Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism

The Life and Thought of Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714)

By Mary Evelyn Tucker

Subjects: Confucianism
Series: SUNY series in Philosophy
Paperback : 9780887068911, 472 pages, July 1989
Hardcover : 9780887068898, 472 pages, July 1989

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

PART I: Kaibara Ekken

1. Introduction
2. Neo-Confucianism in the Early Tokugawa Period
3. Biography of Ekken
4. Introduction to Ekken's Thought
5. Analysis of Yamato Zokkun
6. A Comparative Treatment of Ekken's Ethical Treatises
7. Conclusion

PART II: Yamato Zokkun

8. Translation of Yamato Zokkun
9. Japanese Text of Yamato Zokkun

 

Appendices

 

A. Chronology of Kaibara Ekken's Life
B. A List of Ekken's Collected Works

 

Notes

Glossaries

Bibliography

Index

Description

Kaibara Ekken (1630—1714) was the focal Neo-Confucian thinker of the early Tokagawa period. He established the importance of Neo-Confucianism in Japan at a time when Buddhism had long been the dominant religious philosophy. This is the first book-length presentation of his thought. It contains a lengthy introduction to Ekken's life, time, and thought, and a careful translation into readable English of Ekken's book, Precepts for Daily Life in Japan (Yamanto Zokkun).

Mary Evelyn Tucker is Assistant Professor of Religion at Bucknell University.