Masuho Zankou

Japanese: 増穂残口 - ますほ・ざんこう

Year of death: September 26, 1742 (October 24, 1742)
Year of birth: Meireki 1 (1655)
A Shinto priest in the mid-Edo period. His real surname was Takenaka, but his given name and nickname are unknown. While wandering around the country, he went by the names Taikyoo and Nikosai. Masuho (10-inch long) and Zankuchi are names he used after returning to secular life. He was born in Matsuoka, Usuki (Oita City). He became a Jodo monk at a young age, later converted to Nichiren Buddhism, and went to Edo, where he took refuge at Yanaka Kanno-ji Temple (later Tenno-ji Temple, Taito Ward, Tokyo). However, during the Genroku period (1688-1703), he left the temple due to the shogunate's ban on the Fujubuseha sect. He later wandered around the country, converted to Shintoism, and returned to secular life in 1715 (5th Shotoku) at the age of 61, and published "Endo Tsukan." From then on, he published seven works, including "Iri Wari Go Kagami" and "Shinro Tebikigusa," over the four years until 1719 (4th Kyoho). He rejected Confucianism and Buddhism, and advocated a return to the ancient ways and a revival of Shinto thought, but was well received for his easy-to-understand, digestible writing, using everyday topics that were familiar to readers. Known as the Zanku-ryu school, his writings had a strong influence on the popular dangihon (discussion books) that followed. In 1727, he became a disciple of the Yoshida family in Kyoto, and later became the chief priest of Asahi Shinmei Shrine in Gojo. He also achieved purely academic success, such as the revised edition of the Jindai-maki. His popularity did not wane even after his death, and in 1749 (Kan'en 2), he appeared as the Shinto lecturer Zanku in the show "Onoh Taiheiki" at the Nakamura-za in Edo. <References> Nakano Mitsutoshi, "Masuho Zankuden (Part 1)" ("Research on Mid-Early Modern Literature," edited by the Society for Research on the History of Early Modern Literature), and "Masuho Zankuden (Part 2)" ("Literary Studies," No. 73) by the same group.

(Yoshio Shiraishi)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛保2.9.26(1742.10.24)
生年：明暦1(1655)
江戸中期の神道家。本姓は竹中氏というが,諱,通称など不明。諸国流浪中は待暁翁,似功斎と号した。増穂(十寸穂),残口などは還俗後の称。臼杵の松岡(大分市)に生まれる。若くして浄土僧となり,のち日蓮宗に改宗,江戸に出て谷中感応寺(のち天王寺。東京都台東区)に身を寄せていたが,元禄年間(1688～1703),幕府の不受不施派禁制によって寺籍を離れた。のち諸国を流浪,神道家に転向し,正徳5(1715)年61歳で還俗し,『艶道通鑑』を出版。以後,享保4(1719)年までの4年間に『異理和理合鏡』『神路手引草』など7部の著述を刊行。儒教,仏教を退け,古道再帰,神道思想復興を主張したが,日常卑近な話題を用いてわかりやすくかみくだいた表現であるところが喜ばれた。世に残口流と称せられ,以後に流行する談義本に強い影響を与えた。享保4年京都吉田家に入門,のち五条の朝日神明社の神主となった。『神代巻』の校訂刊行といった純粋な学問的業績もある。没後も人気は衰えることなく,寛延2(1749)年には江戸中村座の顔見世芝居「御能太平記」に神道講釈師残口として登場した。<参考文献>中野三敏「増穂残口伝(上)」(近世文学史研究の会編『近世中期文学の研究』),同「増穂残口伝(下)」(『文学研究』73号)

(白石良夫)

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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