Nishimura Shigeki

Nishimura Shigeki

Nishimura's tomb

Nishimura Shigeki ( Japanese 西村 茂樹 , stage name : Nishimura Hakuō (西村 泊 翁); born April 26, 1828 in Shimousa Province ; died August 18, 1902 ) was a Japanese scholar and educator during the late Edo and early Meiji periods .

life and work

The samurai Nishimura Shigeki from the Sakura domain (佐 倉 藩) in today's Chiba Prefecture studied Confucianism and Western knowledge under Sakuma Shozan and worked in the administration of the Sakura domain. At first he did not support the Meiji Restoration , but then worked from 1873 to 1886 in the Ministry of Culture, where he was in charge of the publication of school books and the creation of encyclopedias and lexicons.

He was a founding member of the " Meirokusha " (明 六 社) and wrote many books and articles with the aim of spreading Western knowledge. For Nishimura, the development of personal knowledge was important at the same time as morality, whereby he rejected the unchecked adoption of Western morality. As he was very committed to traditional Confucian morality, Nishimura is classified as conservative.

In order to advance his ideas, he founded the "Nihon Kōdōkai" (日本 弘道,), which still exists today, or "Japanese Society of the Broad Way", which found itself as a counter-device to the unreflective adoption of Western ideas. In 1902 it is said to have had 10,000 members.

Nishimura presented to the Tennō from 1875 to 1894 and was appointed instructor for the Crown Prince from 1886 to 1893. In 1888 he became director of the aristocratic school and in 1890 a member of the upper house. He left 130 books and 200 articles. His most famous works are "Nihon dōtoku ron" (日本 道 徳 論) - "Discourse on Japanese morality" and "Fujo kagami" (婦女 鏡) - "A mirror for women".

Nishimura's tomb is located on the grounds of Jōgen-ji (養 源 寺) in the Bunkyō District , Tokyo.

Remarks

1. ↑ Kōdōkan (弘道 館) was the name of many institutions that had been set up in the Han during the Edo period for the training of samurai.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Nishimura Shigeki . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X
• Hunter, Janet: Nishimura Shigeki . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Nishimura Shigeki  - 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 . Thus Nishimura is the family name, Shigeki the first name.