Shushigaku (Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi school).
General name in Japan for the Neo-Confucianism that developed in Song (Sung) dynasty (960-1279) China.
This, the most fully developed phil. sophical system of premodern China, was established by Zhu Xi (1130-1200), abo known as Zhuzi or Chu-tzu (J: Shushi; hence Shushigaku, gaku meaning school). Where the already established interpretive studies of the Han (202 BC-AD 220) and Tang (T'ang.
618-907) dynasties were concerned with practical ethics (ie., proper forms of con-duct, especially in terms of social and famil. ial relationships) and based this concern on the ethically oriented "Five Classics o Confucianism, the Zhu Xi school was, in ad. dition, concerned with abstract metaphysical principles. It developed an interpretation of nature and society based on the more philosophically oriented
"Four Books" of
the Confucian tradition (see FOUR BOOKS AND FIVE CLASSICS) and, influenced by Buddhist and Taoist ideas, formed a philosophy inte grating the metaphysical and the physical Basic Teachings of the Zhu Xi School of Confucianism The basic concept in Zhu Xi Confucianism is the li-gi (li-chi) du-alism. Li (J: ri) is the principle that is bask to the existence of all things as well as to natural law and social norms. Because i does not assume any shape, function, or mo-tion, it cannot result in phenomena by itself, only in conjunction with qi (chi; J. ki) dos it take on a concrete existence in the form of animate or inanimate beings. Qi is a kind o gaseous matter and by self-induced motion can become yin and yang and the five ele ments (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) that determine the shape and quality of al things. Yet, the basis for the functioning d gi is found in li. When li and qi combine, gi is condensed and beings are produced, when they separate, beings cease to exist After Zhu Xi's death, a division occumd in the Zhu Xi school: one side inclined to ward regarding li as substance, the basis d existence of all things; the other side in clined toward regarding li as natural law and social norm. The former side became fixed a the national teaching in China. In Japan however, this division into two schools was not particularly significant at the time.
The Zhu Xi School in Japan: Sid shigakuZhu Xi's writings were into duceato lapanin the at y kanakuapend
(1185-1333); but it was later, in the Muromachi period (1333-1568), that the were particularly studied by Zen molsd the cozan temples. At the end of that perid their influence appeared in the laws of de mo domains (kaho). However, it was into Edo period (1600-1868) that Zhu Xis test ings, as Shushigaku, became roted in M social fabric of Japan and became the obod teaching of the Tokugawa shogunate
Shushigaku is central to an understanding of the development of ideas in the Edo pe-riod. koGAkU (Ancient Learning), a development within Japanese Confucianism and essentially a reaction against Shushigaku, advocated a return to the works of the ancient sages of China. Both KokUGaKU (Na-tional Learning), which idealized Japan's earliest age and its ancient social mores and sentiments, and the so-called kokUTAr ("na-tional polity") theory, which found in the emperor system the special national characteristic of Japan, were influenced significantly by the development of Shushigaku.
Shushigaku also influenced the acceptance of modern European science, which entered Japan via the Dutch in the late Edo period.
See WESTERN LEARNING.
Confucianism and Buddhism, which had arrived in Japan by the 6th century, were regarded as more or less noncontradictory until the 16th century. Beginning with FUlIWARA SEIKA (1561-1619), however, Buddhism and Confucianism became clearly distinguished. Seika found in Confucianism a system of practical ethics by which to live in society and consequently abandoned the other-worldly teachings of Buddhism. The recognition of this contradistinction was also the rediscovery of the attractiveness of the moral rigor of Shushigaku, and it was thus that the interest of the warrior class in Shushigaku was heightened. In 1607 the shogunate employed Hayashi Razan (the first important Japanese thinker to be exclusively identified with Shushigaku) as the shogunal Confucianist, giving him funds and land to build a private school and a Confucian temple in Edo (now Tokyo).
Razan drafted the BUKE SHOHATTO, the basic legal codes for the daimyo. During the KAN-SEI REFORMS of the 1780s and 1790s, Shu-shigaku was recognized as the orthodox teaching of the shogunate, which it remained until the MEIJI RESTORATION of 1868.
Until the mid-17th century, Edo-period Shushigaku was influenced by the Zen Buddhism of the Gozan or Five Monasteries and was accommodating toward a li-qi monism, as seen in Fujiwara Seika and Hayashi Razan. However, what is most characteristic of Shushigaku in Japan is its development of a position regarding li as law. YAMAGA SOKO, ITO JINSAI, OGYU SORAI, and DAZAI SHUNDAr-generally referred to as Kogaku scholars-developed a position regarding li as the law of gi and even arrived at a denial of the authority of Zhu Xi's interpretations of the classics.
The second most characteristic element of Edo-period Shushigaku is its emphasis on loyalty (Ch: zhong or chung; J: chü) over filial piety (Ch: xiao or hsiao; J: kö). Loyalty became directed at the state or domain rather than at the lord as an individual.
Among Confucianists of the mITO SCHOOL, loyalty to the emperor came to be empha-sized, developing into emperor-reverence by the end of the shogunate.
The third characteristic is the union of Shinto and Confucianism. A theory of Shinto incorporating elements of Zhu Xi's teaching (see sUlKA SHINTO) developed hand in hand with the growing call for reverence for the emperor.
The final important characteristic of Edo-period Shushigaku is its advancement of philological research. The inclination to verify history, institutions, and phenomena resulted in a proliferation of major studies in history, philosophy, and the natural sci-ences. See also CONFUCIANISM.
