–83), or his being one RIWKH¿UVWWRLQWHUYLHZWKHIDPRXVVHDGULIWHU'DLNRNX\D.Ŀdayŗ ኬ 㯦ᒁකኯኰ (1751–1828), she wondered whether he still ate mandarins (mikan ⻜᯷) with their peels.104 Makuzu, who must have known about *HQWDQ¶VFRQWULEXWLRQVRIIHUVRQO\WKHVXEWH[WWRWKHRI¿FLDOKLVWRU\RI

102 MB, pp. 51-52. In Heisuke’s school it was Gen ඔ, a tradition that might go back to JĿan, since one of his disciples, called GenchĿ ඔ㛏 was handed down by him to Heisuke. Others were called Gensatsu ඔᐳ, Gentan ඔ୸, Genzui ඔ㝮, and so forth. Makuzu also mentions some of the careers of Heisuke’s disciples. 103 Gensatsu, for instance, was unfortunate; he started off well, built a house in Shimbashi to establish himself as a town doctor, but then his wife died childless and soon his house burnt down. That his mother lived a long life did not improve his luck. Another student, Genzui, on the other hand, was more fortunate. Originally from Sendai, he found employment with the Wakisaka ⬝ᆊ family (MB, p. 44). Or Makuzu informs us about students who left an impression on her, for example KĿteki ᖶ࡙ࡀ or Tanji ୸෪ and Higuchi Shiba, both of whom had formerly been disciples of Yoshio KĿgyŗ. Since Shiba and KĿteki had been KĿgyŗ’s students, they probably kept their names. 104 MB, pp. 51-52. About Heisuke’s report, see chapter 2. Gentan later became a domain physician to Matsumae. His report, called Matsumae han-i Maita Gentan monogatari no omomuki ᮿ๑⸤༈⡷⏛ඔ୸∸ㄊࡡ㉻ࡀ (The Story of Maita Gentan, physician to the Matsumae domain), of what he learned from KĿdayŗ can be found, for instance, in Daikokuya KĿdayŗ shiryĿshŗ, ed. Yamashita Tsuneo, vol. 2, (Tokyo: Nihon HyĿronsha, 2003). See Figure 1-8.

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Figure 1-8. Matsumae han-i Maita Gentan monogatari no omomuki (The Story of Maita Gentan, physician to the Matsumae domain) by Maita Gentan. Courtesy of the National Diet Library.

her father’s fame, which perhaps she assumes to be still in the memory of her readers.105 In a similar, casual way Makuzu mentions high-ranking samurai with whom Heisuke frequently fraternized. Many of these men were repeatedly involved in major political events, and Makuzu mentioning that Heisuke knew them directly certainly emphasizes his, and in the end her, distinctive position.106 Lord Doi Toshinori ᅰ஬ฺᚠ (1748– 1813, r. 1767–87),107 the previously mentioned senior councilor Matsu105

In particular when we consider that many writings that dealt with KĿdayŗ and his adventures circulated for many decades. Many of them can be found in the four-volume edition of Daikokuya KĿdayŗ shiryĿshŗ, ed. Yamashita Tsuneo, 4 vols. (Tokyo: Nihon HyĿronsha, 2003). 106 Makuzu mentions, among various daimyo, Itakura SuĿ no kami Katsunori ᯀಲ ࿔㜭Ꮼົ⃀ (1716–69), whose mansion was close by (MB, p. 82). Heisuke frequently attended the retired wife of SuĿQRNDPL2FFDVLRQDOO\RQWKH¿UVWGD\RIWKHKRUVHLQ the second month, which is the festival for the Inari deity, the wife would tell Heisuke to bring his children to watch the procession. An older maid, called Sawa ࡈࢂ, mistook them for children from the upper mansion of the Date clan, which was also in the neighborhood, about whose children she had nothing good to say (MB, pp. 14-15). 107 Makuzu calls him Doi Yamashiro no kami ᅰ஬ᒜᇖᏬ. See also Suzuki 1995, p. 50.

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daira Takemoto,108 and lord Matsudaira Harusato ᮿᖲ἖㒋 (1751–1818) are often brought up; these men were all close to Heisuke’s lord Date Shigemura. Harusato, whom Makuzu refers to by his title Dewa no kami ฝ⩒Ꮼ, the daimyo of the Izumo Matsue ฝ㞴ᮿỜ domain, was one of the more glamorous visitors. She describes him as a connoisseur of extravagance, yet he is eminent today IRUKLVVXFFHVVIXO¿QDQFLDOUHIRUPVRI the Matsue domain in the 1760s and as a tea master. Makuzu’s recollection does not mention these reforms; when Harusato would pay the KudĿ family a visit, it was more important to mention that his entourage always Figure 1-9. Seadrifter Daikokuya KĿdayŗ consisted of at least three geisha and (on the left) and his companion Isokichi. Courtesy of Shimizu Shoin. two actors.109 Doi Toshinori, another close patron of Heisuke and lord of the Mikawa Kariya domain ୔ἑศ ㆺ⸤, was a dear friend of Harusato with whom he shared the latter’s interest in the tea ceremony.110 As the third son of Date Munemura, and half-brother to the above-mentioned Hotta Masaatsu and current lord Shigemura, even the extended Date family then had a strong presence in Heisuke’s life and career.111 The closeness is demonstrated in that Toshinori instructed Makuzu’s brother in tea.112 When Toshinori died 108

See MB, p. 82, p. 92, and p. 99. MB, p. 136, p. 82; Nakayama 1936, pp. 53-54. 110 0%S1DND\DPDS7KHFORVHUHODWLRQVDUHUHÀHFWHGLQWKHHVWDEOLVKPHQWRIVWURQJNLQUHODWLRQV,Q7RVKLQRULDGRSWHGKLVKDOIEURWKHUWKH¿IWHHQ year-old son of Hayashi Shihei’s ᯐᏄᖲ (1738–93) older sister Kiyo ࢞ࣙ and Sendai lord Date Munemura. The second child of this union, a daughter, became the wife of Matsudaira Harusato in 1774. See Shinpen Hayashi Shihei zenshŗ, ed. Yamagishi Tokuhei and Sano Masami, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Daiichi ShobĿ, 1978), Appendix. 111 Toshinori is present in many of Makuzu’s writings, in particular those about strange occurrences. See, for instance, MB, p. 136, in which Makuzu tells about him and a huge cat. Hotta Masaatsu, who became a junior councilor, is also often represented in Makuzu’s work. We will encounter him again, and in more detail, in chapter 3. 112 MB, p. 17. When Makuzu’s brother Motoyasu was ill, Toshinori would come often to pay him a sick visit. When Motoyasu died, according to Makuzu, he took it hard. 109

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in 1813, Makuzu was truly upset by his death. One has the impression that for Makuzu it was as though a golden era had passed.113 Just as the status of the physician displays the ambiguity of Tokugawa society, so does the house of a physician expose the empty formalism WKDWRI¿FLDOO\SURKLELWHGVDPXUDLUDQNVIURPDVVRFLDWLQJZLWKDFWRUV114 In Heisuke’s house, an often-seen actor was the female impersonator (onnagata ዥᙟ) Segawa KikunojĿ II ℡ᕖⳝ஄୤ (1741–73), or RokĿ ㊨⩻, to whom Harusato was particularly drawn and who carried the soubriquet “Dewa-sama RokĿ.”115 Harusato usually came in the company of actors, but apparently they also came without him. The famous kabuki actor, Nakamura TomijŗrĿ ୯ᮟᐣ༎㑳 (1719–86), who lived in KobikichĿ ᮄ᣺⏣, was usually accompanied by his fellow actors, Nakamura Noshio ୯ᮟࡡࡊ࡮ and BandĿ MitsugorĿ ᆊ᮶୔὘஫㑳, who ZRXOGFRPHWR¿QGGHOLJKWLQ+HLVXNH¶VFXLVLQH116 Another actor mentioned by Makuzu was the onnagata (Iwai) KumesaburĿ ᒷ஬⡾୔㑳 (1747–1800).117 Makuzu’s knowledge of and interest in the theater can be easily explained by this early exposure to the world of actors, who would often perform in their splendid and extravagant costumes in the KudĿ house.118Joining the group of high-ranking lords and actors was a group of literati (bunjin ᩝெ), whom we encounter probably through the connection of the Kuwabara women. Makuzu’s description emphasizes that these poets could not be seen as living their lives in seclusion after an (imaginary) Chinese model, dwelling in some sort of :HOWÀXFKW caused by frustration and discontent with concurrent sociopolitical conditions.119 Rather, poets like the above-mentioned poet Mishima Kageo 113 See Taenu kazura ࡒ࠻࡟⴩ (Everlasting Judas Tree), in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 507-09. 114 See Masakatsu Gunji, “Kabuki and Its Social Background,” in Tokugawa Japan, ed. Chie Nakane and ShinzaburĿ ľishi (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1990), pp. 192-212. 115 MB, p. 137. Onnagata Segawa KikunojĿ II (1741–73) was particularly popular in Edo. See also Hiraga Gennai’s ᖲ㈙″හ (1728–79) satire (dangibon ㄧ⩇ᮇ) called Nenashigusa ᰷↋ⲙ (Rootless Weeds, 1763) about KikunojĿ (Shirane 2002, pp. 46286). About Kabuki and its patrons, see C. Andrew Gerstle, “Flowers of Edo: Kabuki and its Patrons,” in Eighteenth Century Japan: Culture and Society, ed. C. Andrew Gerstle (Sydney: Allen and Unwin Australia, 1989), p. 38. 116 MB, p. 99 and p. 82. Due to RokĿ’s early death, Noshio replaced him in Harusato’s entourage (MB, pp. 137-38). Probably Nakamura Noshio II ୯ᮟࡡࡊ࡮ (1759– 1800), an actor from Osaka. BandĿ could be either MitsugorĿ I (1745–82) or MitsugorĿ II (1750–1829). According to Nakayama 1984, it was MitsugorĿ I, p. 230. 117 MB, p. 82. 118 MB, pp. 99-100. 119 For the secondary literature and a new approach to the “image and reality” of the literati, see the work by Anna Beerens. According to Beerens’s analysis, another often-

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and Murata Harumi ᮟ⏛᫋ᾇ (1746–1811), whom Makuzu introduces as another famous poet of Kamo Mabuchi’s school who was a frequent visitor to the KudĿ house, participated in and enjoyed the company of a vast network of poets and scholars who had similar interests, namely the investigation of things present and past.120 Under Mabuchi’s guidance the study of ancient poetry had grown immensely popular in Edo, steadily rising since the 1750s. By the time of Mabuchi’s death in 1769, his school listed about 300 students, of whom many were women.121 The social space they created was vital for creating a conjuncture of culture and politics that brought together new knowledge and generated questions about how to relate this knowledge to the Tokugawa polity. Makuzu’s mother and grandmother Yayoko—the latter, in particular, having been an accomplished poet—probably knew Kamo Mabuchi in person, so it is no surprise that Makuzu’s family was actively involved in this new literary trend continued by Mabuchi’s students.122 This public realm of a blending among lords, poets, and actors associDWHGZLWKWKHÀRDWLQJZRUOGRI(GRLQ+HLVXNH¶VKRXVHDOVRLQFOXGHVIHOORZ physicians and scholars. Most of Heisuke’s colleagues are known today as part of an academic pursuit called Rangaku ⹊Ꮥ (Western or Dutch 6WXGLHV ZKLFKZDVDWWKHWLPHQRWDFOHDU¿HOGRIVWXG\SHUVH,WZDVQRW XQWLOVRPHGHFDGHVODWHUWKDWDGLVFXVVLRQDURVHRYHUWKH¿HOGNQRZQDV Rangaku. Most pertinent to the discussion is Sugita Gempaku’s ᮙ⏛⋖Ⓣ (1733–1817) manifesto, called Rangaku koto hajime ⹊Ꮥ஥ጙ (The Origins of Rangaku), written in 1815, in which he made an active effort to buttress DPHGLFDODQGVFLHQWL¿FDSSURDFKE\LQYHQWLQJDWUDGLWLRQWKDWGLGQRW exist. Certainly some scholars close to Heisuke participated in the serious study of Western sciences and language, but none of them received, for instance, the attribute Rangakusha from Makuzu. In Hitori kangae, too, Makuzu never makes use of the term, although Takizawa Bakin, in advanced argument that literati are generally from the warrior class likewise cannot be sustained. Further, most literati had or had had an occupation and did not lead reclusive lives (Beerens 2002). 120 See Margarita Winkel’s dissertation, which discusses this trend (Winkel 2004). 121 Peter Nosco, Remembering Paradise: Nativism and Nostalgia in EighteenthCentury Japan (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990), p. 155. For a quick comparison, ItĿ Jinsai’s KogidĿ ཿ⩇ᇸ listed 215 students by 1687; Motoori Norinaga’s Suzunoya 㕝ᒁ had more than 500 students by 1801 (Rubinger 1982, p. 55 and p. 163). 122 One manuscript by Kamo Mabuchi about the Tanabata festival (Festival of the Weaver) has been discovered in the storehouse of the Tadano family. See, for the transcription, Kado Reiko, “Kamo Mabuchi hitsu ‘kikkĿden’ sĿkĿ,” Edo-ki onnakĿ 13 (2002), pp. 62-64. See Figure 1-10.

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Figure 1-10. KikkĿden by Kamo Mabuchi, 1754. Manuscript in the possession of the Tadano family. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

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his response the following year (1819) to Makuzu, uses the term “Rangaku,” which is a good indication of how the diversity of conceptions of ¿HOGVZDVJUDGXDOO\VWUHDPOLQHGGXULQJWKHVHGHFDGHV123 In particular, since we need to steer away from this discourse that searches for and thereby constructs one of the origins of Japan’s modernization, for the purpose of an analysis of Heisuke’s and Makuzu’s thought, the categorization of the intellectual endeavors is not helpful. Thus I concentrate RQ+HLVXNHDQGKLVQHWZRUNFRQVFLRXVO\ZLWKRXWDGH¿QLWLYHODEHO124 Heisuke never took up Rangaku per se, and could not read Dutch, but was attracted to ran (literally Holland) in the way that Timon 6FUHHFKGH¿QHVLWQDPHO\³DVDFOXVWHURIFRQFHSWVQRWDSODFH´125 This GH¿QLWLRQFHUWDLQO\SURYLGHVDPRUHDFFXUDWHSRUWUD\DORIWKHDFWLYLW\ pursued by Heisuke and his acquaintances as illustrated by Makuzu.126 :H¿QGDZLGHUDQJLQJQHWZRUNDURXQG+HLVXNHRIWKHPRVWHPLQHQW scholars of the time who shared his interest in ran, such as the physicians Maeno RyĿtaku ๑㔕ⰃἉ (1723–1803),127 Yoshio KĿgyŗ Ⰳ㞕⪌ ∭ (1724–1800), Katsuragawa Hoshŗ ᰿ᕖ⏘࿔ (1751–1809), and ľtsuNL*HQWDNX,WLVGLI¿FXOWWRDVFHUWDLQZKLFKFDPH¿UVW+HLVXNH¶VLQWHUest in foreign countries, in particular in the foreign West, that would bring him together with many like-minded intellectuals, or the friendship with these scholars that made him, as a consequence, “curious” (monozuki ∸ይࡀ), Heisuke’s most prominent character trait.128 123

DK, p. 315, p. 316, and p. 328. According to SatĿ ShĿsuke, Heisuke was, in his way of analysis and thinking, a Rangakusha. SatĿ envisions thereby probably an enlightened, progressive form of thinking that would lead Tokugawa Japan eventually to modernity (SatĿ ShĿsuke 1980, p. 128). 125 Numata JirĿ, ed., YĿgaku 1, in NST 64 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1976), p. 633. Heisuke asked others to translate Dutch books for his report. See KudĿ Heisuke, Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, in Shin HokkaidĿ shi, ed. Hokkaido, vol. 7 (Sapporo: Shin HokkaidĿshi Insatsu Shuppan KyĿdĿ KigyĿtai, 1969), p. 298. (Subsequently abbreviated as Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS.) 126 See Timon Screech, The Lens within The Heart: 7KH:HVWHUQ6FLHQWL¿F*D]HDQG Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002), pp. 6-7. 127 Maeno RyĿtaku, who studied at the age of 47 under Aoki Kon’yĿ just before the latter died, may have met Heisuke at their teacher’s house, or perhaps through KĿgyŗ, who met RyĿtaku at a house visit to the Nakatsu ୯὘ family. When the mother of the lord broke her leg, KĿgyŗ was called in. RyĿtaku, the physician of the family, was so impressed by KĿgyŗ’s technique that RyĿtaku later went to Nagasaki to become a student in the surgeon’s school. Sugita Gempaku, “Rangaku koto hajime,” in Sugita Gempaku, Hiraga Gennai, Shiba KĿkan, in Nihon no meicho, vol. 22 (Tokyo: ChŗĿ KĿronsha, 1984), pp. 99-100. Gempaku knew RyĿtaku, but was not a close friend. Sugita Gempaku 1984, p. 104. 128 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. 124

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Figure 1-11. Frontispiece of the Cruydt-Boeck by Rembert Dodonaeus. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

Sugita Gempaku can help clarify the difference between ran and Rangaku. He maintains, “About this time [i.e. 1760s], people somehow began to be enamored of anything Dutch. They would treasure imported vessels and other curious things. A dilettante, if worthy of the name, never failed to have a collection, large or small, of things Dutch. This was especially true at the time when the ex-lord of Sagara, Tanuma Okitsugu, held control over the government as a powerful councilor to the Shogun, and the people were extravagant and gay…. 3HRSOHÀRFNHGHYHU\VSULQJWRWKHLQQZKHUHWKH'XWFKSDUW\ZDVVWD\ing.”129 Gempaku’s effort to distinguish serious study from the vulgar fascination and preoccupation with a broad spectrum of many things, such as foreign painting, books, or objects, is obvious.130 But the position of ran in Makuzu’s accounts of Heisuke’s time is precisely that of the latest fad.131 From her perspective, it is the playfulness and variety 129 Cited in Haga TĿru, “Dodonoaeus and Tokugawa Culture: Hiraga Gennai and Natural History in Eighteenth-Century Japan,” in Dodonaeus in Japan, ed. W. F. Vande Walle et al. (Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2001), p. 249. 130 See for instance, HokkaidĿ shi, ed. KĿno Tsunekichi (SapporĿ: HokkaidĿ Shuppan Kikaku Sentă, 1975), p. 119. 131 For instance Makuzu recounts a tea ceremony held in the mansion of Harusato, in which Heisuke and his brother Kisuke participated. The event, which became known

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of cultural styles in which Heisuke participated that she means to capture and convey. For support, Makuzu’s anecdotes describe in detail how her father came into possession of foreign objects. One of Heisuke’s dearest friends, Yoshio KĿgyŗ, the Dutch interpreter and famous surgeon from Nagasaki, provided him with many foreign curios.132 Since they were often rare and eccentric objects, the shogunate physician Katsuragawa Hoshŗ, who also lived in Tsukiji, was at Heisuke’s house almost daily after the latter had received another shipment.133 In one such as Haunted Tea Ceremony (bakemono cha no yu ໩∸Ⲍࡡ…), included naked boy servants who painted their bodies black to imitate Dutch slaves from southeast Asian countries. The tallest servant acted as the Dutch Kapitan. The black humor behind the event was to mock Harusato’s friend, lord Akimoto ⚽ඔఢ㤷ᏬỄ᭽ (1738–1810), who greatly disliked the tea ceremony due to its strict formalities (MB, pp. 138-39). 132 The friendship between Heisuke and Yoshio KĿgyŗ must have developed during the latter’s repeated sojourns in Edo with the Dutch delegates. KĿgyŗ was also known as KĿzaemon ᖶᕞ⾠㛓, or KĿsaku ᖶష, as Makuzu calls him. His fame was wide, so that Gempaku went to see him when he was in Edo with the Dutch delegation (Sugita Gempaku 1984, p. 99). KĿgyŗ went about twenty times to Edo beginning in 1748. While most secondary sources mention Heisuke’s acquaintance and closeness to Hayashi Shihei ᯐᏄᖲ (1738–93), Takayama HikokurĿ 㧏ᒜᙢஐ㑳 (1747–93), and ľtsuki Gentaku, Makuzu does not. See, for example, ľtomo 1943, p. 18, and Nakayama 1936, p. 32. I have to conjecture about why Makuzu did not mention them; perhaps the fact that Shihei had been exiled and HikokurĿ committed suicide, or Gentaku was still well and alive when she was writing Mukashibanashi may have played a role in her silence. Another likely reason could be that these men had not been famous at the time, but gained their reputations only later. 133 Once KĿgyŗ sent woolen cloth (keori ẗ⧂ ZKLFKZDVDSSDUHQWO\WKHRI¿FLDO dress of a king. Another time he sent a box measuring about one meter (3 shaku) in length, 45 cm (1.5 shaku) in width, and 20 cm (6/7 sun) high, in which Heisuke found a red outer garment (uwagi ୕╌) and a coat (hakama ⿑), hair ornament (kamizashi 㧝 ࡉࡊ) and shoes (kutsu 㠈). On yet another occasion, KĿgyŗ presented Heisuke with a crate called kerutoru ࢢࣜࢹࣜ, for which 100 ryĿ were paid. The upper part was used for wine cups (sakazuki ⓻) and trays for appetizers (sakana ⫪); underneath was D VSDFH WKDW ZDV ¿OOHG ZLWK ERWWOHV furasuko ࡨࡼࡌࡆ), in which there were about twenty (MB, pp. 48-51). See the drawing by Makuzu of the kerutoru (MB, p. 50). See Screech 2002, pp. 140-41, for the depiction of technical-looking vessels that were generically called furasukoÀDVNV 6FUHHFKDOVRPHQWLRQVWKDW1DJDNXER6HNLVXL㛏 ஁ಕ㉝Ề (1717–1801), samurai from Sendai, was in Nagasaki in 1746 and saw the OLTXLG¿OOHGÀDVNVRQWKH.DSLWDQ¶VGHVN6FUHHFKS $FFRUGLQJWR6FUHHFK Katsuragawa Hoshŗ apparently received a dragon in a bottle from the VOC physician Thunberg, which may have been exhibited in the Medical Hall of the Taki ኣ⣎ family as part of Hiraga Gennai’s study group of rare objects (Screech 2002, pp. 143-44; MB, SS $QRWKHUKLJKO\DSSUHFLDWHGJLIWZDVDERWWOH¿OOHGZLWKOLTXLGDQGDVSHFLmen that looked like a snake, but which could expand. According to Makuzu, the family friend Suzuki JĿhachi 㕝ᮄᖏඳWRRNWKHÀDVNDQGVKRZHGLWDURXQGLQWKH(GRFDVWOH JĿhachi was also a regular in the house of the Kuwabara family. He was a painter who visited on a regular basis. The chef, Akai TĿkurĿ ㉝஬⸠ஐ㑳, introduced him to the KanĿ ≹㔕 family of painters, who also lived nearby (MB, p. 80).

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account, Makuzu narrates, with the device of dialogue, how Higuchi Shiba ᵵཾྒྷ㤷, KĿgyŗ’s former student, met with ill luck on his way from Nagasaki to Edo. He carried along a copy of the Cruydt-Boeck by Dodonaeus (donineusu koroitofuuku ࢺࢼࢾࢗࢪࢤࣞ࢕ࢹࣆࢗࢠ) that was meant as KĿgyŗ’s present for Heisuke.134 The shogunate ship, however, met with a storm and sank. Fortunately, Shiba survived. Even the book was recovered and the attached letter by KĿgyŗ addressed to Heisuke eventually led it to its rightful recipient.135 Makuzu’s telling of WKLVDQHFGRWHLVVLJQL¿FDQWIRULWPHQWLRQVDERRNZKLFKZDVDWWKDW WLPHKLJKO\LQGHPDQGEXWH[WUHPHO\GLI¿FXOWWRDFTXLUHRUHYHQWRWDNH a look at. However, by 1811 when Makuzu wrote Mukashibanashi, we can assume that the “Dodonaeus” had already become a houseKROG QDPH QRW OHDVW EHFDXVHWKHIDPRXVSRSXODU¿FWLRQgesaku ᡑ ష) author, SantĿ KyĿden ᒜ᮶ாఎ (1761–1816), had satirized the book by the mid-1770s.136 That Makuzu’s father owned the book adds to his distinction for her readers. Likewise, Makuzu’s reference to the foreign pigment beruren ࣊ࣜࣝࣤ (Prussian blue), which Heisuke once used 134 MB, pp. 46-47. The Cruydt-Boeck ¿UVW HGLWLRQ E\ 5HPEHUW 'RGRHQV (1516/7–1585) remained a standard botany reference for many centuries. Matsudaira Sadanobu ordered the full translation of the book in 1793, which was completed in 1823, but due to various circumstances it was never published. Matsuda Kiyoshi, “The Reception and Spread of Dodonaeus’ Cruydt-Boeck in Japan,” in Dodonaeus in Japan, ed. Vande Walle, et al., p. 201. In 1800, KĿgyŗ, when working on the book, “fell ill at his desk and passed away” (citation from KĿgyŗ’s grandson in Matsuda 2001, p. 199). By 1659 the Cruydt-Boeck had been presented to the shogun, but due to its 1,500 pages with small woodcut illustrations and purely botanical content, the book was not appreciated until Yoshimune rescued it from oblivion (Shirahata YĿsaburĿ, “The Development of Japanese Botanical Interest and Dodonaeus’ Role: From Pharmacopoeia to Botany and Horticulture,” in Dodonaeus in Japan, ed. Vande Walle, et al., pp. 26566). Even so, true appreciation came only with the domestic interest in honzĿgaku ᮇ ⲙᏕ (study of medicinal herbs), often sponsored by domains as in the case of Sendai (see my discussion in chapter 2.) In the case of Matsudaira Sadanobu, his interest in botany was, in Shirahata’s view, not for its medicinal properties, but for aesthetics, as can be seen in his book SeikĿ-fu ΰ㤮ㆍ on lotus varieties (Shirahata 2001, p. 272). Timon Screech presents a different view in that he sees Sadanobu “aligning himself and the newly inducted Shogun Ienari with the old but largely exhausted Tokugawa mythology of the ‘medicine king’” (Timon Screech, “The Visual Legacy of Dodonaeus in Botanical and Human Categorisation,” in Dodonaeus in Japan, ed. Vande Walle, et al., p. 232). See Figure 1-11. 135 MB, pp. 46-47. 136 Timon Screech even maintains that Dodonaeus’s book, along with Jonston’s zoological book, “acquired cultic status” in Japan (Screech 2001, p. 223; see also p. 221 and p. 233). By spending a fortune, in 1765 Hiraga Gennai purchased a copy of the Cruydt-Boeck in the Nagasaki-ya 㛏ᓧᒁ, the residence of the Dutch during their VRMRXUQ LQ (GR +DJD S 7KLV DFFRXQW LV LQ FRQÀLFW ZLWK WKDW RI 6XJLWD Gempaku, who claims that Gennai obtained the book in Nagasaki (Sugita Gempaku 1984, p. 160).

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Figure 1-12. Store for Foreign Curios. From Settsu Meisho-zue. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

as a return gift to his guests, demonstrated that he truly was not only a connoisseur in matters ran, but was also in a position to acquire these much-sought-after objects.137 With her narrative, Makuzu transforms the past by retelling it from her viewpoint and with a new meaning. The information she offers therefore is not about reliability and accuracy, but rather about what she deemed necessary to transmit and what she thought or claimed to be true. This is evident in particular when Makuzu retells the colorful tales of her ancestors whose swords avenged the injustice visited on the family. In contrast, what Makuzu witnessed herself is described in a more anecdotal and prosaic manner. Makuzu’s stories about people she encountered at her home give the impression that she wrote her account LQ RUGHU WR VXSSO\ DQQRWDWLRQV WR DQ RI¿FLDO KLVWRU\ 6LQFH 0DNX]X¶V anticipated readers were her contemporaries, she does not explain the importance and bearing on future events of certain persons, but rather RIIHUVVLGHUHPDUNVDQGRWKHUVKRUWFRPPHQWVDVVXI¿FLHQWEDFNJURXQG 137 MB, p. 81. About the pigment that Hiraga Gennai introduced in 1762 at a bussankai ∸⏐ఌ (exhibition), see Haga 2001, p. 249.

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information. Whether portraying Heisuke’s medical school, his connections to the theater, scholars, poets, chefs, or daimyo, Makuzu always focuses on the private side, the untold story of a celebrity of her time, by which she noticeably heightens the position of her father, who, she believes, deserves not to be forgotten. While Makuzu’s intent is to tell the truth about her family, and the use of dialogue and detailed description gives her narrative a realism that is often astounding, she leads her reader to her main agenda: demonstrating that her father was an exceptional person of insight and knowledge. As a result, the reader can observe how Makuzu reads and interprets the events of her youth from an evolving epistemological position. This position can be found more to the point in one of Makuzu’s letters to Takizawa Bakin. Almost ten years after writing Mukashibanashi, Makuzu gives us an abridged version of her life story that allows us to compare how she re-evaluates and repositions her own and her father’s identity. In Mukashibanashi0DNX]XLGHQWL¿HVKHUVHOI primarily as a daughter, and not as a wife. By 1819 this role has been UHLQIRUFHG DQG ¿QGV VWURQJ DQG DFWLYH H[SUHVVLRQ +HU LQWHQWLRQ DQG MXVWL¿FDWLRQLVH[SUHVVHGFOHDUO\LQKHUOHWWHU I was told that I can read in warrior tales about my distant ancestors, but since I have never seen such books, I cannot tell you much about them. However, they were people with compassion ( jinsha ொ⩽). Hailing from this long line of ancestors my grandfather, a physician by profession, was a compassionate man. His son ShirĿzaemon was exceptionally compassionate too: he did not care about his own life, but sought only to be of service to others.138 Many people bemoaned his death. My father Heisuke, too, was a very compassionate person. Therefore I decided from childhood on to have a compassionate heart (jinshin ொᚨ) just like my ancestors. I never enjoyed things by myself, I remember always wanting to share both joy and misery with my family.139

Makuzu sets out to establish an extraordinary lineage for her father, which will make the reader understand her own acts. With the claim that she embraced the family trait to be “compassionate,” she forges a direct link to her paternal ancestry. The linkage is important, because it is supposed to legitimate Makuzu’s identity as an active agent of her family, despite being a daughter, not a son. In particular, Heisuke’s extraordinary qualities gave him a position LQ VRFLHW\ IURP ZKLFK 0DNX]X ZRXOG EHQH¿W :KDW VWDUWHG RXW DVD 138 139

See also MB, p. 31. Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 374. Emphases are mine.

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description of the samurai heritage of the Nagai family evolved into the portrayal of the man KudĿ Heisuke, who had the stature of a rural samurai but the sophistication of a city scholar, and whose rank of physician drew a wide social network to his house. Heisuke’s social network embraced people from all walks in life, but all of them had something in common in that their activities generated new creativity and deeper insight into how to grasp current conditions. The next chapter discusses the content of Heisuke’s intellectual legacy, which he bestows to Makuzu, and which is also accountable for her life course.

CHAPTER TWO

HEISUKE’S LEGACY Heisuke’s legacy, which consists mainly of a proposal submitted to the highest ranks of the government, can be seen as one outcome of the political space that was generated by his social circle. By outlining Heisuke’s path, we encounter an intellectual culture that otherwise remains hidden, and that plays a role in informing politics and forming policy. Economic reforms executed by lords such as Matsudaira Harusato and Date Shigemura should perhaps also be seen within the context of these political and social networks, in which the notions of assistance and relief to the populace are central. Culture and politics are united in these networks, whose activities are the consequences of WKLVHVWDEOLVKPHQWRIDSXEOLFVSKHUH7KHWUDI¿FDFURVVVRFLDOVWUDWDKDV UDPL¿FDWLRQVQRWRQO\LQ+HLVXNH¶VZRUNEXWLVZHOOGRFXPHQWHGLQWKH works of scholars such as, for instance, Hayashi Shihei ᯐᏄᖲ (1738– 93), Katsuragawa Hoshŗ, and ľtsuki Gentaku. In Heisuke’s case, the northern frontier (Ezo) is the central issue of debate and his knowledge and expertise about this region generate his legacy. Heisuke’s thoughts and those of his peers and patrons had a formaWLYHHIIHFWRQ0DNX]X¶VUHÀHFWLRQVDVH[SUHVVHGLQHitori kangae, as I will discuss later in more detail. Because of this, I must draw out Heisuke’s involvements and activities, which will help us to understand Makuzu’s thoughts as well as her particular life course. Since public and private life cannot be divorced from each other—even more true in the case of women—Makuzu tells transversely her own personal story. MukashibanashiUHÀHFWVKHUPDJQL¿FDWLRQRIKHUIDWKHU¶VLPSRUWDQFH on the political landscape in order to validate her own endeavor. Despite EHLQJDGRPDLQSK\VLFLDQDQGWKHUHIRUHQRWRI¿FLDOO\SDUWRIWKHUXOLQJ hegemony, Heisuke entered the political realm with his proposal, thus FRQWULEXWLQJWRDOHJDF\WKDW0DNX]XZRXOGFODLPWREHMXVWL¿HGLQFRQtinuing in Hitori kangae. This step was possible because the household unit entailed her participation even though not in the way she would later argue. Makuzu’s public role as part of the socioeconomic unit of the household was to contribute to her father’s position; in general the way for her to do so as a daughter would have been through marriage. Therefore, in the following we will witness how Makuzu perceived

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her father’s career as having direct repercussions upon her own life course. Her underlying narrative gives an account of the workings of the marital practices in a physician’s household from the perspective of the person concerned. MAKUZU’S EDUCATION Makuzu’s life course was circumscribed and predestined by the existing family structure that centered on the patrilineal household. As an investment in Heisuke’s social standing, she received the education appropriate to the girls of her time and status in Edo. This was part of the preparation for Makuzu’s task of bringing social capital to the household, which in her case was service in two highly prestigious daimyo mansions and later marriages to men of samurai ranking. Makuzu, by being a maid-in-service to two domains, had direct access to the inner quarters of the mansions, and thereby contributed information valuable for Heisuke. However, her service also offered her experience and a range of choices that she did not hesitate to execute.1 We learn little about Makuzu’s education other than in calligraphy and poetic composition.2 In Edo at the time, it was not out of the ordinary for the daughter of a physician to be educated. However, Makuzu mentioned that her mother, probably owing to her own grim experience, was rather lax with the formal education of her daughters. Rather than follow in her own parents’ strict, didactic footsteps with regard to her children’s education, Makuzu’s mother therefore left it up to the children themselves, saying merely, the more you practice the better you get.3 Apparently, only after her mother saw that Makuzu, at the early age of nine, was making some initial efforts on her own, did she decide to send her out to learn poetry under the tutelage of a teacher.4 0DNX]X¶V ¿UVW RXWVLGH WHDFKHU ZDV FHOHEUDWHG DV RQH RI WKH JUHDW female poetry teachers (onna sensei ዥ඙⏍) of her time, yet Makuzu 1 For an analysis of the life of a peasant daughter who served in Edo, see Anne Walthall, “Fille de Paysan, Épouse de Samouraï: Les Lettres de Yoshino Michi,” Annales HSS 1 (January–February 1999), pp. 55-86. 2 Nakayama Eiko mentions that Makuzu, like her mother, wrote in the ryŗmoto calligraphy style, which she learned from Yamamoto Chŗemon ᒜᮇᚽྎ⾠㛓, an uncle serving the Kii domain. Her sister Taeko wrote in this style as well (Nakayama 1936, pp. 180-81). Sendai Jimbutsu shi serves as Nakayama’s source. 3 MB, p. 13. 4 HK, p. 264.

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mentions her only in passing.5 Kada no Tamiko Ⲭ⏛ⵤ⏍Ꮔ (1722–86), or as Makuzu calls her, O-Tami ࠽Ằ, taught her to read and write in the style of the Heian classics, such as the Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems (Kokinshŗ ཿ௑㞗, early tenth century).6 Tamiko was the younger sister of Kada no Arimaro Ⲭ⏛ᅹ‫( ‮‬1706–69) and niece of Kada no Azumamaro Ⲭ⏛᫋‫( ‮‬1668–1736), both poets of great renown. Originally from the Kansai area, Tamiko had followed her brother Arimaro to Edo to introduce a new literary trend known today as Kokugaku (nativist learning).7 To our regret, Makuzu mentions her training in a mere side remark, and we have to conjecture if she was actively attending poetry meetings in Edo.8 Just as we have only one poem by her mother, we have only one poem that Makuzu attests WR KDYH ZULWWHQ ZKLOH VWLOO OLYLQJ LQ (GR 6LJQL¿FDQWO\ WKLV SRHP LV an extended poem (chĿka or nagauta 㛏ḯ),9 which shows how much Makuzu embraced the literary avant-garde from early on.10 5 About Kada Tamiko, see Iwatsuki Akie, “Kada Tamiko to kashŗ ‘Sugi no shizue’, Part I and II,” Edo-ki onnakĿ 11 (2000) and 12 (2001). Tamiko worked for a while in the Kii mansion as a tutor, and later taught poetry from her home. The fact that Heisuke was from the Kii domain may have provided the connection, but since Tamiko was part of the same circles as Mishima Kageo and Kamo Mabuchi, the connections are tied on various ends. See also the unpublished M.A. thesis by Miyakoshi Hisako, Kinsei josei kajin no kenkyŗ: Kada Tamiko no seihai to Kashŗ ‘sugi no shizue’, Tokyo: Ochanomizu University, January 2004. 6 MB, p. 110. 7 Azumamaro would later be known as one of the four “big masters” ኬ୹ (Ŀ-nushi) of Kokugaku. 8 The records of Makuzu’s teacher Shimizu Hamaomi and of Murata Harumi repeatedly refer to some female poets called Teruko, Taeko, Machiko, Fumiko, and Ayako, who were members of the poetry gathering called Wabun no Kai ࿰ᩝࡡఌ in 1794. This might be only a coincidence but could refer to Makuzu (called also Ayako) and her sisters. Makuzu would have been thirty-two, and her sister Taeko about seventeen years old. Teruko, however, would have been only eight. See Maruyama Sueo 1964, p. 82, and Tanaka 2000, pp. 36-37. 9 Makuzu reads 㛏ḯ, which is today more conventionally pronounced chĿka, nagauta ࡝࠿࠹ࡒ; so does Kamo Mabuchi, who is held accountable for the revival of this poetic form of extended waka ࿰ḯ epitomized in his elegy for his favorite student, Yuya Shizuko ἔㆺ೔ᩝᏄ (1733–52). See Lawrence E. Marceau, “ChĿka for our Time: Shimizu Hamaomi’s Sedge Root Collection,” Paper presented at Conference of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies, Purdue University, October 4, 2002; Roger K. Thomas, “Poetry Fit to Sing: Tachibana Moribe and the ChĿka Revival,” Proceedings of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies 4 (Summer 2003). Murata Harumi, too, pronounces the word as nagauta versus its short form mijikauta ▯ḯ, which is conventionally read tanka. Cited by Tanaka 2000, p. 123. For a further discussion see chapters 3 and 6. 10 Mi o nageku uta ㌗ࢅ࡝ࡅࡂ࠹ࡒ (Song of Lament), in Makuzugahara ┷⴩࠿ ࡢࡼ (Makuzu’s Playing Field), in TMS, pp. 491-92. There are also two short essays by Makuzu that are undated, which, judging by their content, may have been written in Edo. See TMS, pp. 399-403 and pp. 408-15. The former is addressed to Otsubone-sama

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Figure 2-1. Grave of Kada Tamiko. Kinryŗji Temple, Asakusa, TaitĿku, Tokyo.

Makuzu never studied Chinese. Unlike Ema SaikĿ Ờ㤷⣵㤮 (1787– 1861)—famous for her paintings and her Chinese poetry (kanshi ₆ モ)—who grew up in a similar household of physicians, Makuzu was not allowed to study Chinese. Makuzu confesses she found this reJUHWWDEOHDW¿UVWSDUWLFXODUO\EHFDXVHKHUEURWKHU0RWR\DVXZKRZDV three years younger, learned the Chinese classics at the nearby temple in Tsukiji (Nishi-Honganji けᮇ㢢ᑈ), where they trained Chinese interpreters.11 Later, he completed his classical education with the renowned Confucian scholar Katayama Kenzan ∞ᒜ඾ᒜ (1730–82) and then with Hattori Rissai ᭱㒂ᰡᩢ (1736–1800).12 Makuzu argues that ᚒࡗ࡯ࡠᵕ, probably the highest-ranking lady-in-waiting at the Date mansion, and contains instructions about how to write letters in the courtly style. The latter is a writing exercise according to the months of the year, referring to places in Edo. Both texts suggest Makuzu’s task as a teacher for composition during her service. 11 MB, p. 82. Heisuke’s disciple Shiba would accompany Motoyasu to the temple. 12 MB, p. 112. Not mentioned in any account other than Mukashibanashi is Heisuke’s friendship with the scholar Katayama Kenzan (about Kenzan’s life and work, see Michael Kinski, Knochen des Weges: Katayama Kenzan als Vertreter des eklektischen Konfuzianismus im Japan des 18. Jahrhunderts [Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996]). Kenzan tutored at the early age of eighteen in KĿjimachi. It must have been then when he met Heisuke, who could be seen on his strolls in the streets of KĿjimachi quite frequently (about Heisuke and KĿjimachi see MB, p. 24). Michael Kinski relates in his monograph that Kenzan came to Edo from today’s Gunma prefecture in 1746 at the age

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later in her life she came to realize that her lack of education in Chinese was owing to her father’s wisdom and for her own good: she did not fall into the Chinese way of thinking, but instead was able to have her own free thoughts.13 Despite her claim, however, that she only overheard her brother preparing his lessons, we know that, even if Makuzu did not study the Chinese classics properly, she had a good idea about their content.14 Makuzu’s own education, vital in many ways to the development of her own thoughts and ideas, is consciously underrated in Mukashibanashi. It is only in the treatise Hitori kangaeWKDWVKHÀDXQWVKHUHUXdition when she comments on works by Kamo Mabuchi and Motoori Norinaga; evaluates political ideas of Arai Hakuseki and Kumazawa Banzan ↻Ἁⶵᒜ± FULWLFL]HV&RQIXFLDQLVPDQGVSHFL¿FVHFtions of the Classics; mentions a Western anatomy book; and parades her own skills as a poet who has been praised by the great poet Murata Harumi.15 While the two texts serve different purposes, nevertheless we gather from Makuzu’s recollection in Mukashibanashi that the busy and lively household let her breathe a cosmopolitan atmosphere that broadened her mind. Her principal teacher during her childhood apparently was her father, who lifted her spirits and made her into an educated woman who could claim to be a connoisseur of the theater, the tea ceremony, incense, and ran. While her father was trying to advance his career during her youth, Makuzu was embarking on her own career, even though not on her request. Because Makuzu’s mother regretted that she had not had a similar chance, but was married off at a young age without any experience of seventeen (Kinski 1996, p. 36). According to Makuzu, since he spent much time in the pleasure quarters, Kenzan was infected by a venereal disease. Without a place to stay, he freeloaded with Heisuke, who treated him for about one year (MB, pp. 112-13). Kinski’s short biography does not refer to Kenzan’s wild years in the pleasure quarters; indeed it is a very sober account of an upright and determined scholar (Kinski 1996, p. 37). This side of Kenzan may never have made it onto paper except for Makuzu, who always provided her reader with anecdotes about people she, or her father, knew. It cerWDLQO\GHP\VWL¿HVWKHVFKRODU.HQ]DQZKLOHDWWKHVDPHWLPH0DNX]X¶VDFFRXQWUDLVHV her father’s central position among these men who were prominent at the time. Kenzan is known today as belonging to the Eclectic School of Confucianism (setchŗ gaku ᢙ ⾲Ꮥ). Hirose TansĿ ᗀ℡Ὲ✾ (1782–1856) apparently used this term to explain the third trend of Confucian studies in the Tokugawa period (Kinski 1996, p. 3). Kenzan was, according to Makuzu, however, a teacher in the tradition of the Sorai School. Hattori Rissai was later employed by the Shogunate. His grave, which is still listed in the temple record of the Zenfukuji Temple ၻ⚗ᑈ in Azabu, Tokyo, no longer exists. 13 HK, p. 261 and p. 269. 14 See the discussion in chapter 5. 15 See for instance, HK, p. 266, p. 268, p. 273, and p. 291.

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on her own, she decided to send Makuzu to serve in their lord’s mansion. This practice, which enabled girls to learn about the world, was common for daughters before marriage, and Heisuke promptly agreed, saying in jest that he did not want to become a grandfather just yet anyway.16 So it was decided that Makuzu should serve in the inner quarters of the Sendai domain’s upper mansion close to the Shiodome-bridge ố⏻ᶣ in Shibaguchi Ⱒཾ, today Shimbashi. In 1778, when she was sixteen, Makuzu entered the service of Princess Akiko ユᏄ, daughter of their lord Date Shigemura.17 Five years later, in 1784, Akiko married into the Ii ஬௿ family of the Hikone ᙢ᰷ domain as part of her father Shigemura’s ambition to raise his court rank, and Makuzu followed her to the mansion of the Ii.18 Makuzu’s move to another daimyo house parallels Heisuke’s activities and new association. Perhaps he may have been the link between his lord Shigemura and Akiko in his function as an attendant physician. In fact, Makuzu informs us that Heisuke frequently visited the Ii mansion, and certainly not to visit her.19 The access Heisuke gained to the inner quarters certainly supplied him with important information, while her service at the Sendai upper mansion and later Hikone mansion nurtured Makuzu’s perceptions by introducing her to higher samurai society. Altogether Makuzu remained in Akiko’s service for ten years, but we do not know much about her experiences as an attendant in the women’s quarters.20 One wonders why, since otherwise she writes about her life in Edo in some detail. ľguchi YŗjirĿ speculates that her reticence may have been rooted in the oath that she, like all those who entered daimyo 16 MB, p. 83. About service in women’s quarters, see Walthall 1999, in particular pp. 59-62. 17 MB, p. 83. 18 About Akiko’s marriage to Ii Naotomi ஬௿├ᐣ (1760–87), the heir-apparent, see Sendai retainer Tamamushi JŗzĿ’s diary entry, Tamamushi JŗzĿ, “Tamamushi JŗzĿ nikki: Tenmei yonen kiroku,” in Sendai-shi shi: ShiryĿhen 3, ed. Sendai Shishi Hensan Iinkai, Kinsei 2 (Sendai: Miyagi-ken, 1997), p. 406 and p. 414. For Shigemura’s aspirations, see Yamada Tadao, “Tenmei-ki bakusei no shindankai,” in HĿreki, Tenmei-ki no seiji to shakai, ed. Yamada Tadao and Matsumoto ShirĿ (Tokyo: Yŗkaikaku, 1988), pp. 33-35; and Tsuji 1991, p. 461. For a short discussion of the (socio-economic) role of the women inside of the Sendai mansion, see Matsuzaki Rumi, “Kinsei buke shakai no jendă shisutemu to josei no yakuwari,” Rekishi 103 (2004), pp. 101-26. 19 MB, p. 56, and pp. 127-28. 20 There are only two occasions where Makuzu mentions her service at all. In Hitori kangae she mentions the dispute between a slow-witted warrior woman from the countryside who loses out against the townswomen in the inner quarters (HK, pp. 288-89). In Mukashibanashi Makuzu cites the name of a person within the inner chambers who knew her grandfather (MB, p. 164).

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or shogunal service, took not to reveal affairs within the residence.21 In addition, since her life in service concerned only herself and not other parts of her family, in particular not her father, perhaps Makuzu saw no need to share it. Makuzu concentrates in Mukashibanashi on what is important to her, namely her father and his career.

HEISUKE’S PROPOSAL Makuzu’s later path was largely determined by Heisuke’s career, or at least this is how she puts it. Heisuke is mostly known today for his expertise on Russian affairs. His account, called Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ ㉝⼆ኻ㢴ㄕ⩻,22 FODLPV WR EH WKH ¿UVW WR WDNH XS Oroshiya ࣣࣞࢨࣕ (Imperial Russia) as an object of investigation.23 It was submitted to the man at the apex of power in the shogunate, senior councilor Tanuma Okitsugu.24 In Mukashibanashi Makuzu refers on a couple of occasions to Heisuke’s real ambition in the political realm and the circumstances of his writing the famous report. Surprisingly, Makuzu never mentions the title of Heisuke’s work, or the concrete content of his proposal. Perhaps she assumed that her reader, and in its narrow sense her kin, knew its name and content, and therefore provided only the subtext. This assumption is not implausible, since, besides his friends, many intellectuals, among them Aizawa Seishisai ఌἉḿᚷᩢ (1782–1863), Miura Baien ୔὾ᱭᅧ (1723–89), and Honda Toshiaki ᮇኣฺ᪺ (1744–1821), 21 ľguchi 1995, p. 222. About the inner quarters of the Sendai domain, see Yanagiya Keiko, “Sendai-han Date-ke no ‘Okukata’,” in Onna no Shakaishi, ed. ľguchi YŗjirĿ (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 2001), pp. 49-71. 22 Usually the account is translated as “Report on the Land of the Red Ainu (i.e. 5XVVLD ´EXWIURPWKHFRQWHQWLWEHFRPHVFOHDUWKDW+HLVXNHLGHQWL¿HVAkaezo ㉝⼆ኻ (Land of the Red Barbarians) as Kamchatka. See also the title of the second volume, called “Personal thoughts on Kamchatka and Russia,” where Heisuke clearly distinguishes between the land and its conqueror. Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 288. Another indication is the manuscript called Kamusukatoka-ki held by the former Matsudaira Sadanobu collection, today Tenri library (SatĿ ShĿsuke 1980, pp. 125-26). For a brief introduction to the variety of terminology of Russia and Russians, see Yamashita 2003, vol. 1, p. 681. 23 There was already the work by Matsumae Hironaga ᮿ๑ᗀ㛏 (1737–1801) called Matsumae shi ᮿ๑ᚷ0DWVXPDHUHFRUG ZULWWHQLQWKH¿IWKPRQWKRI7HQPHL 1), but it probably did not circulate in Edo. Hironaga, the ninth son of the daimyo, was adopted into the Murakami ᮟ୕KRXVHKROGDQGLPSOHPHQWHG¿QDQFLDOUHIRUPLQ0D tsumae. See Hokumon sĿsho, ed. ľtomo Kisaku, vol. 2, pp. 95-316. 24 Hall 1955, pp. 37-39.

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who had no direct, personal association with Heisuke, were familiar with the content of his proposal.25 +HLVXNHZDVDYLVLRQDU\LQPDQ\ZD\V+HZDVRQHRIWKH¿UVWWR obtain information when the need for knowledge of foreign affairs emerged as an urgent matter during the periods of An’ei and Tenmei due to the arrival of Russian traders in the North.26 Heisuke predicted that foreign advances on Japanese shores would not stop, nor could they be ignored. He suggested the colonization of Ezo and trade with Russia in order to improve the domestic economy and to prevent further Russian expansion. The reason for his peculiar interest in the formerly unknown country called Oroshiya, Heisuke states, is that, according to his sources, phony castaways had recently come to the northeastern shores of Ezo, accompanied by interpreters, with the intent to engage in trade with Japan. When asked where they came from, they answered, “from Oroshiya.”27 Since the description of their ships and merchandise did not match that of the people from the far north, Heisuke, out of curiosity, wondered where this country called Oroshiya could be and made inquiries among knowledgeable persons. To his astonishment, 25 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ was never published until the Meiji period, when KĿno Tsunekichi ἑ㔕ᖏྚ introduced Heisuke’s text (Shichinomiya 1977, p. 130). Aizawa Seishisai cites Heisuke in his unpublished manuscript Chishima ibun ༐ᓞ␏⪲ (Strange Tales of the Kuril Islands, written 1801 or 1804). See appendix by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, Anti-Foreignism and Western Learning in Early-Modern Japan: The New Theses of 1825 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 281-82. In Ezo shŗi ⼆ኻᣘ㐿 (Ezo Miscellany, 1789, not to be confused with the famous Ezo shŗi by Aoyama ShunzĿ 㟯ᓞಆⶮ, 1786) Honda Toshiaki writes almost identically what Heisuke stated about Oroshiya (ľtomo 1943, pp. 47-48). About Honda Toshiaki, see also Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, 1720–1830 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969). Miura Baien cites from the work in his Kisanroku ᖉᒜ㘋 (Record of Return) (ľtomo 1943, p. 15). 26 For the general history, see John A. Harrison, Japan’s Northern Frontier: A Preliminary Study in Colonization and Expansion with Special Preference to the Relations of Japan and Russia (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1953); George Alexander Lensen, The Russian Push toward Japan: Russo-Japanese Relations, 1697–1875 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959); Keene 1969; Richard Louis Edmonds, “Northern Frontiers of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: A Comparative Study of Frontier Policy,” Research paper no. 213, Department of Geography (University of Chicago, 1985); Yoshimasa Itaba, Reconstructing Japanese Rhetorical Strategies: A Study of Foreign-Policy Discourse during the Pre-Perry Period (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1995); Grant K. Goodman, Japan and the Dutch 1600–1853 (London: Curzon Press, 2000); Brett L. Walker, The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). 27 See Richard Louis Edmonds for the competing settler groups on Kamchatka in the nineteenth century (Edmonds 1985, p. 153).

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Figure 2-2. Yoshio KĿgyŗ. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

QRRQHNQHZRIWKLVFRXQWU\$VDUHVXOWDQGEH¿WWLQJKLVFKDUDFWHUKH started his own investigation. Heisuke’s central position among scholars can be garnered from the sources he used. He was probably able to receive all the information without even leaving his house. We know that his friends Maeno RyĿtaku and Yoshio KĿgyŗ, as well as his protégé, ľtsuki Gentaku, provided translated synopses for him from Johann Huebner’s Algemeene Geographie of beschrijving des geheelen Aardrijks, six volumes, Amsterdam, 1769,28 and from the Dutch translation of Johan Bruder’s Beschreibung von Russland, 1744.29 Heisuke comments further about reading the Dutch News Reports (Oranda fŗsetsugaki ࢛ࣚࣤࢱ㢴ㄕ᭡) 28 According to SatĿ ShĿsuke 1980, p. 123. These six volumes should not be confused with the abridged version. Sugita Gempaku, who also owned the books, asked Katsuragawa Hoshŗ and ľtsuki Gentaku to translate them. Since this was probably before 1781, Heisuke easily could have had access to them. 29 When KĿgyŗ came to Edo in 1781, he sold a copy to the daimyo of Tamba-Fukuchiyama ୸ἴ⚗▩ᒜ, Kutsuki Masatsuna ᮑᮄ᪸⥐ (1750–1802), who was an accomplished student and a patron of Western learning (SatĿ ShĿsuke 1980, pp. 123-25. Also, for a slightly different account, see ľtomo 1943, p. 41). It must have been then, when KĿgyŗ introduced the book to Heisuke and Maeno RyĿtaku, that the latter used it for his Roshia hongi 㨻けலᮇ⣎ (Basic description of Russia, 1783) (Kisaki RyĿhei, “Roshia no Nanshin to Hayashi Shihei” in GeppĿ of Shinpen Hayashi Shihei zenshŗ, ed. Yamagishi Tokuhei and Sano Masami, vol. 1 [Tokyo: Daiichi ShobĿ, 1978], pp. 1-2).

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Figure 2-3. ľtsuki Gentaku. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

of 1782, the annual report by the Dutch to the shogunate, although he does not mention how he acquired the report, which was certainly not a public record. Again, KĿgyŗ, who was the translator of the report of 1781, may have obtained it for him.30 30

Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ6+6S7KHRI¿FLDOGRFXPHQWFDOOHGEzochi ikken ⼆ኻ ᆀୌ௲ (Ezo Affair), reports that Heisuke even made use of a Chinese book, but it is unclear which book (Ezochi ikken, in Shin HokkaidĿshi, ed. Hokkaido, vol. 7 [Sapporo: Shin HokkaidĿshi Insatsu Shuppan KyĿdĿ KigyĿtai, 1969], p. 278.) About KĿgyŗ being the translator, see Matsukata Fuyuko, “Dutch News Reports (Oranda fŗsetsugaki),” in Bridging the Divide: 400 Years the Netherlands—Japan, ed. Leonard Blussé et al. (Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000), p. 58. Heisuke was also apparently in the possession of a map of the northern regions. Heisuke decided that as a map it was too unsophisticated to be useful, and he translated only the marginal notes (Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 296). One contemporary account mentions that Heisuke made a copy of a map that he was shown by some scholars from the Kii domain, which may be the same map (in Ezochi ikken, Matsumoto Hidemochi’s report, in SHS, p. 278). The manuscript called Kamusukatoka-kiKDVDPDSRI(]RDQG(XUDVLDEHWZHHQWKH¿UVWDQGWKHVHFRQGYRO-

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In fact, Heisuke never went to Matsumae or Nagasaki. Even though it is often claimed that he went to Nagasaki to study Dutch-style medicine, it is a myth, and the person to blame for this myth is probably the scholar Honda Toshiaki, who wrote that Heisuke, while sojourning in Nagasaki, spoke to the Dutch opperhoofd (Jap. kapitan) Arend Willem Feith (1747–81) on a regular basis.31 Based on their closeness, Heisuke allegedly received information about the secret advance of the Russians to Kamchatka. Although Feith also visited Edo, and a meeting between the opperhoofd and Heisuke is certainly possible—we know from Makuzu that he did know some Dutchmen personally32—Toshiaki may in fact have confused Heisuke with his close friend, Hayashi Shihei.33 Heisuke did not need to go anywhere; he had, in his house, direct informants from gateways to other countries, namely his students Higuchi Shiba from Nagasaki and Maita Gentan from Matsumae.34 The myth illustrates, however, that Heisuke was considered among his contemporaries to be a competent authority on foreign matters, and not only from Makuzu’s perspective. His network, which also included retainers from the Matsumae doPDLQVXFKDVWKH¿QDQFLDORI¿FLDORIWKH0DWVXPDHGRPDLQ0LQDWR Genzaemon ‎″ᕞ⾠㛓, facilitated Heisuke’s inquiry about the largely unknown north.35 Heisuke’s investigations produced a brief descripume (SatĿ ShĿsuke 1980, pp. 125-26). 31 ľtomo points out this myth and cites from Honda Toshiaki’s text, called Hokuhen kinbiroku ໪㎮⚏⛆㘋 (Secret record of the Northern region) (ľtomo 1943, p. 40). Yet WKHP\WKVWLOO¿QGVLWVZD\LQWRERRNVVHHIRULQVWDQFH Keene 1969, p. 37. The opperhoofd was in charge of the Dutch factory on Deshima. His rank was that of a senior merchant. 32 MB, p. 48. 33 )HLWKZDVLQ-DSDQ¿YHWLPHVDQGZHQWWR(GRVL[WLPHV.DWDJLUL,FKLĿ, “Oranda shĿkanchĿ Feito to Hayashi Shihei,” in GeppĿ of Shinpen Hayashi Shihei zenshŗ, ed. Yamagishi Tokuhei and Sano Masami, vol. 1 [Tokyo: Daiichi ShobĿ, 1978], pp. 4-5). 34 Both are mentioned in Mukashibanashi (MB, p. 46 and pp. 51-52 respectively). The only trip west Heisuke ever undertook led him as far as the Kansai region. Makuzu mentions that the lord Doi Toshinori asked Heisuke to go there to cure his mistress. But she died before he arrived, so he had time to do some sightseeing for a total of about ¿IW\GD\V0%S 35 About the ambiguity and misconceptions of the north, see Walker 2001, in particular pp. 9-10. See for instance the map of 1700, where the interior of Ezo is blank and only the southern shoreline has some details, in comparison to the map of 1830, which even includes details of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands (Walker 2001, p. 2 and p. 4). Heisuke’s acquaintance Genzaemon was routinely in Edo in the course of his duty and it was through him that Heisuke was able to obtain valuable information. Makuzu informs us that a Matsumae retainer came to appear at the Edo castle for a legal investigation, but since he did not know the appropriate ceremonies, he asked Heisuke for advice 0%SS +HLVXNH¶VYLVLWRUPD\KDYHEHHQRQHRI*HQ]DHPRQ¶VRI¿FLDOV

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tion of Oroshiya, Japan’s newly discovered neighbor. In his booklet called “Personal thoughts on Akaezo (i.e. Kamchatka) and Oroshiya (Russia)”36 Heisuke argued that the geopolitical reality in the north was quite different from what had been assumed.37 He concluded that Oroshiya even had various trading posts on its border with China, and had conquered and colonized the territories from northwest to the east of Ezo; a dreadful thought, in his opinion.38 :KLOHZHGRQRWNQRZLI+HLVXNHZURWHWKLVYROXPHIRUDVSHFL¿F audience, a couple of years later, he found one in the government. The volume came to serve as background information, which he presented to Tanuma in response to a request by one of the latter’s advisors. According to Makuzu: 2QFHDIWHUDPHHWLQJZDVRYHUDQRI¿FLDOVDLGWRP\IDWKHU³0\ORUG [Tanuma] has it all: wealth, a large stipend, and a high-ranking position. In order to leave a mark as the era of Senior Councilor Tanuma, he seeks to do something for the people that will last for many generations. What could he do?” My father answered, “This is a great privilege. In this FDVH,PD\VXJJHVWH[SDQGLQJWKHFRXQWU\´7KHRI¿FLDOUHSOLHG³+RZ can he do so?” My father said, “Since the land of the Ezo is right next to Matsumae, it has obeyed Japan for generations. By opening up [its land] we will have a device to obtain tribute. The people will praise eternally the expansion of Japan as the deed of Tanuma.” This unlearned person (monmĿ teai ᩝ┛ᡥྙ) had never heard something like this. He was impressed by the idea, saying, “All right then, provide my lord with a proposal in written form.”39

John W. Hall states that in the beginning of the 1780s Tanuma was at ³WKHKHLJKWRILQÀXHQFH´40 Tanuma had by then established his powerful position through intermarriages and bribery, which conforms to Makuzu’s account that the statesman possibly now harbored a desire to leave a mark as a symbol of his power.41 As a result of the conversation, 36 Also called Kamusasuka, Oroshiya shikĿ no koto ࣑࢜ࢦࢪ࢜㹹 ࣣࣞࢨࣕ⚶⩻ࡡ ஥. See Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 288. 37 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, pp. 280-81. 38 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, pp. 291-92. Heisuke repeats this later, when he lists all the conquered lands. He asserts that Russia is pushing eastward indeed (Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 296). 39 MB, pp. 126-27. 40 Hall 1955, p. 38. Hall mentions the year 1783. The conversation between Heisuke DQGWKHRI¿FLDOSUREDEO\RFFXUUHGLQ 41 It appears that Miura ShĿji ୔὾ᗁ஦, the attendant of Tanuma, whose connection to Heisuke is not clear, was the one who asked the latter how to bring fame to his lord 7DQXPD 0DNX]X GRHV QRW PHQWLRQ WKH QDPH RI WKH RI¿FLDO EXW DSSDUHQWO\ +HLVXNH from that point on often visited ShĿji. According to SatĿ ShĿsuke, Heisuke was connected to him, and also to the women’s quarters in the Shogun’s palace (SatĿ ShĿsuke

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Heisuke added another volume called “Rumors about Akaezo [Kamchatka]” (Akaezo fŗsetsu no koto ㉝⼆ኻ㢴ㄕࡡ஥) and together they form Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ ¿QLVKHG LQ WKH ¿UVW PRQWK RI 7HQPHL 3).42 Compared to the account written in 1781, which gave primarily geographical, historical, and cultural details on Kamchatka and Oroshiya, the new volume displays in more detail Heisuke’s agenda, his concrete political and economic ideas.43 Heisuke also advocates the development and colonization of Ezo in this new part of his proposal.44 However, he now explains at length that the Russian expansionist activities in the north should not be ignored, even though he challenged the rumor that the Russians were planning raids on Ezo, a rumor that had been planted by Moritz Aladar von Benyovszky (1746–86), the mysterious Hungarian who had come to Japanese shores in 1771 and who had written letters to that effect to the Dutch in Nagasaki.45 As pointed out by his daughter, Heisuke saw expansion as the means for Tanuma to OHDYHDOHJDF\WRSRVWHULW\:KDWQHHGVWREHGRQH¿UVWKHDGYLVHVWKH government, is to undertake a thorough and direct inspection of the political and ecumenical conditions in Ezo and its north.46 Then, in order to thwart a Russian southern advance, the shogunate should create a magistrate to control Russian trade (kĿeki ஹ᪾) and the development (kaihatsu 㛜Ⓠ RI(]R7KHUHVXOWZRXOGEHJUHDWSUR¿WVWR-DSDQDVD whole.47 +HLVXNHZDVDZDUHWKDWZLWKKLVSURSRVDOKLVSRVLWLRQFRXOGFRQÀLFW with his current employment. After his work was well received and he S 6KLFKLQRPL\DDOVRLGHQWL¿HV+HLVXNH¶VLQWHUORFXWRUDV0LXUD6KĿji (Shichinomiya 1977, p. 123). ľtomo keeps his options open, saying that it was either Miura ShĿji or Kurozawa IchirĿHPRQERWKLQWKHVDPHRI¿FHZKRPDGHWKHFRQQHFWLRQEHtween Heisuke and Tanuma (ľtomo 1943, p. 43). 42 Heisuke mentions in the preface that the older volume serves as an appendix for the “interested reader” (Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 279). The text may have found additional distribution under its other title: Sangoku tsŗran hoi ୔ᅗ㏳ぬ⿭㐿 (Addendum to Hayashi Shihei’s Survey of the Three Countries). It was apparently attached to Hayashi Shihei’s Sangoku tsŗran zusetsu (An Illustrated Survey of the Three Countries, written in 1785–86). About Shihei’s annotated maps, which discuss Korea, Ryŗkyŗ, and in particular Ezo, see the detailed discussion by Winkel 2004, pp. 235-50. 43 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, pp. 280-88. 44 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, pp. 285-86. 45 See Keene 1969, pp. 31-37, and see Lensen 1959, pp. 71-89, for a more detailed discussion. 46 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 285. Ezo is, according to Heisuke, today’s Hokkaido, and the Kuril Islands of Kunashiri, Etorofu, and Uruppu. 47 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 285. A magistrate for Ezo was established in 1802. See P\GLVFXVVLRQRIEHQH¿WVWRWKHFRXQWU\LQFKDSWHU

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79

WKRXJKWWKDWKHPLJKWEHDVVLJQHGWRWKHQHZRI¿FHKHKDGSURSRVHG to run the development of Ezo, Heisuke suddenly became concerned about his career: [My father] was worried how his lord [Shigemura] would react to the fact that he had provided Tanuma with the proposal and that he might become a retainer of the shogunate (kĿgishŗ පൢ⾏) and thereby leave his current employment. He had much anxiety about it, and thought about all kinds of explanations. Yet when he spoke openly to his lord that [the Ezo project] would be of merit [to the domain, too], the Lord responded in good humor, “Very well then.” How relieved my father was and his heart cheered up.48

Probably to assure Shigemura of his loyalty, Heisuke may even have told him one of his favorite ideas, which he often related to his family, namely that “If we open up the land of the Ezo, Sendai would automatically become the center of the country. Japan’s capital has always moved from a warmer to a colder climate. Without doubt, the next capital will be Sendai.”49:KLOHLWLVGLI¿FXOWWRHYDOXDWHWKHFRQFUHWHUHODtionship between Heisuke and his lord, the few incidents that we know about point to the possibility that Shigemura used Heisuke’s status as a physician to gain access to what were otherwise locked doors, and thus the prospect of his attendant physician being promoted to the shogunal DGPLQLVWUDWLRQ FRXOG RQO\ EH RI EHQH¿W 7KLV SRVVLELOLW\ VHHPV SDUticularly compelling when we consider Shigemura’s efforts to establish good relations with women in the shogun’s quarters.50 In her narrative, Makuzu links her fate directly to Heisuke’s anticipated career move. After all, she was getting older and was still not PDUULHG7KHUHIRUHVKHH[SODLQVWKDW+HLVXNHSODQQHGWRZDLWWR¿QG her a spouse until he had risen in rank, because her prospects for a better match would rise then, too.51 This happened when I was 18 or 19 years old. My father told me, “It is about time for you to be married, but it is hard to know what my position (mibun ㌗ฦ) will be. If you should get married now, it would be GLI¿FXOW WR JLYH \RX WR D PDQ RI KLJK VWDQGLQJ ,I , PRYH XS D UDQN all your younger sisters will be given to better matches, and it would be deplorable if your place, as the older sister, were inferior [to theirs]. 48

MB, pp. 126-27. See Shichinomiya 1977, pp. 148-49, about Heisuke’s conversa-

tion. 49

MB, pp. 63-64. For Shigemura’s correspondence see Tsuji 1991, p. 461, and Hall 1955, fn. 83. 51 MB, p. 128. 50

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You may get a little old, but for now, just stay in service until things are decided.”52

The wait ended up being longer than expected. Assuming that Heisuke submitted his proposal soon after he wrote it in early 1783, there is no HYLGHQFHLQRI¿FLDOGRFXPHQWVWKDWLWZDVGHDOWZLWKULJKWDZD\ What may have delayed a response is that Tanuma was confronted with personal and political matters more urgent than the issue of the still XQPDSSHGQRUWK1DWXUDOFDODPLWLHVVXFKDVÀRRGVYROFDQLFHUXSWLRQV DQGIDPLQHVZHUHWKHDIÀLFWLRQVRIWKH$Q¶HLDQG7HQPHLHUDV7KH\HDU before Heisuke handed in his proposal, on the fourteenth day of the seventh month of 1782, Edo experienced a strong earthquake, which kept the earth trembling with aftershocks for three consecutive days. In WKHUHZHUHDERXWVL[¿UHVUHSRUWHGLQ(GRDQGRQWKHHLJKWKGD\RI the seventh month the volcano Asama in Shinshŗ (today Nagano) erupted, resulting in about 20,000 casualties.53 Not only was the KantĿ area struck by calamities; the infamous Tenmei famines struck the northern regions. The Sendai domain, in particular, was hit severely. Since 1773 the Sendai domain had had steep losses in the annual harvest, but during the years of 1783–86 the decline had doubled, causing a population drop of 32%.54 According to contemporary accounts, women stopped menstruating, hens stopped laying eggs, and even cannibalism was reported.55 The experiences of famine and plagues that devastated the northeastern provinces, and heavy rainfall in Edo and its surroundings, had repercussions in the rice market, which initiated rice riots in Osaka and Edo. While Heisuke does not refer to the domestic situation in his SURSRVDOLQRQHRIKHUHDUOLHUFRPSRVLWLRQV0DNX]XEHZDLOVWKHDIÀLFtions the disaster caused in the Sendai domain.56 In addition, the following year, 1784, was personally tragic for Tanuma. In the previous year his son, Tanuma Okitomo ⏛἗ណ▩ (1749–84), 52

MB, p. 127. Hall 1955, pp. 121-22. See also Herman Ooms, Charismatic Bureaucrat: A Political Biography of Matsudaira Sadanobu, 1758–1829 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975), pp. 7-8; Conrad Totman, Early Modern Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 238-40. 54 See Hanshi daijiten, pp. 117-18. For more on Kansei reforms and famine in Sendai, see Namba Nobuo, “Kansei no Kaikaku,” in HĿreki, Tenmei-ki no seiji to shakai, ed. Yamada Tadao and Matsumoto ShirĿ (Tokyo: Yŗkaikaku, 1988), pp. 237-80. See also Totman 1993, pp. 238-40. 55 Sugita Gempaku’s Nochimigusa ᚃずⲙ and Sasaki Takayuki’s ఫࠍᮄ㧏⾔ Tenmei nendo kyĿsai nikki ኮ᪺ᖳᗐนṋ᪝エ. See Hall 1955, pp. 120-21. See also Ooms 1975, p. 7. 56 Mi o nageku uta, in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 491-92. 53

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was appointed Junior Councilor, by which Tanuma must have seen his and his family’s position secured among the ranks of higher bureaucracy.57 This dream was dashed when Sano Masakoto ఫ㔕ᨳゕ (1757–84) attacked Okitomo in the third month of 1784, apparently out of revenge or as part of a coup d’état, and the latter died soon after.58 Heisuke, who had reservations about participating in Tanuma’s government, was, according to Makuzu, more explicit in his opinion after learning about the assassination. Echoing public opinion, Heisuke asserted that Masakoto meant to kill the father, which would have been preferable, because, as he declares, Okitomo was a good person for whom the shogun himself had a liking.59 Undeniably, Heisuke contends, the sword that killed Okitomo was fate (tenmei ኮ࿤), a sign that “the time had come for a change.” The ignorant world of now (monmĿ no yo ᩝ┛ࡡୠ), optimistic and always forward-looking, Heisuke concludes, will now change for the better, even though under these tragic and regrettable circumstances.60 Makuzu explains to her readers how Heisuke evaluated the political atmosphere and what this implied for society, for him, and consequently for her. Makuzu does not describe, however, what happened to his proposal once Heisuke submitted it, although it is unlikely that she did not know about the political events it set in motion. Fortunately, this part of history is described in other sources.

57 Hall 1955, pp. 38-39. Okitomo—Hall calls him Mototomo—died on the twentyfourth day of the third month of 1784. 58 MB, p. 128. Makuzu calls Masakoto by his other name, Zenzaemon ၻఫ⾠㛓. The circumstances surrounding the assassination are not clear, which caused many rumors about the incident, usually favoring the assassin. Apparently the assault was for personal reasons. For example, Tanuma used Sano’s genealogy as his own and the younger Tanuma would not grant Sano promotion. (See also Yamada 1988, pp. 55-70; Terui SĿsuke, Tenmei ezo tanken shimatsuki [1974] [Tokyo: KageshobĿ, 2001], pp. 3233.) About the political background, see Ooms 1975, pp. 70-76. 59 Many share this sentiment, as John W. Hall mentions how Masakoto, whose punishment was to commit suicide, became a popular hero and SantĿ KyĿden commemorated him with a book. The sharebon is called Kokubyaku mizukagami 㯦ⓉỀ㙶, 1789. See Hall 1955, pp. 133-35. See also Kornicki 2001, p. 341, and Timon Screech, The Shogun’s Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States 1760–1829 (London: Reaktion Books, 2000), p. 29. 60 MB, p. 128. Heisuke joins with those who think of Masakoto as the yonaoshi daimyĿjin ୠ├ኬ᪺♼JUHDWDXJXVWGHLW\RIWKHUHFWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHZRUOG 6HH2RPV 1975, p. 73; Terui 2001, p. 33.

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THE EZO AFFAIR ,QWKH¿IWKPRQWKRIWZRPRQWKVDIWHUWKHDWWDFNRQKLVVRQDQG almost as if in a rush, Tanuma took up Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ.61 It is not clear whether Tanuma acted in response to egoistic needs since his power had begun to crumble, or out of an altruistic desire to bring relief to the famine in the north. Perhaps it was a blend of both. Convinced that an investigation of Ezo was necessary, on the sixteenth day of the ¿IWKPRQWKRIKHDVNHG6XSHULQWHQGHQWRI)LQDQFHkanjĿ bugyĿ ືᏽዅ⾔) Matsumoto Hidemochi ᮿᮇ⚵ᣚ (1730–97) to start inquiries about the situation in the north.62 Hidemochi was then supposed to submit his report directly to one of the actual powerholders in the shogunate, Mizuno Tadatomo Ề㔕ᚽཪ (1731–1801).63 $QLQYHVWLJDWLRQEHJDQDPRQJWKHRI¿FLDOVLQWKHVKRJXQDWHZKLFK led to an expedition to the north in the following year, 1785.64 When they returned with alarming reports about illegal trading in the north, a second expedition was sent out in the following year. While this expedition was underway, the political situation in Edo saw drastic changes that Heisuke could not disregard. In the eighth month of the year 1786, the tenth Shogun Ieharu ᐓ἖ (1737–86, r. 1760–86) died. Tanuma, his patron now gone, was forced to resign only a few months later (on the WZHQW\VHYHQWKGD\RIWKHWZHOIWKPRQWK DIWHUFRQVHUYDWLYHRI¿FLDOV who were emerging swiftly and who had rejected his policies for some time, saw their chance.65 When his expedition was forced to return from Ezo, Tanuma was no longer in power. Shogun Ienari ᐓ᩟ (1773–1841), WKRXJKRQO\¿IWHHQ\HDUVROGFRPPHQFHGKLVUXOHDQGLQWKHIROORZing year, on the nineteenth day of the sixth month of 1787, Matsudaira 61 The following events are recorded in a collection of documents regarding the shogunate’s policies toward Ezo between 1784 and 1790, called Ezochi ikken ⼆ኻᆀୌ௲ (]R$IIDLU 7KHUHZHUHRULJLQDOO\VHYHQYROXPHVEXWRQO\¿YHDUHSUHVHUYHGEzochi ikken, in SHS, p. 278). For an overview, see also Terui 2001. 62 Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 273. Hidemochi’s title is Izu-no-kami ௿㇃ࡡᏬ (Nakayama 1936, p. 38; ľtomo 1943, p. 33). Hidemochi’s career rose in tandem with Tanuma’s (Hall 1955, pp. 52-53). 63 Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 273. Tadatomo had held the rank Equivalent to Senior Councilor (rĿjŗgaku ⩹୯᰹) since 1781. About the ranks, see Hall 1955, pp. 28-29. About the power structure under Tanuma, see Hall 1955, pp. 50-56. 64 The expedition began in the fourth month and lasted until the twelfth month of 1785 (see Terui 2001, pp. 51-76; also see introduction to Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 261). 65 Robert L. Backus, “The Relationship of Confucianism to the Tokugawa Bakufu as Revealed in the Kansei Educational Reform,” HJAS 34 (1974), p. 98. See also Terui 2001, pp. 199-213.

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Figure 2-4. Matsudaira Sadanobu. Fukushima Prefectural Museum. Courtesy of Shimizu Shoin.

Sadanobu (1758–1829) became senior councilor at the young age of thirty.66 Sadanobu emphasized the primacy of politics over economics and rejected “any alternative to the current political structure.” The Kansei reforms that he inaugurated froze development plans for Ezo for the moment.67 It is again only in passing that we learn from Makuzu how, within the next couple of years, the government drastically changed, which had consequences for her father’s and hence for her life course as well. Tanuma was ousted from power and people who were promoted un66 See Ooms 1975, p. 10 and p. 71; Backus 1974, p. 98. Sadanobu, grandson of Yoshimune, was the daimyo of Shirakawa Ⓣᕖ (110,000 koku) and a hereditary vassal of the Tokugawa. 67 Ooms 1975, pp. 119-20; ľJXFKLS7KHODVWRI¿FLDOGRFXPHQWVDERXW the expedition are from the third month of 1787. After a gap of two years, however, the records resume in the ninth month of 1789 (Kansei 1), due to an uprising in the north (see Ezochi ikken, in SHS, pp. 437-507). Sadanobu’s thoughts in regard to Ezo need to be studied more thoroughly. Yamashita Tsuneo includes Sadanobu’s papers in his compilation of Daikokuya KĿdayŗ-related sources (Yamashita 2003, vol. 1; see also Terui 2001, in particular chapter 6).

