Motoori Norinaga (本居 宣長, 21 June 1730 – 5 November 1801) was a Japanese scholar of Kokugaku active during the Edo period.

However, in the early Edo period they abandoned their samurai status, changing their surname to Ozu, and relocated to Matsusaka, where they became cotton wholesalers.

It was at this time that Norinaga became interested in the Japanese classics and decided to enter the field of kokugaku under the influence of Ogyū Sorai and Keichū.

Returning to Matsusaka, Norinaga opened a medical practice for infants while devoting his spare time to lectures on The Tale of Genji and studies of the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan).

Mabuchi suggested that Norinaga should first tackle the annotations to the Man'yōshū in order to accustom himself to the ancient kana usage known as the man'yōgana.

Although overshadowed by his activities as a kokugaku scholar, Norinaga spent 40 years as a practicing doctor in Matsusaka and was seeing patients until ten days before his death in 1801.

Norinaga's most important works include the Kojiki-den (Commentaries on the Kojiki), made over a period of around 35 years, and his annotations on the Tale of Genji.

His ideas were influenced by the Chinese intellectual Wang Yangming, who had argued for innate knowing, that mankind had a naturally intuitive (as opposed to rational) ability to distinguish good and evil[citation needed].

敷島の大和心を人問はば，朝日に匂ふ山桜花。If one should ask you concerning the spirit of a true Japanese, point to the wild cherry blossom shining in the morning sun.Hitherto Confucian scholars of ancient literature had shown a preference for the grandness and masculinity of Man'yōshū poetry and an aversion to works like the Tale of Genji, which were regarded as unmanly and feminine.

In 1909, it was relocated to the grounds of Matsusaka Castle and effort has been made to preserve the interior as closely as possible to the time when it was used by Norinaga.

The museum houses many artifacts that are protected as Important Cultural Properties of Japan,[8] of which only a small portion is on display at any time.

[9] The grave was situated to overlook the town on Matsusaka, and the hills of Mikawa and Mount Fuji in the distance across Ise Bay and is inscribed with a poem from the Man'yōshū.