Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Zhu Shunshui
Late Ming loyalist scholar from Yuyao who, after years of failed resistance against the Qing, settled in Japan and became guest teacher to Tokugawa Mitsukuni of Mito
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Also known as Zhu Zhiyu · Zi Chuyu · Shun Shui
Zhu Shunshui, born Zhu Zhiyu with the courtesy name Luyu or Chuyu, came from Yuyao in Zhejiang and as a late Ming licentiate repeatedly declined official appointments. After the Qing conquest he joined the loyalist cause of the Prince of Lu and Zheng Chenggong, sailing between Zhoushan, Japan and Annam in search of troops and aid. When Zheng's assault on Nanjing failed in 1659 he crossed to Nagasaki that winter and never returned, and the Yanagawa domain scholar Ando Seian became his student. In 1665 Tokugawa Mitsukuni, lord of Mito, brought him to Edo as an honoured teacher, and he lectured to the Mito domain and advised on the compilation of the Great History of Japan (Dai Nihon shi). He died in Edo in 1682 and was buried on Zuiryu hill in Mito with the private posthumous name Wengong, and his collected writings in twenty-eight chapters were printed in Japan in 1715.
Life and times
Dates 1600 CE–1682 CE