In contrast to China and Korea, neither Confucianism nor Neo-Confucianism was fully established as the official ideological foundations of government in Tokugawa Japan. Living in a country where shoguns governed based on his military authority (bui 武威), a Confucian scholar Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠 (1666–1728) reconsidered the essence of Confucianism after being dedicated to Confucianism and Jinsaigaku 仁斎学 and formed the linguistic methodologies, namely Kobunjigaku 古文辞学, and the new theory of Confucianism, which is called Soraigaku 徂徠学. Consequently, he restructured Confucianism, which was considered merely one of the accomplishments in the early days of the Tokugawa era, into a governance theory that deals with the specific domain of politics. His innovative interpretation of Confucianism derived from his conservative approach had a significant impact on the thought at the end of the Edo period and beyond.
The significance of the rise of Soraigaku in Japan during the Tokugawa period appears to be that Sorai criticised the interpretation of Confucianism by Neo-Confucianism and Jinsaigaku from the perspective of the interpretation of the Way and between righteousness (gi 義) and profit (ri 利).
Firstly, he saw the concept of the Way in Confucianism as the method of governing a country by sages in ancient China, and he regarded the study of the sage’s ideal rule as the essence of Confucianism. In Distinguishing the Way (Bendō 弁道), Sorai developed his interpretation of the Way as the rites, music, punishments, and ordinances (reigakukeisei 礼楽刑政) established by preceding kings, not the natural way of Heaven and earth as explained by the Zhu Xi and Jinsai.[1] On the basis of his interpretation, in Plan for an Age of Great Peace (Taiheisaku 太平策), he envisioned a plan of the sage’s technique of the grand Way (daidō-jutsu 大道術) to establish a political and social system for radically changing the customs in Tokugawa Japan.[2] The idea of applying Confucianism to the politics of Tokugawa Japan as an academic discipline to investigate the specific domain of politics may have contributed to the necessity of Confucianism in Japan.
Secondly, Sorai offered a governance theoretical interpretation of the Confucian ‘distinction between righteousness and profit’ (giri no ben 義利の弁) and argued that they are not in conflict. Zhu Xi discussed righteousness and profit in the scheme of overcoming human greed according to the heavenly principle (tianli 天理) and claimed from the viewpoint of individual morals that only righteousness is to be pursued. On the contrary, Sorai positively acknowledged the pursuit of profit and suggested that righteousness, as a political virtue, was to govern the people in a way that would benefit them. Furthermore, in Discourse on Government (Seidan 政談), he developed the theory of samurai settlement on their land (bushi dochaku-ron 武士土着論) in light of the status quo in Edo and advocated ideal governance rooted in righteousness to alleviate the budget deficit. It can be said that he established the significance of Confucianism as political studies by proposing a concrete policy based on Confucianism reflecting the reality.
Thus, Sorai can be credited with developing a very new interpretation of Confucious’ teachings, while promoting the understanding of Confucianism by directly approaching the Four Books and Five Classics in his conservative Kobunjigaku. In the face of his duality—the methodology he introduced as a conservative Confucianist and the innovative interpretation of Confucianism presented as a result—the question arises of which side of him indeed would receive more emphasis. One of the scholars who attached great importance to the groundbreaking aspects of his interpretation of Confucianism was Kaiho Seiryō 海保青陵 (1755–1817), a disciple of Sorai.
Seiryō was influenced by Sorai’s perspective to capture the actual situation in Tokugawa Japan, and he advocated the theory to govern the society and ease the people (Keisei Saimin-ron 経世済民論), which extended the positive view of the pursuit of profit from Soraigaku. Furthermore, he advanced Sorai’s concept, which affirmed the pursuit of profit, and developed a utilitarian logic that viewed profit (i.e., economic rationality) as tianli. However, while Sorai, as a Confucian, pursued the Way of prior kings, which he considered the essence of Confucianism, Seiryō deviated from Confucianism and prioritised the practicality of political analysis by focusing on theories that were compatible with the current world, thereby reducing the authority of Confucius’ argument and the Way of sages. In other words, Soraigaku became the ideological foundation of Seiryō’s thought, setting aside the objective of Sorai to grasp more faithfully the teachings of Confucius.
The ideological influence of Soraigaku on Seiryō’s thought reveals its methodological significance as well. Criticising the Neo-Confucianist approach and understandings of Confucianism, Sorai developed his interpretation, which he believed was truer to the teachings of Confucius. In other words, the rise of Soraigaku has significant implications for subsequent diverse critical debates on the interpretation of Confucianism and provided the solid foundation of unfettered and rigorous discussions that led to the development of academic fields in Japan. Moreover, it is important to note that the government system of the Tokugawa shogunate, in which Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism were not officially adopted as its governing ideology, played a role in the development of free and varied academic disciplines including Soraigaku based on a critical review of Neo-Confucianism.
Bibliography
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Lidin, Olof G., ‘Ogyū Sorai: Confucian Conservative Reformer: From Journey to Kai to Discourse on Government’, in Chun-chieh Huang and John A. Tucker (eds.), Dao Companion to Japanese Confucian Philosophy (Heidelberg, 2014), pp. 165–182.
Maruyama, Masao 丸山眞男, Nihon Seiji Shisō Shi Kenkyū 日本政治思想史研究 (Tokyo, 1952).
Kuranami, Seiji 蔵並省自 (ed.), Kaiho Seiryō Zenshū 海保青陵全集 (Tokyo, 1976).
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[1] Kōjirō Yoshikawa (ed.), Nihon Shisō Taikei 36: Ogyū Sorai (Tokyo, 1973), pp. 13–14.
[2] Ibid., p. 473.