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der his reign, Makuzu emphasizes, were “treated as wicked imposters” (akunin yamashi ᝇெᒜᖅ).68 +LGHPRFKL ZLWK KLV KLJK SUR¿OH DV DQ ally of Tanuma, fell with him, as did Tsuchiyama SĿjirĿ ᅰᒜᏺḗ㑳 G DQRI¿FLDORIWKHEXUHDXRI)LQDQFHkanjĿ kumigashira ືᏽ ⤄㢄) who helped the former with his investigation in the Ezo Affair.69 Both were charged with illegal tax-collecting; the former was imprisoned after Tanuma’s fall and punished in 1787 with house arrest, and the latter was decapitated. SĿjirĿZKRVHÀDPER\DQWOLIHVW\OHZDVZHOO known, was the only man put to death; perhaps the new government singled him out as a symbol of Tenmei corruption and excess.70 SantĿ KyĿden’s parody book, called Kiji mo nakazu wa ዃ஥Ⱪ୯ᕗヨ (1789), refers to SĿjirĿ with the pun on the proverb kijimo nakazuba utaremai 㞙ࡵ㫾࠾ࡍࡣᡬࡒࡿࡱ࠷ “the pheasant who does not cry out does not get shot,” advice apparently followed by many at the time. Makuzu substantiates this when she tells of the fortune-teller of the Hikone mansion who had advised Heisuke a couple of years earlier that it was more SUXGHQWLQWKHORQJUXQWRNHHSDORZSUR¿OH-XVWDVWKHIRUWXQHWHOOHU predicted, the father who was not in the spotlight (hikari naki yanushi ක࡝ࡀㆺ୹) did not experience any personal retaliation.71 Heisuke did not receive the anticipated promotion to work for an Ezo development bureau, but within the hierarchy of the Sendai domain, one of the largest in Japan, his position remained unchanged.72 His name is listed in the records of Sendai retainers for the year 1788, as the fourth from the top out of the thirty-two serving as attendant physicians.73 From fragmentary sources, we know that since 1776 Heisuke had been more 68

MB, p. 128. SĿjirĿ, who, according to Haruko Iwasaki, socialized with literati such as ľta Nanpo and the head of the Mitsui trading house, was well connected and had previously PDGHWKHDFTXDLQWDQFHRIWKH¿QDQFLDORI¿FLDORIWKH0DWVXPDHGRPDLQ0LQDWR*HQzaemon, who was Heisuke’s informant (Iwasaki 1984, pp. 180-81; see also KĿno 1975, pp. 124-125; Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 277; and ľtomo 1943, p. 38). 70 Only Mizuno Tadatomo, whom John W. Hall calls an opportunist, rose with Tanuma in rank and income, but did not share the latter’s downfall. He swiftly returned Tanuma’s son to him, whom he had adopted, and managed to stay on as a Senior Councilor under Sadanobu (Hall 1955, pp. 51-53). 71 MB, pp. 127-28. Cited in Nakayama 1936, p. 34; Suzuki, in TMS , p. 546. 72 The subsequent history of events is discussed by John A. Harrison 1953; Lensen 1959; Keene 1969; Edmonds 1985; Itaba 1995; Grant K. Goodman 2000; Walker 2001. 73 Heisuke is listed as an attendant physician with 300 koku. There were 120 doctors employed by the Sendai domain. Makuzu’s uncle, Kuwabara Takatomo Jun, is placed at rank nineteen, and ľtsuki Gentaku is number thirty-one, listed as a surgeon (geka አ⛁) UHFHLYLQJDQLQFRPHIRU¿YHSHRSOHDQGWHQryĿ. Cited from ľtsuki’s Kanto yĿroku by AndĿ Yukiko, “O-Nobu-san” InĿ Tadataka kenkyŗ 13 (1997), p. 11. 69

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Figure 2-5. Introduction of Heisuke’s medical treatise Kyŗon sode goyomi. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

than an attendant physician. His head was not shaved and the record in the Ezochi ikken (Ezo Affair) states that “Heisuke” had the position RIDQRI¿FLDOshikan ௘ᏻ) as well as that of a physician.74 Heisuke’s medical treatise, Kyŗon sode goyomi ᨾ⒊⾿ᬲ, which epitomizes his career as a physician and head of a medical school, was written as late as 1797.75+HLVXNHZDVDOVRLQÀXHQWLDOHQRXJKLQWR¿QGIRUľtsuki Gentaku, for whom he was a mentor, employment as a physician with the Sendai domain.76 In the ninth month of 1794 they were sent together to Sendai by their young lord Date Narimura ௿㐡᩟ᮟ (1774–96, r. Ezochi ikken, in SHS, S+HLVDGGUHVVHGDV³+HLVXNH´LQVWHDGRIKLVRI¿FLDO name Kyŗkei ⌣༽, which further points to his lay function. 75 It was published in 1815, long after Heisuke’s death (1800), with forewords by ľtsuki Gentaku and Heisuke’s nephew. See Figure 2-5. 76 Gentaku went to study under Sugita Gempaku in 1778, and the following year with Maeno RyĿtaku. Through RyĿtaku he met Kutsuki Masatsuna ᮑᮄ᪸⥐ (1750–1802) and Heisuke (Yamagata ShĿichi, Michinoku bunka shikĿ [Sendai: Man’yĿdĿ Shuppan, 1983], p. 252). In 1780 Gentaku was allowed to stay two more years in Edo because of Heisuke. In 1782 he went home to his domain, Ichinoseki ୌ㛭, bordering the Sendai domain, to only come back to Edo three months later. In 1784 his father died, so Gentaku went back to his domain and became his successor in the eighth month. In 1785 he returned to Edo and with the help of Masatsuna went to Nagasaki, where he studied with the interpreters Motoki and KĿgyŗ (Numata 1976, pp. 632-34). 74

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Figure 2-6. Hayashi Shihei. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

1790–96) to investigate about thirty local medicinal plants for their potential as export goods from the domain, showing Heisuke’s continued participation in domanial economic affairs.77 Perhaps this can be read as a sign that Shigemura indeed used Heisuke for his own political ends, and even when his plans went awry, his and his successor’s support did not stop.78 77 According to ľtsuki Nyoden’s biography of Heisuke (cited in Nakayama 1936, p. 47). By the late eighteenth century, many domains actively pursued the monopolization of a local product for export as a countermeasure against the centralization of the markets in Edo and Osaka. Medicinal plants in particular appear to have been considered as products. 78 Shigemura’s political aspiration that he meant to achieve by having married off his daughter to the Ii house went awry, too. Since his son-in-law’s father, Ii Naoyuki ஬௿ ├ᖶ± ZDVDEOHLQZLWK7DQXPD¶VKHOSWRJDLQWKHRI¿FHRItairĿ ኬ⩹ (Great Councilor), he expected his son, Ii Naotomi, to succeed, but with Tanuma’s fall from power the elaborate scheme collapsed (see Yamada 1988, pp. 33-35; Hall 1955, pp. 47-48).

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Figure 2-7. KudĿ BankĿ monjo by KudĿ Heisuke. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

In broadcasting his political views as well, Heisuke continued to be active. Heisuke’s involvement in the publication of Hayashi Shihei’s Kaikoku heidan ᾇᅗඹㄧ (Discussion on the Military Problems of a Maritime Nation, 1784–86), to which he also provided a preface, reÀHFWVWKLV79 As is well known, Shihei, whose relationship to Heisuke is often described as that of a younger brother, was punished for its

79 Yamagata ShĿichi 1983, p. 249. Yamagishi 1978, pp. 79-80. See ľtomo 1943, p. 141, for the abbreviated version.

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publication in 1792, while Heisuke, again, was not even reprimanded.80 ,QWKHVDPH\HDUZH¿QGLQDVKRUWSLHFHWKDWGHDOVZLWKWKH¿UVWKDQG account of Daikokuya KĿdayŗ, the castaway who returned in 1792 in company of the naval lieutenant Adam Laxman (1766–96) of Imperial Russia, another written testimony of Heisuke’s active participation in current events. Heisuke’s disciple, Gentan, who was by then a physician in the employ of his native domain of Matsumae, had a chance to be RQHRIWKH¿UVWWRLQWHUYLHZ.Ŀdayŗ before he was taken to Edo. Gentan drafted a report for his teacher in Edo, to which Heisuke quickly added some of his own thoughts and apparently circulated them among his friends.81 Even though only a few texts have survived, they indicate Heisuke’s continuous key position, in particular in regard to the burning issue of Ezo and Russia. Nonetheless, even if Heisuke’s career was apparently not cut short, 0DNX]XFODLPHGWKDW7DQXPD¶VUHPRYDOIURPRI¿FHGLUHFWO\DIIHFWHG her. She dryly comments about her own fate: 7KHLGHDWKDWWKLQJVZRXOGZRUNRXWIRUWKHEHWWHUEDFN¿UHGada to nari ௏࡛࡝ࡽ), and my marriage was not decided for a long time.82

+HUIDWKHUKDGSODQQHGWRZDLWXQWLOKHKDGULVHQLQUDQNWR¿QGKHUD spouse, but, as Makuzu maintains, that day never came. Makuzu was twenty-four by the time of Tanuma’s fall and still serving in the mansion of the Ii family. Heisuke, a leading participant in the debate over the northern frontier, probably still had expectations in his heart of making a political career, and therefore decided that Makuzu’s marriage at this point was unwise with the near future so uncertain.83 The few available sources present Heisuke’s uninterrupted, while stationary, career until his death in 1800. Makuzu’s narrative, however, 80 About the publication of Kaikoku heidan and Shihei’s punishment, see Yamagishi 1978, pp. 79-80; KĿno 1974, p. 127. 81 The text is called KudĿ BankĿ monjo ᕝ⸠୒ᖶ⪲᭡, 1793, and can be found in Daikokuya KĿdayŗ shiryĿshŗ, vol. 2, pp. 153-75, adjacent to Gentan’s Matsumae han-i Maita Gentan monogatari no omomuki (1793). Also in ľtsuki Gentaku, ľtsuki Gentaku shŗ ኬᵫ⋖Ἁ㞗vol. 4, ed. Sugimoto Tsutomu (Tokyo: Waseda Daigaku, 1996), pp. 293-324. The Kokusho sĿmokuroku ᅗ᭡⥪┘㘋 cites Heisuke’s text as being read KudĿ Mayuki kikigaki (Number 2412580). See Figure 2-7. Usually Katsuragawa Hoshŗ LVUHPHPEHUHGDVWKH¿UVWVFKRODUWRLQWHUYLHZ.Ŀdayŗ, which resulted in his written record of this interview: HyĿmin goran no ki ⁳Ằᚒぬ஄エ (Report of the castaway’s observations, 1793). Later, HoshŗGHOLYHUHGWRWKHVKRJXQDWHKLVRI¿FLDOUHSRUWFDOOHG Hokusa bunryaku ໪ᵎ⪲␆ (Brief account of the northern drift, 1794). For a detailed discussion of Hoshŗ’s texts, see Winkel 2004, chapter 3. See Figure 1-9 for KĿdayŗ. 82 MB, p. 127. 83 MB, p. 128.

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presents us with a painful outline of the family’s ruin. Her explanation for the family’s eventual ill fortune was Heisuke’s shaken political career, in addition to natural calamity beyond human control.

GODS OF MISFORTUNE Makuzu’s insistence on the decisive role of external events in her family’s destiny is emphasized throughout her narratives. While the second expedition to Ezo was in the planning stages, Heisuke’s bright future was overshadowed by personal hardships beginning in the spring of 1786. The gorgeous house in Tsukiji that Makuzu had described in such YLYLGFRORUVZDVFRPSOHWHO\GHVWUR\HGE\¿UH848VXDOO\GXULQJD¿UH everyone would come together to help with evacuation, but this time only Heisuke’s student Maita Gentan and the servant Zenbei ၻඹ⾠ were present, and thus most of the family’s furnishings were lost.85 Fire LVLQIDFWDIULJKWIXOHYLOWR0DNX]X7KH¿UVW¿UHWKDW0DNX]XUHPHPbered was the great Meiwa ᪺࿰¿UHLQZKHQVKHZDVWHQ\HDUV old.86 Her mother was paying the Tachibana a visit and Heisuke was out RQGXW\ZKHQVKHVDZWKH¿UH/XFNLO\WKHLUKRXVHZDVVSDUHGEXWWKH event left a deep impression on Makuzu.87 In particular the harsh ecoQRPLFFRQVHTXHQFHVLQWKHDIWHUPDWKRIWKH¿UHWKDWOHIWPDQ\SHRSOH homeless and without any prospects of help prompted the young Makuzu to think of solutions.88 Fortunately, in 1786, as Makuzu declares wryly, even if there was still no political resolution of this social issue, it still occurred during Tanuma’s reign and thus at least the circulation of money was good.89 Unfortunately though, Heisuke, who like his adoptive father KudĿ JĿan did not handle money well, fell victim to carelessness. According to Makuzu, even though Heisuke received from friends and sponsors the handsome sum of about 200 ryĿ and about 100 straw mats, the rebuildLQJRIWKHKRXVHUDQLQWRGLI¿FXOWLHVEHFDXVHDFHUWDLQ.DZD]X-ŗbei 84 0%SDQGS$ELJ¿UHLQ(GRLVUHFRUGHGIRU7HQPHL $ERXWWKH disasters, see, for instance, Ooms 1975, p. 75. 85 MB, p. 89. 86 HK, p. 289. 87 MB, p. 92. 88 In Hitori kangae Makuzu suggests that the government should take responsibility LQFDVHRIGLVDVWHUVOLNH¿UHDQGRIIHUGLUHFWKHOSWRWKHSRSXODFH+.S 89 MB, p. 128, and p. 54. Tanuma retired in the twelfth month of the same year, 1786.

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ἑ὘㔔ඹ⾠, the person entrusted with the money for reconstruction, wasted it all.90-XVWEHIRUHWKHRXWEUHDNRIWKH¿UH+HLVXNHKDGPDGH the acquaintance of Kawazu, who, despite his desire to help, spent the money on reckless things such as clothes, unneeded servants, and craftsmen.91 Instead of blaming her father’s lack of care, Makuzu swiftO\¿QGVIDXOWZLWKDWKLUGSDUW\ To everyone’s distress, during the calamity the family was visited by yet another tragic incident.92 They had moved for the time being to a shack in a blind alley on the other side of the Tsukiji River, when Makuzu’s brother, Motoyasu, fell sick.93 Motoyasu, of whom we do not know very much, had been fond of the tea ceremony, and his tea teacher was none other than the lord Doi Toshinori. Apparently the shack-like residence did not keep Toshinori from visiting Motoyasu almost daily, from the time when his favorite pupil fell ill up to his death in the twelfth month of 1786.94 Makuzu recalls her younger brother, whose brightness and inventiveness (hatsumei naru koto ࡢࡗࡴ࠷࡝ࡾ ஥) were akin to Heisuke’s, with affection:95 A boy was born next with a brilliant disposition. Since his scholarship was so profound, everyone trusted him to do well in the future. However, he passed away in the spring of his twenty-second year. The grief that we all—my parents, my siblings, and the extended family—had to bear cannot be expressed with words. There was no one whom he knew or who had known him who did not lament this loss.96

When Makuzu had been in service for eight years, Motoyasu, the anticipated heir of the KudĿ household, had died in his early twenties.97 The family, however, had no time to mourn their loss properly. They had yet to deal with their housing situation. Since the rebuilding seemed impossible at the moment, the family, without the required means, abandoned the Tsukiji area in tears and ended up staying for the interim in HamachĿ ὶ⏣, Nihonbashi, with the shogunate physi90 MB, pp. 53-54. Makuzu mentioned that the chief retainer of the lord Nabeshima 㘘ᓞ gave Heisuke about 50 ryĿ for the rebuilding of the house. Another twenty to thirty powerful families also gave him money. 91 MB, p. 54. 92 MB, p. 53. 93 MB, p. 14. 94 MB, p. 17. 95 MB, p. 14. 96 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 379. 97 MB, p. 17. I found the exact date in NakaniidachĿshi, ed. Murayama Teinosuke 1DNDQLLGDPDFKL>0L\DJL@1DNDQLLGDPDFKL S6KHWXUQHGWZHQW\¿YHLQ WKH¿UVWPRQWKRIWKHIROORZLQJ\HDU

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cian Kimura YĿshun ᮄᮟ㣬᫋, who had plenty of room for the large KudĿ household.98 The house, even though comfortable, was farther away from the mansion of Heisuke’s lord in Shibaguchi, which made his daily commute more arduous.99 The family’s tragedies continued with the death of Makuzu’s grandmother. In 1787, KudĿ Oen died. Only one day after she had sent Makuzu, who was still serving at the Hikone mansion, a letter along with vegetables and other goods, she found she was not able to move her legs.100 $IWHU 0DNX]X ZDV QRWL¿HG VKH DVNHG IRU SHUPLVVLRQ WR VHH her grandmother during the day. But her grandmother never opened her eyes again. Three days later she peacefully passed away. Makuzu recalls how deeply she regretted serving at the mansion and not being able to stay at home with her family.101 Her wish to return home was granted soon thereafter. The gods of misfortune also held sway in the mansion of the Ii family. Only several months later in the same year, 1787, the residence, too, was struck by ill fate. Akiko’s husband Ii Naotomi ஬௿├ᐣ (1760– 87), the heir-apparent, died in the seventh month after a severe illness.102 Akiko, who was then only eighteen, withdrew from public life by taking tonsure, while Makuzu came home to HamachĿ at the end of her term in 1788, at the age of twenty-six, after ten years of service.103 Makuzu explains her retreat from service by claiming that since she, with Heisuke, attended the young lord until the end and it was not good to be the last one with the dying, she prepared herself to resign from service, though actually a ten-year service was common practice. Upon her return many things had changed since Makuzu had left home at age sixteen. Her brother Motoyasu and her grandmother were no longer among them, their house had burned down, and Heisuke was LQ¿QDQFLDOGLVWUHVV6KL]XNRWKHVHFRQGROGHVWGDXJKWHUZDVPDUULHG 98

MB, pp. 54-55; MB, p. 159. Makuzu’s youngest sister Teruko was born around that time. 99 MB, p. 56. 100 It was important for women in attendance to receive produce and other gifts that they could present in the mansion. See Walthall 1999, pp. 65-66. 101 MB, p. 55. 102 MB, p. 56. Makuzu wondered in hindsight if it was an omen that the lights would always go out even after they changed the type of oil, so that they had to use candles (MB, p. 132). 103 MB, p. 56. After the death of one’s lady, the maid would usually retire and go home to her parents. In case there was no family to go to, the maid would remain in the mansion or would be sent to the domain to live. In the case of Makuzu, since her lady retired from public life, Makuzu was probably sent home.

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off to a certain retainer of the Tsugaru ὘㍅ domain named Amenomori 㞭᲻, whose family was of such low rank that people wondered why Heisuke had not chosen a better husband for his daughter.104 To distract and cheer up the female members of her family, Makuzu mentions that VKHWRRNWKHPRXWWRYLHZWKHÀRZHUVWRWDNHERDWULGHVDQGWRWDNH long walks close by the theater section, where apparently they could hear the drums from the fair in RyĿgoku ୦ᅗ6RRQDIWHULQWKH¿IWK month of 1788, the family, without the resources to rebuild their house in Tsukiji, decided to leave their temporary residence in HamachĿ and to move to a house in SukiyachĿ ᩐᐞᒁ⏣, Nihonbashi.105 Melancholically, Makuzu recalls that only one tree, a hemp palm (shuro Ყᷯ), KDGVXUYLYHGWKH¿UHWKDWGHVWUR\HGWKHEHDXWLIXOJDUGHQLQ7VXNLMLDQG they were able to bring it to their new house.106 Eventually, at age twenty-seven, it was Makuzu’s turn to be married. In the winter of 1789, with Heisuke’s friend Isoda TĿsuke ☶⏛⸠ຐ acting as go-between, Makuzu was engaged to a retainer of the Sakai 㒿஬ family from the Tsuruoka domain 㭧ᒱ⸤. Filled with emotion, Makuzu remembers a conversation she had with her father about the prospective marriage to an old man. To her shock, her father said that since she was not that young herself, she had no reason to complain about the advanced age of her spouse. Makuzu, however, was distressed about the situation, replying under tears, “It was not that I meant to get VRROG´:KHQVKH¿UVWPHWKHUIXWXUHKXVEDQGZKRVHQDPHVKHGHOLEerately withholds, she saw that his eyes were red and rheumy and that he had not a single black hair on his head. “When I realized that I had saved myself for him (ima made mi o mamori ௑㎶㌗ࢅᏬࡽ) and that he would be the one for the rest of my life, upon whom I would have to UHO\P\WHDUVSRXUHGRXWLQVWUHDPV´7KH¿UVWWKLQJWKHPDQWROGKHU ZDVWKDWKHZRXOGOLYHQRPRUHWKDQ¿YH\HDUVDWWKHPRVWDQGWKDWVKH should be prepared to take care of all his affairs thereafter. Makuzu was so unhappy that she wept continuously and eventually was sent back to her parents’ house.107 Apparently, no one asked her to go back; instead her father, who according to her story had had no pity for her at ¿UVWOHWKHUEHZLOOIXO 104

MB, p. 56 and p. 61. MB, p. 56. 106 MB, p. 81. 107 MB, p. 128. It is not clear from Makuzu’s statements if she was married or only going to be. See back-chart in Nakayama 1936; ľguchi 1995, p. 226. ľguchi has in his footnote 6 that Makuzu is vague about the matter. Makuzu simply mentions that she went to the house of the Sakai family (MB, p. 61). 105

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Even though Makuzu succeeded in declining the marriage, her family’s ill fortune still persisted. Back home, Makuzu continued to help out in the household, but only a few years later her mother, who had been ailing for some time, died in 1793 (Kansei 5).108 She was not even ¿IW\\HDUVROG109 Makuzu’s younger sister Shizuko, whose health was never very good and whose mother-in-law told her before marriage that OLIHZRXOGEHGLI¿FXOWZDVSUHJQDQWDURXQGWKHWLPHWKDWWKHLUPRWKHU passed away. Weakened from all the sorrow, she died after giving birth, though she was only twenty-three years old. The same year, the third daughter, Tsuneko, was wed, but she, too, died before long.110 In those times of personal anguish, Heisuke remarried; he also eventually found another spouse for his oldest daughter, Makuzu.111 Makuzu followed Heisuke’s public career with much anxiety. Since she too played a part in his endeavors from the time she had started her service in their lord’s mansion, she was not merely a passive observer. After all, women, too, are part of the same system to improve the social standing of the household. In Makuzu and Heisuke’s case, we can observe how the KudĿ household was embraced by their lord, who used Heisuke to advance his standing vis-à-vis the shogunate. Heisuke used his favorable position in return to venture out on his own. When his plans fell through, Makuzu ended up staying longer in service than expected and was promised, initially, to an unfortunate match. On the other hand, even when Makuzu was the instrument of her father’s ambition, her education and service brought her experience and knowledge that was noticeable when she refused the marriage. This breathing space and leeway was crucial since it enabled Makuzu to craft an identity as the heir of Heisuke’s legacy despite being a woman. The household offered her this legitimacy and, since her father had already stepped into the public arena, she assumed the same stance. By 1811, when Makuzu wrote Mukashibanashi, her father’s reputation was smeared, according to her, and his life work was already falling into oblivion.112 Heisuke’s political and personal career as portrayed in her recollection turned sour due to Tanuma’s fall. Resentful and bitter, 108 HK, in TMS, gives no age, p. 265, but according to Sugiura’s version of HK, Makuzu was 31 (1793), Sugiura Minpei and Bessho KĿichi, ed., Edoki no kaimei shisĿ: Sekai e hiraku, kindai o tagayasu (Tokyo: Shakai HyĿronsha, 1990), p. 65. 109 MB, p. 6. 110 MB, p. 56. 111 Heisuke married a woman from an Okuno ዚ㔕 family, but Makuzu does not mention her at all. Cited by ľtomo 1943, p. 21. 112 See MB, p. 72.

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Makuzu blamed her own fate on political events and external circumVWDQFHVWKHWUDJLFGHDWKVRIPDQ\ORYHGRQHVDQGWKH¿UHWKDWUXLQHG their house, all occurrences that had great impact on the family as a whole. Yet, other textual evidence tells a different story. Makuzu ignores Heisuke’s further success as the attendant physician to his lord, WDNLQJRI¿FLDOWULSVWRWKHGRPDLQDVZHOODVKLVLQWHOOHFWXDODFWLYLWLHV in writing books that circulated far beyond Edo or his small circle of friends. Together, these complexities are only some pieces of a puzzle that contributed to Makuzu’s decision to become the author of a political treatise.

Map 2. Sendai and Environs.

CHAPTER THREE

THE CRAFTING OF THE AUTHOR MAKUZU ࠷ࡱࡵୠ࡞ṟࡿࡾ➱ࡡ࠵࡛࡝ࡼ࡚࡝࡞ࢅᪿࡡ࠾ࡒࡲ࡛ࡢࡎࢆ Ima mo yo ni nokoreru fude no ato narade nani o mukashi no katami to wa sen

If there are no traces left behind by the brush what else can become a remembrance from the past? Hotta Masaatsu ᇷ⏛ḿᩌ (1758–1832)1

In 1797, the marriage between Makuzu and a Sendai retainer was deFLGHGXSRQ7KDWIDOO0DNX]XQRZWKLUW\¿YH\HDUVROGOHIWKRPHIRU Sendai, never to return. Makuzu’s literary output begins with her departure from Edo. So far, we have encountered Makuzu’s descriptions of past events in Mukashibanashi from her epistemological position: she already knew their outcome; she knew what happened next. This hindsight gave Makuzu the opportunity to put things the way she saw them to be “right,” as in her depiction of her father and of her own position and life in Edo.2 Makuzu manipulates or covers up with her conclusions events that were damaging to her family’s reputation or about which she lacked knowledge, and most likely she ignores those that did not serve her agenda. Many sections of her collected works, called Makuzugahara ┷⴩࠿ࡢࡼ (Playing Field of Makuzu, compiled in 1816), or her letters to Takizawa Bakin (written throughout 1819) emphasize the same retrospective testimonies of a memoirist. From our perspective today, Makuzu’s life in Sendai represents a literary partition into two temporal dimensions. The autobiographical accounts in regard to the second part of Makuzu’s life are disjointed because of the overlapping of two narratives, one a memoir, in particular Mukashibanashi, and the other a presentation of the perpetual present. 7KHODWWHULVUHSUHVHQWHGE\IRULQVWDQFH0DNX]X¶V¿UVWNQRZQORQJHU essay, Michinoku nikki ࡲࡔࡡࡂ᪝エ (Diary from Michinoku), which FDSWXUHVWKH¿UVWFRXSOHRI\HDUVRIKHUOLIHLQ6HQGDLLQSURVHDVZHOODV 1 Poem by Hotta Masaatsu for the third memorial of Makuzu’s brother Motosuke. Recorded by Makuzu in Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 383. 2 MB, p. 72.

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in poetry, and which, so far as we know, is the closest thing to a diary that Makuzu ever wrote.3 With Makuzu’s arrival in Sendai we meet the poet Makuzu, who displays her inner constitution and reaction to curUHQWHYHQWVH[SUHVVHGLQWKHFRQ¿GHQWLDOSULYDF\RIKHUSHUVRQDOSDSHUV which are preserved for us—and this needs to be stressed—in revised form. In addition to the two temporal dimensions, then, we still have to be aware that while her poetry is the vehicle for conveying her feelings and thoughts within her prose narrative, it also is undoubtedly her way of giving expression to the expected conventions of waka poetry, in which she was trained.4 Together, these documents spanning roughly twenty years give us glimpses of the poet and the crafting of the author Makuzu. DEPARTURE TO MARRIED LIFE Makuzu’s new husband was Tadano Iga Tsurayoshi ྅㔕௿㈙⾔⩇ (d. 1812/4/21). The Tadano family had served the Date clan as loyal retainers since the days of Date Masamune ௿㐡ᨳᏺ (1566–1636). In 1757, WKHIRUPHUVWLSHQGZDVWUDQVIHUUHGWRD¿HIDQGWKHIDPLO\EHFDPHWKH ¿HIKROGHU (jinushi ᆀ୹) of Nakaniida ୯᩺⏛, in Mutsu Kami-gun 㝛 ዚຊ⨶㑾 in Sendai. This was an indication of the high esteem the family enjoyed within the Date clan’s ranking hierarchy.5 The family’s assignment was the prestigious one as a personal guard to the lord, either at the castle in Sendai or at the domain’s mansion in Edo. It was during Iga Tsurayoshi’s duty as guard to the lord in Edo (edobangashira Ờᡖ 3 About Michinoku nikki, see Nakayama 1936, pp. 142-46. Just as Heisuke’s proposal can be found in Matsudaira Sadanobu’s collection, a copy of Michinoku nikki is WKHUHWRRSUREDEO\WKURXJKWKHRI¿FHVRI0DNX]X¶VVLVWHUZKRZDVHPSOR\HGE\WKH Matsudaira family (Suzuki, in TMS, p. 572). 4 Other accounts that were written directly after the events can also be found in Makuzugahara. See, for instance, some parts of letters that she included, and her travelogues (Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 466-90). 5 7KH7DGDQRIDPLO\¶VJHQHDORJ\¿QGVLWVUHFRUGHGEHJLQQLQJVIURPWKHWLPHRI'DWH Masamune. Most detailed records can be found in NakaniidachĿshi 1964, pp. 7677KH¿UVWDQFHVWRULQWKH7RNXJDZDSHULRGZDV7DGD,JD
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Figure 3-1. House of the Tadano Family in Sendai (Map based on NakaniidachĿshiPRGL¿HG

␊㢄) that his wife back home in Sendai died in the eighth month of the year 1796.6 Iga, as Makuzu calls him, who could not abandon his duty in Edo, but whose wife’s death had left him with their offspring, must have been actively looking for a new wife who could take care of his affairs at home.7 He was introduced to Heisuke, and both agreed that 0DNX]XDWDJHWKLUW\¿YHZDVDJRRGFKRLFHDVDVHFRQGZLIH8 Iga may not have grown up as part of the cultural center as Makuzu had, but he participated in the intellectual circles of Sendai. As a man of samurai stock he was accomplished in the martial arts, well versed in Chinese poetry (kanshi), and he enjoyed singing sarugaku ⊯ᴞ 6 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 468. According to one source, Tadano Iga had been appointed on the fourteenth day of the fourth month of 1794 (NakaniidachĿshi 1964, p. 770), while another source says that, due to Date Narimura’s ᩟ᮟ (1774/12/5– 1796/8/12, r. 1790–96) death in 1796, Iga was sent in the second month of 1797 to Edo in this position, as a kind of demotion after having been in the higher position of the guardian (menoto ࡴࡡ࡛ WR1DULPXUD¶V¿UVWERUQVRQDQGKHLUDWWHQGDQW&KLNDPXQH ࿔ᏺ (1796/3/2–1812/4/24) (Nakayama 1936, p. 80). Chikamune, who was still an infant, was represented by his great-uncle, Shigemura’s brother, Hotta Masaatsu. Masaatsu was a Junior Councilor (wakadoshiyori ⱕᖳᐞ) and in charge of the compilation of Kansei chĿshŗ shokafu. 7 Makuzu addresses her husband as Iga. See letter in Kado Reiko, “Tadano Makuzu no otto Iga ate shokan,” Edo-ki onnakĿ, 11 (2000), pp. 72-74. 8 1DND\DPDS.DGRS,JD¶V¿UVWZLIHGLHGRQWKHVHFRQGGD\ of the eighth month of 1796 (Kansei 8).

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Figure 3-2. House of the Tadano Family in Nakaniida (Map based on NakaniidachĿshiPRGL¿HG

(probably referring here to the Noh drama) in his spare time.9 Among his close friends were the priests of the Nanzan-ji ༞ᒜᑈ and Zuiganji ⍖ᕊᑈ temples.10 Another close friend was the head priest of the Shiogama shrine ሲ㔡♼♣, Fujitsuka Shikibu Tomoaki ⸠ሪᘟ㒂▩᪺ ± ZKRZDVRQHRIWKHSURPLQHQW¿JXUHVLQ6HQGDLDQGZKR was also an acquaintance of Heisuke and Hayashi Shihei. Shikibu’s brilliance was widely admired, above all in regard to his antiquarian knowledge of Shinto rituals and ancient burial sites.11 Perhaps through 9 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 468. For examples of Iga’s poetry, see Nakayama 1936, p. 81. 10 For a Chinese poem that is believed to be by Makuzu to the Nanzan priest, see Suzuki, in TMS, p. 548. 11 Makuzu most likely never met Shikibu while in Sendai, since he was punished with exile (haisho 㒼ᡜ) due to his involvement in a dispute regarding the Shiogama shrine, but she did meet his son, Tomochika ▩࿔, whose hospitality she enjoyed. See Shiogama mĿde, in TMS, p. 485, where Makuzu talks about Shikibu and his punishment. The circumstances are not clear, but an incident, called Busshari jiken ௕⯃ฺ஥ ௲ (Incident about a Buddhist Relic, 1791) is reported for 1783 (Tenmei 3). Shiogama,

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Heisuke’s or Shihei’s introduction, Maeno RyĿtaku, who was employed by a different domain, adopted one of Shikibu’s sons.12 Since they all belonged to the same network, it may have been through Shikibu’s RI¿FHV WKDW ,JD ZDV LQWURGXFHG WR +HLVXNH DQG 0DNX]X13 One story, for instance, has it that Iga became interested in Makuzu after he was shown a poem of hers. Whatever the historical accuracy of the episode, Iga was certainly fond of poetry, which may have generated from the beginning at least a literary bond between him and Makuzu.14 Makuzu’s arrival in her new home is documented in a letter to her husband. After the marriage was settled, Makuzu left SukiyachĿ on the tenth day of the ninth month of 1797. Iga, whose duties kept him in Edo, provided her, according to his rank, with a considerable entourage to ensure her safety and comfort on the trip.15 It took Makuzu twelve days to reach her destination, where she arrived on the evening of the twenty-second. The Tadano mansion in Sendai was in the ward called Kawauchi Moto-Hasekura ľgi-zaka ᕖහඔᨥಲᡢᆊ, close to the Date castle. The mansion that became her new home was large, with ZKLFK ZDV ¿UVW D 6KLQWo shrine, had been split under Date Masamune into two: the shrine and a temple (HĿrenji Ἢⶀᑈ). Apparently in 1760 (HĿreki 10) a monk of the temple covertly put a Buddhist relic next to the Shinto deity, and Shikibu, also secretly, took the statue away in 1783. A trial, which lasted seven years, decided in favor of the temple and Shikibu was exiled (1798). He died in 1800 at age 63. Probably from prison, Shikibu ordered his fourth son, Motoyoshi ″ྚ, in a letter written on 1798/7/20, that his collection of books ought not to be given to the HĿrenji temple. Shikibu counted among his friends scholars such as Takayama HikokurĿ 㧏ᒜᙢஐ㑳 (1747–93) and GamĿ Kumpei ⵞ⏍ྦᖲ (1768–1813). Shikibu also was highly regarded by Matsudaira Sadanobu (Oshigi KĿsuke, Shiogama jinja [Tokyo: Gakuseisha, 1972], p. 140). Shikibu’s collection of books, which included Japanese, Chinese, and Western books, amounted to more than 10,000 volumes by 1780 (Yamagata ShĿichi 1983, pp. 265-69; see also Sendai jimbutsu shi, pp. 611-12). Some of Makuzu’s works have been found in Shikibu’s extensive library, called MeisanzĿ shoko ྞᒜⶮ᭡ᗔ. 12 Yamagata ShĿichi 1983, pp. 265-69. 13 Nakayama Eiko lists letters to the Nanzan priest by Makuzu, and letters by Shikibu and the Nanzan priest to Iga (Nakayama 1936, p. 223 and p. 220). 14 The story, as stated in the Sendai-shi den, goes that Iga became interested in Makuzu after he was shown the following poem by her: “Without the person who inspires me, my inner passion will die out in vain” (kakiokosu hito shinakereba uzumibi no mi wa itazura ni kien to suran ᥑࡀ࠽ࡆࡌெ ࡊ࡝ࡄࡣ ᇔℾࡡ㌗ࡢᚈ࡞ ᾐ࠻ࢆ ࡛ࡌࡼࢆ). Since the biography states that Makuzu was nineteen years old when she met Iga, the truth of the story is doubtful. Nakayama Eiko indicates that more likely the poem was mistaken for another poem that Makuzu wrote soon after she arrived in Sendai: ³:LWKRXWWKHRQHZKRVWLUVPHXSHYHQWKH¿UHEHORZP\EHGVLWH\HDUQVIRU him” (Kakiokosu hito shinakereba tsurenaku mo shita ni kogaruru neya no uzumibi ࠾ ࡀ࠽ࡆࡌெࡊ࡝ࡄࡿࡣ ࡗࡿ࡝ࡂࡵୖ࡞ࡆ࠿ࡾࠍ 㛳ࡡ ᇔℾ) (Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 467; discussed in Nakayama 1936, pp. 73-74). 15 Letter by Makuzu to Iga, in Kado 2000, p. 73.

THE CRAFTING OF THE AUTHOR MAKUZU

Figure 3-3. Makuzu’s letter to husband Iga. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

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some row-houses for retainers, and some years later Makuzu built a teahouse in the garden next to the pond.16 In the letter to Iga, Makuzu describes how she was warmly welcomed by his mother, a widow since 1790, Iga’s younger brothers, and Iga’s three sons: the oldest, Tosho Naoyuki ᅒ᭡⏜❮WKHQIRXUWHHQRU¿IWHHQ\HDUVRIDJHDQRWKHUER\ called Yoshiyasu ⏜㇟, and the youngest, Naosaku ⏜ష, who was only ¿YH\HDUVROG17 The fact that Makuzu had to leave behind her father, who must not have been well, and her youngest sister, to whom she was like a mother, left her uneasy. But she mentions her gratitude about Iga’s taking care of her family in SukiyachĿ.18 Makuzu’s new life in Sendai is described in her diary. She conveys disappointment about her husband not being with her in the unfamiliar home. Such statements are expected from a new wife, so we have to conjecture how she really felt about it. Therefore, when she learned that Iga was not able to come after her as soon as he had planned, she complained, I was told my husband would follow soon, but he could not. No matter how many dull days passed, there was no message. … In order to bond with the children, since there was nothing else to do, I decided to teach them spinning: 16 While neither the castle nor the other houses are there today, the ward is now part of Tohoku University (Faculties for Education and Law and the library); a bus stop still carries the name ľgi-zaka, noting the location where the Tadano domicile had once been (Nakayama 1988, p. 23). About the teahouse, see letter by Taeko to Makuzu, in Kado 2001, p. 84. 17 Letter by Makuzu to Iga, in Kado 2000, pp. 73-74. Iga’s brothers Kobata ShirĿemon ᮄᖦᄿ㑳ྎ⾠㛓, Hashimoto Hachiya ᶣᮇඳᘲ, and Sawaguchi Kakuzaemon ⃕ཾ つᕞ⾠㛓 were adopted into other families. There was also a sister, who was married, and Iga’s youngest brother, who was adopted by the MutĿ Ṃ⸠ family. Makuzu often mentions Iga’s brothers and other relatives in her stories about the Tohoku region, either as informants or as protagonists. About Iga’s siblings, see NakaniidachĿshi 1964. There DUH FRQÀLFWLQJDFFRXQWV DERXW ,JD¶V VRQV 0DNX]X PHQWLRQV³WKUHHRUIRXUFKLOGUHQ´ whom she regards as her stepchildren (mamako). As in other instances, Makuzu does not give an exact number (Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 466). According to the genealogy in NakaniidachĿshi,JDKDG¿YHFKLOGUHQLQKLVUHJLVWHU7KHROGHVWFDOOHG0DJRMŗrĿ Ꮨ༎㑳, died in 1790. Next born was the successor of the house, Tadano Tosho Naoyuki ᅒ᭡⏜❮, who later studied military arts. The youngest was Naosaku ⏜ష. Another child was Mayama Mokuzaemon ┷ᒜ᮫ᕞ⾠㛓, later called Yoshiyasu ⏜㇟ after he was adopted as the successor for Naoyuki, who died without an heir in 1836. This man, however, is described by Makuzu as Iga’s natural son, born to him by a mistress, who was adopted by the Mayama family in 1799 (Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 476). In the end of Mukashibanashi, he, too, stated that he was Iga’s second son, who was adopted by the Mayama family (MB, p. 192). Another son, called TaijĿ Zendayŗ ኬ᮪ၻኯኰ, was in fact Iga’s younger brother born by a mistress of his father (NakaniidachĿshi 1964, pp. 770-71). 18 Letter by Makuzu to Iga, in Kado 2000, p. 74.

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ᛦࡥ࠾ࡠ௑᪝ཱིࡽࡐࡳࡾ∞⣊ࡡࡻࡽ࠵ࡨ⛤ࢅర᫤࡛࠾ᙽࡒࡳ If I think Omoi kane about how the day began kyĿ torisomuru with gathering the thin yarn, kataito no how much longer yoriau hodo o shall I be waiting? itsu to ka matamu

Makuzu here uses taking care of her new stepchildren as a pretext for love poetry. Her longing, however, may have been rather for her home in Edo than for Iga, whom she hardly knew. The semantics of Makuzu’s poetry cannot be simply understood as an internal, emotional condition but also as a poetic practice that is fully embedded in the social context and, in particular, in her educational background. For instance, Makuzu confesses that even though she got along well with her new family, she was the outsider and felt lonely. For this reason, Makuzu anxiously waited for her husband to arrive, HYLGHQWO\DVVHUWLQJKHUFRQ¿GHQFHLQKLVDELOLW\WRFRPIRUWKHU ࠾ࡀ࠽ࡆࡌெࡊ࡝ࡄࡿࡣ ࡗࡿ࡝ࡂࡵୖ࡞ࡆ࠿ࡾࢎ 㛳ࡡ ᇔℾ Kakiokosu hito shinakereba tsurenaku mo shita ni kogaruru neya no uzumibi

Without the one who stirs me up, HYHQWKH¿UH below my bed site yearns for him.

㝛ዚ࡞࠵ࡨࡂࡱἑࡢ ᭯ࡽ࡝࠿ࡼῳࡽࡵ࠵࡫ࡍ ᖳࡑᬵࡿ࡟ࡾ.20 Michinoku ni While the river Afukumagawa wa Abukumagawa arinagara ÀRZVLQWR0LFKLQRNX>6HQGDL@ watarimo aezu the year comes to an end toshi zo kurenuru without a reunion.

Both lonesomeness and longing are popular themes of poetic convenWLRQVWKDWPD\RUPD\QRWUHÀHFW0DNX]X¶VIHHOLQJV:KLOHLWLVWKHUHIRUHGLI¿FXOWWRLQWHUSUHW0DNX]X¶VHPRWLRQDOVWDWHZHFDQ\HWGLVWLQguish the language she used to communicate emotions and, especially, for what purposes. The complexity of interpreting Makuzu’s usage of poetry is shown best in one early account. Makuzu describes her attitude toward Iga in a combination of prose and verse, which she later altered. At last Iga 19 20

Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 466. Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 467.

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was to come home.210DNX]X¿OOHGZLWKMR\SUHSDUHGIRUKLVUHWXUQ on the twentieth day of the second month of 1798. Somewhat embarrassed about feeling so cheerful, she noted later that she was so happy not because of him (kono otoko Ṁࡡ⏠) but because she was all alone in this—to her— strange place.22 Makuzu’s defense of her emotions on paper is crucial. The diary itself, Michinoku nikki ZDV SUREDEO\ ¿UVW a loose collection of poems, which, some time later, she arranged and compiled into an account polished for her family and friends back in Edo.23 At various times Makuzu weighs, analyzes, and changes her expressions with her brush, as in the section above where she downplays her joyfulness as initially having been written in a moment of excitePHQW7KLVPRGL¿FDWLRQRIKHUDWWLWXGHWRZDUG,JDLQWKH¿UVWFRXSOHRI years after her marriage, when it was expected that she would cherish her husband, can be interpreted in various ways. She may be honest when she claims that it was her loneliness that made his arrival a happy event, or she may indeed have been embarrassed about having feelings for a man that she had not meant to have. Makuzu may have developed feelings for Iga, despite the fact that WKHPDUULDJHZDVFKLHÀ\SROLWLFDO,QWKHWLPHWKH\VSHQWWRJHWKHURYHU WKHLU¿IWHHQ\HDUVRIPDUULDJH0DNX]X¶VSRUWUD\DOLVDVH[SHFWHGSRVLtive. For instance, when, after having settled into her married life, her husband had to leave again the following year on the sixth day of the second month of 1799, Makuzu wrote three poems that were meant to show that she was upset. While putting away Iga’s clothes after his departure: ࡳࡼ㫵ࡡ❟ࡔ࡞ࡊ㊟࡞࡟ࡁࡌ࡙ࡊྦ࠿࡝ࡿࡁ࡟ゆࡂࡈ࡫ࡑ៟ࡀ24 Muradori no tachinishi ato ni nugisuteshi kimi ga nareginu toku sae zo uki 21

/LNHDÀRFNRIELUGVVFDWWHULQJ are the traces from the garments you threw off It is so sad to untie the clothing you had worn.

Nakayama 1936, p. 143. Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 468. 23 Presumably Makuzu compiled the diary before her father passed away in 1800, since she does not mention his death, but only his illness. Furthermore, she mentions at the end that the events occurred in the last two or three years (Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 482). 24 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 476. 22

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[Another poem written in the third month:] ࡵࢀ࡛ࡵ࡞⾿࠹ࡔࡢ࡫ࡊයࡡ࠾ࡲࢅᚰ࠿ᒱࡡⰴဋࡀ࡟ࡼࡊ25 Morotomo ni sode uchihaeshi sono kami o Shinobugaoka no hana sakinurashi

Together our sleeves had reached out for each other While remembering those times WKHÀRZHUVRI6KLQREXJDRND could not bloom.

[Then again later:] ኇ❟࡙ࢎጏ࿣ࡩࡀࡋࡵ᫋ࡡ㔕࡞ࡥ࡛ࡽ࠵ࡈࡾࡷ౦ࡊ࠾ࡾࡼࢆ26 The pheasant, too, Koe tatete that calls out for his mate, tsuma yobu kiji mo is certainly lonely haru no no ni when looking out alone hitori asaru ya LQWKH¿HOGVRIVSULQJ wabishikaruran

To these love poems Makuzu added later on that, being so lonely by myself is not because I am truly in love with my husband (tsuma ka furu ࡗࡱᜂࡨࡾ).27 Rather, he took the oldest son with him to Edo. The second-born son, whose mother was a mistress, was adopted into another family. Only the eight-year-old boy [Naosaku] stays with me. But he does not understand yet how delightful it is when nature comes into bloom. This is why I grieve over not having a friend for diversion.28

Embarrassed as before, Makuzu apparently sees the need to excuse to her kin her expression of love for her husband. If Makuzu enjoyed writing love poems, which she was now free to do since she was married, why apologize for the poetic convention that KHU UHDGHUV VXUHO\ VKDUHG ZLWK KHU" %HFDXVH 0DNX]X UHÀHFWV RQO\ LQ this particular diary but nowhere else about affection for her husband, LWLVGLI¿FXOWWRGHGXFHKHUFRQMXJDODWWDFKPHQW:KHQZHFRQVLGHUWKH role of physical intimacy in Makuzu’s view of the human condition, ZHPD\¿QGDQRWKHUUHDVRQ,QHitori kangae she declares how the act of having sexual intercourse initiates one’s love. She admits that after having been intimate with someone whom she otherwise despised, she 25 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 476. Shinobugaoka is employed as a pivot word and stands for shinobu ࡊࡡࡩ (remember, recollect, as well as to conceal). 26 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 476. 27 Suzuki Yoneko’s transcription indicates that Makuzu gave koi ᜂ (love) here the particular reading of ka ࠾. Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 476. 28 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, pp. 476-77.

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Figure 3-4. Makuzu’s writing sample for stepson Naosaku. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

experienced feelings for that person.29 It is perhaps the embarrassment over her desire that is responsible for her ambiguous testimonies, and with the fading of her passion her need to express in poetry her feelings for her husband may have vanished as well. What remains a lasting passion, however, is Makuzu’s longing for the cultural life she used to enjoy back in Edo. During their marriage, Iga’s duty allowed him to come back to Sendai a mere sixteen times, leaving Makuzu mostly alone.30 But she mentions that during the time the couple spent together, she enjoyed listening to his voice when he performed sarugaku, and developed an interest in Chinese poetry (kanshi), while in return she taught Iga how to compose Japanesestyle poetry (waka ࿰ḯ).31 In his absence, her companions were books 29 “There is a certain man whom I found detestable, thinking ‘even you, you scareFURZRIWKHPRXQWDLQ¿HOG«¶:K\LVLWWKDW,FDQQRWIRUJHWKLPHYHQWKRXJKOHDUQLQJ he loved me, I was disgusted to the point of repulsion? Is this not because he aroused my feelings at their very root?” (HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181). Makuzu probably refers WRKHU¿UVWVSRXVH,QWKHIROORZLQJWKHTXRWDWLRQVIURPHitori kangae are from the translation in MN, unless indicated otherwise. 30 Kado 1998, pp. 166-67; Seki 1980, p. 122. 31 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 468. For examples of Iga’s poetry, see Nakayama 1936, p. 81. For an example of Makuzu’s kanshi, see Suzuki, in TMS, p. 548.

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brought back by Iga, or sent by family, friends, and teachers.32 In the early winter of her second year in Sendai (1798), an “uncle” in Edo sent to Makuzu Kamo Mabuchi’s Kotoba momokusa ࡆ࡛ࡣࡵࡵࡂࡈ (Myriad Words), which she studied eagerly during those never-ending cold and inhospitable months. She conveys how grateful she was for this precious gift.33 At times, Iga’s brothers would come to visit, entertaining her with strange and wondrous tales about the Tohoku region. Having much free time and no one to share it with, Makuzu began to record these tales. In addition to Michinoku nikki, she soon wrote essays, using the skills that she had acquired in Edo.

THE POET MAKUZU Makuzu embraced a variety of genres, such as travelogues, essays, and VWRULHVEXWVKHQHYHUZURWH¿FWLRQ+HUZRUNLVHLWKHUDERXWZKDWVKH H[SHULHQFHGRUZLWQHVVHGRUZKDWVKHOHDUQHG¿UVWKDQGDQGEHOLHYHGWR be true. Soon after Makuzu arrived in Tohoku, the new environment inspired her to write down impressions of the nearby places that she YLVLWHG3UREDEO\WKH¿UVWWUDYHORJXH0DNX]XZURWHZDVKHUSLHFH Shiogama mĿde ሲ❗ࡱ࠹࡚ (Pilgrimage to Shiogama), a short essay about her pilgrimage to the local shrine Ichinomiya in Shiogama, about the sites and the people she met.34 Her Matsushima no michi no ki ᮿ ᓞࡡࡲࡔࡡエ (Travel account from Matsushima) of 1802 captures the famous site of Matsushima with its islands that was praised as early as 32 Mishima Kageo mentioned that he lent Makuzu a copy of Ayanuno ᩝᕱ (Figured Cloth, 1758) by Yuya Shizuko, who was one of the three great woman poets of Mabuchi’s school (mentioned above) (Suzuki 1995, p. 44). Shizuko’s work was published by Murata Harumichi ᮟ⏛᫋㐠 (d. 1769), Harumi’s father (see also Marceau 2002). According to Makuzu, her husband, who lived most of the time in Edo, made sure to get the newest books and information to her. Thus she already had a copy of Motoori Norinaga’s Kojikiden ཿ஥エఎ, the detailed commentary on the account of the age of gods and early history contained in Kojiki ཿ஥エ (712) by around 1810, thirteen years DIWHUWKH¿UVWVHYHQWHHQYROXPHVDSSHDUHGDQGWZHOYH\HDUVEHIRUHWKHHQWLUHZRUNZDV published. 33 Michinoku nikkiLQ706S8QLGHQWL¿HGWH[W7KH³XQFOH´0DNX]XUHIHUVWR might be Murata Harumi. See below where Makuzu calls Harumi “uncle.” 34 Shiogama mĿde is included in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 484-85. In HK, p. 291, Makuzu mentions that she was able to send her writing about her pilgrimage to Ichinomiya ୌ஄ᐋ to Harumi in Edo. However, Takizawa Bakin mentions in his Makuzu no ouna that she was sixteen when her father showed her sample to Harumi, which might be the result of a copy mistake, since Makuzu was then about 36 years old. Makuzu no ouna, p. 246.

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Figure 3-5. Matsushima.

in the Man’yĿshŗ (The Ten Thousand Leaves, eighth century).35 Makuzu also started jotting down little stories and anecdotes about strange events in Sendai that would be included in later works, such as Makuzugahara, Mukashibanashi, or ľshŗbanashi ዚᕗࡣ࡝ࡊ (Tales from ľshŗ, compiled around 1817).36 Suzuki Yoneko makes an apt comparison of Makuzu’s ľshŗbanashi to the Snow Country Tales by Suzuki Bokushi 㕝ᮄ∶஄ (1770–1842) in that Makuzu portrays Sendai for Edoites. We learn about whales, the production of charcoal, famous local sites and festivals, people who became legends, fox spirits, and the local dialect.37 Makuzu offered an early ethnographic work, written not by an insider as in the case of Bokushi, but by an outsider who could 35

Included in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 445-56. ľshŗbanashi is undated, but Kado Reiko assumes that Makuzu compiled it around 1817 (Kado 1998, pp. 181-82). Makuzu sent it to Takizawa Bakin, who made a copy, together with another work called Isozutai, in 1832. For an analysis of ľshŗbanashi, see Suzuki Yoneko, “Tadano Makuzu ‘ľshŗ-banashi’: Ikai hakken no ikkatei,” Todai ronkyŗ 23:3 (1986), pp. 51-63. 37 See, for instance, the nagauta called Sumiyaku hito o omou nagauta ⅛ࡷࡂெࢅ ࠽ࡵࡨ㛏࠹ࡒZKLFKUHÀHFWVXSRQWKHZRUNHUVZKRSURGXFHFKDUFRDOLQMakuzugahara, in TMS, p. 494). Or see the legend of the nun KĿren-ni (KĿren to iu kudamono no yurai 㤮ⶀ࡛࠷ࡨࡂࡓࡵࡡࢎ⏜ᮮ [Origin of the Confectionary called KĿren], in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 441-44). 36

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draw comparisons between two different ways of life and two different cultures.38 Makuzu observed her new life closely and took pains to write about it. She sent her writings to Edo, not only to her family, but also to her teachers. However, unlike Bokushi, Suzuki Yoneko adds, Makuzu served also as a two-way conduit by telling people in Sendai about life in Edo.39 In ľshŗbanashi, among the stories of her new home, are tales of the bizarre and strange.40 That Makuzu ventured out to collect stories of a curious nature can be explained by her active participation in current trends. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, the compilation of Kaidan ᛱㄧ (ghost stories, or “tales of the strange”) was at its peak. Makuzu’s contemporary, Ueda Akinari ୕⏛⚽ᠺ (1734–1809), and his tales of the supernatural, Ugetsu monogatari 㞭᭮∸ㄊ (Tales of Moonlight and Rain, 1776), are well known.41 This literary form of the fantastic was thriving, and many accounts were compiled and published for the sake of larger audiences.42 Makuzu’s later acquaintance, Takizawa Bakin, was involved in circles that exchanged bizarre and curious accounts.43 As a child of her time, Makuzu, too, engaged in this genre. Before Makuzu recorded ghost stories, however, she was inspired by her new surroundings and used them as material for her poetry. The different natural environment revealed to her that certain seasonal markers used in Edo could not be found in Sendai. Like any waka poet, Makuzu not only observed customs and people closely but also nature, which kept her ink stone wet. By leading her reader through the seasonal changes of the year, Makuzu refers to poems that she exchanged with her family in Edo, and gifts she received from them, along with 38 See Margarita Winkel on the earliest ethnographic writings that developed around Makuzu’s time. Margarita Winkel, “Academic Traditions, Urban Dynamics and Colonial Threat: The Rise of Ethnography in Early Modern Japan,” in Anthropology and Colonialism in Asia and Oceania, ed. Jan van Bremen and Akitoshi Shimizu (Richmond: Curzon, 1999), pp. 40-64. 39 Suzuki 1986, pp. 54-55. Also Suzuki, in TMS, pp. 566-67. 40 Mori ľgai (1862–1922) read and corrected Makuzu’s version of the legend regarding the courtesan Takao. Akutagawa RyŗQRVXNH¶V± XQ¿QLVKHGPDQXscript, Hito o koroshita kashira (Am I a Killer?), written shortly before his suicide, is based on Makuzu’s Kage no yamai'RSSHOJlQJHUV\QGURPH 7KHWUDQVODWLRQRI¿YH stories can be found in Bettina Gramlich-Oka, “Tales from the North,” in The Anthology of Edo Literature, ed. Sumie Jones and Howard Hibbett (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, forthcoming). 41 Noriko Reider, Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan: Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatari (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002). 42 Famous is Tsuruya Nanboku’s 㭧ᒁ༞໪ 㻋1755–1829㻌㻃Kabuki play Yotsuya kaidan ᄿㆺᛱㄧ (Ghost Stories at Yotsuya, 1825). See Shirane 2002, pp. 844-84. 43 One such group was the Toenkai ඟᅧఌ (Rabbit Grove Society) of Bakin.

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little jottings she wrote down for them to show how different her life was in the north. Surprised, she relates that even in the third month of WKH \HDU WKHUH ZHUH QHLWKHU ÀRZHUV QRU WKH VFHQW RI SOXP WUHHV7KH weeping cherry (itozakura ⣊᱔, prunus pendula) was rare, and so were azaleas.44&RPSDUHGWR(GRWKH¿IWKPRQWKZDVQRWKRWDWDOODV might have been expected. In the ninth month, chrysanthemums started blooming, a rarity in Edo, but in Sendai it was the herald of autumn and therefore of winter soon to come.45 In her new environment she experienced snow, ice, and icicles that she would have liked to show Teruko, her thirteen-year-old sister.46 ཪ࡛ࡎࡊ㫵ࡡ㡚ࡈ࠻⤧࠻࡞ࡄࡽᐋᇖࡡ㔓࡞㞯ࡗࡵࡾ㡥47 Tomo to seshi tori no oto sae tae ni keri Miyagi no sato ni yuki tsumoru goro

The song of the birds, my companions, cannot be heard anymore, when in my Miyagi home snow piles up.

Makuzu captures in words how severe the cold in Sendai was for her. $OWKRXJKWKHEDQNHG¿UHuzumibi ᇔℾ) at her pillow burned all night, the bedroom was freezing. She could not allow her hands to leave the covers. The days were gray without a hint or messenger of spring. 0DNX]X¶V H[SHULHQFH RI D GLIIHUHQW FOLPDWH DPSOL¿HG WKH GLVWDQFH LQ space from her family in Edo. It is easy to concede that Makuzu’s longing for her family was more genuine than that she expressed for her husband. Here, writing poetry appears not merely to be a pastime but was used by Makuzu as an outlet for her thoughts and feelings. In particular Makuzu missed Teruko, whom she had raised like her own daughter. Her other remaining siblings, her brother Motosuke and sister Taeko, each sent her a poem attached with a pink (nadeshiko ᧑Ꮔ WKHÀRZHUWKDWEHFDPHWKHnom de plume for Teruko:

44

Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 468. Michinoku nikki, in TMS, pp. 472-73. 46 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 466. 47 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 467. 45

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஫᭮㞭ࡡ㜾ࡽ࡞ 㜾ࡽ࡞ࡊࢂ࠿ᐙࡡኬ࿰᧑Ꮔࢂࡿࡡࡲࡑずࡾ48 Samidare no furi ni furi ni shi waga shuku no yamato nadeshiko ware nomi zo miru

With the rain of early spring falling down, only I can see the pink [Teruko] in our house in Yamato. (Motosuke)

࡝ࡗ࠾ࡊ࡛ྦ࠿ずࡾࡼࢆ᧑Ꮔࡢ࠹ࡼࡷࡱࡊࡂࡵᛦ࡮ࡹࡾ࠾࡝ With nostalgia Natsukashi to you might be looking kimi ga miru ran at the pink, nadeshiko wa and Teruko, too urayamashiku mo may be jealous. (Taeko) omohoyuru kana

[Makuzu’s envoy:] ࡝ࡗ࠾ࡊ࡛ᛦࡨࡵᚨୌࡗ࡞࡙➽࡫࡟ⰴ࡞㟚ࡢ࠽ࡀࡗࢎ49 Natsukashi to omou mo kokoro hitotsu nite kotaenu hana ni tsuyu wa okitsutsu

While I think back and feel like being one with you again, there is dew RQWKHÀRZHU that does not respond.

The conventions of poetry are showcased in the exchanges among the siblings, but they may also express their genuine longing for one another. Makuzu’s training in wabun poetry continued to be very much in accord with the newest trends. We can assume that Makuzu sent the poems in Michinoku nikki to Edo. She also mentions her family’s responses and gifts, which prove their frequent correspondence. The preservation of the correspondence between Makuzu and Mishima Kageo, who had been her mother’s teacher, and between her and Murata Harumi’s leading student, Shimizu Hamaomi ΰỀ℀⮟ (1776–1824), show that some of the most prominent waka poets of her time continued to be her guides and direct links to Edo-based poetry salons.50 Makuzu, however, 48 ,WLVFOHDUWKDWWKH\UHIHUWR7HUXNRHVSHFLDOO\VLQFHWKHSLQNLVWKHÀRZHURIIDOODQG not early summer. The context suggests that the dialogue took place in 1799. However, Makuzu tells us later that after her father died in 1800, she came up with comparing the VLVWHUVWRWKHVHYHQÀRZHUVRIIDOOVHHEHORZ 7KLVLVRQHLQVWDQFHZKHUH0DNX]XLVQRW coherent in her account, probably because she made later revisions. 49 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 479. 50 Seven of Mishima Kageo’s letters addressed to Makuzu are in the possession of the Tadano family (Nakayama 1936, p. 220). Two letters by Shimizu Hamaomi are included in Makuzu’s collection. See also Suzuki 1995, p. 43.

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Figure 3-6. Makuzu’s composition, sent to Shimizu Hamaomi in Edo, including his correction marks. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

developed her own style, as Kado Reiko points out that in general it was rare that someone trained in classical Japanese would mix dialect and colloquial language in her writing. Moreover, Makuzu is explicit about the choice of her styles within the texts.51 That leads Kado to describe Makuzu’s prose style as one faithful to the nuances of everyday language; it thereby, Kado maintains, allowed her to express with immediacy her new experiences after leaving Edo, including contact with the local dialect of Sendai.52 Without further investigation of the contemporary trends in literary circles, an overall evaluation of Kado’s statement has to fall short.53 Nonetheless, a few examples should illustrate a brief analysis of Makuzu’s poems within their literary context.54 Makuzu’s approach to the function of language is not restricted to expressions of immediacy only in her prose, as noted by Kado, but also See prefaces to both MB, p. 3, and HK, p. 261. Kado 1998, p. 178. 53 Recently, Kado Reiko brought to my attention an undated, eleven-page-long essay called Jisanka ⮤ㆥḯ (lit. Poetry of Self-Praise), which discusses Makuzu’s view of composing poetry and other genres of literature, despite the title, which refers to the famous compilation of verses from the Muromachi period and which was a favorite of Makuzu’s grandparents (see chapter 1). But instead of being a general theoretical essay, in it Makuzu encourages the writing of poetry to be read by others. Perhaps it is an essay for her students. See Figure 6-3. 54 About the political implications in the poetry of Makuzu and her contemporaries, see chapter 6. 51 52

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Figure 3-7. Shimizu Hamaomi’s letter attached to Makuzu’s composition. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

in her poems. Makuzu put even trivialities on paper: her surprise, for LQVWDQFHWKDWLQVHFWVVXFKDVPRVTXLWRHVDQGÀHDVFRXOGEHIRXQGLQ the harsh climate of Sendai. She tried everything to get rid of pests that would linger on until fall, but it was in vain. So she dedicated a couple of waka to this nuisance: ኚࡡእࡢ⺋ࡡ࠾ࡒࡀ࡞ᨯࡴࡼࡿ࡙ࡷࡌ࠷ࡊ࡝ࡈ࡟ࡆ࡛ࡑⱖࡊࡀ In summer nights Natsu no yo wa I am tormented by nomi no kataki ni the attack of my enemies, semerarete WKHÀHDV yasui shi nasanu preventing me from peaceful sleep. koto zo kurushiki ᡥࢅࡂࡢࡿ㊂ࢅࡂࡢࡿ࡙ࡌ࡬ࡵ࡝ࡂ⺋ࡡዦ࡛ᠻ࡝ࡽ࡞ࡄࡽ55 I am simply Te o kuware the poor prey ashi o kuwarete RIÀHDV subemo naku bitten nomi no yatsuko to on hands and feet. ware nari ni keri

3ULRUWR0DNX]X¶VWLPHÀHDVZHUHQRWDWKHPHWREHWUHDWHGLQWKHPDLQstream waka tradition. The classic anthologies do not include poems DERXWÀHDVDQGOLFH 55

Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 480.

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Figure 3-8. Grave of Murata Harumi. Honseiji Temple, KĿtĿ-ku, Tokyo.

0DNX]X¶V FKRLFH RI FRQWHQW UHÀHFWV KHUH D FRQWHPSRUDU\ SRHWLF movement that defended colloquialism (zokugen ಐゕ) and triviality in the ongoing controversy over waka aesthetics. Makuzu’s teacher Mishima Kageo was one of the leading poets in Edo who composed in a fresh and easy-to-relate-to manner, taking content and form for his waka from the present.56 Just a few years after Makuzu wrote the two poems above, the famous debate called Fude no saga ➱ࡡࡈ࠿ (The Nature of the Brush, 1802), allows us to see how this issue over “high” UH¿QHG DQG³ORZ´YXOJDU LQwaka poetics was explicitly addressed. 56 0LVKLPD .DJHR ZKRVH ¿UVW WHDFKHU LQ (GR ZDV .DGD QR$ULPDUR ZDV RQH RI the great poets in Edo. As mentioned previously, due to lack of sources he is often neglected, to Maruyama Sueo’s dismay. However, attendance lists from poetry gatherings during the late eighteenth century document his strong presence. Further, most of the anthologies of his day include his poetry. He was not only a poet but also a tea master, Biwa player, and serious student of Ancient Studies (kĿgaku ཿᏕ). See Maruyama Sueo, “Mishima Jikaku bannen no itsuji,” in Maruyama Sueo, Kinsei no geijutsu (Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, 1976); see also Suzuki 1995.

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The Kyoto poet Kagawa Kageki 㤮ᕖᬊᶖ (1768–1843) defends the use of present-day language, while Makuzu’s “uncle” Murata Harumi and KatĿ Chikage ຊ⸠༐ⶩ (1735–1808), who were both visitors in the KudĿ house, denigrate this use of colloquialisms as “extremely base.”57 Apparently this points to a complexity in opinions among our main actors, including Harumi and Makuzu, and not only to a regional difference.58 On the other hand, Makuzu’s teacher Kageo is known for his pursuit of expressing realism within traditional forms, but for tradition he would never go further back than to the anthology of the Shinkokinshŗ ᩺ཿ௑㞗 (early thirteenth century).59 Makuzu’s poetry, though, shows that in particular she was fond of the Man’yĿshŗ, privileging it clearly over the “newer” anthologies of the Kokinshŗ or Shinkokinshŗ. In fact the poems above both borrow from the Man’yĿshŗ.60 Her closeness to Kamo Mabuchi, who is known for his devotion to reviving and popularizing the study of the Man’yĿshŗ, is further evident in her composition of nagauta, because Mabuchi initiated the revival of this archaic form.61 In Makuzu’s collection MakuzugaharaDORQHZH¿QGWZHOYHnagauta in all.627RSRLQWRXWIXUWKHUWKHJUHDWFRPSOH[LW\DQGGLI¿FXOW\RIFRQ57 Kagawa Kageki states, “Waka is something that expresses things of the present day. In expressing things of the present day, one uses the language of the present day, and the language of the present day is none other than common speech (zokugen). Thus, waka is nothing but common speech….” Cited by Roger K. Thomas, “ ‘High’ versus ‘Low’: The Fude no Saga Controversy and Bakumatsu Poetics,” MN 49:4 (Winter 1994), pp. 468-69. On Makuzu calling Harumi “uncle,” see Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 383. 58 :HHYHQ¿QGDQDFURVWLFE\0DNX]XUHPLQLVFHQWRIWKH.DQVDLSRHW2]DZD5RDQ ᑚἉ⸴ᗙ (1723–1801), teacher of Kagawa Kageki and advocate of the language of the present (I thank Lawrence Marceau for this insight). Roan has a similar acrostic in his posthumous collection RokujĿ eisĿ ඵᕻホⲙ, 1804. It seems that such playful waka, which can be traced back to the Heian court, saw a revival in the late Tokugawa period. 59 Suzuki 1995, p. 45. 60 Man’yĿshŗ, Book 18, poem 4132, “I am nothing but a servant poor, daily working at your door.” And the line yasuishi nasanu Ꮽᐧࡊ࡝ࡈ࡟ in the other poem is from Book 5, poem 802. See The Man’yĿshŗ: A New and Complete Translation, transl. Honda HeihachirĿ (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1967). 61 About the revival of nagauta, see Marceau 2002. See also Inoue Minoru, Kamo Mabuchi no gyĿseki to monryŗ (Tokyo: Kasama ShobĿ, 1966). Mabuchi’s theory on chĿka is expressed in Kamo Mabuchi, Niimanabi, in KMZ, vol. 19, pp. 209-10. Mabuchi’s nagauta can be found in Nihon koten bungaku taikei (NKBT), vol. 93, or Shin Nihon koten bungaku taikei, vol. 68. See also Kokugakusha denki shŗsei, ed. ľkawa Shigeo and Minami Shigeki (Tokyo: Higashi Shuppan, 1997), pp. 328-30, which includes nagautaE\0DEXFKLDQG¿YHRWKHUSRHWVRQRFFDVLRQRI<X\D6KL]XNR¶VGHDWK See Nakayama 1936, p. 69, on Hitomaro’s love poems in the Man’yĿshŗ, no. 207-12. 62 Nakayama 1936, p. 145, who counted in addition 197 tanka (the short form which

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Figure 3-9. Grave of KatĿ Chikage. EkĿin Temple, Sumida-ku, Tokyo.

textualizing Makuzu’s poetic style, note that for instance Harumi, who was Mabuchi’s main disciple, had his own views on poetic theory and practice, but all of these poets shared a fondness for nagauta.63 In this FRQWH[W LW LV VLJQL¿FDQW WKDW 6KLPL]X +DPDRPL ZKR ZDV DQRWKHU RI 0DNX]X¶VWHDFKHUVFRPSLOHGWKH¿UVWDQWKRORJ\RInagauta in 1815.64 is conventionally called waka). 63 For the differences between Mabuchi and Harumi see the introductory discussion by Tanaka 2000, in particular, pp. 3-27. For the revival of nagauta (or chĿka), see Thomas 2003, pp. 151-64. 64 See Marceau 2002. Shimizu Hamaomi, Murata Harumi’s student, anthologized nagauta, called Suganone shŗ (Sedge Root Collections, 1815). See also Tanaka 2000, pp. 121-38, in which he discusses Murata Harumi’s poetic theory on nagauta. Motoori Norinaga apparently was not interested in this poetic form, while his adoptive son Motoori ľhira ᮇᑽኬᖲ (1756–1833) compiled a chĿka collection. See Thomas 2003, pp. 153-55.

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Figure 3-10. Grave of Shimizu Hamaomi. ZenshĿji Temple, TaitĿ-ku, Tokyo.

Obviously the trends among the leading poets in Edo need to be investigated more thoroughly.65 While form and content in Makuzu’s poetry can be linked to the trends of her time, it is possible that the various theories of waka poetics applied not necessarily exclusively but in the form of a dialogue among the poets, each one of them privileging one form or content over another. This was true in particular in the case of practitioners who, like Makuzu, experimented with a variety of themes, tropes, and ways of expression.

THE VICTIM MAKUZU Homesickness, loneliness, and her indirect but ongoing connection to the Edo literary world began to nurture a feeling of victimization in Makuzu. Already Michinoku nikki expressed this kind of self-presentation, which is not uncommon in the writings of women living in a 65 Roger K. Thomas refers to the Edo-ha poets in a recent article about the TempĿ poet ľkuma Kotomichi ኬ㝨ゕ㐠 (1798–1868) and his waka poetics. Roger K. Thomas, “A Voice of the TempĿ Era: The Poetics of ľkuma Kotomichi,” MN 59:3 (Autumn 2004), pp. 321-36.

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society that is male-dominated and male-centered. The “captivity” accentuated by actual distance was a new experience for Makuzu. Her father’s household in Edo had differed in many respects. There she was the oldest daughter, who went to serve for ten years in daimyo mansions and later managed the household during her mother’s illness and HYHQWXDO GHDWK SHUPLWWLQJ KHU HYHQ ZLWKLQ WKH ZRPDQO\ FRQ¿QHV RI the home more space and freedom than was permitted to the wife in a samurai household. We can assume that in Sendai she was more constrained than she used to be, even in daily movement. She was the new wife in an established household that only the previous year had lost its mistress to an untimely death. A rural, upper-rank samurai household consisting of three sons, a mother-in-law, and an absent husband HYLGHQWO\H[SHFWHGKHUWR¿OOWKHSODFHLQWKHZD\WKH\ZHUHXVHGWR66 When Makuzu passed sour judgment on Sendai, as compared to Edo, one hundred years behind in its customs, she probably referred also to her own lost free range of movement. She suggested using her education to teach, but was discouraged from doing so.67 In the house of the Tadano family she was to represent the family without being publicly present. The fact that she was not a samurai daughter and was, moreover, the second wife may have put some distance between her and the established Tadano family.68 Or, at least, this is the portrait Makuzu offers her reader Takizawa Bakin in 1819.69 In her mind, Makuzu never left the KudĿ house. This was certainly not surprising, since her marriage was meant to provide continuity in the relations between the families. The distance, however, prevented her from participating actively in the relations between the houses; instead her husband, who was in Edo most of the time, took this part DQGDSSDUHQWO\RIWHQYLVLWHGKHUKRPH,WPXVWKDYHEHHQGLI¿FXOWIRU Makuzu to live a life excluded from direct communication. Frequent correspondence with her siblings, in particular her brother Motosuke and her sister Taeko, are signs that they made an effort to overcome being physically apart. Her father, Heisuke, also participated in the correspondence despite his poor health, as two poems show: 66 For a description of a samurai family, see Yamakawa Kikue, Women of the Mito Domain, transl. Kate Wildman Nakai (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1992). 67 Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 376-77. 68 0DNX]X¶V¿UVWJUDYHVLWHUHÀHFWVWKHGLVWDQFH7RWKHQRUWKRI,JD¶VJUDYHLVWKH WRPERIKLV¿UVWZLIHZKLOH0DNX]X¶VLVWRWKHVRXWK1DND\DPD(LNRTadano Makuzu haka kaisĿ iten tenmatsu hĿkokusho, Copy from Nakayama Eiko Collection (Sendai, 1933), p. 1. 69 Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 374-78.

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ずࡢࡷࡊࡊெࡊ࡝ࡄࡿࡣࢂ࠿ᐙࡡ⣒ⴝࡡⰅࡵ࠾ࡆࡔ࠿࡮࡝ࡽ If the one person Mihayashi shi is not delighted, hito shinakereba the autumn colors waga shuku no of my dwelling momiji no iro mo will be disappointed, too. kakochi gao nari ᨶ㒋ࢅࡥ࡛ࡽࡢ࡝ࡿ࡙࠵ࡾெࢅ⩹ࡡࡠࡉࡴ࡞ᛦࡥࡆࡐࡷࡿ70 Away from home Furusato o by yourself, hitori hanarete think of aru hito o the old man oi no nezame ni when you wake up. omoi koso yare

Heisuke was concerned about his oldest daughter, who apparently one year after her departure had not yet grown accustomed to her new home. To read his verses is a rarity, since Heisuke was not as fond of poetry as were the women in his family; citing the poems may be Makuzu’s way of expressing her objections to her fate. This notion is substantiated by the way Makuzu describes her reaction. Moved by her father’s poems, Makuzu kept crying. She knew that she must not disappoint her father, yet she stubbornly argues: We say that where you live is your home. But this is not true. Although I came to live here, the whole time my longing for my home increases. Even when I manage to tell myself that I am here in a place far away, so I ought to agree to things to which I would otherwise object … I cannot stop feeling the pain.71 70 Michinoki nikki, p. 481. Altogether Makuzu lists three waka by Heisuke. The poems stem from 1798, Makuzu’s second fall in Sendai. On the last day of the sixth month, 1799, she received a poem by her father, saying:

ࡲࡐࡁࡌࡾ⯒ྻࡀ࡛࡮ࡌἑ㢴࡞ࡳ࠾ࡨࡷ⚽ࡡࡢࡋࡴ࡝ࡾ࡬ࡀ Misogi suru fune fuki to hosu kawakaze ni mukau ya aki no hajime naru beki

When the boat WKDWSXUL¿HV is blown by the wind of the river it is the beginning of the fall.

Makuzu’s envoy: ⾔ࡀ࠾ࡻࡨ⩴ࡊ࠵ࡼࡣᨶ㒋ࡡࡲࡐࡁ࡞ࢂࡿࡵ⾔࠾ࡱࡊࡵࡡࢅ Yukikayou tsubasa shiaraba furusato no misogi ni ware mo ikamashi mono o 71

If I had wings for my travel, I, too, ZRXOGJRWRWKHSXUL¿FDWLRQ at home.

Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 492-93.

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Makuzu maintained emphatically that her home was with the KudĿ family and wished herself back in her life in Edo. Sendai and the house of the Tadano family would never become her home. While her reaction UHPLQGVXVRIKHUDFFRXQWRIKHU¿UVWPDUULDJHWKLVWLPHDSSDUHQWO\ she was not able to turn around. Over time in Makuzu’s writings the feeling of exile has more explicit manifestation. When Makuzu received from her sister Taeko the nagauta by Murata Harumi, called ľshĿkun ⋜᫓ྦ, it had a great impact on her. The poem retells the famous story of one of the four beauties of China, who had to leave her country for a political marriage. Harumi envisions her as being held captive and so prevented from enjoying the VFHQWRIWKHÀRZHUVRIVSULQJDQGWKHFRORUVRIWKHOHDYHVWXUQLQJUHGLQ the fall. After copying the poem into her diary, Makuzu announces that VKHLGHQWL¿HGZLWKWKHKHURLQHRIWKHSRHPQDPHO\DVDYLFWLP72 With this underlying attitude of suffering a destiny that was supposed to support her family, she witnessed from afar the events in Edo. The KudĿ family fortunes did nothing but decline. Heisuke’s health was already unsteady when Makuzu had left in 1797, but apparently within one year his illness advanced to the point that he had to retire from his duties and his son Motosuke took his place.73 Before long, at the end of 1800, her father succumbed to his illness and died at the DJH RI VL[W\VHYHQ
72

Michinoku nikki, in TMS, pp. 473-74; Kado 1998, p. 168; Nakayama 1936, p.

143. 73 Makuzu sent her father some poems to cheer him up, and since he was bedridden, Taeko responded in his place by way of the envoys. See Letter to her father (Chichigimi no yamai atsushi ushi tamau goro…∏ྦࡡ⑋࠵ࡗࡊ࠹ࡊ⤝ࡨ㡥… ), in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 488-90.

