Why Confucianism is respected by the Japanese

China and Japan share a common border. Since ancient times, Japan has accepted the influence of Chinese characters, Confucianism, Buddhism, science and technology, and production processes, and its social development is closely related to China. Chinese culture, with Confucianism as the mainstay, is an important aspect of Japan's acceptance of Chinese influence.

5th century: Confucianism was introduced to Japan, accelerating the process of Japanese civilization

In the 5th century A.D., Chinese Confucianism was introduced to Japan from the east. According to the Nihon Shoki, the first official history of Japan, written in 720 A.D., Dr. Wang Ren of Baekje was invited to Japan in the 15th year of Emperor Eishin's reign (405 A.D.) and brought with him 10 volumes of Lun Yu (The Analects of Confucius) and one volume of Thousand Character Essay, and the Ancient Records of the Year 712 contains a similar account. This is the earliest record of the introduction of Chinese Confucianism into Japan. Since then, Chinese Confucianism has been spreading gradually in Japan and has had a wide and profound influence on its politics, law, literature, philosophy, religion and art, accelerating the process of Japanese civilization.

In the seventh century, Confucianism spread further in Japan and began to immerse itself in the realm of social ideology. This was closely related to the social changes of the time. In the second half of the 6th century, slavery, characterized by the tribal system, was on the verge of collapse, and the feudal society that was to be born was in need of theoretical guidance in its ideology. In 603, the regent Prince Shengdei established the "Twelve Steps of the Crown", which used the terms "Da De, Xiao De, Da Ren, Xiao Ren, Da Ri, Xiao Ri, Da Xin, Xiao Xin, Da Yi, Xiao Yi, Da Zhi, Xiao Zhi" to indicate the rank of the officials; in the following year, he promulgated the "Seventeen Articles of the Constitution", which was an ethical admonition for the officials of all levels and was based on the guiding ideology of Confucianism. For example, "Harmony is the most important thing, and no disobedience is the most important thing" (Article 1), "The Qunqin and the Hundred Bureaucrats are based on rites and ceremonies" (Article 4), and "Faith is the original meaning, and there is faith in every matter" (Article 9), etc., all of which were influenced by the These are notably influenced by the Chinese Confucian concepts of the order of kings and ministers and the five Confucian virtues. Although the Seventeen Articles of the Constitution was not a law, it constructed the political principle of centralization of power in the future feudal state, which was inherited by the later Dahua Reform.

Not only that, but the Japanese emperor's year number is also the same as the Chinese Confucian culture. According to the statistics of our scholars, since Emperor Hyodoku used the "Dahua" year number in 645, the total number of Japanese emperors' year numbers is 247, which comes from about 106 Chinese canonical books. Among these 106 canonical works, Confucian canonical works include the Shangshu, the Shijing, the Zhouyi, the Rituals, the Xiaojing, the Zhouli, the Mencius, the Lunyu, and the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Zuo Shi, and so on. The influence of Chinese Confucianism on Japan is thus evident. Japanese scholars pointed out that "Japan has long been a backward country behind China, the country of 'China', and then behind the capitalist powers of Europe and America, so it is inevitable that it will have to learn from the advanced countries before it is able to create an ideology that reaches the level of the advanced countries. before it can create an ideology that reaches the level of the advanced countries, it is bound to transplant it from the advanced countries." This statement is not false.

7th century: Japan became a nation of Confucianists

In the middle of the 7th century, when Japan became a feudal society, Confucianism was widely developed, and the feudal rulers attempted to find in it a theoretical basis for their rule. The core of Confucianism was "benevolence", and "loving others" was its main characteristic. Confucius emphasized the idea of "governing with virtue" and Mencius further emphasized the idea of "the king who acts benevolently with virtue". This idea was directly accepted by Emperor Hyodoku (597-654). In an imperial edict shortly after his accession to the throne, he said, "The world should be ruled by following the footsteps of the holy kings of the past, and the world should be ruled by faith." To "follow the footsteps of the ancient sages" means to rule the world by virtue, as Yao and Shun did, so as to achieve the return of the world to one's heart. When Japan absorbed the positive elements of Chinese Confucianism, it also adopted the concept of "Mandate of Heaven" in Confucianism, from which the Emperor is a "deity" and Japan is a "divine state", The idea that the emperor was a "god", Japan was a "divine state", and "the head of the earth" was derived from this idea, and it was still very much on the market until the 19th century.

