Saitō Chikudō

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Saitō".

Saitō Chikudō (斉藤 竹堂, November 11, 1815 – April 11, 1852) was a Japanese confucian scholar, historian, and poet. His real name was Kaoru (馨). His pen name was Chikudō (竹堂) or Bōyōshi (茫洋子).

Life

Chikudō was born in Mutsukoku-Tōdagun-Numabemura (now Tajiri in Tōda District, Miyagi prefecture). He studied under Ōtsuki Heisen and Masujima Ran-en. Chikudō entered Yushima Seidō where he studied and taught Chinese poetry, and served as the house master in Yushima Seidō. He associated with the celebrities in those days. For example, Ōtsuki Bankei, Hagura Kandō, Saitō Totsudō and Shinozaki Shōchiku. Rai Mikisaburō was Chikudō's junior in Yushima Seidō and a friend of his.

In 1845, he went back home once and moved to Edo with his wife and mother. He opened a free school in Shimotani Aioicho (now Aioichō, Tokyo). This school was popular and he became notable. The Lord of Sendai Domain hoped to employ Chikudō as a professor of Confucianism, but Chikudō died before the selection. He was 38 years old.

Works

Chikudō wrote most poems and prose in Classical Chinese. His Chinese sentences did not have ambiguity. His interests were very wide. He knew the history of Western countries and was using Noah, the history of Babylonia, Alexander the Great, Aristotle, Napoleon and George Washington as poem themes.

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