Abstract
This chapter surveys the philosophical vicissitudes of the ancient Confucian classic, the Mencius, in Japanese history, from the earliest references in the eighth century through contemporary times. It highlights the contested, controversial reception of the Mencius which no doubt had virtually everything to do not with its position on human nature but rather its relatively unequivocal readiness to confront the problem of tyrannic government and deal with it in no uncertain terms, remonstrating with those tyrants willing to listen and then, if need be, punishing those pretending to be legitimate rulers. Accompanying its forthright activism, the Mencius also emphasized the role of the people in mediating heaven’s ultimate authority over those in power. Needless to say, the Mencius’s positions on these matters did not make it a popular text with those presuming to have authority and control at the highest levels, though it did have an enduring appeal to politically-minded people who understood fully the Confucian position that rulers should rule virtuously and compassionately as the father and mother of the people.
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Notes
- 1.
The eldest son of Toba 鳥羽 (1103–1156), Sutoku was placed on the throne in 1123 (Hōan 保安 4), the year of Toba’s abdication, and remained until 1142 (Eiji 永治 1). Toba continued to hold effective power as the cloistered emperor during Sutoku’s reign, as well as the reigns of Konoe 近衛, who followed Sutoku, and Go-Shirakawa 後白河, Konoe’s successor. Sutoku resented that Go-Shirakawa, his younger brother, later enthroned his son, Nijō 二条, rather than return the throne to him, Sutoku, so that he could pass it down to his progeny. According to legends, this resentment led Sutoku to transform, at death, into a vengeful ghost.
- 2.
The notion 氣 is used in the Mencius twenty times in three passages: 2A2, 6A8, 7A36. It appears only six times in four passages in the Analects (8.4, 10.8, 16.7). Chen Beixi speaks of a yi qi 一氣, or “unitary generative force” (1632 Japanese ed., kan 1/2a).
- 3.
Jinsai’s writings sometimes refer to the Six Classics and the Four Classics in tandem as though he did not distinguish between the two. For example, see his “On the Four Classics” (Sōron shikei), Gomō jigi, John A. Tucker, trans. (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 229–231, where the title of Chap. 30 of the text announces a discussion of “the Four Classics,” but within it Jinsai regularly refers to the Six Classics. Like many Confucians, Jinsai had little to say about the lost classic, the Book of Music. But unlike most Confucians, he also argued forcefully that the Great Learning, originally part of the Book of Rites, was not a Confucian text. It would be mistaken to conclude, however, that Jinsai completely rejected the Book of Rites as a classic because he did consider the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), also originally part of the Book of Rites, a valuable statement of Confucian thought. Without dismissing the Rites wholesale, Jinsai, in referring to the Four Classics, most likely was alluding to his doubts about significant portions of that work. When cited specifically, the Four Classics discussed in Chap. 30 of the Gomō jigi were the Book of History, the Book of Poetry, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals.
- 4.
The term shishi appears in the Analects (15.9), where Confucius remarks, “The resolute scholar-knight (shishi 志士) and the humane person would never compromise humaneness for the sake of seeking life. Moreover, there are times when they would sacrifice themselves for the sake of completing humaneness (Analects 15.9). The term “shishi 志士” appears twice in the Mencius (3B1, 5B7), in the remark, “the resolute scholar-knight never forgets that he might end up in a ditch” (3B1) and “the brave scholar-knight never forgets that he might lose his head” (5B7).
- 5.
Although planned, volume two of the Kindai Nihon shisōshi kōza 近代日本思想史講座, entitled Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy 正統と異端, was not published. The essay Maruyama refers to, in a fully developed form, appeared under the title, “Ansaigaku to Ansaigakuha” 闇斎学と闇斎学派, in Nishi Junzō 西順蔵, ed., Yamazaki Ansai gakuha 山崎闇斎学派, Nihon shisō taikei vol. 31 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1980) (Maruyama 1980). Barry Steben translated this essay as “Orthodoxy and Legitimacy in the Yamazaki Ansai School,” in Huang and Tucker 2014.
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Tucker, J.A. (2023). Mencius and Japanese Confucian Philosophy. In: Xiao, Y., Chong, Kc. (eds) Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Mencius. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27620-0_19
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