CHAPTER VII
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Hirata—Kangakusha—Shingaku Sermons—Buddhist Literature
The eminent theologian Hirata Atsutane[1](1776–1843) was born in Kubota, a town of the remote province of Dewa. His parents belonged to the Samurai class, and he traced his genealogy on the father's side through the Mikado Kwammu, up to the Sun Goddess herself. In his youth he followed the usual course of instruction in the Chinese classics, and had also made fair progress in the study of medicine, when, at the age of nineteen, he suddenly made up his mind to run away from home. He left a paper behind in which he informed his parents of this resolution, and set out for Yedo with one rio in his pocket. On arriving in the capital he applied for help neither to the officials of his province nor to private friends, but sought an upright and virtuous teacher under whose guidance he might devote himself to learning. For four or five years he lived from hand to mouth, having sometimes to resort to manual labour for a livelihood. In 1800 he was adopted by a Samurai of the Matsuyama Daimiate,
- ↑ For a full account of Hirata and his theology, I would again refer the reader to Sir E. Satow's "Revival of Pure Shinto," in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1875.
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