Toda Mosui

Japanese: 戸田茂睡 - とだ・もすい

Year of death: April 14, 1706 (May 25, 1706)
Year of birth: May 19, 1629 (July 9, 1629)
A poet of the early Edo period. His real surname was Watanabe, and his given names were Feng and Kyoko, commonly known as Moemon, and his pen names were Nashimoto and Fukyubashi. He was born in Fuchu, Suruga (Shizuoka Prefecture) as the son of Watanabe Tadashi, a senior vassal of Tokugawa Tadanaga. When he was a child, his master's family was dispossessed, and he and his parents were forced to live in seclusion in Kurobane, Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture), where his privileged circumstances changed completely. He was later adopted by his paternal uncle, Toda Masatsugu. He is said to have served the Okazaki Domain in Mikawa (Aichi Prefecture), but the exact date is unclear. Due to the uncertainty of his career and his noble family background, Mosui had already become a legendary figure by the late Edo period. In his later years, he was free to indulge in literature, and his writings were concentrated in the Genroku period. Although he did not leave behind a comprehensive collection of poetic works, his private collection "Tori no Ato" (1702) is significant as the first underground anthology published in Edo. Furthermore, his theory of waka poetry, known from works such as "Hengencho" and "Nashimotoshu", has attracted attention for the strength of his attack on the traditional study of waka poetry since the Middle Ages, but it must be admitted that his criticism is one-sided and full of contradictions. Mosui's words are based on a common foundation with those of the hatamoto vassals who had suffered hard times, and should be seen as arising from an unfulfilled desire for realism as a samurai official, as seen in "Gotodai-ki" and "Nashimotoshu", making it difficult to evaluate him purely as a theory of waka poetry. His main works are included in "Toda Mosui Zenshu". <References> Sasaki Nobutsuna "Toda Mosui Theory", Fujihira Haruo "Toda Mosui's Theory of Waka Poetry" ("Kokubungaku Kenkyu" No. 4)

(Keichi Kubota)

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

Japanese:

没年：宝永3.4.14(1706.5.25)
生年：寛永6.5.19(1629.7.9)
江戸前期の歌人。本姓渡辺,名は馮,恭光,通称茂右衛門,号梨本,不求橋など。徳川忠長の重臣渡辺忠の子として駿河(静岡県)府中で出生。幼時に主家が改易処分を受けたため父母と共に下野国(栃木県)黒羽に蟄居,恵まれた境遇は一変した。のち父方の伯父戸田政次の養子となった。三河(愛知県)岡崎藩に仕えたとされるが,正確な時期は判然としない。その経歴の不確定さと氏素姓の高貴さと相俟って,江戸時代後期において,すでに茂睡は伝説上の人物となっている。晩年は自由な身となって文芸に遊んだらしく,著述は元禄期に集中してあらわれる。歌人としてまとまった家集は残さなかったが,私撰集『鳥の跡』(1702)は江戸で出版された最初の地下選集として意義がある。また『僻言調』『梨本集』などで知られる歌論は,中世以来の伝統歌学攻撃の論調の強さで注目されたが,その批判が一面的で矛盾に満ちたものであることも認めざるを得ない。茂睡の言は,不遇をかこつ旗本達のそれと共通の基盤にあり,『御当代記』や『梨本書』にみられる士大夫としての強い現実志向が充たされないところから生じたとみるべきであって,歌論として純粋な評価の対象とはなりにくい面を有する。主著は『戸田茂睡全集』に収録される。<参考文献>佐佐木信綱『戸田茂睡論』,藤平春男「戸田茂睡の歌論」(『国文学研究』4号)

(久保田啓一)

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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