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According to early Japanese writings, Confucianism was introduced to Japan via Korea in the year 285 AD. Some of the most important Confucian principles are humanity, loyalty, morality and consideration on an individual and political level. Neo-Confucianism (especially Chu Hsi Confucianism) was the most important philosophy of Tokugawa Japan in government and education. Its influence on Japanese society has been intensive which is still obvious today.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2300.html
Although not practiced as a religion, Confucianism from China has deeply influenced Japanese thought. In essence, Confucianism is the practice of proper forms of conduct, especially in social and familial relationships. It is derived from compilations attributed to the fifth-century B.C. Chinese philosopher Kong Fuzi or Kongzi (Confucius; in Japanese, Koshi). Confucian government was to be a moral government, bureaucratic in form and benevolent toward the ruled. Confucianism also provided a hierarchical system, in which each person was to act according to his or her status to create a harmoniously functioning society and ensure loyalty to the state. The teachings of filial piety and humanity continue to form the foundation for much of social life and ideas about family and nation.
Neo-Confucianism, introduced to Japan in the twelfth century, is an interpretation of nature and society based on metaphysical principles and is influenced by Buddhist and Daoist ideas. In Japan, where it is known as Shushigaku (Shushi School, after the Chinese Noe-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi--Shushi in Japanese), it brought the idea that family stability and social responsibility are human obligations. The school used various metaphysical concepts to explain the natural and social order. Shushigaku, in turn, influenced the kokutai (national polity) theory, which emphasized the special national characteristics of Japan.
http://countrystudies.us/japan/62.htm
Although Confucianism had been rooted in Japan since the sixth century A.D., it had largely been confined to Buddhist monasteries; however, Tokugawa Ieyasu turned to Confucianism, particularly Neo-Confucianism, as he began to build the bureaucracy which would eventually bring about over 260 years of domestic peace.
Perhaps the most important cultural application of Confucianism in Japan was the invention of bushido or "the way of the warrior," an invention of Yamaga Soko (1622-1685). Like Kumazawa, Yamaga was a ronin, a samurai without allegiance to any specific lord. Now the samurai class was a rough and illiterate class in medieval Japan; their job was simply to fight. But Tokugawa Japan was a period of domestic peace, so the samurai class found themselves with little to do. In addition, the Tokugawa regime, in an effort to guarantee peace, rigidly enforced class distinctions and made the samurai class an important class in this system. The purpose was to prevent the large-scale arming of commoners by individual lords trying to raise an army; if you make the warrior class an exclusive class with certain privileges (only the warrior class could bear arms) and if you don't allow entrance by non-warriors into that class, you can keep territorial armies at a reasonable size. These two developments?the creation of warriors as an exclusive and privileged class and the lack of any productive labor for these warriors to do?led to a redefinition of the samurai: their purpose, their character, and their ethical standards.
Both Kumazawa and Yamaga were deeply concerned about the constant inactivity of the samurai, and Yamaga went about defining what the samurai in times of peace should be doing with all that free time they found on their hands. The purpose of the samurai class according to Yamaga is to serve as a model for the rest of society; in School of Mind Neo-Confucianism it is not enough to understand moral behavior, one must put it into action for to be truly moral. The samurai would serve as a model of cultural, moral, and intellectual development; in particular, the samurai would exemplify a devotion to duties (giri ) and unswerving loyalty. The moral life of the samurai would center around the obligations he has willingly agreed to meet for his lord; his life would be one of temperance, self-sacrifice, high discipline, and fearlessness, particularly fearlessness in the face of death. In addition to these qualities, the samurai would cultivate intellectual, cultural, and political arts; the new role for the samurai, as Yamaga saw it, was to assume political and intellectual leadership. This new educated and politically savvy class would eventually tear down the Tokugawa bakufu and invent a new, centralized government around the figure of the emperor in the late nineteenth century. It is fitting that these samurai leading the Meiji Restoration and government also led the charge in adopting Western social and political models, for Yamaga Soko was one of the first Japanese intellectuals to call for the adoption of Western technology, a warning that went largely unheeded until Commodore Perry sailed up with his gunboats in 1853. The term, bushido would in later years be applied to Yamaga's writings on the role and character of the samurai, which he called shido (the way of the samurai) and bukyo (the warrior's creed).
The Tokugawa family ardently supported this new brand of learning, setting up an image of Confucius in Ueno and establishing the image as an object of religious worship and later, under the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (reigned 1680-1709), the renovation of the State University (Daigaku-no-kami ) into the School of Prosperous Peace (Shoheiko ). Tsunayoshi named Fujiwara Hoko (1644-1732), the grandson of Fujiwara Seika, as the head of the Shoheiko , and funtil the Meiji Restoration it would become the cultural and educational center of Japan.
Two great innovations are introduced into Tokugawa culture by Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714): the first is a systematic study of nature based on Neo-Confucianism, the beginnings of Japanese empirical science; the second is the translation of the abstruse and forbidding philosophy of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism into the language of the ordinary Japanese. His work in empirical science was confined to biology, and, like Western science, focusses on "natural law" (jori). It is fair to say that he occupies the same position in the history of science in Japan as the pre-Enlightenment scientists (such as Harvey, Bacon, and Newton) occupy in the history of science in Europe. But he is principally known for his manuals of behavior, translating the Confucian ethical system into easy "self-help" manuals, such as Precepts for Children and Greater Learning for Women. The imposing textbook of Neo-Confucianism was called The Great Learning , and the life of Kaibara Ekken revolved around making that book accessible to all Japanese; this project more than any other accomplishment incorporated Neo-Confucianism into the very fiber of Japanese culture.
The Kansei Edict. Neo-Confucianism was made the official philosophy of Japan in 1790, when the shogunate issued the Kansei Edict in 1790. This law forbade the teaching or propagation of "heterodox" studies, that is, anything in disagreement with the teachings of Neo-Confucianism. The edict established a post filled by two men to oversee all teaching to make sure it conformed to the law.
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/TOKJAPAN/NEO.HTM
Confucianism had a big impact on Buddhism in Japan when appeared. The establishment of Tokugawa peace made Buddhism less attractive and questioned the society and government. The society that the ideas that Confucianism had were very similar to the feudal order of the Edo period. The increase of wealth, leisure, and the ability for printing made Confucianism and the other religions, a lot more accessible to the people of Japan. This ability for the people to be able to learn from these religions made the Edo period the golden age of tradition in Japan. It was around 1623 that Confucianism was accorded official recognition in Japan. Confucian learning was considered in Japan to be a formal preparation to become part of the government. Many schools were built to teach using strong Confucian ideas. By 1870 there were approximately 1,400 schools in Japan that taught using these methods. There have been some tests proving that in 1868, there was a percentage of 43% of the people who attended these schools were boys and 10% were girls.
Japan today has only kept the ideas that Confucianism brought. The religious practices that remain in Japan are Buddhist and Shinto, demonstrating that Confucianism only had an impact on the society, government and the educational system. Confucianism hasn't changed. Its ideas are still the same as they were during the Tokugawa Period. There are little, almost none, true followers. Only ideas and philosophy have been adapted into the lives of the Japanese.
http://sun.menloschool.org/~sportman/westernstudies/first/1718/2000/cblock/tokugawa/confucianism.html
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can someone tell me about Japanese Confucianism?
