2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The Social Reality and Historical Significance of the Process of Turning Confucian Studies into "Academic Discipline" in Early Modern Japanese Samurai Society

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19K12968
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Basic Section 01040:History of thought-related
Research Institution	Yokkaichi University (2023) Okayama University (2021-2022) Kobe University (2019-2020)
Principal Investigator	ASAI Miyabi 四日市大学, 総合政策学部, 特任准教授 (80782010)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	儒学の「学問」化 / 藩儒の社会的位置付け / 儒学受容 / 文芸ネットワーク / 藩校 / 藩主の学問
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study is an attempt to clarify, from the standpoint of "social history of thought" how Confucianism - which in the early modern period was regarded as "literature and arts" and studied spontaneously by the upper classes of the common people - was accepted and penetrated into samurai society, and came to be regarded as an "academic discipline". In this study, by conducting research from the three aspects - namely: (1) The Confucian studies and the education necessary to be acquired by feudal lords, (2) the literary and artistic networks of early modern feudal lords and the spread of Confucian studies to other domains, and (3) the changing social (hierarchical) status of Confucian scholars in the appointment of special skilled persons to serve their domains - I examined the clarification of the social reality and historical significance of the process of turning Confucian studies into an "academic discipline" in the samurai society of early modern Japan.
Free Research Field	日本思想史
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究は、諸藩の藩政史料など一次史料を積極的に用いて、近世社会の中に儒学の実態を措定する社会史的研究として行った。この研究手法が、思想史の分野の新たな展開に資するものである。また、近世を一貫・継続して捉えた研究であること、藩主や儒者など複数の側面からの研究であることで、近世文化史・教育史においても新しい展望が開けるという点が本研究の学術的意義である。さらに、本研究の成果により、社会的には、外来思想の日本化・「学問」化の過程として、儒学を一つのパターンとして提示でき、現代における学問・教育の在るべき姿を模索することをも期待できる。