This week, we’ll be discussing the most important premodern Japanese philosopher that no one has ever heard of: Motoori Norinaga, the leading light of Kokugaku (National Studies) in Edo-period Japan. We’ll be covering his life, a bare-bones overview of his philosophy, and his impact on Japan.
Listen to the episode here.
Sources
Lorish, Fred C. Motoori Norinaga: An Intellectual Portrait.
Burns, Susan L. Before the Nation.
Plus a series of articles providing translations in whole or part of some of Norinaga’s published works. You can google around a bit if you’re interested in these.
Images
I actually knew about him before because he was always referenced in the footnotes of the Kojiki translation I read. He seems to have been THE kokugaku and linguistics guy.