Hitomi Chikudo
- Born: Kan'ei 14/12/8 (Jan 22 1638)
- Died: 1696/1/14
- Other Names: 小野節 (Ono Setsu, birth name), 宜卿 (Gikyô, azana), 友元 (Yûgen), 鶴山 (Kakuzan)
- Japanese: 人見竹洞 (Hitomi Chikudou)
Hitomi Chikudô was a prominent Edo period Confucian scholar, also known for his Chinese poetry (kanshi).
Born and raised in Kyoto the son of an Imperial court physician, and nephew of Hitomi Bokuyûken, he studied under Hayashi Razan and Hayashi Gahô, and became an official Confucian teacher for the young Tokugawa Ietsuna. He later became a Confucian scholar in service to the shogunate more centrally, and became a lay monk, accepting the rank/title of Hôgan. He inherited headship of his family in 1674, with lands worth 700 koku.
As part of his official duties for the shogunate, Hitomi played a role in the reception of Korean and Ryukyuan embassies to Edo in 1682, writing about both in volumes entitled Kanshi shukôroku and Jinjutsu Ryûkyû haichô ki. He also set his red seal to the re-issued Buke shohatto in 1683, and to the shoke shoji ("Various Houses, Various Temples").
His other writings included large sections of the Honchô tsugan, a record of travel to Nikkô called Nikkô sankei ki, and involvement in the compilation of the Butoku taiseiki alongside Kinoshita Jun'an and others. Through his work as a clerk and secretary for the shogunate, and his resulting contact with various daimyô and hatamoto families, as well as through the Hayashi clan, Hitomi became rather prominent in intellectual, literary, and political circles of his time.
References
- "Hitomi Chikudô," Nihon jinmei daijiten, Kodansha 2009.
- "Hitomi Chikudô," Asahi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten, Asahi Shinbunsha.
