Gomojigi (literal meaning of words)

This is the main work of Ito Jinsai, a Confucian scholar from the early Edo period. Jinsai, who advocated the study of ancient meanings in Kyoto, wrote this book in 1683 (Tenwa 3) for Inaba Masayasu, a young councilor of the shogunate. Along with Dojimon, a work written in his final years, it is a masterpiece in the history of Japanese thought that marks the culmination of Jinsai's studies. Jinsai believed that the Analects and Mencius were books that conveyed the true essence of sages, and he argued that by "reading and contemplating" these two books carefully and making the "context of the will and words" of the sages clear to one's mind, one will not only be able to understand the "semantic lineage" of Confucius and Mencius, but also be able to understand their "literal meanings" without any major mistakes. Jinsai uses a special philological method (the "Kogigaku" method) of simultaneously grasping the spirit of Confucius and Mencius and the literal meaning of the words in the Kogigaku by closely reading the Kogigaku and Mencius, and explains the literal meaning of keywords for understanding the Kogigaku such as "Heaven's Way," "Heaven's Mandate," "Tao," "Ri," "Toku," "Kin," and "Se" in the first volume, and "Loyalty, Faith, Loyalty, and Compassion" in the second volume. However, Jinsai's Kogigaku method imprinted his ideas on the results of rigorous academic research, and also had a great influence on the establishment of Ogyu Sorai's Kobunjigaku and Motoori Norinaga's Kogaku.

[Ishida Kazuyoshi]

"The Meaning of Words, Meng, and Characters," edited by Shimizu Shigeru (included in "Japanese Thought Series 33: Ito Jinsai and Ito Togai," 1971, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Ichiro Ishida, "Ito Jinsai" (1960, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸前期の儒学者伊藤仁斎(じんさい)の主著。京都で古義(こぎ)学を提唱した仁斎が1683年（天和3）に幕府の若年寄稲葉正休(まさやす)に書き与えた書物で、最晩年の著『童子問(どうじもん)』とともに、完成した仁斎学の首尾をなす日本思想史上の名著である。仁斎は『論語』『孟子(もうし)』を聖賢の真骨頂を伝える書と信じ、2書を「熟読精思」して聖人の「意志語脈」を心目の間に瞭然(りょうぜん)たらしめると、孔子(こうし)・孟子の「意味血脈」を識(し)るだけでなく、その「字義」が大過なく理解できると説いた。仁斎は語・孟の精読によって孔孟の精神と語・孟の字義を同時に把握するという特殊な文献学的方法（「古義学」的方法）によって、上巻では天道、天命、道、理、徳、心、性など、下巻では忠信、忠恕(ちゅうじょ)などの語・孟理解のキーワードの「字義」を説明する。しかし、仁斎の古義学的方法は、厳密な学問的研究の成果に仁斎の思想の刻印を押すことになったが、荻生徂徠(おぎゅうそらい)の古文辞(こぶんじ)学、本居宣長(もとおりのりなが)の古学の成立に大きな影響を与えた。

［石田一良］

『清水茂校注「語孟字義」（『日本思想大系33　伊藤仁斎・伊藤東涯』所収・1971・岩波書店）』▽『石田一良著『伊藤仁斎』（1960・吉川弘文館）』

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