Motoori Norinaga (Japanese: 本居宣長; 21 June 1730–5 November 1801) was a Japanese philologist and scholar during the Edo period. Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births April 16 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... The Edo period (Japanese: 江戸時代, Edo-jidai), also called Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1867. ...

Life

Norinaga was born in Matsuzaka of the province of Ise (now Matsuzaka City in Mie prefecture). He was the second son of the Ozu merchant house of Matsuzaka (the film director Yasujirō Ozu was a descendant of the same line). After his elder brother’s death, Norinaga succeeded to the Ozu line. At one stage he was adopted out to a paper-making family but the bookish boy was not suited to business. Categories: Old provinces of Japan | Japan geography stubs ... Matsusaka (松阪市; -shi; also Matsuzaka) is a city located in Mie, Japan. ... Mie Prefecture (三重県; Mie-ken) is part of the Kinki region on Honshu island, Japan. ... Yasujiro Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō) (December 12, 1903 - December 12, 1963) was an influential Japanese film director. ...

It was at his mother's suggestion that, at the age of 22, Norinaga went to Kyoto to study medicine. In Kyoto, he also studied Chinese and Japanese philology under the neo-Confucianist Hori Keizan. It was at this time that Norinaga became interested in the Japanese classics and decided to enter the field of Kokugaku under the influence of Ogyū Sorai and Keichū. (With changes in the language, the ancient classics were already poorly understood by Japanese in the Edo period and texts needed philological analysis in order to be properly understood.) Life in Kyoto also instilled in the young Norinaga a love of traditional Japanese court culture. This page is about the city Kyoto. ... Neo-Confucianism (理學 Pinyin: Lǐxué) is a term for a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang dynasty. ... Kokugaku (国学; lit. ... Keichu (契沖 KeichÅ«, 1640 – 3 April 1701) was a priest of the Shingon sect and a scholar of Kokugaku in the mid Edo period. ...

Returning to Matsuzaka, Norinaga opened a medical practice for infants while devoting his spare time to lectures on the Tale of Genji and studies of the Nihon Shoki. At the age of 27, he bought several books by Kamo no Mabuchi and embarked on his Kokugaku researches. As a doctor, he adopted the name of one of his samurai ancestors, Motoori. Genji Monogatari (源氏物語), frequently translated as The Tale of Genji, is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. ... Nihonshoki (日本書紀) is the second oldest history book about the ancient history of Japan. ... Kamo no Mabuchi (Japanese: 賀茂真淵; 24 April 1697-27 November 1769) was a Japanese poet and philologist of the Edo period. ...

In 1763, Norinaga met Mabuchi in person when the latter visited Matsuzaka, a meeting that has come down in history as ‘the night in Matsuzaka’. Norinaga took the occasion to ask Mabuchi to supervise his annotations of the Kojiki. Mabuchi suggested that Norinaga should first tackle the annotations to the Man'yōshū in order to accustom himself to man'yōgana. This was the only meeting between the two men, but they continued to correspond and, with Mabuchi’s encouragement, Norinaga later went on to full-fledged research into the Kojiki. Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記) is the oldest surviving historical book dealing with the ancient history of Japan. ... Manyoshu (万葉集 ManyōshÅ«, Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) is the oldest existing, and most highly revered, collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime in the Nara or early Heian periods. ... Manyōgana (万葉仮名) is an ancient form of Japanese kana based on kanji (Chinese characters). ...

Norinaga’s disciples included Ishizuka Tatsumaro, Natsume Mikamaro, Takahashi Mikiakira and Motoori Haruniwa (Norinaga’s son).

Although overshadowed by his activities as a Kokugaku scholar, Norinaga spent 40 years as a practising doctor in Matsuzaka and was seeing patients until 10 days before his death in 1801.

