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Confucianism in Japan

Time	405 AD
Location	Japan
Type	Philosophy
Target	Culture communication

Confucianism in Japan

Further information: Confucianism

Confucianism is a traditional philosophy in China, it was founded by Confucius in 551 BCE, and it becomes one of the famous ideology in the world. The Confucianism spread to Korean in Han dynasty of China, and then spread to Japan later. Japanese combined the Confucianism with their own culture and created unique Japanese Confucianism after thousand years developed.

Confucius

The Confucianism as a ruling instrument of the feudal class, it consolidates the status of the government in early Japan, it also affects the thoughts in different ways. The Confucianism in Japan experiences different status in a different era. However, it is an effective philosophy in Japan.

How Confucianism Spread into Japan

The emperor of China wanted to expand the territorial in the Han dynasty, the Chinese culture spread into Korean peninsula firstly. In CE405, the emperor of Yamato Ojin invited the king of Paekche Keun Chogo to communicated of civilization, so Keun Chogo dispatch doctor Wani went to Japan. He had brought a volume of Thousand Character Classic and ten volume of The Analects during this journey. This event was recorded in the Kojiki and Nihonsyoki which is the first biography in Japan. The main reason of this communication is that Emperor Ojin wanted to educate Yamato by using Confucianism and the culture from China. But there are still some arguments existing about this statement. However, Dr. Wani is the first person who brought Confucianism and Chinese culture to Japan.

In ancient Japan, The Confucianism played an important role to support the development of ethic philosophy especially from 6^th to 9^th. The prince Shotoku Taishi is the first patron of Confucianism who enacted 17 acts based on the theorem form the Confucianism as the pillars of Japan.

The Development of Confucianism in Japan

The Confucianism in Japan had experienced in three stages, the first one is an early stage in Asuka, Nara period, and Heian era. The second stage is the vassal stage in Kamakura era. The last stage is the peak stage in Edo era.

For the early stage, the influence of Confucianism in Japan is limited, and it only studied by the royal family members. So, at the beginning of the stage, the Confucianism did only affect the policy in Japan but not morality, it provided a basic model of government. But some other important ideas in the Confucianism did not present at this stage just like metaphysical and strong speculative and other core of theory. Therefore, this stage cannot embody the Confucianism completely, that is because it is hard to accept a foreign culture immediately, it needs time to deposit especially Japanese have their own culture.

For the second stage, the Neo-Confucianism was spared into Japan with some other new philosophies just like Song studies, Zhuzi studies and Zen Buddhism. There were huge number of Chinese monks and Japanese monks to communicate from the Kamakura era in the mid 13 century in the Song school of Japan. During the beginning of the 14 century, some Japanese Confucian scholars and monks appeared in the upper class to learn and explain the Confucianism. But the main purpose of studying the Confucianism was to prompt the development of Japanese Zen Buddhism, and at the same time, the core of the Japanese Confucianism was strongly reconciled Zen Buddhism and Shinto.

For the third stage, the Japanese Confucianism experienced a peak status, the Japanese Confucianism consisted by the Shinto and Taoism after the 260 years of Edo era. At the same era, Fujiwara Seika played an important role to make Japanese Confucianism break away from Zen Buddhism, and he is the founder of modern Japanese Confucianism. Hayashi Razan was the disciple of Fujiwara Seika, he had founded the official Neo-Confucianism.

The Impact of Confucianism in Japan

Japanese society was affected by Confucianism in many different ways. The Confucianism has five virtues, “Ren” means charity and humanity, “Yi” means honesty and justice, “Zhi” means knowledge,“Xin”means faith and “Li” means politeness. Japanese always use the words “Thank you” and “I am sorry” many times in their daily life, and this is the reflection of the Confucianism virtues.

The Confucianism had already become the state philosophy in the Edo era, and some researchers strongly believe that the forming of modern Japan are related with the Confucianism in the Edo period because it underlines the harmonious relationship between employees. It can be found that the productivity of per employee was increased, and it caused the growth of the overall Japanese economy.

Some other Edo scholars also try to combine the Japanese traditional values with the Confucianism. In the book Bukyo Yuroku written by Yamaga Soko, his military theorems based on the Confucianism and Japanese culture, also this book affects the Japanese traditional military.

“Wuchang” as a main theorem in the Confucianism has an influence in Japanese literature. It is similar to the “I Ching” and “Five Elements”, both of them focus on the combination of yin and yang. This point views attract Japanese’s attention. “Kojiki” is a book which ordered to complete, most of the chapter was written by Mandarin, it reflected the Chinese culture and recorded Japanese history. This book also focuses on the university and the yin yang from the Confucianism.

The Confucianism played an important role in the period of the transition from the Tokugawa era to the Meiji era. Because of the restoration of the imperial rule in the Meiji period, Confucianism was used to change the situation of the society for better.