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࠽ࡡ࠿ࡋࢎ໚ࡨ⚽㔕ࡡ୏ⲙࡵ㟚ࡡࡴࡃࡲࡢ࠾ࡢࡼࡉࡽࡄࡽ (DFKÀRZHU Onoga jishi of autumn niou akino no has a different scent, nanakusa mo but the blessing of the dew tsuyu no megumi wa has been the same. kawarazarikeri When I learned in Michinoku about the example set by his advice, I wrote respectfully in my response, “When we compare ourselves with these Seven Flowers of Autumn, may I then suggest that the savory ague weed (Fujibakama ⸠⿑ LVWKH¿UVWER\7KHJLUOZKRFRPHVQH[WZLWK the pretty face is the morning glory (Asagao ᭽㢞), followed by the girl who is the patrinia (Ominaheshi ዥ㑳ⰴ). [The second son is] the pampas grass (Obana ᑹⰴ). The one girl who serves the lord of Echizen74 is bush clover (Hagi ⴏ . The youngest daughter is a pink (Nadeshiko ᧑ Ꮔ). Arrowroot (Kuzubana ⴩ⰴ) is not special at all, but the wide leaves JLYHVKHOWHUWRKHUVLEOLQJV,VWKLVQRWEH¿WWLQJIRUWKHROGHVW"´ 75

By comparing the siblings to The Seven Flowers of Autumn according to their personal traits, Makuzu saw herself in the role of protector of WKHRWKHUV6KHWHOOVWKHWKUHHUHPDLQLQJVLEOLQJVWRKROG¿UPO\WRRQH another. She meant, probably thinking of her marriage, to restore the KudĿ family’s reputation. Realistically she was not able to do much. The awareness of this fact may have strengthened her feeling of victimization and that her place should have been in Edo. Makuzu’s remaining siblings, one after the other, went along their SDWKV +HLVXNH¶V ORQJ LOOQHVV DQG IRUPHU ¿QDQFLDO WURXEOHV SODFHG D heavy burden on the shoulders of Motosuke, now twenty-eight years old.76 Makuzu does not mention whether her brother ever married. Apparently he was sent to Sendai around 1798, and even had a chance to meet with Makuzu.77 Due to their father’s frail health, however, he must have thought of ways to return to Edo. After numerous petitions Motosuke was allowed to return to Edo, though without the help of their own kin, the Kuwabara family, as Makuzu angrily recounts.78 Instead, ľtsuki Gentaku, to whom Heisuke was like a patron, helped Motosuke 74

The mansion of the Shirakawa Matsudaira family. Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 380. This episode occurred perhaps around 1801 when Teruko turned fourteen. 76 ľtsuki Gentaku mentioned Heisuke’s long illness and his subsequent deep debts. Cited in Suzuki, in TMS , p. 549. Her source is Gentaku’s Kanto yĿroku. 77 Michinoku nikki, in TMS, p. 475. Letter to her father, in Makuzugahara, in TMS, p. 489. 78 MB, p. 39. 75

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to go back.79 Meanwhile Taeko, the fourth KudĿ daughter, had entered service with the Tayasu ⏛Ꮽ family but later followed their daughter, a niece of Matsudaira Sadanobu, to the Shirakawa Matsudaira Ⓣἑᮿ ᖲ house, remaining in its employ until her mistress died.80 Probably because her natal house was not in a condition to provide the necessary support for an appropriate spouse, she then became a nun in Reiganjima 㟃ᓃᓞ at the age of thirty (around 1807) on the grounds of the Matsudaira mansion, taking the name Hagi-ni ⴏᑷ (d. 1835).81 This provided her with a secure income for the rest of her life. The youngest daughter, Teruko, after her service, married sometime around 1810 (at age twenty-four) into a doctor’s family in Sendai, moving, to Makuzu’s joy, into her vicinity, where, however, she died only two years later.82 Motosuke took his responsibility as heir seriously. However, despite KLVHIIRUWVWRJHWWKHIDPLO\RXWRI¿QDQFLDOGLI¿FXOWLHVKHPHWLOOIRUtune. From Makuzu’s account: :LWKDSXUHDQGXSULJKWQDWXUHKH>0RWRVXNH@XSKHOG¿UPO\WKHWHDFKings of the Chinese sages and set himself apart from ordinary people. But life became harder and he became poor. Alas the eaves of the house were rotting and rain leaked inside. With only few resources there was not much that could be done. However, Motosuke, whose character was outstanding and of which others were envious, undertook all kinds of efforts to rebuild the house. How happy he was when the reconstruction was completed. He had just made it his home again in the twelfth month [of 1806], when in the following spring he met with sorrow owing to the God of Fire (Magatsuhi ࡱ࠿ࡗℾ [no kami]), leaving him behind in great dismay. To rebuild the house once more was out of the question. Besides, there were not enough [helping hands], so he knew that he would not be able to accomplish it.83

Repairs on their house in SukiyachĿ had just been completed in 1805, ZKHQ RQO\ D IHZ PRQWKV ODWHU ¿UH EURNH RXW DQG WKH KRXVH EXUQHG down.84 The 300 wooden planks that Motosuke received from his lord

Cited in Nakayama 1936, p. 48; ľtomo 1943, p. 21. According to Makuzu’s stepson Mayama Mokuzaemon, who mentions that he is in possession of some works by Sadanobu (MB, p. 190). 81 Taeko lived until 1835, according to Nakayama 1984, p. 226. 82 According to Nagai Michiko, Teruko married into the Nakanome ୯┘ family, a house that practiced the obstetric methods of the ChŗjĿ ୯᮪ school, which was infamous for its performance of abortions (Nagai 1996, p. 346). 83 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 379. 84 According to Nakayama 1933, p. 9. 79 80

Figure 3-11. Hagi-ni’s letter (1) to Makuzu. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

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were not enough to repair all the damage, nor could they lessen his frustration.85 If we are to believe Makuzu’s account, for almost twenty years nothing but ill fortune occurred in the KudĿ house, culminating in Motosuke’s premature death. Motosuke had to struggle until he at least found a roof in a desolate side alley. From there, Motosuke went out every day to take care of Hotta Masaatsu’s daughter, who was severely ill.86 Masaatsu, the uncle of the current lord Chikamune, was an employer and patron to the Kuwabara and KudĿ families, who served him as physicians and in other functions. The daughter of Masaatsu, referring to her own and to Motosuke’s fate, wrote a poem, as Makuzu reminisces: ࠷ࡱࡈࡼ࡞⃀ࡵ࠾ࡥ࡝ࡊ⚽ࡡ᭮࠵ࡢࡿ࡛࠷ࡥࡊྦࡵࡱࡈ࡝ࡂ࡞ At this late date Ima sara ni it is of no use to clear up. sumu mo kai nashi You say “Autumn-moon aki no tsuki come out!” aware to iishi but you, too, are uncertain. kimi mo masa naku ni The daughter of lord Hotta Masaatsu composed this poem in the fall she passed away. Just seeing it was heartrending. Before the daughter died, her illness became worse, and thus Motosuke would not allow himself to UHVWHYHQLQKLVGUHDPV'HVSLWHKLVRZQLOOQHVVKHVWRRGE\¿UPO\,QKLV RI¿FHDVDGRPDLQSK\VLFLDQDQGLQKLVSULYDWHSUDFWLFHWKHUHZHUHVLFN patients without end. He had to go here and there and was busy focusing on the urgent needs of his patients. He spent his days disregarding his own health. He went to different places and did not bother to change his clothes even after being out in a night storm. He was shivering and VZHDWLQJDOODWRQFHZKHQKH¿QDOO\GHFLGHGWRUHVWIRUDVKRUWZKLOH%XW after he lay down, he could not get up again, and soon after passed away. Being neglectful will cause one regret eight thousand times (yachitabi no kui ඳ༐ᗐࡡࡂ࠷).87

Motosuke exhausted himself in the attempt to repay the family’s debts until he fell ill himself and died in the following year in the twelfth month of 1807, still in his early thirties and without children of his own.88 85

Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 379. Motosuke was treating the Hotta family as well as the Date family. After Motosuke’s death, Makuzu’s cousin Kuwabara Yukinori treated the Hotta family. Moreover, while Motosuke was the physician, his cousin went with Hotta Masaatsu to Matsumae 1807 (in Bunka 4), the year Motosuke died (AndĿ Yukiko, “Kuwabara Takatomo [tsuzuki]” InĿ Tadataka kenkyŗ 18 [1999], p.16). See also Masaatsu’s elegy for Motosuke in 1810 (Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 383). 87 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, pp. 380-81. 88 Motosuke died on 1807/12/6. Makuzu was eleven years older than her brother. In 86

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Makuzu was heartbroken over the death of Motosuke. Makuzu’s feelings of grief can be read in the elegy to her brother:89 Utsusemi no / yo hito to narite

Being born into this empty world

wakuraba ni / ikite shi waga ya

I came unpredictably to life.

nani shi ka mo / kaku shiko naran

But why am I so ugly,

naritaranu / omina ni arite

a woman, who cannot be on her own?

hitotsu mi ni / amaru nageki o

While again and again I am confronted

amatadabi / oikoshi naka ni

with sorrows that are too much for one to

ko o okite / nani ka nagekan

bear, if I would set them aside, wherefore would I grieve?

kore o shi mo / kiwami to zo omou

Even in so doing, I long for you.

chichi no mi no / chichi no mikoto

The blessing of

haha soba no / haha no mikoto no

our father and mother

megumaseshi / katami to nareru

became our remembrance.

harakara wa / tomoshiki naka ni

Among us in poverty

kashi no mi no / hitori no oto wa

one younger brother,

maguwashiku / akaki kokoro o

ZKRVHKHDUWLVSXUHDQGWUXO\¿QH

tsurugitachi / itogi terashite

How virtuously he shines!

kumori naku / kiyokushi areba

Since he is unclouded and untainted,

nochi tsui ni / hikari kakurezu

from now on he will not hide his luster.

amatsu kami / chiwai tamawaba

With the blessing of the gods of heaven

yo no hito no / kagami naran to

his zeal was to be a mirror

takataka ni / omoi hagemite

for others.

chiyorozu ni / masaru takara to

A treasure more than a million,

asayoi ni / shita ni emaite

and with the morning sun smiling down,

mune hiroku / ari koshi mono o

he was open-minded. Whatever comes

ikanari shi / magatsu mi-kami no

will be, and the heart of the god of disaster

mi-kokoro no / susami naru ran

can be mischievous.

toshi kasanu / yamai atsushimi

Around New Year he was severely ill,

toko ni nomi / fushinu to kikedo

but, I heard, he would not lie down.

sue tĿki / yowai ni areba

With an illness where the end is far off,

okotaran / toki nakarame to

it was uncertain when he would be better.

the narrative Mukashibanashi, Makuzu refers to him as GenshirĿ, for instance in MB, p. 41. About his name: “The second son is commonly called KudĿ GenshirĿ, but his true name is Motosuke” (Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 379). 89 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, pp. 381-82.

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asaraka ni / sugoshi kinureba

Since it did not lessen,

tamazusa no / koto mo kayowazu

he could not go to perform his duty.

yaya yaya ni / atsushisa masari

At last he was defeated

kuritsumeshi / Toshi no kiwami no

by his illness. In the early morning

kaki kazou / muika no yoi ni

of the sixth day as the year drew to its end.

yŗzuki no / kage o mo misezu

There was no moonshine.

furu yuki no / ato mo todomezu

The falling snow left no traces.

minawa nasu / kiete suginu to

He vanished and did not last, like foam on the water.

fuku kaze no / oto ni kikoete

I listen to the sound of the wind,

iwan sube / sensube shirazu

not knowing what to say or what to do.

yamiyo nasu / omoi samayoi

I think with grief of the moonless night.

nani sen ni / wakarete ya koshi

Whatever I do we will have to part,

nani sen ni / ware ya okuren

whatever I do I have to send you off,

yomitsuji ni / yukana to omoedo

even if I think don’t go to the other place.

tamaboko no / michi o tadoomi

The road is long like a jeweled spear.

yuki yaran / Tazuki nakereba

But you have to go. Not being able to help

kuyashi kedo / tomarite areba

you is painful. If I hold you back,

tatsu kiri no / keburu ga gotoku

just like in deep fog,

watanaka ni / tsunaganu fune no

at sea the unmoored boat’s

kajio tae / yukue mo shirazu

rudder will not know where to go.

mono mireba / nageki sakitachi

6HHLQJWKLV,ODPHQWEXW\RXZHQW¿UVW

okuganaki / Koi o zo oeru

to a place far away. Take my love with

iki no o ni shite

you as you were my vital breath.

Makuzu’s elegy to Motosuke perhaps was stimulated by Kamo Mabuchi’s elegy to his student Yuya Shizuko ἔㆺ೔ᩝᏄ (1733–52). But beyond convention and poetic exercise, Makuzu’s deep sadness and despair over her brother’s death is conveyed in her unswerving and vivid description. The form of extended waka may have provided Makuzu with a frame that allowed her to express in more detail what she felt. Makuzu’s grief appears genuine but when we consider the reason she went to Sendai, namely to promote Motosuke’s career, another reason for her despair surfaces. Makuzu’s poem indicates that she understood herself to be an “ugly woman” (shiko 㓮) who depends on others. It is WKH¿UVWWLPHWKDWVKHXQYHLOVEOXQWO\WKHKLHUDUFKLFDOVWUXFWXUHRIKHU society and how she, as a woman, is subordinate to the men in her life:

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her father, her husband, and her brother. With her brother’s death, anger and criticism can be heard in Makuzu’s voice: When it was determined that I, Kuzubana, would come to this place, I was told: “Motosuke will be your companion for certain. Before long he will come to Michinoku. So settle quickly and wait for him!” I believed in this promise bravely. But when I learned of his death, I was full of regrets. Feeling “hollow” I was close to madness.90

The promises that were made to Makuzu by her father could not be ful¿OOHG91 Makuzu felt betrayed. Makuzu suddenly realized that her life in Sendai had become meaningless. In Michinoku nikki, ZKLFK GHVFULEHV 0DNX]X¶V ¿UVW WZR \HDUV LQ Sendai, the reader senses her longing for her family and her loneliness, but not the resignation perceptible and dominant in later works, in particular her essay Nanakusa no tatoe (Seven Flowers of Autumn), compiled around 1814 and which includes poems from the years 1807–12. Her brother’s death had literary consequences; it stimulated the writer in Makuzu, who not only would describe trips in her vicinity and pen seasonal poems, but who also decided to recall the past.

MUKASHIBANASHI Makuzu’s response to the despair of her identity loss was to write Mukashibanashi. As we have seen, she recalls the past with nostalgia in glamorous terms. However, as Carolyn Heilbrun remarks, “nostalgia, particularly for childhood, is likely to be a mask for unrecognized anger.”92 Makuzu, in her frustration, decided to write down a past that would explain her current situation. What may have pushed Makuzu further into despair was the new head of the KudĿ household. Since Motosuke had died without an heir, a nephew was adopted from the maternal Kuwabara side. Makuzu was outraged.93 Motosuke’s successor was her nephew, [Kuwabara] KudĿ Seikei 㟴༽, Kuwabara Takatomo Yukinori’s ᱋ཋ㝧᭽ዯ์ second

90

Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 381. As mentioned before, Motosuke came to Sendai, but due to Heisuke’s worsening condition, he soon returned to Edo. 92 Carolyn Heilbrun, Writing a Woman’s Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1988), p. 15. 93 MB, p. 169. 91

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son.94 Since her nephew was only a couple of years old, we can assume that Makuzu’s cousin, Yukinori, and her uncle, Kuwabara Takatomo Jun, managed the KudĿ affairs.95 Her cousin Yukinori, who had been LQ0DNX]X¶VYLHZYHU\VHO¿VKVLQFHFKLOGKRRGDQGGLGQRWFDUHDERXW others’ feelings, did the unexpected.96 Apparently, in order to clear the debts, he grabbed and cruelly sold everything from the household (furnishings and other household items, even down to the pickles) for the PHDVO\ VXP RI ¿IW\ ryĿ.97 Makuzu knew that all her father’s belongings were supposed to go to his successor, but when she learned that a book with her father’s library seal was found in a bookstore in Sendai, she was incredulous. Yukinori had gone ahead and sold all the books. Furious, she lamented the fate of her father’s family.98 Her most drastic comment was “To hear of this happening to other people is sad, but if it happens to your own family, one has to be absorbed by hate.”99 Makuzu’s response to the destruction of her family’s reputation was to write Mukashibanashi as homage to her father. Makuzu’s “unrecognized anger” found a channel—namely her gift as a writer—and a target, the Kuwabara family. Shortly after the third memorial for Motosuke in 1811, Makuzu began writing her longest work, Mukashibanashi. We have to rely almost solely on Makuzu’s account regarding ERWKIDPLOLHVDQGWKHUHIRUHZHKDYHWRUHO\RQWKHIDFWVDQG¿FWLRQV she chose to write down.100 As we have seen earlier, the sources are too 94 MB, p. 190. The heir of the KudĿ household became blind in the Ansei period PLG WR ODWH V DW DURXQG ¿IW\ \HDUV RI DJH 7KHUHIRUH KH PXVW KDYH EHHQ YHU\ young in 1807 (AndĿ 1999, p. 16). 95 Makuzu’s uncle Jun died in 1810, and his son, Makuzu’s cousin, Takatomo Yukinori, succeeded him in his position as domain physician of the Date family. He served Date Chikamune and Date Narimura and his wife. Prior to this, as mentioned before, he accompanied Hotta Masaatsu in 1807 to Matsumae. We also know that he treated Masaatsu in 1817, for which he was rewarded with a coat (haori ⩒⧂) and 15 coins of silver (AndĿS <XNLQRUL¶V¿UVWVRQZDV<XNLKLURዯᘧ, who succeeded his father in 1855. It was Yukinori’s second son who became the heir of the KudĿ household, changing his name to Seikei 㟴༽, though he was also called Shŗan ࿔ᗙ, like Heisuke (MB, p. 191). 96 MB, p. 169. 97 Two and a half years’ supply of tofu that the KudĿ family would have consumed in their golden days. 98 MB, p. 170 and pp. 38-39. 99 MB, p. 39. 100 Makuzu disregards that the memorial was in all probability planned and executed by the Kuwabara family, to which Hotta Masaatsu as well as Murata Harumi sent or read their poetry. She only mentions that her uncle Nakasumi, as she calls her maternal uncle Jun, showed the poems around. About the memorial, see Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 383. The Kuwabara heir later published Heisuke’s single extant medical text, Kyŗon sode goyomi in 1815, which Makuzu fails to acknowledge. See AndĿ Yukiko for

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sparse to evaluate Heisuke’s life. Despite his ambitious reform plans, Heisuke was just one protagonist among many who appeared and disappeared from the frontlines of public politics. In retrospect, Makuzu perhaps saw the need to explain to her siblings and to herself how it was possible that the once splendid life of the KudĿ family had declined without a sign of better times in sight. In Makuzu’s eyes, the tragic lot of her family, and in particular of her outstanding father, needed an explanation that the surviving family members could accept. Makuzu as DZULWHUDQGDELRJUDSKHULQWHUZRYHWUXWKDQG¿FWLRQWRPDNHWKHSDVW coherent in a way that explained the vicissitudes of her own life course. The project probably was meant to soothe her grief and her vulnerabilLW\DWEHLQJOHIWEHKLQGZLWKRXWDVRFLDOO\GH¿QHGSXUSRVH ,QRUGHUWRH[SODLQWKHPLVIRUWXQHDQG¿QDQFLDOIDLOXUHRIKHUIDPily Makuzu invokes the curse of a wet nurse.101 Makuzu discloses that Shime ࠎ, the wet nurse of her uncle Kuwabara Takatomo Jun, caused the downfall of the KudĿ family with her evil and malicious thoughts.102 Shime’s curse is embedded in Mukashibanashi’s narrative like a red WKUHDG2QVLJQL¿FDQWRFFDVLRQVOLNHWKHFORVLQJRIDFKDSWHURUDQXQfortunate incident between the two houses, Makuzu reminds the reader that this is all due to Shime. Honda Masuko attributes Makuzu’s decision to blame Shime for the misfortune of the KudĿ family to the fact that it was almost impossible for her to blame the Kuwabara family directly, since it was the family of her mother. Therefore, as Honda observes, while Makuzu’s grandparents are still depicted in a favorable light, Makuzu does not hold back in her grudge against her uncle, who is a more distant blood relation.103 Moreover, even though Makuzu employs the curse of Shime, in the preface to Mukashibanashi she belies an actual belief in the curse by explaining that she recalled hearing gossip about curses and for the purpose of her story line she incorporated this trope.104 another perspective on the Kuwabara family (AndĿ 1997 and AndĿ Yukiko, “O-Nobusan [tsuzuki]” InĿ Tadataka kenkyŗ 15 [1998], pp. 10–14. Cited as AndĿ 1998a). For the medical text, see Figure 2-5. 101 Legends of curses are often passed down from one generation to another in order to explain continued misfortune or poverty. 102 Makuzu never resolves for her reader why Shime had such extreme dislike (akunen ᝇᛍ) for Makuzu’s mother that would extend to the family into which she married. 103 Honda 1992, pp. 20-24. 104 MB, p. 6. See also ľguchi 1995, p. 234, who draws upon ľta Motoko, Edo no Oyako (Tokyo: ChŗĿ KĿronsha, 1994), p. 123. ľta refers to the wet nurse and how great WKHZHWQXUVH¶VLQÀXHQFHZDVLQIRONORUH

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$QRWKHUDUJXPHQWWKDW0DNX]XXVHV6KLPHRQO\IRU¿QHVSXQHPbroidery is her taking issue with fate and human agency throughout her literary endeavors. On a separate plane of her narrative in Mukashibanashi Makuzu seems to believe that events in the life of the KudĿ family depended essentially on the ikioi (࠷ࡀ࠽ࡥ), the momentum, impetus, or tide of the time.105 Makuzu claims that her father used to say, “Fate is up to Heaven” (ten nari un nari ኮ࡝ࡽ㐘࡝ࡽ),106 or as Makuzu says in one of her darkest hours, “one’s bad luck is up to Heaven” (mi no fukĿ wa ten nari ㌗ࡡ୘ᖶࡢኮ࡝ࡽ).107 But her father also observed that even if one’s fortune had turned sour, in due course there would come the time when luck comes around again.108 This belief in the inevitable ups and downs is reminiscent of the historical consciousness found at the time in popular histories, such as those by Nakai Riken ୯஬ᒓ㌲㻃(1732–1817) and Rai San’yĿ 㢏ᒜ㝟㻃(1780–1832). In particular San’yĿ stresses the unavoidable “momentum” (ikioi) that caused unexpected change.109 The concept of “momentum” is utilized within Japanese historiography to explain, for instance, the legitimacy of drastic change from one government to another, while stressing the continuity of the imperial line.110 In a similar way, Makuzu describes the fate of the houses of KudĿ and Kuwabara in two anti-climaxes.111 Makuzu sets her narrative during Heisuke’s peak in the Tanuma era, when the Kuwabara household 105

MB, p. 52; Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 381. See chapter 6 for a discussion of

ikioi. 106

MB, p. 65. See Kirishitan kĿ ࢞ࣛࢨࢰࣤ⩻ (Thoughts on Christianity), in TMS, p. 390. (Listed under a different title: Ikoku yori…, but usually this text is referred to as Kirishitan kĿ). 108 MB, pp. 94-95. See also MB, p. 128. 109 See Shirane 2002, pp. 914-19. 110 Maruyama Masao argues that historians in the Tokugawa period justify change by citing the ikioi of the time. In particular around Makuzu’s time, both aspects, “momenWXP´DQG³FRQWLQXDWLRQ´¿QGSUHGRPLQDQWH[SUHVVLRQLQSRSXODUKLVWRULHV0DUX\DPD LGHQWL¿HVWKUHHFRQFHSWVWKDWFRQVWLWXWHKLVWRULFDOFRQVFLRXVQHVVLQ-DSDQHVHKLVWRULRJraphy: the concept of “to become” (naru ࡝ࡾ, or nariyuku ࡝ࡽࡹࡂ), “continuity” (tsugi tsugi ࡗࡁࡗࡁ), and “momentum” or “impetus” (ikioi ࠷ࡀ࡮ࡥ). Maruyama Masao, “Rekishi ishiki no ‘kosĿ’,” in Rekishi shisĿ shŗ, ed. Maruyama Masao (Tokyo: Tsukuma ShobĿ, 1972), pp. 6-19. 111 Makuzu asserts that the personalities of Heisuke and his brother-in-law are like the bright day and night. Her uncle Jun was pessimistic and gloomy, always telling the children depressing and negative stories. Her father, however, was always optimistic and full of ideas (MB, p. 62). AndĿ Yukiko interprets the two characters according to the time of their prime. Heisuke was an emblem during the “bubble economy” of the Tanuma era with his optimistic and cheerful attitude, while Jun was sound and sober during the more rational time of Sadanobu (AndĿ 1998b, p. 16). 107

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experienced hardships.112 She explains that her uncle Jun borrowed money relentlessly, while Heisuke, for whom in contrast things were going well, patiently let him do so.113 Later, when he became successful, Jun never showed his gratitude or returned the received favors.114 In fact, quite to the contrary, Jun treated Heisuke like a disciple in front of others, and even spoke ill of him, so that Heisuke was extremely irritated. Makuzu obviously takes sides with her father, saying that it is reasonable that Heisuke hated to sit next to Jun, when one considers the cause.115 The situation apparently escalated around 1789, when Jun, at a time of upturn, slandered Heisuke to patients with false accusations. Heisuke became so infuriated that he even considered divorcing his wife just to cut off his relations with his brother-in-law for good. Heisuke’s brother Nagai Kisuke intervened, saying that Heisuke needed to consider that he had so many children and his marriage was not bad either, and not least that he needed to consider his public reputation (seken ୠ㛣). Kisuke advised Heisuke not to think of Jun as a respectable person but as a terrible villain (daiakutĿ ኬᝇඨ).116 Makuzu’s disapproval that the current household head of the KudĿ family was a Kuwabara is obvious. Just as fate and its tide (ikioi) are an underlying trope in Makuzu’s narrative, so is human agency. This, again, is a notion to be found in Rai San’yĿ’s history, Nihon Gaishi ᪝ᮇአྍ (1827, published 1836), namely that the individual, by knowing the tide of the time, could participate actively in contributing to change.117 We can only conjecture ZKHWKHU0DNX]XWKRXJKWWKDWKXPDQDJHQF\FRXOGLQÀXHQFHIDWHLIE\ observation of the tide of the time, the individual could direct his or her life course accordingly, but her thoughts as expressed later in Hitori kangae strongly support this notion.118 In Mukashibanashi Makuzu points 112

MB, p. 41. MB, p. 52. 114 Jun was promoted to attendant physician (gokinju ᚒ㎾⩞) in 1781. The Date annals (Date-yo shinka-fu) mention that Jun was treating the wife of Shigemura, Narimura and his wife, and Chikamune and their children. Cited by AndĿ 1998b, p. 14. 115 MB, p. 52. 116 MB, pp. 52-53. See also ľguchi 1995, p. 232. This happened around 1789, when Makuzu’s youngest sister Teruko was about three or four years old and Makuzu was living in the house. Unfortunately, we have to rely mainly on Makuzu’s account of her maternal family, since there are no sources about the Kuwabara family, despite their involvement in important political events, such as the mapping of Japan by InĿ Tadataka ௿⬗ᚽᩏ (1745–1818) (AndĿ 1999, p. 16). 117 See Shirane 2002, pp. 915. 118 MB, p. 53. For a discussion, see Part II, chapters 5 and 6. 113

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out Heisuke’s view about Tanuma Okitomo’s assassination, which was fate, a sign “for a change” for the better.119 And soon enough, the era of Tanuma would be history. Likewise, the burning of their house is the climactic moment in Mukashibanashi when change in the ikioi of Heisuke and Jun became inevitable.120 Makuzu mentions repeatedly how, for her father, the impetus had been good. As a physician Heisuke had the right momentum (ikioi yoki ࠷ࡀ࡮ࡥࡻࡀ) needed in treating patients that her uncle Jun lacked.121 At the same time, since Heisuke experienced ¿QDQFLDOSUREOHPVDIWHUWKH¿UHIURPZKLFKKHQHYHUIXOO\UHFRYHUHG GXHWRKLVRZQPLVPDQDJHPHQWDJHQF\KDGDGLUHFWLQÀXHQFHRQWKH event. In Mukashibanashi Makuzu gives agency to her protagonists, in particular to her father.122 Since there is the option of agency, could she not also become active?

FROM VICTIM TO ACTIVIST In order to create her new identity, Makuzu accumulated much resentment and frustration that would motivate her to destroy her old self. In Mukashibanashi Makuzu offers only a cautious critique of how she was used by being sent into marriage. It took time before Makuzu could exhibit anger in public and therefore show that she was aware of and willing to confront the prevailing power structure that led to her misery. By 1814, in her essay Nanakusa no tatoe, it is obvious that Makuzu understood that it was as her father’s investment in the economy of marriage politics that she entered her newly prescribed role as wife and stepmother.123 Because of this awareness, after her sociopolitical place became obsolete due to the deaths of the men in her life, Makuzu needed to recreate herself. Her choice was to return to the role of the daughter. 119

MB, p. 128. HK, p. 289; MN 56:2, p. 178. 121 MB, pp. 64-65. 122 MB, p. 38; MB, p. 169. Makuzu never develops this notion fully here, but later in Hitori kangaeZHZLOO¿QGWKLVLVVXHUHDGGUHVVHG 123 Seki Tamiko argues that Makuzu reveals a romanticized idea about marriage and love when she explains how Russian couples give their wedding vows, and notes that DGXOWHU\LVDOVRDFULPHIRUPHQ6HNLVHHVWKLVDVWKHLQÀXHQFHRI0DNX]X¶VUHDGLQJVRI Motoori Norinaga (Seki 1980, p. 154). Since Makuzu also constantly complains about concubinage, but separates marriage and romantic affairs as two matters, I suspect that we cannot combine them so easily. In fact, Makuzu copied the description of wedding practices in Russia from Heisuke’s account, which is based on Gentan’s information (HK, p. 276; KudĿ BankĿ monjo, pp. 169-70). 120

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To make sense of her life under these new circumstances she bans her husband to the margins in her literary venture. Obviously the marriage to Iga was not supposed to bear any heir or to ensure the continuation of her natal family; the nuptial bond was solely meant to promote her brother. When Iga died in 1812, Makuzu, while writing Mukashibanashi, incorporated the tragedy into the text. Iga apparently fell sick and died shortly after in Edo. Makuzu had just returned from the Nakanome house, where she had been celebrating the birth of her sister Teruko’s son, when a messenger brought her the tragic news about her husband’s sudden death. Makuzu thought about ceasing to write, but then reconsidered that in the face of her husband’s death she should continue to write. She was in the middle of writing a lengthy recollection of her youth and time spent in Edo, and ended the recollection thereafter with some colorful descriptions of Sendai, perhaps to show respect for her late husband.124 Makuzu’s view of her marriage is expressed in her willingness to VDFUL¿FH IRU KHU IDPLO\ 6RPH WZHQW\ \HDUV ODWHU LQ Hitori kangae, her account of her departure to Sendai was meant to epitomize this, as Makuzu explains dramatically: ,UHVLJQHGP\VHOIWRP\OLIHEHLQJRYHUDWWKHDJHRIWKLUW\¿YHDQGUHsolved to regard the move here as the road of death, the journey to hell. Since the world no longer exists for me, it is as though I am no longer the same person who lived through the past.125

0DNX]X¶VVHOIGHVFULEHGVDFUL¿FHLVQRWUHÀHFWHGLQKHUOHWWHUZULWWHQ right after her arrival in Sendai to Iga, who stayed in Edo, nor in her diary, Michinoku nikki. Certainly, Makuzu would not write the same negative testimonial in a letter to her newly wedded husband, but she may not have had the same awareness of the issue yet either. Instead, at the end of the letter Makuzu expressed her hope to see Iga soon and added that she could not wait for their reunion.126 Makuzu’s marriage to a well-off warrior of 1,200 koku (compared to KudĿ’s stipend of a mere 300 koku PHDQWTXLWHDULVHLQVWDWXVDQG¿QDQFLDOZHOOEHLQJ127 She 124 MB, p. 135. In Taenu kazura, in Makuzugahara, in TMS, p. 509, Makuzu also mentions Iga’s death. 125 HK, p. 260; MN 56:1, p. 21. Also see a variant of the same in HK, p. 283; MN 56:2, p. 174. 126 Kado 2000, pp. 72-74. 127 300 kokuZDV+HLVXNH¶VRI¿FLDOLQFRPH$OWKRXJKKLVLQFRPHIURPKLVVFKRRO and his work as a town physician has to be taken into consideration, Heisuke was not DVDIÀXHQWLQWKHODWHVDVKHKDGEHHQDGHFDGHHDUOLHUGXHWRWKH¿UH,QUHJDUG WR KRZ WKH7DGDQR IDPLO\ PDQDJHG WKHLU ¿HI VHH 0RUULV DQG -RKQ ) 0RUULV

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Figure 3-12. Crest of the Tadano Family. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

proudly relates that while in Edo three servants accompanied her when she went out, in Sendai her entourage swelled to seven attendants.128 +HUH[FLWHPHQWDQGFRQFHLYDEOHDIIHFWLRQIRUKHUKXVEDQGDVWHVWL¿HG to in Michinoku nikki can be interpreted as her intention to make the marriage work since it stood for a higher purpose than her personal happiness.129 The importance of the marriage as a juncture in her own life was crucial, but given her new aims and intentions in 1814, Iga, regardless of her probable affection, could not be a main protagonist. In the same way Makuzu presents an unclear position of her own agency regarding her marriage. In Mukashibanashi she declared that VKHOHIWKHU¿UVWKXVEDQGDQGQRRQHDVNHGKHUWRUHWXUQ)RUKHUVHFRQG marriage, too, she maintains throughout that the marriage was her decision. Makuzu may present in Michinoku nikki going to Sendai as her decision in order to put a better face on events that were in fact out of her control. By 1817, when she began writing Hitori kangae, she still “Tadano-ke no chigyĿchi Nakaniida,” in Shinpen Nakaniida chĿshi (Nakaniidamachi [Miyagi Prefecture]: Nakaniidamachi, 1997). 128 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 375. 129 Makuzu’s mention in Hitori kangae of how love arises from sexual intercourse and that she herself became fond of a man that she otherwise despised due to shared intimacies may explain this further. See chapter 7.

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Figure 3-13. Makuzu’s record of game of incense. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

insists that the decision remained hers, even if its consequences led her to compare it to an act of heroic suicide. What appears to be consistent in her writings is her proclamation that the marriage was her choice. On the other hand, her testimonies of feeling victimized and caged is evidence of a conditioned agency. These ambiguities in the way she

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describes her departure are not resolved on paper and so we are left to conjecture that there were conditions that we do not know about. What we do know is what Makuzu constructs for a readership. Thus, now a widow, far from her birthplace, left with only one sister—since VRRQDIWHU,JD¶VGHDWK7HUXNRWRRKDGSDVVHGDZD\²ZH¿QG0DNX]X explaining that she has decided to continue her life as a daughter. When Motosuke was still alive he was supposed to carry out our father’s intentions, and I was at ease. However since everything has changed, if not I, then who, can at least partly make known the memories from past times? By scrutinizing my heart I never stop thinking about what penetrates heaven and earth (tenchi ni tĿru ኮᆀ࡞࡛࡮ࡾ). Should I die it cannot be helped, but as long as I live, I must continue my father’s OHJDF\:KLOHWKLQNLQJRQO\WKDWWKLVLVP\¿OLDOGXW\LWLVSDLQIXOWKDW there is no one else to rely on.130

Her “father’s intentions” (chichi no kokorozashi ∏ࡡࡆࡆࢀࡉࡊ), which were supposed to have been carried out by Motosuke, had to EH IXO¿OOHG E\ 0DNX]X131 Thereby she re-establishes her link to her paternal family and thus crosses patrilineal boundaries that give herself new meaning. This is certainly in contrast to her earlier testimonies of helplessness and victimization. Since she and her sister were women who were not able to revive the KudĿ household, Makuzu argues that she chose another way to solidify her father’s legacy, namely through her writing. She reaches out for her brush, aware of the male-dominated society that used her for political and economic reasons. Now she does what Myra Jehlen proclaims, “that woman’s selfhood, the right to her own story, depends upon her ‘ability to act in the public domain’.”132 The realization of her identity loss led to the reinvention of the serious writer, Makuzu, by way of a tool she used with accomplishment and legitimacy. She enters the male domain to exercise agency via the male-dominated rhetoric, namely that of lineage. This decision to uphold the legacy of her father must have taken form progressively over the years that followed her brother’s death in 1807. We have her written testimonies recounting her slow but steady 130 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 385. Tenchi ni tĿru (things that penetrate heaven and earth), which I interpret as what Makuzu may envision as “sincerity,” is also mentioned in Makuzu’s Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. 131 “[Taeko] gave birth to one boy, but she died soon after. Since a young child cannot continue the house, he could not be relied upon. Hagi-ni, too, was hidden in the service of the lord of Echizen, until she became a nun before the age of thirty. What a shame! There is nothing more lamentable than this” (Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 384). 132 Cited by Heilbrun 1988, p. 17.

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WUDQVIRUPDWLRQIURPWKH¿OLDOGDXJKWHUZKRDJUHHGWRPDUU\DUHWDLQHU WRWKHSDVVLYHE\VWDQGHUWRRQFHPRUHWKH¿OLDOGDXJKWHUZKRWDNHVDFtion. It was not a resolution she had made lightly for herself. We can follow her path, the doubts and the agony she felt over how to give meaning to her life again. For instance, if we compare one poem written right after Motosuke’s death in 1807 with one that Makuzu wrote in 1810, we may glimpse her changed vision of herself: ࡢ࠾ࡽ࡝ࡀ∸ᛦ࡫࡛࡙ࡗࡂࡼࡊࢎ࠽࡮ࡲࡳࡌࡦࡡ♼ࡵ࠹ࡼࡴࡊ133 With the thought Hakarinaki that there is nothing I can do mono omoetote I feel hatred even tsukurashishi for the generative gods oomi musubi no for what they have done. [1807] kami mo urameshi

and ࠾ࡼ࡞ࡊࡀ࠽ࡽࡊᡥࢂࡉࡵ㊟ࡒ࠻࡙࠵ࡷ࡞ᝊࡊࡀࡻࢅࡵࡨࡾ࠾࡝134 The work of the weaving hand Karanishiki has come to an end. orishi te waza mo Ah, if only I ato taete could let the world aya ni kanashiki know of [Motosuke]’s words! [1810] yo o mo furu kana

:KLOHWKH¿UVWSRHPUHIHUVWR0DNX]X¶VSRUWUD\DORIWKH³XJO\ZRPDQ´ who cannot be on her own, the latter indicates both the problem and the remedy.135 “If only” is Makuzu’s greatest sorrow, but we get a hint that her decision eventually will be to write. However, it will take her about a decade to eliminate the conditional and to become “literarily” the heir of the KudĿ family. By claiming that she would continue her father’s legacy, Makuzu IRXQGDMXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUKHUDFW6KHXVHGKHUOLWHUDU\JLIWDVDPHDQV now that she was not directly attached to anybody whom she could harm with what she had to say. After Makuzu resolved for herself that she ought to be the transmitter of her father’s thoughts, she then had to convince others of her legitimacy. With that as her goal, she probably 133

Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 382. Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 384. Makuzu responds here to one of the poems by Murata Harumi written for the same occasion: “The weaving hand that comforted me before is beyond compare” (ibid). 135 Another early example of her helplessness after her brother’s death: “When we, the three sisters left behind, tried to reach out to [Motosuke] who was concealed like the moon and sun by rain, our endless laments and sighs made us feel as if our hands and feet were bound” (Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 379; for more, see MB, pp. 38-39). 134

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began writing Hitori kangaeLQDWWKHDJHRI¿IW\¿YH%\WKHQ too, she had overcome the restrictive bonds of the men in her life. About a year later she sent the text through her sister to the famous author Takizawa Bakin with the request that he edit and publish it. She did so because she knew she could not on her own “come out in the world” (yo ni deru or yo ni arawareru ୠ࡞ฝࡾ/࠵ࡼࢂࡿࡾ), expressions Makuzu frequently used in regard to her brothers and other male participants in the public world who were or ought to have been successful in society.136 She knew that even if she was certain that she had the knowledge, passed on by her father, of how to aid those who suffered, she could not enter like a man into the public realm of men.

Figure 3-14. From Hagi-ni’s mistress to Makuzu. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

136

375.

See Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373; Towazugatari, in TMS, p.

CHAPTER FOUR

MAKUZU AND BAKIN ⚽ࡡୠࡡ࡝࠿ࡀࡒࡴࡊ࡞ᘤⶤࡡࡒ࠻࡟࠾ࡘࡼࡢ௥ࠍ࡞ࡈ࠾ࢆ1 In long autumn nights Aki no yo no as a sign, nagaki tameshi ni the Judas tree will hiku tsuta no ÀRXULVKIRUHYHU taenu kazura wa with its crawling vines. yoyo ni sakan කࡽ᭯㌗ࡆࡐࡂࡾࡊࡀᛦࡥ࡝ࡿୠ࡞࠵ࡼࡢࡿࢆ᫤ࢅᙽ㛣ࡢ2 Hikari ari mi koso kurushiki omoinare yo ni arawaren toki o matsuma wa

The ones who shine ought to suffer. While they wait for their turn to appear.

These two poems are essential to Makuzu’s invention of a new identity. In fact, Makuzu claims that these poems inspired her to write Hitori kangae and strengthened her resolve to send the manuscript out IRU SXEOLFDWLRQ ,Q WKH ¿UVW SRHP VKH WKH -XGDV WUHH LV JRLQJ WR GR something extraordinary so that the outcome of her action will become eternal. In the second poem, Makuzu describes herself as a person who surpasses others and thus has to suffer until her time comes to make a manifest difference in the world. To understand Makuzu’s resolve to make the text known to the world, we have to begin our discussion with an encounter that can be reconstructed today through the account of a man who is famous for meticulously recording the most minute details: the well-known author Takizawa Bakin, with whom Makuzu acquainted herself through letters. Why Makuzu chose to send a text that meant so much to her to a man she did not know remains unknown. Makuzu knew poets and scholars based in Edo who would have been able to give her advice about how to proceed with her manuscript. Shimizu Hamaomi, for instance, was correcting her poetry and prose, and he also could have evaluated Hi1 Towazugatari LQ706 S :H DOVR ¿QG WKH SRHP LQ WKH VKRUW HVVD\ Taenu kazura, in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 507-09. The poem comes in various letterings. 2 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376.

140

Figure 4-1. Takizawa Bakin. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

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tori kangae. Perhaps Makuzu showed it to him, but it is unlikely.3 Nor did Makuzu ask for help from ľtsuki Gentaku, who for many reasons would have been the suitable person to ask, since he was Heisuke’s forPHUSURWpJpDVZHOODVEHLQJ¿UPO\URRWHGLQ(GR¶VDFDGHPLFZRUOG,Q particular, when we consider the content of Hitori kangae, which is by her account Heisuke’s legacy, would it not have made sense for her to send it to Gentaku, who was not only familiar with but also interested in the same issues? Yet there is no indication that Makuzu approached him. For whatever reason, she thought that neither Gentaku nor other friends of her father, but only Bakin—who used to live with the publisher Tsutaya JŗzaburĿ ⶤᒁ㔔୔㑳 (1750–97)—would help her to get the work published. At the time, Bakin was at the peak of his popularity DVDQDXWKRURISRSXODU¿FWLRQDQGZKLOH0DNX]XZDVSUREDEO\IDPLOiar with his books, as far as can be ascertained the two had not previously had any contact. Within Hitori kangae Makuzu does not explain her decision to approach Bakin. All we know is what she reveals in one of her letters to him, where she claims that her experience with the Buddhist deity FudĿ ୘ິ was an indirect sign to make contact with him.4 Perhaps Makuzu thought Bakin would be the right person based on his reputation as a “professional,” an author whose books had been published and had been made available to a large audience. Without doubt, Makuzu was not the only one who sought Bakin’s help. He mentions with annoyance that people would frequently approach him to take their children on as his disciples or to judge their literary pieces.5 Unfortunately, Bakin himself does not offer any insight into why Makuzu approached him. Perhaps Makuzu wanted her manuscript to be published because she was afraid that, unless Hitori kangae appeared in print just as Hayashi Shihei’s controversial Kaikoku heidan did, her manuscript would be3

Makuzu’s letters to Bakin indicate that she did not approach anyone else. Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376; Makuzu no ouna, pp. 252-53. Makuzu also hints that she knows Bakin’s reasons for living in seclusion in the city (ichi ni kakure ᕰ࡞ ࠾ࡂࡿ ZKLFK PLJKW H[SODLQ ZK\ VKH IHHOV FRQ¿GHQW LQ VKDULQJ KHU PRVW LQWLPDWH thoughts with him (Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377). 5 Makuzu no ouna, p. 257. Suzuki Bokushi and his Snow Country Tales is certainly the most prominent case of the latter. The previous year, Bokushi, the learned peasant entrepreneur (gĿnĿ ㇞㎨) from the Echigo ㉲ᚃ province, today Niigata prefecture, tried for a second time to obtain Bakin’s assistance in publishing his manuscript, but the Edo author left him with nothing but empty promises. For further information on Suzuki Bokushi and his almost forty-year quest for publication, see Anne Walthall, “The Life and Times of Suzuki Bokushi,” in Snow Country Tales, by Suzuki Bokushi, transl. Jeffrey Hunter (New York: Weatherhill 1986), xlii-xliv. 4

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come scraps for mice, sharing a similar fate as did her father’s supposedly vast legacy of one hundred books. Indeed, it is likely that Makuzu meant to stir some public attention in the way Shihei did.6 Further, Makuzu, knowing that Shihei had been punished, may even have anticipated the same fate, because — if we are to believe her poetry and prose — she proclaimed that she had nothing to lose. This would also explain her decision to address a stranger instead of an acquaintance who could face punishment for breaking the law. With Bakin, Makuzu certainly chose the right person in Edo who knew about shogunal regulations and procedures in regard to publishing. But Bakin was also cautious. Unlike his former patrons, Tsutaya JŗzaburĿ and SantĿ KyĿden, Bakin KDGQHYHUEHHQ¿QHGRUEDQQHGE\WKHJRYHUQPHQWIRUQRWIROORZLQJ procedure.7 The content of Hitori kangae was unquestionably offensive under current law and would not have passed inspection. Bakin therefore could not possibly have helped Makuzu. We have to rely essentially on Bakin and his version of their acquaintance. We have some letters written by Makuzu to Bakin, one response, and two lengthy accounts by Bakin, which inform us not about why but instead about how their encounter started.8%DNLQ¶V¿UVWDFFRXQWLV the critical response to Hitori kangae, DokkĿron (Discourse of Solitary Thoughts, 1819).9 The second is Makuzu no ouna ┷⴩ࡡ࠽࠹࡝ (The Woman Makuzu, 1825), which Bakin introduced to a circle of literati friends in one of their monthly meetings.10 Fortunately, Bakin, known to be meticulous in recording and copying correspondence, compiled the letters by Makuzu for posterity.11 The discovery of one of his responses 6 About the publication of Kaikoku heidan and Shihei’s punishment, see Shinpen Hayashi Shihei zenshŗ, vol. 1, pp. 79-80; Kornicki 2001, p. 341. Shihei published his work without the permission of the shogunate, which had become common procedure. 7 See Kornicki 2001, chapter 8, for an overview of censorship regulations. 8 There are other brief mentions of Makuzu in Bakin’s written accounts, for instance in Takizawa-ke hĿmon Ŀrai jinmei bo (Records of visitors to the Takizawa house): ³,QWKHEHJLQQLQJRIWKHVHFRQGPRQWKRI,UHFHLYHGP\¿UVWOHWWHUIURP.XGĿ +HLVXNH¶VGDXJKWHU0DNX]XZKRLVLQKHU¿IWLHV´6KLEDWD0LWVXKLNR³7DNL]DZDNH hĿmon Ŀrai jinmei bo,” in Bakin, ed. Nihon bungaku kenkyŗ shiryĿ kankĿ kai [Tokyo: YŗseidĿ, 1974], p. 256). See Figure 4-2. See also Takizawa Bakin, Kinsei mono no hon Edo sakusha burui, ed. Kimura Miyogo [1971] (Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, 1988), p. 209. 9 DK, pp. 310-70. 10 Makuzu no ouna:ULWWHQRQWKH¿UVWGD\RIWKHWHQWKPRQWKRI%XQVHL The group of twelve literati included Yamazaki Bisei ᒜᓧ⨶ᠺ (1797–1856), Yashiro Hirokata ᒁ௥ᘧ㈴ (1758–1841), and Bakin’s son SĿhaku ᏺఐ (1798–1835). 11 Makuzu’s letters are compiled in Hitori kangae yohen ≺⩻㣶⥽ (Additions to Solitary Thoughts), in TMS, pp. 371-88; in Takizawa Bakin, DokkĿron, in Shin enseki jisshu, pp. 393-406; and in Bakin shokan shŗsei, ed. Shibata Mitsuhiko and Kanda Masayuki, vol. 6 (Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, 2003), pp. 233-51. My translation is based on

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WR0DNX]XZKLFK¿WVLQQHDWO\LQKLVDFFRXQWRIWKHLUFRUUHVSRQGHQFH and the fact that Makuzu used in her letters parts of Makuzugahara, support the relationship’s authenticity.12 Importantly, the perspective now changes. Bakin becomes the narrator of Makuzu’s last years, which suppresses her voice to some extent, but thereby he also provides an opportunity to examine how Makuzu was seen in the eyes of a contemporary.

EPISTOLARY INTRUSION Shortly after having put down her brush, Makuzu sent her manuscript of Hitori kangae to the famous author through her sister Taeko.13 Bakin received the manuscript in the second month of 1819 with the request that he edit and assist in publishing it. In Makuzu no ouna, Bakin recaptured for his friends the unusual circumstances of an uninvited visitor coming to the gate of his house: It was in late February of 1819 when everyone left the house to visit families for the lunar New Year’s celebration. A nun arrived at my door with DQDWWHQGDQWRI¿YH\HDUVROGRUVR14 I myself came to the door to ask where they came from; the nun answered that she was related to a doctor called Tanaka Nagamasu ⏛୯㛏─ from Ushigome ∭㎰ in Kagurazuka ♼ᴞᆊ, and rather persisted on seeing the master of the house. Since the early 1800s, I had lived in seclusion and refused to receive visitors. Although visitors come from far away with letters from my old acquaintances, I refused to see them by claiming that I was ill. Since no one was around, I had no choice but to receive the visitors at the door. “The master of the house has gone out since the morning,” I said, “I am merely maintaining the house while all the servants are gone.” Feigning to be a dedicated servant, I said, “please leave the message with me. I am sure to convey it to my master.” TMS, unless otherwise noted. 12 Untitled Letter from Takizawa Bakin to Tadano Makuzu (twenty-fourth day of the third month of 1819), in Nakayama 1936, pp. 102-08. Nakayama reproduces this letter IURP2FKLDL1DREXPL¶V± ¿UVWSXEOLFDWLRQRILWLQKokumin no tomo (The Nation’s Friend) 95, 1890 (Meiji 23). The letter can also be found in Bakin shokan shŗsei, ed. Shibata and Kanda, vol.1, pp. 118-23. My translation is based on the reproduction in Nakayama 1936, unless otherwise noted. Hereafter abbreviated as Bakin’s Letter. Makuzu’s letter Nanakusa no tatoe can be found under the same title in Makuzugahara, in TMS, pp. 500-07. 13 According to the postscript and preface of Hitori kangae0DNX]X¿QLVKHGZULWLQJ in the twelfth month of 1817 (Bunka 14), and added the preface in the twelfth month of 1818 (Bunsei 1) (HK, p. 307 and p. 260). 14 The nun was Hagi-ni, or Taeko, Makuzu’s only surviving sister.

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“This is from a relative of mine in Michinoku [Sendai],” the nun replied, taking out of her kimono sleeve a letter, an envelope with money, and a three-volume manuscript, which was wrapped in some cloth. “Please give it to the master. She wrote this manuscript and would like to have KLPUHDGDQGFRUUHFWLW+H¶OO¿QGPRUHGHWDLOVLQWKHOHWWHU,DPVWD\LQJ at Tanaka’s house for the night, and will be back tomorrow morning. Please ask him to leave me a note, even if it is only one brush stroke.” “You are aware that the master is lately quite exhausted from writing so much,” I said [in an attempt to escape my dilemma]. “It does not matter on whose order, I cannot accept this from you. I am just here to watch the house while everybody is out. If I keep it, I’ll be scolded.” But the nun would not listen to my refusal, and I ended up accepting the bundle. Saying, “I’ll be back tomorrow around 10 in the morning,” she left. After saying good-bye I went upstairs to my study and opened the letter ¿UVW7KHFRQWHQWZDVPRUHRUOHVVZKDWWKHQXQKDGDOUHDG\WROGPH%XW when I saw the letter’s ending, what haughtiness! It said, “To Mister Bakin, from Makuzu in Michinoku.” No address, nothing. Is there no limit to strange things, I wondered? Over the years, I have received various letters. But whose wife (hito no tsuma ெࡡጏ) would write a letter with such arrogance? I wondered if she was a concubine (sokushitsu ഁᐄ) who entertains at the daimyo’s residence in Sendai. What could she have written in her manuscript that came from so far?15

The manuscript mentioned is, of course, Hitori kangae. Since Bakin meant Makuzu no ouna to be read by others, we have to read his account with a grain of salt. The story is supposed to be entertaining and origiQDO$SODLQUHLWHUDWLRQRIWKHIDFWVZRXOGKDYHVDWLV¿HGQHLWKHUKLVDXGLence nor himself. Nevertheless, while some of the details are certainly part of his imagination, we can assume that there is some truth to them. From Bakin’s account it is apparent that Makuzu did not make the best LPSUHVVLRQDW¿UVWTXLWHWKHFRQWUDU\VKHIDLOHGWRDGGUHVV%DNLQFRUrectly and to introduce herself according to proper etiquette, an act that he regarded as a grave, personal offense. On the other hand, Bakin’s masquerade as a servant, too, put him in an awkward position. Assuming that Bakin in fact used this disguise, and included this not only for the sake of entertainment, we have to wonder whether Makuzu’s sister Taeko (or Hagi-ni) was misled by him or saw right through him. Either way, the story does not end here. Bakin replies with a letter. Due to Makuzu’s lack of decorum and her arrogance, Bakin declares that he decided that night to respond to her with a short note that would 15

Makuzu no ouna, pp. 248-49.

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Figure 4-2. Takizawa-ke KĿPRQĿUDLMLQPHLER (Records of visitors to the Takizawa house) with the entry of Makuzu. Courtesy of Waseda University Library.

communicate his anger and prevent any further attempts on her part to beseech him: I wrote that she should have known that I had long since withdrawn from society (ichi ni kakurete ᕰ࡞࠾ࡂࡿ࡙) — it was common knowledge. There were many Confucian scholars and scholars of Japanese learning (Kokugakusha ᅗᏕ⩽) in Edo, so why should she send her manuscript to me? In particular, if she asked someone to be her teacher, she should observe suitable procedure. … “Kyokutei” ᭜ி and “Bakin” were my pen names, and used only in this context and among my friends. … How embarrassing to be addressed as such by an old woman (tĿji ภ⮤) who obviously did not know me (since she was ignorant of my real name being Toku ゆ.)16 … Even worse, I did not have any idea who she was. (Therefore she could not simply write “to Bakin!”) It was also contrary to proper etiquette for a man and woman to exchange writings on their own without appropriate go-betweens. She should know that I am married with children. I thus had to reject her request. After conveying my anger on paper, when the nun came back the next 16 According to Mizuno Minoru the reading for the character is Toku. Mizuno Minoru, Bakin (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1959), p. 3. The KĿjien and many encyclopedias and library catalogues also read his name as Toku. Some read it as Tokuru, for instance, Zolbrod 1967, p. 132.

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morning, I said, “The master went out again very early today. I was told to say that this is his answer,” and gave her the letter, thinking that our encounter had thereby come to an end.17

Bakin’s response emphasizes that he was intrigued by her work, but that he had to pretend to be upset about Makuzu’s lack of propriety and to feign lack of interest in acceding to her request to take charge of her manuscript. As an “urban recluse” he had to preserve his image.18 For that reason Makuzu’s unwanted solicitation had to be put in the past as quickly as possible. His charade as a servant could hardly be kept up any longer without ending in embarrassment. Therefore, further encounters had to be prevented. :KDWLVQRWZLWKRXWVLJQL¿FDQFHLVWKHUHDVRQ%DNLQJLYHVIRUWKH dismissal of the request. That Makuzu as a woman should not have written directly to him—a man—is worth pointing out. In order to rid himself of the unsolicited petitioner, Bakin relied on gender prescriptions that ordained social relations, a pretext he would make use of again. Makuzu obviously ignored common practice, thinking that she needed no go-between, despite being a woman and a complete stranger to her addressee. She accounted for the reasons for her improper behavior in her second letter, where she conveyed to Bakin the seriousness of her intention. 17

Makuzu no ouna, pp. 250-51. Bakin’s view of himself is neatly displayed in a poem he wrote to Makuzu: ࠾ࡂࡿ࡙ࡵྞࡢ࠵ࡼࡢࡿࡊࡲࡡ➗ࡡெࡡࡒ࠾ࡼ࡛࡝ࡾࡻࡊࡵ࠿࡝ Kakurete mo Even in seclusion na wa arawareshi the name comes out, minokasa no this is what the person hito no takara to with the straw hat nari yoshi mo ga na wishes for as treasure. (Last paragraph of DokkĿron, p. 370.)

18

Being able to be a city recluse in Bakin’s case depended on his ability to live from his income as a writer. The “urban recluse” (shiin ᕰ㝻) phenomenon can be witnessed among literati of the Tokugawa period. Having the city right at his doorstep, being secluded only in an imagined, but not spatial, sense, offered Bakin much opportunity to take part in the life of the city-dwellers around him, but on his own terms. He was able to observe the trends and fads in the capital, but also the political atmosphere within the publishing world, of which he was informed through frequent visits from his publishers. About the phenomenon “recluse in the city” during the Tokugawa period, see the AAS panel 32, Chicago 2001. Chaired by Lawrence E. Marceau. Marceau refers to the urban recluse also in his book: Lawrence E. Marceau, Takebe Ayatari: A Bunjin Bohemian in Early Modern Japan (Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2004).

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Bakin might have thought that his encounter with Makuzu “had thereby come to an end.”19 What a surprise when only a few weeks later this Makuzu from Michinoku, whose identity remained concealed, approached him once more! This time, due to his luck or to forethought on behalf of the nun, Bakin received the letter by way of a servant, saving KLPIURPHPEDUUDVVPHQW7KHOHWWHULVEH¿WWLQJO\FDOOHGTowazugatari ࡛ࡢࡍ࠿ࡒࡽ (A Tale No One Asked For), written on the eleventh day of the third month of 1819.20 Not long ago I learned of your response. You were displeased that I did not disclose my situation. Even though you did not make it a request, I take the liberty now to send you the following response. Albeit my manuscript Hitori kangae is full of recklessness, please allow me to ask you for the favor of reading about myself, one who does not know anything about the world.21

Makuzu persisted in reopening their encounter, deliberately ignoring Bakin’s desire to be left alone. Owing to her characteristic stubbornness, which Bakin quickly came to know, a vivid epistolary exchange came about. This exchange offered Makuzu a forum to establish her intents and laments, a space where she could argue and put forward her aims, while Bakin attained for himself the role of the sympathetic listener and sometimes even participant who had an opportunity to reveal his own sorrows in return.

PRODUCING A NEW FORM OF FILIAL PIETY Makuzu knew that what she had resolved for herself, namely to claim to be the rightful heiress of Heisuke’s legacy, did not conform to social convention. She knew that she walked on alien turf with her political treatise. If she succeeded in convincing Bakin that it was important for the text to be made available to a large audience, she would be ready to make a public appearance. To Makuzu, Bakin represented a FROODERUDWRU,QKHUOHWWHUVZH¿QGDFDXWLRXVDQGGHWDLOHGOLQHRIDUJXPHQWLQZKLFKVKHMXVWL¿HVKHUDFWLQVHQGLQJHitori kangae to Bakin. 19

Makuzu no ouna, p. 251. Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 374-78. Makuzu refers in naming her letter Towazugatari to the late Heian classic, in which a woman criticizes society as a daughter in a patrilineal culture. For a refreshing analysis of Towazugatari, see Sarra 2001, pp. 89-114; see also Ramirez-Christensen 2001, pp. 12-13. This may indicate that Makuzu meant Bakin to accept her in her new role as the author of Hitori kangae, and not to regard her only as a dutiful daughter. 21 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 374. 20

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Makuzu reveals the key obstacle with which she has had to cope for many years: her role as a daughter. She explains that it was her duty, LQ DFFRUGDQFH ZLWK ¿OLDO SLHW\ WR JR WR 6HQGDL EXW WKH GHDWK RI KHU brother converted her from the promoter of her brother’s career into a powerless and meaningless onlooker. She describes for Bakin how she cannot bear the fact that her natal family faced disaster and ruin due to the absence of a male successor; neither she nor her sister Teruko could ¿OOWKLVSODFH1HLWKHURIWKHPFRXOGRI¿FLDOO\WDNHRYHUWKHUXGGHURI the KudĿ family.22 Makuzu thereby conveniently ignores the fact that a young Kuwabara has been adopted, because this information would of course only harm her argument. :RPHQ ZHUH VXSSRVHG WR EH ¿OLDO WR VXVWDLQ WKH IDPLO\ VWUXFWXUH Makuzu’s construction of her powerless position as a mere daughter who cannot do what a son is legitimately entitled to do bolsters her MXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUEHFRPLQJDQXQFRQYHQWLRQDOW\SHRIKHLU$WWKHVDPH WLPHLWUHDGLO\FRQIRUPVWRRI¿FLDOSROLF\WKDWSURPRWHG¿OLDOGHHGVDV H[SUHVVHGIRULQVWDQFHLQWKH2I¿FLDO5HFRUGVRI)LOLDO3LHW\Kankoku kĿgiroku ᏻ็Ꮟ⩇㘋), in which the shogunate selects and “establishes DVHWRIQRUPDWLYHFULWHULDIRUFRPPRQHUV´%XWHYHQLIWKH2I¿FLDO5Hcords are “a deliberate instrument of indoctrination used by and for” the shogunate to enforce the household structure, it also could help women make a case for their own agency.23 Makuzu was certainly familiar with this kind of propaganda in one form or another, which shows that it is KHU JHQGHU WKDW SUHYHQWV KHU IURP IROORZLQJ WKH ¿OLDO SDWK ZKLFK LV most regrettable, and Bakin readily agrees with her: Could it be a mistake of the generative gods (kami musubi no kami ♼ࡳ ࡌࡦࡡ࠾ࡲ)? Why would they not grant these women a son? Thinking that if only these sisters might have a male heir to praise the name and raise the family, my tears pour down in empathy because there is nothing that can be done.24

Bakin sympathizes with Makuzu’s plight as a woman, but the nuances of their arguments differ. While Bakin gravitates to the fact that Maku]XGLGQRWEHDUDQ\VRQVZKLFKLVWKHDQWLFLSDWHGDQG¿OLDOUROHWKDW D ZRPDQ LV VXSSRVHG WR IXO¿OO LQ VRFLHW\ WKLV ³GLYLQH´ IDLOXUH LV QRW 22

Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 384. Sugano Noriko, “Filial Piety in Tokugawa Japan,” in Women and Confucian CulturesHG.RS7KHUHFRUGWKH¿UVWSXEOLVKHGE\WKHVKRJXQDWHZDVSURGXFHGLQ the 1790s and issued in 1801. 24 Bakin’s Letter, p. 103. 23

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explicit in Makuzu’s account.25 Instead of regretting the fact that she did QRWIXO¿OOWKHUROHRIWKHZRPEWKDWFDUULHVVRQV0DNX]XLOOXVWUDWHVKHU determination to become active in a different role. Makuzu is clearly aware of the limitations of the female function in society. Hence she describes her position differently. Makuzu argues convincingly to Bakin how her depression over her fate as a woman grew throughout the years, culminating eventually in her death wish: So I have to ask myself, why was I born? Since I am only a woman, to think that I might be able to alleviate the suffering in the world is the PRVWGLI¿FXOWWKLQJWRGR+RZHYHUPXFK,PLJKWGLVOLNHLWWKHUHLVQR EHQH¿WLQUHVWOHVVO\JULHYLQJDOOWKHWLPHDERXWWKLVVLWXDWLRQRIPLQH, am already a widow and when I die my laments will die with me. But as long as I live I cannot cease to lament. Rather than enduring a long and painful life, I hope that I stop breathing. Then my suffering will end and I will feel at peace.26

Makuzu expresses her frustration at being “only a woman” in order to gain sympathy from Bakin.27 Makuzu relates how she found hope in the midst of despair. She explains that in an attempt to soothe her tormented mind about her helpless situation she tried to convince herself over and over that there was nothing she could do as a woman. She could not break out of her cage; she could not “come out in the world.” Yet, when she had decided that death was the only solution, something remarkable occurred: So I wished from the bottom of my heart to die, when one autumn before dawn in my dream I heard from nowhere “In long autumn nights as a sign the crawling vines.” I thought that this must be a sign from Kannon, whom I worshipped for many years. In my dream I was in high spirits, thinking that I was supposed to come up with the rest of the poem. I was VR KDSS\ DQG H[FLWHG WKDW , DGGHG WKH ODVW OLQH ³ZLOO ÀRXULVK IRUHYHU´ Thinking that the fourth line was most important, I decided upon “the eternal Judas tree.” The entire poem read as follows: ,QORQJDXWXPQQLJKWVDVDVLJQWKH-XGDVWUHHZLOOÀRXULVKIRUHYHU with its crawling vines. 25 In the section where Makuzu mentions her sister, the nun who stayed unwed, she makes no comment about her own childlessness. I have come across only one instance where Makuzu laments the fact that she did not have any children of her own (HK, p. 291; MN 56:2, p. 179). 26 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 375. 27 In fact, Bakin mentions in his letter, “Even if women are often mentioned in such works as the Biographies of Notable Women (Lienü zhuan), I know that they are not authentic. Yet you, as a woman, truly possess the spirit of a man” (Bakin’s Letter, p. 103). Bakin apparently considers virtue to be male, which I will discuss in chapter 5.

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Despite having completed the poem I was still very restless. I pondered RYHUDQGRYHUDERXWWKHPDWWHU³ÀRXULVKIRUHYHU´XQWLO,EHFDPHVLFN1RW only was my body very weak, my spirit too was fading.28

It is this disclosure, in the clear and unswerving voice of a poet, of the condition of her mind that makes the reader feel the night’s cool air ¿OOHGZLWKDQJXLVK%DNLQPXVWKDYHIHOWLWWRR0DNX]XLVFRPSHOOLQJ in her objective in unveiling to Bakin how, at the lowest moment in life, when she was convinced that death was her only recourse, she received a sign from Kannon.29 0DNX]X¶VMXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUWDNLQJDFWLRQVXUIDFHV6KHJRHVRQWRDUJXHWKDWVKHZDVHQHUJL]HGDW¿UVWVLQFHVKHNQHZWKDWVKHZDVVXSposed to live on and to set an example for others, to do something that ZRXOGODVWIRUHYHUEXWWKHQVKHORVWFRQ¿GHQFHDJDLQ$QGLWZDVDWWKDW moment, she contends, that she received yet another sign from heaven: Close by, there is an Iwa FudĿ ᒷ୘ິ (God of Fire). Every year on the WZHQW\HLJKWKGD\RIWKH¿IWKPRQWKWKHQHLJKERUKRRG>PHQ@ZLWKWKHLU little children carry the portable shrine on their shoulders. [One time] WKH\FDPHWRP\KRXVHZLWKPDQ\ÀDJVLQWKHLUKDQGVDQGUDQDURXQGDV LISOD\LQJ:KHQWKH\SDVVHGDQG,ORRNHGXSDWWKHUHGÀDJV,ZDVPRYHG and felt grateful. Afterwards, I felt slightly sleepy. I thought I should go WRVOHHSDQGZHQWWRWKHYHUDQGDZKHUHWKH¿UHÀLHVFURZGHGUHVWOHVVO\LQ a cage. While looking at them, out of nowhere it was as if I heard, “The ones who shine ought to suffer.” It revived me. I was so happy about a sign from this Buddha. I added the line, “While they wait for their turn to appear.” Based on the strength I received from this and the former poem together, I decided to write down all of what I have kept in my heart. I had to come out and say even what I was particularly afraid of. To make contact with you [Bakin], too, is because I received this sign from the deity to show this writing to someone. I deeply felt that I had to add the thoughts that I had long nurtured.30

Again, it is Makuzu’s voice, full of vivid images, that reveals her emotions to the reader. Makuzu’s comparison of herself to a creature in a FDJHLVDUHFXUULQJPRWLIIRUH[SUHVVLQJKHUIUXVWUDWLRQDWEHLQJFRQ¿QHG by social constraints.31 Now, however, she argues that she has come to 28

Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 375-76. This part is also included in Makuzugahara under the title Taenu kazura. There, Makuzu mentions that this event occurred in the fall of Bunka 12 (1815). By then she was already a widow, and of her siblings only Hagi-ni was still alive (Taenu kazura, in Makuzugahara, in TMS, p. 509). 30 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376. 31 See also Untitled Letter from the beginning of the sixth month of 1819, in TMS, p. 385. “Being taken from one cage to the other…” 29

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XQGHUVWDQGWKDWVKHLVQRWVLPSO\DELUGEXWD¿UHÀ\LQDFDJHZDLWLQJ for her “turn to appear” (arawareru). She “shines” (hikari ari). She is different. She surpasses others. The deity elucidates her suffering, which will last until she is able to break free from her barred enclosure. Her course of action is to do what she is best at: writing. Thus, she sat down and wrote Hitori kangae. Makuzu’s portrayal of herself to Bakin is supposed to convince him that there was no other option available. It is important to stress that Makuzu contends that it took her years and years to make this vital GHFLVLRQ WR HVFDSH KHU FRQ¿QHPHQW XQWLO VKH ZDV DEOH WR VD\ ³$IWHU receiving the signs of the Buddhas, however, my heart calmed down.”32 She explains that she was a woman who was different from others. She knows that people are in all likelihood not willing to accept what she has to say, as indicated in the line, “I had to come out and say even what I was particularly afraid of.”33 Sending her work to Bakin therefore had a profound meaning for her. She must have been convinced that he was the one person in the world who would help her: You, by being the rain and the wind, LI\RXKHOSPHWRIXO¿OOP\LQWHQtion, you will do what Heaven revealed!34

When she shares her experiences of heavenly signs with him in her letWHUVKHDOVRDSSHDOVWRKLPWRIXO¿OO+HDYHQ¶VGHVLJQ

BAKIN’S EMPATHY Bakin was not deaf to Makuzu’s pleas. His reaction to Makuzu’s astoundingly personal and emotional letter and essay reveals how deep the impact of her plea was on him. Bakin’s account in Makuzu no ouna puts it in simple words: After reading that long letter my tears poured down in empathy. I felt compassion and pity.35

Bakin was not angry anymore about Makuzu’s earlier lack of propriety. He now attributed her earlier lapse to not knowing proper etiquette rather than to disrespect. Despite his previous rebuttal, after reading 32

Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377. Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376. 34 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376. Bakin cites this among other parts of the letter in Makuzu no ouna, pp. 252-53. 35 Makuzu no ouna, p. 253. 33

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the letter Bakin saw the need to reply. He sympathized with Makuzu’s VXIIHULQJDQGZDVLPSUHVVHGZLWKKHU¿OLDOGHYRWLRQ+HUMXVWL¿FDWLRQ made sense to him, so he accepted her incursion into the world of men, at least temporarily. It is not only empathy that touches Bakin. One letter Bakin wrote to Makuzu survives to cast light on the thoughts and feelings that he addressed to her directly. Due to its content and its closeness in date, the twenty-fourth day of the third month of 1819—only thirteen days after Makuzu put down her brush after writing the letter Towazugatari—we can assume that it is his direct response.36 In this long letter, Bakin shows that her talent as a poet arouses his admiration, but that what surprises him most is her devotion to her family. Makuzu’s fate actually reminds him of his own tragic life: It is not quite the same, but reading about you and your siblings reminds me of myself. We also have been seven siblings, I had four older brothers and two younger sisters. The four brothers all died early, two in their childhood, one when he was twenty and one before he reached forty.37 All of them surpassed me in their talents. Although they were all strong in their dedication as samurai, they were all childless. Thus, there was no one who could continue our family line. Left are only my sisters, but they are simple women. Since their characters are shallow, they exempt themselves as partners for conversation. I think with tenderness of your disposition (kimi no kokorobae ྦࡡࡆࡆࢀࡣ࡫).38

+LVRZQOLIHIRXQGDUHÀHFWLRQLQ0DNX]X¶VGHSORUDEOHOLIH7KH7DNL]Dwa family had ended with the deaths of his brothers. His older brothers died without any heirs, and since Bakin himself had married into a commoner’s house, the family’s hereditary position as retainers came to an end. His only hope was that his son, who was to become a physiFLDQZRXOG¿QGDSRVLWLRQZLWKDGRPDLQDQGVRPHGD\EHHPSOR\HG as a retainer.39 He knew of the pain and sorrow Makuzu must have felt, living the same anguish every single day. That he learned this from a 36

Bakin’s Letter, pp. 102-08. Zolbrod 1967, p. 18; see also Kimura Miyogo, Kinen tenrankai shuppin mokuroku (Nara: Tenri Toshokan, 1967), p. 3. 38 Bakin’s Letter, p. 104. 39 Bakin’s hopes were later destroyed upon his son’s premature death in 1835. Bakin’s own status is not unambiguous. He ran away from his employment as a low-ranking warrior and lived with the publisher Tsutaya until he married O-Hyaku, whose widowed mother owned a geta (clog) shop. If he had been adopted into the merchant family he would have lost his status as samurai. But even without adoption, since he did not have any employment, he fell into the gray stratum of former samurai. For details on his life, see, in English, Zolbrod 1967; in Japanese, see Mizuno 1959. 37

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woman, however, left him amazed and envious, since his sisters could not match Makuzu’s valor. In his view, they were not even able to have an intelligent conversation. Makuzu had gained Bakin’s support. Bakin shows his changed attitude toward Makuzu’s epistolary intrusion most clearly at the end of his lengthy letter: Lately I have more than ever no time to take up my brush for my personal affairs. Since I meant to answer you by all means, after two nights writing down my foolish thoughts I came to this thin end. Thus please EHIRUJLYLQJLI\RX¿QGWRRPDQ\LQFRUUHFWZRUGVUHPHPEHUWKDW,ZDV writing at night. ࢂ࠿ࡷ࡜ࡡⰴࡈࡂࡆࢀࡵࡲࡔࡡࡂࡡ㢴ࡡࡒࡻࡽࡢ࠷࡛ࡢࡉࡽࡄࡽ 7KHÀRZHUVKHUH Waga yado no are already in bloom, hana saku koro mo news by the wind Michinoku no from Michinoku kaze no tayori wa is always welcomed. itowazarikeri There is so much more that I would like to say, but [the letter] would be too long and you might think of it as unwanted. So I will wait for the wings of the wild goose to again say more. With my deepest regard ࠵ࡷࡱࡒࡍྦ࡞ࡗࡀ࡝ࢆᖉ㞔㟐࠾ࡂࡿ࡞ࡆ࡛ࡗ࡙ࡊᩝ40 Without losing their way Ayamatazu the returning wild geese kimi ni tsukinan should reach you, kaeru kari holding the letter kasumi kakure ni in the mist of nightfall. kototsuteshi fumi

Although Bakin was under extreme pressure to keep up his busy writing schedule, he invited Makuzu to write back to him. He expected that their correspondence would continue, despite its awkward beginning.

PROMOTING THE AGENDA After having succeeded in transforming Bakin’s attitude toward her from purely negative and dismissive to compassionate and sympathetic, 40 Bakin’s Letter, p. 108. There is a problem with these two poems, as is discussed by Nakayama 1936, p. 112, and Suzuki, in TMS, p. 562. In this letter it appears that Bakin wrote both poems. In Makuzu no ouna, however, Bakin refers to the latter poem as being Makuzu’s, which would give it a different meaning (Makuzu no ouna, p. 254). However, since this is a copy of the letter, I keep it as it is.

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Makuzu took the offered opportunity and went on to promote her agenda. Only a couple of weeks later, in the letter called Mukashibanashi ᪿ ࡣ࡝ࡊ (Stories from the Past; not to be mistaken for her narrative of WKHVDPHWLWOH VKHVSHFL¿HVKHUMXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUEHFRPLQJWKHKHLURI her family. Makuzu in fact knows the intention of her father just as well as her brothers did and thus she is worthy to step into the vacant place: Even though I worry that the desire for fame, which was the family’s motivation from the time of my grandfather, will otherwise become of QRDYDLOLWLVVWLOOGLI¿FXOWIRUPHWRFRPHIRUZDUG,I,FRXOGRQO\VHHWKH family promoted even just a little. But since I am now alone, I suffer day in and day out. Even when my body rests, my heart does not. Although I recall the time when my father was alive and I remember what he said, it was meant to be my brothers and not me who would inherit his legacy6WLOO,FDQQRW¿QGSHDFH7RRPDQ\WKLQJVDUHOHIWXQ¿QLVKHGDQG prone to perish, but whom can I ask for help? Thoughts that I have had lately have furthered my decision to write this disordered (shidoro ni ࡊ ࡜ࢀ࡞) book Hitori kangae.41

Knowing that Bakin sympathizes with her aim to bring fame to her family as a woman, in this letter Makuzu proceeds to the next hurdle. She has shown that she has the required knowledge, but now she must acknowledge a problem that lies in the very act of writing itself. Makuzu is in need of an acceptable and presentable form. I discussed HDUOLHU0DNX]X¶VUHÀHFWLRQRQKHUJHQGHUHGUROHDVDGDXJKWHUDUROH that made her daily life a prison. Now we see the impediment she had WRGHDOZLWKLQKHUDWWHPSWWR¿QGDOLWHUDU\YRLFHDYRLFHWKDWUHPDLQHG otherwise “disrupted” by her gender.42 Makuzu illustrates the precariousness of using gender for her purposes: Given that I have the body of a woman (onna no mi ni shite ዥࡡ㌗࡞ ࡊ࡙) I do not worry about things that I should feel embarrassed about. +RZHYHU , GR QRW VHHN WR VD\ XQEH¿WWLQJ WKLQJV7KH\ VKRXOG EH FRUrected to make them suitable for people’s minds.43

Being a woman allows Makuzu to disregard scholarly conventions, thus she can say things directly, or as she puts it, she can “surprise the reader” 41 Letter called MukashibanashiLQ706SS:ULWWHQRQWKH¿IWHHQWKGD\RI the fourth month of 1819 (Bunsei 2). Emphases are mine. 42 I borrow here from Loftus 1996, p. 158. 43 Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 374. The three transcriptions of the letter that I use diverge here. I followed the version of Takizawa Bakin, DokkĿron, in Shin enseki jisshu: ohokenaki (Suzuki and Shibata have oboenaki ࠽࡯࠻࡝ࡀ) koto tomo o mĿsu haberi shi wa, anagachi hito no kokoro o kaku (Suzuki has kata ࠾ࡒ) torinaosan to ni wa arazu, p. 396.

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(hito no mimi o odorokasan ெࡡ⪝ࢅ㦣࠾ࡈࢆ).44 On the other hand, Makuzu uses her gender as a shield for her ignorance of worldly matters, since she is aware that the unexpected can also be embarrassing.45 This is why she needs the help of Bakin, as she maintains: Truly this is the work of a woman who does not know the outside world. Ashamed of my imprudence, I had these thoughts on my own. In Hitori kangae, which I previously sent to you, too, please erase by any means the places where I seem to touch upon public authority (kuge ni ࡂࡅ ࡞). … I am cut off in a distant land with only gods and Buddhas to ask. I am DORQH LQ WKLV ÀHHWLQJ ZRUOG hakanaku yo ࡢ࠾࡝ࡂୠ), so please be understanding.46

She humbles herself in front of the man and writer Bakin, although she strikes out in Hitori kangae to discuss issues that attest to just the opposite of a lack of knowledge and that thereby illustrate that she uses her weakness as a woman as a pretense. In fact, she frequently touches upon “public authority,” much to Bakin’s dread.47 Gender can be both a lived construction and a non-lived obstruction, and Makuzu clearly points in her letters to this ambiguity.48 This interpretation is bolstered by what she says in yet another letter: An ignorant woman wrote Hitori kangae. A woman who aspired that just for once the name of her ancestors would be spelled out for the world to see. I do not seek to address unfamiliar issues. If it is disorderly and without meaning, then it does not educate ordinary people and it should be corrected accordingly. I hope that my writing will never be ridiculed.49

We witness how Makuzu uses her womanhood to take shelter, but at the same time, she shows her fear of not being taken seriously because of her gender. It is this interlacing of gender hierarchy and the reaction of the reader—the “disruptiveness” inherent in the literary voice, which is particularly prominent in the case of the female writer—with which Makuzu seeks to come to terms.

