Hirata Atsutane

A scholar of Japanese classics in the late Edo period. Commonly known as Daigaku. Son of Owada Sachitane (?-1819), a samurai of the Akita domain. At the age of 20, he left his domain and went to Edo, where he became the adopted son of Hirata Atsuyasu, a samurai of the Matsuyama domain in Bitchu. He became independent as a scholar of Japanese classics through self-study, first calling himself Masugenoya, and later Ibukinoya. He also claimed to have been a disciple of Motoori Norinaga while he was still alive, defined Norinaga's study as the study of ancient roads, and considered himself his successor. However, he did not inherit Norinaga's philological method, and shared the only common goal of clarifying ancient roads that had been correctly transmitted only to Japan. However, there was a large difference in the nature of their thought and scholarship, with Norinaga viewing ancient roads as ancient facts while Atsutane viewed them as realistic norms. This difference was already apparent in his early works such as "Kodo Taii" and "Shinto Taii" (1860), but his unique scholarship emerged in "Tama no Mihashira" (Spirit Pillar) of 1812 (Bunka 9), in which he explained the origin of the world consisting of heaven, earth, and springs, and preached peace of mind after death by explaining that after death, people do not go to Yomi as Norinaga had said, but to the underworld ruled by the god Okuninushi. On the one hand, this caused the disapproval of Motoimon, but he established his own position and gained confidence, and he tried to elucidate the origins of the world using myths and legends from India, China, and even the West, writing "Indian Zoji" and "Kara Taikoden" and also believing the words of a boy who claimed to have traveled to the spirit world and a person who said he was reborn as another person, and from there he directly studied the circumstances of the spirit world and wrote "Senkyo Ibun" (completed in 1822) and "Katsugoro Saisei Kibun". In this way, Atsutane completely escaped the influence of Norinaga and pushed forward the argument of "Rei no Shinbashira", and came to write "Koshiden", which has as its core the idea that "this world is a temporary world in which we are made to live for a while in order to test and determine our good and bad, and the spirit world is our true world". Although "Koshiden" was left unfinished, it is said to have been influenced by the Catholic Church. Atsutane's ideas were rather derived from the lineage of indigenous Shinto thought and opposed Suika Shinto, but his practical scholarship was supported by many people, and even after he was ordered by the Shogunate to return to his homeland by the Akita Domain in 1841 (Tenpo 12), his number of disciples continued to increase, reaching 553.

Atsutane's scholarship was passed on to his adopted son, Kanetane (1799-1880), as well as to Okuni Takamasa, Yano Harumichi and others, and became the mainstream of the newly established Jingikan (official office of Shinto) in the early Meiji period. The purely religious aspect that focused on peace of mind after death disappeared, and the Emperor-centered nationalistic aspect became significantly politicized and became the pillar supporting State Shinto.

[Tsuguro Tahara June 20, 2016]

"Tahara Tsuguro and others' annotated edition of "Japanese Thought Series 50: Hirata Atsutane, Tomo Nobutomo, and Okuni Takamasa" (1973, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Tahara Tsuguro, Hirata Atsutane" (1963/New edition, 1986, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)" ▽ "Koyasu Nobukuni, The World of Norinaga and Atsutane" (1977, Chuokoron-Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の国学者。通称は大壑(だいがく)。秋田藩士大和田祚胤(おおわださちたね)（？―1819）の子。20歳で脱藩して江戸に出、備中(びっちゅう)松山藩士平田篤穏(あつやす)の養嗣子(しし)となり、独学によって国学者として自立し、初め真菅乃屋(ますげのや)、のちに気吹乃屋(いぶきのや)と称した。また本居宣長(もとおりのりなが)の生前に入門したと自称、宣長の学問を古道学と規定し、その後継者をもって自任した。しかし、その文献学的方法は継承せず、日本にのみ正しく伝わった古道を明らかにするという目的のみを共通としたが、宣長が古道を古代の事実とみたのに対して、篤胤は現実的規範と見立てるなど、思想、学問の性格には差異が大きい。その違いは初期の『古道大意』『俗神道(しんとう)大意』（1860）などにすでに現れているが、彼の学問が独特の姿を現すのは、天(あめ)・地(つち)・泉(よみ)からなる世界の始まりを説明して、人は死後、宣長のいうように夜見(よみ)に行くのではなく、大国主(おおくにぬし)神の支配する幽冥(ゆうめい)に行くとして死後の安心を説いた、1812年（文化9）の『霊(たま)の真柱(みはしら)』においてである。このことは、一方では本居門のひんしゅくを買ったが、独自の立場を確立して自信を深めた彼は、インド、中国さらには西洋の神話・伝説をも用いて世界の成り立ちを解明しようとして、『印度蔵志』『赤県(から)太古伝』などを著し、また幽界に往来したと称する少年や別人に生まれ変わったという者の言をも信じ、そこから直接幽界の事情を研究して『仙境異聞』（1822成立）『勝五郎再生記聞』などを書いた。こうして篤胤は宣長の影響を完全に脱し『霊の真柱』の主張を推し進めて、「此世(このよ)は吾人(われひと)の善悪(よきあし)きを試み定め賜はむ為に、しばらく生(あれ)しめ給(たま)へる寓世(かりのよ)にて、幽世(かくりよ)ぞ吾人の本世(もとつよ)」であるとの考えを核心とする『古史伝』を著述するに至る。『古史伝』は未完に終わるが、そこには天主教書の影響があるといわれる。篤胤の思想はむしろ在来の神道思想の系譜を引くものであり、垂加(すいか)神道に対抗するものでもあったが、その実践的な学問は多くの人の支持を受け、1841年（天保12）幕命で秋田藩が国元に帰らせてからも門人は増え続け、553人に達した。

　篤胤の学問は養嗣子の銕胤(かねたね)（1799―1880）をはじめ大国隆正(おおくにたかまさ)、矢野玄道(やのはるみち)らに受け継がれ、明治初期には新設の神祇(じんぎ)官の主流となる。そして、死後の安心を中心とする純粋に宗教的な部分は消え、天皇中心の国粋主義的部分が著しく政治化されて国家神道を支える柱となっていった。

［田原嗣郎　2016年6月20日］

『田原嗣郎他校注『日本思想大系50　平田篤胤・伴信友・大国隆正』（1973・岩波書店）』▽『田原嗣郎著『平田篤胤』（1963／新装版・1986・吉川弘文館）』▽『子安宣邦著『宣長と篤胤の世界』（1977・中央公論社）』

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