Urabe Kanekata

Japanese: 卜部兼方 - うらべ・かねかた

Years of birth: unknown. An official who served the Jingikan (Chinese gods) in the late Kamakura period. One of the leading scholars in medieval classical studies. Also known as Kaiken. Born as the son of Kanefumi to the Urabe family of Hiranosha-yashiki, he became the deputy head of the Jingikan (Chinese gods) and a junior fourth-rank officer. After copying the Jindai-maki (Chinese gods) chapter of the Nihon Shoki (the handwritten copy still exists), he wrote the Shaku Nihongi (Chinese writings on the Japanese chronicles). During the Bun'ei and Kenji eras (1264-1278), his father Kanefumi was questioned by Ichijō Sanetune and his son Ietsune about the interpretation of the Nihon Shoki, so he gave a lecture on the book. Kanekata included Kanefumi's comments at that time in the Shaku Nihongi as the theory of his "master," but the contents are centered on the Jindai-maki, and the maturity of research into the Jindai-maki as the family school of the Urabe family is known. Kanekata's Shaku Nihongi (Chinese writings on the Japanese chronicles) brought these to fruition. The contents are empirical, and it can be said that it cultivated the foundation of the Urabe school of thought, which later became more ideological. <Works> "National Treasure Urabe Kanekata's Handwritten Japanese Chronicles: The Age of Gods" (Reproduction), Sonkeikaku edition "Shaku Nihongi" (Reproduction), "Shaku Nihongi" (New Revised and Supplemented National History Series 8)

(Yoshitaro Hakusan)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
鎌倉後期に神祇官に仕えた官人。中世古典研究における代表的学者のひとり。懐賢ともいう。平野社預の卜部家において兼文の子として生まれ,神祇権大副,正四位下となる。『日本書紀』神代巻を書写(自筆本が現存)したのち,『釈日本紀』を著した。文永・建治年間(1264～78),父の兼文が,一条実経とその子家経から『日本書紀』の解釈についての質疑を受けたため,同書の講筵を行った。兼方は『釈日本紀』の中に「先師」の説として,その時の兼文の発言をとりいれているが,その内容は神代巻に集中しており,卜部家の家学としての神代巻研究の成熟度が知られる。それらを大成したのが兼方の『釈日本紀』である。内容は実証的で,その後に思想的色彩を強めていく卜部家学の基盤を培ったものといえる。<著作>『国宝卜部兼方自筆日本書紀神代巻』(複製),尊経閣本『釈日本紀』(複製),『釈日本紀』(新訂増補国史大系8)

(白山芳太郎)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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