Critical Readings in the Intellectual History of Early Modern Japan

"Critical Readings in the Intellectual History of Early Modern Japan" provides an overview of recent research into the most fascinating period in the development of Japanese thought. Against a background of Buddhism, which all through the period remained the state-sponsored religion, Chinese studies spread and became the basis of all higher education. Chinese studies, and the Confucianism they implied, provoked a reaction, "National Studies," which took the philological method elaborated by the Chinese scholars and applied it to the ancient Japanese corpus, in an attempt to articulate a "Japanese" identity. Simultaneously, the growing interest of physicians and astronomers in European science gave rise to "Dutch Studies." These four fields of intellectual endeavour together comprise the subject of the book.

W.J. Boot, Ph.D. (1983), Leiden University, is professor of Japanese Studies at that University. He has published widely on the Intellectual History of Early Modern Japan.