Chinese classics - Kangaku

(1) A term used in reference to Japanese classical learning. At the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period, when Western academic studies were collectively referred to as Western studies, the traditional academic studies were called Japanese classical learning, classical Chinese learning, or Kokan-gaku (today's Japanese classical Chinese). When considering poetry and essays, it is called Chinese literature, and the arts and sciences of Japanese classical Chinese, which originated in Chinese culture since the Nara and Heian periods, are broadly called classical Chinese learning. The trend in literature that focuses on the creation of poetry and prose imitating classical Chinese writing in Chinese characters from throughout Japan has shaped the history of classical Chinese literature. Later, the Western term sinology (Chinese studies, Chinese studies) was also translated as classical Chinese.

(2) In China, it is a name for Song learning. It refers to the learning and academic style of the Han dynasty, especially the attitude toward the study of classics in the Later Han, Wei and Jin dynasties. In contrast to the neo-Confucianism of early modern China, which was represented by the Neo-Confucianism of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu and Yangming, it was a method of learning that was advocated as a restoration of the past by the study of historical evidence that arose in the Qing dynasty. Gu Yanwu, Yan Ruojiang, and Hu Wei achieved pioneering accomplishments, while Huidong and Jiang Sheng of the Wu school came to realize that the original spirit of the classics could be elucidated through the study of the classics by Han Confucian scholars, and Dai Zhen, Duan Yucai, and Wang Niansun of the Wan school achieved advanced academic results. His scholarship mainly relied on the "Commentaries and Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics," but also extended to historical texts and the writings of various thinkers (thinkers from the pre-Qin dynasty), placing importance on the exegesis of the Han and Tang dynasties, and accumulating notes (Zhaji) containing proofreading and research, as well as correspondence between researchers, to revive and perfect the application of Xu learning and Zheng learning, that is, ancient linguistics based on Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" and Zheng Xuan's interpretation of classic texts centered on the "Three Rites." The study of old China's "seeking truth from facts," that is, the study of empirical truth seeking through the accumulation of analogy and induction, was represented by this method of Sinology in the Qing dynasty.

[Yoshiro Togawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

(1)国学に対する称。江戸末・明治初期、欧米の学術を洋学と総称した当時、在来の学術を国学、漢学、または皇漢(こうかん)学（いまの日本漢学）と並称した。詩文や辞章を考えるときは漢文学といい、奈良・平安期以来の中国文化に由来する本邦の漢文による学芸を広く漢学と称する。本邦歴代の漢字語による中国古典文を模倣した詩文の制作を対象とする文芸の流れは、漢文学史を形成している。のち欧米のシノロジーsinology（中国学、シナ学）をも漢学と訳称した。

(2)中国では、宋学(そうがく)に対する称。漢代の学問、学風を意味し、とくに後漢(ごかん)、魏晋(ぎしん)の経学の態度をさす。中国近世の新儒学として、程朱(ていしゅ)学、陽明学が宋・元・明(みん)の性理学を代表したのに対して、清(しん)代におこった考証学によって、復古的に唱道された学術の方法である。顧炎武(こえんぶ)、閻若璩(えんじゃくきょ)、胡渭(こい)らがその先駆的業績をあげ、呉(ご)派の恵棟(けいとう)、江声(こうせい)らによって、経書本来の精神は、漢儒の経学によって解明できる、とする自覚が高まり、皖(かん)派の戴震(たいしん)、段玉裁(だんぎょくさい)、王念孫(おうねんそん)らによって高度の学術成果を発揮した。その学問は、『十三経注疏(じゅうさんぎょうちゅうそ)』を主材として、史書、諸子（先秦(しん)の思想家）の文献にも及び、漢～唐の訓詁(くんこ)を重んじ、校勘(こうかん)、考証を盛り込んだノート（札記(さっき)）と研究者間の書信による交流を積み重ねて、許(きょ)学と鄭(てい)学、つまり許慎の『説文(せつもん)解字』を基礎とする古代言語学と「三礼(さんらい)」を軸とする鄭玄(じょうげん)の経書解釈学の、復活とその応用を究めた。旧中国の実事求是(じつじきゅうぜ)の学、すなわち類推と帰納の蓄積による実証的な真理探究の学問は、この清代漢学の方法によって代表された。

［戸川芳郎］

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