Hirata Atsutane

Hirata Atsutane

(born Sept. 25, 1776, Akita, Japan—died Oct. 4, 1843, Akita) Leader of the Japanese Restoration Shinto school. He settled in Edo (modern Tokyo) at age 20 and became a disciple of Motoori Norinaga. Hirata sought to develop a Shinto theological system offering principles for social and political action. He proclaimed the natural superiority of Japan and championed the imperial line. For criticizing the Tokugawa shogunate (see Tokugawa period), which had reduced the emperor to a powerless symbol, he was punished by being confined to his birthplace for the rest of his life. His theories helped bring about the shogunate's overthrow, and he influenced 20th-century Shinto and Japanese nationalism.