Utsunomiya Tonan (宇都宮遯庵)
Tonan UTSUNOMIYA (April 8, 1633 - November 3, 1707) was a Confucian scholar during the Edo period. His name was Yuteki. He had a pseudonym, Gansetsu, other than Tonan. He was also called Sankon UTSUNOMIYA and Yuteki UTSUNOMIYA. He had son Keisai UTSUNOMIYA.
Biography
He was born in Iwakuni City, Suo Province. He served Hiroyoshi KIKKAWA, the third lord of Iwakuni domain, and around the age of 17, by order of Hiroyoshi, he went to Kyoto and became a pupil of Shakugo MATSUNAGA. He studied neo-Confucianism in the Teishugaku-ha school. He was called Trio of An along with Junan KINOSHITA and Seian ANDO. In 1657, he returned to his native place and started popularizing neo-Confucianism; in 1675 and 1680, he was reprimanded by the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) for the description about Christianity in the entry of Kiyohide NAKAGAWA, a retainer of the Toyotomi clan, in his book 'Nihon kokon jinbutsushi' and sentenced to several years' imprisonment in Iwakuni.
After that, he went to Kyoto, and then, at the invitation of Hiromasa KIKKAWA, the fourth lord of the Iwakuni domain, he returned to his native place. He opened a school for teaching neo-Confucianism, and began engaged in education of the Kikkawa domain in Suo by teaching a lot of students. He began popularizing neo-Confucianism in Tokuyama at the invitation of Mototsugu MORI, the lord of Tokuyama domain in Suo.
His works
Nihon kokon jinbutsushi
Shisho hyochu
Tonan shishu
Santaishi shokai
Toritsu hyochu
Monzen onchu
Shogaku shokai
Shokugensho shusho
Mogyu shosetsu
Mogyu shakuiko
Kinshiroku hyochu
Kinshudan hyochu
Senkeshi hyochu
Kintaikyo Bridge and Tonan
Kintaikyo, a sightseeing spot in Iwakuni, was not named when it was constructed; Tonan's book 'Gokurakuji Teishiki' is the first record describing the name Kintaikyo as shown in 'the bridge is called Bumpy because of its pattern. It is also called Kintaikyo Bridge, because it is close to Nishimi district.'
When a Zen monk Dokuryu from China was staying in Iwakuni, Tonan asked Dokuryu to teach him and named the bridge in Iwakuni Kintaikyo after the bridge name in a Chinese classic 'Seikoshi,' which was the origin of the name Kintaikyo Bridge.