44

Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 374. For similar expressions, see the letter called Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 374, and her letter mentioned by Bakin in Makuzu no ouna, p. 251. 46 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 378. 47 See, for instance, Bakin’s comment in DK, p. 329. 48 I draw from Leigh Gilmore, Autobiographics: A Feminist Theory of Women’s SelfRepresentation (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994), p. 10. 49 Untitled letter from the beginning of the sixth month of 1819, in TMS, p. 386. 45

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BAKIN’S DILEMMA Bakin gives Makuzu advice but not in the way she hoped. In Bakin’s ¿UVWOHQJWK\OHWWHUIURPWKHWKLUGPRQWKRILWLVHYLGHQWWKDWKH was willing by all means to help Makuzu make a name for herself in the world, but not by sending the manuscript to a publisher. I say all this because in the work you want published there are parts RI¿FLDOO\SURKLELWHG7RRPDQ\VHFWLRQVWKDW\RXGLVFXVVLQHitori kangae are taboo. … Certainly you can avoid a publisher (fumiya ࡨࡲࡷ) by obtaining the printing blocks yourself, which might be a way to esFDSHSXQLVKPHQW+RZHYHUWKDWZRXOGPDNHGLVWULEXWLRQGLI¿FXOWDQG in order to publish three volumes you need quite an amount of money. Regardless of whether this is easy for you or not, if instead you copy the three volumes and show them to people you trust, two or three out of ten will sit down to copy them once more. This way the manuscript will be circulated for a long time. Whether a work will be handed down or not depends on the quality. Having a work published does not imply that it will last. If you want the work in manuscript form to survive, it should go as planned as long as it is well prepared. In any case, do not be shortsighted, think about how to hand down your family’s scholarship for a long time!50

Bakin declares that he is experienced in the publishing world and knows all the procedures necessary under the censorship recently enforced by the shogunate.51 This is why he suggests to Makuzu that the most ef¿FLHQWPHDQVRISXUVXLQJKHUJRDOZRXOGEHWRFRS\KHUPDQXVFULSWDQG to distribute it among people she trusts. If they considered her treatise worthwhile, they would certainly copy the manuscript and distribute it further. In that case, her Hitori kangae, which was impossible to pubOLVKRI¿FLDOO\EHFDXVHRILWVSURKLELWHGFRQWHQWZRXOGRXWZLWVKRJXQDWH FHQVRUVKLSEXWZRXOGVWLOO¿QGDVHOHFWUHDGHUVKLSWKDWDSSUHFLDWHGKHU work for what it was. In his letter Bakin also pours his heart out about the publishing world that disgusts him, but also feeds him. Since the publishing world is GULYHQE\SUR¿WPDNLQJDQGQRWE\TXDOLW\%DNLQVXJJHVWVWR0DNX]X that he use some parts of the manuscript in his own publication of a VHULRXV NLQG VLJQL¿FDQWO\ QRW ³¿FWLRQ´ tsukuri monogatari షࡽ∸ ㄊ), and promises to quote her by name, which also might help her to 50

Bakin’s Letter, p. 105. Bakin’s former sponsors, the publisher Tsutaya JŗzaburĿ and the author SantĿ KyĿden, were both punished under the newly enforced censorship laws as part of the Kansei reforms (see Kornicki 2001, pp. 339-41). 51

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become known in the world as a serious writer.527KLV¿UVWVWHSZKLFK ZRXOGIRUHJURXQGKHUFDUHHUFRXOGEHVWUHQJWKHQHGE\¿UVWSXEOLVKLQJ some innocuous works, such as Isozutai ☶ࡘࡒࡥ (Tales from the Seashore), a travelogue written the previous year, 1818.53 In order to make 0DNX]XXQGHUVWDQGKRZGLI¿FXOWLWLVWKHVHGD\VWRSXEOLVKVRPHWKLQJ of substance, Bakin does not spare details. In citing well-known names and works he explains how the market controls the supply: Collections of poetry and similar works are sometimes published if the poet has many disciples. Only with the guarantee that some dozens will be bought is the publisher willing to carve the woodblocks. Otherwise, you may pay some money under the table to get them to carve your manuscript. Even [Murata] Harumi and [KatĿ] Chikage, whose names are well-known in Edo, or Confucian scholars such as [Yamamoto] Hokuzan ᒜᮇ໪ᒜ (1752–1812) and [Kameda] HĿsai ஞ⏛㭁ᩢ (1752–1826) cling to editing the classics, and it is very rare to see them publish some of their own writings. Motoori Norinaga of Ise obviously has some publications. However, among his publications there are none that are not dictionaries, such as his Tama arare ⋚࠵ࡼࡿ (1792), Jion kanatsukai Ꮚ㡚࠾࡝ࡗ࠾ࡥ (1776), or Kanji san’on-kĿ ₆Ꮚ୔㡚⩻ (1785). Treatises (zuihitsu 㝮➱) such as Tamakatsuma ⋚࠾ࡗࡱ (1795–1812) are not popular at present, and recently these books have become extremely cheap. The well-known Kojikiden ཿ஥エఎ, which is his masterpiece, is excellent though due to its [high] price not many people read it.54

Although Bakin regrets that it is a shame that great literature is not SXEOLVKHG GXH WR LWV ORZ SUR¿WDELOLW\ DQG SRSXODULW\ 0DNX]X VKRXOG not despair but should go ahead and circulate her treatise. He proclaims, “Please, with only a little of your heart think of me as your collabora52 Bakin’s Letter, p. 106. Bakin was not just trying to placate Makuzu. He found a liking for a paragraph that is missing from the more complete version of Hitori kangae, which is Bakin’s copy of the manuscript. This paragraph can be found in a shorter version of Hitori kangae, owned by the Tadano family, under the heading “Ether and Water …..” The English translation is in MN 56:2, pp. 185-86. Apparently Bakin intended to cite it in a sort of encyclopedia he was preparing. This project, however, appears not to KDYHHQGXUHGSDVWLWV¿UVWYROXPHFDOOHGGendĿ hĿgen ⋖ྜྷᨲゕ (Bakin’s Ramblings, 1818), so that Makuzu’s section never made it into print. 53 Isozutai, in TMS, pp. 244-57. Glynne Walley discusses in a conference paper how Bakin reinvented himself as a serious writer. Glynne Walley, “‘An Idiosyncrasy of My Ilk’: Takizawa Bakin’s Accounts of His Journey of 1802”; paper presented at the Early Modern Japan Network meeting at the Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Chicago, March 2005. 54 Bakin’s Letter, p. 106. Kojikiden, at the time Bakin wrote the letter, still had not EHHQFRPSOHWHO\SXEOLVKHG±IRUDOOIRUW\¿YHYROXPHV %DNLQSUREDEO\UHIHUV WR WKH ¿UVW YROXPH Naobi no Mitama ├ẕ㟃 (The Way of the Gods), the one Makuzu read as well and which was regarded as Norinaga’s most important work.

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tor (kataudo ࠾ࡒ࠹ெ).” In other words, he sees himself as Makuzu’s partner and as a person for her to trust.55 Makuzu politely respected Bakin’s advice to distribute her manuscript as copies, even though she may have wondered how he—as a bestselling author—could criticize his own source of income. She replies in her letter to him: Despite your busy schedule I was delighted to receive your detailed words of guidance. All your lines of advice, if I might say so directly, have been very comforting. I respectfully appreciate your opinion and that you use your spare time in writing to me. Also, as for what I pleaded with you to do, please arrange it any way you like. … Therefore, if you would, please, take [my treatise] to heart, leave the parts of no consequence as they are, but correct the inept sections.56

Bakin’s knowledge about the publishing world led her to follow his suggestions. She sent several of her earlier essays to him in order to make herself known before Hitori kangae started circulating. However, she mentioned again that she would like him to correct and improve her PDQXVFULSW0DNX]XGLGVRHLWKHUEHFDXVHRIKHUODFNRIVHOIFRQ¿GHQFH in her manuscript’s quality, or because she was still planning to get Hitori kangae published. Bakin did not want to discuss Hitori kangae with Makuzu any further. After giving advice as to what to do, he tried to avoid a direct confrontation with her over the treatise, preferring instead to exchange eloquent and lengthy correspondence. He enjoyed their special encounter, so different from that with his other (male) correspondents.57 For him to take a position regarding the content of Hitori kangae would have changed their relationship drastically. He would have needed to direct their relationship from a personal to a more professional level, a step he was not ready or willing to take. Bakin’s encounter with Hitori kangae ¿QDOO\IRUFHGKLPWREUHDNRII his relationship with its author. According to Bakin, in the late fall of the same year (1819) Makuzu once more inquired about his comments UHJDUGLQJKHUPDQXVFULSWVRWKDWKH¿QDOO\VDZQRRWKHUFKRLFHEXWWR deal with this troublesome task. Toward the end of the year he wrote

55

Bakin’s Letter, p. 106. Untitled Letter from the beginning of the sixth month of 1819, in TMS, p. 386. 57 Bakin’s correspondence with his closer friends is preserved. See Bakin shokan shŗsei, ed. Shibata and Kanda, 7 vols. 56

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his critique, entitled DokkĿron (Discourse on Solitary Thoughts). Along with it, Bakin sent a letter requesting an end to their correspondence. I sent the letter to Michinoku in return, saying: “I had hoped of always having this correspondence with you. However, the relation between man and woman might be criticized, as it is wrong that an old man (kashira no yuki ࠾ࡊࡼࡡ㞯) gazes at an old woman (fuyu no hana ෢ࡡⰴ). Besides, my profession does not allow any free time, and if I think about age, even old friendships have become more distanced. This is why I hope that our correspondence will come hereby to an end.”58

Bakin’s side is conveyed to us only in his account Makuzu no ouna, for which he had a public readership in mind, and which therefore might contain a creative reconstruction of the events on his part. The question remains as to what might have caused Bakin to end their relationship. $JDLQ ZH ¿QG %DNLQ¶V DOOXVLRQ WR DQ DOPRVW URPDQWLF LPSURSHU HQcounter between them, which therefore needs to end.59 This is probably the writer in him who knows how to make a story interesting. Was he really convinced, as he claims, that it was necessary to follow proper etiquette? Or was the real obstacle his critique? Did he feel that he had no other choice after writing DokkĿron, a text that criticizes Makuzu’s self-asserted lifework line by line? In Makuzu no ouna Bakin argues that it was Makuzu’s secretive behavior that eventually caused friction. Apparently, and one letter by Makuzu substantiates this, they were already four months into their corUHVSRQGHQFHEHIRUH%DNLQFDPHWRNQRZDWOHDVWVRPHVSHFL¿FVDERXW Makuzu’s marital family, the Tadano, and about her residence in Sendai.60 Bakin informs his readers in Makuzu no ouna: 58

Makuzu no ouna, p. 255. 1DND\DPD(LNRDUJXHVWKDWIRUERWKLWEHFDPHPRUHDQGPRUHGLI¿FXOWWRFRQWLQXH their correspondence, since they were a man and a woman who had never met in person (Nakayama 1936, p. 119). Nakayama mentions a legend about Bakin and Makuzu circulating in Sendai probably until at least early Meiji. According to the legend, Bakin divorced his wife and went to Sendai with the intent of marrying Makuzu. Since he was only a commoner and the Tadano family was of warrior rank, he was not welcomed. In DQLQQLQ6HQGDLKHFRPSRVHGSRHPVZKLFKKHVHQWWR0DNX]XXQWLOWKH\¿QDOO\PHWLQ person. He was shocked by her ugliness and ran back home to Edo (Nakayama 1936, p. 118). There are many other speculations about Bakin’s change of mind, and Nakamura quotes Mayama Seika ┷ᒜ㟯ᯕ (1878–1948), who tried to analyze Bakin’s state of mind at that time. Whether he had some problems with a certain woman, or he felt weaker than this woman, or whether it was just because it was cold at his desk that he got upset and consequently had no good words for Makuzu, are some of the possibilities (Nakayama 1936, p. 117). 60 Untitled letter from the beginning of the sixth month of 1819, in TMS, p. 386. “I had no reason not to disclose my own and Hagi-ni’s place of residence and to imply thereby that I did not want to reveal myself. Why should I hide? My intention is only 59

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Without knowing each other’s appearance we became close, but as time goes by, do we not invite suspicion?61 Moreover, I do not know the masWHURIKHUKRXVH6LQFHVKHPHQWLRQHGNHHSLQJRXUUHODWLRQVKLSFRQ¿GHQWLDOZHVKRXOGQRWH[FKDQJHOHWWHUV:LWKWKHWKRXJKWWKDWLWLVGLI¿FXOWWR let go, it was not possible not to let go. I wondered if there is not a link from a former life.62

Bakin pretends that he has problems with their ongoing correspondence despite his desire to carry on. He contends that he knows that their relationship is contrary to proper etiquette, since a third party did not introduce them, and her family in Sendai does not know about him. Although he does not want to end this encounter either, he again withdraws under the pretext of their different genders. In all likelihood Makuzu’s persistent reminder to Bakin to deal ZLWKKHUPDQXVFULSWZDVWKHWUXHREVWDFOHWRWKHLUUHODWLRQVKLS:H¿QG him hesitant to respond to her request, not because he did not want to help her, but because he wanted to be her trusted friend rather than her teacher. The personal interest outweighed the professional. His uneasy feeling about his new role found expression in DokkĿron, in which he apologized for his straightforward criticism: +RZHYHUHI¿FLHQWPHGLFLQHWDVWHVELWWHUDQGWKXVFULWLTXHOHDYHVDEDG taste. When you criticize me for doing so, then what I did was truly in vain.63

When he wrote DokkĿron, Makuzu became his disciple and therefore he needed to articulate a teacher’s admonishments.64 for the sake of our ancestors, therefore I did not see the need to mention my dwelling. I [Makuzu] live in Sendai Kawauchi, called Motohasekura. The mansion of Tadano Iga (about 1000 koku LVSDVWWKHRXWHUULQJRIWKHFDVWOH+LVRI¿FHLVWKDWRIDJXDUG at the lord’s residence in Edo, and he is listed in the Book of Heraldry (bukan). The head of the family is now his son, who is called Tadano Zusho ྅㔕ᅒ᭡ Hagi-ni is Taeko (now called ZuishĿ-ni) who worked in the women’s quarters of Matsudaira, lord of Echizen. When her mistress passed away, Hagi-ni started living in their mansion in Reiganjima. Now that I have written all this down, please, do not feel bitter anymore.” 61 Ri no ka ni kanmuri o tadashi, uri no sono ni kutsu o iruru hito ᮜࡡୖ࡞෗ࢅḿ ࡊ⎡ࡡᅧ࡞ᒓࢅ࠷ࡾࢎெ. Literally: the person who straightens his hat under a plum WUHHDQGDGMXVWVKLVVKRHVLQWKHPHORQ¿HOG7KHSURYHUErika ni kanmuri o tadasazu kaden ni kutsu o irezu ᮜୖ୘ḿ෗ ⎡⏛୘⣙ᒓ) states that the superior man should not behave suspiciously, since by putting down one’s hat, others may believe one is going to steal the fruits of the tree, and by bending down to one’s shoes, others may believe one is stealing melons. 62 Makuzu no ouna, p. 256. 63 DK, p. 370. 64 In Makuzu no ouna Bakin mentions that he did not take any disciples, but Makuzu was an exception (Makuzu no ouna, p. 257). Nakayama points to a passage in his famous NansĿ Satomi Hakkenden (Biography of Eight Dogs, 1814–41) where the hero accepted a female pupil in his school, and she likens it to his encounter with Makuzu (Nakayama 1961, p. 156).

Figure 4-3. Hagi-ni’s letter (2) to Makuzu. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

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That Bakin, with publishers appearing at his doorstep urging him to deliver promised manuscripts, took the time to write DokkĿron more or less non-stop for two weeks shows how seriously he took Makuzu. He did not want to take on the task, but once he committed himself to it, he proceeded in his meticulous way, ultimately writing even more pages than she had delivered. In DokkĿron he assumes the role of the DFDGHPLF:H¿QGKLPSUDLVLQJKHUDVDWDOHQWHGZULWHUEXWKHLVDOVR shocked and surprised at the same time to be confronted with a woman who dares to touch upon topics of foreign and domestic political affairs. He disapproves of her unconventional approach and he does not agree with the content of Hitori kangae in many ways. As we will see in my discussion of Makuzu’s thought, Bakin’s criticism is harsh indeed and more than once he emphasizes her ignorance due to her lack of a conventional, i.e. Confucian, education. Accordingly, DokkĿron has a very different tone from that of his letter or of the essay Makuzu no ouna. It is a text that, even though not written in classical Chinese, is replete with quotations from the Chinese classics that constitute his critique. In the end, Makuzu’s and Bakin’s contrasting convictions may have caused the termination of their relationship. Bakin’s pretext of proper etiquette and his protestations of lack of time are not convincing. However, Bakin expresses the inevitability of the break by defending his decision to write the text in the way he did: There is no way to use the brush without making some mistakes. The discussion of the good and the bad parts takes the [Confucian] teachings as the ground to break her arrogance. This might sound childish, but if I only praise her, it will not be an enlightening example. It might be called thickheaded, but the ax (ono ᩴ) that I was handed to clear the underbrush would otherwise not be doing its task. I have always believed if you trust someone, and you do not admonish out of fear of the other’s anger, then there is not much virtue in the relationship.65

$JDLQZHQRWLFHWKHHPRWLRQDOFRQÀLFW%DNLQZDVZUHVWOLQJZLWKHYHQ some years later. Why else would he defend DokkĿron? Bakin takes the task that Makuzu asked him to do very seriously, which explains his self-appointed mission to educate, not only to correct her writing style and grammar, but also to rectify her thoughts. Yet, since he cannot agree with the content of Hitori kangae, he sees that his critique has led to a dead end in their relationship. Makuzu, however, continued to seek the publication of her text. 65

Makuzu no ouna, p. 255.

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THE END OF THE RELATIONSHIP Knowing only Bakin’s side, we are left to conjecture how Makuzu must have felt when she received the letter and DokkĿron. In the following spring, after sending off DokkĿron, Bakin received a letter each from Makuzu and her sister Taeko, accompanied by gifts.66 The next year in spring, I received from Hagi-ni [Taeko] the response from Michinoku. When she saw that I was criticizing the way Hitori kangae was written, the nun must have felt angry. The anger came out in her brushstrokes. In this way she was inferior to her older sister, and I began to know her narrow-minded, womanly disposition (fujoshi no kishitsu ፦ ዥᏄࡡẴ㈹). Makuzu was different: “How honest was your letter that I received with so much pleasure. There is no limit to how fortunate I am that you generously wrote this massive piece of advice, although you, with no time to spare in the winter, had to put aside the demands of the SXEOLVKHUVZKRSHVWHU\RXUHTXHVWLQJWKHSUR¿WRIQH[WVSULQJ,ZLOOGR all I can to repay this blessing even from the other world (nagaki yo ni ࡝࠿ࡀୠ࡞).”67

In Makuzu no ouna %DNLQ FODLPV WKDW 0DNX]X LJQRUHG KLV ¿QDO OHWter, in which he basically had ended the relationship. Instead, Makuzu appreciates his efforts. She is not angry, unlike her sister who shows her “womanly disposition,” but grateful, or this is at least what Bakin contends. Bakin reports that he immediately acknowledged having received the thank-you letter, and was answered again by Makuzu. Both were caught in a situation that, according to Bakin, became more and PRUHGLI¿FXOW68$IWHUVHQGLQJHDFKRWKHU¿QDOOHWWHUVWKHUHODWLRQVKLS apparently stopped. Makuzu would have realized that Bakin was not going to help her bring about the publication of Hitori kangae. We do not know Makuzu’s reaction. There is no evidence to indicate that she continued to write anything comparable to Hitori kangae except for an undated short essay on Christianity.69 Nor do we have any other written evidence dated after 1820. Some speculate that Bakin’s sharp, painstaking, and lengthy criticism of Hitori kangae might have GHVWUR\HGKHUVHOIFRQ¿GHQFH70 Indeed DokkĿron, in which Bakin examined Hitori kangae paragraph by paragraph to discuss and mostly 66 The gifts were a brush, a bookmark, and paper, all specialties from Echizen, which indicate that Taeko and not Makuzu must have sent them, because Taeko was living on the grounds of the lord of Echizen. 67 Makuzu no ouna, pp. 255-56. 68 Makuzu no ouna, p. 256. 69 Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, pp. 389-91. For a discussion see chapter 6. 70 Seki 1980, p. 163; ľguchi 1995, p. 247.

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)LJXUH*UDYHRI0DNX]X6KĿRQML7HPSOH6HQGDL

dismiss Makuzu’s argument as being off course, i.e. not following the Confucian Way,71 could certainly have had this result. When we consider, however, that one of Makuzu’s key arguments in Hitori kangae is that the Way is useless, it does not seem that Bakin’s “Confucian” 71 By being off course of the Way, Bakin implies that Makuzu was not educated in classical Chinese (kanbun), nor was she trained in discussing theories or philosophies (Makuzu on ouna, p. 249).

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critique would have had such a strong effect. Her essay on Christianity certainly agrees with her former convictions and is not a sign of her having had second thoughts. Then again, it was Makuzu’s lifework that was severely criticized by a person she respected and trusted. While it is impossible to establish what caused Makuzu’s decision to put down her brush, another possible reason might have been her health. She had already written earlier that her right hand had been bothering her for a while, and that her eyesight was worsening.72 In the citation above she refers to her death (nagaki yo), and she might have had concrete reasons for doing so.

WORK OF REGRET Bakin ended their correspondence with his response to Hitori kangae, but the thought of Makuzu would stay with him for many more years. Two weeks after writing DokkĿron Bakin copied and compiled Hitori kangae and an appendix with Makuzu’s letters, which is the reason we have these precious documents today. He made a careful compilation of Makuzu’s other manuscripts, which he kept for many years in his extensive library. We even know that Bakin lent some of Makuzu’s other works to his friends as late as the early 1830s, giving us additional grounds to believe that Makuzu left a strong impression on him.73 7KDW %DNLQ UHJUHWWHG WKH EUHDN ¿QGV LWV VWURQJHVW H[SUHVVLRQ VL[ years later, in Makuzu no ouna, or at least this is what he wants his readers to believe. The account provides proof that he did not want to end their relationship, but felt that he had to after he was pressed to write DokkĿron: Afterwards, on sleepless nights I would think of [Makuzu], taking out her letters the next morning, weeping sorrowfully. For the next three years, her sister Hagi-ni would send a servant to purchase the medicine we sell. According to my daughter he would pass on a message from Michinoku [Sendai] inquiring about my well-being each time. Ah, how sad, if I think of it!74 72 “After I received FudĿ my illness lessened but my right hand still hurts. When I take up the brush it does not go the way I want, and I cannot read small writing due to my weak eyesight. I started thinking of it as what is called aging” (Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376). 73 Kimura Miyogo, Takizawa Bakin—hito to shokan (Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, 1998), pp. 150-56. 74 Makuzu no ouna, p. 256.

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Bakin alleges regret for having initiated the rupture in their relationship. In his story, Makuzu had become a heroine. We can assume that his praise for Makuzu in the account is genuine from the fact that Makuzu no ouna was written before Bakin was aware of Makuzu’s death, and for that reason was not meant as a eulogy. Makuzu had died in Sendai on the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month of 1825, and it was four months later that Bakin learned about her death from a friend whom he had asked to inquire after her on the latter’s trip to Sendai.75 $UHDGLQJRI0DNX]X¶VOHWWHUVWR%DNLQLOOXVWUDWHWKDWVKHXVHG¿OLDO piety as a pretext in order to present in Hitori kangae her provocative views as a woman.76 Her claim that she stepped in as the representative of her deceased father may explain why she touches upon topics such as economy and politics, which were not only taboo under shogunate law—although that did not stop many intellectuals from discussing them—but also belonged strictly to the educated, male domain. The variety of ideas and information expressed in the text on these issues might have derived therefore from her father, or from her brother Motosuke, who had also died by the time Makuzu reached for her brush, and whose erudition had been widely praised.77 But even if, as she argues in Hitori kangae, “I wrote this book thinking that unless I pursued my father’s goals, he would have developed his ideas in vain,” Makuzu’s distinct discussion of gender suggests that her ideas are more than a reiteration of her father’s.78 Makuzu was not merely the spokesperson, but also the authoritative voice behind her words. To society and probably also to herself, by claiming that she had become the family’s agent, she accomplished a twofold deed: she could cross gender boundaries, which allowed her WRDQQRXQFHKHUEHOLHIVZKLOHDWWKHVDPHWLPHVKHIXO¿OOHGKHUGHVLUH to make her father’s thoughts eternal. Ironically, however, in writing Hitori kangae Makuzu severed her bond to her father, since its contents attest that Makuzu had found a political voice of her own. Makuzu’s act of writing Hitori kangae is more than unusual. I am not aware of any other woman before her time who took such a radical step. 75

Makuzu no ouna, p. 257. Makuzu is also explicit when she says in Nanakusa no tatoe “While thinking RQO\WKDWWKLVLVP\¿OLDOGXW\kĿ Ꮟ), it is painful that there is no one else to rely on” (Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 385). 77 See, for instance, Makuzu’s letter Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 378, p. 379, p. 383, or the narrative Mukashibanashi, MB, p. 126. 78 HK, p. 283; MN 56:2, p. 174. 76

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Nor, apparently, was Bakin.79 This is why Makuzu had to justify her act. We have seen that she employed two explanations for her actions, expressed in her letters to Bakin. First, Makuzu stressed her difference from others, even that she had received some divine blessing. She was told to become active in order to help the suffering in the world. Second, she made a convincing case that she had to write down her family’s legacy as the only surviving member who was able to do so, ignoring WKHRI¿FLDOKHLU7KLVOLQHRIUHDVRQLQJLQGLFDWHVWKDW0DNX]XXVHG¿OLDO piety prescribed by Confucian teachings, which have a central function in Tokugawa social practice, in order to make her actions acceptable. (YLGHQWO\ 0DNX]X ZDV FRQYLQFHG WKDW WKLV H[SUHVVLRQ RI ¿OLDO SLHW\ would raise her act above the social function expected of her gender. 7KDWWKLVMXVWL¿FDWLRQVXFFHHGHGFDQEHVHHQLQ%DNLQ¶VDSSURYDO These two explanations give rise to a further consideration. At the core of her reasoning is the question of why Makuzu needed to justify the act of writing Hitori kangae LQ WKH ¿UVW SODFH 0DNX]X ZDV well aware of the restrictions on a woman’s participation in intellectual discourse in whatever form, but in particular in a written treatise. She knew she was walking in new and unfriendly territory and for this reason she chose Bakin as her collaborator. He was a successful, male writer who should have been able to tell her how to complete her draft in order to make it presentable enough to be taken seriously and to be published. However, Bakin was not willing to put his neck out for her. Writing DokkĿron already meant more to him than he usually was willing to say on paper. 7KHUHDVRQZK\,SXWDPXIÀHUerimaki ࢄࡽࡱࡀ) around Makuzu’s manuscript is that even if I considered publishing it, there are too many taboos touched upon. Moreover, my DokkĿron should not be shown to other people either.80

According to him, it was the content of her treatise and not her gender that made him come to this conclusion. But might these not be related?

79 Bakin’s Letter, p. 104. Bakin points out that Makuzu’s aspiration to get her work published is not common, since he recalls only a few women whose works actually had been published, but then few men’s writings had been published either. 80 Makuzu no ouna, p. 256. The last entry in DokkĿron, too, mentions that the text is not supposed to be shown to others (DK, p. 370).

PART TWO

HITORI KANGAE (SOLITARY THOUGHTS) When Makuzu took up her brush in 1818 to write Hitori kangae, she meant to come to terms with her long-sustained crisis. She had lived in Sendai for twenty years and had reached a point in her life where she ZDVORQHO\DQGLVRODWHG+HUPDUULDJHE\QRZDWWKHDJHRI¿IW\¿YH had become meaningless because her brother had died young without OHDYLQJDQKHLU0DNX]XKHUVHOIKDGEHHQDZLGRZIRU¿YH\HDUVDQG of her natal family in Edo, only one sister was left. In previous chapters I introduced Makuzu’s poems and letters, which she wrote throughout the years after she left Edo. They recount how she came to question her very existence and purpose in life. Her father’s dream of restoring the family to its former glory had evaporated; all Makuzu had left were the broken pieces of her memories of better times. After she reached the lowest point in her life, she reinvented herself. Claiming that she had become the heiress to her father’s legacy, she wrote a political treatise. Without a doubt, Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori kangae is a landmark in the history of women in Japan in that she invaded academic turf, the preserve of men. In feminist scholarship much has been written about the gender barrier that a woman has to overcome in order to be able to express herself and to create her own identity in writing. Hitori kangae illustrates how Makuzu resolved gender difference in a male-centered world, and thereby shaped for herself a strong female identity. Makuzu FODLPHG ¿OLDO GXW\ DV KHU XQGHUO\LQJ PRWLYH ,Q KHU ZRUN KRZHYHU despite links to and appropriations of Heisuke and his ideas, Makuzu gives expression to her own political and socioeconomic views. It is the thinker and reformer Makuzu who opens a platform for discussion and debate against the prevailing scholarship of her time. In the late eighteenth century, scholars all over the country produced a wealth of political treatises that proposed economic and political reforms.1 Harry Harootunian argues that around that time, scholars such as those retrospectively grouped in the Ancient Learning School, Na1 See, for instance, the series of Nihon keizai sĿsho, ed. Takimoto Seiichi, 36 vols. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai SĿsho KankĿkai, 1914–17); or Nihon keizai taiten, ed. Takimoto Seiichi, 54 vols. [1928–30] (Tokyo: HĿbun Shokan, 1992).

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tivism, Western studies, or the Mito school were searching for new norms that would improve current conditions because they all recognized that politics and culture had drifted apart. Knowledge, formerly the rulers’ exclusive tool of power, now was available to larger parts of society, and scholars, conscious of their awkward social position, sought to use knowledge to resolve this discrepancy. Makuzu’s Hitori kangae has to be seen as one such product. The function of the scholar in society is particularly central to our discussion of Makuzu’s political consciousness. Scholars argue from the premise that, as occupiers of a political sphere based on knowledge, it was their task to become active.2 The fact that her father was part of the public realm made it possible for Makuzu to become active as well. Makuzu saw herself as part of the public sphere; indeed she envisioned the public sphere to be “Japan.” Moreover, she saw it as her function to address political matters in public. Hitori kangae is unmistakably Makuzu’s contribution as a scholar, as we can see in her efforts to bring about its wider distribution. Rather WKDQFRQ¿QLQJKHUVHOIWRZKDWZHUHFRQVLGHUHGWKHDSSURSULDWHIHPLnine subjects of her day, Makuzu took on “manly” matters: the political and economic conditions she saw around her. Yet, how do we read a SROLWLFDOWH[WE\VRPHRQHOLNH0DNX]X"0DNX]XGRHVQRW¿WLQWRFRPmon intellectual discourse easily, as we will see in the next chapters; her gender, and hence her education, deviate from those of the scholDUVZHNQRZ7KLVPD\DOVRH[SODLQZK\0DNX]X¶VFRVPRORJ\DW¿UVW seems idiosyncratic with its peculiar elements, as we will encounter, in particular, in chapter 6. When considering, however, that Makuzu’s principal concern is how to help contemporary society, even though she approaches solutions in her way, she is not removed from current debates. While she refers repeatedly to her personal view of how to make sense of the world around her, she is in fact responding to many issues that were at stake in public debate. Makuzu’s thoughts as expressed formally in Hitori kangae, therefore, cannot be taken literally as “solitary thoughts” written in disconnection from daily life. Makuzu was not always physically at the margin; it was only after her move to Sendai that she felt isolated. She spent her early maturing years in Edo. Her life in her father’s house involved visitors from a wide spectrum of society: scholars, poets, politicians, economists, and physicians, who would gather to discuss national and international issues. Later her service in the mansions of the Date and Ii houses, too, 2

Harootunian 1989, p. 180.

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gave her much opportunity to mingle with people from all stations and with all kinds of interests. Reading books on Kokugaku thought and looking at Western books may well have helped Makuzu in the formation of her conclusions. It was mainly her father’s instructions and his social network, however, that helped to develop her thoughts so that she IRXQGQRGLI¿FXOW\LQFULWLFL]LQJ&RQIXFLDQLVPLQSDUWLFXODU6RQJ&RQfucian cosmology, which at Makuzu’s time was widely taught. It also explains why Makuzu explicitly touches upon the topics that were of concern in her time: foreign encroachment on Japanese shores, Western medical knowledge, consequences of the increasingly prominent money HFRQRP\FRQÀLFWVEHWZHHQWKHFODVVHVDQGQDWLRQKRRG Nevertheless, Makuzu’s unconventionality promotes a different approach to intellectual discourse. She opens to us hidden pathways between categories of intellectual schools. As Carlo Ginzburg suggested, HYHQWKRXJKLWLVPRUHGLI¿FXOWIRUWKHKLVWRULDQWRXQGHUVWDQGWKHVL[teenth-century Italian miller of the Friuli, Menocchio, and his ideas, since he belongs to the peasant class, a careful analysis actually allows us to recognize the popular culture of the time, a culture that has otherwise not been investigated because we have lacked direct access to its discourse.3 Makuzu’s social position as the daughter of a physician-scholar and wife of a samurai does not constitute the same gulf between her and us in understanding her notions, because her position does not differ markedly from that of the ruling class with which we are more familiar. Rather it is her gender and hence her education, as we will see, that creates a gulf of understanding. However, when we “reconstruct” the informants—her social context—through an analysis RIWKHQHWZRUNVDQGFLUFXLWVDYDLODEOHWRKHUZH¿QGWKDWKHULGHDVKDYH much in common with some of the intellectual debates of her time. Makuzu’s knowledge derives from Heisuke and his network and from her reading of nativist thinkers. Yet, through her sharp observation of her environs in Edo and Sendai, which led to her original conclusions, we can gain another vision of the late Tokugawa period. Furthermore, we are forced to reconsider our strategies of how to read the intellectual environment of the late Tokugawa period, because Makuzu’s cosmology can tell us much about the state of intellectual trends in the public realm of her time. The reading is challenged by Makuzu’s arrangement of Hitori kangae. The intellectual discourse offered there is not obvious or easy to 3 I thank Kate Nakai for leading me to Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993).

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JUDVSDW¿UVW$OWKRXJKWKHVWUXFWXUHRIWKHWH[WDSSHDUVWREHRUGHUHG because Makuzu labeled each section, the content is neither strictly FRQ¿QHGWRWKDWLQGLFDWHGE\WKHKHDGLQJQRUGRHVKHUDUJXPHQWDWLRQ follow what a modern reader might regard as conventional logic. However, it is apparent that she continually emphasizes certain issues of importance to her. She lays out a red thread for the audience. Since Hitori kangae is a treatise rather than a narrative, multiple threads are pulled along, which she picks up, drops, and picks up again along the way. To get yet a deeper understanding of Makuzu’s notions expressed in her individual style, however, we are in the fortunate position of having another text that joins Hitori kangae directly with a response and critique. Bakin left us DokkĿron, his answer to Makuzu, in which he takes up her text laboriously, page by page, and therefore assists us with his way of reading and interpreting Makuzu’s thought. Thus Bakin’s interpretation enables us to position Makuzu’s notions within their contemporary intellectual world. Since he represents a conventional way of argument (although I do not maintain that his thoughts are not original) he gives us one viewpoint from which to understand Makuzu’s words by someone who was part of a similar and overlapping political and LQWHOOHFWXDOFXOWXUH7KLVLVFRQ¿UPHGE\KLVUHVSRQVHLQZKLFK%DNLQ DI¿UPVWKDWKHZDVIDPLOLDUZLWKPDQ\RIWKHZRUNVVKHKDGUHDG Even though we do not know why it was Bakin to whom Makuzu sent Hitori kangae, the step proved to be vital for the treatise’s destiny. Bakin did not respond to Makuzu’s desire to see her work published, but he was ultimately responsible for its survival. It was through his DokkĿron and Makuzu no ouna that Makuzu became known,4 and most likely his copy of the manuscript of Hitori kangae was the basis for the one that has survived to the present. Suzuki Yoneko surmises that Bakin’s copy passed into the hands of Kimura MokurĿ ᮄᮟ㯪⩹ (1774–1856), a friend of his from Shikoku. A certain Tamai Yukiatsu ⋚஬⾔⠔ made a transcription of this version in 1848.5 Tamai’s transcription, Hitori kangae shĿroku ≺⩻ᢊ㘋 (Excerpts from Solitary 7KRXJKWV ZKLFK FRPSULVHV DERXW ¿IW\ SDJHV LQ WZR IDVFLFOHV ZDV included in the second volume of NisshĿen sĿsho ᪝ῦᅧཽ᭡, a collection of miscellaneous works compiled by Katayama ChŗdĿ ∞ᒜ෦ ᇸ (1816–88), which is today held by SeikadĿ BunkĿ 㟴Ⴢᇸᩝᗔ in Tokyo. Seki Tamiko discovered the existence of this version only in the 7KHVH¿UVWDSSHDUHGLQSULQWLQDQGUHVSHFWLYHO\ Tamai added a number of comments to the text.

4 5

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1980s.6 As the title suggests, Tamai seems not to have copied the entire manuscript, apparently omitting two or three sections. Nonetheless, it is the fullest extant version of Makuzu’s work known today. A manuVFULSWRIWKH¿UVWFKDSWHULQ0DNX]X¶VKDQGHYLGHQWO\ZDVSUHVHUYHGLQ the Tadano family until the twentieth century. According to a colophon (dated 1926) to a copy of that manuscript, also held by the Tadano family, plans had been made to publish it, only to have the original lost in the 1923 KantĿ earthquake.7 Therefore, without Bakin’s fame and his well-known fastidiousness about recording and copying documents of all sorts, it is doubtful that we would have come to know about Hitori kangae today. While it is still unknown whether Makuzu went ahead with Bakin’s advice and circulated the manuscript among friends, we know that Bakin did so. At least one of his friends received a copy, on which our manuscript is based. We also know that Bakin lent some of Makuzu’s other works to his acquaintances as late as the early 1830s, providing evidence that Makuzu indeed left a strong impression on him. On the WZHQW\¿UVWGD\RIWKHVL[WKPRQWKRI%DNLQZURWHDOHWWHUWRKLV friend in Matsuzaka, Tonomura JĿsai Ẃᮟ⠓ᩢ, in which he said that he had lent Makuzu’s manuscript ľshŗbanashi the previous year to Yashiro Hirokata ᒁ௥ᘧ㈴ (1758–1841).8 The old man Hirokata, however, told him that he had lost the manuscript. In his letter, Bakin wonders if JĿsai had made a copy because he had once also lent a copy to him. Bakin even writes that he had already sent a letter to Makuzu’s sister Teruko to inquire if there was another copy of the manuscript, even offering to pay her for it. To his regret she said she did not have a copy either.9 Evidently he was able to retrieve a manuscript, because in the end of the year 1832 Bakin compiled ľshŗbanashi and Isozutai.10

6 6HNLIRXQGWKHSLHFHDQGLGHQWL¿HGLWDVEHLQJE\0DNX]XDIWHUZULWLQJKHUDQDO\VLV of Hitori kangae, which is included in Seki 1980. 7 See Suzuki, in TMS, p. 598. Suzuki Yoneko has also discussed the differences among these copies in Suzuki Yoneko, “‘Hitori kangae’ shiron: Sono hĿhĿ to jitsugaku, kokugaku no eikyĿ,” Todai ronkyŗ 24:3 (1987), pp. 72–87. See Figure 6-1. 8 Yashiro Hirokata was part of the Toenkai (Rabbit Grove society), to which Bakin presented Makuzu no ouna. 9 See the letter in Kimura 1998, pp. 150-56. For the section about Makuzu, see p. 154. 10 Postscript to ľshŗbanashi and Isozutai, in TMS, p. 258.

CHAPTER FIVE

CRITIQUE OF THE MASCULINE WAY The revered and august Amaterasu ľmikami is a female deity. Princess Okinagatarashi is also a female deity, and she conquered foreign countries. In later times, there has been no greater work than The Tale of Genji, beautifully written by Murasaki Shikibu. In a book that came from a Western country, I saw a [picture of a] woman about to perform a dissection. Why, then, can’t we be ambitious even though we are women?1

While women were prevented from exercising direct political authority or even activity, at least publicly, Makuzu, with these words and ¿OOHGZLWKDPELWLRQGRHVKHUXWPRVWWRH[SODLQWRORUGVDQGWKHLUDGYLsors the current desolate sociopolitical and economic conditions in her country.2 While the brush became Makuzu’s weapon in her battle to IXO¿OOKHU¿OLDOGXW\LWZDVDOVRWKHRQO\PHDQVVKHKDGDVD ZRPDQ to continue her father’s legacy. Even so, for a woman to be concerned with political matters makes the text singular for its time, and Makuzu appeared to be aware of the limitations she faced as a woman in the society of her time. The following discussion analyzes how Makuzu argues within Hitori kangaeWKDWVKHLVTXDOL¿HGWRZULWHDSROLWLFDOWH[WGHVSLWHKHUJHQGHU Here, in contrast to her letters, Makuzu gives us a different version of her identity, namely as the authorized and legitimate author of a political treatise. She uses two correlated strategies, the reinterpretation of WKHSUHYDLOLQJJHQGHUGLVFRXUVHDQGDQHZGH¿QLWLRQRIHQOLJKWHQPHQW that together assist her in overcoming her assigned feminine roles in society. These strategies support her agenda of opening “academics,” the preserve of the male, in particular Confucian, scholar, in order to PDNHWKDWVHDWRILQÀXHQFHDFFHVVLEOHWRDZRPDQ 1

HK, p. 273; MN 56:1, p. 30. Amaterasu ኮ↯ኬᚒ♼ is the mythical sun goddess who sent her grandson to pacify the Japanese islands; Okinagatarashi ࠽ࡀ㛏ࡒࡼࡊ is the legendary Empress Jingŗ ♼ຉኮྟ, said to have led an invasion of Korea in the third century; Murasaki Shikibu ⣰ᘟ㒂ÀFD LVWKHDXWKRURIWKH¿UVWQRYHOLQ Japan, The Tale of Genji; about the anatomy book see later in this chapter. 2 Martha Tocco, “Norms and Texts for Women’s Education in Tokugawa Japan,” in Women and Confucian Cultures, ed. Ko, p. 206.

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THE MASCULINE WAY In early modern Japan, “academics,” which I use here for the term gakumon Ꮥၡ (lit. “scholarship”), cannot be understood in its modern meaning, but rather as an environment nurtured in educational institutions that were widespread and that by the late Tokugawa period reached out to the remotest areas.3,QFOXGLQJVFKRROVIRUVDPXUDLRI¿cially sponsored by the shogunate or the domains and schools for commoners (terakoya ᑈᏄᒁ), in which rudimentary education was given, the numerous private schools or academies that educated and trained an intellectual elite played an essential part in creating this academia: an elite, a society of knowledge, that had learning and self-cultivation as its objective.4 Historians emphasize that these schools helped to overcome social barriers, since students from all walks of life enrolled. Whether one was a samurai, a merchant, or a peasant, education was available and encouraged even without direct enrollment, since books and manuscripts were available because of the growth in publishing.5 Even if there was not a modern professional academia, many intellectuals found employment as advisors to lords or within the shogunate. Others opened their own schools or practiced medicine while continuing their scholarly investigations. In other words, even if there was no disciplined landscape of academics in the sense we understand it today, we can recognize a status group of scholars and independent intellectuals who were regarded as such: for instance, Heisuke and many of his friends. As mentioned earlier, the status of Heisuke as a physician was ill-de¿QHGVRZDVWKHSRVLWLRQRIWKHVFKRODUgakusha Ꮥ⩽). The reason for this ambivalence lies in the structure of Tokugawa society. As part of 3 ,WKDQN+HUPDQ2RPVIRUSRLQWLQJRXWWRPHWKHWHUP³DFDGHPLFV´6HHIRUGH¿QLtions of gakumon, Ronald Dore: “Gakumon—learning to read the works of the Seijin (Sages) and their interpreters—is a religious duty, an essential precondition for the virtuous life which is enjoined on us by our debt to Tenchi+HDYHQDQG(DUWK ,WVIXO¿OOment is measured not by the acquisition of knowledge, but by virtue of the student’s conduct” (Dore 1992, pp. 36-37). Or, “study becomes a social duty, not simply a matter which rests between a man and Tenchi (Heaven and Earth), or a man and his own conscience or sense of self-respect” (Dore 1992, p. 41; see also p. 38 for various opinions of gaku). 4 See, for education, Dore 1965; for schools, see Rubinger 1982. 5 About the growth of book printing and the spread of lending libraries from the latter half of the eighteenth century onward, which generated a widespread rise in education, see Kornicki 2001.

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Makuzu’s effort to participate in intellectual debate, she addressed her audience in the common academic tradition by associating the lords and their advisors with the role of gentlemen or superior men (kunshi ྦᏄ) versus others, who are the lowly or mean (shĿjin ᑚெ).6 This FDWHJRUL]DWLRQUHÀHFWVDQLGHDOVRFLHW\EDVHGXSRQWKH&RQIXFLDQRUGHU as prescribed and discussed in the Chinese Classics, which puts classes into a hierarchy depending upon the virtue of the individuals in them. Since in Tokugawa society the social structure placed the warriors by birthright at the top of the classes, two visions of society coexisted from WKHEHJLQQLQJ:KLOHLWPD\QRWKDYHEHHQVRGLI¿FXOWWRHTXDWHUDQN ZLWKPRUDOLW\LQWKHFDVHRIORUGVWKHPRUHDSSDUHQWFRQÀLFWZDVIRXQG in the group of scholars whose rank was outside of the class structure EXWZKRWKURXJKWKHLULQWHOOHFWXDOHQGHDYRUVZHUHLGHQWL¿HGDVkunshi. The question of how to bring together intellectually a society divided by birthright and by Confucian ideals of virtue was never resolved, and 0DNX]XDFFHSWHGWKLVLQKHUHQWFRQÀLFWDVGLGPDQ\RWKHUV Nonetheless, while the academic path proved to be an opportunity to cross class boundaries and to heighten one’s status within society, gender apparently did not provide such an opportunity. Women and men were not usually educated together.7 Makuzu herself mentioned that her upbringing differed markedly from that of her brothers. For instance, Bakin grew up as an average son of a samurai; he received formal education in Chinese learning (Kangaku ₆Ꮥ), meaning both its framework (Chinese philosophies) and medium (language).8 Makuzu did not receive this “male” education and therefore, as she assured her readers, she saw the world and her society from a different angle.9 6

How this division of society plays into Makuzu’s reform plans we will encounter in chapter 8. 7 See, for instance, the illustrations for peasants (nĿgyĿzue ㎨ᴏᅒఌ), discussed by Nagano Hiroko in Nagano Hiroko, “Nihon kinsei nĿson ni okeru masukyuriniti no kĿchiku to jendă,” in Jendă de yomitoku Edo jidai, ed. Sakurai Yuki et al. (Tokyo: SanseidĿ, 2001). Or see Kuwabara Megumi, “Kinseiteki kyĿyĿbunka to josei,” in Nihon josei seikatsu shi, ed. Joseishi sĿgĿ kenkyŗkai, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1990). 8 For a discussion of Kangaku see Kurozumi Makoto, “Kangaku: Writing and Institutional Authority,” in Inventing the Classics, ed. Shirane and Suzuki, pp. 201-219. 9 HK, p. 269. Here I suggest expanding the insight proposed by Kurozumi Makoto. While Kurozumi maintains that Kangaku helped “to give birth to kokugaku in the late (GRSHULRGDQGFRQWLQX>HG@WRKDYHDVLJQL¿FDQWLPSDFWRQQDWLRQDOODQJXDJHFXOWXUH and political discourse in the Meiji period,” it is worthwhile also to scrutinize other, non-academic intellectual endeavors outside of the binary of Kangaku and Kokugaku,

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It is not that there were no educated women in the Tokugawa period. To the contrary, upper-class women and wealthy elite commoners were educated beyond basic literacy. Indeed, in Makuzu’s time, we witness a larger population, including women, who were not strictly trained in Kangaku fashion, but who received their instruction in circles that focused on Japanese poetry (wabun ࿰ᩝ), which certainly widened and emancipated the formerly “male” path for the diffusion of knowledge to both men and women, but since men often would have already received basic instructions in Kangaku, it was more frequently women who received such instruction.10 Women’s education, however, was meant as an investment toward better social status, and not toward intellectual independence.11 Women were educated to prepare them for domestic and social responsibilities after marriage. In fact, Confucian scholars, such as Kaibara Ekiken ㇽ ཋ─㌲ (1630–1714), mention that the education of daughters should not be neglected.12 Basic texts for girls (Ŀraimono ᙸᮮ∸), for instance, Onna daigaku ዥኬᏕ (Greater Learning for Women), which were designated to educate women, make it obvious that women were deemed to be in need of an education that differed from men’s.13 Makuzu, too, wrote educational pieces, which bolsters Martha Tocco’s argument that an “increasing visibility of women in the public role of teachers shows

ODUJHO\GH¿QHGE\ODQJXDJH.XUR]XPLS 10 Certainly there were Tokugawa women who were educated in Chinese language and literature, for example, Arakida Reijo Ⲡᮄ⏛㮿ዥ (1732–1806) or Ema SaikĿ Ờ 㤷⣵㤮 (1787–1861). In addition to SaikĿ, six other women published their personal anthologies of Chinese poetry. For a list, see Mari Nagase, “Pursuing ‘Women’s Words’: The Poetry of Ema SaikĿ,” in Conference Proceedings: “Across Time and Genre: Reading and Writing Japanese Women’s Texts” (Edmonton: University of Alberta, 2002), pp. 100-02. Or see Yu Chang, “Cultivating the Universal Self: Two Women Kanshi Writers in the Late Edo Period,” pp. 167-71. I have not yet seen a discussion of whether these women were also thoroughly trained in the Chinese classics and their interpretation. Women who were Kangaku teachers in the later half of the nineteenth century are mentioned by Mehl 2003, p. 82. 11 See, for instance, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who does not deny female intelligence, yet who regarded intelligent women as a source of trouble. See Shŗshinroku ಞᚨ㘋, cited in Umehara TĿru, Kinsei no gakkĿ to kyĿiku (Kyoto: DĿhĿsha, 1988), p. 252; and see P. F. Kornicki, “Unsuitable Books for Women?,” MN 60:2 (2005), p. 156. 12 Tocco 2003, p. 195. 13 In Tokko 2003, Kaibara Ekiken received a necessary re-evaluation. He has been too long falsely accused of penning Onna daigaku.

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that teaching had become a suitable occupation for women as a gender group.”14 Makuzu’s participation in academics, however, was a different issue. As will become evident from the following analysis, gakumon, or academics, was a male domain. For this reason, Makuzu’s gender, and not so much her status, distinguishes her intellectually from her father and his social network. She displays an astonishing knowledge of other countries, history, and economic conditions, as Bakin remarks. Bakin’s principal critique of Makuzu’s thesis, however, is related to an implied discrimination against women rooted in the opacity of the intellectual discourse itself. For this reason, we need to unveil the gender discourse deeply embedded in the academic discourse of Tokugawa Japan as well as in our modern interpretations of that discourse. The relationship between man and woman was overlooked by scholarship in general.15 Bakin unintentionally discusses the concealed gender discourse within academia. He claims: This old woman Makuzu from Michinoku [Sendai] has the habit of pondering constantly all kinds of things. She wrote all these new ideas down in a book called Hitori kangae, a task that eased her idle time during sleepless nights. Although there is a tradition of court women who ZURWHZLWKPXFKWDOHQWWKH\ZURWH¿FWLRQZKLFKLVXQOLNHZKDWWKLVROG woman discussed with much care, namely how to rule the country and even how to cultivate yourself. She has the body of a woman, but her mind is manly! Nevertheless she was anxious and sent the manuscript in the second month of this year to me, who enjoys certain renown, with WKH UHTXHVW WR FRUUHFW KHU IDXOW\ SDUWV 'HVSLWH WKDW DW ¿UVW , ZDV GLV-

14

Tocco 2003, p. 194. For Makuzu’s primers for poetry, see TMS, pp. 393-403. Further, not only poetry but also geography etc. were subjects that found widespread interest as we can see from the number of academic texts for women. Tocco 2003, p. 199. 15 There is a brief consideration about the relationship between man and woman, for instance the locus classicus found in Mencius, Bk. 3, 1, 4, 8: “Between father and son, there should be affection, between sovereign and minister, righteousness, between husband and wife, attention to their separate functions; between old and young, a proper RUGHUDQGEHWZHHQIULHQGV¿GHOLW\´The Works of Mencius, transl. James Legge [New York: Dover Publications, 1970], pp. 251-52). See also in the Doctrine of the Mean, 20, 8: “The duties are those between sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband and wife, between elder brother and younger, and those belonging to the intercourse of friends” (Confucius: Confucian Analects, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, transl. James Legge [New York: Dover Publications, 1971], p. 406-07).

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pleased about this gifted woman, every time I read [Hitori kangae] over again I was surprised anew and my mind was stimulated. However, there are many parts that I cannot tolerate, because they are not corresponding [to the teachings] of the sages. Although I was not sure what to do about them at this point, I could not just return [the manuscript] knowingly [as it was].16

With this preface to DokkĿron, Bakin discloses his surprise at what Makuzu has to say in her treatise, that her goal is to give advice on political matters and self-cultivation. Both issues conventionally occupy the mind of the scholar. Therefore, Makuzu, Bakin argues, is not only a talented woman but she enjoys an extraordinary or, in his words, “masculine” or “manly” mindset (onokodamashii ࢅࡡࡆࡓࡱࡊࡥ).17 :H¿QGKHUHWKHLPSOLFDWLRQWKDW%DNLQDVVXPHVKLVSHUVSHFWLYHLVXQderstood and shared by his reader. On the surface, Bakin criticizes Makuzu’s intellectual approach, her ignorance of the Confucian Way, not because such thoughts come from a woman but because, to his regret, her writing is in the antiConfucian tradition of Kokugaku and Rangaku (nativist and Western Studies).18%DNLQ¿QGVWKHZHDNQHVVRI0DNX]X¶VWUHDWLVHKHUH(YHQ if she has new things to say that are astonishing and thought-provoking, given that they are not “according to the teachings of the sages,” which is in his opinion the point of reference for any discussion, he sees the need to redirect her notions back to the Confucian Way.19 Although in DokkĿron Bakin seems not to be committed to any particular Confucian tradition, and his arguments and his positive evaluation of Norinaga’s work give testimony to his intellectual eclecticism, he is a representative of the conventional educational, or academic, tradition.20 16

First paragraph of DK, p. 310. Emphases are mine. See also, “To begin with, this old woman Makuzu has the spirit of a man” (Somosomo kono Makuzu no tĿji wa, onokodamashii aru mono ࡐࡵࠍࡆࡡ┷⴩ࡡภ⮤ࡢ࠽ ࡡࡆࡓࡱࡊࡥ࠵ࡾࡵࡡ), Makuzu no ouna, p. 253. And see again “Even if women are often mentioned in such works as the Biographies of Notable Women (Lienü zhuan), I know that they are not authentic. Yet you, though a woman, truly possess the spirit of a man” (ouna ni shite, onokodamashii ࢅ࠹࡝࡞ࡊ࡙, ࢅࡡࡆࡓࡱࡊࡥ), Bakin’s Letter, p. 103. Emphases are mine. In the following I render onokodamashii as “masculine” and “manly” to emphasize the attribution of gender. 18 See for instance the comment by Bakin in HK, p. 282. Or see DK, p. 315. 19 See last paragraph of DK, p. 370. 20 For Bakin’s comments on Norinaga, see Makuzu no ouna, p. 255. Bakin became the disciple of Kameda HĿsai ஞ⏛㭁ᩢ (1752–1826) in 1789, himself a student of Inoue Kinga ஬୕㔘ᓓ (1732–84). Kinga was a student of Ogyŗ Sorai’s disciple Ino17

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Therefore when he points out more than once that it is extremely rare WR ¿QG VXFK DQ H[FHSWLRQDO ZRPDQ DQG WKDW 0DNX]X ³WKLQNV OLNH D man,” we see that gender played an important role in academia. Bakin’s “academic eyes” and Makuzu’s eyes were the divide between these two thinkers not only because of their academic versus non-academic, Confucian versus anti-Confucian views, but also because of their opposite genders. In fact the two are connected. Gender and the occupation of the scholar, namely the comprehension of things, are ostensibly two unrelated issues.21 However Bakin frequently links them in DokkĿron; for instance, “this is not anything a woman can know, so Makuzu should then refrain from discussing it.”22 Moreover, to Makuzu both issues were of direct concern, as she discussed them continually in Hitori kangae. In her case, being a woman and not being a scholar trained in Confucian texts were related; both constituted barriers that Makuzu strove to overcome. There was a masculine academic paradigm that is ignored or buried in Bakin’s text. In fact academics were deeply steeped in shared analytical conventions of textual exegesis and methodology of interpretation.23 The Tokugawa thinkers with whom we are familiar today were all part of this academic tradition; they all shared the same framework, medium, and points of reference that Kurozumi Makoto incorporates into the term Kangaku (Chinese learning).24 In the late Tokugawa peue Randai ஬୕⹊ྋ (1705–61). However, his broadly used citations from Confucius, Mencius, ItĿ Jinsai, and Laozi indicate his eclecticism. Biographers and scholars of Bakin have been concerned mainly with his views on literature or with the literary asSHFWVRIKLVZULWLQJVVXFKDVKLVLGHDVRQSRSXODU¿FWLRQKLVWRULFDO¿FWLRQHWF%DNLQ¶V philosophical ideas have not been discussed so far. A thorough investigation of Bakin, the thinker, therefore is needed. In English, Leon Zolbrod mentions Bakin’s education only in passing (Zolbrod 1967, pp. 72-73). 21 See, for instance, the last paragraph of DK, p. 370. 22 DK, p. 340. 23 For instance, Maruyama Masao has argued that the nativists in their structural approach are close to the Ancient Learning School (kogaku ཿᏕ), in particular to Ogyŗ Sorai. For a discussion, see Peter Nosco, “Nature, Invention, and National Learning: The Kokka hachiron Controversy, 1742–46,” HJAS 41 (1981), p. 79. See, for instance, how intellectuals from opposing “schools” engaged in dialogues, such as nativist Kamo Mabuchi responds to Dazai Shundai, ItĿ Jinsai to Kada no Azumamaro, Motoori Norinaga to Ichikawa Tazumaro, Kagawa Kageki to Kamo Mabuchi, and so forth. I refer here to debate not as direct dialogue, but as a thesis and its later refutation. 24 Kurozumi 2000, p. 213. Therefore it is often argued that Western books that came LQWR-DSDQODFNHGPHWDSK\VLFDOFRQFHSWVWRH[SODLQVFLHQWL¿FPRGHOVZKLFKHQDEOHG Japanese scholars to interpret these within their own theoretical, mostly Confucian, lan-

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riod, knowledge, especially medical knowledge, was conventionally acquired through the study of Song Confucian interpretations. This was enforced with the Kansei reforms of the 1790s, and was indicated by the newly opened domain schools throughout the country.25 Even if there were schools that had other ideological orientations, the majority of the schools integrated these interpretive texts into their curriculum. For instance, Motoori Norinaga, one of the “four masters” of nativism, who was trained in Chinese Studies and Chinese medicine, and thus Song Confucian ideology, would acknowledge: “Since olden times, scholarship typically means Chinese studies.”26 Further, Murata Harumi, Makuzu’s “uncle,” mentions in his short treatise, Wagaku taigai ࿰ Ꮥኬᴣ (An Outline of Japanese Learning, 1792), too, that today the “way of scholarship” (gakumon no michi Ꮥၡࡡ㐠) is Confucian studies.27 It would take one or more generations of scholars who were not thoroughly trained in Kangaku to succeed in making their scholarship at least respected, even though not mainstream.28 Makuzu was writing at the turning point in academia when more schools of Kokugaku, Shingaku ᚨᏕ (Heart Learning), and Western studies began emerging. But it was not only her ignorance of language and the classics that set her apart; Makuzu’s gender went against the conventions as well. Therefore when we embark upon an analysis of a non-academic thinker, it is necessary to be conscious of possible frictions with the tradition. Makuzu’s thoughts were based on the perception and obserguage. See Albert Craig, “Science and Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan,” in Changing Japanese Attitudes toward Modernization, ed. Marius Jansen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965). 25 For an investigation of the Kansei reforms, Song Confucianism, and domain schools, see Ooms 1975. See also Backus, 1974. 26 “Mukashi yori, tada gakumon to nomi ieba, kangaku no koto nari” ࡳ࠾ࡊࡻࡽࠉ ࡒࡓᏕၡ࡛ࡡࡲ࠷࡫ࡣࠉ₆Ꮥࡡࡆ࡛࡝ࡾ From Motoori Norinaga, Uiyamabumi ᏫẒᒜ㊻ (First Steps into the Mountains), in MNZ, comp. ľno Susumu and ľkubo Tadashi, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Chikuma ShobĿ, 1968), p. 7. Cited by Seki Tamiko, “Gakumon to josei,” in Nihon josei no rekishi, ed. SĿgĿjoseishi kenkyŗkai (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 1993), p. 137. Bakin respects Norinaga for being thoroughly educated in Kangaku (DK, p. 360). 27 Murata Harumi, Wagaku taigai, in Kinsei shintĿ ron, comp. Taira Shigemichi and Abe Akio, NST 39 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1972), p. 448. See, for a brief discussion of the text, Winkel 2004. 28 The self-styled student of Norinaga, Hirata Atsutane ᖲ⏛⠔⬅ (1776–1843), for instance, was not well respected among scholars. Bakin thinks of him as a scholar not to be taken too seriously because of his lack of education (DK, p. 360; also p. 359).

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vation of her time and society. Because of her father, who was convinced that Makuzu “would not suffer any disadvantage at all if [she] were kept from reading Chinese works,” she herself claimed that she was able to “think and write about such things [as those discussed in Hitori kangae] because [she] did not fall into Chinese ways of thinking.”29 For this reason Makuzu did not approach her arguments and notions from and within the framework that was common in scholarship as displayed so painstakingly by Bakin. In order to interpret Makuzu’s thought within the existing intellectual discourse we have to be aware of this crucial incompatibility. Nonetheless, Makuzu was still, just as any other thinker, part of Tokugawa society and was not removed from its constraints and the power relations built upon its ideologies. When Makuzu based her noWLRQVRQREVHUYDWLRQVRIVRFLHW\VKHZDVUHVSRQGLQJWRWKHUDPL¿FDtions of ideologies in social practices. These doctrines often collided with changes in the socioeconomic structure of society, in particular by the late eighteenth century, but still a set of broadly shared assumptions about the relationship between humans and their environment coexisted and were interrelated in sociopolitical life. While Makuzu perceived some of these contradictions, she missed others or embraced WKHP7KXVZH¿QGLQKHUWKRXJKWVVRPH²LQSDUWLFXODU6RQJ&RQIXcian—remnants that she sought so ardently to abolish. Even if she was not trained to use the same tools of reference available to her father and other scholars, she still observed her environment through indoctrinated glasses, albeit with female eyes. For this reason, it is helpful to compare Makuzu’s original thoughts with those of leading intellectuals to establish a point of reference. Since she works from within the ruling discourse, she offers us a perspective on an otherwise buried cultural diffusion.

DEFINING GENDER Makuzu knew that her gender was an obstacle in her effort to be politically active. Her way of dealing with it was to demarcate the concept RI³ZRPDQ´7KDW0DNX]XZDVDEOHWRUHGH¿QHJHQGHULQKHUSDUWLFXlar way can be explained by the fact that ambiguous and variable notions of gender circulated during the Tokugawa period. As shown in 29

HK, p. 269; MN 56:1, p. 27.

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recent studies, gender did not correspond to physiological sex, either in PHGLFDORULQWHOOHFWXDOGLVFRXUVH6WDUWOLQJO\ZH¿QG0DNX]XJLYLQJ DQXQDPELJXRXVGH¿QLWLRQRIJHQGHU
Even if Makuzu refers here to Norinaga’s Kojikiden ཿ஥エఎ (Commentary on the Records of Ancient Matters), she does not join in his discussion, which explains the various interpretations of each single word of the ancient text, but—and this is a sign that she read texts with her own pair of female eyes—she recognizes in this part of the Kojiki how in the beginning of human time differences of the body led to the divide of male and female.33 30

For analyses of gender, see Susan Burns, “The Body as Text: Confucianism, Reproduction, and Gender in Tokugawa Japan,” in Rethinking Confucianism, ed. BenjaPLQ$(OPDQHWDO/RV$QJHOHV8&/$$VLDQ3DFL¿F0RQRJUDSK6HULHV SS *UHJRU\3ÀXJIHOGHUCartographies of Desire: Male–Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999); Jennifer Robertson, “Sexy Rice: Plant Gender, Farm Manuals, and Grass-Roots Nativism,” MN 39:3 (1984); Terazawa 2001. 31 Motoori Norinaga, Kojikiden, in MNZ, vol. 9, p. 165. The Kojiki says, “[Izanagino-mikoto] asked his spouse Izanami-no-mikoto, saying: “How is your body formed?” She replied, saying: “My body has been growing more and more, but it has one place ZKLFK KDV IRUPHG LQVXI¿FLHQWO\´7KHQ ,]DQDJLQRPLNRWR VDLG ³0\ ERG\ KDV EHHQ growing more and more, but it has one place which has formed to excess ….” Translation is mine and differs from Kojiki, transl. Donald Philippi (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1968), p. 50. 32 HK, p. 285. My translation here differs slightly from the one in MN 56:2, p. 175. For a similar passage, see HK, p. 266; MN 56:1, pp. 24-25. 33 Motoori Norinaga, Kojikiden, in MNZ, vol. 9, p. 169, for Norinaga’s explanation of the terms.

Figure 5-1. From the Left: .DLWDLVKLQVKR&RXUWHV\RI:DVHGD8QLYHUVLW\/LEUDU\$GDP.XOPXV·VOntleedkundige Tafelen &RXUWHV\RI:DVHGD8QLYHUVLW\/LEUDU\-ŗWHL.DLWDLVKLQVKR&RXUWHV\RIWKH/LEUDU\RIWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI/HLGHQ

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Makuzu is not the only woman who pondered over the relationship between the genders after reading Norinaga’s translation of the cryptic text, but Makuzu takes her thoughts in a more radical direction.34 Makuzu’s reading of the KojikiIRUKHURZQGH¿QLWLRQRIJHQGHU as based on dissimilar sexual organs was probably further reinforced E\ D :HVWHUQ VFLHQWL¿F QRWLRQ RI WKH ERG\ +DYLQJ EHHQ UDLVHG LQ D household where Western medicine was discussed and where books were made available to her, Makuzu admits to having seen a book that depicts a woman about to perform a dissection. The likelihood that she was referring to Adam Kulmus’s Ontleedkundige Tafelen (Anatomical Tables) is considerable.35 Having gazed at illustrations of dissected KXPDQERGLHVVKHGHWHUPLQHGWKDWWKHVLJQL¿FDQWGLIIHUHQFHEHWZHHQ “man” and “woman”—which would be easily recognizable to the layperson—was indeed only in their sexual organs.36 By latching gender onto biological sex, which is visible, she can clarify otherwise possible ambiguities. Makuzu’s interpretation of the Western physical body together with her reading of Norinaga offered her a satisfactory means for making sense of social life. She assimilates thereby her understanding of the prevailing gender discourse to biological difference. Sex thus equals JHQGHU7KLVRQ¿UVWVLJKW XQDPELJXRXVGH¿QLWLRQ FRPSOLHVZLWK WKH GH¿QLWLRQ RI WKH PRGHUQ PHGLFDO ERG\ D QRWLRQ WKDW ZH KDYH FRPH to criticize and historicize.37 In the Tokugawa period, too, gender and 34

See, for instance, the samurai woman Iseki Takako, who after reading Norinaga points out that, since man and woman constitute an essential union from the beginning of time, even if the role women play is different from that of men, their value is essentially the same. Iseki Takako nikki, ed. Fukasawa Akio, 3 vols. (Tokyo: Benseisha, 1978–81); (1840/4/9), vol. 1, p. 130; and see (1844/9/13), vol. 3, p. 336. 35 HK, p. 273. The frontispiece of the Dutch translation of Adam Kulmus’s Anatomische Tabellen depicts a woman holding a knife and about to embark on dissecting the corpse of another woman. At least two copies of this work are known to have existed in late-eighteenth-century Edo. One belonged to Maeno RyĿtaku, who was a friend of Heisuke. Kulmus’s work was translated into Japanese, as Kaitai shinsho (published in 1774), but for this edition the frontispiece from a different Western work was used. The revised version of Kaitai shinsho, called Jŗtei kaitai shinsho 㔔ゖゆమ᩺᭡ (published in 1798) reproduced Kulmus’s original frontispiece. However, since Makuzu points out that it was a Western book, I assume that she refers to the Dutch translation. See Figure 5-1. 36 Another clue that Makuzu was familiar with anatomy is her usage of terminology such as kaitai ゆమ, “anatomy,” and fuwake ⭂ฦ, “dissection” (HK, p. 292 and p. 300 respectively). 37 See Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud

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sexual identity were not considered one and the same. Sex did not necessarily “frame” gender.38 As Yuki Terazawa points out, in prevalent medical discourse, in which a person has no morphological sex, even reproductive functions “may not have been the ultimate determinant of one’s sexual identity.”39 Therefore, various markers, such as hair, bones of the skull, number of ribs, and so on indicated sexual difference; genitals were merely one among other indicators and were not reliable.40*HQGHUGLVFRXUVHLVUHFRQ¿UPHGE\FRVPRORJ\DQGVRFLDOOLIH and is therefore apt to change. Makuzu, however, uses the anatomical structure of the body instead of its functions—she does not discuss the generational, erotic, or gestational body—to signify gender inequity. Makuzu hereby does the opposite of what Chinese medical discourse (also dominant in Japan) had posited. Whereas the latter emphasized the body’s functions instead of its form in order to explain the cosmoORJLFDOWKHRU\RIWKH¿YHSKDVHVRIPLFURDQGPDFURFRVPRV0DNX]X attaches gender to the outer, visible form, depicted in an anatomy book and articulated in the Kojiki.41 Makuzu appears to be original in her notions regarding the body and sex. Kanazu Hidemi argues that, with regard to gender, even in the Kaitai shinsho ゆమ᩺᭡ (New Book of Anatomy, 1774), the Japanese translation of Ontleedkundige Tafelen, the body was not perceived and described as a modern, two-sexed physiological body. In fact, Kanazu argues that Rangakusha (scholars of Western studies) continued to perceive male and female bodies as “a continuous entity with one being the reverse of the other,” as found in former medical discourse, for instance, in Wakan sansai zue ࿰₆୔ᡧᅒఌ (Illustrated Encyclopedia, compiled in 1712).42 Reasons for this divergence might lie in the (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990). 38 I borrow from Charles Rosenberg, who states that culture “frames” disease rather than “constructs” it (Charles Rosenberg, “Framing Disease: Illness, Society, and History,” in Framing Disease, ed. Charles Rosenberg and Janet Golden [New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992), p. xv. 39 See for discussions Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), and Terazawa 2001. 40 Terazawa 2001, pp. 131-38. 41 For the Chinese medical discourse, see Furth 1999, p. 23. 42 Kanazu Hidemi, “18 Seiki Nihon no shintaizu ni miru onna to otoko,” Rekishigaku kenkyŗ 764 (July 2002), p. 37. Kuriyama Shigehisa, “Between Mind and Eye: Japanese Anatomy in the Eighteenth Century,” in Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge, ed. Leslie Charles and Allan Young (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992); see, in par-

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fact that Makuzu most likely gazed at the drawings from the original anatomy book and not at those in the Japanese interpretive version, and that she was also a layperson who did not examine them with the hermeneutical eyes of a physician, as perhaps her father had done.43

THE BODY BENEATH THE SKIN Probably, if Makuzu had argued nothing further, Bakin would have KDUGO\QRWLFHGKHUGH¿QLWLRQRIJHQGHU%XW0DNX]X¶VJHQGHUGH¿QLWLRQ extends to what lies beneath the visible. When she concluded that the essential difference between man and woman is physical, it secured for her an unambiguous separation of the sexes and extended her unGHUVWDQGLQJRIJHQGHUWRLQFOXGHVSHFL¿FDOO\WKDWRQH¶VIHHOLQJV (hito no kokoro ெࡡᚨ) are “rooted in the genitals” (kakushidokoro no ne 㝔ᡜࡡ᰷).44 By combining the physical body with one’s feelings, or heart (kokoro), Makuzu essentializes humans into two different bodies, with correspondingly different feelings. Makuzu’s “longstanding puzzlement as to why the relations between men and women are so disagreeable” was thereby solved.45 Men and women are not alike, either outside or inside. We have two sexes, or genders, clearly marked from each other. 0DNX]XVDZWKLVFRQ¿UPHGLQWKHSHUVRQRIWKHonnagata, the female impersonator of the Kabuki Theater. She reasoned that he “has a woman’s appearance” (katachi koso ࠾ࡒࡔࡆࡐ), but “since he has a man’s body” (ittai no otoko ୌమࡡ⏠), in his heart he feels (kokoro no uchi ni ᚨࡡ࠹ࡔ࡞) like a man, and in fact derides women in his performances.46,WLVRIFRXUVHGLI¿FXOWWRGUDZIURPWKLVVLQJOHREVHUYDtion a comparison to the larger prevailing social context, but apparently Makuzu was responding to a commonly held assumption about the gender of the onnagata, namely that of being a “woman.” In her investigation of the changing image of the onnagata, Maki Morinaga argues that in the eighteenth century, onnagata “participated in the constructicular, p. 40. See also Timon Screech 2002, in particular, pp. 119-32. 43 Makuzu’s approach to ki Ẵ is also evidence that she did not adhere to the medical discourse about kiDQGWKH¿YHSKDVHV6HHFKDSWHU 44 HK, p. 267; MN 56:1, p. 25. 45 HK, p. 266; MN 56:1, p. 25. 46 HK, p. 267; MN 56:1, p. 25.

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tion of femininity.”47 In particular when we consider the prevalent notion in medical discourse that gender did not depend on biological sex, it was not unfeasible for the onnagataWREHGH¿QHGZLWKLQWKHFDWHJRU\ of woman. For that reason, perhaps, Makuzu’s view of the onnagata was a direct critique of this perception. Since, by her account, she had seen two of the leading onnagata (Segawa KikunojĿ II and Nakamura Noshio) up close at her father’s home, we can assume that Makuzu had the opportunity to observe them carefully.48 I can only conjecture about whether, when Makuzu eradicated and simply rejected the idea that the onnagata could ever be a “woman,” her view represented the fear that the onnagataXQGHUPLQHGWKHDOUHDG\DPELJXRXVDQGÀXFWXating category of woman, which she sought to clarify unconditionally. Perhaps seen in a context in which the gendered notions of woman, feminineness, and femaleness were vague and changeable, Makuzu’s categorization of the two sexes might explain the rigid essentialism that tried to refute what she saw as the elusiveness of gender. Bakin was surprised about Makuzu’s assertion of the bond between body and feelings. He objected that the theater is not supposed to reÀHFW VRFLDO UHDOLW\ EXW WR HQWHUWDLQ49 To complete her argument that there are two separate and mutually incompatible entities, “man” and “woman,” she provides another example: Let me try to discuss the differences between the feelings of men and women (danjo no kokoro no tagai ⏠ዥࡡᚨࡡࡒ࠿࠷). A woman who hears that a Zen monk has castrated himself simply thinks of it as a splendid act of determination. She thinks this way because his body is not her kind of body. The story of a snake entering a woman’s vagina, on WKHRWKHUKDQGVRKRUUL¿HVZRPHQZKHWKHU\RXQJRUROGWKDWWKHLUKDLU stands on end.50 Because his body is different from a woman’s, a man 47 Morinaga argues that the onnagata transformed themselves during the Tokugawa period from “proud sons” to “androgynous beauties” to “participants in the circulation of femininity” (Maki Morinaga, “The Gender of Onnagata as the Imitating Imitated: Its Historicity, Performativity, and Involvement in the Circulation of Femininity,” Positions 10:2 [Fall 2002], p. 272). This develops further what Jennifer Robertson has argued about the onnagata, who were sometimes perceived as “paragons of femalelikeness” (onna rashisa). Robertson distinguishes between sex and gender and sees the onnagata as performers of gender (Robertson 1991, p. 90). 48 Morinaga analyzes, among others, KikunojĿ I, who has been viewed by a contemporary as a “person who does not need the gata letter (of the noun) onnagata” (Morinaga 2002, p. 265). 49 DK, p. 312. 50 Makuzu may refer to the tale in the Konjaku monogatari ௑ᪿ∸ㄊ (Tales of

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who hears such a story thinks nothing of it, but tales of castration must strike straight at his heart.51

Physical threat against a body part one does not possess provokes no fearful reaction. Indeed, what is one person’s dread is the other’s delight. For Makuzu, genitals determine one’s gender, and since they are the site of the heart or human feelings, female and male emotions are incompatible. We see that for Makuzu, kokoro, the heart, is the locus of emotions. Further, we observe that for Makuzu the heart is gendered, or at least the feelings that the heart contains are gendered. Makuzu’s statement is in opposition to Confucian teachings; Bakin is clearly aware of this. Makuzu provoked his harsh retort by proposing that feelings are rooted in the body, or in other words, the physical experience of the human being predominates over what lies within. By insinuating that the body is the master of emotions, she expressed the reverse of what Bakin believed in. When Makuzu observed that the sexual act leads inevitably to affections between man and woman due to the intimate link between genitals and emotions, he took the opportunity to respond ardently:52 What it says in [Hitori] kangae, “A person’s feelings (hito no kokoro) are rooted in his or her private parts (kakushidokoro 㝔ฌ), and from there they grow and spread throughout the body,” is wrong again. The heart LVWKHPDVWHURIWKH¿YHRUJDQV53 Like human nature (sei ᛮ) the heart Times Now Past), 24:9. The story can also be found in the Nihon ryĿiki ᪝ᮇ㟃␏エ (Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition), 41, which is about a young woman and a snake (Nihon ryĿiki, comp. Izumoji Osamu [Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1996], pp. 120-22). About a discussion of snakes, women, and vaginas, see Hitomi Tonomura, “Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan,” American Historical Review 99 (February 1994), pp. 129-54. For a discussion of male and female snakes in mythology, see Bernard Faure, The Power of Denial (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp. 290-92, and pp. 318-24. 51 HK, p. 267; MN 56:1, p. 25. 52 HK, pp. 291-92; MN 56:2, p. 180. “A person’s feelings (hito no kokoro) are rooted in his or her private parts, and from there they grow and spread throughout the body. In relations between a man and a woman, the reason they long for each other and desire to be with the other morning and night is because they have united the roots of their feelings (kokoro no ne o awasuru ᚨࡡ᰷ࢅ࠵ࢂࡌࡾ).” Makuzu never discusses same-sex relations. 53 Bakin refers here to the common notion among Japanese Confucians, for instance Kaibara Ekiken, that “The heart is the lord of the body. This is why it is called ‘the lord on high.’ Its function is thought” (Kaibara Ekiken, YĿjĿkun 㣬⏍ィ [Tokyo: Takuma Shoten, 1974], p. 91).

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is tranquil (sei 㟴) [at birth].54 That is why Mencius said, “Benevolence ( jin ொ) is the person’s heart.”55 That means because a person’s heart in its tranquility prefers goodness, benevolence is intrinsic to the heart. Even so, a person’s feelings, although tranquil like Heaven and Earth, are activated by desires. Thus, Laozi said, “For a person to be active and to be inactive is Heaven’s nature. To feel and to be active is said to be the desire of nature (sei ᛮ).”56

Bakin’s response is a good illustration that kokoro is one of the most complex terms treated by Tokugawa academics. Bakin draws out a dense presentation of ideas ranging from interpretations of Mencius to Laozi to illustrate his conviction of what kokoroVLJQL¿HVWKHORFXVRI the mind and the locus of feelings. %DNLQ PD\ KDYH KDG GLI¿FXOWLHV FRPSUHKHQGLQJ 0DNX]X¶V ZRUGV regarding emotions as rooted in the genitals in any way other than as her critique of the Confucian meaning of kokoro, which he surmises as her appropriation of Kokugaku thought.57 Bakin disagrees strongly with Makuzu’s suggestion that feelings, contained in the heart itself, originate in physical desire and lust. He argues along the lines of Mencius that the heart cannot be rooted in desire a priori, but that feelings become agile only once confronted with the environment. “Assuming that the heart has its origin in the genitals, would that not mean that female and male alike have no heart until they are thirteen, fourteen

54

In the Liji, book 17 (Yueji, Record of Music), 7: “At birth people are tranquil: that is the nature decreed by Heaven” (Liji: Book of Rites, transl. James Legge, vol. 2 [New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1967], p. 96). Once the heart has contact with the environment, namely after birth, natural desires (xing zhi yu) set the heart into motion. However, these natural desires are not innate to human nature. In a following chapter, the “Book of Rites” (Yueji, 29) mentions that the emotions and human nature are two entities. Gerhard Leinss, Japanische Anthropologie (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995), pp. 41-42. 55 Mencius, Book 6, 1, 11. “Mencius said, ‘Benevolence is man’s mind, and righteousness is man’s path’” (Legge 1970, p. 414). 56 DK, p. 344. Bakin cites the Gobunshi ㄊᩝᏄ, a text that I have not yet been able WR¿QG7KHFLWDWLRQKRZHYHUFDQEHIRXQGLQWKHBook of Rites. 57 See, for instance, Norinaga, “When the Neo-Confucianists after the Sung dynasty denied human desire as sheer lust, they forgot that human desire was also an ordination of heaven” (Motoori Norinaga, Naobi no Mitama ├ẕ㟃 in MNZ, vol. 9, p. 60); translation by Ann Wehmeyer, Kojiki-den, Book 1, Motoori Norinaga (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), p. 233. See also Yoshikawa KĿjirĿ, Jinsai, Sorai, Norinaga: Three Classical Philologists of Mid-Tokugawa Japan (Tokyo: The TĿhĿ Gakkai, 1983), p. 282.

