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Introduction for Beginners
What is Japanese Confucianism?
The Chinese View that Shaped Japanese Social Life
When people come to Japan for the first time, Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples are always on their list of important places to visit. But they do not think about visiting Confucian sites.
This is not because there are no such places in Japan. For example, there is Yushima Seidō (湯島聖堂) in Tōkyō and Kōshibyō (孔子廟) in Nagasaki. It is because the influence of Confucianism in Japanese culture is far less known than that of Shintō and Buddhism.
But even if tourists and the Japanese themselves seem not to realize it, Confucianism is everywhere in Japan. Not as something to worship, but as a way of life. It is in the way people talk to their superiors, or more specifically, in the way students or young researchers interact with their professors. It is in the way social relationships are understood and lived.
As you know, what we call Confucianism did not originate in Japan, but in China. It is a tradition of thought that began with the teachings of a Chinese intellectual figure: Confucius. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Confucianism as follows:
At different times in Chinese history, Confucius (trad. 551–479 BCE) has been…
