64a Motoori Norinaga Only thirty years after Keichuu, Kada no Azumamaro was born into a priestly family of the Inari Shrine in Fushimi. He was born in the 9th year of Kanbun (1670) and died in the 1st year of Genbun (1736). He spend his sixty-seven years working on his interest in the Japanese language. Until his day, there were a few people who studied the classical texts, but they studied Buddhism or Neo-Confucianism and only read Japanese classics in their spare time. Azumamaro was the first to oppose Buddhist and Confucian texts in favor of Japanese works, and thereby created the new, independent field of reserch that was national learning (kokugaku). He wrote this poem: "Make your path. Is a man's way only watching after the Chinese bird which is not found in Japan ?" His view and plans were clear. He wrote to the shogunate suggesting the creation of a school for the study of Japanese literature. His letter was in a splendid text of kanbun - a type of classical Chinese - as his studies of Chinese had also been profound. Therein, he lamented that teachings of the "heavenly empire" of Japan had waned and the learning of kokugaku had declined under the influence of Confucian and Buddhist learning. Furthermore, the Japanese Way could not help but flourish anew with a reviving of studies of the Six National Histories and the Three Great Law Compilations (Sandaikyaku), the Man'youshuu and the Kokinshuu. Therefore, he wrote his memorial seeking help from the shogunate to set up a school in the Fushimi district of Kyouto or in its environs to train scholars in such subjects. Unfortunately, his plans were not brought to fruition. Because of his views and aspirations, and his urgings to set up an independent national study program, he was sble to inspire younger generations of scholars. In his memorial, he wrote: "If one is not familiar with classical Japanese, that is, if one is not clear about the old forms, then the old ways are not clear. The way of past kings no longer remains, and understanding of the ideas of wise men of the past will come to be confused. This happens when one isn't educated in language." Although Azumamaro's planned school of national learning never came about, he still had a splendid student. That student was Kamo no Mabuchi. Mabuchi had been born in the outskirts of Hamamatsu in the 10th year of Genroku (1697). At the age of thirty-six, he went to Kyouto and became Azumamaro's pupil, studying with him for four years. At the age of forty-one, he went to Edo and continued his research. While doing so, he took his own students. It may be said that his career was spent in the study of the Man'youshuu. His works include A Study of the Man'youshuu (Man'you Kou), A Study of Prefix or Epithetic Words (Kanji Kou), A Study of the National Temper (Kokui Kou), and A Study of the Meaning of Poetry (Kai Kou). He lived in the Mamachou area of Nihonbashi in a house called Agatai, so he was called "the old man of Agatai." His spirit and life were like those of men of past ages, and it was said that he had little interest in the days in which he lived. He lived in Edo for some thirty years, and died in the 10th month of the 6th year of Meiwa (1769) at the age of seventy-two. Mabuchi had many good students, including the likes of Katou Chikage, Murata Harumi, Katori Nahiko, and Uchiyama Matatsu. His most outstanding student, however, was Motoori Norinaga. Norinaga had been born in the 13th year of Houreki (1730). One time Mabuchi went to Ise and stayed at an inn in Matsuzaka., and Norinaga, who lived in Ise, went to visit Mabuchi and studied with him for one night. At the time, Mabuchi was sixty-six, and Norinaga was thirty-three. That was the only night they met face-to-face and actually conversed, but for Norinaga, that one night remained the most important in all of his seventy-one years. Meeting the great scholar himself left an incredibly deep impression on Norinaga, and the encounter left him greatly edified. Norinaga became Mabuchi's student, and thereafter received his learning by letter. He determined to study closely The Record of Ancient Matters (Kojiki), which at that time was the most difficult of the old texts to read and to understand, and began work on his Commentary on the Kojiki (Kojiki Den). He poured his life into the work for thirty years. Finished, the text of the Kojiki Den was forty-four volumes, whth four more volumes for the appendix and index making a total of forty-eight. National learning, created at the hands of Kada no Azumamaro and passing through Kamo no Mabuchi, reached Motoori Norinaga and exploded with the publication of his eye-opening magnum opus. It could only be considered an incredible success from the outset. In addition to the Kojiki Den, Norinaga wrote many other works, including The Little Jeweled Comb of the Geiji Monogatari (Geji Monogatari Tama no Ogushi), First Steps Up the Mountain (Uiyamabumi), and The Beautiful Basket (Tama Katsuma). In the 9th month of the 1st year of Kyouwa (1801), Norinaga died. He was sevent y-one. he painted his own portrait, and on it he wrote the now famous legend, "If one asks about the Yamato spirit of these islands, it is like the mountain cherry blossoms that bloom in the morning sun." He had an extraordinary number of students scattered all over Japan, and through them interest in national learning spread to every corner of the country. After his death, two of his students - Hirata Atsutane (d. Tenpou 14 [1843], aged sixty-seven) and Ban Nobutomo (d. Kouka 3 [1846], aged seventy-three) - became outstanding scholars. If one were to name the four giants of national learning, they would be Azumamaro, Mabuchi, Norinaga, and Atsutane. It had been Azumamaro who had proposed to the shogunate a school for the teaching of national studies. Mabuchi worked for Tayasu Munetake - of the Tokugawa house - in Edo. Norinaga had a mild temperament. None of these men had anything negative to say about the shogunate. Studies of the Japanese classics - Genji Monogatari, Kokinshuu, Man'youshuu, and Kojiki - continued, hearkening back to the old Japanese character and clarifying the old ways. It is perhaps only natural that those with understanding therefore came to criticize the ways of their day.

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