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years old and sexual desire (shikijĿ Ⰵ᝗) arises?”58 As a result, he pronounces, one has to differentiate strictly between the heart, in which mind and feelings are innate, and desire, which needs to be stimulated from the outside.59 Perhaps Bakin is accurate in contending that Makuzu’s readings of Kokugaku thinkers assisted her in rigorously negating a Song Confucian conception of kokoro and that this led her to the understanding that a human being is connected to the world through the body, in fact that being human and human nature are one and the same.60 In %DNLQ¶VYLHZ0DNX]XFRQÀDWHVWKLVLPSHUDWLYHGLVWLQFWLRQZKHQVKH brings together feeling and desire as one and the same within the body. Since he stresses innate feelings versus carnal desire, he understands Makuzu as exteriorizing feelings, removing them from innate human nature. This is why he takes her original observation to a different level, namely to the ontological discussion of human nature and its innate morality. However, when Bakin counters with innate morality, a veiled gender discourse is evident. Bakin does not discuss Makuzu’s categorical separation of humans into two sexes; in fact he does not refer to 58 DK, p. 344. “What is called nature is the righteousness of Heavenly nature (sei to wa tensei shizen no gi nari ᛮ࡛ࡢኮᛮ⮤↓ࡡ⩇࡝ࡽ). Since human nature (sei ᛮ) is rooted in the heart [already at birth], its character consists (shitagau ᚉࡨ) of the character ‘heart’ ᚨ and ‘to live/come to life’ ⏍.” 59 See DK, p. 344, where Bakin discusses one of the often-cited but ambiguous passages in the Book of Mencius. In this passage, Mencius’s opponent Gaozi argues that people naturally have the desire for food and sex, thereby opening a polemical exchange between the two philosophers. Mencius in fact does not respond directly to the question of where desire comes from. Rather he responds to Gaozi’s subsequent statement that benevolence is innate, while righteousness is cultivated (Mencius, Bk. 6, 1, 4, 1 [Legge 1970, p. 397]). One common way of reading Gaozi’s statement is that desire and lust are indeed feelings, which are located within. Therefore, Gaozi continues to assert that benevolence is also intrinsic. Righteousness, however, belongs to social morality, and is therefore exterior. Since Mencius does not specify, Bakin can interpret this statement to suggest that Gaozi refers in fact to instinct, which arises only due to exposure to the outside social environment, and thus cannot be innate, Heavenly nature. In a later section Bakin comes back to the citation explaining that Gaozi must have meant that “inside does not mean ‘inside’ of the person, but one’s feelings (ninjĿ), and ‘outside’ means virtue” (DK, p. 346). 60 In particular, Kamo Mabuchi’s and Motoori Norinaga’s works were known to Makuzu. We know that Bakin discussed Kamo Mabuchi, Murata Harumi, Motoori Norinaga, and Motoori ľhira ᮇᑽኬᖲ (1756–1833) with Makuzu during their correspondence, but we have no textual evidence that explicates the content of their discussions (Makuzu no ouna, p. 255).

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gender when discussing the interior of a person, suggesting that their notions of gender were actually not alike at all. His way of elucidating the classics indicates that he was convinced of one common humanity, i.e. the Song Confucian ideology of a universal human nature.61 To BaNLQVH[XDOGLIIHUHQFHRIWKHERG\EHORQJVWRWKHVXSHU¿FLDO+RZHYHU this ideal of humanity is actually gendered; it is the blueprint of a human that is male. Seen in the broader context of Tokugawa Confucian tradition, either the Song or the anti-Song Confucian interpretation, human nature appears never to be an issue of gender because there is no mention of a female versus male nature. If humanity is particularized at all, then it is only as an issue of the separation of ranks or classes inside or outside the social order.62 The fact that gender is barred from innate human nature, however, has to be seen as a submerged gender discourse. Bakin accentuates this clearly. While Bakin describes the mind as genderless, he implies that it is in fact male. There is no gender-neutral terrain as long as there is difference. In the Chinese classics, discussions of the human condition are elusive with regard to biological sex, but this does not mean that they lack a deep-rooted gender discourse. The classics were written by and appealed to men in a male-dominated society. However, in order to rationalize this macro-cosmological structure, the reality of biological sex had to be taken into account in some way or other. In the attempt to comprehend human nature, authority, which is male, was invoked to explain the obvious in daily life. A person’s physical appearance therefore is relevant only in its social function. 61 See, for instance, Gerhard Leinss’s Japanische AnthropologieZKLFKEULHÀ\LQWURduces human nature as discussed within the Classics to examine ItĿ Jinsai’s and Ogyŗ Sorai’s notions. According to Leinss, even its critics, Jinsai and Sorai, adopted the Song Confucian understanding of human nature to mean an innate nature (Leinss 1995, p. SDQGS 6HHDOVR5RQDOG'RUHZKRGLVFXVVHVWKHGLI¿FXOW\IRU.DLEDUD Ekiken of dealing with yoku ḟ (desire) and kishitsu Ẵ㈹ (material substance), for which Heaven is not “responsible” (Dore 1992, p. 36). 62 Leinss mentions that within the Song Confucian tradition all humans share one original nature. In contrast, OgyŗSorai distinguishes between different people according to their nature: sages, gentlemen, and lowly people. Some other exceptions are so-called “barbarians.” In particular, Sorai points out that there is a private heart, i.e. individual heart, and the lowly person can never become a gentleman even through studying. Women are not discussed. For a discussion see also Herman Ooms, “Human Nature: Singular (China) and Plural (Japan)?” in Rethinking Confucianism, ed. BenjaPLQ$(OPDQHWDO/RV$QJHOHV8&/$$VLDQ3DFL¿F0RQRJUDSK6HULHV SS 95-115. Cited as Ooms 2002a.

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0DNX]X¶V QRWLRQ RI KXPDQ QDWXUH ZDV FHUWDLQO\ DPSOL¿HG E\ WKH anti-Confucian works she read, but none of them divide humanity unequivocally into two genders. Makuzu could not have the same outwardly gender-ignoring position as did Bakin or male Kokugaku thinkers. Hence she argues that, since feelings are gendered by corporeality, consequently human nature should be gendered too. The way she describes her inner self has to be understood by her assertion that the body is her gender and her cage; she is a woman. Bakin could ignore gender due to his privileged place in the gender hierarchy. Makuzu, in RUGHUWRWUDQVFHQGKHUVWDWLRQLQOLIHKDGWRH[SRVHWKLVKLHUDUFK\¿UVW and it made sense to her to give authority to biological sex.

WOMAN’S PLACE IN SOCIETY Gender relations are naturalized in the body because people experience them in their social lives and see them in the patterns ordering the cosmos at large. As Charlotte Furth has shown, “Basic bodily functions … certainly cannot be treated just as the products of the languages through which they become culturally known.”63 The body in turn speaks “truths” that are mirrored in the world. Makuzu, too, made sense of what appeared to her as “truth” by rationalizing the concealed assumptions of an existing gender discourse. She detected that gender gave meaning to bodily difference.64 Based on her experience, Makuzu would disagree with Joan Scott that sexual difference is “the effect, not the cause, of women’s exclusion.”65 Makuzu’s experience was that her ERG\GH¿QHGKHUJHQGHUZKLFKVXERUGLQDWHGKHUWRPHQLQKHUVRFLHW\ 6KHUHMHFWHGWKHUDPL¿FDWLRQVRI&RQIXFLDQLGHRORJ\LQKHUVRFLHW\EXW she did not perceive the “cause” of the gender discourse in society that discriminated against women. In fact she accepted it as a given and she even sought to rationalize it. Makuzu’s investigation brought her to a comprehension and acceptance of female discrimination based on her body, or, to be more speFL¿FEDVHGRQKHUODFNRIDSHQLV0DNX]XPD\VRXQGVDUFDVWLFEXW other passages that I will discuss in the following make obvious that 63

Furth 1999, p. 14. Joan Wallach Scott, Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 2. 65 Scott 1999, p. 208. 64

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she is serious when she claims, “Women exist for the sake of men; men do not exist for the sake of women. It would be a mistake to think of them as equal. Even if the woman is the more intelligent (saichi ᡧᬓ), how can she who thinks she is lacking something triumph over a man who always thinks of himself as having a surplus?”66 Makuzu draws a sharp line between man and woman; physicality also gives meaning to woman’s inferiority in society. Genitals determine one’s gender and one’s position in society. While ironically Makuzu appeared to be one of the forerunners of DPRGHUQ ³VFLHQWL¿F´OHJLWLPL]DWLRQRIGLVFULPLQDWLRQDJDLQVWZRPHQ in Japan, her notion also can be embraced by the prevailing ideology RI JHQGHU VLQFH LW FRQ¿UPV JHQGHU LQHTXLW\ )RU WKLV UHDVRQ ZH ¿QG FRQÀXHQFHZLWK%DNLQZKRDVVHUWHGLQWKHFLWDWLRQVDERYHWKDWKDYLQJ a man’s spirit does not transform one’s gender. Gender “frames” sex, and for that reason biological sex can describe the former. In Makuzu’s interpretation, sex comes to frame gender, and therefore her agreement ZLWK%DNLQUHJDUGLQJDGH¿QLWLRQRIJHQGHUDQGLWVHVVHQFHLVRQO\VXSHU¿FLDO 7KDW 0DNX]X¶V YLHZV GLG QRW RXWZDUGO\ FRQÀLFW ZLWK &RQIXFLDQ ideology or the prevailing gender hierarchy can be seen for instance in the concept of yin (in 㝔) and yang (yĿ 㝟). By grounding gender LQWKHSK\VLFDORUGHUWKHVRFLDORUGHUFRXOGEHFRQ¿UPHGDQGZDVVR FRQ¿UPHGLQ0DNX]X¶VDQG%DNLQ¶VWLPHZLWKWKHDVVLVWDQFHRIWKHVH two well-known metaphysical elements of yin and yang, male and female, positive and negative. They were the source for a gender ideology that was utilized to explain and reinforce gendered practices. The binary was not physical, even if genitals could be one marker among others that assigned gender and informed gender inequality. Charlotte Furth has shown that male and female bodies are observed in Chinese medical discourse, which is shared by the majority of Japanese practitioners, either as homologous, and thus gender difference is a relativisWLFDQGÀH[LEOHDVSHFWRIWKHERG\RUDVLQWKLVVSHFL¿FFDVHWKHERG\ is associated with a sexual or generational function that participates in the “gendered hierarchical ordering of the human microcosm and the macrocosm of Heaven and Earth.”67

66 67

HK, p. 266; MN 56:1, p. 25. Or see HK, p. 285. Furth 1999, pp. 46-48.

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In fact in its rhetoric the binary of yin and yang was employed to jusWLI\GLVFULPLQDWLRQDQGQRWWRGH¿QHWKHFDWHJRU\RIZRPDQRUPDQ:H ¿QGWKLVLVVXHPRUHJHQHUDOO\DGGUHVVHGLQDSDVVDJHRIDokkĿron: Lowly people (shĿjin ᑚெ) are men with the disposition (kishitsu Ẵ㈹) of women. That is why women and lowly people ( joshi shĿjin ዥᏄᑚெ) are considered together. Yet, there is one woman among one million who follows obediently her parents, is faithful to her husband, and prudent. This can only be so when a woman has a strong [manly] spirit ( jĿbu no tamashii ୓ኰࡡ㨞).68

Drawing from Bakin’s remarks that he also certainly divided society into virtuous and lowly people, his pejorative designation of the female disposition, which can be found in both men and women, is striking. Bakin’s conception assumes a hierarchy of the mind (kokoro)—apparently genderless—over the body, which is gendered. The attribution of gender appears to be subordinated to the mind, which is the master of the body. Nurturing the mind is the objective; abolishing or at least minimizing the desire of bodily functions is endorsed. Not only sexual difference, but even gender becomes an “exterior,” socially performed, human occurrence, which therefore has no cosmological truth, but is subject to the realm of practical life. Gender is detached from Heaven DQG(DUWKDQGDVVLJQHGDSK\VLFDODQGKHQFHVXSHU¿FLDOVLJQL¿FDQFH The reason is not that gender, and certainly not the physical body, is the concern, but for Bakin and certainly for many other contemporaries, what is at stake is the discrimination of a person’s virtue and morality. Inherent in this, of course, is the linkage to the disguised gender hierarchy that gives men authority. Bakin, who repeats more than once that some men have too much yin within their bodies and thus are efIHPLQDWHLGHQWL¿HVWKHSDLUHGH[LVWHQFHRIWKHWZRHOHPHQWVDVEHLQJ interchangeable and always present within both man and woman, yet he stresses their inequity. By being complementary, yin and yang are not equal. While Bakin does not simply reduce the woman to yin and the man to yang, he still implies that a man-like mind is a fortunate thing for a woman, but having a man’s body is better.69 This argument that emotion and rationality are categories that are presented as gendered and as in a hierarchy, that feelings are feminine while the rational mind 68

DK, p. 358. Bakin’s notion can be found as early as in the Daodejing, 1, 28: “Who knows his manhood’s strength, yet still his female feebleness” (The Texts of Taoism, transl. James Legge [New York: Dover Publications, 1962], p. 71). 69

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is masculine, is common in Tokugawa discourse.70 Consequently, the practice in society of subordinating women can be validated, as in the PRVWVLPSOL¿HGDSSOLFDWLRQRIWKH\LQ\DQJFRQFHSWLQOnna daigaku: “The woman is yin” (onna wa insei nari ዥࡢ㝔ᛮ࡝ࡽ).71 Bakin’s remarks about Makuzu correspond to this hierarchy: the strong and willful (masculine) personality of Makuzu is favorable, and the feeble (feminine) mind of too many men is deplorable. Makuzu both tested the understanding of “woman” as produced by society and accepted the rightfulness of the social subordination of the “woman,” but she also contested this understanding by constructing a new rationale for this very subordination, and thereby created a new identity for “women.” Despite their vague agreement on woman’s place in society, the assumptions that follow from this subordination are quite different in Makuzu’s and Bakin’s accounts. For instance, Makuzu probably deliberately omits the integral role of yin/yang in her argument, perhaps following Norinaga, who dismissed the binary as Chinese, and thus QRWEH¿WWLQJDGLVWLQFWLRQEHWZHHQIHPDOHDQGPDOHLQ-DSDQ72 Further, by ignoring yin and yang she also ignores the implication inherent in the concept, namely that it is not the lesser talent or wisdom (saichi ᡧ ᬓ, which I render as “intelligence”) that is responsible for woman’s inferior place in society, but her physical body. Makuzu’s notion that talent or wisdom had nothing to do with being male or female rejected WKHFRPPRQYLHZRIZRPHQLQVRFLHW\)RULQVWDQFHZH¿QGLQOnna daigaku the phrase “Women have less wisdom (chi ▩) compared to men.”73 Bakin claimed that society acknowledged that “Men with tal70 See, for instance, Matsuo Taseko, who displays the same conviction as Bakin: “How awful to have the ardent heart of a manly man and the useless body of a weak ZRPDQ´:DOWKDOOS ,IZHFRQVLGHUWKH:HVWHUQWUDGLWLRQZH¿QGDVLPLODU pronouncement, even if the discourse is not based on yin/yang, when Elizabeth I states that she had “the body of a weak and feeble woman, but the heart and stomach of a king” (cited in Laqueur 1990, p. 122). 71 See, e.g., the section in Kaibara Ekiken, Onna daigaku, in Ekken jŗkun (Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1892), p. 92. 72 It is unlikely that Makuzu would have been unaware of such texts as Onna daigaku, since she mentions another educational text for women, Nakamura Tekisai’s ୯ᮟᝣᩢ (1692–1702) Hime kagami Ẓ኉㚯 (HK, p. 284). In the Kojikiden Norinaga criticized the authors of the NihonshĿki who used the deities Izanami and Izanagi as a “makeshift” (kari ni mei o kaketaru mono ௫࡞ྞࢅシࡄࡒࡾࡵࡡ) for the creation of yin and yang (in’yĿ-zoka 㝔㝟㏸໩). He claimed that people from antiquity were simply referring to a female and a male deity (Motoori Norinaga, Kojikiden, pp. 9-10). 73 Kaibara 1892, p. 92.

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ent (sai ᡧ) will be successful, women with sex appeal (iro Ⰵ) will be happy.”746XFKVWDWHPHQWVGH¿QHGZRPHQHLWKHUDVLQWHOOHFWXDOO\LQIHrior or conveyed that a woman needed no intellect, which resulted, to Makuzu’s distress, in the exclusion of women from intellectual debate altogether. We see that among other paradoxes, such as class and status, Tokugawa society was built upon the ideological haziness between gender and the claim of one universal human nature. Even if the Confucian classics GLGQRWSUHVFULEHGLVFULPLQDWLRQDJDLQVWZRPHQZH¿QGPDQ\WHUPVLQ intellectual debates that describe its practice. Bakin’s personal concern to leave women outside of true scholarship is one example: If a woman dislikes being shamed by the sage, who says that she is dif¿FXOW WR QXUWXUH WKHQ VKH VKRXOG FRQIURQW KHUVHOI FXOWLYDWH ZRPDQ¶V virtues ( futoku ፦ᚠ DQGVWULYHWRDGYDQFHPDULWDO¿GHOLW\DQGSDUHQWDO loyalty. If a husband tells her that she is a faithful wife and she is called a wise mother in providing for her children, then she will not feel shame in front of the sage. However, to despise the sages without having read the Analects with care, isn’t that a terrible mistake? That is why Confucius said, “The mean man does not know the ordinances of Heaven (tenmei ኮ࿤), and consequently does not stand in awe of them. He is disrespectful to great men. He makes sport of the words of the sages.”75

For Bakin, womanly virtue ( futoku ፦ᚠ) is distinguished from great virtue, as is womanly benevolence ( fujin no jin ፦ெࡡொ) from benevolence. Consequently, Bakin’s distinctions among great benevolence (daijin ኬொ), benevolence ( jin ொ), and womanly benevolence thus divide humanity.76 The division of humanity by gender is even more evident in women’s education along Confucian guidelines. This assumption is shared by Dorothy Ko, who notes for seventeenth-century China that “Confucian education consists of two emphases and goals: moral cultivation 74

DK, p. 335. DK, p. 358; Analects, Bk. 16, 8, 2 (Legge 1971, p. 313). 76 DK, p. 344. Patricia Buckley Ebrey nicely displays how the overt gender-neutral language of the Book of Filial Piety is implicitly addressed to males, and hence a woman wrote The Book of Filial Piety for Women. However, since the text is written by a woman, it attests “that women’s moral power is comparable to men’” (Patricia Buckley Ebrey, “The Book of Filial Piety for Women Attributed to a Woman Née Zheng (ca 730),” in Under Confucian Eyes, ed. Susan Mann [Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001], p. 48). 75

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and cultural education, for females only the former. … Female education was to be distinct from men’s in content and purpose. Women were to cultivate their morality by way of books of precepts written especially for them,”77 which secured their inferiority in the intellectual world of men. One good example of the difference of female education in Japan is the teachings of Shingaku (Heart Learning).78 The most SUROL¿FWHDFKHURIWKHP7HVKLPD7RDQᡥᓞሕᗙ (1718–86), relegated women to searching for their path of femininity or womanly virtue (onna rashisa ዥࡼࡊࡈ) despite the claim that all humans share one original heart (honshin ᮇᚨ).79 In Shingaku schools, onna rashisa was taught as following the four virtues, futoku ፦ᚠ (womanly morality), fukĿ ፦ຉ (womanly merit), fugen ፦ゕ (womanly words), and fuyĿ ፦ᐖ (womanly etiquette), which ostensibly were not the four virtues — benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and propriety—that men were taught.80 Perhaps Makuzu could not envision equality between men and women because she lacked a language for conceptualizing intellectual equality. This forced her to rationalize inequity by equating it with physiological essentialism. When she advises a “weak-minded woman” not to focus her attention on one thing because “she will neglect others, and the housework will suffer,” or when she declares, “it is better for a woman who will become a wife not to study things too deeply,” she reminds us of other ideologues of her time.81 On the other hand, her own existence as a poet and a person educated in many broad areas epitomized the contradiction. She certainly must have intellectually surpassed many men around her. Perhaps it is because of this obvious paradox that she makes remarks that are full of ambivalence, either evidence of a resistance owing to her own pride, or a critique of other women’s pride. When Makuzu argues that, “For a woman, who ought to obey men, to 77

Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994), pp. 53-54. 78 Shingaku teachings sought to accommodate the paradox of society and class jurisGLFWLRQE\RIIHULQJPHUFKDQWVRI¿FLDOO\WKHORZHVWDPRQJWKHFODVVHVWKHLGHRORJLFDO means to see in their occupation a virtuous and moral function. For this reason Shingaku teachings suggested one common human nature, the original heart, honshin, in order to level the class distinctions of Tokugawa society, at least in moral terms. Gender, again, is treated independently. 79 See Robertson 1991, in particular, pp. 93-94. 80 See Robertson 1991, p. 97. 81 HK, p. 285; MN 56:2, p. 175.

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look down on them is contrary to the norms of proper behavior,”82 it appears to be an effort to convince herself and/or others that in social interactions woman’s place is below men. Makuzu’s ambivalence on the issue is revealed in her effort to accommodate intelligence in particular in the following: A woman should regard a man as awe-inspiring because his body is different from hers. She should not look down on him, thinking he is stupid (chi nashi ᬓ࡝ࡊ). For a woman to look down on a man makes her distasteful in the eyes of others.83

Makuzu takes great pains to argue that physiology should be binding; otherwise strife between men and women, the greatest evil in society, would escalate. In Makuzu’s view the position between human beings in society is GHFLGHG¿UVWDQGDERYHDOOE\JHQGHU7KHUHIRUHVKHGLVFXVVHVFODVVLQ regard to gender only once: Realizing that the male body differs from her own, a woman should humble herself in her dealing with men, not only with the men on whom she depends, but also those who have some business with the household, and even the servants she employs.84

Gender plays a more important role than class in structuring society. By subordination Makuzu does not envision a woman with “servile habits” or one incapable of being respected by her children, but rather a woman who knows her place regardless of her class.85 Indeed this is another indication that Makuzu accepted the male-centered structure of her society. Makuzu’s ambivalence indicates her own struggle with how to deal with what is beyond the body, namely class and intelligence. How was it possible for her to argue that she, as a woman, could present a poOLWLFDO WUHDWLVH" 0DNX]X GH¿QHG PDQ DQG ZRPDQ DV XQFRQGLWLRQDOO\ different. Thus, in her quest to escape her fate and establish herself as a woman not in a subordinate role but as a participant in political deEDWH0DNX]XKDGWR¿QGDZD\WRRYHUFRPHKHUVHOIFUHDWHGQRUPDWLYH restrictions. We have seen ambivalence in her writings with regard to 82

HK, p. 266; MN 56:1, p. 25. HK, p. 286; MN 56:2, p. 176. 84 HK, p. 266; MN 56:1, p. 25. 85 +.S01S³$OWKRXJKLWLVEDGWRTXDUUHOIRUVHO¿VKUHDVRQV if a woman simply strives not to quarrel with others come what may, she will develop servile habits. It is bad, too, if she can’t oppose even her own children.” 83

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ZRPDQ¶V LQWHOOLJHQFH DQG VXUH HQRXJK ZH ¿QG KHU DUJXLQJ WKDW VKH is different because she is able to separate kokoro from the body. She explains this apparent contradiction of her stipulation that kokoro is an extension of the body and depends on it by separating only the mind but not the emotions from the heart, since both are located in the term kokoro. Makuzu argues that in her particular case her nature (honsei ᮇᛮ) is different from that of other women. She describes to Bakin how, despite her physical imprisonment, her mind is able to move around freely cogitating and detached from the physical self:86 &RQ¿QHGZLWKLQDWZRRUWKUHHOD\HUHGER[WKHERG\mi ㌗) is covered by a net of laws, thus the mind (kokoro ᚨ) is not tempted to expand. This is just like a bird in a cage. This is how it is for me in the present, HYHQZKHQP\PLQGLVZDQGHULQJWKURXJKWKHZRUOGUHÀHFWLQJ87

Makuzu found a way to escape her cage with her mind, a discovery that was personally detrimental: Since I could not weaken the strength of this one ambition [to become a model for people], my mind went crazy while I went about my daily life or corrected my body (shintai ㌗మ). In the end I fell ill because the ¿UHLQVLGHLQMXUHGP\ERG\ZLWKLWVKHDWkokoro hi ni mi o kogaseshi ᚨ ℾ࡞㌗ࢅࡆ࠿ࡎࡊ). After receiving the signs of the Buddhas, however, my heart calmed down. … ,I,UHÀHFWXSRQP\VHOIDQGFRPSDUHP\PLQGZLWKRWKHUV,DPXQdeniably different. I am what they call “odd” (henjin ንெ). If your true nature (honsei ᮇᛮ) is different, there is no point in speaking out. If I speak out, you can imagine how people laugh at me and call me depressed (kurĿshĿ ⱖຘᛮ). For many years I have been accumulating these sorrows only in my heart.88

The discord of body and mind is due to Makuzu’s “odd” nature, an essential prerequisite for her overall argument that she is exceptional and that other women may perhaps not be able to do what she does unless they are “odd” too. Makuzu’s own descriptions of her free mind “that wanders through the world,” or of having a true nature (honsei), demonstrate that she has the ability to go above gender, above the grounded 86

Earlier in the letter Makuzu describes her illness: “Not only was my body (mi ㌗) very weak, my spirit (kokoro ᚨ) too was fading” (Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376). This is another indication that Makuzu explicitly associates the term mi ㌗VSHFL¿FDOO\ZLWK her body and not with her self, which is the more common rendering. 87 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 375. 88 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377.

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body. Honsei appears to differ from the body and feelings, which are both gendered. This obvious contradiction, actually not in Hitori kangae but in her letter to Bakin, can be seen as supplemented by her experience of satori ࡈ࡛ࡽ (enlightenment).

TRANSCENDING GENDER BY ENLIGHTENMENT 0DNX]XFODLPHGKHUHQOLJKWHQPHQWDVKHUMXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUDGGUHVVLQJ society. She utilized this strategy to overcome her gender. When Makuzu described how the mind was capable of overcoming the limitations of gender by extending itself, she probably was drawing on her father’s example of the inventive mind that could investigate the environment for the unchanging matters between Heaven and Earth.89 In order to leave her body and wander the world, her mind had to take steps that were within her experience. By claiming enlightenment according to KHUSHFXOLDU³VHFXODU´GH¿QLWLRQVKHFRXOGWUDQVFHQGJHQGHUUROHVDQG VSHDNRXW0DNX]X¶VGH¿QLWLRQRIsatori therefore cannot be taken in the strict sense in which it is understood in Buddhism. She uses the term satori, since it describes the well-known notion of the separation of oneself from mundane matters, but she ascribes a new meaning to it. 7RVHHKRZVKHGRHVVROHWXV¿UVWH[DPLQH0DNX]X¶VH[SHULHQFHRI enlightenment. She describes this for her reader in detail: Having time to myself, I determined to straighten my heart, get rid of bad habits, and discipline my body, when suddenly I found my mind ÀRDWLQJDQGIHOWDVLI,ZHUHHOHYDWHGDERYHWKHJURXQG)URPWKDWSRLQW I was content and carefree. My mind (kokoro ᚨ) moved freely hither and yon, while ordinary people seemed as heavy as stones. I did not know what to make of this, but when I mentioned what had happened in a letter to my younger brother in Edo, he replied that this was probably the sort of thing that Buddhist works call enlightenment (satori ࡈ ࡛ࡽ). What a joy it was to realize that I had attained the enlightenment for which I had wished since I was thirteen or fourteen years old and without even a bit of proper study!90

89 Makuzu’s letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. Also Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 385. 90 HK, p. 265; MN 56:1, p. 24. This section is repeated in a later part of Hitori kangae, which reveals the importance of satori to her overall argument (HK, p. 291; MN 56:2, p. 180).

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Regardless of whether this exchange with her brother ever happened or if this episode is simply included to prove to her readers that it was indeed satori that she experienced, it shows that Makuzu wished the reader to know that she had not asked for any religious assistance from a Buddhist priest, nor had she completed any “proper study.”917KLVLVDVLJQL¿FDQW move, since in a preceding paragraph of Hitori kangae Makuzu explains how envious she was as a youth of her grandmother achieving satori under the guidance of a Zen priest. In particular, she claims it was since then that she, too, longed for a way to attain satori.92 Makuzu did not mention her attainment of satori in her letters to Bakin, but only in Hitori kangae. As we have seen earlier, Makuzu stressed her two experiences with Buddhist deities in the letter Towazugatari, which subsequently motivated her to write Hitori kangae. Not only does she reveal thereby her faith in Buddhist deities, she states that she had been praying to Kannon for some time, which is in stark contrast to her statements in Hitori kangae about Buddhism as a foreign, useless invention, or her mention in Mukashibanashi of her father’s advice to be cautious of Buddhist robes.93 Makuzu as the author of Hitori kangae has to portray herself as a person with a strong and convincing voice, whereas in her letters her agenda is different. There she approaches Bakin for help and has to justify why she took this step, hence the downplay of being regarded by others as “odd.” Indeed, her avoidance of mentioning satori in her letters to Bakin is evidence of how she crafts identities according to her needs. Bakin, too, discusses Makuzu’s satori more than once within DokkĿron, but does not refer to this matter in Makuzu no ouna nor in his letter, a sign perhaps that he understood her differing agendas. When Makuzu refers to her experience of satori, which is the extension of her “odd” nature, she makes an analogy to what was a popular attraction in her day. Her emphasis is that her mind was elevated without outside help: “Satori” is what happens when a person’s mind suddenly extends itVHOI²OLNHWKHORQJÀH[LEOHQHFNRIDSXSSHWSRSSLQJXS²DQGWKHQVWD\V in that position. Thereafter, while ordinary people look at things from the side, those who have experienced satori see them from above, and 91 Apparently Makuzu attained satori sometime between 1800 and 1807, before her brother Motosuke died (1807) and therefore before she read the Kojikiden (around 1808). 92 HK, p. 265; MN 56:1, p. 24. 93 MB, p. 6.

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are thus able to comprehend clearly the course of events. It is exactly from this perspective that I have looked at and discussed things. If people doubt what I say, it is because their minds are in the dark.94

Makuzu’s repeated fascination with mechanical objects and instruments reminds us that she indeed based many of her notions on observations. As a child of her time, she applied this kind of preoccupation with automata and their visible and invisible aspects as a metaphor for the person. Automata (karakuri ࠾ࡼࡂࡽ) and jack-in-the-box-like objects contain a mechanical device that is mysterious to the onlooker but not to the inventor, who devises an inner mechanism that functions without help from the outside. The mind is analogous: “The balance of one’s body truly is like an automaton, depending on how one treats this device one can either develop or reduce its potential.”95 Her father and his wisdom and talents are one example of how it is possible to extend one’s own potential despite handicaps, such as a late start, or, as in Makuzu’s case, by being prohibited from attaining the same education as her brothers. Satori is the perfection of extending one’s mind and is developed by its owner only. SatoriDVGH¿QHGE\0DNX]XLVDWRROIRUEHLQJGLIIHUHQWIURPRUdinary people, of having a view or perspective that others lack, and is devoid of a religious or metaphysical essence. Makuzu used satori to elevate herself to a plain that exempted her as an “enlightened being” from behavior prescribed by her social roles as the daughter of a domain physician and the widow of a samurai. She entered a pool of people of either gender, those who excelled and thus had a better vision of things in the world. This vision from above did not call for one to withdraw from society, but rather for one to play an active part in it. Makuzu’s intentional use of the term satori free of its religious meanLQJ¿QGVFRQFUHWHH[SUHVVLRQLQWKHIROORZLQJ While to be sure there is a difference in aim, Buddhist satori, leaving the earth—as in my case—through the deliberate discipline of one’s own mind, and the gambler’s mental detachment for the sake of greed (yoku ḟ) are all ultimately the same. All result in a state in which one’s KHDUW ÀRDWV HOHYDWHG DERYH WKH HDUWK 7KH RQO\ GLIIHUHQFH LV ZKHWKHU this leads to good or evil.96

94

HK, p. 300; MN 56:2, p. 188. MB, p. 65. 96 HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, p. 187. 95

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It is apparent that, in Makuzu’s opinion, satori indeed does not require any external assistance or guidance, but self-discipline, and/or the determination to develop and stretch one’s mind. All the more unusual is that Makuzu considers this state of an elevated mind to be free of any moral predisposition. With her peculiar GH¿QLWLRQ0DNX]XGHWDFKHVQRWRQO\UHOLJLRXVEXWDOVRPRUDODVSHFWV from satori, which now allows good and bad people alike to attain this state of mind. Furthermore, according to her experience and observance, the wicked and low people are in fact particularly good at attaining it. The realization of satori appears to result in the acquisition of keen eyes that enable a person to perform, act, steal, or gamble more SUR¿FLHQWO\LQRWKHUZRUGVWRIROORZRQH¶V³DFWLYLW\´PRUHHI¿FLHQWO\ 7KHPRPHQWKLVVSLULWVXGGHQO\ÀRDWHGDERYHWKHHDUWK>WKHPHUFKDQW¶V son] realized the true nature of the world, gave up his bad habits, and EHJDQWRGHYRWHKLPVHOIWRKLVWUDGH%DGSHRSOHZKR¿QGWKHLUVSLULWV ÀRDWLQJXSZDUGRQWKHRWKHUKDQGXQGRXEWHGO\EHFRPHLQFUHDVLQJO\ clever in pursuing evil… . Whatever the matter, those whose minds have been initiated are able, even if they lack wisdom (chi ᬓ), to detect the weak points of amateurs who may excel in wisdom. Though lowly, they are formidable opponents.97

7KLVYLHZFHUWDLQO\GRHVQRWUHÀHFWWKHFRPPRQXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIsatori at all.98 %DNLQ ZDV VWXQQHG E\ 0DNX]X¶V GH¿QLWLRQ 7KXV KH UHsponds: What is called satori in Buddhism and what is the insight (satoshi) of ORZO\SHRSOHIRUWKHVDNHRISUR¿Wri ฺ), are not at all the same.99 97

HK, pp. 300-301; MN 56:2, p. 188. About satori in regard to the Zen Buddhist conception, see Janine Sawada: “As in Shingaku, the nature or mind itself is considered to be the source of enlightenment… . But Zen satoriLVFRQVLGHUHGH[WUHPHO\GLI¿FXOWWRDWWDLQµ(QOLJKWHQPHQW¶DOVRSOD\HG a role in the Neo-Confucian tradition, although a far less central one than in Zen. As a religious experience, it involved a mystical feeling of harmony with the entire universe and the moral principles believed to inhere in it. The event could also include a sense of LQWHOOHFWXDOUHYHODWLRQ$IWHUDORQJSURFHVVRIVWXG\DQGUHÀHFWLRQJXLGHGE\WKHDLP of moral development, the individual might gain insight into a particular principle, ‘a sudden release’ which was sometimes accompanied by considerable emotional intensity” (Janine Anderson Sawada, Confucian Values and Popular Zen: Sekimon Shingaku in Eighteenth-Century Japan [Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993], p. 80). 7KLVGH¿QLWLRQFRPHVFORVHWR%DNLQ¶VXVHRIWKHZRUG³LQVLJKW´,Q6KLQJDNXhonshin hatsumei (discovery of the original mind) replaced the word satori. This is a term that Teshima Toan himself, though, rarely used when he referred to Shingaku discovery (Sawada 1993, pp. 74-75). 99 DK, p. 362. 98

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Bakin considers Makuzu’s utilization of the word satori as simply incorrect. In his judgment, Makuzu must have mistaken two unrelated concepts, namely Buddhist enlightenment (satori ᜽) and Confucian insight (satori ႔).100 For Makuzu, however, neither morality nor being learned played a decisive role. By maintaining that in achieving an elevation of the state of mind that allows people to obtain a deeper understanding of how the world works, Makuzu crafts satori in an arbitrary way that can happen to “any body.” As a result, Makuzu tears down the elitist Confucian wall: In the eyes of low types who have attained enlightenment through gambling, those who remain trapped within laws, thinking themselves to be gentlemen (kunshi ྦᏄ) so long as they do not commit bad deeds, must appear to be birds in a cage. Is this not shameful? Those who were born with bad hearts do not become good even if their hearts rise above the ground. We just have to realize that any body ( jintai no ue ni ெమࡡ࠹ ࠻࡞) can experience satori.101

$VDFRQVHTXHQFH0DNX]X¶VGH¿QLWLRQRIsatori embraces even women and lowly people ( joshi shĿjin ዥᏄᑚெ), who together comprise the lowest category in terms of morality in the Confucian mode of thought. Throughout Hitori kangae Makuzu criticizes the “Confucian” approach to knowledge and wisdom, which is so neatly displayed by Bakin. She laments that the Confucian Way excludes in particular the lower ranks of society, including women, from intellectual considerDWLRQ0DNX]XGH¿QHGsatori for the purpose of incorporating women, and therefore herself, into the considerations of scholarly debate. BeKLQGWKLVGH¿QLWLRQLVRIFRXUVH0DNX]X¶VDXWKRULW\WRVSHDNQRZDV a woman. When Bakin speaks of the insight of the superior man (kunshi), he is speaking literally. He does not consider women, and when he does, it is to deny that women and lowly people could ever become superior men. Only the learned and educated man (of the society of knowledge) could aspire to such a standard. In DokkĿron, Bakin incorporates gender on two levels. Either he ignores it in his presentation of 100

DK, p. 315. Bakin, critical of Buddhist robes, interprets satori, as does Makuzu, as a personal accomplishment devoid of metaphysics. However to him it is gakumon that leads to enlightenment, or better insight. Therefore, for instance in DK, p. 343, Bakin criticizes Makuzu for claiming enlightenment (Bakin uses the term hatsumei Ⓠ ᪺ instead) without any study. 101 HK, p. 300; MN 56:2, p. 188.

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Figure 5-2. First page of 'RNNĿURQ by Takizawa Bakin. Courtesy of National Diet Library.

how to cultivate the Way, or he embellishes male authority in criticizing what he sees as Makuzu’s ignorance. He would prefer that she write more of her harmless observations on insects glowing over the sea, DQGVSHQGOHVVWLPHRQXQEH¿WWLQJGLVFXVVLRQVRIHFRQRPLFPDWWHUV102 Again, to Bakin the problem was not her gender, but her lack of scholarship (gakumon), yet indirectly he links the two issues.

CONFUCIUS AND WOMEN In the Tokugawa period academics and gender could not be separated. While basic education consisted of the mastering of primers based mainly on Chinese didactic texts, in reality moral instruction differed

102

DK, p. 353.

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for girls.103 This was because the general Chinese classics did not consider women, and thus girls had to be supplied with educational texts geared toward them that would teach them proper behavior in the current social structure. Makuzu appears to have recognized that the absence of women in the classics was based on the assumption of a maledominated discourse. Makuzu is annoyed by the neglect of women in the Chinese Classics, which, she herself acknowledged, she knew only through listening to her brothers’ cramming. I have heard that Confucius said something to the effect, “I do not know about women and servants.” I, too, am a woman. In that this is something about which this sage does not let us know, let me tell you about it… .”104 … In studying, disciples always tend to swallow the shortcomings and bad KDELWVRIWKHLUWHDFKHU6D\LQJWKDWJLUOVDQGVHUYDQWVDUHGLI¿FXOWWRKDQdle (toriatsukainiku ࡛ࡽ࠵ࡗ࠾ࡥ࡞ࡂ) is a shortcoming in Confucius’s attitude.105 Since this dull-witted observation is the easiest thing for people to accept, scholars look down on women and servants, saying that they are not worth discussing.106

Makuzu chooses to cite from the Analects in order to show how Confucian debate ignored women, and thus implied their unworthiness. In fact, the quotation she chose from the Confucian Classics—the Four Books—is one of the rare instances where women are mentioned at all.107 One of her concerns in choosing this section is to show that intelligence and women are treated here in a “dull-witted observation.” She wants to separate gender from the capacity to think, which erudite PHQWHQGWRFRQÀDWH:RPHQDQGVHUYDQWV²DQGE\VHUYDQWVVKHGRHV QRWUHIHUWRDFRGL¿HGFODVVEXWWKHLGHRORJLFDOGLYLVLRQLQWRkunshi and shĿjin—are not by nature mentally inferior. Makuzu claims that academics of the day need to readjust some of their premises, for instance that women are intellectually inferior 103

See, for instance, Yamakawa Kikue’s outline for a typical curriculum that consisted of A Woman’s Imagawa, The Greater Learning for Women, A Woman’s Epistolary Guide, and A Woman’s Classic of Filial Piety (Yamakawa 1992, p. 25). 104 The section in Hitori kangae about “Women and Servants” (HK, p. 298) is omitted by the copyist. In DokkĿron Bakin apparently quoted some more sections of Makuzu’s original draft of Hitori kangae. This particular section can be found in DK, p. 357. 105 Janine Sawada suggested in personal correspondence that I render kokoro yukitodokanu tokoro nari as “shortcomings in Confucius’s attitude.” 106 DK, p. 359. 107 In the Analects, Bk. 17, 25 we have Confucius saying: “Of all people girls and VHUYDQWVDUHWKHPRVWGLI¿FXOWWREHKDYHWR´/HJJHS

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and thus ought to be ignored as subjects as well as objects in debate. Bakin’s response illustrates her point clearly: :KHQ&RQIXFLXVVDLGWKDW>ZRPHQDQGVHUYDQWVDUHGLI¿FXOWWRKDQGOH@ he meant that women are people with Yin-character (inshitsu 㝔㈹). People with a Yin-character are easily impudent (nare ≫ࡿ), and they like to be jealous. If you let them get close to you, they lose humility and respect. If you distance yourself from them, they get resentful. That is ZK\WKHVDJHVDLGWKH\DUHGLI¿FXOWWRQXUWXUHyashinaigatashi 㣬ࡥ࠿ࡒ ࡊ). The sage does not take pleasure in women and song (seishoku ኇⰅ). Only amorous sorts invite girls to their proximity for love … Servants, too, are part of the Yin-sort (inrui 㝔㢦). But not only lower class people (gesen ୖ㈦) are lowly people. People who are condescending toward the sages, who are envious that someone wins over them, who do not practice virtue and are arrogant… . People who act like this, including scholars, are all lowly people. That is why the sage said it is GLI¿FXOWWRQXUWXUHWKHP108

Bakin’s view from the perspective of male authority demonstrates how the inferiority of women and lowly people is inherent in their nature, which again ignores the premise of one gender-less, universal human QDWXUHDVDVVHUWHGE\6RQJ&RQIXFLDQLVP*HQGHUH[HPSOL¿HGLQWKH concept of yin, underlies his argument. Makuzu recognized that scholarship discriminated against and excluded women from discussion. For a woman to become part of academia, she needed to be regarded as exceptional, or as in the case of Makuzu, “manly;” in other words she needed to transgress her gendered role in society.109 Yet Makuzu certainly did not want to be con108 DK, p. 357. See, for a related discussion, Lisa Raphals and her analysis of the citation in the Analects in regard to the characters 㞬㣬 (Ch. nan yang), which is interpreted HLWKHUDV³GLI¿FXOWWRPDQDJHRUEHKDYHWR´RUDV³GLI¿FXOWWRQXUWXUH´7KHODWWHUFDUULHV WKHLPSOLFDWLRQWKDWZRPHQDUHGLI¿FXOWWRLQVWUXFWEHFDXVHRIWKHLULQFDSDFLW\,QRXU VSHFL¿FFDVHLWLVVWULNLQJKRZ0DNX]XLQGHHGXVHVIRUWKHRULJLQDOWHUPatsukainikui GLI¿FXOWWRKDQGOH ZKLOH%DNLQXVHVyashinaigatashi GLI¿FXOWWRQXUWXUH WKXVGLUHFWO\ implying both interpretations from their gendered perspectives (Lisa Raphals, “Gendered Virtue Reconsidered: Notes from the Warring States and Han,” in The Sage and the Second Sex: Confucianism, Ethics, and Gender, ed. Chenyang Li [Peru, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, 2000], pp. 223-48). 109 For instance, Ema SaikĿ, painter and kanshi poet, “recognized her activity as masculine. This dilemma occasionally caused SaikĿ to renounce traditional ‘femininity’ in her poetry” (Mari Nagase 2002, p. 102). It would be interesting to compare their writings from the perspective of whether they joined in the same kind of rhetoric as men, or if they described the contradictions between their gender role in society and ideology. See Fister 1991, Nagase 2002, and Yu Chang 2002 for a preliminary exami-

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sidered as a man. Being aware of her gender and the discrimination against her sex in regard to scholarship at large and to Confucianism in particular, Makuzu attacked these scholars. She showed that women were inferior due to their physicality, but women could be knowledgeDEOHDQGWKHUHIRUHVKRXOGEHSDUWRILQWHOOHFWXDOGLVFRXUVH6KHIRUWL¿HG her argument with her own enlightenment, which gave her the right to speak out and to know the conditions of society. By de-genderizing intellectual discourse, which was a male prerogative, she opened a debate on gender. But her argument was weakened by her own premise of biological essentialism, which divided humankind into two categories: women and men. The friction between herself and her environment—people called her “odd”—formed the foundation that explained the exception in her case, but what about other women? She found an explanation for the social practice of discrimination against women in physiological essentialism, though by the same token, if this essentialism is rigorously pursued, there should have been no open space for any exception including Makuzu herself. In the dominant male-centered world, society and the ideological GLVFRXUVHRIJHQGHUZHUHÀH[LEOHDQGDOZD\VFKDQJLQJZLWKLQWKHSDrameters of discrimination. While Makuzu rejected some of its stipulations, she embraced others. In so doing, she brings us closer to the intellectual and ideological contradictions of her time. After all, in daily life even the scholar could not ignore the other sex, as Bakin maintains, “Even so, a household cannot be without a woman, and so we have a dilemma.”110

nation. Further, when we consider the female Shingaku disciples and teachers we see how they did not live their own lives according to their teachings of how to become a Shingaku woman. See Robertson 1991, pp. 99-106. 110 DK, p. 357.

CHAPTER SIX

THE RHYTHM AS GUIDE My humble wish is for a world in which people take their cue from the rhythm of heaven and earth. ။ࡒࡡࡴ⩹ࡵࢂ࠾࡫ࡵࡎ࡟ࡵࡡࡢ㐛ࡁࡾ᭮᪝࡛እ᫠ࡡᩐ Tada tanome oi mo wakae mo senu mono wa sugiru tsukihi to yoru hiru no kazu

The only reliable things, the only things not affected by age or youth, are the months and days that pass and the number of nights and days. (Tadano Makuzu, Hitori kangae)1

,Q0DNX]X¶VKDQGVWKHEUXVKEHFDPHDWRROZLWKZKLFKWRUHÀHFWRQ OLIHLWVHOI+HUXQLTXHFRVPRORJ\KDVEHFRPHNQRZQLQWKH¿HOGRILQtellectual history as that of a woman who wrote in isolation and as one WKDW KDG QR UDPL¿FDWLRQV LQ VRFLHW\ 0DNX]X¶V LQVWUXFWLRQV WKHUHIRUH are theoretical only. Her ideas did not initiate any economic or political reforms, nor did they open a debate; Makuzu did not open a school or travel the country to promulgate her insights, at least as far as we know.2 The following discussion is based on the one-sided exchange between Makuzu and Bakin, since Makuzu did not reply to his critique. Likewise, when I draw on connotations of Song Confucianism, Ancient School Confucianism, nativism, and Western studies in order WR FODULI\ 0DNX]X¶V QRWLRQV WKHVH FRQQRWDWLRQV GR QRW UHÀHFW DFWXDO practices in society, but rather reveal the mind of an intellectual pondering her contemporary political culture.

1

HK, p. 294-95; MN 56:2, p. 183. According to Nakayama Eiko, Makuzu had some disciples to whom she taught poetry (Nakayama 1988, p. 24). Makuzu, too, mentions in Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 376: “I always liked being a teacher, because when I come close to these children, nothing bothers me and I am peaceful and content. I do not even get tired in repeating the same things over and over again. This is why becoming a teacher was so soothing. In particular after it was decided for me to live here, I hoped to take this opportunity to JDWKHU\RXQJJLUOVWR¿QGVRPHMR\LQP\OLIHE\VFKRROLQJWKHP´ 2

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Figure 6-1. First page of Hitori kangae (copy made in 1926). Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

THE R HYTHM BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH Makuzu well represents the range and diversity of the late Tokugawa intellectual landscape. In her work, she offers a cosmology that is not FOHDUO\GH¿QHGEXWLVWKHUHFRQ¿JXUDWLRQRIDSRRORILGHQWL¿DEOHQRtions from which she draws. Her epistemological endeavor to explain the world around her unquestionably proposes different solutions from those offered by academics, in particular by Confucians, who represented the leading Tokugawa intellectual discourse. I have already shown in the previous chapter Makuzu’s discontent with Confucianism with regard to women and scholarship. Therefore her rejection of the Confucian Way as a path that should help society does not come as a surprise. Instead Makuzu proposes a notion that is based on her experience and not on theoretical discussions found in books alone.

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Makuzu means to abolish metaphysics from the realm of human beings. Her father’s activities, which she explains were those of an intellectual who always investigated his environment, demonstrated to her that seeking the truth of the certainties between heaven and earth could not be based on a superstructure. Just as her father used to say that curiosity is a human trait, Makuzu continues to follow her father and his approach to knowledge, namely by means of the investigation of things, the quest for sincerity (makoto ㄌ).3 Makuzu shares this objective with many other scholars; what differs is her approach and her conclusion.4 Ideology or religion, in other words ideas that describe what cannot be investigated with eyes and ears, are consequently false. To Makuzu, Buddhism and Confucianism cannot be guides for one’s life since they do not explain the true world. For that reason, Makuzu, here echoing nativist thinkers’ works, rejects Confucianism in particular not only as a guide for people to follow but also as a tool for ruling. Makuzu’s position in Hitori kangae is straightforward: People may think that the way of the sages (hijiri no michi ⪯ࡡ㐠), having been used for public affairs since ancient times, is indeed a true way (makoto wa michi rashiku ㄌࡢ㐠ࡼࡊࡂ). In fact, however, it is simply a system made by human beings and borrowed from China. It is a fancy implement, for use in the world at large, like a cart on the KLJKZD\:KHQWKHUHDUHGLI¿FXOWPDWWHUVRISXEOLFFRQFHUQWKHRQO\ way to move them ahead is to put them on the cart and push…. As an implement it is clumsy, and people can get hurt.5 3

Letter called Mukashibanashi, in TMS, p. 373. Makoto is commonly rendered as “sincerity” (see Doctrine of the Mean, 25 [Legge 1971, p. 418]). In this case, it expresses how Makuzu sees her natural environment as the leading principle. In one case, in the translation of Hitori kangae we rendered hito no makoto as “human nature” (see HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 191). 5 HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26. Makuzu refers here to the Analects, Bk. 8, 7, 1: “[The RI¿FHU¶V@EXUGHQLVKHDY\DQGKLVFRXUVHLVORQJ´/HJJHS 7KLVLVEHWWHU indicated in her letter Nanakusa no tatoe, where she says: “Among the many things that remind me of [Motosuke] is the Chinese proverb “The burden is heavy and the way is far,” which is sincerely my safeguard: ၄ெࡡࡗࡄࡊ㔔Ⲭࡢㇿࡥ࡝࠿ࡼ㐮ࡄࡀ㐠ࢅࡒ࡜ࡼࡉࡽࡗࡾ 4

Karabito no tsukeshi omoni wa oi nagara harukeki michi o tadorazaritsuru

While the Chinese carry a heavy burden, they didn’t pursue the way this far.

ࡻࡲࡗࡕ࡞⾔ࡂࡼࢆெ࡞၄ᅗࡡ㔔Ⲭㇿࡢࡎࡊࡆ࡛ࡡᝊࡊࡈ Yomitsuji ni It is sad that the person yukuran hito ni who will go to the other world karakuni no has to carry omoni owaseshi the heavy burden koto no kanashisa of China.

(Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, pp. 504-05).

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Since Confucianism is a human device from China it is inappropriate as a guide for Japan. Certainly, the Chinese origin of the Way is nothing new, and even Makuzu’s postulation that the Way was an invention was not unheard of in the late Tokugawa period either. This well-known argument was not only used by critics of Confucianism, for instance nativists like Kamo Mabuchi and Motoori Norinaga, but also was used as an argument among Confucians, such as representatives of Ancient learning (Kogaku), for example Ogyŗ Sorai, who attacked Song Confucian metaphysics. Makuzu obviously positions herself as belonging to the group of critics that rejects Confucianism categorically. Makuzu explains, using her personal experience, that the Confucian Way is not only invented, but actually harmful to society. Her own family’s situation provided an example of the dire consequences of Confucian teachings. She recalls in Hitori kangae how her family ended in ruin, despite her father and brother having upheld Confucian teachings.6 As a result, Makuzu understands explicit ideologies such as Confucianism and Buddhism as views that lead neither to peace in society nor to happiness for the individual. Makuzu’s suggestion is to neglect any kind of “way” since it is necessarily an invention, and instead to follow what is within our daily experience. Makuzu’s insight led her to follow what she says is at the core of the world: the “rhythm between heaven and earth” (tenchi no hyĿshi ኮᆀࡡᢷᏄ): We who are born between heaven and earth will surely live out our entire lives in peace if we take the number of days and nights and the rhythm of heaven and earth as a fundamental principle (moto ᮇ), alZD\VFKRRVLQJWRGRZKDW¿WVWKHSULQFLSOHDQGDYRLGLQJWKDWZKLFKGRHV not. Both the teachings of Buddha and the way of the sages are systems created by human beings; they did not arise of their own accord (onozukara naru mono narazu ࠽ࡡࡍ࠾ࡼ࡝ࡾࡵࡡ࡝ࡼࡍ).7

Makuzu again calls attention to the human “creation” of “ways,” such as Confucianism and Buddhism, which consequently cannot be the source of sincerity (makoto).8 Instead, Makuzu announces that the only certainty in this world is the rhythm that is manifested in the recurrence of day and night, a natural order. The legacy of her father’s scholarly approach, namely the investigation of the unchangeable that lies 6

HK, p. 268. HK, p. 269; MN 56:1, p. 27. Emphases are mine. 8 HK, p. 268. 7

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between heaven and earth, is manifest in Makuzu’s view.9 However, while we can only surmise that Heisuke’s approach to the world lacked the original superstructure of Song Confucian content, Makuzu’s approach certainly is supposed to be devoid of metaphysics. Makuzu’s notion of the rhythm between heaven and earth is not a direct appropriation of the thoughts of anti-Confucian thinkers, such as 0DEXFKLDQG1RULQDJD0DNX]XXVHVKHURZQGH¿QLWLRQWRH[SODLQKHU view, which can be explained by the fact that she sees the world with a different pair of eyes than do her male contemporaries. The phrase the “rhythm between heaven and earth” is original to Makuzu, and has provoked much conjecture among modern scholars. Seki Tamiko’s interpretation is that Makuzu acknowledges only the “natural order and rhythm” (shizen no kisoku sei to rizumu ⮤↓ࡡぜ์ᛮ࡛ࣛࢫ࣑); ľguchi YŗjirĿ understands hyĿshi as “timing;” and Kado Reiko reads hyĿshi as “pulse” (myaku ⬞) or “tempo,” depending on the context.10 In order to come to terms with Makuzu’s notion of the “rhythm,” we notice that for Makuzu the rhythm underlies a principle (moto ᮇ). Indeed, in Makuzu’s worldview, there is no “way” of moral norms, which would necessarily be a construct and therefore changeable, but an authority, the rhythm, which arose on its own.11 The rhythm is Makuzu’s way of grasping the phenomenological natural environment. Makuzu argues to her audience, the upper class and the educated, that religions and metaphysical cosmologies cannot be guides for understanding the world; instead one must scrutinize the world itself. By essentializing this environment into the rhythm, however, Makuzu comes close to a normative “nature,” which Bakin idenWL¿HVIRUWKDWUHDVRQDVD&RQIXFLDQQRWLRQ:KHUHDVLQWKH7RNXJDZD period the notion of “nature” is often left vague, Song Confucianism interprets the notion of “nature” (shizen ⮤↓ or onozukara ࠽ࡡࡍ࠾ ࡼ)12 as the normative standard of a natural law of the Way.13 This view, 9 Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 385. Makuzu explains that physicians, such as her father, believe that the heart has to be in accord with heaven and earth (tenchi ni tĿru, previously rendered into “penetrate heaven and earth.”) See also chapter 3. 10 Seki 1980, p. 132; ľguchi 1995, p. 237; Kado 1998, p. 189 and p. 191. 11 For more on morality see chapter 7. 12 As is stated in the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), 22, “Able to assist the transforming and nourishing powers of Heaven and Earth, he may with Heaven and Earth form a ternion” (Legge 1971, pp. 415-16). 13 See Maruyama, who declares that for Zhu Xi and his followers of the Song Confucian tradition, “the Way was a transcendent element related to the Will of Heaven (tenmei) and part of nature or the natural order” (Maruyama Masao, Studies in the Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan, transl. Mikiso Hane [Tokyo: University of Tokyo

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however, as Ogyŗ Sorai rightly claims, is actually not even Confucian in origin but can be traced back to notions expressed by Laozi and Zhuangzi and is therefore categorized as Daoist.14 Because of Makuzu’s apparent nearness to the Song Confucian notion of “nature,” in Bakin’s opinion, Makuzu’s revelation of the “rhythm” is not a new thought, but merely a different label for the regularity of the seasons and the course of nature. Bakin cites calendar-making and music as examples of how people take this rhythm as their fundamental source for conducting their lives. Natural phenomena, even Heaven, all depend on this rhythm: In Confucian books Heavenly principle (tenri ኮ⌦), chance ( jiun ᫤ 㐘), epidemics ( jiki ᫤Ẵ), and weather (kikĿ Ẵು), all depend on the number of days and nights and the rhythm of heaven and earth. This is not a new theory.15

Nevertheless, as Bakin goes on to explain, some people, in their attempt to learn about their fate by relying on fortune-tellers and other superstitious beliefs, lose their purpose and waste their time. Instead of such reliance, one must acknowledge this rhythm as something that cannot be rationalized or known.16 Although there is this seeming agreement between Bakin’s and Makuzu’s notions of an enigmatic rhythm or “nature,” they are certainly poles apart in the consequences they draw from this concept of the rhythm. Bakin’s indisputable respect for the rhythm indicates that he advocates that people should not seek to understand nature but should concentrate on the Way instead.17 Bakin sees the Way of the sages as the only reliable source for human morality due to nature’s mystery, to which Makuzu objects when she states: Press, 1974], pp. 19-61). 14 Ogyŗ Sorai, Benmei I: 6, 2. Cited by Ogyŗ Sorai’s Discourse on Government (Seidan), transl. Olof G. Lidin (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999), p. 147, n. 260. 15 DK, p. 353. Bakin continues, “Thus a woman who does not read many books and comes up with this ‘unexpected’ (futo ࡨ࡛) thought should not be praised. Being selfcontent and proud is like the white pig of Liaodong.” 16 DK, p. 353. 17 Bakin’s notion is a sign that he also read anti-Song Confucian works and is not unconditionally bound to Song Confucian teachings, but rather has an eclectic approach to it. In Song Confucianism the study of nature would bring one closer to the Way, hence the popularity of evidential learning (kaozheng; kĿshĿ ⩻チ). In the works of ItĿ Jinsai and Ogyŗ6RUDLKRZHYHUZH¿QGDGHSDUWXUHIURPWKLVYLHZ,QSDUWLFXODU6RUDL argues that nature cannot be understood; only the sages are able to understand nature and thus they created the Way. For men, therefore, there is only following the Way. See Winkel 2004 for a discussion of evidential research in the late Tokugawa period, in particular chapter 1.

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When we sincerely appreciate the teachings of the sages and believe them to be true, we bind our hearts with our own hands many times over without even knowing it.18

In Makuzu’s mind, a “way” implied the creation of norms and rules. This explains why she would never refer to the rhythm as a “way.” On the other hand, “nature,” in the manner she understood it, was elevated to an eternal presence, approximating in itself an ultimate authority. A construct to the modern reader, to Makuzu it expressed “naturalness” (onozukara) as opposed to creation; it emphasized society’s need to conform to this rhythm and not to engage in metaphysical speculation, which would only lead to being estranged from “sincerity.”

THE R HYTHM’S GENEALOGY Makuzu’s worldview is peculiar, but the genealogy of her idiosyncratic phrase “the rhythm between heaven and earth” lies in the works she read. The Japanese compound hyĿshi itself is usually closely connected to music and poetry.19 Makuzu certainly did not arrive at her notion by reading Confucian texts. She had her father’s instructions, but also, via her study of poetry, became acquainted with the thoughts of nativist scholars. By the time Makuzu wrote Hitori kangae, some major works of Kamo Mabuchi and Motoori Norinaga had been published and debates about their content were circulating.20 It is in particular Mabuchi who deserves our close attention. In his widely read text, Niimanabi ࡞ࡥࡱ࡝ࡦ (New Learning, written in 1765), a blueprint of his nativist ideas, Mabuchi uses the term shirabe 18

HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26. The compound hyĿshi appears to be a Japanese term used primarily in music and cannot be found in Classical Chinese. See, for instance, Hayashi Shihei’s father, Hayashi RyŗĿ ᯐ➗⩕, who uses the term within the context of poetry (in Hayashi RyŗĿ, Sendai kango, part 2, in Hayashi Shihei zenshŗ, ed. Yamamoto Yutaka, vol. 3 [Tokyo: Seikatsusha, 1946], p. 1067). 20 Kagawa Kageki’s refutation of Mabuchi’s Niimanabi was written in 1811 and published in 1815. This belated response, more than forty years after Mabuchi’s death, was due to the late publication of Niimanabi in 1800 (Roger K. Thomas, Plebeian Travelers on the Way of Shikishima: Waka Theory and Practice during the Late Tokugawa Period>3K'GLVVHUWDWLRQ,QGLDQD8QLYHUVLW\@S 7KH¿UVWERRNRI1RULQDga’s legendary Kojikiden was published in 1790. Unlike Bakin (DK, p. 360, and also p. 359), Makuzu does not mention Hirata Atsutane, one main protagonist in the nativist ¿HOGLQHitori kangae or in any other work. I will concentrate my discussion, therefore, on Mabuchi and Norinaga. 19

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Figure 6-2. Kamo Mabuchi. Courtesy of Shimizu Shoin.

ㄢ that can be rendered into English as “rhythm.”21 Shirabe, too, has a meaning akin to hyĿshi in the context found in poetry: Ancient poems gave priority to the rhythm (shirabe) since they were recited vocally.22 The rhythm, generally speaking, could be expressed at the readers’ preference, quietly, brightly, clearly, or melancholically. In any case, however, a lofty and straightforward spirit could be felt in all poems. Moreover, there was elegance in the loftiness and valor of straightforwardness. Since heaven and earth, father and mother of all beings, made the four seasons, and as the beings that are born out of [heaven and earth] are diverse, so, too, is the rhythm (shirabe) of poems. Further, just as spring blends with summer and fall with winter, there are poems with various rhythms mixed together. Nevertheless, each poem has an exquisite rhythm all its own.23 21 Thomas 1991, p. 39, renders the term shirabe as “tone.” I prefer ľkubĿ’s rendering of the term shirabe as “rhythm” instead of “tone,” in particular when seen in the FRQWH[WRIWKH¿UVWOLQHVRINiimanabi (New Learning), which I discuss later on (ľkubo Tadashi, “The Thoughts of Mabuchi and Norinaga” Acta Asiatica 25 [1973], p. 75). 22 Mabuchi refers here to the time before the adoption of the Chinese script. 23 Kamo Mabuchi, Niimanabi ࡞ࡥࡱ࡝ࡦ (New Learning), in KMZ, ed. Inoue Mi-

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7KHIDPRXV¿UVWOLQHLVRIWHQFLWHGDVKDYLQJLQLWLDWHGWKHGLVFXVVLRQ among poets about the rhythm as an important poetic concept. From the paragraph it is evident that for Mabuchi the “rhythm” (shirabe) of the ancient poems is their form. Or, as ľkubo Tadashi explains, “The ‘rhythm’ of waka is nothing but the discovery of the eternal and permanent life of heaven, earth, and nature.”24 In fact, the “rhythm” expressed in the form of waka poetry of the Man’yĿshŗ is not a formalistic norm or human-made theory but the manifestation of heaven and earth. This ideal form of poetry is a manifestation of an ideal society, a historical outlook I will discuss below.25 After Mabuchi initiated the importance of its treatment, the stakes for the notion of shirabe were high in contemporary poetic debates, even though, as Roger Thomas argues, the concrete meaning of its concept remained very much “elusive.”26 Murata Harumi, who was part of Makuzu’s close poetic network, emphasized shirabe, too, as an important feature of poetry. Harumi discussed shirabe in detail in his poetic treatise, Utagatari ḯ࠿ࡒࡽ (Talk about Poetry, before 1800),27 where he uses the term eleven times in only eleven lines, without saying much more than his teacher Mabuchi had stated: namely that the rhythm is the underlying principle (moto ࡵ࡛) of the poem and needs to be observed carefully.28 noru, vol. 19 (Tokyo: Gunsho Ruijŗ Kanseikai, 1980), p. 200. The above translation essentially follows ľkubo 1973, p. 75. (Various manuscripts have differing writings for the word Niimanabi; I follow here the KMZ.) 24 ľkubo 1973, p. 75. 25 About Kamo Mabuchi in Western languages, see Heinrich Dumoulin, Kamo Mabuchi: Ein Beitrag zur japanischen Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, Monumenta Nipponica Monographs, Nr. 8 (Tokyo: Sophia University, 1943); Nosco 1990; McNally 2005. 26 Thomas 2003, in particular, p. 157. Shimizu Hamaomi complains in a letter that shirabe is in every poet’s mouth without carrying any meaning. Letter cited in Maruyama Sueo, KokugakushijĿ no hitobito, comp. Maruyama Sueo ikĿ kankĿkai (Tokyo: Yoshikawa KĿbunkan, 1979), pp. 523-24. 27 Harumi sent the text to Motoori Norinaga’s adoptive son Motoori ľhira. There is an ongoing debate between these two poets representing the Edo group (Mabuchi) versus the Suzunoya group (Norinaga). 28 Cited by Ibi 1998, p. 429. In the text Harumi certainly distinguishes himself from Mabuchi in regard to which models are to be used. While Mabuchi emphasizes the Man’yĿshŗ, Harumi prefers the Kokinshŗ. Harumi is well known for having different ideas about poetry and its practice, despite being a disciple of Mabuchi. Often called a poet who combines native and Chinese poetry, he does not fall squarely into the nativist tradition. In regard to nagauta, as we have seen, however, he follows his teacher, and in the context of shirabe we see that due to its vague meaning a congruence of opinion is easily accomplished.

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Figure 6-3. Jisanka by Tadano Makuzu. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

7KH GLVFXVVLRQ GLG QRW UHPDLQ FRQ¿QHG WR (GR EXW UHDFKHG RYHU to the older center of poetry, Kyoto. The poet Kagawa Kageki expressed a “theory of rhythm” (shirabe no setsu ㄢࡡㄕ) in his refutation of Mabuchi, Niimanabi iken ᩺Ꮥ␏ず (Objections to New Learning, 1814).29 While Kageki disagrees with Mabuchi on other points, discussed later, he concurs with Mabuchi on the importance and meaning of shirabe, as a semi-metaphysical concept: the term “rhythm” (shirabe) is the poetic expression of heaven and earth, i.e. the “rhythm” of poems functions as the medium of the Way’s eternal order.30 While the leaders of the debate on Mabuchi’s characterization of the “rhythm” as a manifestation of heaven and earth focus on poetry, this semi-metaphysical concept appears to have been appropriated by Makuzu in a way that goes beyond its semantic meaning. Even though 29

See Tanaka 2000, pp. 121-24. “Shirabe was a quasi-metaphysical concept describing the quality in a poem when it springs from pure, sincere feelings: Poetry which arises from such sincerity of feeling is an expression of the pulse (shirabe) of the universe, and like the sound which things emit when struck by winds sweeping from the sky, the objects of such poetry cannot fail to obtain their resonance (shirabe),” Kagawa Kageki, Niimanabi iken, in Nihon kagaku taikei, ed. Nobutsuna Sasaki, vol. 8 (Tokyo: Kazama ShobĿ, 1958), p. 216. Translation by Thomas 1991, pp. 39-40. See also Inoue Minoru, “KokuikĿ Kaisetsu,” in KMZ, vol. 19, p. 21; and see also Shirane 2002, pp. 954-55. 30

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in one section of Hitori kangae Makuzu uses kokoro no hyĿshi ᚨࡡᢷ Ꮔ, rendered as the “rhythms of the heart,” synonymously with shirabe (ࡊࡼ࡬), Mabuchi’s term of choice, Makuzu’s use of her own termiQRORJ\VXJJHVWVWKHPRGL¿FDWLRQRIKLVWKRXJKWVE\KHUEUXVK31 One explanation for Makuzu’s avoidance is Mabuchi’s use of a notion expressed in the Daodejing for his concept of the Way.32 As Mabuchi declares in his famed section of KokuikĿ ᅗណ⩻ (Ideas on the Meaning of the Realm, 1764):33 $VD:D\H[LVWVHYHU\ZKHUHLQZLOGKLOOVDVZHOODVLQEDUUHQ¿HOGVDV soon as people settle, so here a Way of the gods (kamiyo no michi ♼௥ ࡡ㐠) unfolded of itself (onozukara ࠽ࡡࡍ࠾ࡼ).34 What Laozi has said about being in harmony with heaven and earth (ametsuchi no mani-mani ኮᆀࡡࡱ࡞ࡱ࡞) is in accordance to the Way of the world (ame ga shita no michi ኮ࠿ୖࡡ㐠).35

31 “The rhythms of the heart (kokoro no hyĿshi ᚨࡡᢷᏄ) differ according to the trends of the times. This can be seen in different styles of writing. Because ancient texts were written in a world in which minds were at peace, their rhythms (hyĿshi ᢷᏄ) are tranquil. How can such peaceful rhythms (shirabeࡊࡼ࡬) suit the present world …?” (HK, p. 294; MN 56:2, p. 182). 32 The Dao follows its own course and it is for the people to seek the state of nature, to make themselves one with natural spontaneity. Daodejing, ch. 25 states, “Man models himself after Earth. Earth models itself after Heaven. Heaven models itself after the Way. The Way models itself after Nature.” For Mabuchi, see in particular KaikĿ ḯណ⩻ (Ideas on the Meaning of Poetry, 1764, published in 1800), in KMZ, vol. 19, p. 40: “In antiquity, people’s hearts were straightforward and sincere; because their hearts were straightforward, their actions (nasu waza) were few; because there were few affairs (koto), their words were not numerous.” Translation by Mark Teeuwen, “Poetry, Sake, and Acrimony: Arakida Hisaoyu and the Kokugaku Movement,” MN 52:3 (Fall 1997), p. 305, note 25. See also KokuikĿ in Dumoulin 1943, p. 289. As mentioned earlier, Mabuchi wrote his KokuikĿ as a refutation of Dazai Shundai ኯᐍ᫋ྋ (1680–1747). 33 This closeness of Mabuchi to Daoism is a widely accepted view. In accordance ZLWKRWKHUELRJUDSKHUVRI0DEXFKL3HWHU1RVFRWUDFHVWKLVLQÀXHQFHEDFNWR0DEXFKL¶V teacher Watanabe MĿan ῳ㎮ⵒᗙ (1687–1775), who was a poet of kanshi (Chinese verse) but also an authority on Daoism. This does not come as a surprise, since he was a student of Dazai Shundai, who himself was involved in the study of Daoism (Nosco 1990, p. 104). What has been neglected, however, is a thorough discussion of what kind of Daoist texts or other traditions were actually appropriated by these scholars. In Mabuchi’s case, in particular, a more thorough discussion is desirable. 34 KokuikĿ, in KMZ, vol. 19, p. 10. Translation by Harry D. Harootunian in Readings in Tokugawa Thought, Center for East Asian Studies, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), p. 132. See also Dumoulin 1943, p. 276. (The part “as soon as people settle” is not included in the KMZ.) 35 KokuikĿ, in KMZ, vol. 19, p. 14. Translation is mine. Dumoulin remarks that Mabuchi uses the term ame ga shita with the meaning of “world” and not the narrow meaning of Japan (Dumoulin 1943, p. 274, n. 26). Harootunian translates this phrase as “the Way of the land” (Harootunian 1998, p. 137).

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Figure 6-4 Motoori Norinaga. Matsuzaka Municipal Library. Courtesy of Shimizu Shoin.

Mabuchi claims that the Way is not caused by an external invention but exists on its own and follows its own course, which is a cardinal notion of Daoism.36 Nature itself becomes the Way, a postulation that comes close to what Makuzu declares about the rhythm, yet Makuzu shuns reiterating Mabuchi’s terminology, because, as mentioned earlier, a “way” always implies to her a human invention. Instead Makuzu goes beyond Mabuchi’s use of the term “rhythm” as the “form” to describe the Way or essentially Daoist “nature.” While we can distinguish between the Way and its verbal channel or “rhythm” in the writings by Mabuchi and Kageki, Makuzu in her own work makes no such distinction. Makuzu’s usage denotes a deeper essence, perhaps indicated by her choice of the term hyĿshi instead of shirabe. By not distinguishing between the “rhythm” and the Way and with36 Ametsuchi no manimani naru is one of the key concepts in Mabuchi’s thought, translated by Dumoulin as “in harmony with Heaven and Earth” (see Dumoulin 1943, p. 288). ľkubo renders it as “the mind as endowed by heaven and earth” (see ľkubo 1973, pp. 75, 77, 81, 83).

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holding the use of the word “way” (michi), Makuzu essentializes the word “rhythm” in its place. The “rhythm between heaven and earth” is DVDUHVXOW¿OOHGZLWKPHDQLQJHYLGHQWWR0DNX]XLQWKHUHJXODULW\RI the days and nights, when she insists, “Whatever cataclysmic changes may occur, the one matter in which there is not the slightest shift is the number of days and nights.”37 Makuzu avoided appropriating Mabuchi’s notion of the Way because she had read Norinaga. In his Naobi no mitama ├ẕ㟃 (The Way of the Gods) Norinaga refutes categorically such a notion of the Way as expressed by his teacher Mabuchi, referring directly to the citation above:38 What is the Way? It is not the Way that arises spontaneously in nature (ametsuchi no onozukara naru ኮᆀࡡ࠽ࡡࡍ࠾ࡼ࡝ࡾ). Be well aware of this, and do not confuse the Way with the Daoist views of Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi, and others of China. Neither is the Way man-made. It came about by the awesome spirit of the God Takami Musubi. Everything was formed by the spirit of this great God.39

,WLVZHOONQRZQWKDW1RULQDJDGHVSLWHEHLQJ0DEXFKL¶VRI¿FLDOGLVFLple, had different opinions. Norinaga criticized Mabuchi for his notion of onozukara as a self-generated nature with neither beginning nor end, which is in endless movement, like the revolution of sun and moon as GHVFULEHGE\WKHWHDFKLQJVRI'DRLVP1RULQDJDUHMHFWHGWKHDUWL¿FLDOity inherent in the Daoist notion of “nature” and replaced it with a difIHUHQWQRWLRQZLWKRXWDUWL¿FHQDPHO\WKH:D\RIWKH*RGV Although Norinaga’s critique certainly enforced Makuzu’s apparent mistrust of Chinese Ways, for similar reasons Makuzu also did not agree with Norinaga that metaphysical sincerity is displayed in the Way of the Gods. Makuzu could not consent to Norinaga’s argument that the Way, despite its resemblance to “nature,” is based on mysterious and profound principles—the divine creation of a Japanese god. When she 37

HK, p. 295; MN 56:2, p. 183. About the text, see Sey Nishimura, “The Way of the Gods: Motoori Norinaga’s Naobi no Mitama,” MN 46:1 (1991), pp. 22-26. Naobi no mitama appeared separately from the Kojikiden¿UVWLQDVWKHWKLUGGUDIWDQGWKHQDVWKH¿QDOVHFWLRQLQ%RRN 1 of the Kojikiden published in 1790, a text Makuzu read (HK, p. 266). 39 Motoori Norinaga, Naobi no Mitama, in MNZ, vol. 9 (1968), p. 57. Translation by Nishimura 1991, p. 35. See for a similar statement Kuzubana, where Norinaga states: “There is a Way that was not invented by men and that has existed naturally ever since the divine age. It is a Way created by gods and, strictly speaking, is not a natural Way, but, when compared with what humans create, it does resemble nature.” Motoori Norinaga, Kuzubana (Arrowroot), in MNZ, vol. 8 (1972), p. 158. Translation by Nosco 1990, pp. 188-89. 38

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insisted that the rhythm exists on its own between heaven and earth in opposition to the teachings of Buddha and the Way of the sages that did not arise of their own accord,40 apparently she was not aware of WKH QRUPDWLYH FRQFHSW RI WKH UK\WKP DQ DUWL¿FH DV 1RULQDJD ZRXOG argue.41,QVWHDGVKHDI¿UPVWKHVDPHFRQFHSWLRQDV0DEXFKLZLWKKLV statement on the Way as “unfolding itself” (onozukara),42 and thus embraces the Chinese tradition rather than so-called nativist beliefs.43 Makuzu evidently drew on the works of Mabuchi and Norinaga, but her disagreements with them are such that she cannot simply be labeled an adherent of one or the other. She diverges in ways that give evidence of her strong emphasis on experience rather than on textual study, which she may not have been able to pursue given that the texts were written in a language unknown to her. The only access she had to these texts was in fact through the modern versions prepared by scholars such as Mabuchi and Norinaga. On the other hand, her approach was similar to that of her father, since she advised that in order to live DSHDFHIXOOLIHZHVKRXOG³DOZD\VFKRRVHWRGRZKDW¿WVWKHSULQFLSOH and avoid that which does not” (au koto o erite mochii, awanu koto ni wa kakawaranu ྙ࠹ࡆ࡛ࢅࢄࡽ࡙⏕ࡥࠉ࠵ࡢ࡟ࡆ࡛࡞ࡢ࠾ࢎࡢࡼ࡟).44 This selective approach is crucial, since it contributes to the relativism as well as to the contradictions inherent in her thought. 40 See HK, p. 277 and p. 269 respectively. See also Kagawa Kageki in Niimanabi iken, “the rhythm of ancient poetry is produced naturally (onozukara)” (Shirane 2002, p. 955). 41 See, for instance, when Makuzu says, “People who do not consider [the rhythm] important do not know the truth (makoto)” (HK, p. 269; MN 56:1, p. 27). 42 “The Way of the gods (kamiyo no michi ♼௥ࡡ㐠) unfolded of itself” (Kamo Mabuchi, KokuikĿ, in KMZ, vol. 19, p. 10). Some scholars interpret onozukara as shizen and translate the term as “nature.” See e.g. ľkubo, who cites Kamo Mabuchi as saying in KokuikĿ, “tenchi shizen” ኮᆀ⮤↓ (heaven, earth, and nature) (ľkubo 1973, p. 70). Or see for a different interpretation Peter Nosco, who refers to Mabuchi’s “natural Way of heaven and earth,” though without giving the Japanese (Nosco 1990, p. 12). In the original, however, it says, “tenchi to tomo ni okonawaruru onozukara no koto koso” (KokuikĿLQ.0=S :KLOHLWLVGLI¿FXOWWRGLVWLQJXLVKEHWZHHQshizen and onozukara, in Song Confucian terms tenchi shizen, i.e. the natural principle of heaven and earth, expresses an inherent essence of things, which is normative, while its critics claim that “becoming by itself” or “arising naturally” is supposed to be void of essence (Maruyama Masao 1972, pp. 30-32). Still others call it “naturalness.” 43 The profoundly differing and irreconcilable views between them give a clear exDPSOHRIZK\QDWLYLVPPXVWEHVHHQLQDPXFKPRUHGLYHUVL¿HGOLJKW6HHIRUUHFHQW discussions, McNally 2005 and Burns 2003. 44 HK, p. 269; MN 56:1, p. 27. Also see Makuzu’s letter called Nanakusa no tatoe, in TMS, p. 378, where she states that her father, too, in his study of other countries, ³ZRXOGVHOHFWZKDWZDVEHQH¿FLDOGLVUHJDUGWKDWZKLFKZDVKDUPIXO´yoki o eri, ashiki o sutete).

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Makuzu’s view has to be understood within her overall approach to rationalizing and conceptualizing. In the end, by essentializing the “rhythm between heaven and earth,” Makuzu does to the physical environment what she did to gender by basing it on physiological sex. Makuzu postulates a view that is based on physicality alone and essentializes it into the leading principle that one ought to follow. It is KHU VHDUFK IRU VLQFHULW\ WKH QRQPHWDSK\VLFDO DQG QRQDUWL¿FLDO WKDW leads her to this step. Yet by doing so she contradicts herself and ends up, after all, adhering to the notion of a constructed “nature,” a concept that was so deeply embedded in Tokugawa intellectual discourse that few thinkers could escape it.

THE DIMENSION OF TIME Makuzu’s notions are supposed to be practical guidelines applicable to the present time. In fact, Makuzu recognized time as a crucial element of social conditions. Our idiom “time is money” is useful in understanding how late Tokugawa society required a restructuring of time due to greater commercialization.45 Makuzu’s discussion is concretely within this contemporary trend. Makuzu stresses throughout Hitori kangae the importance of time in daily life and how it changes social relations. She refers to time as a phenomenon that can be experienced in a very ordinary and unpretentious way: in the act of breathing. From their youth, [people] should keep the number of days and nights in mind and make it the rhythm inside their hearts. They become confused because they fail to think of time, which carries them along as they breathe in and out, as part of themselves. They should realize that no matter where they hide themselves, time passes as they breathe, and the world itself changes.46

Even as time represents a never-ending principle, it also is the abstract idea for progression. To Makuzu an awareness of the passage of time should be internalized in order to become synchronized with the change wrought by time in the world. Makuzu rejects the Confucian Way as leading away from the rhythm, since it ignores the dimension of time. In her advice to those who remove themselves from society and the world by following a Way, Makuzu means to illustrate how 45 46

See Kuriyama Shigehisa, “The Enigma of ‘Time is Money’,” Japan Review 14 (2002). HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 193.

