Keian Genju

• Born: 1427
• Died: 1508
• Japanese: 桂庵玄樹 (Keian Genju)

Keian Genju was a Confucian scholar noted for introducing Zhu Xi-style Neo-Confucianism to Japan and founding the Satsuma-based Satsunan school of Confucian philosophy.

Born in Nagato province, he fled to China in 1467, where he studied the teachings of Zhu Xi. After his return to Japan, Genju traveled Iwami, Bungo, Chikugo and Higo provinces, before being invited to Satsuma by Shimazu Tadamasa in 1478. There, Genju taught at a temple called Keiju-in or Tôin-ji. In 1481, he first circulated copies of Zhu Xi's Dàxué zhāngjù ("Passages from the Great Learning"), in a kakikudashi version, aiding readers incapable of reading classical Chinese directly in reading the text as Japanese.

References

• Gallery labels, Shôkoshûseikan, Kagoshima, Sept 2014.