Ninomiya Sontoku (二宮 尊徳, September 4, 1787 – November 17, 1856), born Ninomiya Kinjirō (二宮 金次郎), was a prominent 19th-century Japanese agricultural leader, philosopher, moralist and economist.
Though he did not leave written philosophical work, his ideas were later transcribed by his disciples: Tomita Takayoshi, Fukuzumi Masae and Saitō Takayuki. Ninomiya combined three strands of traditional teachings — Buddhism, Shintōism and Confucianism — and transformed them into practical ethical principles that matured out of his experiences. He saw agriculture as the highest form of humanity because it was the cultivation of resources given by the Kami.
Statues of him can been found all over Japan, particularly in front of schools. The typical form is of him reading a book, carrying a stack of wood on his back. [1]
In Gakkou no Kaidan he appears as a haunted statue; presumably haunted by Ninomiya himself. In the anime Ghost Stories he appears to have no malicious intent nor is he seen as an antagonist ghost. In the 1996 Gakkou no Kaidan movie he is seen as a statue coming after the protagonists and sucking them down in the ground. In Gakkou no Kaidan SP he is one of the ghost hosts who introduce the story segments.
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