Dazai Shundai - Dazai Shundai

He was a Confucian scholar of the mid-Edo period and a disciple of Ogyu Sorai. His given name was Jun, his pen name was Tokuo, he was commonly known as Yaemon, and he went by the name Shundai. He also called his residence Shishien. He was born in Iida, Shinshu (Iida City, Nagano Prefecture), but moved to Edo at the age of nine. At the age of fifteen, he served the Izushi Domain in Tajima (Hyogo Prefecture), but left the service after a few years. After ten years of moving between Kyoto, Osaka, and Tamba, he returned to Edo in 1711 (the first year of the Shōtoku era) and had the opportunity to meet Ogyu Sorai face-to-face. This led him to abandon the Neo-Confucianism that he had been skeptical of, and become Sorai's disciple. In the same year, he entered the service of the Oimi Domain in Shimousa Province (now Chiba City), but again due to illness, he retired five years later and never held a government position again. He passed away on the last day of May in the fourth year of Enkyo, and was buried by his disciples at Tengenji Temple in Yanaka, Edo.

While Hattori Nankaku inherited the private side of Sorai's school and became the center of the Shibun school, Shundai inherited the public side of Sorai's school and excelled in the theory of economics. While he accepted Sorai's theory of economics based on the natural economic system as a theory of principle, he argued that since the reality is driven by the principle of commodity economy, the feudal domain monopoly system, which corresponds to this, should be an effective practical measure to actively work to enrich the country and strengthen the military, and he also showed agreement with legalist thought as a theoretical basis. These economic ideas of Shundai were inherited and developed by Kaiho Seiryo. In terms of ethical thought, he rejected the theory of mind and law of the Song school, did not recognize any ability to control one's mind, and emphasized "ritual" as an external norm, arguing that the mind should be refined through it. His many works include "Economic Records", "Dictionary Books" (1735), "Questions and Answers on the Sacred Learning" (1736), "Ancient Teachings of the Analects" (1739), "Ancillary Teachings of the Analects" (1745), "Special Explanations of the Laozi" (1747), and "Manuscripts on the Zizhi Garden" (1752).

[Yasuhiro Kojima, June 20, 2016]

"Japanese Thought Series 37: The Sorai School" (1972, Iwanami Shoten) edited by Rai Ikin

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の儒者で荻生徂徠(おぎゅうそらい)の弟子。名は純(じゅん)、字(あざな)は徳夫、通称を弥右衛門といい、春台と号した。またその邸宅を紫芝園(ししえん)と号した。信州飯田(いいだ)（長野県飯田市）に生まれたが、9歳のとき江戸に移住。15歳のとき但馬(たじま)（兵庫県）の出石(いずし)藩に仕えたが、数年にして致仕し、京都、大坂、丹波(たんば)を転々とすること10年ののち、1711年（正徳1）ふたたび江戸に戻り、荻生徂徠と対面する機会を得た。これを機に、それまで疑いを抱いた朱子学を捨て、徂徠の門下となる。同年下総(しもうさ)国生実(おいみ)藩（千葉市）に出仕したが、今度も病を理由に5年後に致仕し、以後は官途につかなかった。延享(えんきょう)4年5月晦日(みそか)に没し、門人たちによって江戸・谷中(やなか)天眼寺(てんげんじ)に葬られた。

　服部南郭(はっとりなんかく)が徂徠学の私的側面を継承し詩文派の中心となったのに対して、春台は徂徠学の公的側面を継承し経世論に秀でた。彼は、徂徠の自然経済機構に立脚した経世論を原則論としては認めつつも、現実が商品経済原理によって動いている以上、これに即応した藩専売制を有効な現実策として、富国強兵を積極的に図るべきだと説き、その理論的裏づけとして法家思想にも同調を示した。これらの春台の経世思想は、海保青陵(かいほせいりょう)に発展的に継承されている。倫理思想の面においては、宋学(そうがく)の心法論を否定し、心の自己統御能力をいっさい認めず、外的規範としての「礼」を重視し、これによって心を醇化(じゅんか)していくべきことを主張した。著書に『経済録』『弁道書』（1735）『聖学問答』（1736）『論語古訓』（1739）『論語古訓外伝』（1745）『老子特解』（1747）『紫芝園稿』（1752）など多数がある。

［小島康敬　2016年6月20日］

『頼惟勤校注『日本思想大系37　徂徠学派』（1972・岩波書店）』

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