Kokugaku

Kokugaku was an Edo-period scholarly movement that studied Japan’s ancient texts and traditions, emphasizing indigenous culture and thought over imported Chinese and Buddhist frameworks.

Keichū: Keichū was a Japanese Buddhist monk and philologist whose study of classical Japanese texts influenced later Kokugaku scholars. His textual methods helped establish the scholarly approach later pursued by Kokugaku.
Kojiki: The Kojiki is Japan’s oldest surviving chronicle, compiled in 712, combining myths, genealogies, and early history. Norinaga’s detailed commentary made the Kojiki central to Kokugaku thought.
Kojiki-den: Kojiki-den is Motoori Norinaga’s thirty-four-volume commentary on the Kojiki, completed in 1798. It shows how philological commentary could support a distinct interpretation of Japan’s origins.
Fukko Shintō: Fukko Shintō is a movement to restore Shinto practices and beliefs by removing Buddhist and Chinese influences. Kokugaku scholarship furnished arguments for reconstructing an allegedly ancient form of Shinto.
Kada no Azumamaro: Kada no Azumamaro was an Edo-period scholar who advocated systematic study of Japan’s ancient literature and Shinto. His proposals helped define Kokugaku as a distinct field of learning.
Nihon Shoki: The Nihon Shoki is a court chronicle completed in 720, presenting Japanese myths and early history in classical Chinese. Its Chinese literary style offered a useful comparison with the older language Kokugaku scholars sought.
Japanese philology: Japanese philology is the historical and linguistic study of Japanese texts and language. Kokugaku used philological methods to recover meanings obscured by later interpretations.
Hirata school: The Hirata school was a Kokugaku tradition organized around Hirata Atsutane’s teachings and writings. Its networks spread Kokugaku ideas beyond elite textual scholarship.
Kamo no Mabuchi: Kamo no Mabuchi was an Edo-period Kokugaku scholar known for studying the Manyōshū and ancient Japanese language. His interpretation of early poetry shaped Kokugaku’s account of ancient Japanese sensibility.
Manyōshū: The Manyōshū is the oldest extant anthology of Japanese poetry, compiled in the eighth century. Mabuchi treated its poems as evidence of an uncorrupted ancient Japanese sensibility.

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