Osari Nakaakira

Osari Nakaakira was a Japanese samurai, kannushi, student of kokugaku, and retainer of the Tsugaru clan. In 1851, he was given the courtesy title of Satsuma-no-kami. He was the grandfather of Kon Wajirō.

Biography

Osari Nakaakira's family had been Shinto priests for many generations. When he was young, he studied for the priesthood under Abe Nakaaki, priest of the Iwakiyama Shrine, and Saitō Norioki an instructor from the Keikokan, Tsugaru Domain's han school. Osari eventually served as high priest of Kumano-Okuteru Shrine and later also Iwakiyama Shrine.
Osari was renowned as one of Tsugaru's greatest poets, and taught poetry to many students including Hirao Rosen and Shimozawa Yasumi.
In the summer of 1869, Tsugaru Tsuguakira arranged for a shōkon funeral for Tsugaru soldiers who died in the battles of Noheji and Hakodate. Osari directed the funeral ceremonies. Tens of thousands of people attended the ceremony, which included a British-style gun salute and drill by the nascent Imperial Japanese Army.
Later that year, Osari was brought on by the Keikokan as an instructor of classical studies and became a leader of the domain's efforts to eliminate the confounding of Shintō and Buddhism. He was also involved in founding the predecessor of the for Japanese war dead. Later he traveled to Kyoto to study under Hirata Kanetane. Osari himself taught hundreds of students.
In 1898, Osari held an event in memory of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku. Here Osari credited kokugaku scholars with opening the "Imperial Way" which allowed patriotism and the Yamato spirit to flourish:
In 1902, on Osari's 79th birthday, 52 local poets presented him with a book of poetry titled Chitose no tomo. Osari died in 1903.