The Meanings of Terms in the Analects and Mencius (Gomō jigi)

Introduction

Ito Jinsai, a merchant’s son from Kyoto who ran a private academy, the Kogido, drafted this short dictionary of key terms in 1683 and revised it for years; it was printed in 1705, the year of his death. It examines terms such as the Way, heavenly principle, nature, humaneness and sincerity, taking only the Analects and the Mencius as guides. Against Zhu Xi, Jinsai holds that the Way lies in everyday human relationships and in active love, not in a metaphysical principle present in the mind. The book founded the school of “ancient meanings” (kogigaku), one of the first Japanese movements to criticise Neo-Confucianism on the basis of the classical texts themselves.

Connections

Builds on

• Analects (Lunyu)c. 450 BCE · Confucius
• Mengzic. 300 BCE · Mengzi (Mencius)

Criticizes

• Commentaries on the Four Books1190 · Zhu Xi

Criticized in

• Distinguishing the Way (Bendō)1717 · Ogyū Sorai