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A Chinese thinker from the Later Han Dynasty. His courtesy name was Shao Gong. He was from Rencheng (Jining City), Shandong Province. He was a taciturn man, well versed in Confucianism. He did not serve a province, but was summoned by the highly respected Grand Tutor Chen Fan (?-168) to serve under his command. When Fan fell from grace, he was banned by the Party. He stayed at home for a while and devoted himself to research, and later served as a councilor and a great advisor. He wrote "A Commentary on the Story of Gongyang in the Spring and Autumn Period," in which he sublimated his criticism of the political and religious views of the time into commentary on the classics. The theory of the Three Subjects and Nine Principles described there, especially the historical philosophy that the world would move from chaos to peace, and then to growth and tranquility, attracted the attention of thinkers in the late Qing Dynasty, and Kang Youwei interpreted it as a view of history that advocated three stages of development, and used it as the theoretical basis for the reform and self-strengthening movement. He wrote "Zuo's Obsession," "Guliang's Sickness," and "Gongyang's Mou Keeping," which provoked a rebuttal from Zheng Xuan.

[Toshiaki Hihara January 19, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、後漢(ごかん)の思想家。字(あざな)は邵公(しょうこう)。山東省任城(にんじょう)（済寧(さいねい)市）の人。寡黙な人柄で、儒学に通じた。州郡に仕えなかったが、声望の高い太傅(たいふ)の陳蕃(ちんばん)（？―168）に召されて幕下に参じたため、蕃の失脚で党錮(とうこ)の禁にあい、しばらく家居して研究に専念し、のち議郎や諫議大夫(かんぎたいふ)を歴任した。当時の政教に対する批判を古典の注釈に昇華させて『春秋公羊伝解詁(くようでんかいこ)』を著している。そこに述べられた三科九旨(さんかきゅうし)説、とりわけ、天下が衰乱から升平(しょうへい)を経て太平に進むとする歴史哲学は、清(しん)末の思想家の注目をひき、康有為(こうゆうい)は三段階発展を説く歴史観と解釈して、変法自強運動の理論的根拠にした。『左氏膏肓(こうこう)』『穀梁廃疾(こくりょうはいしつ)』『公羊墨守(くようぼくしゅ)』をつくり、鄭玄(じょうげん)の反論を招いた。

［日原利国　2016年1月19日］

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