Kumazawa Banzan’s Ideas Regarding the "Great Way" and "Shinto"
Researchers have focused on Kumazawa Banzan’s practical theory of moral cultivation and rationalistic statecraft, but have not deeply discussed his theory of religion, which proposed the restoration of Shinto. This is due to the fact that researchers see Kumazawa’s thought as a far-fetched syncretis...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Japanese Association for Religious Studies
2020
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| In: |
Religious studies in Japan
Year: 2020, Volume: 5, Pages: 29-52 |
| Further subjects: | B
Natural Religion
B three-teachings theory B Confucian Shinto B Kumazawa Banzan B the Way (dō) |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Researchers have focused on Kumazawa Banzan’s practical theory of moral cultivation and rationalistic statecraft, but have not deeply discussed his theory of religion, which proposed the restoration of Shinto. This is due to the fact that researchers see Kumazawa’s thought as a far-fetched syncretism of Shinto and Confucianism. Hence, their assessments are poles apart: "Kumazawa’s Shinto is nothing but Confucianism in the end" or "his Confucianism is not the original but Japanized." Essentialist framings like "is Kumazawa’s thought Confucianism or Shinto?" should be avoided. In this paper, noting that Kumazawa often expresses Shinto as daidō, I assert that he offers a universalistic argument which is based on the Confucian classics and relativizes Confucianism itself, as well as that it is a sort of theory of religion which can be compared with Western theories about natural religion. I hold that Kumazawa argues for the restoration of Shinto as a result of his exploration as to how to put a universalistic theory of the religious into practice in the form of a specific religious system tailored to the situations of the concrete epoch and region in early modern Japan. |
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| ISSN: | 2186-9952 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religious studies in Japan
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