Ishihara Shikō

Ishihara Shikō (石原 醜男, 1874–1936) was a Japanese historian, educator, and author active during the early 20th century.

Ishihara Shikō
石原 醜男
Born1874
Tamana District, Kumamoto Prefecture, Empire of Japan[1]
Died1936(1936-00-00) (aged 61–62)
Kumamoto Prefecture, Empire of Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationHistorian
In this Japanese name, the surname is Ishihara.
A depiction of Ogata Kotarō, whose prison writings were studied by Ishihara Shikō.

Biography

Ishihara was born in the vicinity of Kumamoto city shortly after the Meiji Restoration. His father was Ishihara Unshirō (石原 運四郎), a former samurai retainer of the Kumamoto Domain and staff officer attached to the 2nd Regiment of the Keishintō (敬神党), an armed anti-foreign organization established by students of the kokugaku theologian Hayashi Ōen. In 1876, when Ishihara was three years old, his father participated in the Keishintō's assault on Kumamoto Castle.[2] Although he survived the first engagement, Unshirō chose to commit seppuku alongside a friend after the uprising's defeat by forces under Kodama Gentarō. The young Ishihara was present when military police later arrived to search the family house, and he was thereafter raised by his mother and grandmother.[3]

Ishihara was distraught that the Keishintō would be forgotten while still branded insurgents, and devoted his life to gathering historical materials and testimony from surviving relatives of the men involved and investigating the truth of the uprising.[4] Manuscripts collected by Ishihara included the Sorrowful Draft from Prison (獄の憂草, Goku no Yūsō), a brief account of the rebellion's planning and execution by the captured participant Ogata Kotarō. In 1935, the results of his studies were published in monograph form under the name League of the Divine Wind: A History of Blood and Tears (神風連血涙史, Shinpūren Ketsuruishi).[5] He was also a member of the Sakurayama Dōshikai (桜山同志会), an association for the support of relatives of Keishintō members and general education about the rebellion.[6]

Near the end of his life, Ishihara exchanged letters with Tokutomi Sohō on several occasions.[7][8] He died in 1936.

Legacy

Many of the documents collected by Ishihara were preserved at Sakurayama Shrine in Kumamoto. Ishihara's work was expounded upon by Hasuda Zenmei, one of the last kokugaku students and an early influence on the author Yukio Mishima.[9] Later in the 20th century, material from the Sakurayama archive was examined by the author and historian Araki Seishi.[10] During the late 1960s, Araki collaborated with Yukio Mishima in the latter's preliminary research for the historical fiction novel Runaway Horses, which contains a depiction of the Shinpūren rebellion modeled on Ishihara's text and attributed to the fictional "Yamao Tsunanori" (山尾綱紀).

Bibliography
  • 石原 Ishihara, 醜男 Shikō. "神風連血涙史 Shinpūren Ketsuruishi". National Diet Library of Japan. Retrieved 29 May 2022.

References
  1. "Index of Historical Persons of Tamana City". 玉名市公式ウェブサイト City of Tamana Municipal Website (in Japanese). Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  2. 荒木 Araki, 精之 Seishi (1944). 神風連烈士遺文集 Shinpūren resshi ibunshū (in Japanese) (1st ed.). 第一出版協会 Daiichi Shuppan Kyōkai.
  3. "Biography of Ishihara Unshirō". 神風連偲奉会 Shinpūren Memorial Association (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  4. "Shinpūren Reference Documents". 神風連偲奉会 Shinpūren Memorial Association (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  5. Shinpūren Ketsuruishi. OCLC 22821271. Retrieved 2 January 2022 – via WorldCat.
  6. 熊本県大百科事典 Kumamoto-ken daihyakka jiten (in Japanese) (1st ed.). 熊本日日新聞 Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun. 1982. p. 384.
  7. "Tokutomi Sohō Memorial Archive" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  8. "Disorder and the Japanese Revolution, 1871–1877" (PDF). Harvard University Library. p. 243. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  9. 北影 Kitakage, 雄幸 Yūkō (2006). 三島由紀夫と葉隠武士道 Mishima Yukio to hagakure bushidō (in Japanese) (1st ed.). 白亜書房 Hakua Shobō. ISBN 4891726830.
  10. 荒木 Araki, 精之 Seishi (1971). 神風連実記 Shinpūren jikki (in Japanese) (1st ed.). 新人物往来社 Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha. ISBN 9784404002884.
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