Global Journal of Human Social Science, D: History, Archaeology and Anthroplogy, Volume 23 Issue 3

© 2023 Global Journals Volume XXIII Issue III Version I 29 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 D “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword”: Popular Ethics in Edo Period Japan But the financial security of the Danka system was not without its abuses by the t emple establishments, so much so that in 1665 the government had to issue an edict to curtail the luxurious lifestyles enjoyed by many Buddhist priests. 30 IV. R oots: T he R ise of P opular E thics Some feudal lords who were opposed to Buddhist temples took advantage of this regulation to close down non- compliant temples. By looking back to the ancients of China (Confucius and Mencius) 31 The socio-political impact of popular ethics was felt in Edo period Japan among the three social classes that a priori had previously been assigned an inferior status compared to the ruling samurai class. Merchants and peasants/agriculturalists, in particular, saw a burgeoning freedom beyond their previously constrictive social boundaries. A strong Japano-centric ethnicity and culture developed out of the lineage of “ancient learning” ( Kogaku ) which later came to be known as “native”/National Learning ( Kokugako ). Interestingly, rather than promulgating an even greater socio-political and of Japan (ancient Shinto), before the rise of Neo-Confucianism, three scholars in particular, Yamazaki Ansai, It ō Jinsai and Ogy ū Sorai, helped to loosen the socio-political grip of the Tokugawan shogunate over the commoners. Their schools helped to undermine the philosophical foundation of Japanese Neo-Confucianism from two different directions. Ansai explored the commonalities between ancient Confucianism and ancient Shintoism. It ō and Sorai, however, stayed solely within the bounds of Confucian enquiry. While not questioning the metaphysical reality of the Confucian principle of the Supreme Absolute, they relativized the resultant ethical constraints upon human society. Their approach came to be known as “ancient learning” ( Kogaku ). In this worldview anyone could become a sage or could intellectually explore and passionately participate in the arts simply for their own sake and not for any necessary communal, societal, or ethical benefit. Art was no longer a utilitarian pursuit for socio-political gain but could be pursued simply for private pleasure. Popular ethics eventually grew out of, and reinforced, this philosophical challenge to Neo-Confucian hegemony. 30 The governmental order was called, “Regulations for the Buddhist Sects and Temples” ( Shoshu jiin hatto ) (Yusa, Japanese Religious Traditions , 82). 31 Mencius (371–289 BCE?) defended the teachings of Confucius (sixth to fifth century B.C.), especially that human nature is good. Mencius is regarded as the greatest Confucian thinker after Confucius himself. His teachings were very influential on the development of Confucian thought in the Song period. The Mengzi ( Mencius ) was included by Confucian thinkers of the early Song (960–1279), and Zhu Xi (1130–1200) as one of the Four Books. These became canonical texts of the Confucian tradition. (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ mencius/ [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]; accessed Sept. 1, 2019). isolation from the world, National Learning appears to have provided sufficient national identity and pride for Japan to emerge successfully onto the world stage at the dawning of the new Modern or Meiji period in 1868. The contribution of the three aforementioned scholars to the empowerment of commoners and to the establishment of National Learning bears further investigation. a) Yamazaki Ansai (1618–82) In my introduction I cited Sontoku’s contention that, by the 19 th century, Shinto was foundational to Japanese identity and Confucianism to Japanese politics. This does not, of course, exclude a recognition on his part that there was mutual interplay between the two for societal betterment. Yamazaki Ansai explored this mutual interplay two centuries earlier but primarily from the angle of their metaphysical commonality. His investigation, though, did not extend into a challenge of the Ne o-C onfucian idea of “existing social and political constructs [e.g., the four-fold stratification of society] as concrete expressions of abstract metaphysical norms.” 32 Ansai’s primary agenda in his study of the ancients was to forge more formal ties between Confucianism and Shintoism. Ansai befriended Watarai Nobuyoshi (1615–90), a Shinto priest of the Ise Shrine, and Yoshikawa (or Kikkawa) Koretaru (1615–94), who headed the Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto. As a result he became convinced that the Principle (or the Way) of the (Neo-) Confucians was also present in pure Shinto. In Ansai’s mind the Neo-Confucian emphasis on “‘unswerving loyalty and selflessness, guarded by an ever-vigilant mind’ was contained in Princess Yamato’s prophecy: ‘For the kami to c om e down you need first of all prayers; to receive blessing, you need straight forwardness, and if thus you gain the Great Way, the realm will prosper in peace.’” This secularization of the socio-political world would be left to Sorai, almost fifty years later. Scholarship does not technically place Ansai in the lineage of “ancient learning” since his concern was to promote ancient Shintoism rather than Confucianism. Ansai does, however, presage a focus on the learning of the ancients that would find its fuller expression in Confucian “ancient learning” and in its philosophical “cousin” Japano-centric National Learning, one of the expressions of popular ethics. 33 As such, in continuity with Zhu Xi, Ansai affirmed the value of studying the learning of the ancients sim ply for its own sake. In this way society would be indirectly bettered through the application of ancient insights to one’s life in one’s societal 32 Tetsuo Najita, “Method and Analysis in the Conceptual Portrayal of Tokugawa Intellectual History” in Japanese Thought in the Tokugawa Period: 1600 –1868 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 3–38, esp. 9. 33 Yusa, Japanese Religious Traditions , 84.