Background
Sanyo Rai was born on January 21, 1780 in Osaka, Japan. His father, Rai Shunsui, was a respected Neo-Confucian teacher. His mother, Baisi, was a poet of some note.
(Nihon Gaishi, in three volumes, dealt with the rise and f...)
Nihon Gaishi, in three volumes, dealt with the rise and fall of the warrior families since the time of the strife of the Minamotos and Tairas until the Tokugawa Dynasty. It contains Sanyo's own comments on historical events. His style is grand and polished. The book contributed much to promoting reverence for the Imperial Family. It was completed after more than 20 years' work and was dedicated to Sadanobu Matsudaira, Shogunate Prime Minister (1827) and then was published.
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山陽 頼
Sanyo Rai was born on January 21, 1780 in Osaka, Japan. His father, Rai Shunsui, was a respected Neo-Confucian teacher. His mother, Baisi, was a poet of some note.
He was taken to Aki Province (Hiroshima Prefecture) by his father. His uncle, Kyohei, took him to Edo (now Tokyo) (1797), where he entered the Shoheiko (Shogunate college) and studied under Ritsuzan Shibano and Seiri Koga.
Wishing to devote himself to writing instead, at the age of nineteen he detached himself from his domain and became a wandering scholar. This was a serious crime without receiving special permission so, to save him from greater punishment, his father disinherited him and locked him in his room for three years. He spent this time studying and writing. It was there he conceived the idea for his Nihon Gaishi ("Unofficial History of Japan") and began composing the first chapters. Many years before, his father had been engaged in writing an official history, but permission had been suddenly withdrawn.
In 1811, he moved to Kyoto, opened a school and continued to work on his history. He soon became part of a circle of writers and scholars that included Yanagawa Seigan and Ōshio Heihachirō and came under the influence of the Kokugaku movement. He was finally able to achieve financial independence and travelled throughout Japan, writing Kanshi poetry.
In 1827, he completed the Nihon Gaishi, his life work It was modeled on the Records of the Grand Historian and was in 22 volumes, covering Japanese history from the emergence of the Minamoto clan through the reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu. It was the first comprehensive study of its kind. The work was dedicated to the daimyō, Matsudaira Sadanobu, who praised it and presented it to the shogunate for approval. Despite winning that approval, it was later banned in several domains, possibly because it advocated strengthening the powers of the Emperor. It has been cited as a major influence on the Sonnō jōi movement.
He was also the author of "Records of Japan's Government", in 16 volumes; "Morality and Duty", in 3 volumes; several books of verse and travel diaries.
In his later years, he suffered from tuberculosis and succumbed to the disease while working at his desk.
(Nihon Gaishi, in three volumes, dealt with the rise and f...)
Sanyo Rai did not incline to any particular doctrine and had deep knowledge of and insight into contemporary affairs.
He was also an ink wash painter of modest reputation, associated with the Nanga School.
He married Rieko (1815).