Confucian Traditions

Abstract

This section provides an overview of the Confucian traditions, with particular emphasis on their philosophical significance. It begins by discussing the role of Inoue Tetsujirō (1855–1944), the first Japanese to hold a chair in philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University, in catapulting Confucianism to the forefront of Japanese philosophy. Inoue authoritatively identified traditional Japanese tetsugaku with various schools of early-modern Japanese Confucianism. His trilogy described the development of the three major schools of Tokugawa Confucian philosophizing: the Zhu Xi School, the Wang Yangming School, and the so-called Ancient Learning or Kogaku School. Inoue's later work was on “national morality,” an amalgam of Confucianism, Shinto, and Buddhism. This section first discusses the history of Confucian philosophy in Japan before presenting translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers from the Confucian traditions, including Fujiwara Seika, Hayashi Razan, Yamazaki Ansai, Kumazawa Banzan, Kaibara Ekken, Asami Keisai, Arai Hakuseki, Tominaga Nakamoto, Teshima Toan, Miura Baien, and Ninomiya Sontoku.