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easy it is to stay in tune with the rhythm, which will lead to happiness and success.47 As an example, Makuzu enviously mentions foreigners who have their watches at hand to keep track of and always be aware of their time.48 In her view, timepieces are a symbol of people who acknowledge the existence of the rhythm and are thus succeeding in this world. In her approach to time, Makuzu’s disagreement with Mabuchi’s overall notions is further emphasized. When Makuzu states that “the rhythms of the heart” (kokoro no hyĿshi ᚨࡡᢷᏄ) differ according to the trends of the times, she concludes that this is not only applicable for the “rhythm” of poems, as argued by Mabuchi, but in fact for people’s lives and actions.49,WLVPRVWVLJQL¿FDQWWKDWWKLVUK\WKPFKDQJHVDQG transforms itself. In Makuzu’s terms each time period has its own particular rhythm.50 Mabuchi’s stress on the ancient rhythm that ought to EHREVHUYHGLQRUGHUWR¿QGWKHLGHDO:D\RUDSULPRUGLDOXWRSLDSRLQWV to a different path. Mabuchi’s political emphasis on the past indicates that he did not consider the Ancient Way (inishie no michi) as simply a Way that prevailed in the past. He thought of it as an ideal, universal, timeless Way that emerged out of the past to be followed in the present, hence his acceptance of Daoism. Mabuchi’s eternal but presently eclipsed Way could be found through the “rhythm” (shirabe) of ancient poetry. By asserting this universalistic stance, Mabuchi transcended history and thus time, whereas to Makuzu the present is more important than the past, given that the world changes as we breathe.51 Makuzu did not agree with the conception of time being out of step, but saw congruence between time and environment. As environment changes, time changes. Makuzu’s historical viewpoint is frequently evident in her observations of the here and now. This notion was not only shared by Kagawa Kageki,52 who applied it in his poetry, but can be found within the large corpus of criticism of Song Confucianism, in 47

HK, pp. 268-69. HK, p. 306. 49 HK, p. 294. 50 This relativist notion is not particular to Makuzu; Yamagata BantĿ ᒜ∞⽉᱀ (1748–1821), Kaiho SeiryĿ ᾇಕ㟯㝘 (1755–1817), and other contemporaries express similar thoughts. Indeed this notion appears to be a phenomenon of the late Tokugawa period, as I will discuss below in regard to historical consciousness. 51 Muraoka Tsunetsugu, Studies in Shinto Thought, transl. Delmer M. Brown and James T. Araki (Tokyo: Ministry of Education, 1964), p. 126. 52 “The rhythm cannot go outside the style of the current age, though, so in reality it is not the style of the Man’yĿshŗ or the Kokinshŗ but, rather, the style of the current age” (cited in Shirane 2002, pp. 954-55). 48

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particular with regard to the issue of history-writing.53 With the deconstruction of Song Confucian historiography, according to Maruyama Masao, we can identify a friction within the historical consciousness of Japanese scholars, where some sought to restore antiquity with the ideal society, antiquarianism, and others were engaged with the concepts of progress and historical relativism.54 Mabuchi’s ideal of the past being LQ³KDUPRQ\ZLWK+HDYHQDQG(DUWK´H[HPSOL¿HVWKHDQWLTXDULDQYLHZ that one-ness of nature and humankind existed at the beginning of time and that it should be the foundation for good government.55 Makuzu, by contrast, while also regarding the ancient world as a time of peace, never expresses the need to recover this ideal state. On the contrary, the attempt to return to the past as suggested by Mabuchi would go against the rhythm. This notion of time is related to the importance of ikioi (momentum or tide of the time) in Makuzu’s overall framework. Her narrative Mukashibanashi illustrates the notion that change is part of historical time, just as history is a dynamic process that is ever-changing. To Makuzu, individual and social or political time are the same; her father’s ikioi changed and the same happens to trends in society at large. It is this relativism that forms Makuzu’s perception when she declares that the SHDFHIXOUK\WKPVRIDQWLTXLW\DUHLOO¿WWLQJVLQFHHDFKWLPHSHULRGKDV a particular rhythm that arises “of its own accord.” The rhythm itself is active in an endless process; it embodies a dynamic, which creates a particular time and space on its own. When Makuzu claims the importance of the rhythm, which with the regularity of the seasons should be endless and unchanging, and when she points to the importance of each time and age, she embraces a paradox. Although the thought is not further developed in Hitori kangae, her argument implies that the 53 In Song Confucianism, since history is about the relationship between Heaven and man linked via the heavenly principle (tenri ኮ⌦), a static view of history prevailed that emphasized continuity and cyclical repetition. Maruyama Masao summarizes Song Confucian history-writing as a didactic interpretation of history, a mirror of warning for the ruler (Maruyama 1972, p. 32). Or in the pejorative words of Norinaga: “Confucian scholars brandish their tiny intellects and arbitrarily judge the successes and failures of preceding ages,” in Tamakushige, transl. John S. Brownlee, “The Jeweled Comb-Box: Motoori Norinaga’s Tamakushige,” MN 43:1 (1988), p. 56. 54 Maruyama 1972, p. 32. See further Muraoka and his stance on antiquarianism as idealism (Muraoka 1964, p. 95; see also Kate Wildman Nakai, “Tokugawa Confucian Historiography: The Hayashi, Early Mito School, and Arai Hakuseki,” in Confucianism and Tokugawa Culture, ed. Peter Nosco [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984], in particular pp. 64-65). 55 KokuikĿ, in KMZ, p. 15.

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rhythm and human time are not congruent. Makuzu uses the idea of ikioi to explain change within static or human time within the rhythm. Again we are led to the Daoist notion of change within stillness that can be found widely in Tokugawa thought, and of course in poetry, such as in Matsuo BashĿ’s ᮿᑹⰰⶸ (1644–94) linked verses (haiku ಢྀ) or late-eighteenth-century waka poetry.56 Bakin, too, in his response to Hitori kangae, argues that there is change within the eternal and thereby conveys his historical consciousness. He admits that the “rhythm” in music changed over time, but the “rhythm of heaven and earth” (tenchi no hyĿshi) is the same throughout. Yet he argues—and this is in sharp contrast to Makuzu’s claims—that trends or conditions of the current time can easily oppose this rhythm and therefore should not be considered as directions for leading one’s life: I discussed earlier what [Makuzu] calls “rhythm of heaven and earth.” However, the rhythm of heaven and earth cannot be compared to the hand playing a shamisen strong and fast. In ancient times, the rhythm was long and slow. Later, determined by how one uses one’s talent and one manages desire (yoku ៛), rich and poor alike work busily. Therefore the rhythm, too, appears to be busy and fast, but actually there is no difference between the “rhythm of heaven and earth” in China and Japan or the rhythm of now and then. … For the young (up to their mid-twenties) the passing of the days seems ORQJDQGIRUWKHROGHULQWKHLUIRUWLHVDQG¿IWLHV WKHÀHHWLQJRIWKHGD\V seems very fast, yet, the days do not go by faster or slower. … When you take the calendar, which is an adoption from China, then in both countries one year has 360 days, and the seasons are the same. This should be enough to show that I am right about the pulse (ninki ெ Ẵ) of the Chinese and Japanese being the same.57

For Bakin, time and the change of time are ultimately irrelevant; what is important is the universal moral order of the Way. Makuzu’s view, on the other hand, takes the rhythm as the ultimate guide. Makuzu demonstrates a relativist view with regard to differing time periods, but she also refers to history as progressive when she claims that people in earlier times were rather simple compared to those of her day.58 We have relativism on the one hand, which can be 56

Shirane 2002, p. 204. DK, pp. 360-61. 58 See, for instance, “When people were still backward (oroka narishi ម࠾࡝ࡽࡊ), there may have been some point to making use of the teachings of another country. But LQWKLV¿QHDJHZKHQHYHQWKRVHRIORZVWDWLRQKDYHWKHDVSLUDWLRQWROHDUQZK\VKRXOG 57

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found in Norinaga’s work,59 and historical progress and evolution on the other. Both concepts can be combined within her postulation of the rhythm. Makuzu’s notions are part of Heisuke’s legacy, as when she cites him saying: 3HRSOHZLOODOZD\V¿QGVROXWLRQV7KHZRUOGLVQRWJRLQJWRGLPLQLVKDQG the world is not going to end. When something stops here, something will arise there, when something stops there, something will arise here. As long as there are people between Heaven and Earth, even if wise people become extinct, others will be brought forth. It is foolish to lament the way the world is.60

2QWKHRWKHUKDQG0DNX]XDOVRPDLQWDLQVWKDWWKHQRZLVDQDI¿UPDtion of the present as something that constantly moves onward, adapting to circumstances. Makuzu’s understanding of Mabuchi’s concept of an eternal Way that transcends time, and her own understanding of the continuation of “natural” time, which can be measured with mechanical devices, leads her to the notion of an interaction between the two ideas of change and eternity of time.61 Again, Makuzu chooses what VHHPVWR¿WEHVWDQGWKHUHE\SRVLWLRQVKHUQRWLRQVEHWZHHQ1RULQDJD¶V historical relativism and Mabuchi’s view that transcends history, conforming to Daoist philosophy. THE DIMENSION OF SPACE Analogous to Makuzu’s perception of time is her view of the dimension of space. Relativism implies that location, too, plays a decisive role. Place has been much discussed among scholars, and Makuzu, too, contributes eagerly with her knowledge about foreign countries. Throughout Hitori kangae ZH ¿QG SDVVDJHV WKDW LOOXVWUDWH 0DNX]X¶V emphasis on space as a geographical boundary or territory in relation to the rhythm, for instance when she proclaims: we rely on the works of another country?” (HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36). Makuzu also mentions in a letter to Bakin how backward Sendai is compared to Edo (see Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377). 59 Motoori Norinaga, Uiyamabumi, in MNZ, vol. 1, p. 17. Translation by Sey Nishimura, “First Steps into the Mountains: Motoori Norinaga’s Uiyamabumi,” MN 42:4 (1987), for instance, p. 476. “This also applies to the differences in historical SHULRGV7KHZRUGVEHKDYLRUDQGPLQGRIWKHDQFLHQWSHRSOHDUHE\GH¿QLWLRQWKRVHRI remote antiquity….” 60 MB, p. 64. 61 HK, p. 306.

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Figure 6-5. Kamo Mabuchi’s chashaku (tea scoop). In the possession of the Tadano Family. Courtesy of Tadano Hama.

Since ancient times, those regarded as great scholars have favored Chinese laws and have tried to remake our country in their pattern. In so doing they have all fallen into the same rut. Holding Chinese learning alone to be true learning, they have lost their way and have failed to understand the pulse peculiar to the people of our own country (wagakuni buri no ninki hashiru koto o shirazu ᠻᅗࡩࡽࡡெẴ㉦ࡾࡆ࡛ࢅ୘▩).62

While Makuzu may again simply be referring to the Chinese Way versus the rhythm, there also is cultural particularity in her terminology: a distinct “pulse of our country” or Japanese rhythm.63 Japan (and presumably China, too) should follow its own “pulse,” instead of clinging to the foreign norms of another country. People should follow their rhythm, according to both their time and their place. It becomes evident that when employing wagakuni no ninki ࢂ࠿ᅗࡡெẴ, Makuzu refers to the Japanese version of what she called the rhythm. She states that one easily becomes estranged from “the pulse of the country” and “out of phase with the rhythm.” Therefore, it is not only the rhythm, but also the current trend of one’s time and place, from which one has to take his or her cue. We observe two different but interrelated notions: “the pulse of the country” is within the rhythm. There is not only change within the static, but also the particular within the universal. 62

HK, pp. 268-69; MN 56:1, p. 27. See also: “We become estranged from the pulse of our country (wagakuni no ninki ࢂ࠿ᅗࡡெẴ), and totally out of phase with the rhythm of heaven and earth (tenchi no hyĿshi ኮᆀࡡᢷᏄ)” (HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26). 63

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0DNX]X LGHQWL¿HV FXOWXUDO GLIIHUHQFHV EHWZHHQ FRXQWULHV FOHDUO\ depending on their geographical location. This is apparent when she draws on her knowledge of Russia: When a country is big and has few people, it provides a good environment to think clearly. When a country is small and has many people, they [the people] become intoxicated by others, and there is no room for long-range thinking. … This has become the way of doing things in our shallow country.64

By comparing Japan with Russia, Makuzu stipulates that a big country with a small population has more intellectual prospects than does a small country with a large population. The geopolitical difference, TXDQWLW\ RI SRSXODWLRQ FRPSDUHG WR TXDQWLW\ RI VSDFH LV VLJQL¿FDQW 0DNX]XDFFXVHVKHUIHOORZFRXQWU\SHRSOHRIEHLQJVXSHU¿FLDOGXHWR the lack of space. In contrast, Norinaga, for instance, argues that the pure geographical size of a country, his example being China, has no bearing: what counts is quality, not size.65 The difference between Norinaga and Makuzu is merely a matter of rhetoric. Both argue against sinophiles: Norinaga criticizes “barbarian” China as inferior, whereas Makuzu criticizes her own “shallow” country-people as inferior for clinging to foreign ideas. What underlies Makuzu’s argument is her notion that there are fundamental differences between countries, a thought that Norinaga may share. We have seen that everyone ought to submit to the “rhythm of heaven and earth,” but by the same token, people live according to their geographical locality. Place, then, evidently shapes the “pulse of the country.” Since in China the land is vast, the pulse (ninki ெẴ) is on its own accord calm (yuruyaka ࡹࡾࡷ࠾). Because in our imperial country we 64

HK, p. 274; MN 56:1, p. 31. “The Jeweled Comb-Box” (Tamakushige ⋚ࡂࡊࡅ, 1786–89): “[People who think in the foreign style] doubt that the true Way extending over Heaven and Earth (ametsuchi no aida ni yuki wataritaru makoto no michi ኮᆀࡡ㛣࡞ࡹࡀࢂࡒࡽࡒࡾ ࡱࡆ࡛ࡡ㐠) could be transmitted solely in such a tiny country. … As regards foreign lands, the big countries have been powerful since ancient times because they have large populations, and the small countries have been weak because they have few people. … Yet true worthiness and baseness, beauty and evil, have nothing to do with size. … Among the barbarian countries (moromoro no kara ㅎᠹ), China is known as a good country. Yet, when compared to our Imperial Land (kĿkoku ⓒᅗ), the agricultural land there is limited and the people few, so the mere spaciousness of a country is of no importance. …Thus we should realize that excellence is not reckoned by the spaciousness or narrowness of land” (Tamakushige, in MNZ, vol. 8, pp. 312-13; translation by Brownlee 1988, p. 49). See also the debate between Norinaga and Ueda Akinari ୕⏛ ⚽ᠺ (1734–1809) about the size of Japan, where Norinaga argues in the same manner (discussed in Wakabayashi 1986, pp. 38-39). 65

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do things in a busy way (koto shigeki ஥ࡊࡅࡀ), the pace is fast (kankyŗ hayashi ⥾᛬ࡢࡷࡊ).66

Makuzu evaluates the pace of Japan as fast compared to that of China. Again, it is hearsay and observation and not rational analysis that lead her to this conclusion. Where Makuzu differs from Norinaga is that for her traceable evidence is crucial, while for Norinaga what matters is the unseen. Apparently, Makuzu’s observation was a stereotype shared by many others. This is why Bakin laments in his response: While everybody claims that [China has a slower pace than Japan], it is VWLOOYHU\ZURQJ(YHQZLWKLQRXUFRXQWU\ZH¿QGDGLIIHUHQWSDFHninki no kankyŗ ெẴࡡ⥾᛬) between the Kansai and the KantĿ regions. In China, too, owing to different customs ( fŗdo 㢴ᅰ) in all four corners [of the kingdom] there are differences in pace. … Yet, it is wrong to think that because China is a vast country the pace there is slow. Because China is a country of the arts (bunka ᩝ⳱), its wisdom is fast and its deeds are slow. And because Japan is a country of the military (buyŗ Ṃຩ), its wisdom is slow and its deeds are fast.67

Bakin admits that there are indeed differences in pace due to locality. However, in his mind there are many more reasons besides geography for the multiplicity of cultures and these have to be taken into account DVZHOO(YHQZLWKLQRQHFRXQWU\RQHFDQ¿QGVHYHUDOSDFHV&HUWDLQO\ Bakin’s aim is to convince Makuzu that while there might be some obvious distinctiveness between China and Japan, Chinese wisdom (i.e. the Way of the sages) nonetheless is universal and therefore true for everyone. Makuzu means to say just the opposite. It would be wrong to accuse her of being unaware of cultural differences within Japan. She herself describes her culture shock when she moved to Sendai, a place that, according to her, operated in its own way.68 However, in order to enforce 66 Cited by Bakin in DK, p. 360. We have to rely solely on Bakin’s DokkĿron since this section is not included in the manuscript of Hitori kangae as we have it today. 67 DK, pp. 360-61. See also where Bakin declares that, “the rhythm, too, appears to be busy and fast, but actually there is no difference of the ‘rhythm of heaven and earth’ in China and Japan or the rhythm of now and then” or “I am right about the pulse of the Chinese and Japanese being the same” (DK, p. 360 and p. 361 respectively). 68 See Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377. Therefore, Makuzu certainly agrees when Bakin says, “For people, who are born where there are many things, a faster pace arises automatically. For example, seen through the eyes of an Edoite, the children from the countryside are extremely slow in using their brain (shintai chiben 㐅㏝ᬓᘒ). The countryside is so much more spacious, thus a faster pace in Edo is nothing unusual” (DK, p. 361).

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her position that Chinese teachings and its culture are not appropriate for Japan, she needs to simplify the notion of difference: The pace of life in Japan is faster than in other countries.… Because WH[WVUHFRUGRQO\WKHLUYLUWXHVDQGRYHUORRNWKHLUGH¿FLHQFLHVWKHVDJHV appear in a favorable light. But given the number of days and nights, to WU\WR¿WRQH¶VEHKDYLRUWRWKHSUHVFULSWLRQVRISURSULHW\LQWKH&KLQHVH fashion will be of no use to our country. Taking to heart that imitating &KLQDLVWKHURRWRIPLVPDWFKHGUK\WKPZHPXVW¿QGVRPHZD\WR¿W the one rhythm (hitotsu no hyĿshiୌࢴࡡᢷᏄ).69

The “pulse” in Japan is faster than that in China due to its geographical distinctiveness, therefore one ought to follow Japan’s particular rhythm, the “one rhythm” (hitotsu no hyĿshi)—Japan’s very own rhythm, which therefore cannot be universally observed. When Makuzu criticizes her countrymen for ignoring their own and instead following the Chinese rhythm, she expresses a common position. Again, Bakin takes his cue to respond extensively to this matter, which may have bothered him for some time: [Makuzu] is wrong when she says, “The people who study Chinese teachings and copy their rhythm (hyĿshi) do not match the pulse (ninki) of the Imperial country.” Confucius was born in the country of Lu 㨻, but missed the pulse of that country. … To match or not to match the UK\WKPLVQRWWKHIDXOWRIWKHVDJHV7KH\GRQRW¿WWKHWLPHVZKHQWKH people’s pulse of the time is not in accord with the rhythm. … When a wise scholar misses the pulse of the greater part of society, it is not that the scholar is off the rhythm. It is because the world is off the rhythm.70

From this abbreviated elaboration we gather that for Bakin, stressing again more the temporal plane, the universal rhythm is what should be venerated via the observance of the Way, while trends and current conditions—the pulse—need to be corrected and adjusted accordingly. The Way does not depend on any national or cultural diversity; it is universal. Makuzu, in contrast, argues for particularism. Given her notion of historical time and her notion of the pulse, we come to understand how Makuzu envisions particularism within universalism; the particular is part of the whole. Therefore, when Makuzu advocates taking into account the “pulse of the country,” we can detect the double essence of the eternally unchanging nature and the concept of the progress or independence of the present. The universal rhythm is 69 70

HK, p. 296; MN 56:2, pp. 183-84. DK, p. 361.

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not static but changing; her main concern is with the here and now due WRKHUIRUHPRVWZLVK³WREHQH¿WSHRSOH´71

THE R HYTHM AND JAPAN-CENTEREDNESS From Makuzu’s notion of the importance of time and place it is only a small step toward evaluating Japan’s position among other countries. Japan’s place in the world was under discussion among intellectuals throughout the Tokugawa period.72 The core of the debate among contemporary scholars is based on a reconsideration of the subordinate position of Japan as periphery versus China as center. This Chinese world order is expressed in the term, ka-i ⳱ኻ (Chin. Hua-yi): “Barbarism (i) increases the farther one moves away from the settled and civilized center (ka).”73 Within this discourse, the ethics of Confucianism constitute civilization. China regarded itself and was regarded as the homeland of civilization and the sages.74 However, as has been argued in detail by others, Japan was rather reluctant to accept this order because of its own self-perception as a divine country. Moreover, after the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, many educated Japanese regarded the Qing emperors, who were Manchu rulers, as barbarians. One effect of this was that intellectuals such as the scholar of Ancient learning, 71 HK, p. 262; MN 56:1, p. 22. See chapter 8 for a discussion of Makuzu’s desire to EHQH¿WKHUIHOORZSHRSOH 72 See, e.g., Fukui Hiroyuki, “Motoori Norinaga no nashonarizumu/ patikyurarizumu,” Edo no shisĿ 7 (1997); Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998); Shimizu Noriyoshi, “Ka-i shisĿ to 19-seiki,” Edo no shisĿ 7 (1997); Arano Yasunori, “Kinsei no taigaikan,” in Iwanami kĿza Nihon tsŗshi, ed. Asao Naohiro, vol. 13 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1994); Marius B. Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992); Wakabayashi 1986; Nakai 1984; Ronald P. Toby, State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984); Harry D. Harootunian, “The Functions of China in Tokugawa Thought,” in The Chinese and the Japanese, ed. Akira Iriye (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 9-36. 73 Morris-Suzuki 1998, p. 15. According to Ronald Toby, it was during the Ming dynasty that this Sinocentric international order became dominant in East Asia (Toby 1984, p. 170). 74 Kate Wildman Nakai, Shogunal Politics: Arai Hakuseki and the Premises of Tokugawa Rule (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988), p. 322. Nakai goes on to show the contradiction in Hakuseki’s strategy of transforming the shogun into a king: while using the vocabulary of king, Hakuseki subordinated Japan to the Chinese emperor, and at the same time he insisted on the universal validity of the Chinese Confucian premises of kingship, namely a king who was an autonomous national ruler.

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ItĿ Jinsai ௿⸠ொᩢ (1627–1705), argued for the shift of the center of civilization toward the periphery, namely Japan. Bakin’s conception is a good illustration of a Confucian’s strong reluctance to subordinate Japan to China. His Confucian universalist worldview allows him to combine the countries, if only metaphorically. Japan-centeredness is redundant in the sense that the “horizontal-geographic plane” of the ka-i order is extinguished and only the “verticalsocial hierarchy,” to be civilized or not, remains essential.75 With his SURIHVVHGHQWKXVLDVPIRUWKH:D\RIWKHVDJHV%DNLQWKHUHIRUH¿QGV nativists offensive who scorn Confucius and Confucianism by ignoring history: What Norinaga says is not without rationale, but to take Confucianism as an easy task is one-sided and small-minded. Who does not look up to our country that is superior to all other countries?76

Bakin adheres to the ka-i order from the not uncommon Japanese Confucian stance that Japan is superior to all other countries. He reasons that Japan’s borrowing of the Chinese script does not represent subordination but was a way to preserve the teachings of the gods. Indeed, since “Japan is the country of the warrior, and China the one of letters,” with the introduction of the Way of the sages, China and Japan come together as one whole. Both elements—military power, which is essential to keep the realm in order and protected from foreign intrusion, and the cultural sophistication that distinguishes the civilized from the EDUEDULDQ²LQIDFW¿QGWKHLUDSRJHHLQ-DSDQ77 75 Wakabayashi 1986, p. 18. “The Middle Kingdom Civilization was conceptualized in two dimensions: the vertical social hierarchy, … and the horizontal-geographic plane, where inhabitants of a central realm were thought to be morally and culturally VXSHULRUWRDOLHQVEH\RQGLWVSDOH2QHGH¿QLQJFKDUDFWHULVWLFRIWKH0LGGOH.LQJGRP on both the vertical-hierarchical axis and the horizontal-geographic plane, was to possess ‘rites, rituals, and the rules of proper behavior’….” One might further add that the simple geographical idea of China being the center of the world was held for a long time. 76 DK, p. 315. 77 DK, p. 315. The passage continues, “The civil and the military are like two wheels RIDFDUW7KHFLYLOZLWKRXWWKHPLOLWDU\LVOLNHDIUXLWOHVVÀRZHU´WUDQVODWLRQE\=ROEURG 1967, p. 77). Matsudaira Sadanobu used the same metaphor. Hakuseki, some decades earlier, in his attempt to abolish the Sinocentric world order emphasized the importance of martial artifacts, which were still alive in Japan, though lost in China (Nakai 1988, p. 7VXNDPRWR0DQDEXDUJXHVWKDWWKHLQWHOOHFWXDOVLQ-DSDQE\GH¿QLQJFLYLOL]DWLRQ as letters and morals, were enabled to include their country within this order (cited by Arano 1994, p. 223). Tsukamoto Manabu, “Edojidai ni okeru ‘i’-kan’nen ni tsuite,” in Nihon rekishi 371 (Tokyo: Nihon edită sukŗru, 1986).

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Bakin understands Makuzu’s view as that of a nativist with a slant toward scholars of Western studies. Hence he argues that Rangakusha (scholars of Dutch studies), too, are mistaken, since they have only technical know-how (chijutsu ᬓ⾙) but not proper conduct (gyĿjĿ ⾔ ≟) and hence use the reasoning of barbarians.78 He concludes with the common argument: “If it were the case that the eight million gods disliked and despised the Confucian Way, they would have sent their divine wind (kamikaze ♼㢴).”79 Just as science without morality is wrong, Bakin argues, so is empty decor. He may even have agreed with the attack by the eccentric writer and scientist Hiraga Gennai ᖲ ㈙″හ (1728–79) on certain Japanese Confucian scholars, who, Gennai contended, forgot where they lived.80 In other words, he referred to Confucian scholars who, in their effort to appear civilized in the eyes of the Chinese, ignored their own culture by blindly adhering to Chinese custom. Bakin’s term for this type of scholar is “rotten Confucian” (kusare jusha ⭁൰⩽). He criticizes “rotten Confucians, who do not know about the rites and norms (kojitsu ᨶᐁ) of their own country, but instead praise China with too much empty talk.”81 This Japan-centeredness, though more balanced with respect to China and hence differently reasoned, is a feature of Hitori kangae as well. Makuzu does not separate Confucian scholars as Bakin does since she does not distinguish between the country of China and the Confucian Way. She shares the nativist tendency that Harry Harootunian exposes: “In the end the nativists transformed China to mean the Other; China, which had served metaphorically to convey the sense of civili78

DK, p. 328. DK, p. 319. The section continues: “But the [deities] did not: the Way was conveyed to us, enfolding more and more. Depending on the deeds of the kami (deities), that one does not have to be embarrassed in front of Chinese when writing in Chinese, means that the teachings of Confucius and the teachings of our kami are the same.” See also DK, p. 316: “To make use of and borrow the script from a neighbor for our country, and to borrow from there the teachings of the old and wise, and to rule here with these teachings, this is the honorable vigor (on-ikioi ᚒጸᚠ) of the court and is not even a bit embarrassing.” 80 “[Frog scholars] call Japan, the country of their birth, the land of the ‘Eastern Barbarians’ (tĿi ᮶ኻ DQGDUJXHWKDW$PDWHUDVXLVQRGLIIHUHQWIURPWKH¿UVWDQFHVWRURI Wu ࿇… The customs of China are different from those of Japan. The Chinese emperor (tenshi) is like a wanderer, who can be replaced if one does not approve of him…” (Hiraga Gennai, Fŗryŗ ShidĿken-den, in NKBT, ed. Nakamura Yukihiko, vol. 55 [Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1974], pp. 216-17; translation is similar to that of Harootunian 1980, p. 11). Maruyama Masao 1972, p. 40, also cites this famous quotation. 81 DK, p. 316. See also DK, p. 319: “Confucian scholars and Buddhist priests in our country do not know about the deeds of our gods even in their dreams, they revere very strongly only foreign countries (totsukuni አᅗ), which is not right (fugi ୘⩇).” 79

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zation as juxtaposed with the rudeness of nature, was transformed into its opposite.”82 Makuzu shared with several other intellectuals of her time a strong national consciousness and a belief that Japan was in fact culturally superior. Makuzu locates Japan within the world as the “divine country” due to its particular and unique pace.83 Indeed, she argues, even other countries call Japan the “divine country.” Her regret was that her fellow country-people did not know that. Thus, she utilizes admonitory rhetoric: It is because human feelings surge forth and circulate more quickly in Japan than in any foreign country that it has been revered by others and endowed with the name of the divine country (shinkoku ♼ᅗ). If we recognize this superiority of our own country (wagakuni), why should we cling to Chinese teachings?84

To Makuzu, studying the Confucian Way constitutes ignoring being “Japanese.” Makuzu contends that the lack of proper education leads to this unMXVWL¿HGLQIHULRUVHOISHUFHSWLRQ+HUELJJHVWUHJUHWLVWKDWGXHWRWKH lack of suitable literature, people study China’s rhythm. Therefore, she advises, people need to be taught about the “imperial line descended IURPWKH6XQ*RGGHVV´DQGDERXWWKHORUG³ZKRSDFL¿HGWKHZRUOGDQG established the national government.”85 People should be made aware that Japan has its own history and a secure political structure. Murata Harumi, too, makes a similar point in his Wagaku taigai, in which he reminds his audience to study the national histories, since otherwise how can a scholar help the nation?86 Makuzu’s complaint that there were no books that could be used as textbooks for Japan is insightful in

82 Harootunian 1980, p. 25. Mabuchi’s overall effort for a restoration of antiquity as an establishment of civilization is certainly a step toward this independence from the &KLQHVH³ÀRZHU\´ka ⳱ FXOWXUH0RUHVSHFL¿FDOO\0DEXFKLUHMHFWVWKHLGHDRIWKH ka-i order, for instance, when he harshly criticizes the use of the word “barbarian” to distinguish those on the periphery, since precisely these mean and lowly people from the periphery might eventually rise to become rulers (KokuikĿ, in KMZ, p. 9). Norinaga in his dealing with ka-i repeats this rhetoric when he ridicules the Chinese who would call their neighbors Barbarians, but would revere one of them as their new emperor (Naobi no Mitama, in MNZ, p. 57). Both indeed show the attempt to transfer the position of the peripheral Other to China, although the ka-i ideology is still intact. For this reason it is helpful to consider the coexistence of various ideas. 83 Makuzu’s perspective can also be gathered from the following passage: “Do we not reverently call the sacred imperial country (sumeramikuni ⓒᚒᅗ) the land of the kami ♼?” (HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, pp. 26-27). 84 HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 27. 85 HK, p. 297; MN 56:2, p. 185. 86 Murata Harumi, Wagaku taigai, pp. 448-49.

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that she dismisses the writings of Mabuchi and Norinaga as not suitable for the task.87 Makuzu’s concern is that the people need to read about their own culture and history lest they appear ridiculous in the eyes of the world. In actuality, she argues, her fellow country-people’s ignorance already brings humiliation to the nation: How shameful to be looked down upon by people of other countries for the shallow outlook that leads us to trade copper that lasts for ten thousand generations for sugar that melts when you lick it.88

By arguing that Japan was ridiculed by other, namely Western, nations, Makuzu emphasizes that Japan needs to be seen in its broader perspective. This rhetoric was not exclusive to Makuzu. For instance, her contemporary Yamagata BantĿ ᒜ∞⽉᱀ (1748–1821) was in a similar way concerned with Japan’s national image. BantĿ, who was involved in the ¿QDQFLDOUHIRUPVRIWKH6HQGDLGRPDLQFRQWHQGHGWKDWGXHWR-DSDQ¶V ignorance of foreign trade, other countries would laugh at Japan and so “damage the national polity (kokutai ᅗమ).”89 Makuzu’s argument demonstrates that China, in the minds of some thinkers, had been replaced by a new world order, in which countries such as Oroshiya (Russia) and Oranda (Holland) were central. While Mabuchi and Norinaga refer mostly only to China versus Japan, we ¿QGLQ0DNX]XDGLYHUVL¿HGDWWLWXGH0DNX]X¶VQRWLRQRIWKH³SXOVHRI our country” leads to her concrete observations about Japan within the larger world: ,KHDUWKDWLQFRXQWULHVZKHUHWKH¿YHJUDLQVDUHVFDUFHDQGZULWLQJLV horizontal, lifespans are short because people eat meat. When they are no more than thirty, their hair turns white, and if they reach the age of ¿IW\WKH\DUHFRQVLGHUHGWRKDYHOLYHGDORQJOLIH,QWKHVDFUHGLPSHrial country of Japan (sumera mikuni ⓒᚒᅗ), perhaps because we usually eat grains, lifespans are long. … In countries where meat is eaten, people establish themselves in a trade between the ages of thirty and forty. But even at that stage they are able to strike out on their own, engage in rigorous deliberation, and think things through. Aren’t they to be envied for achieving what Japanese people cannot? If people thought 87 HK, p. 294; MN 54:1, p. 182. Makuzu points out that both, Mabuchi as well as Norinaga, are not keeping the rhythm in mind when writing. Norinaga is too slowpaced and Mabuchi too fast-paced. 88 HK, p. 275; MN 56:1, p. 32. 89 Yamagata BantĿ, Yume no shiro ከࢿ௥, in NKT, ed. Takimoto Seiichi, vol. 37 (Tokyo: Keimeisha, 1929), p. 297. Cited by Craig 1965, p. 148. About BantĿ, see more in chapter 8.

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this way in our country (wagakuni ᠻᅗ), how could we be inferior to the foreigners (gaikokujin አᅗெ)?90

Makuzu compares foreign ways, actually those of Russia, to Japan. She repeats here many of the characterizations she had learned from her father.91 The way she uses this knowledge, though, is to frame her strategy of characterizing Japan as inferior to Western countries in order to alarm her audience. Makuzu’s knowledge of other foreign countries is utilized to reposition Japan within the new structure, a structure envisioned also by other intellectuals from her father’s extended network. For instance, Sugita Gempaku’s work, “Words of a Crazy Doctor” (KyĿi no kotoba ≤༈஄ゕ, 1775), represents a similar view.92 In this short essay, Gempaku defends his medical Way, which is different from Chinese traditional medicine:93 [The rotten Confucian and simple doctors ( fuju yĿ’i ⭁൰ ᗜ༈)] hear a little about two or three Asian (tĿyĿ ᮶Ὂ) countries with China as the superior country. … Which country does not have disrespect or esteem for others, which country does not have rites and music? Confucius said: “The tribes of the East and North have princes.”94 To have princes and to revere them is to have rites. To have ranks (ikan ⾨෗) means to clarify the difference between esteem and disregard. The difference of systems is due to the climate of the land and the customs ( fŗzoku 㢴ಐ) of the time period. … One should follow what is good for one’s region ( fŗdo 㢴ᅰ). The Way is not the invention of the sages from China, but the Way of heaven and earth. There, where sun and moon shine and where rain and fog fall, there are countries, people and ways. So what is the 90

HK, p. 274; MN 56:1, pp. 30-31. This information Makuzu received directly from Heisuke, as we can read in his KudĿ BankĿ monjo, in Daikokuya KĿdayŗ shiryĿshŗ, vol. 2, p. 170. Here, however, we ¿QGVHOHFWLYHLQIRUPDWLRQEXWQRMXGJPHQWDOVWDWHPHQWV 92 Sugita Gempaku, KyĿi no kotoba, in YĿgaku, vol.1, ed. Numata 1976, pp. 227-43. This unpublished work can be seen as Gempaku’s response to the criticism he received after publication of Kaitai shinsho, published the year before. Gempaku refers to himself as “crazy doctor.” In a pretended dialogue with a friend, Gempaku praises the superiority of Western medicine. See SatĿ ShĿsuke, “YĿgaku no shisĿteki tokushitsu to hĿken hihanron, kaibĿron,” in YĿgaku, vol.1, ed. Numata (1976), p. 592. Bob Wakabayashi renders the work into “Words of a Fanatic Doctor” (Wakabayashi 1986, p. 41). 93 As mentioned earlier, Makuzu may, through her father, have personally known Gempaku, who was the leader involved in the translation project of the Dutch version of A. Kulmus’s “Anatomische Tabellen,” called in Japanese Kaitai shinsho. 94 See Analects, Bk. 3, 5, “The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land, which are without them” (Legge 1971, p. 156). See Wakabayashi’s discussion on the two ways of interpreting this passage, where Gempaku follows here, like ItĿ Jinsai, Zhu Xi’s interpretation, which makes room for a switch of “civilized” versus “barbarian” (Wakabayashi 1986, chapter 2). 91

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Way? To get beyond evil and to advance goodness (aku o sari zen o susumuru nari ᝇࢅཡࡽၻࢅ㐅ࡳࡾ࡝ࡽ). By following this, the Way of the moral person ( jinrin ெ೒) becomes apparent. Everything else is custom ( fŗzoku 㢴ಐ). … But the rotten Confucians and simple doctors follow Chinese texts, and take China as the center (chŗdo ୯ᅰ). Since the earth is one big ball divided into many countries, the place where you are is always the center. Which country then could be the center? It can be China or a tiny country at the edge of the Eastern Sea.95

Gempaku deconstructs the Chinese world order through his empirical study of Western medicine and other Western subjects, which broadened his cultural awareness. This new cultural awareness, however, remains within the mode of Confucian universalism, as can be seen when we inspect more closely his ideas of the universal Way of heaven and earth.96 In so doing we recognize how Gempaku argues along the lines of the Way as discussed by Mabuchi.97:H¿QGWKDWDURXQGWKHWXUQRI the nineteenth century a national consciousness was evolving among intellectuals, even those who accepted the ka-i order. A progressive view of history also emerged, wherein some scholars adapted the ka-i theory, with the West as the current civilized center.98 Others, such as Gempaku, assumed a universalistic stance that replaced the Chinese model. Yet another order of ranking within the model itself took place: Japan replaced China as the center for both nativists and Confucians such as Bakin. Makuzu conceded to both: she emphasized cultural difference, but placed Japan in the center. What led Makuzu to take cultural difference further, namely to a distinct Japan-centeredness, was her belief in the rhythm. For Makuzu, since the rhythm is not static, either temporally or spatially, the pulse becomes the rhythm’s metronome, which one has to adjust to by observing one’s environment and society. Missing the pulse does not mean, as in Bakin’s opinion, that society has lost its Way; instead 95 Sugita Gempaku, KyĿi no kotoba, in YĿgaku, vol.1, ed. Numata 1976, pp. 229-30. Translation is mine. 96 Fukui 1997, p. 188. See also Wakabayashi 1986, p. 46. 97 ItĿ Jinsai’s son ItĿ TĿgai’s similar connotation that the Way is “natural” is of interest. It is not an invention by the Chinese sages; rather their Way is one Way among many. When people come together “naturally” the Five Relationships come about, which are the basics for a civilized society. ItĿ TĿgai, Kun’yĿjigi, vol. 2, in Nihon rinri ihen, ed. Inoue TetsujirĿ and Kanie Yoshimaru, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Ikuseisha, 1910), p. 339. Cited by Shimizu, but I was not able to trace this passage. On ItĿ TĿgai and Gempaku, see Shimizu 1997, pp. 132-33. 98 Shimizu 1997, p. 130.

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it means the individual is out of tune. Given her notion of historical time and her notion of the pulse, Japan is therefore crucial to Makuzu and she scrutinized it in detail. The reality around her—not moral or metaphysical norms, but the rhythm—is the focus as well as the guide. Sincerity (makoto) can be found in the rhythm, and following it will help society. In the essay Kirishitan kĿ (Thoughts on Christianity) Makuzu’s JaSDQFHQWHUHGQHVV¿QGVHYHQVWURQJHUH[SUHVVLRQZKLFKGLVPLVVHV%Dkin’s claim of her being simply infatuated by Western studies.99 When she warns, “evil teachings 㑟Ἢ from foreign countries had come to Japan secretively and have reached common people over time,” Makuzu refers to Christianity as a doctrine that is harmful to the nation. She blames the Christian doctrine for the fact that “the heart of Japan (nihongokoro ᪝ᮇᚨ) is disappearing.” As a countermeasure she suggests “This evil entered Japan with the Dutch. If we expel it back to the West, we cleanse Japan along with these evil people.”100 Makuzu laments again the ignorance of her fellow country-people; only this time the danger is not Confucianism or Buddhism, but Christianity, yet they all entail for Makuzu a “way” created by humans (hito no tsukuri ெࡡషࡽ or jinsaku ெష), which therefore is a threat to peace and has to be rejected.101 This short but complex essay has provoked a variety of reactions in recent scholarship.102 While one scholar reads this piece as an expression of Makuzu’s nationalism,103 another reasons that Makuzu, who in other places expresses praise for foreign countries, had been mentally and emotionally unstable while writing Kirishitan kĿ. The latter interpretation holds that Makuzu’s “madness” was caused by Bakin’s harsh critique.104 Other scholars who discuss Makuzu’s work ignore this essay altogether, probably because on a cursory reading it raises more questions about Makuzu’s thoughts than it answers. When read in context, the comparison of Kirishitan kĿ along with Hitori kangae to contemporary voices shows that Makuzu again demonstrated herself to be a critical observer of her time, when the challenge of frequent 99 The text is undated but presumably was written after Hitori kangae (Seki 1980, p. 163). 100 Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, pp. 390-91. 101 Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, p. 390, and HK, p. 268. 102 For a discussion, see Bettina Gramlich-Oka, “Kirishitan kĿ (Thoughts on Christianity) by Tadano Makuzu (1763–1825): A Late Tokugawa Woman’s Warnings,” Bulletin of Japanese-Portuguese Studies 8 (June 2004), pp. 65-92. 103 Shiba 1969, p. 181. 104 Seki 1980, pp. 162-63.

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advances by Western ships to Japanese shores required action and the call for activism.105 Makuzu’s relativistic view let her adapt foreign ideas in order to advance Japan, as we will see, but this is distinct from adopting a “way” that is man-made, as in Buddhism, Confucianism, or Christianity, and therefore has to be rejected.106 Makuzu drew a picture of the nation of Japan that did not exist in the minds of most scholars and, more importantly, of rulers. In order to give substance to her notion, Makuzu illustrated the human condition with examples from society of the here and now.

105 0DNX]XGLGQRWJLYHDVSHFL¿FUHDVRQIRUZULWLQJKirishitan kĿ, but there were various events in the Sendai domain that may have induced her to inform those unaware of the present crisis. We are left to surmise if it was perhaps the Brother’s Incident of 1821, in which Christian texts were given out, or, closer to Makuzu’s environs, was it perhaps the incident of 1823 when foreign whalers came to the shores of the Sendai domain? Or did Makuzu have in mind those Sendai castaways who had converted to Christianity and had decided to stay in Russia when Rezanov in 1804 returned Tsudayŗ DQG VRPH RI KLV PHQ" :H ¿QG DQ LQGLFDWLRQ WKDW WKH ODWWHU ZDV SRVVLEO\ RQH RI KHU more concrete concerns in her sullen remark, “when sea drifters from Sendai were in a Christian [country] they learned their ways” (Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, p. 391). Another LQGLFDWLRQZH¿QGLQHitori kangae. The part in question is not transmitted in the only available manuscript but is cited by Takizawa Bakin. Under the header kokorozoe ᚨ๧ (advice), Makuzu apparently cautioned her readers to consider that Red-hair Barbarians rescue Japanese castaways to drag and leave them in Christian countries, referring here again to the Sendai castaways (DK, p. 356). 106 Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, p. 390, and HK, p. 268.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE HUMAN CONDITION AND SOCIETY Makuzu’s view of the human condition is just as idiosyncratic as is her position with regard to the cosmos. Once more, Makuzu’s ideas UHÀHFWDYDULHW\RIFXUUHQWLQWHOOHFWXDOFRQVLGHUDWLRQVDQGDJDLQVKH dismisses in her criticism many of the more prevalent views promulgated particularly in Confucianism or nativism. Her disapproval, howHYHULVVWHHUHGPRUHVSHFL¿FDOO\DJDLQVWWKHUXOHUVZKRDV0DNX]X alleges in her harsh critique, due to their education adhere blindly to the teachings of the Confucian Way and are thus unable to see the current human condition clearly. They fail to see that present society is in a state of war, still believing in the commonplace platitude that peace reigns on the archipelago. Instead, Makuzu declares, individuals who RQFHIRXJKWRQWKHEDWWOH¿HOGIRUYLFWRU\QRZ¿JKWLQWKHPDUNHWSODFH IRU¿QDQFLDOVXFFHVV7KLVLVFDXVHGE\FRPSHWLWLRQWKHRQHFRPPRQ feature of all living beings. Makuzu’s postulation, which she claims derives from observation, leads to a highly empirical view of human nature. Herman Ooms’s theoretical approach, which exposes the link between ontological and social discrimination, is helpful for understanding this view. He argues for the close interrelation between social and metaphysical discourse, which he presents with examples of social practice and theoretical claims on human nature during the Tokugawa period.1 Makuzu, in a way, takes the extreme position: she means to draw all philosophical conclusions from observing social practices. In order to comprehend and to comment on current conditions, she seeks to reason only from what is perceivable, abolishing metaphysics altogether. With this approach, which she hopes will prove that legislation should be enacted accordingly, Makuzu fails to understand that social practices are inherently related to philosophical interpretation. Therefore when she postulates that only “reality”—the rhythm and the pulse—is sincere, she cannot escape inconsistencies in her framework. Correspondingly, in regard to human nature as well, Makuzu must fall short based on her 1

Ooms 2002a, in particular p. 104.

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own premises; nevertheless her descriptions of society in themselves offer a stimulating contemporary commentary.

DECOUPLING THE INDIVIDUAL FROM HEAVEN Makuzu’s notion of the rhythm undermines so-called metaphysical principles that link humankind intrinsically to the universe. Instead, the dependence of the individual on the “rhythm between heaven and earth,” and thus the individual’s agency, is crucial. In order to explain the relation of the individual to his environment Makuzu relates a story she had learned from her father: Water and ether (ki Ẵ ¿OO WKH VSDFH EHWZHHQ KHDYHQ DQG HDUWK DQG there is no place without one or the other. … While people can get by without knowing that they live in ether, the advantage of knowing it is that they can escape imminent danger by manipulating the ether. … However, if people willfully exert their own ki (waga ki ᠻ࠿Ẵ) to oppose that of heaven and earth (tenchi no ki ኮᆀࡡẴ), they might injure themselves.2

Makuzu, by way of her father’s explanation, reviews for her readers the position of the individual versus heaven and earth. We see that the human being is not inherently connected to this “natural” authority. To the contrary, a person needs to recognize the ki and to act in accordance with it in order not to suffer harm. People live in an environment of “natural” laws that have to be observed. In addition, one can use these laws for one’s advantage, as in the case of the triumphant warrior, whose “force of his ki is so pervasive and strong that ordinary people can’t approach him.”3 In other words, human agency or manipulation is possible. Bakin severely criticizes Makuzu’s assumption. Her interpretation of ki diverges from the Song Confucian notion of ki Ẵ (commonly translated as “material substance” or “vital energy”), which is the medium between man and heaven and earth. Bakin puts in plain words his GLVDJUHHPHQWZLWKZKDWKHLGHQWL¿HVDV0DNX]X¶VLJQRUDQFH 2

HK, pp. 297-98; MN 56:2, p. 185. Bakin likes the story and intends to use it for publication (DK, p. 356). See also the illustration by Shiba KĿkan of two men having a FRQYHUVDWLRQZLWKD¿VKERZOLQWKHEDFNJURXQG³3HRSOHGRQRWUHDOL]HKRZVWURQJWKH DWPRVSKHUHLVDLULVIRUPHQZKDWZDWHULVWR¿VK´.HHQHS 3 HK, p. 298; MN 56:2, p. 186.

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[Makuzu] assumes that the ki of the person’s body ( jintai no ki ெమࡡ Ẵ) and the ki of heaven and earth are different, because she does not know the reason for ki to be ki. There are two kinds of ki between heaven and earth: orthopathic and heteropathic ki (seiki to jaki ḿẴ࡛㑟Ẵ).4 The [regular] change of the seasons is according to orthopathic ki. When it is cold in summer and warm in winter, it is the act of heteropathic ki. Since people receive by birth orthopathic ki from heaven and earth, one can compare the body to a microcosm.5

Bakin counters Makuzu’s proposition with the rationale of the traditional medical Way, where the connection between heaven and earth and the human body is rooted in metaphysics. Since Makuzu was born into a family of physicians, it is not farfetched to assume that she was familiar with some theoretical concepts of the Chinese medical body. Because it was her father who told her about the relationship between water and ether, the difference in opinion on the concept of ki can hardly be explained as ignorance on Makuzu’s part, but rather as her critique. This is further supported by Makuzu’s quite different interpretation of the human body, in which physicality alone is decisive for the individual’s gender and feelings. Makuzu, by rejecting any variants of the Way, separates the person from heaven and earth as a self-contained body, with no heavenly ki rushing through its organs. This body GRHVQRWUHÀHFWWKHXQLYHUVHLQVWHDGLWPXVWDGMXVWWRLW6

HUMAN NATURE AND MORALITY 0DNX]XDGKHUHVWRWKHLGHDRIDGH¿QLWHIXQGDPHQWDOSULQFLSOHRIKXman nature that was not an invention of humans but arose of itself, and so the pulse of time and place guides the individual to lead a successful and happy life. Since the rhythm is devoid of metaphysics due to its “naturalness,” it is also free of morality, and thus morality—the linkage between heaven and earth as is commonly understood in Song Confucianism—cannot be assumed to be an innate human trait either.7 4

For English terminology, see Terazawa 2001, p. 45. DK, p. 356. 6 This notion is not uncommon, but can be observed within medical discourse of the eighteenth century in, for instance, Yamawaki TĿyĿ’s theory on the body (Terazawa 2001, p. 72). 7 $JDLQ6RQJ&RQIXFLDQLVPUHSUHVHQWVKHUHQRWDQRI¿FLDOLGHRORJ\EXWLVWKHUHIerence point of which Makuzu makes use in her critique of “Confucian teachings.” ,WVPHWDSK\VLFVKDGVWURQJUDPL¿FDWLRQVLQSDUWLFXODULQPHGLFDOGLVFRXUVHDVSRLQWHG out earlier, with which Makuzu was most likely familiar due to her upbringing in a 5

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Makuzu’s view of human nature in its relationship to its environment can be seen in her choice of terminology: “kokoro no katachi” ᚨࡡ࠾ࡒ ࡔ.8 The use of the word katachi, shape or form, demonstrates her belief that the human being can only be understood in his or her physicality.9 :HKDYHVHHQLQKHUGH¿QLWLRQRIPDQDQGZRPDQRQHH[DPSOHRIKRZ the human being is grounded by body and feelings in the world. When Makuzu speaks about human nature, it is not the metaphysical nature of humans, but “physical” nature. Perhaps for Makuzu human nature comes into being only through the existence of being in the world. Being human and human nature are inseparable, a notion that is shared to some extent by nativist thinkers such as Motoori Norinaga, whereas LQWKH6RQJ&RQIXFLDQYLHZKXPDQQDWXUHLVDUHÀHFWLRQRI+HDYHQ¶V original nature.10 But Makuzu’s essentialization of the body is unique, as we have seen in the case of her gender divide and as we will encounter in her division of humanity into good and bad individuals. For Makuzu, physicality cannot produce or entail a moral Way. In her treatise to the rulers and their advisors, Makuzu embarks on a clari¿FDWLRQ EDVHG RQ KHU H[DPLQDWLRQ RI VRFLHW\ VWDWLQJ WKDW WKRVH who believe in the teachings of the sages are so rigidly bound to the notion of morality that they fail to adapt: Why is it, I had wondered, that those who seem to violate the way of the sages often succeed in this world, while those who try to be righteous do not? I came to realize that it is because righteous people tend to lag behind the rhythm of heaven and earth, while those whose behavior is mixed keep in time with the rhythm. The reason why some people do not succeed, no matter how much they try, is because they do not follow the rhythm of heaven and earth.11 physician’s household that also functioned as a school. 8 In rendering the term kokoro no katachi into English, the translators of Hitori Kangae used “feelings,” “shape of human feelings,” and the “heart” to express the complexity (HK, p. 290; MN 56:2, p. 179). 9 Kada no Azumamaro, too, uses the term katachi (Nosco 1990, p. 85). In his view, katachi is the human form of the spirit (tamashii RIWKHJRGVZKLFK¿QGVQRUHÀHFWLRQ in Makuzu’s notion. 10 See, for instance, Norinaga’s twisting of the Confucian concept: “When the NeoConfucianists after the Sung dynasty denied human desire as sheer lust, they forgot that human desire was also an ordination of heaven” (Naobi no mitama, in MNZ, vol. 9, p. 60; translation by Weymeyer 1997, p. 233). Mentioned also by Yoshikawa 1983, p. 282. 11 HK, pp. 265-66; MN 56:1, p. 24. Or see, “As the way of the sages usually works well when people are upright in spirit (hito no kokoro ni shimari ga areba ெࡡᚨࡡ ࡊࡱࡽ࠿࠵ࡿࡣ), good people let themselves be guided and fettered by its teachings. But when people who don’t care a bit about Confucian teachings do just as they please, those whose hearts are fettered are inevitably put in the weaker position and will always

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People who acknowledge the existence of this rhythm and are willing to live their lives according to it, Makuzu rationalizes, succeed in this world, which is, from her observation, everyone’s fundamental desire. Morality is a different matter and not a prerequisite. Makuzu’s negation of a heavenly nature within humans, as Bakin charged, implies one crucial consequence: just as the rhythm lacks morality, human beings, too, are without innate morality. This notion can be accounted for either by her lack of knowledge of Confucian teachings, as Bakin surmises, or by her conscious critique of the values these teachings endorse. The way Makuzu takes up, for instance, fundamental Confucian virtues and challenges them in a blatantly casual way gives substantiation to the latter: Chinese scholars developed the terms benevolence ( jin ொ), righteousness (gi ⩇), propriety (rei ♡), and wisdom (chi ᬓ) in accordance with the shape of the human heart (hito no kokoro no katachi ெࡡᚨࡡ࠾ࡒ ࡔ). (This sentence is just a preamble. In my discussion I will show that it is worthless to discuss righteousness in terms of whether it is interior or exterior.) Benevolence is equivalent to the efforts of people (such as , ZKRVHOÀHVVO\WU\WRGRJRRGIRUWKHVDNHRIRWKHUV3URSULHW\WRR is something that exists naturally within one’s feelings; even birds and animals have a bit of it. Wisdom probably means knowing things well. The feeling (kokoro no katachi ᚨࡡ࠾ࡒࡔ) that corresponds to the term “righteousness” is what is vulgarly called “temper” (kanshaku ࠾ࢆࡊࡶ ࡂ), something that swells and surges through one’s breast.12

By simplifying and reducing the content of these Confucian virtues upon which current social conduct, at least ideally, is based, Makuzu offends Bakin’s sensibility. Bakin, in response to her admission that she has not read the Chinese texts, wonders how she dares to discuss the Classics based not on study but merely on her alleged enlightenment.13 The light manner in which Makuzu presents her discussion has a VSHFL¿FLQWHQWLRQ0DNX]X¶VDUJXPHQWLVEDVHGRQWKHFRQYLFWLRQWKDW since there is no heavenly nature within humans, the belief in the innate goodness of human nature becomes redundant. She draws upon the virtue of “righteousness” (gi) to exemplify her notion: Is it not that people who are inclined toward goodness (zenji ni harite ၻ஥࡞ࡢࡽ࡙) believe that righteousness comes from within? Those insuffer losses” (HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26). 12 HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, pp. 180-81. 13 DK, p. 345. “[Makuzu] says she was not allowed to read Chinese. Yet while she has never seen Chinese she discusses the Classics. Does she think she can understand them without studying only because her mind rose above the earth?”

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clined toward evil (ashiki kata ni haritaru kata ࠵ࡊࡀ࠾ࡒ࡞ࡢࡽࡒࡾ ࠾ࡒ RQWKHRWKHUKDQGZKRDUHLQIDFWVHO¿VKEXWVWULYHWRGRJRRG believe that righteousness is something acquired externally.14

Makuzu evidently alludes to the famous debate between Mencius and the philosopher Gaozi as to whether or not the fundamental virtues are innate or acquired.15 The idealized view of human nature, Makuzu argues, leads good people to assume that virtue is innate, and bad people to hope for the prospect of its cultivation. However, these two views, Makuzu proclaims, are based on the wrong premise. Suppositions both of innateness or of cultivation are built upon a belief in the morality of heaven and earth, and thus in the innate morality of people. Makuzu cannot consent to this Song Confucian metaphysical rationale, a critique that is also voiced by anti-Song Confucian scholars such as Ogyŗ Sorai and Dazai Shundai ኯᐍ᫋ྋ (1680–1747). Certainly, despite her concurrence with Sorai and Shundai on this point, Makuzu draws conclusions quite different from their advice that people, lacking innate virtue, should for this reason follow the Way of the ancient Kings.16

GOOD AND EVIL Ontological models that Makuzu recognizes as such have to be disregarded and proven wrong. Her use of haru ࡢࡾ, rendered as “to incline” in the citation above, or more literarily “to attach,” to describe moral conduct indicates that goodness or evil are “attached” to a person, and are hence external. Makuzu concludes therefore that the four virtues are not necessarily inherent or a preserve of the human heart. In fact, WKHVHWHUPVDUHFRQVWUXFWHGDQGPLJKWUHÀHFWRQO\WKHLQQHUFRQVWLWXtion of a good person. She argues that the assumption of a universal human morality is based on the ideals of a good person who invented the concept.17 However, what can be observed in the course of life, she 14

HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181. See Mencius, Bk. 6, 1, Legge 1970, in particular, pp. 394-403. Makuzu is explicit when she states, “Let me explain: people can be led astray because a single mind contains both good and evil. The discussion in Mencius concerning whether righteousness is interior or exterior falls into confusion precisely over this point” (HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181). See also my discussion of Bakin’s views in chapter 5. 16 For Ogyŗ Sorai, see the discussion by Gerhard Leinss (Leinss 1995). For Dazai Shundai, see Tetsuo Najita, “Political Economism in the Thought of Dazai Shundai (1680–1747),” JAS 31 (1972), pp. 821-39. See also Ooms 2002a. 17 HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181. Bakin takes her words more literally in his response: “This is ridiculous. We say that SĿketsu ⵤ㡽 invented the writing system, but it was 15

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asserts, are good and bad individuals. Makuzu rationalizes the fact, obvious to her, that people simply differ: Townspeople may gamble when they are young, but those who come to manage and own large amounts of property have found a way to achieve great things. A certain person who by nature was well-intentioned, for H[DPSOHZDVOXUHGLQWRPLVFKLHI7KHPRPHQWKLVVSLULWVXGGHQO\ÀRDWed above the earth, he realized the true nature of the world, gave up his bad habits, and began to devote himself to his trade. Bad people who ¿QG WKHLU VSLULWV ÀRDWLQJ XSZDUG RQ WKH RWKHU KDQG XQGRXEWHGO\ EHcome increasingly clever in pursuing evil.18

Again, as in her discussion of gender, Makuzu essentializes humanity into two categories. People are born either good or bad, and apparently are unable to change their nature. Idealistic principles such as inherent YLUWXHDUHDPLVFRQFHSWLRQ0DNX]X¿QGVFRQ¿UPDWLRQLQsatori (enlightenment), which is evidence not of one’s moral worth but of one’s FRPSUHKHQVLRQRIWKHUK\WKP6LQFHPRUDOLW\LVDKXPDQDUWL¿FHEHLQJ virtuous is not a necessity and bad individuals can experience good fortune and even enlightenment.19 More importantly, Makuzu argues, good or bad intentions are in the end irrelevant because they do not determine outcomes. She demonstrates her point with the virtue gi ⩇ (righteousness):20 When this feeling [that corresponds to the term gi] leads to something good it is called “righteousness;” when it leads to something evil it is called “violence” (bĿ ᬸ). While one of these terms indicates “good” and the other “evil,” within the human body (hito no tainai ெࡡమහ) [the feeling they represent] is one and the same.21

Apparently the inner thoughts of a person are almost unrelated to actions because actions might be intended one way but have opposite certainly not only one person” (DK, p. 345). 18 HK, p. 300; MN 56:2, p. 188. 19 “[Buddhist enlightenment and the gambler’s mental detachment for the sake of JUHHGDOO@UHVXOWLQDVWDWHLQZKLFKRQH¶VKHDUWÀRDWVHOHYDWHGDERYHWKHHDUWKThe only difference is whether this leads to good or evil” (see HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, p. 187). Or see “Those who were born with bad hearts (kokoro ashiki kokoro o mochite umareshi ᚨ࠵ࡊࡀᚨࢅࡵࡔ࡙⏍ࡱࡿࡊ) do not become good even if their hearts rise above the ground. We just have to realize that any body (jintai no ue ni ெమࡡ࠹࠻࡞) can experience enlightenment. Regardless whether by nature they are good or bad (zen’aku ni yorazu ၻᝇ࡞ࡻࡼࡍ WKRVH ZKRVH KHDUWV ÀRDW IUHH DUH SURIHVVLRQDOV´ +. SS 300-01; MN 56:2, p. 188). Emphases are mine. 20 Makuzu claims that only propriety can be observed, not only in humans but in all living beings, and hence is comparable to what Mencius calls the “beginning” (tan ❻) of a virtue. 21 HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181.

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results. Moreover, actions do not reveal for certain whether a person is good or not. While some actions might be motivated by malice but can VWLOOEHRIEHQH¿WWRRWKHUVVRPHJRRGDFWLRQVPD\EHLPSHUFHSWLEOH or even judged by others as evil. In fact, according to Makuzu, since the inside of a person cannot be known, or as she claims “hearts can neither be seen nor heard,” statements about another person’s virtue can only be assumptions, and thus it is wrong to presume that all human beings are good.22 Bakin is shocked by Makuzu’s postulation on the virtue gi that cannot be found “in a book.” As expected, his retort to her fallacy is supported with the classics, his safe ground.23 In Makuzu’s view, social judgment is only an interpretation, not a UHÀHFWLRQ RI KXPDQ DFWV 1RW RQO\ GR ZH QRW NQRZ ³KRZ WKLQJV DUH within the bodies of wicked people,” we only see the result and form our corresponding moral opinion.24 This, Makuzu points out, importantly entails that notions such as “good” and “evil” are not actually ¿[HG SULQFLSOHV EXW UDWKHU DUH VXEMHFW WR VRFLHW\¶V FXUUHQW SUHIHUHQFH and discrimination.25 Makuzu’s argument rests on a relativistic view of action similar to that of Norinaga when he states, “good and evil are not constant—they change according to time and circumstance. … Thus too the good and bad in man’s mind and in his acts may not be as opposed to each other as they seem: they differ according to the doctrines one follows.”26 Both thinkers observe their social world and integrate their interpretation into their views. However, even if Norinaga and Makuzu appear to share the same notion of how society’s verdicts on individual actions are not static but changeable, they disagree on the fundamental notion of human nature. Norinaga, similar to Mabuchi, who pronounces that the sincere heart (naoki kokoro ├ࡀᚨ) is straightforward and therefore good, speaks of 22

HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. DK, p. 345. 24 HK, p. 292; MN 56:2, p. 181. 25 “The same is true for trees, grass, furniture and implements, and myriad other things: they all seem good or bad depending on people’s preferences” (MN 56:1, p. 27). This notion indirectly criticizes Mencius: “All palates enjoy the same tastes, all ears the same sounds, all eyes the same beauty. Should only minds not share the same things?” (Mencius, Bk. 6, 1, 8. Cited by Ooms 2002a, pp. 98-99). Bakin defends Mencius by saying: “It goes without saying, for eyes that do not like the color black, they will still see black as black. Even to a person who likes bitter taste, bitter is bitter. What differs is one’s preference. Color and taste are the same to everyone with mouth and eyes” (DK, pp. 319-20). 26 Motoori Norinaga, Tama no Ogushi, in Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 2, ed. Tsunoda Ryusaku et al. [1958] (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), p. 28. 23

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the pure heart (magokoro ┷ᚨ) that was active in the past, but now has to be rediscovered: Since human beings were thus created by the spirit of Musubi no Kami (the deity who gives birth to all beings) so as to detest evil and do what is good, they know for themselves what they should do without being taught. … If one claims that people cannot know or do anything without being taught, then this means that they are inferior to birds and insects. $FWVRIKXPDQLW\ULJKWHRXVQHVVSURSULHW\GHIHUHQFH¿OLDOSLHW\EURWKerly respect, loyalty and faithfulness should be innate to human beings, and people should know these and behave accordingly, without being taught explicitly.27

:KLOHLQ0DEXFKL¶VWKRXJKWZHGRQRW¿QGWKHVXSHULRULW\RIWKHKXPDQ species among all living creatures that Norinaga emphasizes (probably to set himself apart from the Daoist notions in Mabuchi’s cosmology), they both appear to assume that people are born with a good nature,28 an idealistic view that is in stark contrast to Makuzu’s empiricism.29 1RW DPRQJ QDWLYLVWV EXW LQ WKH &RQIXFLDQ FDPS ZH ¿QG D VLPLODU view to that expressed by Makuzu. When we compare her thoughts to the anti-Song Confucian tradition as represented by Dazai Shundai, we see that he, like Makuzu, is not interested in the ontology of human nature. In Shundai’s view, human nature and moral conduct should not be of concern.30 Shundai appropriates the notion of his teacher, Ogyŗ Sorai, to argue against a universal human nature and rigorously to re27 Motoori Norinaga, Kojikiden, Book 7, in MNZ, vol. 9, p. 296 (cited by Yoshikawa 1983, p. 264). Or see Motoori Norinaga, Kuzubana, in MNZ, vol. 8, p. 481. “The heart with which man is at birth endowed by the spirit of Musubi no kami” (cited by Matsumoto Shigeru, Motoori Norinaga, 1730–1801 [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970], p. 102). 28 Norinaga’s view is expressed in Naobi no mitama, in MNZ, vol. 9 (cited by Yoshikawa 1983, p. 264). See for instance, “All creatures whatsoever living in this world down to birds and insects inherently/instinctively (onozukara) know how to act since they are ordained to act so by virtue of the divine spirit of Musubi no kami. Human beings are born into this world as especially gifted beings (shŗ ni suguretaru mono)” (translation by Weymeyer 1997, p. 232). Peter Nosco points out that nativism and Song Confucianism share a belief in the inherent, if dormant, goodness of the person (Nosco 1990, p. 36). 29 Makuzu’s approach is clearly demonstrated when she claims, “I simply speculate on people’s internal feelings on the basis of my own experience” (HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, p. 187). 30 “People are born with different traits, as [ItĿ] Jinsai said, but this variety is a fact RIOLIHDQGQRWDFRQ¿UPDWLRQRIPRUDOSULQFLSOH+XPDQQDWXUHLVOLNHWKHVSLULWRID child. Externally the active human spirit is observable as human emotion, jĿ or ninjĿ” (Dazai Shundai, SeigakumondĿ in Dai Nihon shisĿ zenshŗ, ed. Uemura Katsumi, vol. 7 (Tokyo: Dai Nihon ShisĿ Zenshŗ KankĿkai, 1931), vol. 7, pp. 251-52; also cited in Najita 1972, pp. 825-26).

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ject inner morality. One’s innermost moral content is discarded as irrelevant.31 Only the external act is important. Shundai concludes that for XWLOLWDULDQUHDVRQVPHQPXWXDOO\DJUHHWROLYHDFFRUGLQJWR¿[HGHWKLFDO ideas, namely the Way of the ancient kings. He shares with Makuzu a disregard for investigating things that cannot be known, while he obviously diverges from her in his advice as to how to accommodate human traits and feelings.

HUMAN COMPETITION Although Makuzu rejects theoretical speculations about human nature, she postulates them herself. For instance, she comes to the conclusion that people are involved in an endless struggle for survival. She detects competition and strife to be universal and present at all times. In her WLPHRISHDFHWKHVWUXJJOHIRUVXSHULRULW\ZDVH[HPSOL¿HGLQWKH¿JKW over money; in strife over position and rank in the social hierarchy; in parents in raising their children; in gambling; and in love. Since she witnessed these acts of competition among all living beings, and not only among humans, and therefore considered them empirically perceivable, she may not have recognized her own contradiction. As a consequence, after differentiating between the sexes and between good and evil as fundamental to humankind, Makuzu returns to arguing for the sameness of humans.32 Her empiricism leads her to the conclusion that regardless of gender, class, or virtue, humans, like all living beings, have one common trait, namely what she calls a “heart of strife” (kokoro no ransei ᚨࡡ஗ୠ):33 I am convinced that the instinct (kokoro no yuku katachi ᚨࡡࡹࡂ࠾ ࡒࡔ RIDOOFUHDWXUHVZKROLYHEHWZHHQKHDYHQDQGHDUWKLVWR¿JKWIRU superiority (shĿretsu o arasoi ົ຋ࢅண). Down to the beasts, birds, and insects, there is no creature who does not compete. People train their children by praising them as better behaved than others, or by warning them that they will be laughed at for falling behind someone else. Do we not say such things because people are at bottom (kokoro no tomari ᚨࡡ࡛ࡱࡽ) competitive (shĿretsu ົ຋)? Do we not always say that one 31

Dumoulin 1943, pp. 109-10. HK, p. 295. 33 HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. In the English translation of HK, we rendered kokoro as “world” due to the context. For the purpose of discussion, however, I choose the literal rendering. 32

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thing is better or worse than another?34

Makuzu’s basic observation is that the heart is shaped by the drive to succeed, to emerge a winner in the competitive struggle for supremacy. This commonality is not a preserve of humans, but extends to all living beings. By positing that all humans are competitive, she claims that to ¿JKWDQGVWULYHLVXQDYRLGDEOH0DNX]XPD\KDYHDSSURSULDWHGWKLVQRtion from Heisuke, who argues in Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ that it is “human QDWXUHWRGHVLUHSUR¿W´ri o konomu wa ninjĿ nite ฺࢅይࡳࡢெ᝗࡞ ࡙).35 It was also, however, a common view shared by intellectuals such as Shundai, who similarly states, “[Human nature] is aggressive, passionate, and highly competitive in character.”36 For Makuzu, this human trait accounts for the defective relationship between the sexes. In the case of love, the struggle for superiority explains why couples appear to be in a combative relationship. She holds that relationships between men and women (danjo no aikakarai ⏠ዥ ࡡ࠵࠷࠾࠾ࡼ࠷) are shaped by this “instinct.” It is their determination WR UHVLVW GHIHDW DW WKH KDQGV RI WKH RWKHU WKDW UHVXOWV LQ WKLV FRQÀLFW $QDORJRXVWRWKHVHSDUDWLRQRIJHQGHUWKHRULJLQRIWKLVVSHFL¿FGULYH is, Makuzu declares, “rooted in their private parts” (injo o ne toshite 㝔 ᡜࡡ᰷࡛ࡊ࡙).37 In Makuzu’s opinion, the futon is the ring where lovers compete over who wins over whom. To see the sex act as a battle EHWZHHQWKHVH[HVLVDQROGWURSHDVVRFLDWHGZLWK&KLQHVHSRSXODU¿Ftion of the Ming dynasty. But perhaps Makuzu’s view of love as the inevitable result of sexual intercourse can be traced back to her own experience, when she discloses that she could not forget the man with whom she was intimate despite her disgust “to the point of repulsion.”38 Again, Makuzu grounds human nature in the body. 34

HK, pp. 269-70; MN 56:1, p. 28. Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 285. 36 Dazai Shundai, SeigakumondĿ, in Dai Nihon shisĿ zenshŗ, ed. Uemura Katsumi, vol. 7, p. 252 (cited in Najita 1972, p. 825). 37 HK, pp. 266-67. 38 +.S$ERXW&KLQHVH¿FWLRQVHH)XUWKS:HDUHOHIWWRFRQMHFture who this man might have been, either one of her husbands or someone else. In general, Makuzu makes a clear distinction between marriage and romance (koiji ᜂ㊨). Makuzu does not romanticize love as many intellectuals do, in particular Norinaga, but she discusses more prosaically its origin (physical) and its consequences (combat). For Norinaga on love see SekijĿ shishuku-gen, p. 31. Or Genji monogatari tama no ogushi ″Ắ∸ㄊ⋚ࡡᑚᷰ, in MNZ, vol. 4, p. 225: “This is because there is nothing more deep-rooted in the human mind than love.” For a Confucian vision see the Book of Rites: “Once involved in and disturbed by (love), the wise and foolish alike frequently behave illogically in spite of themselves ... ruining their bodies and their reputations.” Or see ItĿ Jinsai: “The original ideas of Confucius and Mencius consisted of morality 35

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In Makuzu’s view of the world, the competition inherent in all living beings is to blame for the deplorable conditions of current society. Just as sex is the form of the battle between men and women, money is the weapon in the battle among the classes. In the preface of Hitori kangae Makuzu deplores her time of “crazed behavior” (monokuruwashiki furumai ࡵࡡࡂࡾࡢࡊࡀࡨࡾࡱࡥ).39 She repeatedly laments that the “transgression of norms” (hĿ o koeru Ἢࢅ㉲࠻ࡾ) is common, while morality in human conduct is lost. Characteristics that have become outmoded in today’s world include true uprightness (gokushĿjiki ᴗḿ├), compassion ( jihigokoro ិᝊᚨ), sympathy (nasake ᝗), duty (giri ⩇⌦), and a sense of shame (haji ᜕). 7KHVH ¿YH FKDUDFWHULVWLFV DUH WUXO\ SUHFLRXV EXW QRZDGD\V WKH\ KDYH gone out of fashion, leaving only remnants behind. That is because in WKH LQFUHDVLQJO\ ¿HUFH EDWWOHV RYHU PRQH\ WKH\ DUH DQ LPSHGLPHQW WR the impetuous urges of those who, having acquired the taste for money, are intent on squeezing it even from their masters or their parents. The transgression of norms is one indication of a disorderly era, I have heard, and that is the way things are today.40

Since morality is an acquired form of conduct, upright behavior is absent in current society because it is not cultivated, but instead is outmoded and not valued. Makuzu lays out for her readers how, in their WLPHSHRSOHZKRDUHFRPSHWLWLYHDQGVHO¿VKE\³QDWXUH´KDYHIRXQGLQ money a new means for competition, which has swamped society and social relations.41 From Makuzu’s point of view, it makes sense to differentiate between different periods that witness all kinds of transgression. Makuzu historicizes human behavior, just as she historicizes the pulse of the time. As she claims: In the past, the world was in turmoil because people disputed over land put into practice—of Benevolence in the sense of an active Love (ai) of others. Love was ultimately the actualization of the Way of Heaven” (cited by Muraoka 1964, p. 100). The relation between husband and wife is quite different, as Makuzu points out, probably indicating that in the case of a married couple, the hierarchy should already be decided, and no negotiation or “battle” should be necessary (HK, p. 267; MN 56:1, p. 25). “For a husband and wife who are one this may not be an issue. In case of romance, though, a man may be thrown by a woman.” This is also the reason why Makuzu’s discussion of sex is not about conjugal sex for the purpose of procreation, as advocated, for instance, in her time by Hirata Atsutane, or by medical advice found in handbooks, but simply about sex as a manifestation of the human nature of competition. For Atsutane, see Walthall 1998. For medical handbooks, see Terazawa 2001 and Furth 1999. 39 HK, p. 260; MN 56:1, p. 21. 40 HK, p. 305; MN 56:2, p. 192. 41 HK, p. 294; MN 56:2, p. 182.

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and fought over provinces. Today is an age when people’s hearts are in WXUPRLOEHFDXVHWKH\DUHFDXJKWXSLQWKH¿JKWRYHUJROGDQGVLOYHU«42

Because war and peace are changes embedded in the rhythm, people’s adaptation to the prevailing rhythm is almost unavoidable; as Makuzu claims, “Having been born into this disordered world, dominated by strife over money, people are naturally (onozukara LQÀXHQFHG E\ LWV spirit.”43 Makuzu observes that established social relations have changed accordingly. The consequences are scorn among the lower classes for WKHQREOHDQGZHDOWK\ZKROLYHRIIWKHLU¿HIVZKLOHWKHORZHUFODVVHV live in hardship, dependent on trade.44 Not the lord, but salary has become the new master.45 Makuzu’s polemic embellishment of current conditions points her projected readers—members of the upper class—to the critical fact that loyalty is obsolete and the loss of trust among the lower people toward their lords extends to the domestic as well as public domain. Hired help in the house as well as porters on the roads see their wage as their only master.46 Former relations of trust had fallen to the commercial assault of the times. Makuzu illustrates this with an account of conditions on the highway: As for porters working on the highways, they take advantage of the fact that travelers have to rely on them to haul their baggage. They treat travelers with contempt and extort high fees, having the upper hand in WHUPVRIWLPH+RZHYHUGLVWDVWHIXOWUDYHOHUVPD\¿QGWKLVEHKDYLRUEHing prisoners of time, they lose out to the porters.47

Makuzu urges her readers to realize that the changed economic situation expressed by “time is money” has subverted the structure of human relations.48 When people are hired on a short-term basis, the PDVWHUVFDQQRWWUXVWWKHPDWDOO7KH\PLJKWWDNHÀLJKWDWDQ\PRPHQW The ideal of personal relations is increasingly in tension with the com42

HK, pp. 270-71; MN 56:1, p. 28. HK, p. 272; MN 56:1, p. 29. 44 HK, pp. 270-71; MN 56:1, p. 28. Or see HK, p. 288; MN 56:2, p. 177. 45 HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, pp. 186-87. 46 HK, p. 298; MN 56:2, p. 186. 47 HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, p. 187. 48 For one interpretation of this subversion, see Douglas Howland, “Samurai status, class, and bureaucracy,” JAS 60:2 (May 2001), p. 371. “Growing subversion of the samurai as a ruling class can be attributed to two fundamental processes: on the one hand, the rationalization of society due to bureaucratic forms of rule and, on the other hand, the economic changes that encouraged merchant entrepreneurs in particular to forge ahead in the commerce productive of class power.” 43

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mercialization of services.49 Makuzu, to enforce her argument, refers to a popular saying that expressed current conditions, “people say it LVEHWWHUWRKDYHDJULOOHGULFHEDOOWKDQWKHORUG¶VFRQ¿GHQFH´50 People who live according to the Way of the sages, Makuzu warns, lose out to bad characters who are less constrained and who, by giving their competitive hearts full authority, have the upper hand in the contest of life. Bakin, who agrees that current conditions are lamentable indeed, unquestionably disagrees with the underlying argument. The philosophical divide between Makuzu and Bakin on this issue is so deep that Bakin incessantly reiterates where he thinks her thought is erroneous. He claims that competition and greed are not general human characteristics, but belong only to the mean. Bakin’s position comes from his presumption, discussed earlier, that desire is not innate to human nature and can hence be cultivated.51 His reference is again to the ideal of a two-part society divided into the superior being and the mean, in which cultivation ultimately can bring forth the goodness in each human being. Bakin quotes from the Classics in which Confucius said, “The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness (gi ⩇); the mind of the mean is conversant with gain (ri ฺ).”52 Competitive feelings are pertinent only to the mean since they are motivated by greed (yoku ៛): they are not heavenly nature (tensei ኮᛮ) but human feeling (ninjĿ ெ᝗). On the other hand, competition among superior men is full of honor (sharei ᑏ♡), as Bakin explains by citing from the Doctrine of the Mean, “When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”53 When competition develops out of greed, however, it is the beginning of chaos.54 While Makuzu would agree that some people are able to cultivate themselves to become upright, she would nevertheless argue that even they are competitive at heart.

49 See J. F. Morris and his reading of the diary by the formerly mentioned Sendai retainer Tamamushi JŗzĿ (1744–1802) who hired all of his seven retainers on a yearly or half-yearly basis. J. F. Morris, “Sendai hanshi Tamamushi JŗzĿ no hĿkĿnin,” Jinbun shakai kagaku ronsĿ 13 (2004), pp. 43-85. 50 HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 191. Oboshimeshi yori yakimeshi yoshi ᛦࡊࡴࡊࡻࡽ↕ ࡀࡴࡊྚ, a saying based on the double meaning of meshiULFHDQGFRQ¿GHQFH 51 See the discussion in chapter 5. 52 Analects, Bk. 4, 16 (Legge 1971, p. 170). 53 Doctrine of the Mean, 14, 5 (Legge 1971, p. 396). 54 DK, pp. 320-21.

