The Invisible "Divine Emperor" : The Saisei Icchi Theory of Wakabayashi Kyosai

Abstract

Wakabayashi Kyosai (1679-1732) was a Confucian scholar in the mid-Edo period. He belonged to the Yamazaki Ansai school and adhered to neo-Confucianism. However, he became committed to Shintoism especially after 1724. This paper focuses on the social and political aspects of his Shintoistic thought, expressed as saisei icchi theory, in order to understand the meaning of "Shinto" for Kyosai. Even before 1724, Kyosai thought that Shintoism and Confucianism were different expressions of the same universal truth. But he also believed that Shintoism remained an imperfect expression of the truth in comparison with Confucianism, thus in need of improvement. Despite its imperfection, Shintoism with its nationalistic element was theoretically essential for his thought in order to legitimize neo-Confucianism in the early modern Japan. Since 1724, after Kyosai was inducted into esotericism by Suika Shintoists, he professed Shinto orthodoxy and reverence for the Emperor. In fact, he came to believe that Shintoism was a lively expression of the universal truth, in Neo-Confucianist sense, and the Emperor was the embodiment of that truth. Kyosai argued for the salvation of sinners by "the Divine Emperor" in his later life, which resulted from his practice of neo-Confucianism, combined with his adherence to Shintoism.