Oshio Heihachiro
Encyclopedia
was a former yoriki
(a low-ranking samurai police inspector for the magistrates) and a Neo-Confucianism scholar of the Ōyōmei
(Wang Yangming) school in Osaka
. He is best remembered for his fierce opposition to the Tokugawa shogunate
. Ōshio served as a yoriki for much of his life, until he found the newly appointed head of Osaka bugyō
(one of the shogun
's officials; the city magistrate) so hopelessly corrupt, deciding to resign in 1830. By that time he had opened a school of his own, the , and following his retirement he directed much of his efforts in teaching his followers. He later published a book known as , a compilation of his reading notes that were also used for his lectures. At the height of nineteenth century Japan's greatest famine, in 1836 he petitioned the magistrates to help the starving citizens. After this was refused, Ōshio sold all the books he possessed to buy food for the suffering. Adhering to one of Wang Yangming's central tenets that in times of crisis men must follow their intuition rather than their institution, Ōshio circulated a manifesto charging the bugyō with moral corruption. He then led an army consisting of his students, peasants, and some outcastes into the city in 1837. They managed to burn about a fifth of the city before government troops put down the rebellion. Months later, Ōshio committed suicide when he was found by the authorities. The novelist Mori Ōgai
, active during after the Meiji Restoration
, wrote an eponymous novella on Ōshio Heihachirō, which was published in January 1914.
Yoriki
were members of the samurai class of feudal Japan. Yoriki literally means helper or 'assistant.-Description and History:Yoriki assisted Daimyo or their designated commanders during military campaigns in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods.In the Edo period, yoriki became to provide administrative...
(a low-ranking samurai police inspector for the magistrates) and a Neo-Confucianism scholar of the Ōyōmei
Wang Yangming
Wang Yangming was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher, official, educationist, calligraphist and general. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox...
(Wang Yangming) school in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. He is best remembered for his fierce opposition to the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
. Ōshio served as a yoriki for much of his life, until he found the newly appointed head of Osaka bugyō
Bugyo
', often translated as "commissioner" or "magistrate" or "governor," was a title assigned to government officers in pre-modern Japan; other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given commissioner's tasks or jurisdiction....
(one of the shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
's officials; the city magistrate) so hopelessly corrupt, deciding to resign in 1830. By that time he had opened a school of his own, the , and following his retirement he directed much of his efforts in teaching his followers. He later published a book known as , a compilation of his reading notes that were also used for his lectures. At the height of nineteenth century Japan's greatest famine, in 1836 he petitioned the magistrates to help the starving citizens. After this was refused, Ōshio sold all the books he possessed to buy food for the suffering. Adhering to one of Wang Yangming's central tenets that in times of crisis men must follow their intuition rather than their institution, Ōshio circulated a manifesto charging the bugyō with moral corruption. He then led an army consisting of his students, peasants, and some outcastes into the city in 1837. They managed to burn about a fifth of the city before government troops put down the rebellion. Months later, Ōshio committed suicide when he was found by the authorities. The novelist Mori Ōgai
Mori Ogai
was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...
, active during after the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
, wrote an eponymous novella on Ōshio Heihachirō, which was published in January 1914.