Terakado Seiken

Terakado Seiken (1796 April 16, 1868) was a Confucian scholar who lived in Japan during the Edo period. He is best known for writing about Tokyo.

Early life Terakado was born in Mito Domain in 1796. His father, a minor government official, died when Terakado was 13 years old. After his father's death he lived a delinquent lifestyle before turning to Confucianism and eventually opening a school. Like his father, he held a minor position as a samurai. He wrote most of the essays in literary kanbun, which is typically only used in government documents. This brought an additional level of seriousness to the subjects that he wrote about, bringing accounts of fights between common people to the level of epic battles. When writing about wealthier districts like Honjo, he focused on the more unsavory parts of the neighborhood, such as brothels.

Terakado's work was written about extensively by the scholar Andrew L. Markus.