The Confucianism also affected the policy of ancient Japan. The emperor is the supreme ruler of Japan, and everyone needs to obey the rules made by the emperor. And the emperor also is the symbol of their country, all Japanese need to swear loyalty to the emperor. In a revolution in Japan, the emperor decided to introduce lots of Chinese literature, it includes “The Analects of Confucius”, “I Ching” and “Book”. Those Chinese literature help Japanese to reform the policies. The main changes in this event is to consolidate the imperial power, make the national unity and unity of thought. The Confucianism appears in many times in different politician’s introduction. The emperor of Japan use the thoughts of Confucianism for reference to build their own political thoughts in many times.

The Confucianism also has a negative influence in modern Japan. From the Kamakura shogunate to the Tokugawa shogunate, all shogunates adore bushido. The values of Confucianism was used to be a base to form bushido, but bushido more focus on loyalty and sincerity. This is different from the traditional Confucianism values and it becomes externalization. The warriors have to loyal to their commander, this sprite was abused by the militarism during World War II. Inoue and other philosopher manipulated the value of the Confucianism into loyalty to the imperial, this extreme idea caused the fascism in Japan.

The Different from Chinese Confucianism

Confucianism in China is not like a regular religion as the Taoism and Buddhism, it becomes a tool of politics. And it stress that people should respect to the elder, the peaceful relationship between family members. After the development with many years, it became a standard of morality. Also, Confucianism is the most important part of the imperial examinations.

Firstly, Japanese Confucianism as a foreign culture, it absorbs the most advanced part of Chinese traditional Confucianism, and Japanese combined the Chinese Confucianism with their own culture, finally, they made a new and effective philosophy with their distinct and unique understanding. But Chinese Confucianism does not accept and fuse other foreign culture, it more focuses on the self-cultivation, the five virtues is the best representation. After Confucian founded the Confucianism, Mencius developed the Confucianism and finally, Xuncius combined other philosophers main thoughts and made the Confucianism grateful.  

Secondly, Chinese Confucianism tries to promote the communication between people and create a peaceful society for human, but Japanese abandoned the hypocritical asceticism from the traditional Chinese Confucianism, they improved to underline the importance of the individual, this thought was amplified in the bushido and the patriotism during the WWII.

The Chinese Confucianism focuses on the goodness and stresses the importance of the relationship between people, but those kinds of thoughts also have negative effects to people in that stable society, it impeded the development of society also people were hard to improve their creativity. Conversely, Japanese Confucianism absorbs the core of Chinese Confucianism, it helps the development of Japanese society for faster.

Confucius in Japanese Art

Confucian as a philosophy in the world, he also has an effect on Japanese’s Art in Japan’s Muromachi and Edo Period. Some Japanese artists would like to mix both Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism together in paintings. There are three themes called “Three Patriarchs ”, “Three Sages Tasting Vinegar” and “Three Laughers of Tiger Ravine”, and those themes became popular in that period.

In the theme “Three Sages Tasting Vinegar”, it shows the different facial expression after Confucius, Lao Tsu and Buddha tasted the vinegar from a big jar. In the painting Confucius with a sour face, Lao Tsu with smiling face and Buddha with a bitter face. And this theme best reflects the different thoughts of the three patriarchs. For the Confucianism, Confucian believes that life is sour because the rules of the world were not obeyed strictly, also the scholars of Confucianism seldom laugh, that is the reason way Confucian with a sour face. Lao Tsu was the founder of Taoism and his face with smile because he thought people should integrate into society and environment and change the negative emotion into positive, and the “Flow like water” is the important thought in the Taoism. The last one is Buddha who is the patriarch of Buddhism, he believes that the world is full of suffering and diseases, the human is suffering since they were born, only overcome worldly things could free themselves. So the “Three Sages Tasting Vinegar” became a popular theme in both China and ancient Japan.

Confucius also has some shrines in Japan, Yushima Seido is one of the temples located in Tokyo. It was the centre to study Japanese Confucianism in the Edo period. There is a copper statue of Confucius in the shrine and it becomes a unique way to memory Confucius.

The Nagasaki Confucius Shrine is another temple in Japan. There are 72 figures of stone of Confucius’s students in the shrine.

Another famous shrine of Confucius is Ashikaga Gakko. It was the oldest school in Japan to teach the Confucianism, and it attracted a huge number of students to study from anywhere in Japan.

Watanabe Kazan was an artist from Japan, the Confucianism had an influence in his life, therefore he tries to help the people during the time of suffering.

Modern Japanese Confucianism

After the Meiji Restoration from 1868, the government of Japan started to attack the Confucianism. It includes that the abolition of the main Confucianism organs which made by the former Tokugawa, and the new state comprehensively displayed the education field of Confucianism. Other religions also being suffered across the board at the same time, but the Confucianism was affected seriously because of the anti-religious policy. The Confucianism almost disappear during 1880. But some social elites realized that resurrect Confucianism may bring some benefits. However, the Confucianism was restored within the frame of Western philosophy during the resurrection.

References

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