Arai Hakuseki
[[Image:|200px]] Japanese book 『先哲像伝』
Born	March 24, 1657 Edo
Died	June 29, 17 Edo
Occupation	Neo-Confucian scholar, academic, administrator, writer
Subjects	Japanese history, literature

Arai Hakuseki (新井白石, Arai Hakuseki^? March 24, 1657-June 29, 1725) was a Confucianist, scholar, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of Edo Period, who advised the Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu.^[1] His personal name is Kinmi (君美). Hakuseki (白石) was his pen name. His father was a Kururi han samurai Arai Masazumi (新井 正済). This article is about work. ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 8 - Miles Sindercombe, would-be-assassin of Oliver Cromwell, and his group are captured in London February - Admiral Robert Blake defeats the Spanish West Indian Fleet in a battle over the seizure of Jamaica. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 8 - Catherine I became empress of Russia February 20 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... A scholar is either a student or someone who has achieved a mastery of some academic discipline, perhaps receiving financial support through a scholarship. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... Look up administrator in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... The Edo period ), also called Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868. ... Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate Shōgun )   is supreme general of the samurai,a military rank and historical title in Japan. ... Tokugawa Ienobu (1662–1712) was the sixth shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan. ... The han ) were the fiefs of feudal lords of Japan that were created by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and existed until their abolition in 1871, three years after the Meiji Restoration. ...

Biography

Hakuseki was born in Edo and from a very early age displayed signs of genius. According to one story, at the age of three Hakuseki managed to copy a Confucian book written in Kanji, character by character. Because he was born on the same year as the Great Fire of Meireki and because he was hot tempered and his brow would crease looking like 火 or "fire", he was affectionately called Hi no Ko (火の子) or child of fire. He was a retainer of Hotta Masatoshi, but after Masatoshi was assassinated by Inaba Masayasu, the Hotta clan was forced to move from Sakura to Yamagata then to Fukushima and the domain's income declined. Hakuseki offered to leave, becoming a ronin and studied under Confucianist Kinoshita Jun'an. He was offered a post by the largest han, that of Kaga Domain, but he offered the position to a fellow samurai. This article is about the history of the city now known as Tokyo. ... A genius is a person of great intelligence. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Historical marker for memorial to victims of Great Fire of Meireki The Great fire of Meireki ) destroyed 60-70% of the Edo (the forerunner of Tokyo) and Edo Castle in 1657. ... Hotta Masatoshi (堀田正俊)(1634-28 August 1684) was a daimyō (feudal lord) in Shimousa Province, and top government advisor and official in the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. ... Yamagata is the name of several places: Yamagata Prefecture Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan Yamagata City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan Yamagata, a village located in Higashichikuma District, Nagano, Japan. ... Fukushima may refer to: Fukushima, Fukushima Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima, Hokkaido Fukushima, Matsumae, Hokkaido This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Graves of the forty-seven Ronin at Sengaku-ji Ronin robbing a merchants house in Japan around 1860 (1) For other uses, see Ronin (disambiguation). ...

In 1693, Hakuseki was called up to serve by the side of Manabe Akifusa as a "brain" for the Tokugawa shogunate and shogun Tokugawa Ienobu. He went on to displace the official Hayashi advisers to become the leading confucianist for Ienobu and Tokugawa Ietsugu. While some of Hakuseki's policies were still carried out after Ienobu's death, after the 6th shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu, died and Tokugawa Yoshimune's rule began, Hakuseki left his post to begin his career as a prolific writer of Japanese history and Occidental studies. Events January 11 - Eruption of Mt. ... The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family until 1868. ... Tokugawa Ienobu (1662–1712) was the sixth shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan. ... Tokugawa Ietsugu (徳川 家継, 1709–1716) was the seventh shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, from 1713 to 1716, taking office at the age of three. ... Tokugawa Yoshimune 1684-1751. ...

He was buried in Asakusa (current day Taito, Tokyo), Ho'onji temple but was later moved to Nakano, Tokyo, Kotokuji temple. Sensoji Temple The Kaminarimon is the outer gate of the Sensoji, Asakusas famous temple. ... Cherry blossoms at Ueno Park Cast in 1692, the bronze bell at Sensoji rang the time for centuries. ... This article is about the ward of Tokyo. ...

