Hayashi Shihei

Statue of Hayashi Shihei in Kōtōdai Park, Sendai

Hayashi Shihei ( Japanese 林 子 平 , * August 6, 1738 , † July 28, 1793 ) was a samurai and freelance scholar of the Edo period of Japan , who aroused displeasure with his warnings in the government at the time. The surname Hayashi is occasionally incorrectly read as Rin in Sino-Japanese reading .

Life

Hayashi Tomonao (his youth name, with which he later often signed his works) was born on August 6, 1738 in Edo , today's Tokyo . His father went on irregular wanderings shortly after his birth. During this time the family lived with an uncle who ran a doctor's office in Sendai . Little is known about his youth. After the uncle's death in 1752, Shihei's older brother Yoshizen inherited the uncle's office and became head of the family. In 1763 Shihei went to Edo and began writing there. He often traveled back and forth between Edo and Sendai, probably also came to Ezo, today's Hokkaidō , and repeatedly to Nagasaki and to the local Dutch trading post on the island of Dejima off Nagasaki. There he was welcome and collected information that he then incorporated into his writings. In Edo he probably also had contacts with the so-called "Holland scholars " ( Rangakusha , cf. rangaku ).

Hayashi Shihei's tomb in Sendai

In 1788 he moved back to Sendai and published the first volume, with the name “Der Krieg zu Wasser” ( 水 戦 , Suisen ) of his main work “Discourse about the defensibility of a sea nation” ( 海 国 兵 談 , Kaikoku Heidan ). In 1790 the government, the bakufu , tightened its control over undesirable literature . Nevertheless, Shihei published the entire work in his own publishing house. He even cut the printing blocks himself. However, his poor health saved him from prosecution. He was only given house arrest to his brother in Sendai. The printing blocks were confiscated. He died bitterly on July 28, 1793 in Sendai. It was 49 years after his death before he was rehabilitated.

Works

A comprehensive complete edition of his works has been published for the first time and also unique with the publishing house Daiichi Shobō by Yamaguchi Tokuhei et al. concerned edition in five volumes - published 1978–1980.

Militaria

In addition to early casual work and a later text “Tactics and Strategy”, his main work Kaikoku Heidan (literally: “Discussion about the military of a sea nation”) in twelve volumes ( maki , better: “notebooks”) stands out. In addition to basic military-political and strategic questions, it also comprehensively deals with questions of military leadership and the socio-political aspects of the military in society. In terms of strategy, he refers to Sun Zi , but also develops his own ideas. The timely transfer of information from western knowledge to Japan is remarkable. If one stripped this work of its time-related factual statements, a comprehensive manual for the military-political leadership could be formed from it.

geography

His work “The illustrated description of three countries” ( 三国 通 覧 図 説 , Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu ), written in 1785, is hardly mentioned below . This means Ezo , Korea , the Ryūkyū Islands and the Ogasawara Islands (as mujin shima , dt. " Deserted islands"). For Philipp Franz von Siebold this was of great interest. He had the part about Ezo translated into Dutch. The whole work was published in French by the orientalist Heinrich Julius Klaproth in 1832 with additions and corrections relating to Korea.

Social Policy Writings

Shihei has also written several memoranda on social policy issues. A summary made by him under the title "Politics of a wealthy country" (Fukkoku saku) from 1785 received a lot of attention; In it, he advocates a long-term economic policy. He has also commented on educational issues.

poetry

Shihei was a prolific writer. His travels were also reflected in corresponding descriptions and collections of poems. This also includes revisions of his father's writings on Sendai.

meaning

Shihei was one of the "three eccentrics of the Kansei era" (Kansei sankijin) . The other two were Takayama Hikokurō (1747–1793), whom he probably met in the last year of his life, and Gamō Kumpei (1768–1813), with whom he was friends. Hayashi Shihei was certainly not crazy, but an unsteady person and lateral thinker, which is why he came into conflict with the government of the time. On the other hand, he had been given great freedoms. It was not until the realization, which gradually ripened in Japan in the first half of the 19th century, that Japan could no longer maintain its policy of seclusion, which had been practiced for two centuries, that his thoughts again found adequate appreciation. In 1842 he was posthumously amnestied and thus rehabilitated. In 1856, his main work, Kaikoku Heidan , was reissued in a revised version on the basis of preserved copies of the original edition. This work was also published repeatedly in the first half of the 20th century, as his thoughts were used for the political self-image of Japan at the time.

In Sendai his reputation is honored, there is a monument, a memorial ( 龍雲 院 , Ryūun'in ) and a section in the city museum dedicated to him. The district in which the memorial with his grave is located was renamed Shihei-machi ( 子 平 町 ) after him in 1967 .

literature

• T. Yamagishi and M. Sano (eds.): 新編 林子平 全集 ( Shimpen Hayashi Shihei Zenshū , German "New edition of all works by Hayashi Shihei"). 5 volumes, Daiichi Shobō, Tokyo 1978–1980.
• Taira Shigemichi: 林子平 そ の 人 と 思想 ( Hayashi Shihei sono Hito to Shisō , dt. "Hayashi Shihei. Man and his world of thoughts"), Hōbundō, Sendai 1977.
• Friedrich Lederer (Hrsg./Übers.): Discourse on the defensibility of a lake nation . Kaikoku Heidan by Hayashi Shihei, Iudicium, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89129-686-X (annotated translation of the first volume and detailed annotations of the contents of the other volumes).
• Martin Ramming (Ed.): Japan Handbuch . Steiniger publishers, Berlin 1941.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The facsimile of this translation with the title SAN KOKF TSOU RAN TO SETS is printed in addition to partial facsimiles of the original and all cards in Volume 2 of the above-mentioned work edition by Yamagishi Tokuhei.

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