Abstract
Takashima Kaemon (1832–1914) was perhaps the most well-known and influential diviner in modern Japan. His work, Takashima’s Judgments on the Book of Changes (Takashima ekidan, 1901), is an important book on divination and Book of Changes. It is also a valuable primary source on Meiji philosophical history, showing as it does how one important text of traditional Confucian philosophy, the Book of Changes, remained a significant tool for decision-making well into modern times. Through a textual analysis and critical reading of Takashima’s Judgments on the Book of Changes, this study examines the impact of Book of Changes divination on Meiji politics and warfare. It seeks to deepen our understanding of the nature of Meiji modernity and the formation of the ideology of the “imperial system” in modern Japan. The extensive use of divination based on the Book of Changes by Meiji leaders reveals a surprising and neglected side of Meiji Japan. Takashima’s work makes evident that Meiji Japan was indeed shaped by the interplay of modernity and tradition. Meiji leaders and Westernizers were at times undoubtedly quite conservative. They used Book of Changes divination as a philosophical guide in making political and military decisions, and as an ideological tool to promote conservative political agendas such as the emperor-state ideology, pan-Asian colonialism, the political and moral implications of Shinto, and aspects of traditional morality. Takashima gained the trust of Meiji leaders and the attention of the media not only because of his divination skills, but also because of his role in appropriating a traditional practice based on a Confucian philosophical text for the sake of promoting state ideology and policies.
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- 1.
There are only several biographies of Takashima in Japanese for general readers, including Honda (1914), Kidō (1966), Takagi (1982) and Mochida (2003). Although he made major achievements in modernization and Book of Changes scholarship, Takashima has not been studied by Japanese scholars, and is largely unknown outside Japan.
- 2.
Takashima helped to pioneer the development of modern architecture in Japan. Some foreign residents in Meiji Japan even regarded him as “the number one architect in Japan 日本一大工.” He built the Foreigners’ House (Ijikan異人館), the Swiss Embassy Building, and several Western-style hotels in Yokohama.
- 3.
Takashima was very close to Itō Hirobumi. His daughter married to Itō’s son Hirokuni 博邦 (1870–1931) and he frequently divined for Itō. In 1909, he foretold Itō’s assassination and tried to stop him from going to Manchuria. Mochida Koichirō 持田鋼一郎 believes that Takashima’s interest in public utilities and his enthusiastic spirit in serving the public were influenced by Itō (Mochida 2003: 122). Takashima also befriended Soejima Tanetomi, serving as his matchmaker as well as diviner. Soejima wrote the preface for the Takashima Ekidan.
- 4.
Only Takashima-chō near Yokohama Station has survived into the present. It was a landfill created by Takashima at the request of the Meiji government in the early years of the Meiji period.
- 5.
The credibility of his oracles aroused discussion in his lifetime. Some people questioned the credibility of Takashima’s records for two reasons: First, Meiji leaders seldom mentioned Takashima in their writings; Second, most oracles were not open to the public before the publication of the Takashima Ekidan. Takaoka Noriaki 片岡紀明 is fair enough to point out that although most oracles were unclosed by Takashima after the events, there were cases that he gave them to the press before the events (Takaoka 1995).
- 6.
Arai Hakuga was a prolific writer and enthusiastic educator of Book of Changes divination. Takashima recalled that he read Arai’s books in his early years and used the divination method of the Arai School, but he could not understand the images and texts of the hexagrams until he studied the Book of Changes seriously during his imprisonment (Mochida 2003: 80).
- 7.
In order to promote this book overseas, Takashima asked Sugiura Shigetake 杉浦重剛 (1855–1924), the founder of the Tokyo English School 東京英語學校, to translate it into English, entitled Takashima Ekidan: Translated from the Work of Kaemon Takashima (Tokyo: Keigyōsha, 1888). He distributed the English edition for free at the Parliament of World’s Religions held in Chicago in 1893. In 1901, Takashima asked Wang Zhiben 王治本 (1835–1907), a Qing scholar who spent his last 30 years in Japan, to prepare for the Chinese edition. The Chinese edition was influential in China. Takashima presented it to Qing leaders such as Li Hongzhang and Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 (1859–1916). Li praised it as an attempt to revive orthodox Book of Changes tradition that had lost in China. The Chinese edition was reprinted in China and had a wide circulation. Hang Xinzhai 杭辛齋 (1869–1924), a renowned Book of Changes scholar, regarded Takashima’s scholarship as a return to orthodox Book of Changes divination.
- 8.
Takashima himself, during his lifetime, did not found any divination school of his own. After his death, many people popularized Takashima’s divination, claiming that they were the successors or relatives of Takashima (Hardacre 1987: 207–208).
- 9.
Coin throwing was one such method commonly practiced in China and Japan. Credited to Jing Fang 京房 (77–37 B.C) of the Western Han period (206 B. C–9 A.D), this method was introduced to Japan during the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–906) periods and became very popular in the Tokugawa period. Takashima himself used this method in his early years.
- 10.
For instance, a study of Mori Arinori, a champion of the Civilization and Enlightenment Movement, suggests that at heart Mori was conservative in political ideology (Swale 2000). Kenneth Pyles case study of Tokutomi Sohō 德富蘇峰 (1863–1957) shows that many advocates of Westernization turned conservative in the late Meiji period as part of their search for cultural identity (Pyle 1969).
- 11.
Modern Japanese have never lost their interest in divination. Regarding the development of various forms of divination from the Meiji to the present, see Suzuki 1995: 249–266.
- 12.
Takashima was not the only Book of Changes scholar in Meiji Japan whose ideas were in agreement with state ideology. Nemoto Tsūmei 根本通明 (1822–1906), in this explanation of the hexagrams, upheld the national character (kokutai 國體) about the unbroken imperial line (Nemoto 1901: 25–27).
- 13.
Takashimaya was the most high-class hotel in Yokohama in the early Meiji period, patronized by the imperial family, high-ranking officials and foreign businessmen. It was a venue to gather information about Japan and the world as well as to build political and business networks (Mochida 2003: 115–116).
- 14.
The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, represents the return of yang. One such yearly prediction recorded in 1894 is kept in the archive of Itō Hirobumi 伊藤博文関係文書 (#341), in the National Diet Library.
- 15.
Takashima held that Western science and technology could be found in the Book of Changes. For instance, he associated the 8 trigrams and 64 hexagrams with 8 attributes in physics and the 64 elements of chemistry (Takashima 1997: Vol. 1, 8–11).
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Ng, WM. (2014). Divination and Meiji Politics: A Reading of Takashima Kaemon’s Judgments on the Book of Changes (Takashima Ekidan). In: Huang, Cc., Tucker, J. (eds) Dao Companion to Japanese Confucian Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2921-8_12
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