Fujiwara Seika

Fujiwara Seika (from: 先哲 像 伝 )

Fujiwara Seika ( Japanese 藤原 惺 窩 ; * 1561 in the village of Hosokawa ( 細 川 ) in the province of Harima (today: Miki , Hyōgo prefecture ); † 1619 ), as a philosopher of the late Momoyama and early Edo era, had a decisive influence on the development of Neo-Confucianism Japanese character.

Life path

Fujiwara Seika, born Susumu , was a 13th generation descendant of Fujiwara no Teika . His father and a brother both died in 1578 while serving Bessho Nagahara .

When he was seven or eight years old, he was placed in the care of Keiun-ji ( Harima ). He later studied the Buddhist doctrine in Shokoku-ji ( 相 国寺 ) in Kyoto . Around 1588 he decided to travel to China to find a teacher there. Since this trip had to be done in secret, he was forced to wait some time in Yamagawa ( Satsuma ) for an opportunity to cross.

During this waiting period he discovered a complete set of the works of the Chinese Confucian philosophers of the Song Dynasty , Cheng Hao (1032-85; Japanese Teikō ) and Zhu Xi (1130-1200). These books made such a strong impression on him that he abandoned his plan to travel to China and shed his robe in 1590. He was particularly reluctant to have the monopoly that Zen Buddhists had on the dissemination of philosophical teachings at the time.

As a result, he established himself as the founder of his own neo-Confucian teaching, the Teishu gaku ha. He tried to harmoniously combine Shinto with Confucian, but also Buddhist elements. His lectures were attended by Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who became his main sponsor after 1591. 1593-94 he stayed in Edo , where his teachings also impressed Tokugawa Ieyasu and he was offered to serve in his service. Seika declined this offer as well as a similar Toyotomis and instead set up a private school in a village near Kyoto. He used the pseudonym Rembu ( 斂 夫 ) for his writings .

His most famous students, who later shaped his teaching into the ruling state doctrine of the early Tokugawa period, were Hayashi Razan , Hori Kyōan and Ishikawa Jōzan .

swell

• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive . KG Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1 , Fiche 45

literature

• Willem Jan Boot: The adoption and adaptation of Neo-Confucianism in Japan: The role of Fujiwara Seika and Hayashi Razan . Dissertation at the University of Leiden on January 19, 1983

Web links

Commons : Fujiwara Seika  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Fujiwara is the family name, Seika the first name.