The Popularization of Zhu Shun-Shui’s Confucianism Thinking on Kaga-han

This study intends to investigate the contributions made by Zhu Shun-Shui (1600-1682) in the early Edo Period during the process of the development of Confucianism promoted by the famous Kaga-han monarch Maeda Tunanori (1643-1724) who was the fifth Han-Su, as well as Kinoshita Jyunan (1621-1698) , Okumura Yasunori (1627-1687) , and Isogawa Kouhaku (?-1699) et al who were Kaga-han scholars, and to explore their relation with the formation of the Confucianism system “Honesty, Respect, Courtesy, Learning, and Practice” in Kaga-han. Maeda Tunanori’s mother, the imperial concubine (Seitaiin, 1627-1656) , was the daughter of Tokugawa Yorifusa who was the first Han-Su of Mito-han (1603-1661). Based on such relationship, the development of Confucianism in Kaga-han was deeply influenced by Mito-han. Maeda Tunanori frequently dispatched the scholars such as Okumura Yasunori, Isogawa Kouhaku, etc. to Mito-han to receive Zhu Shun-Shui’s teaching, and he also corresponded with Zhu Shun-Shui. After Zhu Shun-Shui passed away, Maeda Tunanori immediately ordered Isogawa Kouhaku to complete the first compilation of Zhu Shun-Shui Quan Ji “Collection of Ming Zhu Zheng Jun” in Japan (Ten scrolls, commonly called “Kaga Version”). Up to now, many Chinese classics as well as literatures and historical resources related to Maeda Tunanori and Zhu Shun-Shui are still preserved in the precious stacks in Kaga-han (now Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art) and Kansai University Library. Zhu Shun-Shui maintained that “The monarch is the Son of Heaven, and we should be loyal to the Son of Heaven”. He thought that “loyalty, piety, integrity, and righteousness” comprise the basic core of the imperial line’s historical scholarship, and he endeavored to popularize the thinking of “Righteous Cause” all the year round. Maeda Tunanori had once engaged his personal painter Tanyu Kano(1602-1674) for painting the “Picture of Parting at Sakurai Station” for the martial general Kasunoki Masashige (1294-1336) and his child in the Southern and Northern Dynasty. Also, through Kinoshita Jyunan, he earnestly invited Zhu Shun-Shui to write the “Comment for the Picture of General Kasunoki and his Child at Parting” that became the important essence of “the History of Great Japan” compiled by Tokugawa Mitsukuni later. Hence, Kasunoki Masashige also became the sonno practitioner adored by Mito scholars. Therefore, another focus in this article lies in exploring the influence on the Kaga-han Confucianism’s political thinking caused by Zhu Shun-Shui’s maintenance of the thinking of denomination and title selection.