Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College East Asian Languages and Cultures Department East Asian Languages and Cultures Department Honors Papers Spring 5-2-2008 A New Tradition: Legitimizing the Authority of the Tokugawa through the Hands of Japanese Neo- Confucians Daniel S. Keiser Connecticut College,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/eastasianhp Recommended Citation Keiser, Daniel S., "A New Tradition: Legitimizing the Authority of the Tokugawa through the Hands of Japanese Neo-Confucians" (2008). East Asian Languages and Cultures Department Honors Papers. 2. http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/eastasianhp/2 This Honors Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in East Asian Languages and Cultures Department Honors Papers by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. One Introduction: An Overview 1 I. A Brief Overview of Confucianism in Japan When examining the history of Japan’s political development, it is important to consider the influence that various religions and traditions have on the island nation. In dealing with a syncretistic society like Japan, where people’s daily religious practices are influenced by three major traditions (Shintô 神道, Buddhism, and Confucianism), the lines that divide the religions from each other can often seem to disappear, making the three appear to have always coexisted. In Japan, all three traditions play respective roles in the average citizen’s life, and all three serve specific purposes in answer to various ideological and metaphysical questions.