Japanese Confucianism

Reviews / Votes

'An outstanding study of the complex and multiple manifestations of Confucianism throughout Japanese history. Through rich historical analyses, Kiri Paramore reveals the surprising and often counter-intuitive roles that Confucianism has played in Japan. This is a book that challenges many of our assumptions about Confucianism and that opens up new ways of thinking about both Japanese history and Confucianism in general.' Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History, Harvard University, Massachusetts and author of Ritual and its Consequences 'Kiri Paramore has written a marvelous book about Confucianism in Japan as a hermeneutic tradition. It is interpreted and lived variously as establishment orthodoxy and subversive authority, as expressive individualism and fascist control, as religious truth and pragmatic dialogue. Its polymorphic role is key to grasping its enduring power in East Asia.' Prasenjit Duara, Raffles Professor of Humanities, National University of Singapore and author of The Crisis of Global Modernity 'If you want to understand the Confucian revival in China, you need to read Kiri Paramore's Japanese Confucianism: A Cultural History. The book's significance goes beyond its nuanced analysis of Confucianism's multiple iterations in Japan. It also explains how Confucianism has become so central in the rise of popular cultural nationalism in China today.' William A. Callahan, London School of Economics and Political Science and author of China Dreams 'Kiri Paramore's Japanese Confucianism: A Cultural History offers a welcome and groundbreaking approach to the current revival of interest in Confucian and Neo-Confucian studies. ... The greatest value of this book, however, is its contribution to the field of East Asian Confucian and Neo-Confucian studies. In presenting Japanese Confucianism as a multifaceted tradition outside of China for ... more than one thousand years, Paramore has opened the field to new interpretations of what was once considered a hide-bound, monolithic orthodoxy.' Alison Jameson, Reading Religion 'Paramore's analysis remains extremely well-informed and readable throughout the book without unnecessary concessions to academic jargon, thus making it equally useful as a text for courses on Japanese religions.' Ugo Dessi, Religious Studies Review