Hirata Atsutane

Hirata Atsutane (平田 篤胤^?, 6 October 1776 – 2 November 1843) was a Japanese scholar, conventionally ranked as one of the four great men of kokugaku (nativist) studies, and one of the most significant theologians of the Shintō religion. His literary name was Ibukinoya.

Hirata was born to a low-ranking samurai family of Akita domain (in present-day Akita Prefecture) in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. His father was named Ōwada Yoshitane, and Hirata was adopted by Matsuyama retainer Hirata Tōbei, from whom he received the family name of Hirata in 1800. Little is known of his early life, but Hirata was a student of the Neo-Confucianism of Yamazaki Ansai (1619–1682) in Edo. He later turned towards Daoism as found in the works of the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, and towards Shintō as per the works of Motoori Norinaga, founder of the kokugaku movement.

Though he is traditionally ranked fourth in the lineage of kokugaku scholars, Hirata actually represents a break with the purely scholarly urban culture characteristic of the revival of classical nativist learning, and represents a trend toward a populist message. Hirata laid particular emphasis on reaching the average man, and adapted his own style to them by employing at times the vernacular idiom.

Hirata claimed later to have received the mantle of kokugaku teacher in a dream directly from Motoori Norinaga, but the story is apocryphal. Hirata's interest in kokugaku postdates Motoori's own death.

Hirata was a prolific writer. Representative works in the study of ancient Japanese traditions include Tama no mihashira (The True Pillar of Spirit), Koshi seibun (Treatise on Ancient History), Kodō taii (True Meaning of the Ancient Way) and Zoku Shintō taii (True Meaning of Common Shintō), and the commentaries Koshi-chō and Koshi-den. He is also noted for his studies of ancient Indian and Chinese tradition (Indo zōshi and Morokoshi taikoden), and texts dealing with the spirit world, including Senkyō ibun (Strange Tales of the Land of Immortals) and Katsugorō saisei kibun (Chronicle of the Rebirth of Katsugorō). His early work Honkyō gaihen indicates an acquaintance with Christian literature that had been authored by Jesuits in China.

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