The Dog Shogun

5. Confucian Governance

50 5 Confucian Governance “Ieyasu had conquered the nation on horseback, but being an enlightened and wise man, realized early that the land could not be governed from a horse. He had always respected and believed in the way of the sages. He wisely decided that in order to govern the land and follow the path proper to man, he must pursue the path of learning. Therefore, from the beginning he encouraged learning.”1 These often-cited words from the ¤rst volume of Tokugawa jikki have traditionally been interpreted to mean that the Tokugawa regime sponsored Confucianism from its inception. This raises the question of why the ¤fth shogun’s support of Confucianism was deemed unusual and much criticized. The explanation is generally that it was dilettante, insincere, and ardent to the point of madness. This contention, however, rests on a rather shaky interpretation of the sources, as will be argued in detail later. Ieyasu and Confucianism Ieyasu’s declaration that the empire could not be ruled from the back of a horse was a well-known Chinese saying and suggests that the authors of Tokugawa jikki were more intent on providing an ideologically potent image than on relating historical facts. In the Chinese classics the saying is attributed to a scholar counseling Genghis Khan, who in turn is citing an of¤cial admonishing Emperor Kao-tsu (r. 202–195 BC), founder of the Han dynasty.2 Ieyasu is portrayed as superior to these two powerful rulers inasmuch as he hit upon this point himself. In the last two decades a number of scholars, most notably Watanabe Hiroshi and Hori Isao in Japanese and Herman Ooms in English, have shown in some detail that Confucianism did not play the role in early Tokugawa Japan traditionally assigned to it. It could even be argued that Confucian studies were more widespread before their separation from and opposition to Buddhism, when Confucianism enjoyed the institutional support of the Buddhist monastic system, than during the early Tokugawa period, when comparable support was lacking. The German scholar Engelbert Kaempfer likened the study of Confucianism before the Tokugawa period to that of the Greek and Roman philosophical texts in the monasteries of Europe.3 Confucian Governance 51 By the end of the sixteenth century, dissatisfaction with their Buddhist environment and the encounter with Korean Confucians after Hideyoshi’s campaigns in that country persuaded some monks to leave their monasteries, renouncing Buddhism, and to style themselves independent Confucian scholars. The most famous of these was Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619), often referred to as the father of Tokugawa Confucianism. Seika was summoned by Ieyasu as early as Bunroku 2 (1593) to be probed, muchlike Hayashi Razan later, on a Chineseemperor who had overthrown his erstwhile lord to establish his own dynasty.4 But Seika subsequently insisted on appearing before Ieyasu in shin’i dôfuku, the traditional garment of the Confucian scholar, and Ieyasu employed his student Hayashi Razan, who agreed to shave his head in Buddhist fashion, wear Buddhist robes, and adopt the Buddhist name of Dôshun. Later, in Kanei 6 (1629), the title hô-in, used for high-ranking Buddhist priests, was bestowed on him and his brother.5 Contemporaries sympathetic to Confucianism, like Ieyasu’s son Yoshinao , thought this regrettable, lamenting that scholars such as Razan who dressed like monks could hardly be called Confucians.6 Ieyasu was unwilling to accord Confucians the independence from Buddhism they were now championing. He was interested in the Confucian classics to justify his own conduct and the establishment of his regime. Razan’s expertise in classical Chinese was also usefully employed in the translation and exposition of Chinese military and medical texts and other clerical and administrative duties .7 Literary education was accorded some importance, and as early as Keichô 6 (1601), Ieyasu established a school at Fushimi. But it was a temple school, where the Confucian classics were studied under the supervision of monks.8 Razan ’s request in Keichô 19 (1614) to open a Confucian school in Kyoto with Fujiwara Seika as instructor came to nothing.9 It was not until Kansei 5 (1793) that the government ¤nally decided to repair and restore to some importance the Ashikaga academy in Kyoto.10 Ieyasu patronized the collection, copying, printing, and distribution of books, but again those dealing with Confucianism were in the minority. None treated Neo-Confucianism, the philosophical system Ieyasu is supposed to have made the basis of his government.11 Ieyasu’s meetings with...