Harvard-Yenching Institute Non-Agnatic Adoption: A Confucian Controversy in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Japan Author(s): I. J. McMullen Source: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 35 (1975), pp. 133-189 Published by: Harvard-Yenching Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718793 Accessed: 10-03-2015 16:50 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Harvard-Yenching Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:50:24 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NON-AGNATIC ADOPTION: A CONFUCIAN CONTROVERSY IN SEVENTEENTH- AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY JAPAN I. J. McMULLEN OXFORD UNIVERSITY I. INTRODUCTION IKE most disseminators of alien religions, the Confucian writers of Tokugawa Japan faced a number of practical problems. One of the most pressing of these concerned the authority and practicability in Japan of the rituals associated with the Chinese Con- fucian tradition. In this context, "ritual" (li M, Japanese rei) referred broadly to all the religious, social, and political institutions which were the outward expression of a Confucian society.