Letter by Hayashi Razan
- Person
-
作者林羅山（道春）
- Date
-
制作年 AD17
- Title
- ハヤシラザンヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
A Confucian scholar of the early Edo Period, Hayashi Razan (1583-1657) was born in Kyoto. He later received training in Zen Buddhism under the priests of Kenninji Temple, but became a disciple of Confucian Fujiwara Seika (1561-1619) in 1604. The name Razan was a Confucian name given him by his master, Seika. Quite early in his academic career, Razan was drawn to the teachings of Zhu Xi and showed extraordinary talent in the pursuit of this discipline. In 1605, he was received in audience by General Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Nijo Castle in Kyoto. Ieyasu ordered Razan to take the tonsure and start using the Buddhist name of Doshu. In due course, Hayashi Razan went down to Edo to serve as a lecturer to three generations of Tokugawa shoguns(Ieyasu, Hidetada and Iemitsu). Razan also attended to various matters of state--organizing receptions for Korean emissaries, drafting official documents, laws and regulations, and compiling history books, to name a few key activities. In 1629, Razan was named Hoin (honorable title for a priest or artist) of the Ministry of Popular Affairs and was awarded a mansion in the Ueno area of Edo, where he opened a private school. The great fire that later engulfed wide areas of Edo consumed many books and publications stored in the Edo Castle archive. Greatly depressed by the loss of these priceless historical documents, Razan fell ill and eventually died at age 75. This letter accompanied a gift of summer costume Razan sent in return for the prayer scroll he had borrowed from the addressee, Toriyikoji Tsunenari (1598-1653). The scroll was to be eventually returned to Sonjun Hosshinno (princely priest) through Tsunenari. Preceding the date of this letter was a thee-day Buddhist rite held at Nikko Toshogu Shrine in 1636, and on April 19th, a dedication ceremony was held for the Yakushido Pagoda, for which Sojun Hosshinno chanted the prayers. Sojun returned to Edo on May 2nd. It is likely that Hayashi Razan asked to keep the prayer book for entering official records. Razan was 54 years old when these events took place.
［端裏書］民部卿法印道春………………………………………尚々先以昨日者御登城目出度存候以上一昨晩之呪願文返進仕候此方校合仕忝存候御請取所仰候仍是式却而如何存候へとも時分之物ニ候間帷子三之内単物壱進上仕候御門跡様へ以御次可然様ニ御披露頼入候何も期伺候之節候恐々謹言五月九日道春（花押）鳥居小路式部卿殿
Overview
Rights
Depository and ID
Components
OPEN DATADESIGN
Keio Object Hub makes data on cultural objects open and tries designing various experiences using open data.
Details
Identifiers
- Title (EN)
- Letter by Hayashi Razan
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
-
Quantity 1葉
As a prototype feature, the Keio Object Hub uses AI (machine learning) to generate keywords for searches and filtering.
For the first launch, Google Cloud's Vision API will be used to analyze the images of each object and automatically generate keywords.