Hokoku Yamada

Japanese: 山田方谷 - やまだ・ほうこく

Year of death: June 26, 1877
Year of birth: Bunka 2.2.21 (1805.3.21)
A Confucian scholar from the late Edo period, beginning with the Meiji Restoration. His given name was Kyu, his pen name was Rinkei, and he was commonly known as Yasugoro, and his pen name was Hokoku. He was born in Nishikata Village, Aga County, Bitchu Province (Nakai Town, Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture) as the eldest son to his father Gorokichi (Shigemi), who ran an oil pressing business, and his mother Kaji. He studied under Marukawa Shoin, and later went to Kyoto in 1825 to study under Terashima Hakuroku, and in 1831 he became head of the domain school Yushukan in Matsuyama Domain (Okayama Prefecture) and was registered as a samurai. In 1831 he returned to Kyoto again, and had contact with Yangming scholars such as Kasuga Sen'an, and the following year he went to Edo to study under Sato Issai. After returning to the domain in 1849 he became head of the domain school. In 1849 he was selected by the domain lord Itakura Katsushige to become head of the domain school and inspector, and later became a county magistrate, where he helped to restore the domain's collapsed finances. He was highly renowned as a scholar, and Kusaka Genzui, Akizuki Tanehisa, and Kawai Tsugunosuke all traveled to study with him. When the feudal lord was appointed as a senior councilor in 1862, he appointed Hokoku as an advisor. After the feudal lord was reinstated as a senior councilor in 1865, he became an advisor again, but was unable to get involved in the political situation at the end of the Edo period and returned to the feudal lord. After the Meiji Restoration, he devoted himself to education, and in 1873, he was invited to lecture at the restored Shizutani School in Okayama Prefecture. His philosophy was based on Yangmingism, but it was not limited to simply teaching the founders, and was backed up by his confidence that it was "learning for the practical use of the world." <Works> "Complete Works of Yamada Hokoku" <References> Yamada Jun "Chronology of Professor Hokoku"

(Numata Satoshi)

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

Japanese:

没年：明治10.6.26(1877)
生年：文化2.2.21(1805.3.21)
幕末維新期の儒学者。名は球,字は琳卿,通称安五郎,方谷は号。備中国阿賀郡西方村(岡山県高梁市中井町)に絞油業を営む父五郎吉(重美)と母梶の長男に生まれる。丸川松隠に就き,のち文政8(1825)年上洛して寺島白鹿に学び,10年松山藩(岡山県)藩校有終館会頭となり,士籍に列した。天保2(1831)年再上洛,春日潜庵ら陽明学者と往来,翌年江戸に出て佐藤一斎に師事する。7年帰藩後藩校学頭。嘉永2(1849)年藩主板倉勝静の抜擢により元締役兼吟味役,またのち郡奉行となり破綻した藩財政の立て直しを行う。学者としての名声高く,久坂玄瑞,秋月胤永,河井継之助らが来遊従学する。文久2(1862)年藩主が老中に就任するや,方谷を顧問とした。慶応1(1865)年藩主の老中復職後再び顧問となり幕末政局に対するが意を得ず帰藩する。維新後はもっぱら教育に努め,明治6(1873)年再興の岡山県閑谷学校に請われて出講した。その思想は陽明学であるが,単なる祖述に終わらず「経世致用の学」との自信に裏付けられていた。<著作>『山田方谷全集』<参考文献>山田準『方谷先生年譜』

(沼田哲)

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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