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HUMAN AGENCY AND IKIOI Makuzu employs philosophical enunciations mainly to explain her proposals for reform. With her conviction that all people are aggressively RXWIRUWKHLURZQSUR¿W0DNX]XLQIRUPVWKHUXOHUVWKDWWKHSHDFHIXO times are in fact not peaceful at all. The conditions in the country show that reform is needed, but, as Makuzu warns in her remonstration, in this world of strife taking the wrong measures can only cause harm. )RUWKHUXOHUVWRDFFRPSOLVKUHIRUPV0DNX]XLQVWUXFWVWKH\¿UVWKDYH to be aware of what is central to current society. 7KHLQFOLQDWLRQWR¿JKWIRUPRQH\WKDWHDUOLHUDURVHLQWKHKHDUWVRISHRple of the lower classes has sprung forth and is growing rapidly. People of the upper classes ought to be deeply concerned, but they do not seem to be at all aware of the situation. Unable to bear seeing this, I have written about these things here.55

Makuzu elaborates on current socioeconomic conditions in which money has become the most desirable object. Money, in Makuzu’s outline, epitomizes the ikioi (tide or momentum) of the time. 7KHXSSHUFODVVIDLOVWRH[DPLQHFXUUHQWFRQGLWLRQV¿UVWEHFDXVH the Confucian Way causes the rulers to be remote from society, and second, as Makuzu states, the rulers’ neglect is manifested in their purVXLWRIWKHLURZQVHO¿VKLQWHUHVWV566LQFHWKHUHDUHQRZDUVWR¿JKWDQG peace prevails throughout the country, the warriors are now engaged in a different kind of competition.57 Makuzu refers to the contest among lords to obtain the prestige of higher court ranks, which requires large amounts of money, a struggle that she had witnessed up close in her service at the Date and Ii mansions.58 As mentioned previously, Date Shigemura had launched an elaborate scheme for advancing his rank, and Makuzu’s move to the Ii mansion was probably linked to that scheme. While Makuzu distinguishes between the upper and lower ranks, everyone is immersed in strife due to their common human trait of competition. However, since the ruling class has a secure income based 55

HK, p. 273; MN 56:1, p. 30. About samurai being out for higher rank or prestige, see HK, p. 274; MN 56:1, p. 31. Or HK, p. 286-87; MN 56:2, pp. 176-77. 57 HK, p. 286; MN 56:2, p. 176. An opinion with which Bakin can only agree: “Concern of the lords is to advance their court rank (mi-kurai ᚒన) and to promote their own interests (on-toku ᚒᚠ)” (DK, p. 336). 58 See Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, “In Name Only: Imperial Sovereignty in Early Modern Japan,” JJS 17:1 (Winter 1991), pp. 38-45. 56

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RQVWLSHQGVRU¿HIVWKH\WDNHQRQRWLFHRIWKHSXOVHRIWKHWLPHWKH ikioi of money. The rupture between the rulers and the ruled has grave consequences, Makuzu argues, in a time when the current pulse is the money-dominated economy. All the classes are part of this monetary ¿JKWEXWXQGHUXQHYHQFRQGLWLRQV0HPEHUVRIWKHUXOLQJFODVVEURXJKW up to be superior men who despise money, do not care to concern themselves with money affairs. The lords, concerned only with advancing their careers within the government and ascending in rank, neglect the ¿QDQFLDOFRVW59 As a consequence, they spend money not directly but through middlemen, who arrange their affairs. While Makuzu puts much blame on “those fellows who are on the lookout for the chance to make money out of this situation,” those also are the ones who recognize the tide of the time, namely the workings of money, and use it for their own ends.60 Accordingly, Makuzu presses for recognition of the ikioi of money and, most importantly, to take appropriate action. In her exposition she uses merchants, the lowest legal class, who know best how to manipulate the ikioi of money since it is their trade.61 Or in Makuzu’s allegory of the warrior in her father’s account, the merchant knows how to use money as a “weapon.” To her consternation, the warrior in her society, RQWKHRWKHUKDQGLVDIHHEOHLQHI¿FLHQWORUGZKRLVFRQWUROOHGE\WKH people around him. From her experience in the inner quarters, Makuzu speaks her mind about the lord’s true condition:62 The ruler of a domain is expected to be a great general, but in this tranquil age, order can be maintained even when the governor is a child. Those attending him are accustomed to tranquility, and they think that valorous service consists simply of taking good care of him. Accustomed from the time the lord is a child to putting on his belt and even the sash for his underwear, they make no effort to change once he becomes an adult and hover by his side. This would not be the case had he a stalwart father who ordered the attendants not to help his son put RQKLVXQGHUZHDUDIWHUKHUHDFKHGWKHDJHRI¿IWHHQ:HDULQJGHOLFDWH underclothes put on him by someone else, what would a great general do VKRXOGDWUXO\¿HUFHEDWWOHHUXSW"(YHQWKRXJKWKH\SHUVRQDOO\DUHQRW SK\VLFDOO\¿WWRHQJDJHLQYDORURXVH[SORLWVVXFKORUGVUXOHWKHGRPDLQV :K\GRWKH\WKLQNWKDWWKHEUDYHU\RIGLVWDQWDQFHVWRUVLVVXI¿FLHQWWR qualify them as glorious victors and that they should thereby be able to 59

HK, p. 301; MN 56:2, p. 189. HK, p. 287; MN 56:2, p. 177. 61 Makuzu does not refer to other base groups, such as hinin 㟸ெ (non-humans), eta ✟ኣ (outcasts), etc. 62 HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26. 60

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advance in court rank while simply sitting on their heels?63

The upper-class life of idleness, comfort, and petty competition has led to the incapacity to cope with the realities of life and the current times. 7KHORWRIWKHORUGLVVHOILQÀLFWHG3RVLWLRQHGDWWKHSLQQDFOHRIVRFLety and therefore the target of everyone below, the lord, Makuzu notes with regret, is doomed to suffer defeat in a competition of which he is not even aware. Merchants become moneylenders for lords, peasants try not to pay their taxes, and even the lord’s retainers take their share without considering whether the domain might go bankrupt in the process.64 The upper class, ironically, after being “robbed” by the merchants, now has to turn to the merchants for help. This dreadful condition occurs not only on an individual but also on a domanial level: Caught in the midst of this disordered world, warriors remained unaware of this for years, until eventually these shysters have succeeded in draining off from them as much gold and silver as they could. Nowadays, having become dependent on townspeople to be their moneylenders, certain domanial lords let them take control of their sources of income. They live their days relying on the power of the townspeople. Isn’t it as though the townspeople with their army of money have taken them captive?65

Money has become a new weapon that warriors do not know how to handle, which leads to the rueful reality that merchants control domains based on moneylending.66 Makuzu most likely refers here to her own GRPDLQRI6HQGDLZKLFKZDVLQJUHDW¿QDQFLDOWURXEOHXQWLO
HK, pp. 286-87; MN 56:2, pp. 176-77. HK, pp. 269-72; MN 56:1, pp. 29-30. 65 HK, p. 271; MN 56:1, p. 29. 66 0DUN5DYLQDLOOXVWUDWHVKRZPHUFKDQWLQÀXHQFHRYHUGRPDLQORUGVEHFDPHDVWDQdard feature of early modern domains as their economies became more dependent on PHUFKDQW¿QDQFLQJ0DUN5DYLQDLand and Lordship in Early Modern Japan [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999]). 67 Yamagata BantĿPDGHODUJHSUR¿WVIRUKLVWUDGLQJVWRUHWKURXJKKLVGHYLFHRIWKH sashimai ๆ⡷㻃(stab-rice). For a contemporary and detailed account, see Masu Ko dan ⯎ᑚㄧ (Talks about Masu Ko) by his admirer, Kaiho SeiryĿ. In English see “Talks about Teachings of the Past: Translation of the Second Part of Kaiho SeiryĿ’s Keikodan,” transl. Michael Kinski, Japonica Humboldtiana 4 (2000), pp. 74-87, where SeiryĿ discusses the Osaka merchant house Masuya, BantĿ’s store, throughout his essay. See further, Tetsuo Najita, Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan: The KaitokudĿ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), chapter 6. See also Craig 1965. 64

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In her criticism of the rulers, Makuzu emphasizes that social and ethical norms are transgressed due to the lack of control from above. Indeed, she criticizes the lords who go so far as to participate in this strife. While competitiveness is at the root of human nature, human agency is a decisive factor. In order to be able to act in accordance with the pulse of the time, knowledge is essential. Once insight and comprehension are achieved, or the friction between politics and society is overcome, change is possible. By leading and controlling the human trait of competitiveness for a higher ethical purpose, egoism can become altruism, as Makuzu claims: “If people would think that what is good for others is also good for themselves, the myriad things would DOOÀRXULVK”68

ACCOMMODATION OF HUMAN NATURE After Makuzu has bleakly laid out current social conditions and explained human nature, she goes on to give advice. Makuzu explains to the rulers and their advisors how human nature ought to be accommodated. Morality is not “natural” (onozukara), but morality is an indispensable component of society. Without “making uprightness the foundation” (shĿjiki o moto to seyo ḿ├ࢅࡵ࡛ࢎࡎࡻ) the deplorable consequences of the world of strife prevail.69 Competition, the common human trait, explains why the lower as well as the upper ranks of society act as they do. Makuzu shows how both parts of society are not only the victims of each other, but also are responsible for each other’s plight. Yet channeling competition is possible and necessary if society is not to fall deeper into chaos. What Makuzu basically sees as the biggest obstacle for reform is that the rulers do not understand the fracture that has occurred between them and the people. Society, for Makuzu H[HPSOL¿HGE\WKHGRPLQDQWPRQH\HFRQRP\DQGSROLWLFVEDVHGRQ Confucian values, are detached. Makuzu certainly does not envision a new social structure, but the function of the upper class needs to change. Her proposal is not a challenge to authority, even though it implies harsh criticism. After all, the existing system can be manipulated but not opposed, an idea Makuzu might have inherited from her father and his allegory of ether and water. 68 69

HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 191. HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 192.

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In her advice Makuzu claims that competition and ambition are “natural” and should be exploited. Gambling is Makuzu’s foremost example of human behavior, for which she gives a full diagnosis: the origin of the problem and its remedy. The reason for Makuzu’s preoccupation and fascination with gambling is expressed in the following: Even frivolous pursuits (tawamure ࡒࡢࡳࡿ) are lively and exciting if there is some degree of competitive feeling; to have no competition at all makes them dull. It is because gambling involves a decisive defeat or victory that it is such an interesting game: those caught up by it will go so far as to wager their family’s residence, while folks of the lower classes will even peel off and bet the single garment they are wearing, leaving them naked in the cold.70

To gamble is one of the ways in which one can practice one’s aggressive nature with quick results. Throwing the dice takes neither preparation nor much skill. Indeed Makuzu argues that gambling as such is not a bad activity, since, even in the Tsurezuregusa ᚈ↓ⲙ (Leaves of Idleness, early fourteenth century) we can read about gambler’s strategies. Makuzu, probably through her life in her parents’ house, was well acquainted with this “frivolous pursuit,” which in her day, to her dissatisfaction, has become forbidden.71 She acknowledges gambling as a necessary outlet for the competitive nature of lowly people, and should therefore be regarded as human.72 She proposes allowing controlled gambling with restrictions on the amount to be bet. Also, with recent prohibitions, bandits can rob victims in broad daylight, or lure them into forbidden activities, since, having committed a crime themselves, the victims cannot complain to the authorities. The people who rob and SOXQGHUVKRXOGEHSXQLVKHGQRWWKHJDPEOHUV7KHODZVVKRXOG¿WFXUrent conditions and show compassion for human nature. When Makuzu suggests that gambling should be controlled, but not prohibited, she shows, in Bakin’s view, a woman’s compassion ( fujin ፦ொ), a compassion that he indisputably rejects. In his opinion, strict public prohibition of gambling would make it clear that gambling is not good at all, therefore the ones who still continue to gamble would not be protected. By referring to Confucius and the metaphor of the net, Bakin explains that after the old iron-net was rusty, Confucius brought up another net, so people would not get hurt. He asks if it is not the task of the rulers to suppress wickedness and encourage goodness? If bad 70

HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. 72 HK, pp. 301-02. 71

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individuals were allowed to gamble, the crooked would be advanced. If innocent people began gambling and entered the trap of criminals, it would be a disaster that they themselves caused, since they were led astray by greed.73 Again we see the difference between Makuzu’s and Bakin’s views of human feelings. To Makuzu, competition, of which gambling is an example, is part of human nature. To Bakin, desire and greed need to be controlled. They are not inherent parts of human nature, but should be rigorously suppressed and overcome by virtue.74 A YLUWXRXVJRYHUQPHQWPXVWEHWKHUHIRUH¿UPLQDGYRFDWLQJDQGSURPRWing virtue. In Makuzu’s view, laws ought to accommodate human nature. She DGYLVHVPDQLSXODWLRQLQVWHDGRIFRQIURQWDWLRQVLQFHKXPDQVDUHLQÀXenced by the pulse of the time. The Confucian Way apparently does not accommodate but only regulates and restricts human feelings, which Makuzu strongly opposes. Likewise, Motoori Norinaga, too, asks for more leniency from the government: We should not admonish too harshly people who are not completely evil. To restrict their behavior and regulate them excessively is not in accordance with the heart of the imperial deities. There is no value in such a policy; on the contrary, it makes people become narrow and cunning, and, for the most part, even more wicked. (Chinese are too strict in their punishment, they do not know the principle of leniency.)75

Makuzu similarly advocates considering the plight of those who suffer under the rule of money by channeling their desires so that there would not be any over-indulgence. The shape of the heart and human feelings are one. The law should accommodate human desire reasonably so that honest people do not have suicide as their only recourse, as she complains.76 Makuzu’s appeal to ethics and moral norms reminds us of Confucian commentaries, well displayed by Bakin; the way she applies them, however, takes a different path. Her goal, too, is harmonious and benevolent rule, not, however, via the suppression of human desire, but via its very exploitation. Therefore, the government of the nation needs 73

DK, pp. 363-64. %DNLQ³7RNQRZSUR¿WDQGORVVDQGWREHLQWKHGDUNDERXWULJKWDQGZURQJzehi ᫕㟸 LVWKHKHDUWRIWKHEDGRI¿FHU7RNQRZDERXWULJKWDQGZURQJDQGWREHLQWKH GDUNDERXWSUR¿WDQGORVVWKLVLVWKHKHDUWRID&RQIXFLDQ7RPDNHXVHRIERWKWREH compassionate (nasake ᝗) to the lower people and to know well how to use people, this is what is called a wise superior man” (DK, p. 326). 75 Motoori Norinaga, Tamakushige, translation by Brownlee 1988, pp. 60-61. 76 HK, p. 305; MN 56:2, p. 192. 74

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to incorporate in its rule the individual’s inborn drive for competition. Only when human nature is accommodated will the nation as a whole achieve peace and prosperity. Makuzu’s view of human nature is not idealistic; instead she illustrates that, if directed properly, human nature can be led toward outwardly ethical conduct, which is in the end most important to society as a whole. Makuzu is outrageous in her critique that attacks high and low, a reason why Bakin kept the manuscript secret. Nonetheless, he agrees with her that present society has sociopolitical defects, even though he sees a different cause and has a different remedy. Makuzu argues that she was born with a large mole under her right eye, in the shape of a tear, which came to embody her fate. Even after she had it removed because people told her repeatedly to do so, she knew she could not escape the constant sadness she felt in her heart.77 She knew she would never be happy, and her habit of worrying was not only for herself. “Undoubtedly it is because of the mole I was born with that I have continued to lament things that do not directly concern me.”78 Ⴟࡂࡱࡋ࡝ࡅ࠾ࡋࡵࡡ࡛࠽ࡵ࡫࡜ࡵ࡝ࡅࡂࡑெࡡࡱࡆ࡛࡝ࡽࡄࡾ79 I will not, Nagekumaji should not, nagekaji mono to lament, omoedomo But to lament nageku zo hito no is human nature. makoto narikeru

77

MB, pp. 128-29. HK, p. 289; MN 56:2, p. 178. 79 HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 191. 78

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE RHYTHM APPLIED WILL BENEFIT ALL In Hitori kangae0DNX]X¶VPDLQJRDOLVWR¿QGVROXWLRQVIRUWKHPLVeries of society. Her particular worldview, her thoughts on the human condition, and her practical advice for reform are all geared toward EHQH¿WLQJ VRFLHW\ DV D ZKROH 0DNX]X OD\V RXW KHU REMHFWLYHV LQ WKH form of three wishes: ዥࡡᮇ࡝ࡼࡣࡷࠈࡈ࡛ࡽ࡛னࡆ࡛ࡡࡹ࠾ࡊࡀࠈெࡡࢄࡀ࡛࡝ࡼࡣࡷ onna no moto to narabaya satori to iu koto no yukashiki hito no eki to narabaya

To become a model for women To realize that which is called enlightenment 7REHRIEHQH¿WWRRWKHUV1

Makuzu had had the ambition to be an example since childhood, and enlightenment, as we have seen, was her means of becoming one.2 In teaching others with her insight, she seeks to reach her goal to be of use to her fellow country-people. What underlies Makuzu’s arguments is her assumption of the existing friction between the rulers and the ruled. She recognizes the estrangement between the ideals of politics and the realities of society and culture, in particular with regard to socioeconomic conditions. 0DNX]X¶VDGYLFHWRWKHUXOHUVLVWKHUHIRUHWZRIROG¿UVWDVGLVFXVVHGLQ the previous chapter, laws must be reformed to accommodate human nature and, second, the national economy must be reformed. Makuzu castigates the members of the upper class for their blindness to the reality of the money-dominated culture around them. The growth of an economy based on money has drawn all parts of society into strife and has changed social relations in a way that threatens society’s foundation and to a degree transgresses its norms and rules. Makuzu calls for a mercantilist rule that embraces the current pulse of the time. Makuzu was one among many intellectuals who regarded the money economy as the cause of social dysfunction.3 She mentions, 1

HK, p. 262; MN 56:1, p. 22. Makuzu also refers to her aspiration in Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 337: “Only my longing to become a model for people, which I have held since I was nine, never ceased to burn in my heart, regardless of what fortune I met.” 3 For the late Tokugawa period little work has been done in English on this issue. My 2

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for instance, the work of one early representative of this viewpoint, the prominent economist Kumazawa Banzan ↻Ἁⶵᒜ (1619–91). Yet such scholarly discussions diverged in their analyses of the class society that they tried to embrace. While the rigid class division of society into samurai, peasant, artisan, and merchant (shi-nĿ-kĿ-shĿ ኃ㎨ᕝၛ) that ideologues envisioned never existed, by the late Tokugawa period, when Makuzu wrote, maintaining the pretense of this structure had EHFRPHHYHQPRUHGLI¿FXOW7KURXJKRXWVRFLHW\FXUUHQF\JROGVLOYHU and copper) replaced grains and other agricultural products as the basic standard of wealth, and its accumulation became the primary goal. In VLPSOL¿HG WHUPV WKHUH ZHUH WZR SURPLQHQW DSSURDFKHV DPRQJ LQWHOOHFWXDOVRQKRZWRVHWWOHWKLVSUREOHPUDWLRQDOO\2QHVLGHH[HPSOL¿HG by the slogan “revering grains and despising money” (kikoku senkin ㈏ ✈㈦㔘), envisioned a return to a natural economy with agriculture as its main engine.4 Banzan, for instance, recommended frugality and the simple life “in the absence of desire” to cure and reform the economy.5 The other approach embraced the economy of commodities to the fullest, a position represented most radically by Kaiho SeiryĿ, and more moderately by Dazai Shundai, Yamagata BantĿ, and Makuzu’s father Heisuke. Makuzu, in her call to observe the rhythm of her time, belongs to the latter camp. All of them, however, saw the need to reform the upper structure of society based on the ideal of a two-tier society of the superior men (kunshi) and the mean (shĿjin).6

KOKUEKI (BENEFIT TO THE COUNTRY) Heisuke’s proposal is instrumental in contextualizing Makuzu’s economic thought in that Hitori kangae echoes many of his ideas. Heisuke’s Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ advances various agendas, some microscopic and current project, Money and Monetary Policies of the Shogunate and Domains in Late Tokugawa Japan: Discourses and Practices, will take up some of the issues that I have to leave unaddressed here. 4 Cited by Morris-Suzuki 1989, p. 17. 5 According to Herman Ooms, Banzan perceived “the threat of the developing commercial economy to Tokugawa’s feudal set-up, but, also like [Sorai], could not conceive of an expanding economy, driven by consumption and desire” (Herman Ooms, “Book review of Soum, Nakae TĿju (1608–1648) et Kumazawa Banzan (1619–1691): Deux penseurs de l’époque d’Edo,” JJS 28:1 [2002], p. 193 [Ooms 2002b]). 6 As mentioned earlier, the implication that class equals virtue predominated throughout the Tokugawa period. Noble people were better people, an idea based on the theoretical Confucian hierarchy of society into virtuous and not-so-virtuous people.

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directly related to current incidents and crises at hand, some more macroscopic in that they offer plans to bring “wealth to the country” (kuni o yutaka ni suru ᅗࢅࡹࡒ࠾࡞ࡌࡾ).7 The broad concept that forms his argument is kokueki ᅗ─ EHQH¿W WR WKH FRXQWU\ LGHRORJ\ 7KLV notion, according to Luke Roberts, stemmed originally from the social stratum of the merchants.8 By the 1780s the concept was widely known, even within the shogunate, and was invoked quite frequently in the context of discussions about Ezo.9 That Makuzu, too, makes ample use of the term and its concept is therefore not surprising.10 7KHWHUP¶VFRQQRWDWLRQLVYDJXHKRZHYHU,WFRXOGPHDQHLWKHUSUR¿W RUSURVSHULW\IRUDJRYHUQPHQWRQWKHORFDORUQDWLRQDOOHYHORUEHQH¿W for the entire nation. Heisuke proposed kokuekiLQWKHVHQVHRIEHQH¿Wing the country as a whole when discussing trade with Russia and the colonization of Ezo, an approach that resonated positively in government rhetoric.11 When Heisuke demonstrates how Russia used trade for international expansion and colonizing for national needs, he shows KRZHFRQRPLFSUR¿WOHDGVWREHQH¿WIRUWKHSHRSOH12 In his opinion, the obvious success of Russia’s expansionist policy deserved to be taken as a model by Japan.13 Trade would be a defense measure (kokubĿ ᅗ㜭) against the southward-pushing empire, and would also be a strategy for

7

Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 284. About kokueki ᅗ─ (national interest) or hito no eki ெࡡ─EHQH¿WWRRWKHUV VHH in particular Luke S. Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1998) and Ronald Toby, “Rescuing the Nation from History,” MN 56:2 (Summer 2001), pp. 197-237. About the logos of kokueki, see Toby 2001, pp. 214-16. 9 Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 277. 10 HK, p. 278 “kuni no eki” ᅗࡡ─; HK, p. 293 “nihonkoku no eki” ᪝ᮇᅗࡡ─ and again “kuni no eki.” 11 While during the Ezo Affair, smuggling appeared to be one of the more urgent concerns of the shogunate, and hence kokuekiPD\KDYHVLJQL¿HGWKHQRWLRQRIEULQJLQJ SUR¿WWRWKHJRYHUQPHQWRWKHUHFRQRPLFSROLFLHVLQLWLDWHGE\7DQXPD2NLWVXJXVXFK DVZKROHVDOHPRQRSROLHVWRFRQWUROÀXFWXDWLRQVLQSULFHVWKHUHRUJDQL]DWLRQRI1DJDsaki trade, and land development) are evidence that the shogunate applied kokueki with WKHVDPHPHDQLQJDV+HLVXNHGLGQDPHO\WREULQJEHQH¿WWRWKHHQWLUHQDWLRQEzochi ikken, in SHS, p. 304). The former Matsumae retainer Minato Genzaemon informed WKH VKRJXQDWH RI¿FLDO7VXFKL\DPD 6ĿjirĿ about the many islands that could become kokueki, which are not under the control of Matsumae, thereby ostensibly using the same rhetoric as Heisuke did (Ezochi ikken, in SHS, p. 277). About Tanuma’s policies, see Yamada 1988, p. 50; Koyama 1996, pp. 158-63; Hall 1955, pp. 65-66; Totman 1993, pp. 344-45. 12 0DNX]XWRRPHQWLRQVWKDWLQ5XVVLD³LWLV>WKHRI¿FLDOV¶@ZLVK,KHDUWRHQULFK the country by engaging in trade” (HK, p. 277; MN 56:1, p. 33). 13 See for instance, Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS p. 285. 8

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making use of the Russian presence in the north for Japan’s own advanWDJH³%HQH¿WWRWKHFRXQWU\´ZRXOGEHDFKLHYHGE\YDULRXVPHDQV Heisuke’s proposal must be seen as a direct response to the agriculWXUDO FDWDFO\VP RI WKH WLPH :KHQ KH VXJJHVWHG ¿QGLQJ UHOLHI LQ WKH opening of new land for agriculture and the utilization of natural resources, he continued and complemented policies proposed by others. For instance, Heisuke’s teacher Aoki Kon’yĿ introduced the cultivation of a crop that would grow under even the worst conditions, namely the sweet potato, as one of his agro-economical propositions. Heisuke’s suggestion to open commerce with Russia in order to restructure the monopoly of the Nagasaki trade with its negative balance, too, must be seen as part of his familiarity with Arai Hakuseki’s work. Heisuke, however, extended it with updated sources, for instance the information he obtained from his friend, the Nagasaki interpreter Yoshio KĿgyŗ.14 The notion of kokueki as a national policy is likewise a crosscurrent throughout Hitori kangae. Makuzu employs this concept in frequent references to her knowledge of Ezo and Russia in order to strengthen her argument that Japan’s foreign trade must be reformed and internationalized. She reserves one detailed treatment for the long-standing debate on the extensive export of metals: Japan’s mountains produce gold, silver, copper, iron, and other metals. (Because there was such a plenitude of these things, year by year we let WKHPEHVKLSSHGWRRWKHUFRXQWULHVDQGQRZWKHVXSSO\LVLQVXI¿FLHQW I would like to see us exchange salt for sugar in trade with other countries.15

The unilateral foreign trade with the Dutch and the Chinese in Nagasaki was controlled by the shogunate, but the way it was handled was harmful for the country’s wealth. Makuzu deals here with the recurring FRQFHUQDERXWFXUUHQF\RXWÀRZDQGGHSHQGHQFHRQIRUHLJQVXJDUDV for instance, Arai Hakuseki had done a century earlier.16 In order to stop foreign trade in both directions, Hakuseki, for instance, suggested starting domestic sugar production in Shikoku, as well as keeping pre14 Some of Arai Hakuseki’s correspondence was compiled by the KudĿ family. Hakuseki shukan Ⓣ▴ᡥ⠾ (Letters by Hakuseki), compiled by KudĿ KyĿkei ᕝ⸠㠚 ༽ (Makuzu’s brother Motosuke), 1799. 15 HK, p. 281; MN 56:1, p. 37. 16 Hakuseki gave primacy to the importance of precious metals. He compared money to the bones of a body. “Gold and silver were the ‘bones of the earth,’ and ‘once removed, they will not grow again’.” This leads Kate Nakai to call Hakuseki’s notions “a philosophy of metallism” (Nakai 1988, p. 97).

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FLRXVPHWDOVIURPÀRZLQJRXWRIWKHFRXQWU\0DNX]XKRZHYHUDUJXHV quite another way. Makuzu is convinced that Japan needs to be involved in international trade, which reminds us of Heisuke’s proposal. While Hakuseki advised VWULFWO\ UHGXFLQJ IRUHLJQ WUDGH SHU VH DQG DLPLQJ IRU VHOIVXI¿FLHQF\ Makuzu opts for bilateral trade and emphasizes that Japan’s commodities need to be re-evaluated within world trade. The case of salt provides Makuzu with an apt example for putting forth her insights: It is a mistake for the Japanese to despise salt because we have more than we need. While salt and sugar are complementary treasures, salt is the more valuable product. This is the rule everywhere in the world, because salt is an indispensable article of daily use, while sugar is a luxury LWHPXVHGLQWHDFDNHV,ISHRSOHUXQRXWRIVDOWLWLVGLI¿FXOWWRHDWHYHQ a single meal. Therefore, in countries without salt, people pay attention to it and it is sold at great value, while in Japan we use it just measuring it out roughly. This is something that people in other countries envy. We ought to develop it as a national product.17

Makuzu’s advice to use salt as a “national product” (kokusan ᅗ⏐)18— despite its low value due to its abundance in Japan, it is a sought-after commodity in other countries—demonstrates her knowledge of conWHPSRUDU\SROLFLHVDVZHOODVKHUGHOLEHUDWLRQVDERXW¿QGLQJDVROXtion for the current trade inequity.19 Since Heisuke was involved in the 17 HK, p. 297; MN 56:2, p. 185. Or see for a similar treatment, “The following Japanese products are known in other countries: gold, silver, copper, iron, crystal, rice, salt, paper, sea-slug, dried sea-slug, and tobacco. There must also be numerous medicines. :KLOHVDOWDQGVXJDUDUHFRPSDUDEOHSURGXFWVVDOWVWDQGV¿UVW6DOWLVLQGLVSHQVDEOH for everyday life. Sugar is used as a medicine and also in teacakes.) Since in other countries the sea is far away, salt is scarce. When we sell salt we measure it by the eye while sugar is weighed precisely. It is wrong to disdain salt just because its abundance in Japan has resulted in a surplus for everyday use and reduced its price” (HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36). 18 The term kokusan, too, is closely related to kokueki thought. See for a recent discussion where kokusan plays a dominant role in the reorganization of the benevolent rule (jinsei ொᨳ) in the Yonezawa domain in the mid-eighteenth century by Koseki YŗichirĿ, “Yonezawa han Meiwa/An’ei kaikaku ni okeru ‘jinsei’-ron no saihenkado,” Rekishi 103 (2004/9), pp. 81-100. 19 Since the early Tokugawa period, not only was salt one of the specialty products (sembai ᑍ኉) of the Sendai domain, it received much attention from other intellectuals as well. See, for instance, Kaiho SeiryĿ, who extensively considered the value of salt as a commodity for a domain (Keiko dan, part 2, translated by Kinski 2000, pp. 102-10). In relation, the interdomanial alliance between salt producers—across ten domains in the Setouchi region which produced 80% of the country’s output—put kokueki thought into practice across domain borders. See, for a discussion, Ochiai KĿ, “19 seiki zenhan, Setouchi enden ni okeru yasumihama shisĿ no tokushitsu,” Nihon keizai shisĿshi kenkyŗ 4 (2004), pp. 19-36.

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investigation of pharmaceutical plants that could serve as export commodities of the domain, Makuzu was well informed about the idea of the exploitation of domestic resources that, for instance, Dazai Shundai treated extensively in Keizairoku ⤊ῥ㘋 (On Political Economy, 1729).20 However, Makuzu expresses her distress about the regional strife that stalls trade: People in the Kyoto-Osaka area do not think about the cost to the KantĿ >(GRDQGHQYLURQV@'RQ¶WZHDOO¿JKWHDFKRWKHUIRUWKHSURVSHULW\RIWKH domain in which we live?21

$VPHQWLRQHGHDUOLHUVHO¿VKQHVVLIXQUHVWUDLQHGOHDGVWRVWULIHDPRQJ LQGLYLGXDOVRUE\H[WHQVLRQD¿JKWRYHULQWHUHVWVEHWZHHQGRPDLQV22 Makuzu, who sees Japan as one nation, is distraught by the domestic rivalries that neglect the larger issue at hand, namely the national economy within world trade.

TO ORDER THE COUNTRY AND SAVE ITS PEOPLE (KEISEI SAIMIN) In addition to the kokueki ideology, Makuzu addresses throughout her treatise the public role of the government in trade, which is a prerequisite for socioeconomic success. Besides the questions of how to deal ZLWKFXUUHQF\WKHLQFUHDVHLQFRPPHUFHWKHÀXFWXDWLRQRISULFHVDQG the growing complexity of the division of labor, intellectuals—among them Makuzu—could not ignore the political ethics of rulers.23 Good government was no longer envisioned as resulting from the ruler’s moral cultivation; instead political economy became the focus as a method RI JRYHUQPHQW 2QH RI WKH ¿UVW LQWHOOHFWXDOV WR GHPDQG JRYHUQPHQW involvement in commerce is Dazai Shundai, who claimed To govern the whole nation under heaven is keizai. It is the virtue of ruling society and relieving the sufferings of the people. Kei is wise 20 Dazai Shundai, Keizairoku, in Dai Nihon shisĿ zenshŗ, ed. Uemura Katsumi, vol. 7 (Tokyo: Dai Nihon ShisĿ Zenshŗ KankĿkai, 1931), pp. 213-83. 21 HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 191. 22 0DNX]XVHHVDVDQRWKHUH[DPSOHRILQWHUGRPDQLDOFRQÀLFWWKHIRUPHUSROLWLFDO warfare between the supporters of the houses of Tokugawa and Toyotomi, which at her time continued as economic warfare: “It is said that Osaka is the place that controls the source of gold and silver and oversees their circulation. No doubt the old habit of warring with KantĿ remains in the hearts of Osaka people: driven by base passion, they HQMR\PDNLQJWKHLURZQUHJLRQÀRXULVKDQGHQULFKLQJWKHPVHOYHVE\H[SORLWLQJSHRSOH from the KantĿ region. Is this not dreadful!” (HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36). 23 For a treatment of the general discussion, see Morris-Suzuki 1989, pp. 7-11.

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statesmanship…. Sai means the virtue of salvation…. It is also the virtue of bringing relief…. Moreover, it may be interpreted as meaning “accomplishment” or “bringing to fruition.” Therefore the term [keizai ⤊ῥ] has many meanings, but the essential point of those meanings is simply this: in short, to manage affairs and to bring these affairs to a successful conclusion.24

Kokueki and keizai appear to have evolved in the eighteenth century as concepts of political economy. But as Luke Roberts points out, scholars might have been “learning from ideas that were becoming prevalent in the world around [them].”25 In fact, kokueki ideology might have given keizai (to order and save people) the foundation for separating morality from commerce.26 In his function as advisor to the rulers, the scholarintellectual makes an effort to accommodate economic reality, or rationalizes, more as an after-product, the legitimacy of the policies. By the time Makuzu was writing at the beginning of the nineteenth century, such concepts were widely disseminated. For this reason, it is not surprising that Makuzu, too, discusses the importance of the involvement of the government in economic affairs in order to bring relief to the populace. In his proposal, Heisuke jusWL¿HV D QHZ IRUP RI SROLWLFDO HFRQRP\ XQGHU DQ HWKLFDO FRQFHSW WKDW stipulated the duty of the government to rule and to order its people with benevolence.27,QWKLVZD\+HLVXNHPRGL¿HVWKHRU\WRHQFRPSDVV existing reality, a path that Makuzu takes as well. When she describes her assessment of market mechanisms, she presents her vision of how to ameliorate the economic misery of the country as a whole. Her goal is an active rule that ensures a safe and secure livelihood for the entire society.28 24 Dazai Shundai, Keizairoku, pp. 227-28. Translation by Morris-Suzuki 1989, pp. 13-14. See also Najita 1972, p. 831. Emphases are mine. 25 Roberts 1998, p. 199. 26 While I am still searching for the origin of the terminology, Dazai Shundai uses it and so do other intellectuals of the early eighteenth century. Nevertheless, the concept that the duty of the ruler is to govern with benevolence is ancient. See, for instance, The Great Learning, Text of Confucius, 4 and 5, Legge 1971, pp. 357-59. See, for a discussion of keisei saimin, Najita 1987 and Michael Kinski, “Talks about Teachings of the Past: Translation of the First Part of Kaiho SeiryĿ’s Keikodan with a Short Introduction,” Japonica Humboldtiana 1 (1997), pp. 115-98, who both, however, do not mention the terminology’s origin. See also Morris-Suzuki 1989. 27 Heisuke does not use the terminology “order the country and save its people” (keisei saimin), yet it is implied, as will become clear from the following. Instead of keizai other terms were used as well, as, for instance, Murata Harumi in his text Wagaku taigai, uses the word keisei chikoku ⤊ୠ෪ᅗ (statecraft to bring relief to one’s country) (Murata Harumi, Wagaku taigai, p. 448; cited by Winkel 2004, p. 37). 28 See also Aizawa Seishisai: “ordering the realm and ruling the people,” cited by

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The practical solution, Makuzu argues, would be the upper class’s active engagement in economic management. Makuzu’s proposal indicates that she attributes to rulers a morality that others lack, even if, as discussed before, she also does not stint in her critique of their VHOILQWHUHVW DQG JUHHG 0DNX]X UHDI¿UPV WKH WUDGLWLRQDO DVVXPSWLRQ that morality is commensurate with status. The members of the upper class are designated as superior men, to indicate that they are morally above the mean. These two overlapping visions of society, divided by virtue on the one hand and by class on the other, which are brought together mostly unquestioned by the upper ranks, can be found not only in Makuzu’s rhetoric. Around Makuzu’s time, Honda Toshiaki argued that the upper class should take control of trade. Donald Keene explains that Toshiaki thought “samurai should assume the functions of the merchants, believing that the innate probity and righteousness of the warrior-class would protect it against falling into the evil ways of tradesmen.”29 Instead of a radical rationalization of social relations, Makuzu has the idealistic notion that upright lords should supervise and direct their people not only legally but also economically. The political order must address the prevailing conditions but within its own framework: rulers must intervene from above, non-competitively; otherwise they might exacerbate the struggle to accumulate cash wealth. The notion of morality links Makuzu’s work intellectually to that of her father. Heisuke’s proposal that, in order to eradicate the private interest of individuals in Ezo, the government needs to control trade with Russia, rests on the moral premise that serving the public interest ought WR EH WKH SULQFLSOH IRU DFKLHYLQJ EHQH¿WV IRU WKH FRXQWU\30 Makuzu, likewise, uses her knowledge of Russia to offer moral instruction in Hitori kangae6KHVKRZVWKDWLQ5XVVLDJRYHUQPHQWRI¿FLDOVDUHQRW Wakabayashi 1986, p. 119. 29 Keene 1969, p. 124. There are, of course, other (merchant) voices who argue that the way of the merchant is virtuous, too, as Najita has shown in his study of the merFKDQWDFDGHP\RI2VDNDEXW0DNX]XLGHQWL¿HVKHUVHOIFOHDUO\ZLWKWKHZDUULRUVVHH Najita 1987). 30 For instance, Heisuke advises the government to rule Ezo with buiku ᧑⫩ (tend with benevolence), as the Russians do in their colonies (Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 289). Heisuke does not explain the term buiku, but Honda Toshiaki does: “the cultivation of a national spirit (kokujĿ ᅗ᝗) to complement the martial strength of the country is called ‘paternalism’ (buiku ᧑⫩).” In Honda Toshiaki, Keisei hisaku ⤊ୠ⛆➿㻃(A Secret Plan of Government, 1798), in NST, ed. Tsukatani Akihiro et al., vol. 44 [Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1970], p. 22). As a matter of fact, the slow but steady integration of Ezo in the nineteenth century into the Tokugawa realm was based theoretically on the concept of buiku. See Walker 2001, pp. 229-35.

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only active in trade, but are so because of their moral uprightness. By analogy then, since the upper classes are morally superior to the lower ranks in Japan, once the warriors start taking control of the country’s commerce, peace and prosperity will be achieved. In order to show that the warriors’ indifference to economic matters is wrong, she recounts the situation in Russia, which she learned from her father: 6LQFH WKRVH ZKR PDQDJH PHUFDQWLOH DIIDLUV DUH DW WKH VDPH WLPH RI¿cials, they want to ensure the welfare of their countrymen and do not FRYHWWKHSUR¿WVRIRWKHUVDQGVHHNWRHQULFKWKHPVHOYHV7KHIDWKHURI the Russian called Adam [Laxman], who sent shipwrecked Japanese all the way back to Ezo, is said to have held a position comparable to that of Japan’s junior councilors (wakarĿjŗ ⱕ⩹୯), and he was also the head of a cabinetry shop and a seller of glass.31 Livestock wholesalers are appointed senior councilors and sake wholesalers are chosen for other SRVWV2I¿FLDOVDUHWKXVWKHKHDGVRIWKLVZKROHVDOHURUWKDWDQGVLQFH they engage in trade as gentlemen (kunshi), prices are appropriate, and the country is not racked by strife. It is their wish, I hear, to enrich the country (kuni o tomasen ᅗࢅᐣࡱࡎࢆ) by engaging in trade.32

With the purpose of convincing the ruling class that commerce is not amoral or below their ethical code, Makuzu stresses the appeal of bringing prosperity to the nation. Makuzu makes ample use of her knowledge of Russia in Hitori kangae. Her selective accounts of Russia display her concern with geopolitical boundaries, but more so with domestic issues. Makuzu uses Russia, as did Heisuke, as a model of an ideal Other, but since almost forty years had passed and Russia as a term was not a novelty anymore, there ZDVQRQHHGWR¿OOWKHWHUPZLWKFRQWHQWDV+HLVXNHKDGGRQH7KHVKLIW in the discourse about Russia from an informative to an informed level is evident, but this is of only secondary importance. More to the point is that father and daughter use Russia in a similar way. Knowledge about “Russia” serves both as a rhetorical tool in their campaign to propose what is best for their own country. Makuzu uses Russia as the Other to which Japan can be compared, either in harsh critique or in praise, depending on her agenda. Sometimes she lashes out to show that RusVLD LV JRYHUQHG PRUH HI¿FLHQWO\ 2Q RWKHU RFFDVLRQV VKH HPSKDVL]HV how fortunate Japan is compared to destitute Russia, reminding us of Norinaga’s rhetoric about China, discussed previously, when Makuzu 31 Adam Laxman’s father was actually a Finnish-born professor of natural science at the St. Petersburg Academy (see Lensen 1959, p. 97). 32 HK, pp. 276-77; MN 56:1, p. 33. For Heisuke’s description, see KudĿ BankĿ monjo, in Daikokuya KĿdayŗ shiryĿshŗ, vol. 2, p. 170.

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maintains, “owing to Japan’s favorable climate in all four seasons, the ¿YHJUDLQVJURZZHOODQGEHFDXVHWKHVHDLVQHDUE\WKHUHLVSOHQW\RI VDOWDQGDYDULHW\RI¿VK6LQFHWKHUHLVQRVKRUWDJHRIIRRGSHRSOHWHQG to spend their lives enjoying singing and dancing.”33 Her readership must concede that they are so much better off than those poor Russians ZKROLYHLQDSODFHZKHUH³7KHUHLVQRZD\WRDSSUHFLDWHWKHÀRZHULQJ trees and grasses, which in any case bloom at most one hundred days out of the year. … In these circumstances gambling is permitted because people have no other amusements.”34

THE IKIOI OF MONEY In order to bring wealth to the country, Makuzu assures the rulers, they ¿UVWPXVWRYHUFRPHWKHLUDYHUVLRQWRPRQH\7RKHUIUXVWUDWLRQLJQRrance about money, a perpetual illness of the warrior class, presents a serious obstacle.35 Makuzu expresses sympathy for those who do not understand the importance of money. Nonetheless, she reprimands those who dismiss it as beneath their dignity.36 She laments the fact that respectable people have no business sense and do not know anything about money; they have never even seen or touched it. Their children DUHWDXJKWWRGHVSLVHWKHKDQGOLQJRISHUVRQDO¿QDQFHV$VDUHVXOWWKH\ are at the giving end of their materialistic society without even realizing it.37 Makuzu’s concern reminds us of the careless ways the KudĿ family dealt with money.38 Her father was an excellent example, although he himself pointed out Murata Harumi’s “special gift” (kakubetsu ᰹ื) for squandering wealth.39 Once, Makuzu remembered, in the early 1770s, merchants from Sendai approached Heisuke to ask for his as33 HK, p. 284; MN 56:2, p. 174. Or see, for instance, “[In Japan] the seasons change VPRRWKO\IURPVSULQJWRVXPPHUWRDXWXPQWRZLQWHUWKH¿YHFHUHDOVULSHQLQDEXQGDQFHDQGEHFDXVH-DSDQLVVXUURXQGHGE\WKHRFHDQWKHUHDUHPDQ\¿VKRIYDULRXV kinds. Because there is plenty to eat, people have a cheerful outlook” (HK, p. 297; MN 56:2, pp. 184-85). 34 HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. 35 We see Makuzu’s irritation even in Mukashibanashi, when she recounts her grandfather KudĿ JĿan’s habit, out of embarrassment probably owing to his samurai heritage, of giving away money rather than loaning it. See chapter 1. 36 HK, pp. 270-71; MN 56:1, pp. 28-30. 37 MB, p. 12. 38 +HLVXNH¶V¿QDQFLDOFDUHOHVVQHVVLVGHPRQVWUDWHGLQ0DNX]X¶VDFFRXQWWKDWKHWROG DQ\RQHZKRFRXOGOLIWWKHWUHDVXUHFKHVW¿OOHGZLWKFXUUHQF\sen’ryĿbako) next to his seat to feel free to take it home (cited by ľtomo 1943, p. 20). 39 MB, p. 113.

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sistance in a currency matter. When they came to his house two years later to show their gratitude in the form of a generous reward, Heisuke was rather uncomfortable. Sensing his reserve, the townspeople left the money on the mat. Right after, Heisuke again felt at ease, shouting, “Let’s spend the money in the theater district.” Even if Heisuke was sometimes embarrassed to accept money, as in the case of the Sendai merchants, he surely knew how to spend it, like the majority of the ruling class.40 Makuzu’s mother, since she grew up overly protected and sheltered, had never managed money. The situation was the same with Makuzu and her siblings.41 For this reason, Makuzu admits in her letter to Bakin, she still did not handle money herself.42 On the one hand, in the letter Makuzu means to stress her family’s samurai stock and thus the reluctance to deal with money directly, while, on the other hand, in Hitori kangae she demonstrates her point that one can still have a thorough knowledge of monetary affairs without imitating the merchant’s habit. In fact, she herself was competent enough to claim “Since the nobles who never touch it know nothing about where money comes from or where it goes, I will provide a brief overview.”43 Makuzu did not mean that warriors should become merchants, but that they ought to manage and supervise monetary transactions from above. But as long as the upper classes were directed to reject the unGHUVWDQGLQJRI¿QDQFLDODIIDLUVZKLFKVKHEODPHGRQWKHLU&RQIXFLDQ education and its doctrine of despising money, others would run the country.44 Based on her own bitter experience, Makuzu opines in Hitori kangae that it is important for the ruling class to pay attention to money and its workings: Money stays with people who respect and appreciate it. … Even among WKHZDUULRUVWKRVHZKRGRQRWFDUHDERXWZKDWWKH\ZHDURUHDWEXW¿QG pleasure solely in seeing their money increase, will accumulate money. As for townspeople who make their way in the world regarding money as their master and enslaving themselves to it, money never ceases to ÀRZLQWRWKHLUKDQGV45

Even though Makuzu speaks derisively of the townspeople, they, as well as some members of the upper class, understand the workings of 40

MB, pp. 74-75. MB, p. 12. 42 Towazugatari, in TMS, pp. 374-75. 43 HK, p. 286; MN 56:2, p. 176. 44 See, under the heading, “Calculating Large Numbers,” HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 193. 45 HK, p. 271; MN 56:1, p. 29. 41

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the money economy, the money’s ikioi (momentum). They are able to JDLQSUR¿WZKLOHRWKHUVIDFHORVV Makuzu’s pejorative language regarding the lower ranks of society is meant to get her audience to side with her, while it enables her to clarify what she means by ignorance of economic conditions among the ruling class in the present time. Makuzu describes in detail some of the monetary forces at work. In her accounts of current socioeconomic conditions, she discusses the connection between “The Flow of Money” (kane no yukue 㔘ࡡࡹࡂ࡫) and “Fluctuation in the Price of Goods” (mono no nedan no tadayou koto ∸ࡡ├ṹࡡࡒ࢏ࡻࡨ஥),46 which can be witnessed in particular after calamities: :KHQWKHJUHDW(GR¿UHEURNHRXWLQWKHVSULQJRI,ZDVWHQ\HDUV ROG,¿UVWKHDUGDERXWSULFHVZKHQWKH\DOOGRXEOHGLQLWVDIWHUPDWK« $IWHUKDYLQJVXIIHUHGWKH¿UHKRZSDLQIXOSHRSOHPXVW¿QGLWWRKDYH prices go up as well. … I have never ceased to wonder why prices should JRXSDIWHUD¿UH(YHQZKHQ,JUHZROGHU,IRXQGLWH[FHHGLQJO\VWUDQJH that prices should be as unstable as an unmoored boat, and I have lamented this situation from the bottom of my heart.47

The increase in prices is especially high after natural disasters, as Makuzu recalls from her own experience, and she blames this on the merchants.48 She does so in order to strengthen her argument that the upper classes need to consider economic issues. The townspeople know WKHG\QDPLFVRIWKHÀXFWXDWLRQVWKH\NQRZWKHFLUFXODWLRQRIPRQH\ and so they know how to intervene, because they know the rhythm.49 Makuzu’s attack against the merchants drew strong disapproval from %DNLQ6KHFRQWHQGHGWKDWPHUFKDQWVSUR¿WHGIURPWKHÀXFWXDWLRQVRI the markets and that the lords were increasingly dependent on them for exchange transactions and loans on future rice stipends. Bakin could not ignore this cliché without rebutting it in detail, in particular when Makuzu maintains, “things happen the way they do because the greedy and cruel townspeople do just as they please, ignoring the misery of others and taking pleasure only in their own gain.”50 He argued back in DokkĿron that while many, Makuzu included, thought it an evil act by WKHPHUFKDQWVDQGDUWLVDQVWRREWDLQPRUHSUR¿WRQHVKRXOGQRWIRUJHW 46

HK, p. 286; MN 56:2, p. 176, and HK, p. 288; MN 56:2, p. 177 respectively. HK, p. 289; MN 56:2, p. 178. 48 For instance, Makuzu’s rhetorical question “Isn’t it because the townspeople are free to raise prices as they please that the warriors are pressed in this way?” (HK, p. 277; MN 56:1, p. 34). 49 See also MB, p. 92. 50 HK, pp. 289-90; MN 56:2, pp. 178-79. 47

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that the merchants depend on consumer behavior.51 Moreover, Bakin counters, townspeople do not see the warriors as their enemy, since they are in the “shade” (kage ⶩ) of the warriors and are reliant on them.52 Indeed, townspeople succeed and fail due to the warriors. If the market price of rice sinks, the stipend of the warrior has less exchange YDOXHDQGWKH\DVZHOODVWKHWRZQVSHRSOHVXIIHU¿QDQFLDOORVVHV%Dkin defends them, saying that when the warrior has seven parts, the merchant and peasant together have three. This distribution is their sole economic power, which is not enough to feed a family.53 Makuzu, however, argues that whereas it is not easy for the lower classes to rely on their own abilities to raise their earnings, the samurai class is yet more vulnerable due to reliance on their stipends: Instead it is left up to the townspeople, so prices rise and goods decline LQTXDOLW\6LQFHWKHLQFRPHIURPZDUULRUV¶KROGLQJVLV¿[HGWKH\DUH open to attack and seizure by townspeople. Warriors don’t even have the PHDQVWRUHWXUQ¿UHLQWKLVEDWWOH7KLVLVWUXO\VWXSLG54

Bakin, who lived among merchants and who was familiar with current economic conditions and displayed his knowledge exhaustively, was certainly not the audience Makuzu had in mind.55 Makuzu means to reform the upper class and to make its members aware of their benightedness. Therefore, she argues that merchants are able through open FRPSHWLWLRQ WR EHQH¿W IURP WKH PRQH\ HFRQRP\ :DUULRUV RZLQJ WR WKHLUVWLSHQGVGRQRWKDYHWKHVDPHHFRQRPLFÀH[LELOLW\WKH\DUHIRVsils of an outdated, land-based economy. Bakin holds a more balanced stance than Makuzu’s in her polemic assault, but then again, DokkĿron is not meant to propose economic reforms as is Hitori kangae. Even so, not only their objectives, but also their economic thought is divergent. Bakin appears to be a supporter of the antiquated economy promoted by thinkers such as Kumazawa %DQ]DQ %DNLQ EODPHV WKH PLVHUDEOH ¿VFDO FRQGLWLRQV RQ WKH QDWXUDO momentum (shizen no ikioi ⮤↓ࡡເࡥ) of a money-based economy, a term he may have borrowed from the merchant astronomer Nishikawa 51

DK, p. 341. DK, p. 341-42. 53 DK, p. 347. 54 HK, pp. 280-81; MN 56:1, p. 36. 55 %DNLQNQRZVERWKVWDWXVJURXSV¿UVWKDQGDQGGLYLGHVWKHPQRWE\VWDWXVEXWE\ their profession: “I was born into a warrior house but later went into hiding in the city so I know well the feelings of the bureaucrats (shikan ௘ᏻ) as those of the merchants (shĿnin ၛெ)” (DK, p. 341). 52

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Joken けᕖዯず (1648–1724).56 Bakin argues that in earlier times, when there was only a little currency, rice had a high valuation so everybody would pray for a good harvest. Today, given that money is the only object of worth, warriors and peasants complain about a good harvest, since too much rice decreases its price on the market. However, in their shortsightedness they forget that a bad yield will leave everyone hungry.57 Bakin’s suggestion is to contravene this ikioi of money by attacking its root, in other words, to stop spending money.58 This notion of frugality, based on the idea that once there is less demand for currency, the monetary economy will revert by itself to a land-based economy, LVFORVHWRZKDW%DQ]DQHQYLVLRQHG)RU%DNLQSHRSOH¶V¿JKWRYHUODQG RUWKHLURZQSUR¿WLVPRWLYDWHGE\JUHHG7KHUHIRUHLIYLUWXH²EHQHYROHQFHDQGULJKWHRXVQHVV²UHLJQVHYHU\RQHZRXOGKDYHDVKDUHLQSUR¿W the warrior by means of taxes, the peasant by means of his productivity, the merchant by means of money transactions. They all need to survive and this way their livelihood would be secured. Bakin looks back nostalgically to the time before money became the medium of exchange, a time, however, that he had certainly never experienced either.59 This antiquarian or utopian ideal of a rural economy is in stark contrast to what Makuzu proposes. Both she and Bakin see that the prices of commodities follow a natural behavior (ikioi).60 But while Bakin argues for implementing morality and hence frugality, Makuzu acknowledges that money’s increasing importance cannot be altered or circumvented. Makuzu, akin to Bakin, establishes that money is its own master.61 But while Bakin is convinced that it could be abolished, Makuzu regards money as the epitome of the pulse of the time. People who understand WKHPHFKDQLFVRIWKHÀRZDQGFLUFXODWLRQRIPRQH\²LWVUK\WKP²FDQ use their knowledge for their own advancement, but working against 56 DK, p. 337. Nishikawa Joken’s use of shizen no ikioi is to argue that wealth is not static, similar to what Bakin maintains in the following. For Joken, see Najita 1987, pp. 49-51. See also Dazai Shundai, who also utilized this concept of the natural momentum (Najita 1972, p. 836). 57 DK, p. 337. 58 DK, p. 339. 59 DK, p. 324. 60 DK, p. 337. 61 See for instance, when Bakin claims: “Money has no permanent (sadamareru ᏽ ࡿࡾ) master. It is borrowed or lent, taken or given; it is like a spring, when water does QRWÀRZLQIURPWKHVHDLWEHFRPHVDVWRQHGHVHUW«7KDWLVZK\WKHWRZQVSHRSOH become wealthy depending on the warrior house, and weak depending on the warrior house. This is what I mean when I said that money has no permanent master” (DK, p. 323).

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WKHUK\WKPOHDGVWRKDUP%\REVHUYLQJWKHPRQH\ÀRZZKLFKJRHV back to Makuzu’s notion of the rhythm, one succeeds in the struggle for superiority. When money is kept as a treasure it loses its value; only in its circulation is money valuable. Hoarding of money might be GHVLUDEOHEXWDVVKHH[SODLQVPRQH\QHHGVWRÀRZ³7KHZD\PRQH\ circulates is like a waterfall. It falls rapidly down to the bottom, only WREHJDWKHUHGWRJHWKHUDQGÀRZEDFNXSDJDLQ´62 Merchants know this and are proactive, but the ruling class still needs to learn this.

THE LORD WHO K NOWS ARITHMETIC Since Makuzu’s goal is to call for more active control of the government over trade, her suggestion appears to imply that the lord should be a mercantilist ruler, particularly when she suggests, “The rise and fall of commodity prices, being an important public matter, should be handled by the government.”63 What is called for, just as in Russia, is intervention from the ruler: Having come to the realization that instability in prices is caused by strife over money, I will leave aside the weighty issue of bakufu (Ŀyake ප) policy. One who is lord of a province or several districts should at least try to regulate the price of goods in his own domain. If he were to H[HUWKLVDXWKRULW\DVORUGVKRXOGDJUHDW¿UHEUHDNRXWDVDVSHFLDODFW of grace he could order prices lowered a notch.64

This section represents Makuzu’s rhetorical technique well. Makuzu is apprehensive about directly discussing shogunal policies and instead gives advice to the lords of the domains, for whom she had worked in 62 HK, p. 287; MN 56:2, p. 177. In ChĿnin bukuro, 1719, Nishikawa Joken calls it the “way of nature,” cited by Kuriyama Shigehisa, “Fukushin: Some Observations on Economic Development and the Imagination of the Body in Japanese Medicine of the Edo Period,” paper given at the International Symposium “Two Faces of the Early Modern World: The Netherlands and Japan in the 17th and 18th Century” (Netherlands, 1999), p. 54. Kuriyama shows the “equation of the anatomical and social bodies ZDV WKH SDUDOOHO EHWZHHQ WKH ÀRZ RI YLWDOLW\ DQG WKH ÀRZ RI PRQH\´ S :KLOH Makuzu linked the circulation of money to the rhythm, other intellectuals compared the circulation of currency with the physical body. Makuzu’s contemporary, Yamagata BantĿIRUH[DPSOHFRPSDUHVWKLVÀRZZLWKEORRGWKDWQHHGVWRFLUFXODWHWREHDOLYH and healthy. From this viewpoint the accumulation of money is repressive. See BantĿ in Yume no shiro (cited by Nakamasa Masaki, “Jŗhasseiki matsu no ‘shizenshi’ teki ninshiki,” in Edo no shisĿ 7 [1997], p. 212). Or see Dazai Shundai, who likens the sage to a physician and the political system to the patient (Najita 1972, pp. 835-36). 63 HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36. 64 HK, p. 289; MN 56:2, p. 178.

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the inner quarters. Yet her advice is certainly geared to the shogunate, since market regulations in the hands only of the central ruler would, according to her contentions, lead to peace and order throughout the entire realm. Her appeal is for the authorities to intervene, to rule. In order to do so, the rulers need to be equipped with the necessary skills. First, they need to learn what every merchant knows, namely, their numbers: I wish [noble people] would calculate matters more rigorously. Mental arithmetic is something that can be done by people who have plenty of time.65

The soroban calculations of the merchants cannot remain their exclusive intellectual property. They have to be understood by the rulers, too, so that the mysteries of trade and money circulation can be grasped. Makuzu does not hesitate to suggest that the upper class has abundant spare time to devote to mastering the necessary skills. The second piece of advice Makuzu gives is to apply numbers to time. Makuzu again makes use of her knowledge of foreign countries: The reason foreigners carry watches in their hands is so they will not forget the ticking of time. This is how people should behave. There are no other people as bad at counting as our country’s people. Is it not because of this that even though knowledgeable people might think themselves smart, their thoughts are not well organized?66

Time should be observed not only to comprehend the universe and the pulse of the time, as discussed earlier, but should also be used in daily activities. Knowing numbers and using them for measuring time will KHOSSHRSOHWREHPRUHV\VWHPDWLFDQGWKXVPRUHHI¿FLHQWLQSURGXFLQJ SUR¿W67 Aware that glorifying other countries for practices that are superior to the way things are handled in Japan may not be well received by her DXGLHQFH 0DNX]X FRQ¿UPV WKDW LQ -DSDQ WRR RQH FDQ DFWXDOO\ ¿QG practitioners of the art of calculation.68 Makuzu reports: 65

HK, p. 304; MN 56:2, p. 192. HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 193. 67 Many scholars have discussed the issue of time. For instance, as Najita explains, Nishikawa Joken proposed in his treatise for merchants that knowledge of time is a privilege of the ruling class but should be comprehended and applied by all the classes. Makuzu, writing one hundred years later and for a different audience, observes in contrast that the lower ranks already know time, while the rulers do not. Both use the same rhetorical stratagem to enforce their agenda, namely that knowledge leads to (economic) power. 68 Bakin, for instance, criticizes Makuzu for referring enviously to foreign ways. 66

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I have heard that in Osaka there are some thirty people who devote themselves to calculating the imports and exports of the various domains. … Their business involves investigating goods shipped into or out of the SRUWWKH\VHFUHWO\¿QGRXWZKDWVXUSOXVHVLQH[SRUWVRULPSRUWVWKHUH DUHIRUDVSHFL¿F\HDUDQGWKHUHE\DVFHUWDLQLQJHDFKGRPDLQ¶VSUR¿WDQG loss. In this way, they know everything there is to know about a domain. For that reason, the calculations performed in Osaka are rigorous. This is the way things should be done in every domain.69

Makuzu’s use of both examples, drawn from foreign countries and from Osaka—but not from Edo, the seat of the shogunate—emphasizes her position. The notion that trade can be assessed shows that there is indeed a method for predicting the ikioi of economic exchanges; it is not dependent on the secrets of the diviner.70 Her call to the warriors to use numbers and to do calculations is reminiscent of Kaiho SeiryĿ’s account of an occasion where the inability to use arithmetic OHGWRKLJK¿QDQFLDOORVVHVWRWKH6HQGDLGRPDLQ'XHWRWKHODFNRI this skill—SeiryĿ stated dryly that Sendai “is a place knowing little of arithmetic”71—the Osaka merchant Masuya ༓ᒁ, Yamagata BantĿ’s VWRUHKDGUHDSHGDSUR¿WIURP0DNX]X¶VGRPDLQRIDERXWryĿ per year since the early 1790s.72 Using arithmetic, concrete measures could now be implemented. In practical terms, one ought to focus on time in one’s life and work, in other words one ought to rationalize to enhance production.73 For instance, when one applies numbers to the streets, there are various ways, 0DNX]XUHFRPPHQGVRIEHLQJPRUHHI¿FLHQW What if we were to hire servants on the road by the hour, turn palanquin “Even without a pocket-watch, in Edo and in most of the larger cities the temple bells announce the time, so that hardly anyone forgets and thinks of the morning as noon and the noon as evening. To put dexterity into worthless instruments that are only toys, is a regrettable way of foreign countries and should not be envied” (DK, p. 367). 69 HK, pp. 306-07; MN 56:2, p. 193. It is not clear to whom she refers, but under 7DQXPD¶VUHLJQWKHUHZHUHVRPHRI¿FLDOVLQ2VDNDZKRRYHUVDZWKHDFWLYLWLHVRIWKH ULFHPDUNHWLQRUGHUWRUHJXODWHWKHÀRZRIJRRGVIURP2VDNDWR(GR7KHRI¿FHZDV abolished with Tanuma’s fall (see Tsuji 1991, p. 463). 70 Nishikawa Joken had earlier theorized this (Najita 1987, p. 56). See also Kuriyama, who discusses numbers with regard to dissection, and the contrast of the unNQRZDEOHLPPHQVLW\RIWKHXQLYHUVHWRWKH¿QLWHPHDVXUDEOHERG\+HDUJXHVWKDWIRU physicians of the late Tokugawa period, anatomy was a cosmic inquiry for discovering the numbers of the body (not its form or function). He compares this to the astronomer who discovered great numbers to understand the heavenly regularities, the secrets of the diviner (Kuriyama 1999, p. 57). 71 Kaiho SeiryĿ, Keikodan, Part II, translation by Kinski 2000, p. 84. 72 Kaiho SeiryĿ, Keikodan, Part II, translation by Kinski 2000, p. 78. 73 HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 193.

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bearers into our hirelings, have a boss supervise the others, specify how much they would be paid if they got to the next post town by a certain time, and pay the bearers a bonus when they arrive early, or subtract a portion from their wages when they arrive late?74

Payment should be based on time to ensure productivity and to regain the upper hand in the service structure, which would simultaneously DFKLHYHKLJKHUHI¿FLHQF\0DNX]XGRHVQRWVXJJHVWJRLQJEDFNWRDQ idealized former time, when relations between the classes and ranks were thought to be sincere and personal and based on heredity instead RIGHULYLQJIURPFRQVLGHUDWLRQVRISUR¿WDQGORVV

KOKUEKI BY MEANS OF K NOWLEDGE After Makuzu outlined how the rhythm should be applied to ameliorate the miserable conditions in society, she also offered a vision of who was most capable of instituting and overseeing those reforms. Even if she intends that the rulers should know arithmetic in order to understand the money-driven economy, they still would need advice for new directives. Since scholars were commonly the advisors to the rulHUV0DNX]XWRRVDZWKHLUUROHDVFUXFLDOIRUDFKLHYLQJDEHQH¿FLDO outcome for all parts of society. Throughout her treatise, however, the low esteem she had for contemporary scholarship is evident.75 While Makuzu appears to excuse the lords to some extent for their ignorance, maybe again—as in the case of the shogunate—out of propriety, she vehemently criticizes their advisors. She summarizes her view in a letter to Bakin: 7KXVODWHO\,¿QGWKHZD\WKDWPHQRINQRZOHGJHchi aru hito ᬓ᭯ெ) serve as a whole as troubling. I have come to understand why they wish GHHSLQVLGHWRÀHHWKHVFHQH76

Scholars, or “men of knowledge,” instead of taking their responsibility seriously, avoid giving counsel to their lords because they are at a loss. Makuzu wrote after the Kansei Reforms, and although she pays tribute to the progression from the era of the “ignorant” Tanuma to her times, when even lower people aspire to knowledge, she does not assess her 74

HK, p. 301; MN 56:2, pp. 188-89. Or: “Would that there were ways to give travelers control over time to enable them to put porters to work” (HK, p. 300; MN 56:2, p. 188). 75 See, for instance, HK, p. 269, or p. 280. 76 Towazugatari, in TMS, p. 377.

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intellectual environment positively.77 To the contrary, apparently she disagrees with recent developments on many fronts. 0DNX]X ¿QGV WKDW JUHDWHU VXSSRUW IRU HGXFDWLRQ OHDGV WR WKH GLVsemination of the wrong teachings, namely Confucianism.78 The rise of scholarship that is steeped in gakumon (academics) of the Chinese Classics is not what society calls for, in Makuzu’s view.79 She refers to the common metaphor of frogs in a well: Scholars in general disregard the number of days and nights and do not cling to the rhythm of heaven and earth. … As for half-baked scholars, their thinking is full of errors; the more they gather together, the more they argue without producing wisdom. This is the general situation among scholars. In what way do they differ from frogs?80

The tenor is clear: these scholars miss the rhythm of their time and place. Instead, she hopes for “an enlightened scholar” to “appear to straighten out and renew things down to the last minute matter.”81 The theme that the mind should be liberated instead of holding onto Confucian teachings recurs throughout Makuzu’s treatise.82 She thinks all scholars should aspire to enlightenment:83 Scholars should not be the only ones to rely solely on books. They should discipline their minds so that they may know the rhythm by which they PD\ÀRDW>DERYHWKHHDUWK@:KHQWKH\GLVFLSOLQHWKHPVHOYHVHYHQWKH spirits of lowly people leave the earth. Scholars, awaken yourselves to such things!

Liberation takes place only when the pulse of the time is observed. Thus the lower strata of society, such as actors and gamblers, are experts (tĿrimono ࡛࡮ࡽࡵࡡ) who are better equipped to nurture innovative ideas due to their lack of an education that incarcerates the mind.84 77

See, for instance, MB, p. 127. Or HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36. HK, p. 268; MN 56:1, p. 26. 79 See, for instance, “Holding Chinese learning alone to be true learning, [scholars] have lost their way and have failed to understand the pulse peculiar to the people of our own country. They look down on those who do not read Chinese works as dunces, but in trying to push things ahead by forcibly imposing Chinese learning, they fail to match the rhythm of heaven and earth, and ultimately they are pushed down by such dunces” (HK, p. 269; MN 56:1, p. 27). 80 HK, p. 295; MN 56:2, p. 183. The proverb derives from Baen 㤷ᥴ (14 B.C.E.– 49); cited also by Bakin, DK, p. 361. 81 HK, p. 301; MN 56:2, p. 189. 82 HK, pp. 299-300; MN 56:2, pp. 187-88. 83 ³,WZRXOGEHQH¿WWKHFRXQWU\ZHUHWKHUHVFKRODUVZKRVHVSLULWVDUHOLEHUDWHG´+. p. 291; MN 56:2, p. 180). 84 HK, p. 299; MN 56:2, p. 187. See also, “Envying foreign ways is not as strange as it seems. Even in our country, there are some things that are oriented towards expand78

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Makuzu envisioned a public forum in which all ranks would be allowed to participate and to exchange ideas. Scholars, she argues, should come together instead of wasting time on unnecessary décor and ritual, since “even small insects glow like a torch” “when they gather in great numbers.”85 As Makuzu elaborates, Since the practice of conducting elaborate ceremonies at the [Confucian] halls is already established, wouldn’t it be good to invite to them knowledgeable persons who lament the expense to the country? There they can pursue rigorous thinking in accord with the rhythm of heaven and earth. Would that people would gather in this way in all the domanLDOZRUVKLSKDOOVDQGOHDYLQJDVLGHVHO¿VKLQFOLQDWLRQVWKLQNWRJHWKHULQ accord with the number of days and nights and the rhythm of heaven and HDUWKDERXWZKDWZLOOEHRIEHQH¿WWRWKHFRXQWU\RI-DSDQ86

In Makuzu’s view, the Confucian halls (seidĿ ⪯ᇸ), which were one of the consequences of the Kansei reforms, are a great waste of effort DQGPRQH\XQOHVVWKH\FRXOGEHXVHGWREHQH¿WWKHFRXQWU\E\JDWKHUing people from all ranks of society for debates.87 Even better, people should submit their ideas to the lord in order to ensure an exchange of new approaches and solutions.88 The tasks of the rulers, who formerly were the curators of knowledge, can be performed by the ruled. Those who have insight ought to become active; otherwise, Makuzu worries, great ideas might vanish with time.89 Heisuke is proof that there are some outstanding people in the lower ranks. Makuzu portrays her father as a man who had the capacity to ing upon excellent inventions rather than discarding them. The kabuki theater is such a thing…. The head of the IkkĿ sect thoroughly understood the course of gold and silver and found ways to make these return of their own accord. Taking these two examples as our guide, if our countrymen would put their minds to developing superior ways of doing things, why should they not succeed?” (HK, p. 277; MN 56:1, p. 33). 85 HK, p. 293; MN, 56:2, p. 182. 86 HK, p. 293; MN, 56:2, pp. 181-82. 87 For these halls, which were usually adjacent to bakufu or domain schools, see Ooms 1975, in particular p. 138. 88 See Luke Roberts, who mentions the installation of suggestion boxes in various parts of Japan, starting with the Edo castle (Roberts 1998). Makuzu seems not to have been aware of this practice. 89 See, for instance, “Even though people come to certain realizations, explaining them to those who are not of the same mind would only result in useless argument, so in many cases they keep their ideas within them, where they decay into nothing. Each person should present his or her ideas to the authorities. If inspired people who think WKLQJVWKURXJKDUHEURXJKWWRJHWKHUVRWKDWWKHFROOHFWHGZLVGRPRIPLOOLRQVEHQH¿WV WKHFRXQWU\WKHVSLULWVRIWKHORZHURUGHUVZKREDWWOHRYHUPRQH\ZLOODOVREHSDFL¿HG and brought under control. If public authorities implement rigorous measures, the lower orders of society will follow in droves” (HK, p. 294; MN 56:2, p. 182; or see HK, p. 282).

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advise, but whose legacy is about to be forgotten. Makuzu emphasizes in particular Heisuke’s approach of selection depending on time and place, and advocates this type of scholarship as essential in order to implement desperately needed economic reforms.90 Most important is her father’s appeal that the country be seen as a whole. In order to do so, one needs to apply contemporary knowledge, such as that about Japan’s place in the world, as her father did.91 Her father, who would often lament “that our people don’t know our country in its entirety, and that they are wise in small matters but stupid about big ones,”92 inspired Makuzu’s sharp critique of conservative academics in Hitori kangae. Even if Makuzu appears to advocate some social equality for advisors, she maintains that lowly people —the mean—cannot be taken as PRGHOV0DNX]XDUJXHVWKDWNQRZOHGJHFDQRQO\EHRIEHQH¿WWRRWKHUV ZKHQLWLVEDVHGRQXSULJKWQHVVDVLQWKHFDVHRIWKHRI¿FLDOVLQ5XVsia. Makuzu shows, with the examples of actors whose inventions are a result of their “desire to make money,” and the successful entrepreneur Kawamura Zuiken ᕖᮟ㝮㌲ (1617–99), who came up with many useful devices but in the end “sought his own prosperity,” that base people lack morality.93 Morality, encapsulated in her appeal “Make uprightness (shĿjiki ḿ├) the foundation,”94 has to be the ethical principle JXLGLQJ SUR¿W95 Her father, a man of great wisdom, was the type of scholar who, by observing time and place, found new knowledge that EHQH¿WHGRWKHUV0DNX]X¶VWH[WVKRZVKHUGHHSGLVDSSRLQWPHQWWKDWKLV approach to knowledge was and still is ignored.96 90 Makuzu depicts Heisuke’s intellectual ability (sai ᡧ) as two trees, put side by side. Heisuke’s superior mind is likened to the tree that has at the bottom of its trunk no thick roots or branches that would prevent its growing high and tall. The other tree, the mind of an ordinary person (bonjin ฉெ), because of its many roots in the ground and low branches, does not have the strength to grow high. The mind of an ordinary person is from the beginning prevented from expanding because too many things from the past keep him grounded, while, in contrast, the superior mind, by constantly accumulating new things by selection, can grow high and wide (MB, p. 63). Makuzu refers here to her father versus her uncle Kuwabara Jun. 91 MB, p. 110. 92 HK, p. 280; MN, 56:1, p. 36. 93 HK, pp. 277-78; MN 56:1, p. 34. See also HK, p. 280; MN 56:1, p. 36. 94 HK, p. 306; MN 56:2, p. 192. Makuzu refers here to what can be found in medieval and early modern Shinto writings (see Mark Teeuwen, Watarai ShintĿ: An Intellectual History of the Outer Shrine in Ise [Leiden: CNWS, 1996], particularly pp. 99-101). 95 :HDOVR¿QG0DNX]X¶VEHOLHILQXSULJKWQHVVLQKirishitan kĿ, “Japan is an upright country” (shĿjiki koku ḿ├ᅗ) (Kirishitan kĿ, in TMS, p. 390). 96 Confucian teachings, in addition to other defects, with their emphasis on rites and ceremonies lack this sincerity. The reason there is “nothing that serves as the core of the scholar’s heart” is the Confucian concept of propriety (rei ♡) (HK, p. 296; MN

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MAKUZU’S VISION Makuzu had a clear grasp of the two coexisting yet opposing economic systems of her time. One that stemmed from an agricultural economy aimed at a static, ideal condition in which the upper class lived on a ¿[HGLQFRPHIURPWKHODQGWKDWZDVSORZHGE\WKHSHDVDQWVZKRLQ turn received their share. The other system was based on a competitive market economy, which had its own rules of hierarchical order based on material wealth and not on social status. These were opposing systems, neither of which could produce an outcome from which the entire VRFLHW\EHQH¿WHG%\WKHWLPHWKDW0DNX]XZDVZULWLQJKHUWUHDWLVH the agricultural economy had its remnants only in the stipends of the samurai, whereas the money economy had become a practical reality of everyday life. Makuzu exposes the reliance of the upper ranks on this DQDFKURQLVWLFHFRQRPLFV\VWHPZKHQVKHFRPSDUHVWKH¿JKWRYHUODQG EHLQJWUDQVIRUPHGLQWRD¿JKWRYHUPRQH\97 Or she likens the lord, who is not accustomed to this new economic mode, to the Ezo ⼆ኻ (Ainu), who don’t have the intellectual wherewithal to know their numbers and are therefore paying more tribute than agreed upon.98 Makuzu and Bakin are both fully aware of the fact that the two economic systems were colliding, but each of them proposes a different solution.99 Makuzu does not share the nostalgic notion of “revering grain and despising money” that sees the cause of the current desolate conditions in the separation of the samurai from the land. Instead, she argues that the submission to a money economy by all parts of society ZRXOGSURFXUHEHQH¿WVIRUDOO0DNX]X¶VFRQFRUGZLWKRWKHULQWHOOHFWXDOVWKDWUHIRUPVVKRXOGQRWEHIRUWKHSUR¿WRIDIHZLVEDVHGRQWKH ideology of kokueki and keisei saimin. To Makuzu, mercantilism offers the best solution. It would accommodate the entire society by controlling the lower ranks, who were immersed in strife over money. Makuzu

S 6HHDOVR³7RWU\WR¿WRQH¶VEHKDYLRUWRWKHSUHVFULSWLRQVRISURSULHW\LQ WKH&KLQHVHIDVKLRQZLOOEHRIQRXVHWRRXUFRXQWU\«>7KHVHVFKRODUV@GH¿QHIRUPDO obsequies and false modesty to be propriety” (HK, p. 296; MN 56:2, p. 184). 97 HK, p. 270; MN 56:1, p. 28. 98 HK, p. 274; MN 56:1, p. 31. 99 It is important to emphasize that different proposals are not born out of different times alone. It is not a linear progression from the thoughts of Kumazawa Banzan to Arai Hakuseki to Ogyŗ Sorai and Dazai Shundai, and then Kaiho SeiryĿ. For example, Aizawa Seishisai advocated in his Shinron, as late as 1825, an economy based on agriFXOWXUDOVHOIVXI¿FLHQF\:DNDED\DVKLS

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produces in her treatise a vision of the nation, “Japan,” an idea that necessitated change in the political order. Makuzu envisions for her country a leadership that is built upon knowledge, human agency, and morality. As a model for this type of authority, Makuzu presents Russian statecraft. Members of Heisuke’s network had observed earlier that Western sovereignty provides a model that could be utilized for domestic, political means. For instance, Heisuke’s friend Maeno RyĿtaku refers to the Dutch, or Honda Toshiaki to Rome, while Heisuke describes the importance of a strong government as it can be witnessed in the supremacy of Russia. Even when their examples differ, importantly, the political and social function of religion as understood by foreign powers is the thrust of their discussions.100 Heisuke explains with admiration how the Russian czar was venerated like a god (butsujin శ♼) and thus his people called him “Peter the Great” (r. 1682–1725).101 It was in the name of the czar that Russians conquered country after country. His people would call him the “Father of the Country,” and in her succession speech, his widow Catherine I (r. 1725–27), Heisuke quotes, would tell her people, “The father of the people might have died, but the mother is still alive.”102 The Russian czar as a lord and father offered Heisuke a model for a strong paternalist government that would bring prosperity to the country just as to the Russians, who had become successful world traders.103 Makuzu, too, refers to the potential of the unity of political and spiritual leadership. She argues likewise, “the czar is like the head of the IkkĿ sect.… I hear that the Russian people wish to offer gifts to the czar.”104 She uses the comparison with the power of the IkkĿ sect ୌྡྷ 100 Maeno RyĿtaku, Kanrei higen ⟮⽹⛆ゕ (Secret Comments on Narrow-mindedness, 1777), in YĿgaku, ed. Numata 1976, vol. 1, pp. 147-48. RyĿtaku pointed to the DGYDQWDJH RI XQLW\ RI JRYHUQPHQW DQG UHOLJLRQ DQG SUDLVHG WKH VXFFHVV RI VWDWH RI¿cials in Europe invested with spiritual authority in ruling the country. See also Honda Toshiaki, who refers to Rome: “the benevolent and merciful system of the Emperor of Rome should naturally be introduced,” or that the “true method of government” could be learned from the Westerners (Honda Toshiaki, Seiiki monogatari けᇡ∸ㄊ [Tales of the West, 1798], translated by Keene 1969, pp. 212-13). 101 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 292. 102 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ, SHS, p. 293. 103 Being respected by the populace as a lord and father, the “father of the country” EULQJVWRJHWKHULQRQHDQGWKHVDPHSHUVRQWZRRIWHQFRQÀLFWLQJYLUWXHVQDPHO\OR\DOW\ DQG¿OLDOSLHW\ZKLFKVKRXOGLQWKHRU\SUHYHQWPRUDOWHQVLRQVWKDWDUHRIWHQWKHFDXVHRI VWULIHLQWKHFDVHRI&KLQDRU-DSDQ7KDWWKLVUROHFRXOGDOVREH¿OOHGEHDZRPDQPXVW have pleased Makuzu, who demands that women ought to be allowed to be ambitious, just like men (HK, p. 273; MN 56:1, p. 30). 104 HK, p. 276; MN 56:1, p. 32.

