Ogyu Sorai's Discourse on Government (Seidan): An Annotated TranslationHarrassowitz Verlag, 1999 - 368 pages Toward the end of his life, the Japanese Confucian thinker Ogyu Sorai (1666-1728) wrote a memorandum entitled Seidan, Political Discourse, about the political and economic situation in Japan, probably at the request of the authorities and possibly the shogun, Yoshimune, himself. It is an extensive treatise which touches practically all fields of life around 1725-1727 and it is therefore a goldmine for anyone who wishes to acquaint himself with Japanese history in mid-Tokugawa times. The work was written in secrecy and it was therefore not known even by his students. It began to circulate in handwritten copies in the 1750s. Today it is a central work and a monument in the socalled keizaigaku genre of Japanese political-economic literature and is found in every collection of Tokugawa intellectual literature and referred to by all scholars who deal with Tokugawa history. The present work includes a full translation of the Seidan. |
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allowed ancient Arai Hakuseki ashigaru bakufu become Buddhist bugyô buke captains Castle census registers Chapter China Chinese Ching Commissioners Confucian Confucius copper coins countryside daikan daimyo dôri dôshin duties dynasties Edo Castle established estates feudal fiefs fudai fûzoku Genroku gokenin gold and silver guard hatamoto Heaven hereditary servants high and low hinin hôkônin Ieyasu imperial impoverishment Japanese jitô kami kamishimo kojiki koku koseki kuge kunkai Kyôhô Kyoto land tax live lord lower Lun Yü machibugyô matters means mentioned merchants metsuke military monks Nihon ninjô Ogyû Sorai one's peasants person priests provinces punishment rank refers retainers rice rônin rule rulers ryô sages samurai sarugaku sect Seidan seido served Shogun Tsunayoshi situation Sorai Sorai says stipend T'ang talents term things today's Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Japan Tokyo townspeople Volume yoriki Young Elders