Works and Thought

Norinaga’s most important works include the Kojiki-den, detailed annotations on the Kojiki made over a period of around 35 years, and his annotations on the Tale of Genji. Norinaga took the view that the heritage of ancient Japan was one of natural spontaneity in feelings and spirit, and that imported Confucianism ran counter to such natural feelings. He criticised Ogyu Sorai for his worship of Chinese civilisation and thought, although it has been pointed out that his philological methodology was heavily influenced by Sorai's. His ideas also appear to be heavily influenced by the Chinese intellectual Wang Yangming (Ō Yōmei in Japanese), who had argued for innate knowing, that mankind had a naturally intuitive (as opposed to rational) ability to distinguish good and evil. Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Wang Yangming (王陽明 1472-1529) was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian scholar-official. ...

Hitherto scholars of ancient literature had shown a preference for the grandness and masculinity of Manyoshu poetry and an aversion to works like the Tale of Genji, which were regarded as unmanly and feminine. Norinaga resurrected the position of the Tale of Genji, which he regarded as an expression of mono no aware, a particular Japanese sensibility of "sorrow at evanescence" that Norinaga claimed forms the essence of Japanese literature. Mono no aware (Japanese: 物の哀れ IPA: ??; literally, the pathos of things) is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of the impermanence of things, and a gentle sadness at their passing. ...

In undertaking his textual analysis of ancient Japanese, Norinaga also made vital contributions to establishing a native Japanese grammatical tradition, in particular the analysis of clitics, particles and auxiliary verbs. In linguistics, a clitic is a word that syntactically functions as a free morpheme, but phonetically appears as a bound morpheme; it is always pronounced with a following or preceding word. ... Japanese particles, joshi ) or teniwoha ), in Japanese grammar are suffixes or short words which come after other words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, indicating a wide range of grammatical functions. ...

Timeline

• 1730 - Born as first son
• Education:
  • At the age of seven he could already read and write
  • 11 years old reciting Noh theatre pieces and Confucian classics
  • 13y. visiting the shrine of Yoshino
  • 16y. archery
  • 18y. Japanese tea ceremony
  • 19y. advanced Confucian training
• 1748 - Norinaga is adopted by the Imaida family but adoption reversed after only 2 years.
• 1751 - His stepbrother dies.
• 1752 - Goes to Kyoto to study medical science
• 1752-57 - Some scholars note his productivity, Motoori produces 2000 Waka and 40 books and copies 15 others.
• 1757 - He reads Kamo no Mabuchi's first book, Kanji kō. Lacking money he returns to his hometown to open a doctor's practice.
• 1760 - Enters arranged marriage with Murata Mika, divorced after 3 months.
• 1762 - Marries Kusubuka Tami and one year later their son Haruniwa is born.
• 1763 - Meets Kamo no Mabuchi who tells him to read the Nihonshoki and the Man'yoshu
• 1764-71 - Studies the Kojiki, and begins to spread his teachings.
• 1801 - Dies.

Noh performance at Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Hiroshima Noh or No (Japanese: 能 Nō) is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... A woman wearing kimono performs a tea ceremony seated in seiza position on tatami. ... This page is about the city Kyoto. ... Waka (和歌) or Yamato uta is a genre of Japanese poetry. ... Kamo no Mabuchi (Japanese: 賀茂真淵; 24 April 1697-27 November 1769) was a Japanese poet and philologist of the Edo period. ... Kamo no Mabuchi (Japanese: 賀茂真淵; 24 April 1697-27 November 1769) was a Japanese poet and philologist of the Edo period. ... Nihonshoki (日本書紀) is the second oldest history book about the ancient history of Japan. ... Manyoshu (万葉集 Manyōshū, Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) is the oldest existing, and most highly revered, collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime in the Nara or early Heian periods. ... Kojiki or Furukotofumi (古事記) is the oldest surviving historical book dealing with the ancient history of Japan. ...

See also

• Kokugaku
• Kojiki
• Japanese poetry
• Japanese nationalism