Background
KYUO SHIBATA was born in 1783 in Kyoto; his parents died when he was very young, and he experienced great hardship as a child.
KYUO SHIBATA was born in 1783 in Kyoto; his parents died when he was very young, and he experienced great hardship as a child.
His fondness for learning, however, led him in 1821 to become a student of Satta Tokken, a teacher of shingaku, the system of popular ethics expounded some one hundred years earlier by Ishida Baigan, which combined elements drawn from Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.
Seven years after losing his father, he went to Edo to work but, failing to gain success, he returned to Kyoto and became a lacquerer. In 1810 he turned to the profession of storyteller and at last began to advance in the world.
In 1825 he made up his mind to devote his full time to the propagation of shingaku teachings among the common people, and in 1826 received certification as a teacher from the Meirinsha, the shingaku school.
He left an autobiography, the Yoshinashikoto, and his son compiled a collection of his sayings, the Kyuo duzva, which was printed in 1834.
Though he lost his eyesight , he did not allow this to deter him, but pursued an active career, carrying on his teaching activities not only in Kyoto but in twelve provinces of the surrounding area. Ex-pounding the shingaku doctrines in an interesting and easily comprehensible manner, he succeeded in winning many adherents among the peasants and townsmen and even attracted men of the noble and samurai class as well.