Economic Policy

Under the top Rōjū, Abe Seikyo, with strong support from Ienobu, he launched Shotoku no Chi, a series of economic policies designed to improve the shogunate's standing. By minting new and better quality currency, inflation was controlled. Calculating from trade records, Hakuseki deduced that fully 75% of gold and 25% of silver in Japan had been spent on trades with foreign countries. Concerned that Japan's national resources were at risk, he implemented a new trade policy, the Kaihaku Tagae-ichi Shinrei(海舶互市新例), to control payments to Chinese and Dutch merchants by demanding that instead of precious metals, products like silk, porcelain, and dried seafoods should be used for trading. However, the beneficial effects of this policy were limited as the trade of precious metals from Tsushima and Satsuma was uncontrolled by the bakufu. The RōjÅ« (老中), usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. ... The Tsushima Fuchu domain (対馬府中藩 Tsushima Fuchū han), also called the Tsushima domain, was a domain of Japan during the Edo period that controlled Tsushima Province and a small portion of Hizen Province. ... This article is about the province. ... For the James Clavell novel, see Shogun or for the TV Miniseries. ...

He also simplified rituals for welcoming the Joseon Dynasty's ambassadors, in the face of opposition from the Tsushima Confucianist Amamori Hoshu. Joseon redirects here. ...

Constitutional policy

Hakuseki applied the mandate of heaven to both the emperor and the shogun. Since there had been no revolution to change Japan's basic institutions, he argued that the shogun was subordinate to the emperor and that in showing good governance, moral fortitude and respect to the emperor a shogun proved that he held divine right. He also traced Tokugawa family roots back to the Minamoto clan and thus to a line of imperial descent in order to show that Ieyasu's political supremacy had been fitting. To strengthen the shogun's power and maintain national prestige he proposed changing the title to koku-o - nation-king. Mandate of Heaven (天命 PÄ«nyÄ«n: Tiānmìng) was a traditional Chinese sovereignty concept of legitimacy used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty and later the Emperors of China. ... An emperorrefers to Nick Herringshaw, a title, empress may only indicate the wife of an emperor (empress consort. ... Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate Shōgun )   is supreme general of the samurai,a military rank and historical title in Japan. ... Divine Right is a comic book created by Jim Lee and published by Wildstorm. ... Minamoto (源) was an honorary surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan of the Heian Period to their sons and grandsons after accepting them as royal subjects. ...

Written works

His works include:

• Hankanfu (藩翰譜). A list of daimyo's family tree
• Koshitsu (古史通). A work that detailed ancient history of Japan
• Oritaku Shiba-no-ki (折りたく柴の記). A diary and memoir

• 1709 -- Sairan Igen (采覧異言,, Collected views and strange words^?).^[2]
• 1711 -- Hōka shiryaku ( , Brief history of currency^?), also known as Honchō hōka tsūyō jiryaku ("Short Account of the circulation of currency in this realm").^[3]
  • _________. 1828). Fookoua Siriak: traité sur l'origins des richesses au japon (translation of Hōka shiryaku by Julius Klaproth). Paris. (French) (1712). '
• 1712 -- Tokushi Yoron (読史余論,, Lessons from History^?).^[2]
• 1715 -- Seiyō Kibun (西洋記聞,, Record of things heard from the West^?).^[2] A work describing the Occident, based on Hakuseki's conversations with Giovanni Battista Sidotti

The imperial household of Japan (also referred to as the imperial family or kōshitsu (皇室)) refers those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties, as well as their minor children. ... As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning memory), or a reminiscence, forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... // Events January 12 - Two-month freezing period begins in France - The coast of the Atlantic and Seine River freeze, crops fail and at least 24. ... The Sairan Igen is a 5-volume geography book by Arai Hakuseki completed in 1713, the first book of world geography published in Japan. ... 1711 (MDCCXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1828 (MDCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... // Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... Year 1715 (MDCCXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Seiyō Kibun (西洋記聞) is a 3-volume study of the Occident by Japanese politician and scholar Arai Hakuseki based on conversations with Italian missionary Giovanni Battista Sidotti. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

References

• Arai Hakuseki Trans. Joyce Ackroyd (1980). Told Round a Brushwood Fire: The Autobiography of Arai Hakuseki. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04671-9. 

• Arai Hakuseki Trans. Joyce Ackroyd (1982). Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-1485-X. 

• Ackroyd, Joyce (Spring 1985). "Correspondence". Monumenta Nipponica 40: 97-106. 

• Brownlee, John S. (1997) Japanese historians and the national myths, 1600-1945: The Age of the Gods and Emperor Jimmu. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0-7748-0644-3 Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 4-13-027031-1
• Brownlee, John S. (1991). Political Thought in Japanese Historical Writing: From Kojiki (712) to Tokushi Yoron (1712). Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. ISBN 0-889-20997-9

• Henderson, Dan Fenno (1970). "Chinese legal studies in early 18th century Japan". Journal of Asian Studies: 21-56. 

• Kazui, Tashiro (Summer 1982). "Foreign Relations during the Edo Period: Sakoku Reexamined". Journal of Japanese Studies 8: 283-306. 
• Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-700-71720-X

The University of British Columbia Press is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. ... For people named Routledge, see Routledge (surname). ...

External links

• East Asia Institute, University of Cambridge: Further reading/bibliography