Ota Kinjo Castle

A Confucian scholar from the late Edo period. He was considered to be of the school of historical inquiry. His given name was Gensei, his pen name was Kokan, and he was commonly known as Saiza. Kinjo was his pen name. He was from Kaga (Ishikawa Prefecture). He first served under Yamamoto Hokuzan, but after gaining the kindness of Taki Genkan, a physician to the shogunate, he read books from the Qing dynasty and established his family's academic style almost entirely on his own. He later served the Lord of Kaga, and died on April 23, 1825, at the age of 61. His representative work, "Discussion on the Nine Classics" (1804), was published when he was 40 years old, and is a treatise on the Nine Classics, which includes the "Book of Filial Piety" and the Four Books, as well as the five classics excluding the "Book of Rites." His vast knowledge was widely publicized in his time, and his investigations into the issue of forgeries in the Book of Documents were particularly precise. This was the result of his respect for Qing dynasty texts of historical research. However, while he criticized Song Confucianism for lacking empirical evidence, he respected its moral practicality (giri), warned against falling into the trap of trivial research, and stressed the need to distinguish between academic authenticity and practical utility, and to pursue both. His distinctive feature was that he pursued academic texts of historical research while valuing the practicality of Confucianism as a practical study.

[Osamu Kanaya April 18, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の儒学者。考証学派とされる。名は元貞、字(あざな)は公幹、通称才佐(さいざ)。錦城はその号。加賀（石川県）の人。初め山本北山(やまもとほくざん)に就いたが、幕府の医官多紀元簡(たきげんかん)の知遇を得て清(しん)朝の書籍を読み、ほとんど独学で一家の学風を樹立した。のち加賀侯に仕え、文政(ぶんせい)8年4月23日、61歳で没した。『九経談(きゅうけいだん)』（1804）はその40歳のときに刊行された代表的著作で、『孝経』と四書に、『礼記(らいき)』を除く五経を加えた九経についての論説である。その学識の淵博(えんぱく)は当時に喧伝(けんでん)され、なかでも『書経』の偽作問題を追求した考証は精密を極めている。これは彼が清朝の考証学を重んじた成果である。ただし、彼は宋学(そうがく)を実証性のないものとして批判しながら、その道義的実践性（義理）を尊重し、瑣末(さまつ)な考証に陥ることを戒めて、学問的な真偽と実践的な効用とを区別してその両面を追求する必要を説いた。実学としての儒学の実践性を重んじながら、学問としての考証学を進めたところに、彼の特色がある。

［金谷　治　2016年4月18日］

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