Fujita Yūkoku

Fujita Yūkoku (藤田幽谷; 29 March 1774 – 29 December 1836) was a prominent samurai scholar of the Mito School during the mid-late Edo period and master of the domain's school, the Shōkōkan.

Fujita Yūkoku 藤田幽谷
Posthumous portrait, 1869
Born	(1774-03-29)29 March 1774 Mito Domain, Hitachi Province, Tokugawa Shogunate
Died	29 December 1836(1836-12-29) (aged 62)
Occupation(s)	Samurai, intellectual
Japanese name
Kyūjitai	藤田幽谷

Life

Born as the son of an old clothes dealer,^[1] he was a student of Tachihara Suiken. After joining the Shōkōkan he was patronised by Tokugawa Mitsukuni to compile the Dai Nihon Shi.^[2] His contributions as a Neo-Confucian scholar influenced successive generations of samurai intellectuals and the ideological programme of many of the reformers in the Meiji Revolution. He was the first to use the phrase fukoku kyōhei (rich nation, strong army) to alleiviate the problems of naiyu gaikan, "troubles at home and dangers abroad". His understanding of this phrase, however, was different to its later use. He instead advocated for asceticism, implying that a rich Japan would arise from a return to agrarianism and discouraging urban life, while a strong army could be formed from the restoration of morale and encouragement of moral virtue among the samurai class.^[3] He had a son named Fujita Tōko, also a samurai intellectual of the Mito School, who assisted in supporting the reform efforts of Tokugawa Nariaki and in the promotion of the sonnō jōi movement.^[1][4]