Miura Plum Garden

Japanese: 三浦梅園 - みうら・ばいえん

Year of death: 14th March 1789 (9th April 1789)
Year of birth: August 2, 8th year of Kyoho (September 1, 1723)
A philosopher and economist of the Edo period. Born in Tominaga Village, Bungo Province (Aki Town, Oita Prefecture) as the second son of Giichi and Fusa. His given name was Susumu, his pen name was Yasusada, and his childhood name was Tatsujiro. His grandfather's generation had been doctors, but his family also had forests and fields, and they also worked in agriculture. At the age of 17, he studied under Ayabe Keisai, a Confucian scholar from Kitsuki Domain (Oita Prefecture), and twice, the same year and four years later, he studied under Fujita Keisho, a Confucian scholar from Nakatsu Domain, but neither of these were for long periods, and he was mostly self-taught. As he grew older, he took over the family business, and apart from making long journeys to Nagasaki twice, and to Ise, Kyoto, and Osaka once, he rarely left his hometown in his life, instead working for the family business and educating his students at the Umezono School, and devoting all his free time to reading, contemplation, and writing. Umezono's foundation for learning was cultivated by an insatiable amount of reading. His reading, which was not limited to any particular school or field, from Japanese to Chinese, gave him the conviction that no one had yet attained a definite understanding of the truth, and that the truth must be sought in the heavens and earth that unfold before his eyes. Umezono's learning started from there. At about the age of 29 or 30, Umezono was awakened to the philosophy of qi and wrote a small treatise in the style of Neo-Confucianism entitled Xuan Lun. Xuan is a word in Chinese philosophy that means fundamental existence, and Umezono attempted to construct a theory about fundamental existence. However, conventional philosophical concepts and ways of thinking did not satisfy him. Umezono began his struggle to describe the natural world based on strictly constructed concepts and ways of thinking. After 23 years and 23 revisions, he finally completed his major philosophical work, Xuan Yu (1775). It was a book of a system of natural philosophy based on the logic of yin and yang and the I Ching. According to the I Ching, the fundamental existence of Tai Chi is divided into yin and yang, and yin and yang are each further divided into yin and yang. Umezono makes full use of the logic of this dichotomy chain. The fundamental existence of One is divided into Qi (energy aspect) and matter (material aspect), and Qi and matter are each further divided into Qi and matter. In other words, everything is an integration of Qi and matter. Umezono called the path along which Qi and matter branch out according to the dichotomy the logic of reason. If we trace this path of differentiation of existence backwards and grasp everything as an integration of Qi and matter at each level, we will ultimately arrive at the fundamental existence. The method of recognition was the anti-intuitive unification. In order to describe the concrete world, he gave unique concepts to Qi and matter according to the level of phenomena and existence, and called it the statement of reason. The language of reason is a kind of artificial language, and the systematic description of the natural world based on artificial language and dichotomy logic was "Xuanyu". Together with "Zuyu", an academic overview that was a by-product of writing "Xuanyu", and "Kangu", a work on ethics, these three major works are called Baien's Three Words. He also left behind writings in a wide range of fields, including "Shiwae", which describes his method of poetry, and "Kagen", a work on economics. <Works> Baien Society, eds., "The Complete Works of Baien", volumes 1 and 2 (1979, reprint) <References> Tanaka Masaharu, "Miura Baien", Yamada Keiji, "The Space of Black Words"

(Yamada Keiji)

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

Japanese:

没年：寛政1.3.14(1789.4.9)
生年：享保8.8.2(1723.9.1)
江戸時代の哲学者,経済学者。豊後国東の富永村(大分県安岐町)に,義一とふさの次男として生まれた。名は晋,字は安貞,幼名辰次郎。祖父の代から医を業としたが,山林や田畑もあり,かたわら農業をもいとなむ家柄であった。17歳のとき,杵築藩(大分県)の儒者綾部絅斎に師事し,同じ年と4年後の2度にわたって,中津藩の儒者藤田敬所の門をたたいたが,いずれも長い期間ではなく,その学問形成はほとんど独学によるものであった。長じて家業を継ぎ,長崎に2回,伊勢・京・大坂に1回,長途の旅を試みたほかは,生涯ほとんど故郷を離れず,家業と梅園塾での門人の教育に当たり,その余暇のすべてを読書と思索と執筆にささげた。梅園の学問の基礎を培ったのは,あくことを知らぬ膨大な読書であった。和漢にわたる特定の学派や分野にとらわれないその読書は,まだ誰ひとり確実な真理の認識には到達しておらず,真理は眼前にひろがる天地のなかにおいてこそ探究されなければならぬ,という確信をあたえた。梅園の学問はそこから出発した。 29歳か30歳のころ,梅園は気の哲学に開眼し,『玄論』と題する朱子学風の小さな論文を書いた。玄とは中国哲学において根源的存在をあらわすことばであり,梅園は根源的存在に関する理論を構築しようと試みたのである。しかしながら,従来の哲学的な概念や思考法は彼を満足させなかった。厳密に構成された概念と思考法にもとづく自然的世界の記述を目指して,梅園の苦闘が始まる。それから23年の間に23回の改稿をへて,ようやく一応の完成をみたのが,哲学的主著『玄語』(1775)である。それは陰陽と『易』の論理にもとづく自然哲学体系の書であった。『易』によれば,根源的存在である太極は陰陽に分かれ,陰と陽はそれぞれさらに陰と陽に分かれる。梅園はこの二分法の連鎖の論理を駆使する。根源的存在である一が気(エネルギー的側面)と物(物質的側面)に分かれ,気と物がそれぞれさらに気と物に分かれる。逆にいえば,あらゆるものは気と物の統合体である。気と物が二分法にしたがって二股に枝分かれしてゆくすじ道を,梅園は条理と呼んだ。この存在の分化のすじ道を逆にたどり,あらゆるものをそれぞれのレベルにおける気と物の統合として把握してゆけば,最後には根源的存在に到達できる。その認識の方法が反観合一であった。そして,具体的な世界を記述するために,現象と存在のレベルとに応じて気と物に独特の概念をあたえ,それを条理の言と名づけた。条理の言は一種の人工言語であり,人工言語と二分法の論理にもとづく自然的世界の体系的な記述,それが『玄語』であった。『玄語』執筆の副産物である学問概論の『贅語』と倫理学の著作『敢語』をあわせて,3部の主著を梅園三語と称する。そのほか作詩法を述べた『詩轍』,経済学の著作『価原』など,多方面の著述を残した。<著作>梅園会編『梅園全集』上下(1979,復刻)<参考文献>田中正治『三浦梅園』,山田慶兒『黒い言葉の空間』

(山田慶兒)

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