Abstract

Japan, which would become the first country, successfully adjusted its political system towards modern social transformation in Asia, is indebted to the nature of its political system and the contents of its educational curriculum, both built in the Tokugawa period. For example, Fukuzawa Yukichi argued that because "the most sacrosanct was not necessarily the most powerful, and the most powerful was not necessarily the most sacrosanct in Japan,... it was easier for Japan to adopt Western civilization." ;Slogan of "revering the emperor and expelling the barbarians" was used as a slogan by Meiji reformists, with their assertion of "the combination of the military arts and literary learning, that encouraged the nation to unite to meet the Western challenge in the latter half of nineteenth century. The slogan constituted a main portion of the Mito School philosophy, which was established under the strong influence of the teaching of Zhu Shunshui --a Chinese scholar and Ming loyalist, and Tokugawa Mitsukuni --the lord of Mito clan in the Tokugawa period. This research essay discusses how Zhu's scholarship, through the efforts of founders of Mito, Ancient Learning schools, and other Tokugawa samurai intellectuals, guided the Japanese with respect to the importance of Confucius's personal study of statecraft, and the importance of moral law for establishing and maintaining social order