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Paper short abstract:

Antiquarianism and evidential scholarship in the Edo period encouraged outsiders to invest in border-crossing research of customs. Matsuoka Tokikata and his son Yukiyoshi mastered the practices of both royal and shogunal courts and sought to propagate an "authentic" integrated tradition.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how the rise of antiquarianism and evidential scholarship at the turn of the nineteenth century brought a new orientation to the study of manners and customs (kojitsu) that blurred the borders of different societal groups and arguably promoted the redefinition and integration of "Japanese" traditions. It addresses these issues through an exploration of the activities of Matsuoka Tokikata (1764-1840) and his son Yukiyoshi (1794-1848).

The manners and customs of courts, both royal and shogunal, were a natural subject of study for those who were born into them. Yet, outsiders like Tokikata, the son of a ronin living in Edo, contributed significantly to the development of a new level of comprehensive and systematic research into court traditions. Tokikata studied under the famous blind scholar Hanawa Hokiichi (1746-1821) and assisted with the publication of Gunsho ruijū, Hokiichi's far-ranging collection of texts. Interested in antiquity and court customs, Tokikata also became a disciple of the Ise school of warrior manners as well as the Takakura school of royal court apparel. Influenced by the rapid spread of antiquarianism and evidential investigation, he cherished firsthand experience, production, and practice.

Tokikata's son Yukiyoshi took part in this enterprise from a young age. In 1812, five years after entering the Takakura school at age 14, Yukiyoshi spent a year in Kyoto, energetically visiting palaces and temples, joining various circles, and learning firsthand the customs of the royal court. Encouraged by Emperor Kōkaku (r. 1780-1817), the capital had become the venue for a classical revival, including the use of evidential research to reconstruct the imperial palace in the Heian style during the 1790s. Yukiyoshi, who would later criticize earlier kojitsu scholarship as being based only on paper knowledge, frequently reported to his father what he had learned. Their detailed exchanges illustrate how father and son developed human and knowledge networks, acquired objects and books, and absorbed the court tradition as their own. Through these activities they developed a new sense of "authentic" practices that integrated court and warrior customs and which they went on to propagate to others.