Japanese Confucianism
A Cultural History

This book charts the history of Confucianism in Japan to offer new perspectives on the sociology of Confucianiam across East Asia.

Kiri Paramore (Author)

9781107635685, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 April 2016

249 pages, 6 b/w illus. 6 maps 1 table
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.35 kg

'Paramore's analysis remains extremely well-informed and readable throughout the book without unnecessary concessions to academic jargon, thus making it equally useful as a text for courses on Japanese religions.' Ugo Dessì, Religious Studies Review

For more than 1500 years, Confucianism has played a major role in shaping Japan's history - from the formation of the first Japanese states during the first millennium AD, to Japan's modernization in the nineteenth century, to World War II and its still unresolved legacies across East Asia today. In an illuminating and provocative new study, Kiri Paramore analyses the dynamic history of Japanese Confucianism, revealing its many cultural manifestations, as religion and as a political tool, as social capital and public discourse, as well as its role in international relations and statecraft. The book demonstrates the processes through which Confucianism was historically linked to other phenomenon, such as the rise of modern science and East Asian liberalism. In doing so, it offers new perspectives on the sociology of Confucianism and its impact on society, culture and politics across East Asia, past and present.

Introduction
1. Confucianism as cultural capital: mid-first millennium AD – late sixteenth century AD
2. Confucianism as religion, 1580s–1720s
3. Confucianism as public sphere, 1720s–1868
4. Confucianism as knowledge, 1400s–1800s
5. Confucianism as liberalism, 1850s–1890s
6. Confucianism as fascism, 1868–1945
7. Confucianism as taboo, 1945–2015
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Religious groups: social & cultural aspects [JFSR], Other non-Christian religions [HRK], Asian history [HBJF]