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ᏺ (True Pure Land) at the end of the sixteenth century to emphasize the willingness of the people to revere the czar and to give him voluntary offerings, not forced taxes.105 0DNX]X¶VDQG+HLVXNH¶VUHIHUHQFHVWRWKH5XVVLDQF]DUDUHVLJQL¿cant. To identify the head of the state as the head of the church implies that in Japan, too, the rulers could be elevated to that role, which would unite its people, who would in return voluntarily support their UXOHU 0DNX]X ¿QGV LQ UHOLJLRXV LQVWLWXWLRQV WKHPVHOYHV RQH UHDVRQ that Tokugawa Japan was far from being such a strong state. In Russia “although there are various institutions resembling Buddhist temples where corpses are buried, as there is only one religion, there is no strife.”106 How different the situation was in Makuzu’s time. From her own experience she knew that instead of unity, there were disputes among the various sects, and the government had no interest in solving their problems. In her view this separation of political and religious spheres caused many of society’s current problems.107 This certainly 105 Makuzu’s comparison goes even further, not only politically, but also economically: “The head of the IkkĿ sect thoroughly understood the course of gold and silver and found ways to make these return of their own accord.” In Makuzu’s view, when the ruler controls the money economy, and not only currency as the shogunate typically GLGWKHUK\WKPLVREVHUYHGDQGKXPDQQDWXUHFDQEHFKDQQHOHGWREHQH¿WHYHU\RQH (HK, p. 277; MN 56:1, p. 33; also footnotes 13 and 15). While Makuzu may imply a critique against the religious group, it is now Bakin’s turn to be openly sarcastic when he remarks that Shinran の㮥 (1173–1262), the founder of the sect, was indeed successful in extracting money from believers (DK, p. 331). Makuzu acknowledges that the JRYHUQPHQWKDVLQWHUYHQHGWRFKDQJHWKHÀXFWXDWLRQVRIFXUUHQF\EXWZLWKRXWVXFFHVV EHFDXVHWKHRI¿FLDOVGRQRWXQGHUVWDQGHFRQRPLFDIIDLUVDVIRULQVWDQFHLQWKHFDVHRI minting new currency: “Concerning the recent appearance of the four-mon copper coin and the nanryĿ silver coin, it is indeed deplorable that no one has noticed how every time new currency is issued, the price of everything goes up, raising the status of the townspeople and reducing the wealth of the warrior houses” (HK, p. 288; MN 56:2, pp. 177-78). Yamagata BantĿWRRFULWLFL]HVWKHVKRJXQDWH¶V¿VFDOSROLFLHVLQ1DMLWD 1987, pp. 265-66. About Tanuma’s reforms, see Ooms 1975, p. 88, and Hall 1955, pp. (YHQLIWKH¿IWHHQUHFRLQDJHVEHWZHHQDQGWKH0HLMLSHULRGVKRZWKDWWKH shogunate policies were not successful, Hall argues that Tanuma’s reforms were still better than most others. 106 HK, p. 276; MN 56:1, p. 32. Emphases are mine. There was actually no need to look abroad for this kind of political cult. In the sixteenth century, the organization of the IkkĿ sect had an impact on Oda Nobunaga, as Herman Ooms observed, in the way he fashioned and legitimized political authority via sacralization. Makuzu was probably not aware of this. Interestingly, Aizawa Seishisai, too, refers to the IkkĿ sect, but RQO\WRHPSKDVL]HKRZLWVGRFWULQHVXSSUHVVHV¿OLDOSLHW\DQGOR\DOW\DQGKHQFHLQWHUferes with the “nation’s laws.” In fact, one cannot help noting the similarity between the description of Christianity and the IkkĿ sect (Aizawa Seishisai, Shinron, in Mitogaku, ed. Imai UsaburĿ et al., in NST, vol. 53 [Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1973], p. 167). 107 Heisuke was involved in a dispute between two temples that the magistrates decided to settle among themselves (see MB, p. 66). Another incident to which Makuzu

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does not indicate that Makuzu envisioned a Buddhist sect emerging as a state religion with its leader ruling the country; rather, what is needed is spiritual control by a charismatic leader. Even if others do not draw the same connection between a Japanese religious leader and the Russian czar, the notion of idealizing absolutist power in a spiritual leader has often been shared. Shortly after Makuzu’s time, and forty years after Heisuke wrote his proposal, Aizawa Seishisai ఌἉḿᚷᩢ (1782–1863) argued the same issue in his Shinron ᩺ㄵ (New Theses, 1825), namely, that in order to create a strong nation, spiritual unity and integration among the subjects is essential to the nation (kokutai ᅗమ).108 While Seishisai proposes the restoration of imperial power, even if only for ritual and spiritual assistance, Heisuke does not mention who should be the leader—shogun or emperor—nor does Makuzu indicate her choice. What is striking is that father and daughter, albeit cautiously, envisioned a different kind of leader for Japan, who would adapt, in Makuzu’s view, to the rhythm between heaven and earth and the pulse of the nation.109

refers is the exile of her husband’s friend, head priest of Shiogama Fujitsuka Shikibu, mentioned earlier (see Shiogama mĿde, in TMS, p. 485). 108 See Wakabayashi 1986, p. 13. 109 This notion, too, has been repeatedly shared by various intellectuals, besides Seishisai, for instance Maeno RyĿtaku and Honda Toshiaki. For RyĿtaku, see Kanrei higen, in YĿgaku, vol. 1, ed. Numata 1976, pp. 147-48; for Toshiaki, see Seiiki monogatari, translated by Keene 1969, pp. 212-13.

EPILOGUE Makuzu’s knowledge and vision can best be described as eclectic. They derive from many sources, and should not be categorized as belonging solely to one intellectual camp. Her father’s network introduced Makuzu to liberal intellectualism at a time before the categorization into distinct intellectual schools, such as nativism or Rangaku, began to emerge. Only within the setting of Makuzu’s time and, in particular, within her father’s circle could a treatise such as Hitori kangae have developed. She entered the public realm to speak of politics as her father had done. That she did so is a sign of what Harry Harootunian describes as a rupture between politics and culture that led to the creation of a political sphere open to society at large.1 The interlacing of private and public spheres in the KudĿ household was crucial to Makuzu’s intellectual development. Even if Makuzu only indirectly participated, such a culturally rich environment of men was something to which few women had access. Makuzu’s faith in human agency despite her gender is demonstrated by her decision to make her treatise known. She owes her individual and independent way of thinking primarily to her father, who presented KHU ZLWK D PRGHO IRU EHFRPLQJ DFWLYH 0DNX]X¶V GH¿QLWLRQ RI satori is evidence of her belief that the capacity to go above oneself—either one’s gender or status—could be found within oneself. Therefore, Makuzu was able, at least on paper, to overcome gender barriers and to free herself from male-dominated intellectual discourse. She saw the ambiguity in her society with respect to gender; since she, as an educated woman whose family was left without a male heir, was affected negatively by it, she sought to challenge it. Just as other intellectuals of ORZVWDWXVDWWHPSWHGWRUHGH¿QHWKHVWDWXVV\VWHP0DNX]XUHGH¿QHG gender. She was able to write down thoughts that were not just memories of the past, but were plans for political reform. Makuzu expressed ideas about society and her position within it after she rose above her own life story, which had depended on men. Makuzu, therefore, is exceptional, even if she probably was not, as Nakayama Eiko argues, the foremost female scholar of the long Tokugawa period.2 This treatise, 1 2

Harootunian 1989, p. 180. Nakayama 1961, p. 155.

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by means of which Makuzu deliberately made herself into a political ¿JXUHHQVXUHGWKDWVKHKDVQRWHQWHUHGKLVWRU\RQO\DVRQHRIWKHPDQ\ female poets of her time, but also as a thinker. Today, Makuzu’s house in Sendai is gone. The Tadano family moved WRWKHLUIRUPHU¿HIRI1DNDQLLGDVRRQDIWHUWKHIDOORIWKHVKRJXQDWHLQ 1868, where the family still lives today on the grounds of a former retainer. In 1933 Nakayama initiated moving Makuzu’s grave in Sendai to another site, which should represent more appropriately her place in history.3 For the inauguration at the temple ShĿonji ᮿ㡚ᑈ, about one hundred people came together, and the reburial was memorialized in a short pamphlet that lists the names of its sponsors. In connection with this, the Miyagi prefecture library had an exhibition of Makuzu’s treasured items that had been discovered in her former grave.4 Nagai Michiko’s historical novel about Makuzu, published in 1992, introduced to a general audience Makuzu’s youth in her father’s house and in service. Kado Reiko’s forthcoming biography of Makuzu will take up the poetry and prose of her years in Sendai and thus make Makuzu even more prominent. In cyberspace some of Makuzu’s stories are accessible to a large readership, where fans of the genre of Kaidan (mysterious and strange stories) introduce sections of ľshŗbanashi and Mukashibanashi, rendered into modern Japanese.5 Autobiographies, as well as biographies, are stories in the end. Truth LQDXWRELRJUDSK\LVUHODWLYHEXWHYHQDVRFDOOHG¿FWLRQDOL]HGOLIHLVD complex life, and a thorough reading bearing in mind its invented character is still rewarding. It informs us about the thoughts, feelings, and fears that Makuzu harbored throughout the years. Makuzu, not unlike KHUIDWKHUPDGHRQO\DÀHHWLQJDSSHDUDQFHLQKLVWRU\ZLWKKHUSRHWU\ and prose. Still, that appearance allows us the rare opportunity to reach some conclusions about a woman’s perceptions of Tokugawa society and its contemporary representations of ideologies and practices, perceptions that her contemporary Bakin evaluated as her “thinking like a man.” A Tokugawa history that leaves out voices such as Makuzu’s has fortunately become unthinkable. 3 Figure 4-4. Makuzu’s posthumous name on the stone reads TĿkĿin Renshitsu HattĿ Daishi ᱀ක㝌⪻ᐄⓆ⇘ኬ጗. See Shiwahikojinja, Shiogamajinja, Special issue of JinjakikĿ 31 (2003), p. 25. 4 Nakayama 1933, p. 2. Makuzu’s grave is mentioned on the Sendai city web page: http://www.city.sendai.jp/wakabayashi/soumu/charm/terajinja/sintera.html#syouonji (accessed February 2006). 5 Altogether ten stories from Mukashibanashi and ľshŗbanashi can be found at http://home.att.ne.jp/red/sronin/koten.htm (accessed January 2006).

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୏⛸࡞໚࡫ࡾࡗࡹࢅࡥ࡛ᮇࡡࡢࡁࡡཿᯖ࡞࠾ࡂࡾ࠵ࡀ࠾࡝ This autumn, the dew Nanakusa ni fragrant with nioeru tsuyu o WKHVHYHQÀRZHUV hitomoto no can be traced only on the hagi no furue ni lone, old twig of the bush clover. kakuru aki kana Elegy by Hagi-ni on Makuzu’s death.6

6

Cited by Suzuki, in TMS, p. 553.

LIST OF WORKS CITED WORKS BY MAKUZU Hitori kangae ≺⩻ (Solitary Thoughts, 1818–19). In TMS. Pp. 260-307. Hitori kangae tsuika ≺⩻㏛ຊ (Appendix to Solitary Thoughts, 1819). In TMS. Pp. 308-09. Hitori kangae yohen ≺⩻㣶⥽ (Additions to Solitary Thoughts, 1819). In TMS. Pp. 371-88. Isozutai ࠷ࡐࡘࡒࡥ (From the Seashore, 1818). In TMS. Pp. 244-57. —— ☶ࡘࡒࡥ. In Edo jidai joryŗ bungaku zenshŗ Ờᡖ᫤௥ዥὮᩝᏕධ㞗. Furuya Chishin ཿㆺ▩᩺, ed. Vol. 3. [1918]. Tokyo: Nihon Tosho Sentă, 1979. Jisanka ⮤ㆥḯ (lit. Poetry of Self-Praise). Unpublished manuscript held by the Tadano Family. Kirishitan kĿ ࢞ࣛࢨࢰࣤ⩻ (Thoughts on Christianity). (Listed as Ikoku yori…) In TMS. Pp. 390-91. KĿren to iu kudamono no yurai 㤮ⶀ࡛࠷ࡨࡂࡓࡵࡡࢎ⏜ᮮ (The Origin of the confectionary called KĿren, 1798). In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 441-44). Letter called Mukashibanashi ᪿࡣ࡝ࡊ (Tales from the Past, 1819). In TMS. Pp. 37174. Letter to her father (Chichigimi no yamai atsushi ushi tamau goro…∏ྦࡡ⑋࠵ࡗࡊ࠹ ࡊ⤝ࡨ㡥… [Letter written when my Father was ill].) In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 488-90. Makuzugahara ┷⴩࠿ࡢࡼ (Playing Field of Makuzu, comp. 1816). In TMS, 418519. Matsushima no michi no ki ᮿᓞࡡࡲࡔࡡエ (Travel Account from Matsushima, 1802). In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 445-56. Michinoku nikki ࡲࡔࡡࡂ᪝エ (Diary of Michinoku, comp. 1797). In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 466-83. Mi o nageku uta ㌗ࢅ࡝ࡅࡂ࠹ࡒ (Song of Lament). In Makuzugahara. In TMS. Pp. 491-92. Mukashibanashi ࡳ࠾ࡊࡣ࡝ࡊ (Tales from the Past, 1811–12). In Sendai sĿsho ௜ྋཽ ᭡ (Sendai series). Sendai SĿsho KankĿkai, ed. Vol. 9. [1925]. Sendai: HĿbundĿ, 1972. —— ࡳ࠾ࡊࡣ࡝ࡊ. In Nihon shomin seikatsu shiryĿ shŗsei ᪝ᮇᗚẰ⏍Ὡྍᩩ㞗ᠺ. Tanigawa Ken’ichi ㆺᕖ೸ୌ, ed. Vol. 8. Tokyo: San’ichi ShobĿ, 1969. —— ࡳ࠾ࡊࡣ࡝ࡊ. In TMS. Pp. 5-192. Mukashibanashi: Tenmei zengo no Edo no omoide ࡳ࠾ࡊࡣ࡝ࡊ㸯ኮ᪺᭿ᚃࡡỜᡖࡡ ᛦ࠷ฝ. Nakayama Eiko, ed. TĿyĿ Bunko 433. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1984. Nanakusa no tatoe ୏⛸ࡡࡒ࡛࠻ (Seven Flowers). In TMS. Pp. 378-85. —— ୏⛸ࡡࡒ࡛࠻. In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 500-07. ľshŗbanashi ዚᕗࡣ࡝ࡊ (Tales from ľshŗ, compiled in 1818). In TMS. Pp. 193-242. ——. In Edo jidai joryŗ bungaku zenshŗ. Furuya Chishin, ed. [1918]. Vol. 3. Tokyo: Nihon Tosho Sentă, 1979. Shiogama mĿde ሲ㔡ࡱ࠹࡚ (Pilgrimage to Shiogama, 1799). In Makuzugahara, in

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TMS. Pp. 484-85. Sumiyaku hito o omou nagauta ⅛ࡷࡂெࢅ࠽ࡵࡨ㛏࠹ࡒ. In Makuzugahara. In TMS. P. 494. Tadano Makuzu shŗ. ྅㔕┷⴩㞗. Suzuki Yoneko 㕝ᮄࡻࡠᏄ, ed. SĿsho Edo bunko ཽ᭡Ờᡖᩝᗔ. Vol. 30. Tokyo: Kokusho KankĿkai, 1994. Taenu kazura ࡒ࠻࡟⴩ (Everlasting Judas Tree). In Makuzugahara, in TMS. Pp. 50709. Towazugatari ࡛ࡢࡍ࠿ࡒࡽ (A Tale No One Asked For, 1819). In TMS. Pp. 374-78. Untitled Letter (sĿsoko ࡎ࠹ࡐࡆ) from the beginning of the sixth month of 1819. In TMS. Pp. 385-86.

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INDEX academics (gakumon), 15, 40, 41, 210; and enlightenment, 204n100, 205; and gender, 173, 174-81, 205, 207-08; vs. knowledge, 279-82 acrostics, 115n58 actors, 55-56, 186-87, 280, 282 adoption, 84n70, 100, 102n17, 152n39; of Heisuke, 25, 30 agency, 132-38, 284; and gender, 148, 287; vs. ikioi, 131-32, 255-58; and ki, 242-43; of Makuzu, 134-36, 150-51 agriculture, 37, 265; vs. money economy, 263, 274-75, 283 Aizawa Seishisai, 72, 283n99, 285n106, 286 Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ (Thoughts on Rumors about Kamchatka; KudĿ Heisuke), 53, 72-81, 82, 251, 263-64, 269 Akaezo fŗsetsu no koto (Rumors about Akaezo [Kamchatka]; KudĿ Heisuke), 78 Akai TĿkurĿ, 61n133 Akiko, Princess (Date Akiko), 71, 91 Akimoto, Lord, 61n131 Akutagawa Ryŗnosuke, 109n40 Algemeene Geographie of beschrijving des geheelen Aardrijks (Huebner), 74 Amaterasu ľmikami, 173, 234n80, 235 Analects (Confucius), 34, 196, 206-07, 211n5, 237n94 Anatomische Tabellen (Ontleedkundige Tafelen; Anatomical Tables; Kulmus), 35n40, 36n41, 183, 184, 185, 237n93 anatomy, 70; and dissection, 35-36, 173, 184, 278n70; and gender, 184, 185, 186 Ancient learning (KĿgaku), 114n, 168, 179n23, 209, 212, 224; and Chinese world order, 232-33 AndĿ Yukiko, 128n100, 130n111 Aoki Kon’yĿ, 36, 37, 59n127, 265 Aoyama ShunzĿ, 73n25 Arai Hakuseki, 19, 20, 42n66, 70, 232n74, 233n77; on reform, 265, 283n99

Arakida Reijo, 176n10 arithmetic, 276-79, 283 artisans, 263, 273 autobiography, 19-20, 64, 96, 288; and biography, 17-18 Ayabe Keisai, 28 Baen, 280n80 Bakin. See Takizawa Bakin BandĿ MitsugorĿ, 56 BankĿdĿ (Heisuke’s medical school), 5253, 64, 85 BanshokĿ (Aoki Kon’yĿ), 37n45 Beard, Mary, 13n38 Beauvoir, Simone de, 22n21 Beerens, Anna, 10, 57n119 Benyovszky, Moritz Aladar von, 78 Beschreibung von Russland (Bruder), 74 Biographies of Notable Women (Lienü zhuan), 149n27, 178n17 the body, 251, 278n70; and currency, 276n62; and feelings, 105-06, 134n129, 188, 198-200, 243, 244; and gender, 184, 186-93, 197-200, 208, 244; in Makuzu’s cosmology, 193; vs. mind, 198-200; and wisdom, 195-96 Book of Filial Piety for Women, 196n76 Book of Rites (Liji), 189n54 Brother’s Incident (1821), 240n105 Bruder, Johan, 74 Buddhism, 24, 199, 211, 212, 222, 240; deities of, 141, 149, 150, 151, 201; enlightenment in, 200-201, 203n98, 204; and government, 285, 286; and Japanese gods, 234n81; Zen, 201, 203n98 calligraphy, 51, 67; ryŗmoto school of, 46n75, 67n2 castaways, 53, 55, 73, 88, 240n105 Catherine I (Russia), 284 censorship, 141-42, 156, 166 China: calendar from, 226; as center, 232-40; and Confucianism, 211, 212, 232-34; culture of, 25n3, 56, 234,

306

INDEX

235n82, 236; government of, 260; vs. Japan, 25n3, 56, 228-31, 234, 235, 236; Manchu rulers of, 232; medicine of, 185, 193; and new world order, 236-37; Qing dynasty, 232; trade with, 265 Chinese classics, 175, 213n12, 248; and gender, 196, 205-6; and Heisuke’s education, 34, 35; on human nature, 191, 245-46, 254; Makuzu on, 70, 162, 280; and Makuzu’s education, 69-70. See also Analects; Mencius Chinese language (kanbun): and gender, 6n14, 18n5, 175, 176n10; and Heisuke, 34; and Makuzu, 69-70, 164n; rhythm in, 215n19; written, 233, 234n79 Chinese learning (Kangaku), 280n79, 283n96; and cultural particularism, 228, 229-30; and gender, 175, 176, 195; Makuzu’s lack of, 178-81; vs. nativist learning, 175n9, 180, 212, 222, 233. See also Confucianism Chinese poetry (kanshi), 6-7, 46, 51n96, 69, 98, 106, 219n33 Chinese world order (ka-i), 232-40, 235n82 chĿka (nagauta) poetry, 68, 115, 116, 120, 217n28 Christianity, 240, 285n106; Makuzu on, 163, 165, 239, 282n95 classes: four ideal, 263; lower, 256n61, 263, 273; mixing of, 59, 66, 170. See also daimyo; merchants; peasants; samurai; social status colloquialism (zokugen), 114-17 commercialization, 170, 223, 241, 285n105; vs. agricultural economy, 263, 274-275, 283; and competition, 252-54, 253, 267, 274, 283; and Confucianism, 272; and daimyo, 25558; and government, 267-71, 276, 277, 279; and ikioi, 255-58, 271-76, 278; and rhythm, 263, 273, 275-76; and social dysfunction, 262-63; and social relations, 252-54, 262, 270, 279 competition: and commercialization, 252-54, 267, 274, 283; and daimyo, 256-57; and government, 15, 260-61, 269; and human nature, 250-54, 25861; and morality, 252-54; and social

status, 250, 252-54, 255, 258 Confessions of Lady NijĿ (Towazugatari), 19 Confucianism: and academics, 173, 174; and Bakin’s critique, 164, 17880, 181, 207, 208, 233; and China, 211, 212, 232-34; Eclectic School of, 70n12; and education, 196-97, 280; enlightenment in, 203n98, 204; and foreign countries, 237-38; and gender, 5, 7n18, 162, 179, 188, 192, 196-97, 205-8; Hayashi school of, 24; on heart, 189, 190; and Heisuke, 32, 36, 49, 212, 213; and historiography, 225; on human nature, 191, 207, 244, 245-46, 249, 254, 260; and Japan, 234, 234n81, 235; on ki, 242-43; and knowledge, 180, 204; Makuzu on, 8, 15, 70, 162, 164-65, 170, 181, 241; vs. Makuzu’s cosmology, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213; and medicine, 180, 243n7; metaphysics of, 212, 213, 243n7; and money, 272; morality of, 167, 204, 234, 243-44, 245, 246; vs. nativism, 175n9, 180, 212, 222, 233; on nature, 213-14; opponents of, 212, 213, 225n53, 233, 249-50; and reforms, 180, 281; and rhythm, 231; rites in, 281, 282n96; and society, 175, 258; Sorai School of, 70n12; on superior vs. inferior men, 32, 254, 263; on time, 223, 224-25; universalism of, 207, 233, 238. See also Chinese classics; Chinese learning; the Way Confucius, 179n20, 196, 205-08, 231, 237, 252n38, 254. See also Analects Cruydt-Boeck (Dodonaeus), 60, 62-63 cuisine: foreign, 236; of Heisuke, 51, 52, 64 culture: Chinese vs. Japanese, 25n3, 56, 234, 235n82, 236; Dutch, 32, 51, 60, 74n28, 76, 239, 284; of Edo, 11, 12, 49-50; foreign, 32, 60, 132n123, 284-85, 286; and geography, 229-30; intellectual, 66, 171; and Japan as center, 238-39; of money, 262; of play, 11, 50, 61; and politics, 57, 66, 169, 262, 287; popular, 170; and rhythm, 227-32; and social networks, 49-65; urban, 49-50

INDEX

Daikokuya KĿdayŗ, 53, 55, 88 daimyo: and arithmetic, 276-79, 283; and competition, 256-57; and Heisuke, 64; Makuzu’s service to, 67, 71-72, 88, 91, 93, 118, 169-70, 255; and money, 255-58 Daodejing, 194n69, 219 Daoism, 214, 219n33, 220, 221, 249; and time, 224, 226, 227 Date Chikamune, 98n6, 128n95 Date family, 1, 42, 43, 97, 255 Date Masamune, 97, 100n11 Date Munemura, 38, 43, 46n75, 55 Date Narimura, 85, 98n6, 128n95 Date Shigemura, 55, 66, 71, 98n6, 255; and Heisuke, 38, 39, 79, 86 Date Yoshimura, 29, 31, 37 Dazai Shundai, 179n23, 219n33, 246, 263, 275n56; on human nature, 24950, 251; on reform, 267-68, 276n62, 283n99 diaries, 13n37, 17-18, 19, 21. See also Michinoku nikki Discourse of the Tale of the Hollow Tree (Utsuho monogatari kĿ; Kuwabara Yayoko), 45n72 dissections, 35-36, 173, 184, 278n70 Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), 177n15, 211n4, 213n12, 254 Dodonaeus, Rembert, 60, 62-63 Doi Toshinori, 54, 55-56, 76n34, 90 DokkĿron (Discourse on Solitary Thoughts; Takizawa Bakin), 8, 142, 158-59, 160, 162-67, 171; on gender, 177-78, 179, 194, 204-5; Hitori kangae quoted in, 172, 206n104, 230n66; on Makuzu’s enlightenment, 201; Makuzu’s reaction to, 163; on merchants, 273-74 Dutch culture, 32, 51, 60, 74n28, 76, 239, 284 Dutch language, 59 Dutch merchants, 60, 61n132, 74-75, 265 Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, 196n76 economy: agricultural, 37n45, 263, 265, 274-275, 283; and gender, 166, 177, 205; and government, 16, 267-271, 276, 277, 279, 283; Heisuke on, 3637, 41, 78, 86, 263, 264-65, 282; money, 170, 255-58, 262, 263, 274-75,

307

279, 285n105; policies on, 264n11; and prices, 273, 274, 275, 276; reform of, 8, 16, 55, 66, 168, 255, 257, 262-65, 274-75, 282, 283, 285n105; rhythm of, 263, 273, 275-76; of Sendai, 39, 257, 266n19, 271-72; and status, 24, 256, 283; and Tanuma, 8384, 89. See also trade Edo: culture of, 11, 12, 49-50; Dutch delegations to, 60, 61n132; and Makuzu, 1, 8, 19, 20, 32, 106, 117-18, 170; map of, 23; vs. Sendai, 10809, 110, 118, 120, 227n58; social networks in, 12, 49-65, 169, 177; time in, 218, 230n68, 278n68 Edo group (Edo-ha), 117n65, 217n27 education: Confucian, 34, 35, 69-70, 180, 196-97, 235, 241, 280; and gender, 170, 175; of Heisuke, 34-38; local, 11, 180; of Makuzu, 11, 67-72, 93, 169, 170, 175; of Makuzu’s mother, 46-47; spread of, 11-12; and status, 174-76; and Tanuma, 40; of women, 5, 4647, 67-72, 175, 176-77, 195, 196-97, 205-6 Elizabeth I (England), 195n70 Ema SaikĿ, 69, 176n10, 207n109 emperor, 130, 286; Chinese, 234n80, 235n82 EndĿ Sansei, 35 enlightenment (satori): and academics, 204n100, 205; Bakin on, 201, 2035; Buddhist, 200-201, 203n98, 204; Confucian, 203n98, 204; and gender, 200-205, 208; of Makuzu, 201, 245; 0DNX]X¶VGH¿QLWLRQRI and morality, 202-04, 247; and reform, 262, 280; and status, 202-4 evidential learning (kaozheng; kĿshĿ), 214n17 Ezo Affair (Ezochi ikken), 75n, 82n61, 83n67, 264n11 Ezo (Hokkaido), 88, 265; colonization of, 33, 73, 78, 79, 264; expeditions to, 82, 89; Heisuke’s report on, 53, 72-81, 82, 251, 263-64, 269; maps of, 75n, 76n35, 78n42 Ezo shŗi (Aoyama ShunzĿ), 73n25 Ezo shŗi (Honda Toshiaki), 73n25 family, 25n3, 67, 147-49. See also¿OLDO

308

INDEX

piety; lineage; particular families famine, 80, 82 feelings. See kokoro Feith, Arend Willem, 76 ¿OLDOSLHW\QQ 285n106; and Heisuke’s legacy, 13637; and Hitori kangae, 147-51, 166, 167, 168, 173; of Makuzu, 5, 7, 14, 152 ¿YHSKDVHVQ Five Relationships, 177n15, 238n97 foreign countries: and arithmetic, 278; culture of, 32, 51, 60, 74n28, 76, 132n123, 239, 284-285, 286; curios from, 51, 60-63; diet in, 236; gender in, 162, 184, 195n70, 284; interest in, 59-63; knowledge of, 73; languages of, 57, 59; Makuzu on, 3, 8, 15, 16, 177, 236-37, 280n84; in new world order, 15, 236-37, 238; and rhythm, 227-32; and technology, 234; threat from, 15, 73, 239-40, 240n105; and time, 224, 227, 277, 278n68; trade with, 37, 60, 61n132, 74-75, 77, 78, 264-67, 269; and the Way, 237-38, 239. See also China; Russia; Western learning Fude no saga (The Nature of the Brush), 114 FudĿ (Buddhist deity), 141, 150-51 Fujitsuka Motoyoshi, 100n11 Fujitsuka Shikibu Tomoaki, 99-100, 286n107 Fujitsuka Tomochika, 99n11 Fujiwara family, 32, 33 Fujiwara Mototoshi, 47n76 Fujiwara no KintĿ, 47n76 Furth, Charlotte, 192, 193 gambling, 51n95, 247, 271, 280; and competition, 250, 259-60; and enlightenment, 202, 203, 204 games: acrostics, 115n58; incense, 135; shĿgi (chess), 32 GamĿ Kumpei, 100n11 Gaozi, 190n59, 246 gardening, 51, 52 geisha, 55 gender, 3-8, 17-20, 173-208; and academics, 11, 154-55, 173, 174-81, 205, 207-8; and agency, 148, 287;

Bakin on, 145, 146, 152-153, 15960, 177-178, 179, 186-88, 192-94, 196, 204-205, 207, 208; biological, 182-93, 197-200, 208, 223, 243, 244, 247; boundaries of, 166-67; and competition, 251; and Confucianism, 5, 7n18, 162, 179, 188, 192, 196-197, GH¿QLWLRQVRI 187, 193; and economics, 166, 177, 205; and education, 5, 46-47, 67-72, 170, 175, 176-177, 196-197, 205206; and enlightenment, 200-205, 208; and family structure, 147-48; and feelings, 186-92, 194; and genre, 17-18; and intellectual discourse, 34, 8, 15, 166-67, 177, 182, 196, 208, 287; and intelligence, 206-7; and language, 6n14, 18n5, 175, 176n10; and literature, 5-6, 18n5, 22n21, 154-55; and maleness, 182, 191, 207; and medicine, 173, 182, 184, 185, 187, 193; and politics, 155, 162, 166, 173, 198; and social position, 19-20, 93, 176, 192-200, 206; and Western learning, 132n123, 185, 284; and wisdom, 195-96 geography, 74, 177n14, 233n75; and maps, 75n, 76n35, 78n42, 131n116; and rhythm, 227-32 ghost stories (kaidan), 35n39, 55n111, 108-09, 288 Ginzburg, Carlo, 170 gods, Japanese (kami), 173, 221, 233, 234nn79, 80, 81, 235, 249 good wife/wise mother (ryĿsai kenbo), 5 government: and arithmetic, 276-79; Bakin on, 259-60; and competition, 15, 260-61, 269; corruption in, 40, 84; and economy, 16, 267-71, 276, 277, 279, 283; and human nature, 258-61; and ikioi, 130; and morality, 260, 26768, 284; and natural disasters, 89n88; and religion, 284-86; of Russia, 26970, 282; vs. society, 241, 262; and Tanuma, 40, 83-84; and time, 225; and trade, 262, 264-65, 267-71, 276, 278n69 Hagi-ni. See KudĿ Taeko haiku poetry, 226 Hall, John W., 77, 84n70

INDEX

Harootunian, Harry, 11, 12, 50, 168, 234, 287 Haruko Iwasaki, 84n69 Harumi. See Murata Harumi Hashimoto Hachiya, 102n17 Hattori Rissai (ZenzĿ), 39n59, 69, 70n12 Hayashi RyŗĿ, 215n19 Hayashi school, 24 Hayashi Shihei, 55n110, 61n132, 66, 76, 78n42, 86; Kaikoku heidan of, 87-88, 141-42; and Shikibu, 99, 100 heart. See kokoro Heian period (794-1185): acrostics in, 115n58; autobiography in, 17-18; classics of, 68; diaries in, 17-18, 19; women’s literature in, 5n13, 42 Heilbrun, Carolyn, 127 Higuchi Shiba, 39n58, 62, 76 Hime kagami (Nakamura Tekisai), 195n72 Hiraga Gennai, 61n133, 62n136, 63n, 234 Hirata Atsutane, 9n28, 180n28, 215n20, 252n38 Hirose TansĿ, 70n12 history: and human nature, 252-53; ikioi in, 130; Japanese, 235-36; Makuzu’s knowledge of, 177; Makuzu’s place in, 8-12; and time, 224-27, 231, 238, 239 Hitori kangae, DokkĿron. See DokkĿron Hitori kangae shĿroku (Excerpts from Solitary Thoughts), 171-72 Hitori kangae (Solitary Thoughts; Makuzu), 3-4, 6-11, 13-16, 168-286; and agency, 132, 242-43, 255-58, 284, 287; and Bakin, 8, 14, 138, 139-67, 171; circulation of, 156, 158, 169, 172; on Confucianism, 164-65; cosmology of, 170, 209-61; eclecticism of, 9, 287; on economic reform, 262-86; on enlightenment, 15, 173, 200-205, 208, 245, 247, 262, 280; DQG¿OLDOSLHW\ 173; on foreign countries, 3, 8, 16, 59, 177, 236-37; and gender, 166-67, 173-208; and Heisuke, 31, 33, 36, 66, 141, 168, 170, 173; on human nature, 241-61; and identity, 22, 139, 168, MXVWL¿FDWLRQIRU 21, 138, 166-67; on Makuzu’s life, 70, 71n20, 133, 134; and politics, 6-7, 13,

309

155; publication of, 139-42, 156-58, 162, 163, 171; on sexuality, 105-06, 134n129; and social conventions, 14751, 167; structure of, 171; survival of, 171-72; as women’s literature, 6-7 Hokkaido. See Ezo Holland, 236. See also Dutch culture Honda family, 24n1 Honda Masuko, 129 Honda Toshiaki, 72, 73n25, 76, 269, 284, 286n109 honsei (true nature), 199-200 honshin (original mind), 197n78, 203n98 Hotta Masaatsu, 24, 55, 96, 98n6, 124, 128n100 Huebner, Johann, 74 human nature (sei), 197n78, 211n4, 24161; and competition, 250-54, 258-61; Confucianism on, 190n59, 191, 207, 244, 245-46, 248n25, 249, 254, 260; and gender, 189-92, 207; good and evil in, 246-50; and government, 25861, 262, 285n105; and morality, 190, 243-46, 258; and rhythm, 241, 252-53; and sexuality, 189-92; superior vs. inferior, 32, 254, 263; and thought vs. action, 248-50; universal, 207, 231-32, 233, 238, 248n25, 250 humor, 50n89. See also culture: of play Ichikawa Tazumaro, 179n23 identity: and gender, 127, 168, 185, 195; and Heisuke, 64, 93, 132-38; and Hitori kangae, 22, 139, 168, 173, 185, 195, 201; and lineage, 33, 42, 64, 137; of Makuzu, 14-15, 22; and marriage, 132-33; and Mukashibanashi, 20, 127; and public sphere, 136-37; and status, 25, 32 Iga. See Tadano Iga Tsurayoshi Ii family, 71, 255 Ii Naotomi, 71n18, 86n78, 91 Ii Naoyuki, 86n78 ikioi (fate, momentum, tide of the time), 15, 130-32, 260, 280; vs. agency, 13132, 255-58; economic, 255-58, 27176, 278; and time, 225-26 IkkĿ (True Pure Land) sect, 281n84, 284-85 Imaizumi Mine, 24n1 InĿ Tadataka, 131n116

310

INDEX

Inoue Kinga, 178n20 Inoue Randai, 178n20 intellectual discourse: categorization of, 8-11; and gender, 3-4, 8, 15, 166-67, 177, 182, 196, 208, 287; Makuzu’s place in, 169, 170, 181, 210; and politics, 3-4, 10-11, 168-69, 173, 198 Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise), 47n77 Iseki Takako, 13n37, 45n72, 184n34 Isoda TĿsuke, 92 Isozutai (From the Seashore; Makuzu), 4n10, 108n36, 157, 172 Itakura SuĿ no kami Katsunori, 54n106 ItĿ Jinsai, 179nn20, 23, 214n17, 233, 237n94, 251n38; on human nature, 191n61, 249n30 ItĿ TĿgai, 29, 36n44, 238n97 Iwai KumesaburĿ, 56 Japan: as center, 238-39, 240; vs. China, 25n3, 56, 228-31, 234-36; history of, 235-36; literature of, 4, 6, 106, 176; Makuzu on, 15, 170, 232-40, 282; as nation (kokutai), 284, 286; rhythm of, 232-40; vs. Russia, 237, 270-71; suggestion boxes in, 281n88. See also nativist learning Japanese language, 112; and kana syllabary, 6n14, 18n5, 19 Jehlen, Myra, 136 Jingŗ, Empress (Okinagatarashi), 173 Jisanka (Excerpts from the Shinkokinshŗ), 47n77 “Jisanka” (Poetry of Self-Praise; Makuzu), 112n53, 218 joryŗ bungaku (literature by women writers), 5-6, 7, 42 Jŗtei kaitai shinsho (revised New Book of Anatomy; translation of Anatomische Tabellen), 183, 184n35 Kabuki theater, 56, 109n42, 186-87, 281n84 Kada no Arimaro, 47n78, 68, 114n Kada no Azumamaro, 68, 179n23, 244n9 Kada no Tamiko, 47n78, 68, 69 Kado Reiko, 13n38, 112, 213, 288 Kagawa Kageki, 115, 179n23, 215n20, 218, 220, 224 Kaibara Ekiken, 176, 188n53, 191n61 Kaiho SeiryĿ, 9, 224n50, 263, 266n19,

278, 283n99 Kaikoku heidan (Discussion on the Military Problems of a Maritime Nation; Hayashi Shihei), 87-88, 14142 Kaion-ni (nun), 4n9 Kaitai shinsho (New Book of Anatomy; Kulmus), 35, 36n41, 183, 185, 237nn92, 93 Kamchatka, 72n22, 76. See also Ezo; Russia Kameda HĿsai, 157, 178n20 Kamo Mabuchi, 37n44, 45n72, 47, 179n23, 249; and Daoism, 219n33, 220; on Japan, 235n82, 236; and Makuzu, 70, 107, 190n60; and poetry, 68n9, 115, 116, 126; and rhythm, 213, 215-20, 224, 236n87; social networks of, 57, 68n5; and time, 224, 225; on the Way, 212, 219, 220, 227, 238; works by, 57n122, 58, 107, 215-16, 219 Kamusasuka, Oroshiya shikĿ no koto (Personal thoughts on Akaezo and Oroshiya; KudĿ Heisuke), 77 Kanazu Hidemi, 185 Kangaku. See Chinese learning Kankenroku5HFRUGVRI,QVLJQL¿FDQW Opinions; KudĿ Heisuke), 39 Kannon (boddhisattva), 149-50, 201 KanĿ family, 61n133 Kansei reforms, 40, 83, 156n51, 180, 279, 281 KantĿ earthquake (1923), 172 Katayama ChŗdĿ, 171 Katayama Kenzan, 69 KatĿ Chikage, 47n78, 115, 116, 157 KatĿ Enao, 36n44 Katsu Kokichi, 20n12 Katsuragawa family, 24n1 Katsuragawa Hoshŗ, 52, 74n28, 88n81; and Heisuke, 51n93, 59, 61, 66 Kawamura Zuiken, 282 Kawazu Jŗbei, 89-90 Keene, Donald, 269 keisei saimin (order the country and save its people), 267-71, 283 Keizairoku (On Political Economy; Dazai Shundai), 267 ki (ether, vital energy), 186n43, 242-43 Kiji mo nakazu wa (SantĿ KyĿden), 84

INDEX

KikkĿden (Kamo Mabuchi), 57n122, 58 Kimura MokurĿ, 171 Kimura YĿshun, 91 Kinski, Michael, 69n12 Kirishitan kĿ (Thoughts on Christianity; Makuzu), 163, 165, 239, 282n95 knowledge: Confucian, 180, 204; and government, 258, 284; and Heisuke, 41, 212-13; and kokueki, 277n67, 27982; and Makuzu, 15, 56, 70, 155, 170, 177, 178, 211; spread of, 11-12, 57, 169; of the West, 73 Ko, Dorothy, 196 Kobata ShirĿemon, 102n17 Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), 182, 184, 185 Kojikiden (Motoori Norinaga), 107n32, 157, 182, 184, 195n72, 201n91, 215n20 Kokinshŗ (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems), 47n77, 68, 115, 217n28, 224n52 kokoro (shin; heart, mind, feelings): and the body, 105-06, 134n129, 188, 198200, 243, 244; and enlightenment, 200, 202, 203; and gender, 186-92, 194; “manly,” 177, 178, 179, 194, 195, 207; original (honshin), 197n78, 203n98; and rhythm, 219, 224; vs. sexuality, 188-90; shape of (kokoro no katachi), 244-45, 250, 260; and sincerity, 248. See also Shingaku (Heart Learning) kokuekiEHQH¿WIRUWKHFRXQWU\ 263-67, 268, 283; and knowledge, 277n67, 279-82 Kokugaku. See nativist learning KokuikĿ (Ideas on the Meaning of the Realm; Kamo Mabuchi), 219 Konjaku monogatari (Tales of Times Now Past), 187n50 KĿno Tsunekichi, 73n25 Korea, 78n42, 173n1 Kotoba momokusa (Myriad Words; Kamo Mabuchi), 107 KudĿ Ayako. See Makuzu KudĿ BankĿ monjo (KudĿ Heisuke), 87, 88, 237n91 KudĿ family, 19, 27-65; curse on, DQG¿UHV genealogy of, 44; home of, 11, 12, 51,

311

89-90, 92, 132; and Kuwabara family, 42-44, 127-32, 148; Kuwabara heir to, 127-28, 148; legacy of, 21, 22, 28, 154; Makuzu as heir of, 148, 154-55, 166, 167; Makuzu’s devotion to, 118, 120, 152; misfortunes of, 89-94, 120, 122, 124-25, 127-32, 212; and money, 271-72; reputation of, 121; scholarship in, 27, 33; social networks of, 169-70, 287; status of, 24, 27, 31-32, 51, 93 KudĿ Heisuke (father), 1, 9, 3341; adoption of, 25, 27, 30; and Confucianism, 32, 36, 49, 212, 213; cooking of, 51, 52, 64; and Date Shigemura, 38, 39, 79, 86; death of, 104n23, 120; and destruction of house, 89-90; on economy, 36-37, 41, 78, 86, 263, 264-265, 266-67, 268, 282; education of, 34-38; on government and religion, 284-86; hairstyle of, 48n85; and Hitori kangae, 31, 33, 36, 66, 141, 168, 170, 173, 211, 222, 225, 237, 242, 251; interests of, 51-52; and Katsuragawa Hoshŗ, 51n93, 59, 61, 66; on knowledge, 41, 212-13; and kokueki, 263-64; and Kuwabara family, 128, 132, 148; legacy of, 64, 66-95, 136-37, 147-48, 281-82; Makuzu as heir to, 14, 42, 64, 93-94, 132-38, 147, 154, 166, 168; Makuzu’s relationship with, 14, 15-16, 102, 118-19, 127, 133, 181; medical school of, 52-53, 64, 85; mind of, 60, 200, 202; and money, 89, 271-72; in Mukashibanashi, 18, 21, 33, 41, 61n132, 62-63, 66, 72, 93-94, 96, 128, 129; names of, 26n11, 39n55; and ľtsuki Gentaku, 39n58, 59, 61n132, 74, 85, 121, 141; physical characteristics of, 48; as physician, 24, 27, 35-38, 41, 52-53, 64, 84-86; poems by, 51n96, 119; and politics, 14, 54, 78, 87-88; relativism of, 225, 227, 282; reputation of, 52-53, 93-94; on Russia, 72-81, 88, 270; and Sendai, 38, 79, 84-86; social networks of, 4965, 66, 76, 177, 287; status of, 24, 27, 41, 48, 49, 50-51, 64, 94, 174; stipend of, 84n73, 133-34; and Tanuma, 72, 77-79, 94, 131; and Western learning, 36, 57-63; works by, 39, 52, 66, 77,

312

INDEX

78, 85, 87, 88, 129n100, 142, 237n91. See also Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ KudĿ JĿan An’yo (adoptive grandfather), 25, 27-32, 36n44, 43, 48n85, 89, 271n35; and Heisuke, 34-38; house of, 51; mother of, 30-31, 32, 37, 38; as physician, 28-30, 50n92; status of, 31-32 KudĿ JĿan Shin (adoptive greatgrandfather), 28 KudĿ Motosuke (GenshirĿ; brother), 42, 48, 96n1, 120-26, 211n5, 212, 265n14; death of, 124-26, 136, 137, 148, 168, 201n91; Makuzu’s correspondence with, 110-11, 118; Makuzu’s elegy for, 125-26; and Makuzu’s marriage, 133, 148; memorials for, 128; and Murata Harumi, 128n100, 137n134 KudĿ Motoyasu (ChĿan; brother), 42, 55n112, 69, 90, 91 KudĿ Oen (adoptive grandmother), 30, 32, 38, 91 KudĿ Seikei (Shŗan; Kuwabara), 127-28, 148 KudĿ Shizuko (O-Yŗ, Yŗko; sister), 20n15, 42, 91, 93 KudĿ Taeko (Kachiko, Hagi-ni; sister), 4n9, 42, 67n2, 122, 136n131, 138, 159n60, 168; and Bakin, 143-44, 163, 165, 172; elegy by, 289; Makuzu’s correspondence with, 20n14, 110-11, 118, 120, 123, 161 KudĿ Teruko (sister), 20n14, 43, 91n98, 110, 111, 122, 136, 148 KudĿ Tsuneko (sister), 42, 93 Kulmus, Adam, 35n40, 183, 184, 185, 237n93 Kumazawa Banzan, 70, 263, 274, 283n99 Kuril Islands, 76n35, 78n46 Kuroda family, 30 Kurozawa IchirĿemon, 78n41 Kurozumi Makoto, 175n9, 179 Kutsuki Masatsuna, 74n29, 85n76 Kuwabara family, 42-47, 56, 121, 124; genealogy of, 44; and KudĿ family, 42-44, 127-32, 148; in Mukashibanashi, 19, 43 Kuwabara Takatomo Jun (uncle), 21, 84n73, 128, 131, 132, 282n90; wetnurse to (Shime), 45, 129-30 Kuwabara Takatomo Yukiakira

(grandfather), 43 Kuwabara Takatomo Yukinori (cousin), 124n86, 127, 128n95 Kuwabara Yayoko (grandmother), 37n44, 45-47, 57 Kuwabara Yukihiro (cousin), 128n95 Kyŗon sode goyomi (KudĿ Heisuke), 52n101, 85, 128n100 Laozi, 179n20, 189, 214, 219, 221. See also Daoism Laxman, Adam, 88, 270 lineage: and identity, 33, 42, 64, 137; maternal, 32, 33, 41-42, 45-47, 49; and status, 24-25, 33 literacy, 30, 176 literati (bunjin), 10, 56, 146n18 love, 250, 251n38, 252n38; poetry on, 103-5; and sexuality, 105-06, 134n129, 188 Maeno RyĿtaku, 35n40, 59, 74, 85n76, 100, 184n35; on government, 284, 286n109 Maita Gentan, 53-54, 76, 88, 89 Maki Morinaga, 186-87 Makuzu no ouna (The Woman Makuzu; Takizawa Bakin), 107n34, 142-44, 151, 153n, 171, 201; and Bakin’s regret, 165-66; vs. DokkĿron, 162; on end of relationship, 159, 163; and Toenkai (Rabbit Grove Society), 172n8 Makuzu (Tadano Makuzu, KudĿ Ayako): as activist, 132-38; autobiographical writings of, 17-23; and brother’s death, 125-27; categorization of, 4-9, 12; childhood of, 1, 8; childlessness of, 148-49; death of, 166; death wish of, 149; education of, 11, 67-72, 93, 169, 170, 175; enlightenment of, 200-01; exceptionalism of, 13, 198-200, 207-08, 287; family of, 20, 32-49; as father’s heir, 14, 42, 64, 93-94, 132-38, 147, 154, 166, 168; gravesite of, 118n68, 164, 288; health of, 49; historical novel about, 7, 288; legitimacy of, 138, 173; lineage of, 32-33, 41-42, 44, 45-47, 49; “manly mindset” (onokodamashii) of, 4, 6, 149n27, 177, 178, 179, 194, 195, 207,

INDEX

288; marriages of, 1, 79-80, 88, 92-93, 93, 133, 148; married life of, 97-107; mole of, 261; mother of, 20, 41-49, 70-71, 93, 272; names of, 1n1, 10, 22; “odd” nature of, 199, 201, 208; and poetry, 1n2, 2, 7, 14, 67, 68, 70, 97, 100n14, 103-105, 109-117, 137, 139, 152, 153, 168, 209; secretiveness of, 159; in Sendai, 96-138; as teacher, 4n9, 5, 69n10, 209n2; as victim, 11727 Makuzugahara (Makuzu’s Playing Field; Makuzu), 68n10, 96, 108, 115, 143, 150n29 Manchus, 232 Man’yĿshŗ (Ten Thousand Leaves), 108, 115, 217, 224n52 maps, 131n116; of north, 75n, 76n35, 78n42 marriage: agency in, 134-36; competition in, 252n38; of Makuzu, 1, 79-80, 88, 92-93, 133, 148; Makuzu’s attitude towards, 132-36; and mother, 42; vs. romance, 132n123, 251n38; and status, 66-67, 79-80, 88; and women’s education, 176 martial arts, 31-32, 98 Maruyama Masao, 179n23, 225 Maruyama Sueo, 114n Matsudaira Harusato, 50n89, 55, 56, 66 Matsudaira Ichi no Kami, 28 Matsudaira Sadanobu, 14, 20, 62n134, 97n3, 100n11, 122, 131n111, 233n77; and Ezo, 82-83 Matsudaira Takemoto, 38, 55 Matsue domain, 55 Matsumae domain, 72n23, 76, 88, 264n11 Matsumae han-i Maita Gentan monogatari no omomuki (The Story of Maita Gentan, physician to the Matsumae domain; Maita Gentan), 53n104, 54 Matsumae Hironaga, 72n22 Matsumoto Hidemochi, 82, 84 Matsuo BashĿ, 226 Matsuo Taseko, 12, 17n4, 195n70 Matsushima no michi no ki (Travel account from Matsushima; Makuzu), 107-8 Mayama Mokuzaemon (Tadano

313

Yoshiyasu), 102n17, 122n80 Mayama Seika, 159n59 mechanical devices: automata (karakuri), 202; watches, 224, 227, 277, 278n68 medicinal plants, 37, 86, 266-67 medicine: Chinese, 180, 185, 193, 243; ChŗjĿ school of, 122n82; and dissection, 35-36, 173, 184, 278n70; and gender, 173, 182, 184, 185, 187, 193; Heisuke’s training in, 35-36, 41; and scholars, 174; on sex, 252n38; Western, 76, 170, 184, 237-38. See also physicians 0HLZD¿UH Mencius, 177n15, 179n20, 189, 246, 247n20, 252n38; on human nature, 190n59, 248n25 mercantilism, 8-9, 262, 269, 276, 283, 285n105. See also government; trade merchants, 197n78, 253n48, 263, 271-77; Bakin on, 273-74; Dutch, 60, 61n132, 74-75, 265; and kokueki, 264; Makuzu on, 272-73; and money, 256-57, 272, 273, 276; and samurai, 269, 274 Mi o nageku uta (Song of Lament; poem; Makuzu), 68n10 Michinoku nikki (Diary from Michinoku; Makuzu), 96-97, 107, 117-18, 127; on Makuzu’s marriage, 133, 134; poetry in, 104, 111 Minamoto family, 32, 33 Minato Genzaemon, 76, 84n69, 264n11 mind. See kokoro Mishima Kageo, 46, 51n96, 52n101, 107n32; and Makuzu’s mother, 47, 111; as Makuzu’s teacher, 114, 115; social networks of, 56, 68n5 Miura Baien, 72 Miura ShĿji, 77n41 Miwada Masako, 11n33 Mizuno Tadatomo, 82, 84n70 money: and arithmetic, 276-79, 283; and the body, 276n62; economy of, 170, 255-58, 262, 263, 274-75, 279, 285n105; and Heisuke, 89, 271-72; ikioi of, 271-76; lending of, 256-57, 273; and merchants, 256-57, 272, 273, 276; rhythm of, 263, 273, 275-76; and samurai, 255-58, 271, 272, 275; and status, 24, 256, 283; and time, 223, 253; and trade, 265, 267. See also

314

INDEX

commercialization morality: and commercialization, 268, 270, 275; and competition, 252-54; Confucian, 167, 204, 234, 243-244, 245, 246; and enlightenment, 202-04, 247; and government, 15, 260, 267-68, 284; and human nature, 190, 243-46, 248, 258; innate vs. cultivated, 24550; and rhythm, 243, 244-45, 247; and status, 175, 263n6, 269, 282; and the Way, 214, 246; and women, 196-97, 205-6 Mori ľgai, 109n40 Morishima ChŗryĿ, 24n1, 51n93 Morris-Suzuki, Tessa, 10 Motoori Norinaga, 12, 70, 116n64, 178, 190n60, 220, 236, 260; on China, 235n82, 270; and Confucianism, 225n53, 233; on desire, 189n57, 244n10; on gender, 182, 184, 195; on geographic diversity, 229-30; on human nature, 244, 248-49; on love, 132n123, 251n38; and nativism, 179n23, 180; relativism of, 227, 248; and rhythm, 213, 215, 221-22; works by, 107n32, 157, 182, 184, 195n72, 201n91, 215n20, 221 Motoori ľhira, 116n64, 190n60, 217n27 Mukashibanashi (letter; Makuzu), 15455, 201 Mukashibanashi (Stories from the Past; Makuzu), 5, 18-22, 40, 62, 225, 271n35, 288; and death of Iga, 133; ghost stories in, 108; Heisuke in, 18, 21, 33, 41, 61n132, 62-63, 66, 72, 93-94, 96, 128, 129; on Kuwabara family, 19, 43; on Makuzu’s family, 20, 27, 127-32; on Makuzu’s life, 70, 71n20, 72, 96, 134; narrator in, 19, 20; preface to, 20, 43; style of, 19 Murasaki Shikibu, 173 Murata Harumi, 107nn33, 34, 115, 157, 190n60, 271; and Makuzu’s mother, 45n72; and Motosuke, 128n100, 137n134; and poetry, 68n9, 70, 111, 116, 120, 217; social networks of, 47n78, 57, 68n8, 217; works by, 120, 180, 217, 235, 268n27 Murata Harumichi, 107n32 music, 215, 226 Musui dokugen (Musui’s Story; Katsu Kokichi), 20n12

Nagai family, 19, 25-27, 63, 64 Nagai Kisuke (Kiji; uncle), 26n11, 27, 60n131, 131 Nagai Michiko, 288 Nagai NagasaburĿ (Heisuke), 26n11. See also KudĿ Heisuke Nagai ShirĿzaemon (ancestor), 25 Nagai ShirĿzaemon (ChĿan; uncle), 26n11, 27, 64 Nagai Taian (grandfather), 25-27, 28, 30, 34, 35, 50n92; and samurai status, 31, 32, 41 Nagakubo Sekisui, 61n133 Nagasaki, 76, 85n76, 264n11, 265. See also Dutch merchants nagauta (chĿka) poetry, 68, 115, 116, 120, 217n28 NaitĿ Jŗshin’in, 13n37 Nakagawa Jun’an, 35n40, 36n41 Nakai Riken, 130 Nakamura Noshio, 56, 187 Nakamura Tekisai, 195n72 Nakamura TomijŗrĿ, 56 Nakarai family, 28 Nakayama Eiko, 7, 13n38, 67n2, 100n14, 159n59, 209n2, 287, 288 Nanakusa no tatoe (Seven Flowers of Autumn; Makuzu), 120-21, 127, 13233, 166n76, 211n5 Naobi no mitama (The Way of the Gods; Motoori Norinaga), 221 nativist learning (Kokugaku), 68, 189, 192, 287; and Ancient Learning, 179n23; vs. Confucianism, 175n9, 180, 212, 233; on human nature, 244, 249; and Makuzu, 178, 209, 211, 234, 241; and rhythm, 215, 222 natural disasters, 80, 89, 172, 273 nature, 225, 231, 235; and individual, 242-43; in Makuzu’s poetry, 109-11; and rhythm, 213-15, 217, 223; vs. the Way, 214-15, 220, 238n97. See also onozukara Nihon Gaishi (Rai San’yĿ), 131 Nihon ryĿiki (Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition), 188n50 NihonshĿki, 195n72 Niimanabi iken (Objections to New Learning; Kagawa Kageki), 218 Niimanabi (New Learning; Kamo

INDEX

Mabuchi), 215-16 NijĿ, Lady, 19 Nishikawa Joken, 274-75, 276n62, 277n67, 278n70 NisshĿen sĿsho (collection), 171 Noh drama, 98-99, 99, 106 Norinaga. See Motoori Norinaga Nosco, Peter, 219n33, 249n28 Oda Nobunaga, 285n106 2I¿FLDO5HFRUGVRI)LOLDO3LHW\ (Kankoku kĿgiroku), 148 ľguchi YŗjirĿ, 71, 213 Ogyŗ Sorai, 12, 178n20, 179n23, 212, 246; on human nature, 191nn61, 62, 249-50; on nature, 214, 214n17; on reform, 263n5, 283n99 ľkubo Tadashi, 217 ľkuma Kotomichi, 117n Onna daigaku (Greater Learning for Women), 176, 195 onnagata (female impersonators), 186-87 onozukara (nature, naturalness), 219, 221, 222, 249n28, 253, 258 Ontleedkundige Tafelen. See Anatomische Tabellen ľoka Tadasuke, 36n44 Ooms, Herman, 241, 263n5, 285n106 Oranda fŗsetsugaki (Dutch News Reports), 74-75 Oritaku shiba no ki (Told Round a Brushwood Fire; Arai Hakuseki), 19, 42n66 ľshĿkun (Murata Harumi), 120 ľshŗbanashi (Stories from ľshŗ; Makuzu), 4n10, 108, 109, 172, 288 ľta Nanpo, 84n69 ľtsuki Gentaku, 9n28, 33, 50n89, 66, 75, 84n73; and Heisuke, 39n58, 59, 61n132, 74, 85, 121, 141 ľtsuki Nyoden, 33n36, 86n77 Ozawa Roan, 115n58 peasants, 50n91, 257, 263, 274, 275, 283 Perreault, Donna, 22n21 Peter the Great (Russia), 284 physicians: Heisuke, 24, 27, 35-38, 41, 52-53, 64, 84-86, 213n9; in KudĿ family, 28-30, 32, 50n92, 243; in Kuwabara family, 42, 43; lay (zoku-i), 24, 39, 41, 43n71, 48n85, 50, 85n74;

315

in Nagai family, 25-27; and samurai, 24, 50, 152; in social networks, 49-50, 59; status of, 24, 29, 38, 39n55, 50, 56, 152, 174; student, 53-54, 74, 85; titles of, 43n71; and women, 79 poetry: by Bakin, 146n18, 153; Chinese (kanshi), 6-7, 46, 51n96, 69, 98, 106, 219n33; colloquialism (zokugen) in, 114-17; conventions in, 103-05, 111; and Heisuke, 51, 64, 119; and Iga, 100; long-form (chĿka, nagauta), 68, 115, 116, 120, 217n28; love, 103-5; by Makuzu, 1n2, 2, 7, 14, 67, 68, 70, 97, 100n14, 103-105, 109-117, 137, 139, 152, 153, 168, 209; and Makuzu’s maternal lineage, 32, 45-47, 49, 51; nature in, 109-11; and politics, 10-11, 112n54; and rhythm, 215, 217, 224; and social networks, 56-57, 68n8, 111, 114n; theory of, 10-11, 114-17, 217; and time, 226; trends in, 111, 115-17; waka, 68n9, 106, 109-10, 113-15, 217, 226; and women, 57, 176. See also Kokinshŗ politics: and culture, 57, 66, 169, 262, 287; and fall of Tanuma, 83-84, 94; and gender, 3-4, 155, 162, 166, 173, 198; and Heisuke, 14, 54, 78, 87-88; and Hitori kangae, 6-7, 13, 155, 178, 181, 211, 224, 258; and KudĿ family, 94; of marriage, 132-33; and poetry, 10-11, 112n54; and reform, 168-69; of Sendai, 39 prose, Japanese (wabun), 4, 14, 106, 111, 112, 176 public sphere: and gender, 3, 136-37, 138, 155; Makuzu in, 132, 138, 170, 281; vs. private, 66, 287; and social networks, 12, 57, 66, 169 publishing, 142, 146n18, 174; Bakin on, 156-58, 167n79 Rai San’yĿ, 130, 131 Ramirez-Christensen, Esperanza, 21 Rangaku. See Western learning Rangaku kaitei (Ladder of Dutch Studies; ľtsuki Gentaku), 9n28 Rangaku koto hajime (The Origins of Rangaku; Sugita Gempaku), 57 reforms: advocates of, 40, 263n5, 265, 267-68, 276n62, 283n99; Bakin on,

316

INDEX

261, 283; and Confucianism, 180, 281; discourse on, 168-69, 281; economic, 8, 16, 55, 66, 168, 255, 257, 262-265, 274-275, 282, 283, 285n105; and enlightenment, 262, 280; Heisuke on, 39, 282; and human nature, 258; Kansei, 40, 83, 156n51, 180, 279, 281; and knowledge, 279-82; of laws, 15, 260, 262; Makuzu on, 3, 15-16, 262-86, 287; and rhythm, 262-86; in Sendai, 236, 257; social, 169, 258, 263, 282; and Tanuma, 40, 285n105; TempĿ, 13n37 relativism, 222, 240, 248; of Heisuke, 227, 282; of place, 227-32; and time, 224n50, 225, 226 religion, 284-86. See also Buddhism; Christianity Rezanov, Nikolai Petrovich, 240n105 rhythm (hyĿshi), 16, 209-40; of China vs. Japan, 228-31, 235; cosmology of, 15, 169, 209, 210-15, 242; and foreign countries, 227-32, 236; genealogy of Makuzu’s, 215-23; and human nature, 241, 252-53; of Japan, 232-40; and leadership, 285n105, 286; of money, 263, 273, 275-76; and morality, 243, 244-45, 247; and reform, 262-86; vs. shirabe, 215-17, 220-21, 224; and time, 223-27; vs. the Way, 218, 22122, 224, 231 righteousness (gi), 245-46, 247, 248, 254 Roberts, Luke, 264 Robertson, Jennifer, 187n47 Rome, 284 Rosenberg, Charles, 185n38 Roshia hongi (Basic description of Russia; Maeno RyĿtaku), 74n29 Russia: and castaways, 88, 240n105; czar of, 284-85, 286; expansionism of, 264; government of, 269-70, 282; Heisuke on, 72-81, 88, 270; vs. Japan, 237, 270-71; Makuzu on, 16, 229, 236, 270, 276, 284; marriage in, 132n123; trade with, 73, 77, 78, 264-65, 269 Saeki ShĿichi, 17n2 SaitĿ ChikudĿ, 51n95 Sakhalin Island, 76n35 Sakurabana (hanging scroll), 2, 10 salt, 265-66

samurai: and arithmetic, 276-79; education of, 174, 175; Heisuke’s status as, 41, 48, 64; Iga as, 98; KudĿ family as, 25, 31-32; Kuwabara family as, 43; and Makuzu, 8, 31, 71; and merchants, 269, 274; and money, 255-58, 271, 272, 275; Nagai family as, 25-27, 31, 32, 41; and physicians, 24, 50, 152; and reform, 263; in social networks, 54-56; status of, 25-27, 31-32, 41, 43, 152, 175; stipends of, 84n73, 133-34, 256, 274, 283; and trade, 269, 270; women of, 118 Sangoku tsŗran hoi (Addendum to Hayashi Shihei’s Survey of the Three Countries), 78n42 Sangoku tsŗran zusetsu (An Illustrated Survey of the Three Countries; Hayashi Shihei), 78n42 Sano Masakoto (Zenzaemon), 81 SantĿ KyĿden, 62, 81n59, 84, 142, 156n51 sarugaku (Noh drama), 98-99, 106 SatĿ ShĿsuke, 59n124, 77n41 Sawaguchi Kakuzaemon, 102n17 scholars (gakusha), 64, 169, 174-75, 179, 280, 281. See also academics (gakumon) science, 41, 57, 179n24, 234 Scott, Joan, 192 Screech, Timon, 59, 62n134 Segawa KikunojĿ II, 56, 187 SeikadĿ BunkĿ, 45n72, 171 Seki Tamiko, 13n38, 132n123, 171, 213 Sekiguchi HyĿdayŗ, 38 Sendai domain: arithmetic in, 278; and botany, 62n134; climate in, 110, 113; and cultural diversity, 230; economy of, 39, 257, 266n19, 271-272; vs. Edo, 108-09, 110, 118, 120, 227n58; famine in, 80; foreign threats to, 240n105; and Heisuke, 38, 79, 84-86; and Kuwabara family, 43; local dialect of, 108, 112; Makuzu in, 1, 4-5, 8, 14, 71, 96-138, 148, 168, 288; Makuzu on, 5, 19, 108-09, 170; map of, 95; merchants from, 271-72; products of, 266n19; reforms in, 236, 257; social networks in, 98-100 Seven Flowers of Autumn. See Nanakusa no tatoe

INDEX

sexuality: and competition, 251; vs. heart, 188-90; and human nature, 189-92; and love, 105-06, 134n129, 188; and women, 196 Shiba KĿkan, 9n28, 242n2 Shibukawa BangorĿ, 27n14 Shikibu. See Fujitsuka Shikibu Tomoaki Shimizu Hamaomi, 10, 22n20, 45n72, 68n8, 116, 117, 139, 217n26; Makuzu’s correspondence with, 11113 Shimizu Shikin, 7n19 Shingaku (Heart Learning), 180, 197, 203n98, 208n109 Shinkokinshŗ (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems), 47n77, 115 Shinran, 285n105 Shinron (New Theses; Aizawa Seishisai), 283n99, 286 Shinsen RĿeishŗ (poetry collection; Fujiwara Mototoshi), 47n76 Shinto, 99, 100n11. See also gods, Japanese Shiogama mĿde (Pilgrimage to Shiogama; Makuzu), 107 shogunate. See government sincerity (makoto), 211, 212, 215, 223, 239, 241, 249 Snow Country Tales (Suzuki Bokushi), 108, 141n5 social networks: class diversity in, 57, 59, 66, 170; in Edo, 12, 49-65, 146n18, 169, 177; of Heisuke, 49-65, 66, 76, 177, 287; of Iga, 98-100; of KudĿ family, 169-70, 287; and literary trends, 109; physicians in, 49-50, 59; and poetry, 47n78, 56-57, 68nn5, 8, 111, 114n, 217; and public sphere, 12, 57, 66, 169; samurai in, 54-56; in Sendai, 98-100 social status: and autobiography, 19-20; commoner, 24, 32, 50n92, 148, 152, 174, 176; and competition, 250, 25254, 255, 258; and education, 174-76, 206; and enlightenment, 202-4; and gender, 19-20, 93, 176, 192-200, 206; and genealogy, 24-25; of Heisuke, 24, 27, 41, 48, 49, 50-51, 64, 94, 174; and human nature, 191, 196; and intelligence, 206-7; of KudĿ family, 24, 27, 31-32, 51, 93, 94; and lineage,

317

24-25, 33; and Makuzu, 15, 16, 170, 287; and marriage, 66-67, 79-80, 88; and money, 24, 256, 283; and morality, 175, 263n6, 269, 282; of Nagai family, 31, 32, 41; of physicians, 24, 29, 38, 39n55, 50, 56, 152, 174; and reform, 263; samurai, 25-27, 31-32, 41, 43, 152, 175; of scholars, 174-75; and Shingaku, 197n78; in social networks, 57, 59, 66, 170 Sodegasaki, 31, 37 strange occurrences. See ghost stories Sugawara family, 32, 33 Sugawara no Michizane, 33 Sugita Gempaku, 9n28, 35n40, 57, 61n132, 62n136, 85n76; and Western learning, 60, 74n28, 237-38 Suzuki Bokushi, 108, 109, 141n5 Suzuki JĿhachi, 61n133 Suzuki Yoneko, 51n95, 171 Suzunoya group, 217n27 sweet potatoes, 37n45, 265 Tachibana Ryŗan, 48n81 Tadaki Naoko (student), 4n9 Tadano family, 97, 118, 120, 134, 288; homes of, 98, 99, 100, 102 Tadano Iga Tsurayoshi (husband), 10, 97-107; death of, 133, 136; Makuzu’s feelings for, 103-06, 134; Makuzu’s letters to, 101, 102; stipend of, 133-34 Tadano Makuzu. See Makuzu Tadano Makuzu shŗ (Collected Works of Tadano Makuzu), 7-8 Tadano Naosaku, 102, 105, 106 Tadano TaijĿ Zendayŗ, 102n17 Tadano Tosho Naoyuki, 102 Tadano Yoshiyasu, 102 Tadano Zusho, 160n60 Takano no HokuĿin, 39n59 Takayama HikokurĿ, 61n132, 100n11 Takeda Umeko (student), 4n9 Takizawa Bakin, 139-67, 209; and Confucianism, 164, 178-80, 181, 207, 208, 233; eclecticism of, 178, 214n17; education of, 175; and end of relationship, 158-60, 163-65; on enlightenment, 201, 203-5; family of, ¿UVWFRQWDFWZLWKRQ gender, 145, 146, 152-153, 159-160, 177-178, 179, 186-88, 192-94, 196,

318

INDEX

204-205, 207, 208; on geographical rhythm, 230, 231; and ghost stories, 109; on government, 259-60; on heart, 188-89; and Hitori kangae, 8, 14, 138, 171; on human nature, 191, 248n25, 254; on Japan, 234, 238; on ki, 242-43; Makuzu’s correspondence with, 25, 33, 64, 96, 141, 142-43, 14751, 152, 154-55, 199-200, 201, 279; on Makuzu’s “manly” mind, 4, 16, 149n27, 177, 178, 179, 194, 195, 207, 288; and money, 272, 273-74, 275; on PRUDOLW\QRQ¿FWLRQRI poems by, 146n18, 153; on publishing, 156-58, 167n79; on reforms, 261, 283; regrets of, 165-67; response to Makuzu of, 151-53; on rhythm, 213, 214; on Shinran, 285n105; social circles of, 109; and survival of Makuzu’s writings, 108n36, 165, 17172, 240n105; and time, 226; as urban recluse, 145, 146; on Western learning, 58, 239, 277n68. See also DokkĿron; Makuzu no ouna; Towazugatari Takizawa SĿhaku, 142n10 Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu), 173 Tamai Yukiatsu, 171, 172 Tamamushi JŗzĿ, 39n56, 254n49 Tamate HachirĿemon, 46n75 Tanabata festival (Festival of the Weaver), 57n122, 58 Tanaka Nagamasu, 143 tanka (mijikauta) poetry, 68n9 Tanuma Okitomo, 80-81, 132 Tanuma Okitsugu, 14, 38, 40, 60, 86n78, 279; and economy, 89, 264n11, 278n69; fall of, 82-89; and Heisuke, 72, 77-79, 93, 130; reforms of, 285n105; and son’s murder, 80-81 tea ceremony, 32, 55, 70, 90; haunted, 50n89, 60n131 TempĿ reforms, 13n37 Terazawa, Yuki, 50, 185 Teshima Toan, 197, 203n98 theater, 64, 70; actors in, 55-56, 186-187, 280, 282; Kabuki, 56, 109n42, 186187, 281n84; Noh, 98-99, 106 Thomas, Roger, 217 Thoughts on Rumors about Kamchatka. See Akaezo fŗsetsu kĿ Thunberg, Carl Peter, 61n133

time: and arithmetic, 277, 278-79; Heisuke on, 282; and money, 223, 253; and progress, 223, 225, 226-27; and rhythm, 223-27 Tocco, Martha, 176 Toenkai (Rabbit Grove Society), 109n43, 172n8 Tokugawa Ieharu, 82 Tokugawa Ienari, 62n134, 82 Tokugawa Yoshimune, 62n134 Tonomura JĿsai, 172 Tosa nikki (Tosa Diary;), 18n5 Towazugatari (A Tale No One Asked For; letter; Makuzu), 21n19, 64, 118, 147, 152, 201, 209n2, 262n2. See also Confessions of Lady NijĿ (Towazugatari) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 25n4 trade: and arithmetic, 277, 278; with China, 265; and competition, 253; foreign, 37, 60, 61n132, 74-75, 77, 78, 264-267, 269; and government, 262, 264-271, 276, 278n69; Heisuke on, 266-67; illegal, 82; and Japan’s image, 236; in medicinal plants, 37, 86, 26667; in metals, 265-66; monopolies in, 37, 264n11, 265; and morality, 268, 270; in Nagasaki, 264n11, 265; in national products (kokusan), 266-67; with Russia, 73, 77, 78, 264-65, 269; and samurai, 269, 270; in sugar vs. salt, 265-66 travelogues, 5n13, 107-08, 157 Tsuchiyama SĿjirĿ, 84, 264n11 Tsudayŗ (castaway), 240n105 Tsukamoto Manabu, 233n77 Tsurezuregusa (Leaves of Idleness), 259 Tsuruya Nanboku, 109n42 Tsutaya JŗzaburĿ, 141, 142, 152n39, 156n51 Ueda Akinari, 109, 229n65 Ugetsu monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain; Ueda Akinari), 109 urban recluses (shiin), 146 Utagatari (Talk about Poetry; Murata Harumi), 217 Utsuho Monogatari (Tale of the Hollow Tree), 45

INDEX

Wabun no Kai (poetry gathering), 68n8 Wagaku taigai (An Outline of Japanese Learning; Murata Harumi), 180, 235, 268n27 waka poetry, 68n9, 106, 109-110, 113115, 217, 226 Wakan RĿeishŗ (poetry collection; Fujiwara no KintĿ), 47n76 Wakan sansai zue (Illustrated Encyclopedia), 185 Walthall, Anne, 12 Watanabe MĿan, 219n33 watches, 224, 227, 277, 278n68 the Way: Chinese origin of, 212; and commercialization, 254, 255; and foreign countries, 237-38, 239; and geographical diversity, 230; and human nature, 250, 260; and Japan, 234, 240; Mabuchi on, 212, 219, 220, 227, 238; Makuzu’s rejection of, 21115; masculine, 174-81; and morality, 214, 246; vs. nativism, 233; vs. nature, 214-15, 220, 238n97; vs. rhythm, 218, 221-22, 224, 231; and time, 223, 226, 227. See also Confucianism Western learning (Rangaku), 9, 57, 74n28, 179n24, 180, 287; Bakin on, 59, 239, 277n68; and gender, 132n123, 185, 284; and Heisuke, 36, 57-63; and Makuzu, 57, 70, 170, 178, 209, 234, 239; and medicine, 76, 170, 184, 237-38; and reform, 169 women: auto/biography of, 17-18, 149n27, 178n17; Bakin on, 145, 146, 152-53; Confucius on, 205-8; diaries of, 13n37, 21; education of, 5, 4647, 67-72, 175, 176-77, 195, 196-97, 205-6; and enlightenment, 204; in Makuzu’s family, 30-31, 41-42; and

319

onnagata, 187; and physicians, 79; and poetry, 57, 176; and private vs. public spheres, 3, 66, 136-137, 138, 155; roles of, 147-49, 154-55; as rulers, 284n103; sexuality of, 196; and status, 67, 93, 176, 192-200, 206; subordination of, 6, 127, 167, 192200, 194; as teachers, 176-77; virtues of, 196-97; as writers, 2-3, 5-6, 7, 42, 167n79. See also gender “Words of a Crazy Doctor” (KyĿi no kotoba; Sugita Gempaku), 237-38 Yamaga SokĿ, 20 Yamagata BantĿ, 224n50, 236, 257, 263, 276n62, 278, 285n105 Yamamoto Chŗemon, 67n2 Yamamoto Hokuzan, 157 Yamato monogatari (Tales of Yamato), 47n77 Yamawaki TĿyĿ, 35, 243n6 Yamazaki Bisei, 142n10 Yashiro Hirokata, 142n10, 172 Yasubei (clerk), 39n58 yin and yang (in/yĿ), 193-95, 207 Yoshio KĿgyŗ, 53n103, 59, 61, 74, 75, 85n76, 265 Yotsuya kaidan (Ghost Stories at Yotsuya), 109n42 Yuya Shizuko, 107n32, 115n61, 126 Zen Buddhism, 201, 203n98 Zenbei (servant), 89 Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean), 177n15, 211n4, 213n12, 254 Zhu Xi, 213n13, 237n94 Zhuangzi, 214, 221. See also Daoism; Laozi zuihitsu (miscellany), 19

BRILL’S JAPANESE STUDIES LIBRARY ISSN 0925-6512 1. Plutschow, H.E., Chaos and Cosmos. Ritual in Early and Medieval Japanese Literature. 1990. ISBN 90 04 08628 5 2. Leims, Th.F. Die Entstehung des Kabuki. Transkulturation Europa-Japan im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert. 1990. ISBN 90 04 08988 8 3. Seeley, Chr. A History of Writing in Japan. 1991. ISBN 90 04 09081 9 4. Vovin, A. A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu. 1993. ISBN 90 04 09905 0 5. Yoda, Y. The Foundations of Japan’s Modernization. A Comparison with China’s Path Towards Modernization. Transl. by K.W. Radtke. 1996. ISBN 90 04 09999 9 6. Hardacre, H. and A.L. Kern (eds.), New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan. 1997. ISBN 90 04 10735 5 7. Tucker, J.A. Ito Jinsai’s Gomo- Jigi and the Philosophical Definition of Early Modern Japan. 1998. ISBN 90 04 10992 7 8. Hardacre, H. (ed.) The Postwar Development of Japanese Studies in the United States. 1998. ISBN 90 04 10981 1 9. Hanashiro, R.S. Thomas William Kinder and the Japanese Imperial Mint, 1868-1875. 1999. ISBN 90 04 11345 2 10. Teitler, G. and K.W. Radtke (eds.) A Dutch spy in China. Reports on the First Phase of the Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1939) 1999. ISBN 90 04 11487 4 11. Mortimer, M. Meeting the Sensei. The Role of the Master in Shirakaba Writers. 2000. ISBN 90 04 11655 9 12. Scholz-Cionca, S. Leiter, S.L. Japanese Theatre and the International Stage. 2000. ISBN 90 04 12011 4 13. Saltzman-Li, K. Creating Kabuki Plays. Context for Kezairoku, “Valuable Notes on Playwriting”. 2003. ISBN 90 04 12115 3 14. Ozaki, M. Individuum, Society, Humankind. The Triadic Logic of Species According to Hajime Tanabe. 2001. ISBN 90 04 12118 8 15. Bentley, J.R. A Descriptive Grammar of Early Old Japanese Prose. 2001. ISBN 90 04 123083 16. Higashibaba, I. Christianity in Early Modern Japan. Kirishitan Belief and Practice. 2001. ISBN 90 04 12290 7 17. Schmidt, P. Capital Punishment in Japan. 2001. ISBN 90 04 12421 7 18. Foljanty-Jost, G. Juvenile Delinquency in Japan. Reconsidering the “Crisis”. 2003. ISBN 90 04 13253 8 19. Tomida, H. Hiratsuka RaichÙ and Early Japanese Feminism. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13298 8 20. Ueda, M. Dew on the Grass. The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi Issa. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13723 8 21. Beckwith, C.I. Koguryo: The Language of Japan’s Continental Relatives. 2004. ISBN 90 04 13949 4

22. Parker, H.S.E. Progressive Traditions. An Illustrated Study of Plot Repetition in Traditional Japanese Theatre. 2005. ISBN 90 04 14534 6 24. Gramlich-Oka, B. Thinking Like a Man. Tadano Makuzu (1763-1825). 2006. ISBN-10: 90 04 15208 3, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 15208 3