From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, "Kokugaku," and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan by Gideon Fujiwara

Abstract

Reviewed by: From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, "Kokugaku," and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan by Gideon Fujiwara Mark Teeuwen From Country to Nation: Ethnographic Studies, "Kokugaku," and Spirits in Nineteenth-Century Japan. By Gideon Fujiwara. Cornell East Asia Series, 2021. 292 pages. ISBN: 9781501753930 (hardcover, also available as e-book). Ibukinoya, the Kokugaku school of Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843), stands out among the private academies of the late Edo period for a number of reasons. Ibukinoya had an exceptionally large number of registered disciples—well over four thousand by 1870 following a rise from 553 at the time of Atsutane's death. Atsutane's teachings spread to all corners of Japan, even making some inroads into the curriculum of domain schools. In the first years of Meiji, Atsutane's heir, Kanetane (1799–1880), and other Ibukinoya members occupied positions of influence in the new government, adding to the school's visibility and leading to a temporary influx of new members. This ended abruptly in 1871–1872, however, when an alleged plot to return the emperor to Kyoto and the death of Kanetane's son and heir plunged Ibukinoya into a steep decline. Atsutane's ideas and practices nonetheless remained central to many of the Shinto sects that won official status from 1882 onward. Ibukinoya's cycle of boom and bust raises many questions. How did this school attract so many members across such a large spectrum of classes and localities? What did Atsutane's teachings mean to those who invested in them, and why did Ibukinoya's membership expand so rapidly decades after his death? What forms did local Ibukinoya groups take, and what kind of activities held these groups together? Finally, what was the local legacy of such groups after the 1871 crisis? Gideon Fujiwara's book sheds light on these questions by focusing on a hitherto largely ignored Ibukinoya group based in Hirosaki domain (the western half of today's Aomori Prefecture, also known as Tsugaru). This group never grew particularly large or prominent, reaching only a modest eighteen members in 1871 in contrast to branches in places like neighboring Akita domain, with 330 members, or the Ina valley in Shinano (Nagano), with 386. Hirosaki was in fact a latecomer on the Kokugaku scene. The initiative to start an Ibukinoya group there was taken by the townsman Tsuruya Ariyo (1808–1871) in 1857; the group collapsed in the year of Ariyo's death, which coincided with Ibukinoya's sudden decline at the national level. In the intervening fourteen years, the group produced no scholars of national note. That, of course, was equally true of most other Ibukinoya branches in the provinces. Fujiwara cites five goals for this study (pp. 8–9). The first is to shed light on the diversity within Kokugaku at the grassroots, as revealed by the wide range of activities [End Page 382] and interests among local members. Goals two through four are concerned with tracing and analyzing a few of those interests, namely, visions of a divine "Imperial Japan" and attempts to find a place for local identities within that national framework; an "ethnographic" fascination with local customs; and "religious" practices revolving around kami worship and particular views of the spirit world and the realm of the dead. The fifth aim is to trace how the Ibukinoya group in Hirosaki fared when modernity rendered Kokugaku irrelevant in a world dominated by Western ideas and technology. The two main protagonists of the study are the aforementioned Ariyo and the more famous Hirao Rosen (1808–1880). As noted, Ariyo was the primus motor of the Hirosaki group. He ran a poetry circle and served as a liaison between acquaintances in Hirosaki (mainly fellow circle members) and Kanetane in Edo. Ariyo's group bought books by Atsutane and held regular poetry meetings. Worship practices were integral to its activities: Ariyo recited norito prayers in front of Atsutane's portrait and other "spiritual treasures" associated with the scholar at the meetings. He also encouraged all members to perform "daily worship" of gods highlighted by Atsutane and of their ancestors (pp. 110–13). Members prayed to be freed of the corrupting influence of the "Chinese heart" and to...