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Japan Intellectual Trends
The flourishing of neo-Confucianism was the major
intellectual
development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had
long been
kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the
Tokugawa
period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious
control. This
system of thought increased attention to a secular view of
man and
society. The ethical humanism, rationalism, and historical
perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to the
official
class. By the mid-seventeenth century, neo-Confucianism
was Japan's
dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the
development of the kokugaku (national learning)
school of
thought.
Advanced studies and growing applications of
neo-Confucianism
contributed to the transition of the social and political
order
from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented
practices. The
rule of the people or Confucian man was gradually replaced
by the
rule of law. New laws were developed, and new
administrative
devices were instituted. A new theory of government and a
new
vision of society emerged as a means of justifying more
comprehensive governance by the bakufu. Each person
had a
distinct place in society and was expected to work to
fulfill his
or her mission in life. The people were to be ruled with
benevolence by those whose assigned duty it was to rule.
Government
was all-powerful but responsible and humane. Although the
class
system was influenced by neo-Confucianism, it was not
identical to
it. Whereas soldiers and clergy were at the bottom of the
hierarchy
in the Chinese model, in Japan some members of these
classes
constituted the ruling elite.
Members of the samurai class adhered to bushi
traditions
with a renewed interest in Japanese history and in
cultivation of
the ways of Confucian scholar-administrators, resulting in
the
development of the concept of
bushido (the way of
the warrior--see Glossary). Another special way of life--
chonindo--also emerged. Chonindo (the way of
the
townspeople) was a distinct culture that arose in cities
such as
Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo. It encouraged aspiration to
bushido
qualities--diligence, honesty, honor, loyalty, and
frugality--while
blending Shinto, neo-Confucian, and Buddhist beliefs.
Study of
mathematics, astronomy, cartography, engineering, and
medicine were
also encouraged. Emphasis was placed on quality of
workmanship,
especially in the arts. For the first time, urban
populations had
the means and leisure time to support a new mass culture.
Their
search for enjoyment became known as ukiyo (the
floating
world), an ideal world of fashion and popular
entertainment.
Professional female entertainers (geisha), music, popular
stories,
Kabuki and bunraku (puppet) theater, poetry, a rich
literature, and art, exemplified by beautiful woodblock
prints
(known as ukiyo-e), were all part of this flowering
of
culture
(see Visual Arts
, ch. 3). Literature also
flourished with
the talented examples of the playwright Chikamatsu
Monzaemon (1653-
1724) and the poet, essayist, and travel writer Matsuo
Basho (1644-
94).
Buddhism and Shinto were both still important in
Tokugawa
Japan. Buddhism, combined with neo-Confucianism, provided
standards
of social behavior. Although not as powerful politically
as it had
been in the past, Buddhism was espoused by the upper
classes.
Proscriptions against Christianity benefited Buddhism in
1640 when
the bakufu ordered everyone to register at a
temple. The
rigid separation of Tokugawa society into han,
villages,
wards, and households helped reaffirm local Shinto
attachments.
Shinto provided spiritual support to the political order
and was an
important tie between the individual and the community.
Shinto also
helped preserve a sense of national identity.
Shinto eventually assumed an intellectual form as
shaped by
neo-Confucian rationalism and materialism. The
kokugaku
movement emerged from the interactions of these two
beliefs
systems. Kokugaku contributed to the
emperor-centered
nationalism of modern Japan and the revival of Shinto as a
national
creed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The
Kojiki, Nihongi, and Man'yoshu were
all
studied anew in the search for the Japanese spirit. Some
purists in
the kokugaku movement even criticized the Confucian
and
Buddhist influences--in effect, foreign ones--for
contaminating
Japan's ancient ways. Japan was the land of the
kami and, as
such, had a special destiny.
Knowledge of the West during the early Tokugawa periiod
was
restricted to a tiny school of thought known as Rangaku
(Dutch
Learning). Its adherents were mostly in Nagasaki, where
the Dutch
outpost was located on Deshima.
Data as of January 1994
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