Japanese philosophy
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Japanese philosophy has historically been a fusion of both indigenous Shinto and continental religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Formerly heavily influenced by both Chinese philosophy and Indian philosophy, as with Mitogaku and Zen, much modern Japanese philosophy is now also influenced by Western philosophy.
Ancient and medieval thought
Before
Arrival of Buddhism and early influence in Japan
In ancient Japan, the arrival of
While Nara Buddhism followed only the "making a country safe" thought, Heian Buddhism brought not only national
By the late Heian era, the earthly focus of Heian Buddhism led Buddhist monks to declare a "sinful age" wherein the possibility of relief in this world was denied and therefore a trend of looking for reincarnation to the Buddhists'
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Kamakura Buddhism
The Jōdo faith, which affected by the Jodo sect of the late Heian period, relies on salvation through the benevolence of Amitābha, and is going to be relieved by its power. Hōnen, who initiated the Jodo sect of Buddhism, abandoned other ascetic practices entirely. He preached his pupils to believe in Amitabha and to earnestly pray "namu-amida-butsu", and so they would go to the paradise. His pupil, Shinran who initiated Pure Land Buddhism, thoroughly carried out Honen's teaching and preached the absolute dependence. In addition, Shinran advocated that an object of the relief of the Amitabha was a criminal who was aware of a worldly and desirous criminal oneself. Ippen, who initiated the Jishu sect, began "the chanting religious dance".
As contrast with dependent
Most schools of
Early modern thought
Whereas the ancient and medieval thought of Japan was tied closely to Buddhism, the early modern thought of Japan was mainly Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, which was designated for official study by the Tokugawa shogunate. In addition, rational Confucianism stimulated Kokugaku, Rangaku and the non-official popular thought after the middle Edo period.
Confucianism
In the Edo period, Confucianism was the authorised study. Various schools of neo-Confucianism were popular.
The
In contrast with the Zhu Xi school of neo-Confucianism, the Wang Yangming school of neo-Confucianism respecting practical ethics was consistently monitored and oppressed by the Tokugawa shogunate because of its criticisms against the socio-political conditions under the Tokugawa shogunate.
The third schools of neo-Confucianism took consideration into the real intentions of original texts by
Kokugaku and Rangaku
In the middle of the Edo period, Kokugaku, the study of ancient Japanese thought and culture, became popular against foreign ideas such as Buddhism or Confucianism. By the Sakoku policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, Edo intellectuals could not have any positive contact with Western civilization, and so Rangaku, Dutch learning, was the only window to the West.
In the middle days of the Edo period,
In the
Popular thought
In the
Late Modern thought
While the early modern Japanese thought developed in
The Enlightenment and people's rights
In the Meiji Restoration, English and French civil society was introduced, in particular, utilitarianism and social Darwinism from England, and popular sovereignty of Jean-Jacques Rousseau from France.
The thinkers of the early Meiji period advocated the British Enlightenment values derived from Western civil society. They attempted to criticise Japanese traditional
While members of
From the late period of Meiji to the
In 1911,
Christianity and socialism
It was
Christianity, banned by the
About the time of Sino- and Russo-Japanese wars, Japan succeeded in capitalization through the
The development of Japanism
The Age of Enlightenment, Christianity and socialism have influenced Japanese thought since the Meiji Restoration. The emphasis on Japanese political
After the
In pre-war Japan,
Contemporary Japanese philosophy
After World War II, many academic philosophers have published books on Continental philosophy and American philosophy. Among those,
See also
- Budō
- Giri (Japanese)
- Grace – "itsukushimi"
- Haibutsu kishaku
- Hakkō ichiu
- Hermit – e.g., Yoshida Kenkō, Kamono Chōmei
- Kami
- Kokutai
- Ma (negative space)
- Maruyama Masao – "Bamboo whisk" culture and "octopus pot" culture
- Nihonjinron
- Shame society
- Wabi-sabi
- Yamato-damashii
- Taoism in Japan
- William Vorilong, one of the first Europeans to get some knowledge about Japanese philosophy
Notes
- Sangyo Gisho and Seventeen-article constitution.
- ^ For a philosophical study of Dōgen's concept of language cf. Ralf Müller: Dōgens Sprachdenken: Historische und symboltheoretische Perspektiven [Dōgen’s language thinking: Systematic perspectives from history and the theory of symbols], Welten der Philosophie, vol. 13. Freiburg/München: Verlag Karl Alber, 2013; reviewed by Steffen Döll in Philosophy East & West Volume 65, Number 2 April 2015 636–639.
- ^ Encouragement of learning (1872–76) and An outline of a theory of civilization (1875)
- ^ Datsu-A Ron
- ^ How I became a Christian (1895)
- ^ See also Total war and Pan-Asianism.
- February 26 Incident.
- ^ An inquiry into the good
- ^ The significance of ethics as the study as man
- ^ See for example, Collected works of Shozo Omori Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, Shozo Omori bibliography,Collected works of Wataru Hiromatsu Archived 2015-05-02 at the Wayback Machine, Collected works of Yasuo Yuasa, Collected works of Takaaki Yoshimoto, Collected works of Kojin Karatani Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
- Texts
- James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, John C. Maraldo (eds.), Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2011.
- David A. Dilworth & Valdo H. Viglielmo, with Agustin Jacinto Zavala (eds.), Sourcebook for Modern Japanese Philosophy: Selected Documents, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998.
- R. Tsunoda, W.T.de Bary, D. Keene (eds.), Sources of Japanese Traditions, New York: Columbia University Press, 1964, 2 vols.
- Studies
- H. Gene Blocker, Christopher L. Starling, Japanese Philosophy, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2001.
- Hajime Nakamura, History of Japanese Thought: 592–1868. Japanese Philosophy before Western Culture Entered Japan, London – New York: Kegan Paul, 1969.
- Gino K. Piovesana, Contemporary Japanese Philosophical Thought, New York: St John's University Press, 1969.
External links
- "Japanese Philosophy" entry by Thomas Kasulis in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Japanese philosophy: Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online
- Japanese Aesthetics by Graham Parkes in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
