Japanese philosophy

By Kasulis, Thomas P.

The most distinctive characteristic of Japanese philosophy is how it has assimilated and adapted foreign philosophies to its native worldview. As an isolated island nation, Japan successfully resisted ...

Literature, Japanese philosophy in modern

By Anderer, Paul

Since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, virtually all major lines of Western thought and the works of both major and minor Western philosophers have been explored ...

Watsuji Tetsurō (1890–1960)

By Odin, Steve

Watsuji Tetsurō stands out as the leading thinker on ethics in twentieth century Japanese philosophy. He is regarded as a peripheral member of the ‘Kyoto School’ of philosophers ...

Nishitani Keiji (1900–90)

By Parkes, Graham

Nishitani Keiji is generally regarded as the leading light of the ‘second generation’ Kyoto School of modern Japanese philosophy. Influenced by Zen thinkers from Chinese and Japanese Buddhism ...

The Kyoto School

The Kyoto School is a group of modern Japanese philosophers whose original thinking derives from bringing East Asian traditions – especially Zen and Pure Land Buddhism – into ...

Logic in Japan

By Kasulis, Thomas P.

‘Logic’ became an explicit topic in Japanese philosophy only in the twentieth century. Most effort has been directed to developing a dialectical logic in a Hegelian mode rather ...

Nishi Amane (1829–97)

By Kiyoshi, Himi

Among the campaigners for Japanese enlightenment in the early Meiji era, Nishi Amane was prominent for his philosophical achievements. He introduced European philosophy into Japan, especially the positivism ...

Shintō

By Varley, Paul

Shintō means the ‘way of the kami (gods)’ and is a term that was evolved about the late sixth or early seventh centuries – as Japan entered ...

Bushi philosophy

By Varley, Paul

Bushi is one of several terms for the warrior of premodern Japan; samurai is another. The ‘way of the warrior’ – that is, the beliefs, attitudes and ...

Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801)

By Kasulis, Thomas P.

Motoori Norinaga was a pivotal figure in Japan’s ‘Native Studies’ or ‘National Learning’ (kokugaku) movement. An accomplished philologist, he helped decipher the idiosyncratic eighth-century orthography of the Japanese ...

Mysticism, history of

By Payne, Steven

Contemporary authors generally associate mysticism with a form of consciousness involving an apparent encounter or union with an ultimate order of reality, however this is understood. Mysticism in ...

East Asian philosophy

By Ames, Roger T.

Sinitic civilization, which includes the Chinese-influenced cultures of Japan and Korea, established an early lead over the rest of the world in the development of its material culture ...

Shōtoku Constitution

By Kachi, Yukio

The Shōtoku Constitution is the earliest fundamental political document of Japan. Promulgated in ad 604, it is ascribed to the regent Shōtoku, who was also a devout ...

Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619)

By Tucker, John Allen

In Tokugawa intellectual historiography, Fujiwara Seika has been traditionally deemed the founding father of the Zhu Xi school of neo-Confucianism in Japan. He emphasized seiza (quiet-sitting) in ...

Phenomenology in East Asia

By Tani, Toru; Lee, Nam-In; Liangkang, Ni; Xianghong, Fang

Western philosophy was rapidly introduced into East Asia from the second half of the nineteenth century, in a movement that began in Japan but quickly spread to China ...

Self-realization

By Evans, Mark

‘Self-realization’ is the development and expression of characteristic attributes and potentials in a fashion which comprehensively discloses their subject’s real nature. Usually, the ‘self’ in question is the ...

Confucian philosophy, Japanese

By Nosco, Peter

Confucian philosophy is said to have arrived in Japan as early as the third century ad, but it did not become a subject of meaningful scholarly inquiry ...

Kūkai (774–835)

By Kasulis, Thomas P.

Kūkai, also known by his posthumous honorific title Kōbō Daishi, was the founder of Japanese Shingon (‘truth word’ or ‘mantra’) Buddhism and is often considered the first comprehensive ...

Kuki Shūzō (1888–1941)

By Nagatomo, Shigenori

Kuki’s philosophical project was focused on the issues arising from dualistic thinking. He incorporated into his work a cross-cultural, historical perspective, while applying Heidegger’s hermeneutical ontology and exhibiting ...

Tanabe Hajime (1885–1962)

By Kiyoshi, Himi

Tanabe Hajime was a central figure of the so-called Kyoto School, and is generally acknowledged to be one of the most important philosophers of modern Japan. He held ...

Aesthetics, Japanese

By Viswanathan, Meera

While the terms ‘aesthetics’ and ‘philosophy’ were only introduced into Japan during the Meiji Period (post 1868), Japanese culture has nevertheless witnessed the proliferation of various arts and ...

Dōgen (1200–53)

By Kasulis, Thomas P.

Dōgen Kigen, the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhism, is most noted for his argument that meditation is the expression or enactment of enlightenment, not the means to ...

Itō Jinsai (1627–1705)

By Tucker, John Allen

Itō Jinsai, along with his contemporary Yamaga Sokō, pioneered the kogaku, or ‘Ancient Learning’, philosophical movement of Tokugawa Japan. Kogaku reacted against the allegedly stifling and ...

Maruyama Masao (1914–96)

By Kersten, Rikki

Maruyama Masao was a political philosopher and scientist, and a pioneering historian of Japanese political thought. He provoked fierce controversy among his peers, analysing subjects such as war ...

Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945)

By Maraldo, John C.

Considered Japan’s first original modern philosopher, Nishida not only transmitted Western philosophical problems to his contemporaries but also used Buddhist philosophy and his own methods to subvert the ...