Book of Filial Piety

A Confucian classic that discusses the way of filial piety. It is written in the form of a story told by Confucius (Kongqiu) to his disciple Zengzi (Zeng Shen), but is thought to have been written by the Zengzi school at the end of the Warring States period. It teaches that filial piety is the basis for both personal morality and the politics of the state, and that filial piety is the principle that unites people and the universe, providing a theoretical basis for the socio-political system of ancient China, where the norms of the family community were superior. Since the Western Han Dynasty, two versions of the text have been passed down: the modern text (18 chapters) and the classical text (22 chapters). The chapters are organized differently, but apart from the classical text having a large number of chapters on the family gate, which has over 20 characters, the gist is the same. Common commentaries include, in the modern literary field, the "Book of Filial Piety with Commentaries" by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty, and the "Book of Filial Piety with Righteousness" by Xingping of the Song dynasty, and, in the classical literary field, the "Publishing Mistakes in the Book of Filial Piety" by Zhu Xi of the Song dynasty, and the "Great Meaning of the Book of Filial Piety" by Dong Ding of the Yuan dynasty.

It is believed that it was introduced to Japan before the "Seventeen-Article Constitution," and the "Taiho Code" stipulated that it was a compulsory subject at universities. In the mid-Edo period, the "Kobun Xiaojing" (the Former Han Kong Anguo Biography) and its annotations by Zheng Xuan of the Later Han Dynasty, which had already been lost in mainland China, were published and re-imported to China.

[The World of the Ordinary]

"Collection of Essays on the Book of Filial Piety by Hayashi Shuichi (1976, Meiji Shoin)" ▽ "The Book of Filial Piety by Hayashi Shuichi (1979, Meitoku Publishing, Chinese Classics New Books)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

儒教の経書(けいしょ)の一つ。孝道を論じたもの。孔子(こうし)（孔丘）が門人曽子(そうし)（曽参(そうしん)）に語り聞かせた形態で記してあるが、戦国時代末期、曽子学派の著したものと考えられる。その内容は、個人の道徳も天下国家の政治も孝を根本とし、孝こそ人と宇宙を一貫する原理であると説き、家族共同体の規範の優越する古代中国の社会政治制度に理論的根拠を与えた。テキストは、前漢以来今文(きんぶん)（18章）と古文（22章）の2種が伝えられ、章の立て方は相違するが、古文に閨門(けいもん)章の1章20余字が多いほかは、大旨に変わりはない。通行する注釈には、今文系では唐(とう)の玄宗(げんそう)の『御注孝経』、宋(そう)の刑昺(けいへい)の『孝経正義』、古文系では宋の朱子（朱熹(しゅき)）の『孝経刊誤』、元(げん)の董鼎(とうてい)の『孝経大義』などがある。

　わが国への伝来は「十七条憲法」以前と推定され、「大宝令(たいほうりょう)」には大学の必修科目と定められている。江戸時代中期、中国本土ですでに失われていた『古文孝経』（前漢孔安国伝）と後漢の鄭玄(じょうげん)の注が校刊され、中国に逆輸入されるという快事もあった。

［廣常人世］

『林秀一著『孝経学論集』（1976・明治書院）』▽『林秀一著『孝経』（1979・明徳出版社・中国古典新書）』

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