Confucianism

• Other Names: 儒道 (judou),　儒学 (jugaku)
• Japanese: 儒教 (jukyou)

Confucianism is a range of philosophies which trace their origin to the teachings of Confucius, who lived in China in the 6th-5th centuries BCE. Though originally based in the Analects of Confucius (C: Lún Yǔ, J: Rongo), which purport to be a record of the teachings of Confucius himself, "Confucianism" evolved over the centuries, absorbing elements from other philosophies, and developing into a number of strains of Neo-Confucianism, the most prominent of which developed in the Song Dynasty, articulated by scholars including Zhu Xi, in the Ming Dynasty under Wang Yangming and others, and in Tokugawa Period Japan, represented by scholars such as Arai Hakuseki and Hayashi Razan.

Adopted by the Imperial Court of the Han Dynasty as the chief political philosophy of the state, Confucianism remained the foundation of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Ryukyuan political philosophy, or at least profoundly influential, in one form or another, throughout the Current Era (i.e. the last two thousand years). In China, Korea, and Ryûkyû in particular, a Confucian scholar-bureaucracy formed the core of political administration, with elites studying the Confucian Classics in order to be selected for official posts in government service. The political beliefs of various strains of Confucianism were profoundly influential in Japan as well.

The Confucian Gentleman

Confucius' teachings include both considerations of politics and statecraft, and of ideals for personal behavior, etiquette, refinement and cultivation. Scholar-bureaucrats and literati throughout East Asia cultivated an identity informed by the latter, and by Confucius' concept of the ideal "gentleman" (士, C: shì, J: shi, or 君子, C: jūnzi, J: kunshi).

However, the character of the figures commonly described in English as "Confucian scholars" in fact developed out of a combination of philosophies and other cultural elements and influences, including Taoism and Buddhism. The disconnect between this tradition and the core, original, Confucian philosophy is evident in the fact that the standard Japanese terms for "Confucianism" do not incorporate the name Confucius (孔子) itself, but rather employ the term ju (C: rú). The most common Japanese term for "Confucianism" is thus not Kôshigaku (孔子学), "the teachings of Confucius," but rather jugaku (儒学, "the study of rú"), jukyô (儒教, "the teachings of rú"), or judô (儒道, "the way of rú). Ju, or rú in Chinese, literally meaning "gentle," was used as early as Confucius' own time to refer to his followers, and has come to refer to the broad set of concepts associated with this tradition of the refined "Confucian" gentleman, and the various teachings such a gentleman-scholar is said to follow and espouse.

Confucianism in Japan

Confucianism entered Japan during the Nara period, if not earlier, as the Japanese state incorporated Chinese governmental technologies & philosophies. The Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi and others was introduced to Japan by Zen monks in the Kamakura period.

However, it was not until the Edo period that Confucianism & Neo-Confucianism became more thoroughly investigated and more widely adopted. Confucian scholars such as Nakae Tôju, Yamazaki Ansai, and Itô Jinsai, among many others, wrote numerous treatises on political, societal, and cosmological theory, and Confucian scholars such as Arai Hakuseki, Hayashi Razan, and other members of the Hayashi clan, became fixtures at the shogun's court as some of his top advisors; many daimyô maintained Confucian scholars as advisors as well. Neo-Confucianism in the vein of Zhu Xi became the philosophical orthodoxy in Japan beginning in 1790.

References

• "Confucius and the Analects," Sources of Chinese Tradition, 41.