Ishida Baigan

A thinker of the mid-Edo period, and the founder of Sekimon Shingaku. Born on September 15, 1381, as the second son of Ishida Gon'emon, a farmer in Touge Village, Kuwata County, Tanba Province (present-day Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture). His mother was Tane. His name was Okinaga, and he was commonly known as Kanpei. Baigan (Iwao) was his pen name. He went to Kyoto at the age of 11 to work as an apprentice, but returned home temporarily at the age of 15, and at the age of 23, he returned to Tokyo again and worked for the merchant Kuroyanagi family. Since childhood, he loved logic and had a tendency to seek the truth, and wished to explore the path of human beings, so he studied the various ideas of Shinto, Confucianism, and Buddhism on his own while working. From around the age of 35, his self-realized beliefs began to waver, and he sought mentors from all over the world, meeting Oguri Ryoun (1668-1729), who was well versed in Confucianism and Buddhism, and devoting himself to training. At the age of 40, he attained enlightenment, but after another year of training, he reached a state of mind where he was no longer able to see his own nature. At the age of 43, he quit his servant job, and in 1729 (Kyoho 14), at the age of 45, he held a lecture hall at his home on the east side of Oikeagaru, Kurumayamachi-dori, Kyoto, with a sign saying that the lectures were open to the public and seats were free. In the early days, he had few listeners and public opinion was mixed, but his teachings, coupled with his honest personality, gained him many followers among the common people, and spread to various places through the missionary activities of his disciple Tejima Toan and Nakazawa Douji, a disciple of Toan. His school of thought came to be called Sekimon Shingaku and had a great influence on the intellectual world of the early modern period. He died on September 24, 1st year of Enkyo, at the age of 60, at his home in Rokkaku-shita, Sakai-cho-dori, Kyoto, and was buried at Toribeyama Ennen-ji Temple. His main works include "Tohimondo" (Dialogues in the Capital) in four volumes and "Kenyaku Saikaron" (The Theory of Frugality and Family Management) in two volumes. His other works include "Ishida Sensei Sayings" (Story of Ishida Sensei), which is a compilation of discussions with his disciples, in 24 volumes, and "Ishida Sensei Jiseki" (The History of Ishida Sensei), a biography.

Baigan's philosophical subject was the exploration of the true nature of human nature, and while he was based on Neo-Confucianism, he freely incorporated the ideas of Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, Laozi, and Zhuangzi, and established his own philosophy of life through a flexible way of thinking. He believed that all human nature was inherited from Heaven, that it was "one whole, small heaven and earth," and that there was essentially no discrimination between the four classes (samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants). Based on this awareness and his own experiences, he rejected the theory of lowly merchants, which was a social idea at the time that despised merchants' pursuit of profit and considered them inferior in both status and morality, and instead advocated that the pursuit of profit was the "Principle of Heaven," that the profits of merchants were equivalent to the salaries of samurai, and actively affirmed the significance of the social role of merchants. He also argued that "thrift," which was considered a technical virtue in economic life, was consistent with the virtue of "honesty," which had been respected as the traditional primary virtue of Japan. Baigan's ideas became representative of the philosophy of townspeople by preaching equality for all in the practice of the Tao and philosophical considerations about the relationship between economics and morality.

[Jun Imai April 18, 2016]

"The Complete Works of Ishida Baigan, edited by Shibata Minoru, 2 volumes (1972, Seibundo Publishing)" ▽ "Ishida Baigan, written by Shibata Minoru (1962/New edition, 1988, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)" ▽ "The Thoughts of Ishida Baigan, edited by Furuta Shokin and Imai Jun (1979, Pelican Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の思想家で、石門(せきもん)心学の創始者。貞享(じょうきょう)2年9月15日に丹波(たんば)国桑田郡東懸(とうげ)村（現、京都府亀岡(かめおか)市）の農家石田権右衛門の二男に生まれる。母はたね。名は興長(おきなが)、通称勘平(かんぺい)。梅岩（巌）は号。11歳で京都に出て丁稚奉公(でっちぼうこう)したが、15歳で一時帰郷、23歳のときふたたび上京し、商家黒柳家に奉公した。幼年時代より理屈好きで求道的な性格をもち、人の人たる道を探求したいと願い、業務に励みながら独学で神儒仏の諸思想を研究した。35歳ごろからそれまでの自得の信念に動揺が生じ、諸方に師を求めるうち、儒仏に通じた小栗了雲(おぐりりょううん)（1668―1729）に巡り会い修行に励む。40歳のとき、いったん開悟したが、さらに1年余の修行を経て自性見識を離れた境地に達した。43歳で奉公を辞し、45歳の1729年（享保14）京都車屋町通御池上ル(おいけあがる)東側の自宅で、聴講自由で席料無料の看板を掲げて講席を開く。初期は聴講者も少なく世評も区々(まちまち)であったが、その教えは彼の誠実な人格と相まって庶民の間に信奉者を増し、弟子の手島堵庵(てじまとあん)や、堵庵門下の中沢道二(なかざわどうに)らの布教活動によって各地に広まり、その学派は石門心学とよばれ、近世思想界に大きな影響を与えた。彼は60歳の延享(えんきょう)元年9月24日、京都の堺(さかい)町通六角下ルの自宅で没し、鳥辺山(とりべやま)延年寺に埋葬された。主著は『都鄙問答(とひもんどう)』4巻、『倹約斉家論』2巻。ほかに門下生との討論をまとめた『石田先生語録』24巻、伝記として『石田先生事蹟(じせき)』などがある。

　梅岩の思想的課題は人間の「性」の本質の探求であったが、彼は朱子学に拠(よ)りながらも神儒仏老荘(ろうそう)の諸思想をも自由に取り入れるという柔軟な思考方法により、独自の人生哲学を樹立した。彼は人の「性」はみな「天」より受け得たもので「全体一箇の小天地」であり、本質的に四民（士農工商）の差別はないという。この自覚と自らの体験に基づき、商人の営利追求を賤(いや)しめ、商人を身分的にも道徳的にも劣等視するという当時の社会通念であった賤商(せんしょう)論を否定し、利潤追求を「天理」として、商人の売利は武士の俸禄(ほうろく)と同等のものと説き、商人の社会的役割の意義を積極的に肯定した。また彼は経済生活上の技術的な徳とされていた「倹約」は、日本の伝統的な主徳として尊重されてきた「正直」の徳に一致すると主張した。梅岩の思想は、道の実践における万民平等と、経済と道徳の関係についての哲学的考察を説くことにより町人の代表的哲学となった。

［今井　淳　2016年4月18日］

『柴田実編『石田梅岩全集』全2巻（1972・清文堂出版）』▽『柴田実著『石田梅岩』（1962／新装版・1988・吉川弘文館）』▽『古田紹欽・今井淳編著『石田梅岩の思想』（1979・ぺりかん社）』

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