Dong Zhongshu - Tochuujo

A great scholar of the Western Han Dynasty, China. Born in Guangchuan, Hebei Province. At a young age, he studied the Gongyang School of the Spring and Autumn Annals, and for three years he studied hard without even leaving the court. He was a humble person, and his words and actions were always in accordance with etiquette, so he was highly respected and was appointed a doctor during the reign of Emperor Jing. At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Wu, he rejected the various schools of thought that said, "The Six Arts are not the art of Confucius," and submitted a petition that Confucianism should be the only orthodox ideology. This opinion led to the realization of Confucianism becoming the state religion. He later became the Prime Minister of Jiangdu, and is said to have made rain fall and stop rain according to the theory of strange disasters in the Spring and Autumn Annals. He was promoted to the position of Central Grand Minister, and was in trouble for writing about strange disasters caused by yin and yang, and was almost executed. Later, he fell out of favor with Gongsun Hong (200-121 BC) and was transferred to the position of minister to the notorious King of Jiaoxi. Although the king treated him well, he resigned his post citing illness and devoted himself to research. Whenever a major problem arose, the imperial court would send envoys to ask for advice, and Dong Zhongshu provided an answer based on the theories of the Spring and Autumn Annals. His main work, the Spring and Autumn Annals: The Rich Dew, explains the spirit of the Spring and Autumn Annals from the perspective of Gongyang studies, and its theories of ritual and music, the correlation between heaven and man, the theory of strange disasters, and revolutionary theory gave direction to the ideas of the Han dynasty, and also had a great influence on the Gongyang school at the end of the Qing dynasty. The 16 chapters of Gongyang's Management of Prison and the 123 chapters of Dong Zhongshu, which appear in the Records of the Han, no longer exist.

[Toshiaki Hihara January 19, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、前漢の大学者。河北省広川(こうせん)の人。若くして春秋公羊学(しゅんじゅうくようがく)を修め、3年の間庭にも出ないで勉励したという。人柄が謙譲であり、言動はつねに礼法にかなっていたので、信望が高く、景帝のとき博士に任ぜられた。武帝の初めに、「六芸(りくげい)の科、孔子の術にあらざる」諸子百家を退けて、儒教を唯一の正統思想とすべきことを奏上し、この意見がきっかけとなって儒教の国教化が実現した。のち江都(こうと)国の相(しょう)（行政長官）となり、『春秋』の災異説によって雨を降らせたり止めたりしたという。中大夫(ちゅうたいふ)に遷(うつ)り、陰陽災異を述べて筆禍にあい、あやうく死罪になりかけた。その後公孫弘(こうそんこう)（前200―前121）に嫌われて、悪名高い膠西(こうせい)王の相に転出させられ、王の処遇は丁重であったが、病気を理由にして職を辞し、研究に専念した。朝廷は、重大問題がおこると使者を遣わして意見を求め、董仲舒は『春秋』の理論によって解答を与えた。主著の『春秋繁露(はんろ)』は公羊学の立場から『春秋』の精神を説いたもので、その礼楽(れいがく)説、天人相関説、災異説、革命理論など、漢代の思想を方向づけ、清(しん)末の公羊学派にも大きな影響を与えた。『漢志』にみえる『公羊治獄(ちごく)』16篇(へん)、『董仲舒』123篇は現存しない。

［日原利国　2016年1月19日］

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