Date Chihiro

Japanese: 伊達千広 - だて・ちひろ

Year of death: May 18, 1877
Year of birth: 25th May 1802 (24th June 1802)
A samurai of the Wakayama domain in the late Edo period and a scholar of Japanese classics. His given name was also Munehiro. He was commonly known as Fujijiro and Jittoku. He was the second son of the samurai of the Wakayama domain, Usami Sukenaga, and was adopted by his uncle, Date Moriaki. In 1816, he served the domain's lord, Tokugawa Harutomi, as a page, and was promoted to the rank of chief clerk and accountant. However, in 1852, he lost his position upon the death of the lord, and lived under house arrest in Tanabe, southern Japan, until he was pardoned in 1861. In 1862, he escaped from the domain and participated in the movement to unite the Imperial Court and the Shogunate with his adopted son, Muneoki. He was then sentenced to imprisonment in 1865. After the Meiji Restoration, he took refuge under his biological son, Mutsu Munemitsu, and devoted himself to waka poetry and Zen. In 1820, Chihiro became a disciple of Motoori Ohira, and studied Japanese classics. His historical work "Taisei Santenkou," written in 1858, made his name immortal. The work divided Japanese history from ancient times to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate into three periods: "Bone era," "Oshiki era," and "Name era," and discussed the changes that occurred. It was innovative in that it divided periods into objective, institutional periods, as opposed to the traditional chronological or biography-style historical narratives, and also in the clarity of its explanation of the changes in the eras, and it has been praised as a precursor to the next generation of historical theory. <References> Takase Shigeo, "Date Chihiro"

(Numata Satoshi)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治10.5.18(1877)
生年：享和2.5.25(1802.6.24)
江戸後期の和歌山藩士,国学者。名は宗広ともいう。通称藤二郎,自得と号す。和歌山藩士宇佐美祐長の次男で,叔父伊達盛明の養子。文化13(1816)年小姓として藩主徳川治宝に仕え,以後累進し大番頭格,勘定吟味役を兼ねるに至るが,嘉永5(1852)年藩主の死により失脚,文久1(1861)年赦免されるまで南紀田辺に蟄居。2年脱藩し養子宗興と公武合体運動に関与。その後慶応1(1865)年禁固に処せられた。維新後は実子陸奥宗光のもとに身をよせ,和歌と禅に没頭した。千広は文政3(1820)年本居大平に入門,国学を学んだ。嘉永1年執筆の史書『大勢三転考』は彼の名を不朽にした。同書は古代から徳川幕府成立に至る日本の歴史を「骨の代」「職の代」「名の代」の3時期に区分してその変遷を論じた。それは従来の編年体や紀伝体という歴史叙述の形態に対し,客観的な制度の態様で時代区分をしたこと,また時代転換の説明の明快さという点でも斬新であり,次代の史論の前駆とも評されている。<参考文献>高瀬重雄『伊達千広』

(沼田哲)

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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