Masashi Aizawa - Masashi Aizawa

A Confucian scholar from the late Edo period and a representative thinker of Mitogaku. His given name was Yasushi, his pen name was Hakumin, he was commonly known as Tsunezo, and his pen names were Seishisai and Keisai. He was born on May 25, 1782, in Morozawa Village, Kuji County, Hitachi Province (Morozawa, Hitachi-Omiya City, Ibaraki Prefecture). At the age of 10, he studied under Fujita Yukoku and became a copyist at Shokokan. In 1807 (Bunka 4), he served as a jidoku (counselor) to Tokugawa Nariaki (who was then 5 years old), who would later become the feudal lord. In 1824 (Bunsei 7), he participated in the questioning of the British who landed at Otsuhama in Hitachi, and the following year, in 1825, he wrote Shinron (New Theory), which is said to be the holy text of the Sonno Joi (revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians) movement. After Yukoku's death, he became acting president of the Shokokan. When the succession issue arose for the feudal lord Narinobu (1797-1829), he worked hard to support Nariaki. After taking office in 1829, he served as county magistrate, liaison officer, investigator, and president of the Shokokan, before becoming head professor at the Kodokan in 1840 (Tenpo 11). When Perry arrived, he argued against the peace talks, but after the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed in 1858 (Ansei 5), when the secret imperial edict of Bogo, which blamed the Ii Tairo, was sent to the Mito domain, he insisted that the transmission of the imperial edict should be stopped and that it should be returned to the shogunate, as per the Shogunate's orders. During the Sakurada and Sakashita Mongai Incidents, he argued that they were acts of treason that went beyond the status order of the retainers of the Gosanke clan, and then in 1862 (Bunkyu 2), he presented a "Current Affairs Policy" to Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, advising that it was inevitable to open the country, which led to a sharp confrontation with the Sonno Joi faction and led to him being considered a central figure in the faction that supported the radical faction within the domain. In the same year, he was appointed as the head of the Umamawarikashira (head of the horse guards), and he died the following year, Bunkyu 3, on July 14, at the age of 82.

[Muneyuki Yamaguchi April 18, 2016]

"The Mitogaku Series: The Collection of Aizawa Masashisai" (1941, Mitogaku Series Publishing Association)" ▽ "Aizawa Hakumin by Nishimura Fuminosuke (1938, Daito Shobo)" ▽ "Aizawa Masashisai by Takasu Yoshijiro (1942, Koseikaku)" ▽ "Aizawa Masashisai by Seya Yoshihiko (1942, Bunkyo Shoin)" ▽ "Studies on the History of Political Thought in the Late Edo Period by Yamaguchi Muneyuki (1968, Rinrinsha / revised and expanded, 1982, Pelicansha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸末期の儒学者で水戸学の代表的思想家。名は安(やすし)、字(あざな)は伯民(はくみん)、通称恒蔵(つねぞう)、号は正志斎、憩斎(けいさい)。天明(てんめい)2年5月25日常陸(ひたち)国久慈(くじ)郡諸沢(もろざわ)村（茨城県常陸大宮市諸沢）に生まれる。10歳で藤田幽谷(ふじたゆうこく)に学び、彰考館(しょうこうかん)写字生となる。1807年（文化4）、当時5歳であった後の藩主徳川斉昭(とくがわなりあき)の侍読(じどく)を務め、1824年（文政7）イギリス人常陸大津浜上陸事件の尋問にあたり、翌1825年尊王攘夷(そんのうじょうい)運動の聖典といわれる『新論』を著述した。幽谷の没後、彰考館総裁代理となる。藩主斉脩(なりのぶ)（1797―1829）の相続問題が起こると斉昭擁立に奔走。1829年斉昭就任後、郡奉行(こおりぶぎょう)、通事(つうじ)、調役(しらべやく)、彰考館総裁を歴任、1840年（天保11）弘道館教授頭取(とうどり)となる。ペリー来航に際し和議の非を説いたが、1858年（安政5）修好通商条約調印後、井伊大老の非をつく戊午(ぼご)の密勅が水戸藩に下るや、幕命を体して勅書の伝達を中止し、これを幕府に返納すべきことを主張した。桜田・坂下両門外の変に際しては御三家家臣の身分秩序を超える反逆の行為と論断、ついで1862年（文久2）一橋慶喜(ひとつばしよしのぶ)に「時務策」を呈して開国のやむをえないことを献言し、尊攘派と鋭く対立、藩内激派に対する鎮派の中心人物とみなされるに至った。この年馬廻頭(うままわりかしら)上座となり、翌文久(ぶんきゅう)3年7月14日82歳で没した。

［山口宗之　2016年4月18日］

『『水戸学大系　会沢正志斎集』（1941・水戸学大系刊行会）』▽『西村文則著『会沢伯民』（1938・大都書房）』▽『高須芳次郎著『会沢正志斎』（1942・厚生閣）』▽『瀬谷義彦著『会沢正志斎』（1942・文教書院）』▽『山口宗之著『幕末政治思想史研究』（1968・隣人社／改訂増補・1982・ぺりかん社）』

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