Research On Ninomiya Sontoku’s View Of Order In The Edo Period

This paper studies the late Edo agricultural and political thinker--Ninomiya Sontoku (1787-1856)’s view of order in the Edo period. Ninomiya Sontoku was born in1787, when Tokugawa Ieyasu was a shogun and Matsudaira Sadanobu was the Rojyu (Rojyu:One of the official positions in Edo shogunate, the highest of all government officials and the Prime Minister). At that time, Japan stated in the internal and external position:peasant uprising constantly remained. In addition, the Russians came to Ezo and proposed trade requirements. All those resulted Shogun began to falter, and social order began to disorder increasingly. In order to improve the social situation, Shogun tried a variety of methods, but there was no significance. Under such circumstances, rebuilding the social order was particularly important. Then ideologists expressed their views on the issues of order reconstruction. Although, Ninomiya Sontoku did not express his views systematically, his opinions on rebuilding order was reflected in his works. So far, the researches of Ninomiya Sontoku are mostly focused on the relationship of Confucianis (the roots of ideology) and the international and reality significance of his thought. However, from a macro perspective to explore Sontoku’s order outlook still belongs to blank state. Therefore, this study focuses on the concept of order from the three aspects of Heaven, mental order and professional order to explore Sontoku’s order of suijyou and wa. It is hoped to provide a new perspective from the viewpoint of the order.