The spread and development of Chinese Confucianism in Japan accelerated the historical process of Japan's transition from obscurantism to civilization. Confucianism was introduced, spread and developed precisely because of the needs of society. The five traditional Confucian virtues of kindness, justice, courtesy, learning, and trustworthiness naturally became a powerful tool for governing the country and the people. During the reign of Emperor Bunmu, the Dabo Ruling was promulgated, making the Zhouyi, Shangshu, Rites of Passage, Rites of Passage, Mao Poetry, Zuozhuan, Xiaojing and Lunyun a mandatory course of study at universities or national universities, and the State promoted Confucianism through administrative means, so that it would radiate to the whole society. From the beginning of the fifth century, Japan imported Confucianism from mainland China, and in the Sui and Tang dynasties, it introduced cultural relics and regulations from China, which led to a craze for learning Chinese culture. In the Nara period, there was a merger of Confucianism and Buddhism, and Buddhism, like Confucianism, had the function of regulating social relations in a gentle manner. However, compared with Buddhism, people generally accepted Confucianism, because it not only has the literacy, the mood of the moon and wind, but also more specific principles of "cultivation of the body, the family, the country, and the world", no wonder some people regard Japan as the country of Confucianism.

The Edo period: Confucianism was alienated as an imperial tool

In the Edo period (1603-1867), Confucianism was held in high esteem, and it reached its peak. On the one hand, it has shown its unique social function; on the other hand, the rulers, out of the need to rule, used the Confucian ethics as an ideological weapon to consolidate the four classes of the scholar, the farmer, the worker and the merchant. Japanese scholars pointed out that "with the consolidation of the feudal order and the heightened social need for scholarship, people began to realize the validity of Confucianism, especially Zhu Zi, as a school of learning that ethically upheld the feudal society. ... it can be argued that Confucianism, as represented by Zhu Zi Xue, achieved the status of the orthodox philosophy of feudal society." In terms of morality and ethics, the Edo period developed the Confucian ideas of the nobility of the ruler and the inferiority of the ministers, and the respect of the ruler and the inferiority of the people, but emasculated the Confucian principles of "the people are the most important thing, the altars of earth and grain are second to the ruler, and the ruler is the least important thing," "the people are the foundation of the state, and the foundation is solid and the state is peaceful," and "water carries a boat and water overturns a boat. Water carries the boat and water overturns the boat", turning it into an imperial tool for the ruler. In terms of the relationship between ruler and subject, it was manifested in the absolute obedience and loyalty of the subjects to the Emperor and the Shogun, and in terms of the relationship between the people of the country, the people of the country, the people of agriculture and the people of commerce, it was manifested in the clear demarcation of the boundaries between the four peoples and the strict hierarchy of the four peoples, so that they could not take a step beyond the boundaries. The Tokugawa family, which actually ruled Japan for more than 260 years, raised Confucianism to the level of law in order to maintain their rule. Fujiwara Hoshiwa (1561-1619), a representative of the Zhuzi school and a Confucian scholar, was invited by Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first shogun of this family, to teach him courses such as the "Essentials of Chingan Politics" and "The Great Learning," and compiled the Four Books and the Five Classics, which were famous for a long time.

Also appreciated by Tokugawa Ieyasu was Lin Luoshan (1583-1657). Lin had a profound study of Zhu Xi's Four Books and an excellent grasp of Confucian principles and rituals, emphasizing Confucian concepts of morality, especially the eternity of the "nobility and inferiority of the upper and lower ranks" of ruler and subject, father and son, and husband and wife, and he specialized in culture and learning after joining the Shogunate. He had opened a school in Kyoto, teaching Zhu Xi's "Analects of Confucius" and promoting Confucianism to the society through lectures. It is worth noting that Lin Luoshan's teachings of "no offense to the upper and lower classes, no disruption to the nobility and the lowly," "the correlation between heaven and man," and "the teaching of loyalty and efficiency" were important to the maintenance of the "one system for all ages" principle. The teachings of "no disruption of the hierarchy", "the relationship between heaven and man", and "the teaching of loyalty" played a great role in maintaining the legal system of the Emperor, consolidating the position of the Shogun, and rectifying the national customs. Japanese Confucianism advocates that "the ruler and his subjects up and down, the inferiority and superiority of the big and the small, each do their part, no dipping and blasphemy, the rule of the world", "there are four classes of people, said the scholar-agricultural-commercial, the scholar above the heart, the agricultural below the labor, the labor of the heart is in the upper, the labor of the people below the heart, the ambition of the heart of the people is vast and far-flung, below the labor of the agricultural and self-preservation only, the reversal of the world's small people are not flat. If the world is upside down, the small ones are not peaceful, and the big ones are in chaos". Another point worth noting is that the Edo Shogunate fifth-generation general Tokugawa Okazaki personally taught his subordinates the Four Books, the Five Classics and other Confucian classics, insisting on up to eight years. It can be said that he had a large number of disciples, and his name was spread in the country, and there was no lack of talents who could fulfill the world's needs. In addition, Ito Ninsai (1627-1705) also had a deep study of Confucianism, and he set up a school to teach students, seeking the "Way of the Sage" as his own responsibility, not only to open up a trend, but also to be a teacher, and he taught in Kyoto for 40 years, with 3,000 people being taught. During the Tokugawa period, Confucianism was unprecedentedly revered, and it penetrated into politics, law, morality, literature, philosophy, and many aspects of social life, becoming an important part of the Tokugawa Shogunate's social ideology. During the Tokugawa period, the rulers applied Confucian rules and rituals to the practice of governance, which brought about social stability and development, thus bringing Japanese society and culture into an era of maturity.

