| Research Abstract |
1.The purpose of this study is to examine in concrete terms how Confucianism has actually functioned as the ideology and dominant social thought, in the eastern Asia as well as in Japan, and to explicate systematically its significance in the history of ethical ideas, in special reference to the key concept of "Jinrin".
2.The theoretical contents are : (1)a review of the concept of "Jinrin" and Watsuji Tetsuro's ethical ideas about it, which I made in print entitled as "A methodological reflexion on the History of Japanese thoughts" in Ethics and Transcendence : the Ground for the History of Japanese Thoughts ; and (2) the report of "Multiplicity and Originality in Asian Thought : from Japanese Perspective", a comparative study of the Confucianisms in Asia, in which I compared the variety of substances of Confucianism from several viewpoints : power structure, acceptance of capitalistic bussinness practices, education, and family system relating to religious affiliation.
3.As for the tex
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ts, even the works of the most popular Confucianist school in Japan, "Kogakuha", Jinsai and Sorai being their leaders, are far from adequate, to match our plan. No less convenient is the lack of compiled sources of "Kimon" school, which is, we estimate, very important in order to reconstruct the practical aspects of Japanese Confucianism. Having conducted a survey into the public libraries in Japan, we fund manuscripts of the school in the Public Archive in Chiba and Ganshoji Temple in Naruto. We transcribed some of the original manuscripts in print, comented on them, and gave them a general review. They are Inaba Mokusai's Himeshima Kougi, Eppukuden, Senkunshikoujitsu, Sendatuiji, Bokusuiitteki, and Hayashi Sensai's The Life of Inaba Mokusai.
4.When the Institute for Japanese Studies of the International College, Tanko University in Taiwan celebrated the 20th anniversary, hosting the international conference which focused on "The Japanese Thoughts and Their Changing Valuse", on the 29th November, 2003, I was invited to make a lecture, entitled "Multiplicity and Originality in Asian Thought : from Japanese Perspective", and exchanged opinions on Confucianism in Asia with the foreign scholars. Less
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