Lee Toegye

Japanese: 李退渓 - りたいけい

A representative Confucian scholar and thinker of the Joseon Dynasty. He passed the liberal arts exam and was once appointed to an official position, but he became disillusioned with the infighting between the government and political circles and retired, building a hermitage in Tokei upstream of the Nakdong River and devoting himself to his studies. At this time, he changed Tokei to Toegye and took his own name. Unable to refuse repeated appointments to official positions thereafter, he served as the head of Danyang and Punggi, and the chief priest of Sungkyunkwan, and established the first academy in Korea, Sosu Seowon. In 1559, he returned to his hometown of Andong, and in 1560 built Dosan Seowon, from which he devoted himself to scholarship and education. Based on deep introspection, he developed Zhu Xi's theory of li and qi, and put forward a theory that emphasized the dynamic nature of li itself, and this issue has since become one of the central issues in Korean Confucianism. Along with his contemporary Yi Yulgok, he is considered the pinnacle of Confucianism during the Joseon Dynasty, and his works were read in Japan throughout the Edo period, greatly influencing Japanese Confucian thought, including that of Hayashi Razan and Yamazaki Ansai.
→ Related article Ryu Seung-ryong

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

朝鮮王朝の代表的な儒学者，思想家。文科に及第していったん官位についたが，官界・政界の暗闘に絶望して隠退し，洛東江上流の兎渓(とけい)に庵を築いて学問に専心した。この時兎渓を退渓と改めて自分の号とした。その後度重なる官位任命を断り切れず，丹陽，豊基の郡主，成均館の大司成を務め，朝鮮最初の書院である紹修書院を設置させた。1559年，故郷安東に帰り，60年に陶山書院を建て，以後は学問と教育に専念した。深い内省に基づき，朱子の理気論を展開させ，理自体の運動性を強調する学説を提起，この問題は，以後朝鮮儒学の中心的な課題の一つとなった。同時代の李栗谷とともに朝鮮王朝時代の儒学の最高峰とされ，著作は日本でも江戸時代を通じて読まれ，林羅山や山崎闇斎をはじめ日本の儒学思想に大きな影響をもたらした。
→関連項目柳成龍

出典　株式会社平凡社百科事典マイペディアについて　情報

<<: Lee Tae-jun

>>: Lithai (English spelling)