Meiji Restoration period: Confucian ethics were incorporated into the economy

Japan's attitude towards Confucianism went through a development process from affirmation to denial to affirmation. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the road of capitalism, the full acceptance of European and American culture, Confucianism has been an unprecedented impact, that Confucianism "'tends to the end of the words and chapters of the recitation, trapped in the empty theory of the path of the false talk', is only concerned with the useless study of the death of memory". Fukuzawa Yukichi, a famous thinker, considered Confucianism to be a "semi-political study" with an antagonistic relationship to "people's rights". Since then, Japan began to consider Confucianism according to the actual needs, and to analyze and polish it. After the transformation and utilization of Confucianism, Japan gradually incorporated the rational factors of Confucian ethics into the process of economic growth until the 1960s, when it created another successful example of modernization in a capitalist country. It can be said that the process of realizing modernization in Japan is the process of absorbing and transforming Confucian ethics. As early as the middle of the 19th century, the thinker Sakuma Koseyama (1811-1864) advocated the idea of "Eastern morality and Western art," i.e., combining Eastern thought with Western science and technology. Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931) was the first person to incorporate Confucian ethics into the process of economic growth, and found a point of convergence between traditional ethics and modern capitalist economic ethics. Taking the national interest as the starting point, he theoretically solved the long-standing Confucian theory of emphasizing righteousness over profit, and organically unified morality and economy, righteousness and profit, and "scholar's soul" (the spirit of the samurai warrior) and "business talent" (the capitalist way of doing business), thus bringing together the previous "righteousness and profit" of the cheap merchants. In this way, the previous concept of "righteousness and profit", which had been used by the lowly merchants, was transformed into a new ethical concept conducive to the development of the capitalist industrial and commercial sector. This new economic ethics played an irreplaceable role in the operation of the whole economic mechanism, and soon penetrated into the economic fields of industry, agriculture, trade, animal husbandry, transportation and finance, pursuing economic benefits under the banner of "righteousness".

Post-war: Social restoration and reconciliation

At the end of the Second World War, Japan's economy had retrogressed by 25 years, and almost all factories were paralyzed. In the midst of the post-war chaos in the country, Confucianism appeared in its warm-hearted color, with the function of social restoration and reconciliation, penetrating into the post-war restoration of social order and economic management, regulating the relationship between the state and the citizens as well as between the labor and the management, and becoming a kind of auxiliary ideological weapon to support the people's hard and intense work. It is undeniable that Confucianism has been playing a subtle role in all aspects of Japanese society and has not completely disappeared from the society even when it lost its exclusive status after the Meiji Restoration. Its set of principles and ideas has been followed by the decision makers in Japan. Although post-war Japan was y influenced by American culture, it maintained its own traditional things. Its enterprise organizational structure, policy planning and formulation, labor and employment system, and the relationship between workers and enterprises are very different from that of the United States, and many enterprises have included the opinions of workers in the decision-making process, which embodies the Confucian principles of "even though there are relatives and friends, they are not as good as benevolence" and "the people are not as good as the people". "This embodies the Confucian ideas of "harmony is precious", that is, "the people are virtuous and the grains flourish", and "giving to the people is helpful to the people". Social harmony and harmony in interpersonal relations achieved on the basis of Confucian ethics are important conditions for social stability and economic development.