Yoshida Shōin and Wei Yuan

Abstract

Sakuma Shōzan’s Seiken roku carries an introduction by Katsu Kaishū (1823 – 99) which argues as follows. After it was completed, the Seiken roku was stored at the bottom of a bamboo basket when Shōzan, after meeting with misfortune, was thrown in jail. (Shōzan was arrested for his alleged connections with the activities of Yoshida Shōin; the latter was apprehended for trying to stow away on an American ship in 1854 after the arrival of Commodore Perry’s warships). Shōzan’s son Kaku (or Kakujirō) was also implicated, but he managed to preserve the manuscript even during his peregrinations and in times of great danger. During that time he carried the text with him and showed it to Kaishū, asking for help in getting it published. Kaishū’s younger sister was Shōzan’s legal wife; as Kaishū put it in his preface, he ‘was related to the esteemed Shōzan by marriage.’ Through this link, Kaishū supplied the necessary funds, and in the early Meiji era it was first published.