Ryohei Noguchi 'Biographies of Bakumatsu Figures: Expelling Barbarians and Opening the Country' Episode 5: Norinaga Motoori (9)

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9

The discipline of setting aside preconceptions and adhering to the text itself brought Norinaga a single insight. In 'Naobi no Mitama' (contained at the end of Volume 1 of 'Kojiki-den'), written at the age of 42, Norinaga states:

--What has been called the 'Way of the Sages' in China is for governing the country, but the ancient documents of the archipelago convey a situation where things were sufficient and the world was peacefully governed even without such a 'Way.' Although what corresponds to the 'Way of the Sages' is not written there [and therefore it is sometimes disparaged as an uncivilized, barbaric land], it is precisely because the 'Way of the Sages' had already been realized that it does not appear in the documents. The very fact that there is no 'Way of the Sages' speaks to the reality that an incomparably superior 'Way' existed [as customary law].

A Way that is no Way is also another kind of 'Way.' There is an original insight in this way of grasping things. It can be called a kind of anarchism that also resonates with Lao-Zhuang thought. On the other hand, Norinaga calls this 'Way' the 'Way of the Gods' in accordance with the text. Here, a question arises for me. It is fine to see the 'Way of the Gods' in the world of the ancient archipelago. But can it be accepted in its current form as the 'Way of Man' for people living today? Does this not contain Norinaga's greatest difficulty?

As long as one reads the descriptions in the 'Kojiki' with an open mind, Norinaga thought, one has no choice but to believe that Amaterasu Omikami is truly the 'Sun Goddess' who illuminates the heavens and earth everywhere. In contrast, it was the Osaka man of letters Akinari Ueda (1734-1809, author of 'Ugetsu Monogatari') who countered that this 'heavens and earth' was nothing more than 'our country (Japan).' The subsequent exchange between the two is called the 'Sun Goddess Controversy'.

Norinaga never yielded to the criticism of Akinari, who was urban and rational and regarded Norinaga's theory as absurd. From Norinaga's perspective, Akinari's argument was ultimately nothing more than a manifestation of 'Kara-gokoro' (Chinese mindset), and his own academic motivation of removing preconceptions and adhering to the 'Magokoro' (true heart) was not understood at all.

However, this controversy also brought to light the problem that Norinaga himself was harboring. It was that the 'Way of the Gods' that Norinaga tried to believe in lacked the requirements as a logic for people living today, who are inevitably caught up in self-interest, to explore with one another.

What Norinaga takes as his starting point is 'knowing mono no aware (true heart)'. Poetry has the power to make people express this, enjoy it, and create connections between people that are hard to obtain in the secular world. Then, how can such people create and cultivate
another 'public' that can look back at the rulers beyond that? Originally, Norinaga should have asked this, and like Rousseau, he needed to explore the path to political participation by the governed (women and children). But Norinaga, as a sensible person regarding the political realm, maintained a stance of following the 'public authority' and, instead of searching for a path to the 'public,' chose
internalization and isolation in the world of mythology.

Why did Norinaga, who should have been a rigorous scholar, advocate such absurd and nationalist claims? This was the form of the conventional 'Norinaga Problem.' However, a more serious question was hidden at the root of this question. Why could Norinaga not thoroughly complete the task of overturning the 'early modern view of public and private' established by Sorai Ogyu and creating a 'public' from the 'private'? This is the form of the question that should properly be called the 'Norinaga Problem'. The early modern period is a halfway era, economically modern but politically medieval. What stood in Norinaga's way was the 'wall of the early modern period'. The people who challenged this wall were Kodayu Daikokuya, Hikokuro Takayama, and Maku Tadano.

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※ Header photo: Looking at the gate of Norinaga Motoori's former residence from the Matsusaka Castle keep

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◆References

The main sources used and references are here↓

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◆Author Profile

Ryohei Noguchi
Born in 1967. Graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University. Completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Letters, Ritsumeikan University. Part-time lecturer at Kyoto University of the Arts. Specializes in philosophy, intellectual history, and the theory of linguistic expression.

[Books]
'The Worldview of "Daibosatsu Toge"', Heibonsha, 2009 (18th Mineo Hashimoto Award)
'Bakumatsu-style Thinking', Misuzu Shobo, 2017
'A History of Philosophy in the Archipelago', Misuzu Shobo, forthcoming (September 2025)
[Translations]
Louis Menand, 'The Metaphysical Club', co-translated, Misuzu Shobo, 2011
Michael Wert, 'Meiji Restoration Losers: Memory and History Surrounding Oguri Kozukenosuke', Misuzu Shobo, 2019
[Serializations]
'Introduction to the Intellectual History of the Archipelago' (Monthly Misuzu, July 2020–September 2022)
'Biographies of Bakumatsu Figures: Expelling Barbarians and Opening the Country' (Keikosha Magazine)!!!!!!

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