Tachibana no-Moribe

Background

Tachibana no-Moribe was born in 1791 in Ise, Mie, Japan. He was the eldest son of the Iida family. Later he was rendered an orphan while young and had to get through many hardships in his youth.

Education

Tachibana has spent about 20 years in Satte (Saitama Prefecture), studying the classics.

Career

In 1809, Tachibana moved to Uchigōma Village in Katsushika District, Musashi Province (in present-day Saitama Prefecture), and started serious writing.

He returned to Tokyo in 1829. Almost on his own, he mastered the study of kokugaku, and rose as a rival of the school of Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), which then represented the mainstream of scholarship, by presenting and establishing a series of original theories.

Tachibana differed from Motoori in that he considered the Nihon shoki more significant than the Kojiki. In interpreting the sacred Shinto texts, he used a set of principles called Shinpi gokajō (Mystical Five Articles), which he applied to distinguish historical fact from legendary transmissions. Tachibana wrote prolifically, including Itsu no chiwaki, (a commentary on Nihon shoki's Books of the Divine Age and Record of Emperor Jinmu); Itsuno kotowaki, an exposition and commentary of the songs recorded in Kojiki and Nihon shoki; and Man'yōshū suminawa, a commentary on Man'yōshū. Others include Shinpū mondō, Kamiyo no tadaka, Shintōben, and Nan-Kojikiden, all of which can be found in the fourteen-volumes of his collected works, Shintei zōho Tachibana Moribe zenshū.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Kokoro no tane

    (Volume 2, Japanese Edition)

    1838
  • Tachibana no Moribe zensh?

    (Japanese Edition)

    1921
  • Kokoro no tane

    (Japanese Edition)

    1838

Connections

Friend:

Norinaga Moto-ori