Hayashi Ōen

Hayashi Ōen (林 桜園, 1797–1870) was a Japanese doctor, military strategist, scholar, Shinto priest, diviner, and nationalist.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Hayashi.

A samurai by birth, Ōen was born into the family of Hayashi Mataemon Michihide, a retainer of the Kumamoto Domain. He studied under Nagase Masaki,[1] and was noted for his scholarly studies of the Japanese classics of Higo.[2] A deeply religious man, Ōen placed substantial emphasis on the use of the ukehi ritual in divination, calling it, "the most wondrous of all Shinto rites".[3][4]

In 1853, Ōen became aware of the arrival of the American naval squadron off the coast at Uraga. He immediately armed himself and, shouldering a votive image of Yahata, traveled to the scene, evidently with the intention of directly engaging the Americans. However, by the time he arrived, the diplomatic discussions had ended and the fleet had already departed.[5]

Ōen promulgated his highly xenophobic views through his school, the Gendōkan (原道館), which he established in 1837 within the ruins of Chiba Castle, not far from Kumamoto Castle. He advocated resistance to Western influence and trade, and recommended the expulsion of foreigners from Japan. In 1868, he became a teacher at the Jishūkan, and also worked as an advisor to Iwakura Tomomi within the new government. He died aged 73 at the home of his student Otaguro Tomoo.[3]

After his death, his students, led by Tomoo, adapted his teachings to form the basis of the Shinpūren movement.[6][7]

References
  1. Donald Calman (16 September 1992). The Nature and Origins of Japanese Imperialism: A Reinterpretation of the Great Crisis of 1873. Psychology Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-415-06710-2. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  2. 福岡ユネスコ協会 (1968). Fukuoka Unesco. 福岡ユネスコ協会. p. 20. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  3. Mitsuo, Hori. "Encyclopedia of Shinto". Kokugakuin University. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  4. Helen Hardacre; Adam Lewis Kern (1997). New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan. BRILL. p. 427. ISBN 90-04-10735-5.
  5. Ishihara 石原, Shikō 醜男 (April 13, 1935). 神風連血涙史 Shinpūren Ketsuruishi (1st ed.). 大日社 Dainichisha.
  6. Marius B. Jansen (28 July 1989). The Cambridge History of Japan: The nineteenth century. Cambridge University Press. p. 391. ISBN 978-0-521-22356-0. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
  7. Eiko Maruko Siniawer (2008). Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan, 1860–1960. Cornell University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-8014-4720-4. Retrieved 18 June 2012.


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