2016 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Transculturation in the Introduction of Confucian Rituals in 18th Century Japan
| Project/Area Number |
16K02996
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
Chard Robert 東京大学, 東洋文化研究所, 客員教授 (30571492)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | Confucianism / Ritual |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the first year of this research project on the introduction of Confucian ritual in Japan during the 18th century, the emphasis has been on locating primary source documents in libraries and archives in Japan relating to Confucian ritual and its moral purpose. Results so far confirm the spread of Confucian teaching and Confucian ritual in domain schools in particular, especially after 1750, with the purpose of strengthening moral education to counter a perceived decline in moral customs across society at large. The sources found so far confirm that the introduction of Confucian education was highly selective. Domain schools functioned as vectors of cultural transmission and moral transformation within the larger context of domain government strategy to achieve order by inducing the populace to be loyal to their rulers. Education in the schools was targeted toward particular values (such as filial piety -- xiao/ko 孝 -- and by extension loyalty -- zhong/chu 忠), which confirms that the pattern of transfer was one of transculturation, rather than passive acculturation. The practice of Confucian ritual, particularly the sekiten 釈奠 sacrifice to Confucius, was seen as an integral part of moral education overall.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The research project so far has been going according to plan, particularly in locating materials specifically dealing with the teaching and practice of Confucian ritual in the 18th century. These materials have revealed details of how circumstances in the Japanese cultural and political environment led to modification and often attenuation during the adoption of Confucian ritual forms. This phenomenon cannot be understood without considering the central purpose of moral education underlying ritual practice, and the very different ways in which this operated in China and Japan, and the clear shift away from the emphasis on the visual forms of ritual in 17th-century Confucianism in Japan toward moral conditioning.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The project will continue along the lines established in the first year, in particular wider investigation of archival documents from domain school sites around Japan, which should reveal more about the formulation of Confucian ritual in different domains, and the place this ritual study had in the school curricula. This will help clarify the dynamics which drove the formulation of Confucian ritual forms in Japan, and how these dynamics differed from those of the 17th century when Confucian education in Japan had been less prevalent.
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| Causes of Carryover |
There was an unspent balance in the funds allocated for the first project year, because some of the planned research trips outside Tokyo were not completed. This was due to the larger than expected amount of material found in Tokyo, which needed to be consulted first before continuing on to regional archives.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
The research trips to domain school sites not undertaken in 2016 will now be moved to 2017, when there will be ample time to complete them.
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