As we all know, Japan has always admired Chinese culture, and many people in Chinese history have been born that Make Japan admire. For example, Confucius and other pre-Qin sons, as well as the Ming Dynasty thinker Wang Yangming, the famous generals Xue Rengui, Zheng Chenggong and so on. These people are familiar to us.
In fact, there is another famous person in Chinese history, whom the Japanese people admire very much, and even by the prominent Tokugawa family in Japan as a national teacher. This person was the late Ming thinker Zhu Shunshui.
Zhu Shunshui was born in the 28th year of the Ming Dynasty, in 1600 AD. Although Zhu Shunshui is also surnamed Zhu, he is not directly related to the Ming Dynasty royal family. His original name was Zhu Zhiyu, and together with Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi, Gu Yanwu, and Yan Yuan, he was also called the Five Scholars of the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, and because he and Wang Yangming, Huang Zongxi, and Yan Ziling were all fellow townsmen of Yuyao, he was also called the Four Sages of Yuyao.
Zhu Shunshui seems to have been naturally interested in research ideas, and has shown a love for this since childhood. When he grew up, he studied the scriptures under the guidance of well-known scholars, and finally resounded throughout the country. After the imperial court learned of Zhu Shunshui's talent, it invited him to become an official many times.
Unfortunately, the period of his life was the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Wanli had long ignored the government and was abandoned, and then Wei Zhongxian came to power, castrated the party's dictatorship, killed innocents indiscriminately, and the country's strength declined, and the entire Ming Dynasty was a miasma. The upright Zhu Shunshui was not accustomed to this atmosphere and was unwilling to go along with it, so he repeatedly refused the invitation of the Ming Dynasty and focused on his academic research.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty also looked at Zhu Shunshui's learning and invited many times, but Zhu Shunshui still refused. Although Zhu Shunshui rejected the Southern Ming court, he was very patriotic, supported the anti-Qing restoration, and participated in many activities to resist the Qing and restore the Ming.
After the failure of the anti-Qing Resistance, he had to go into exile in Japan, but he did not expect to go back, and he exiled in Japan for more than twenty years, and never returned in this life. It is said that in so many years in Japan, he has never forgotten the great cause of national restoration, often looking west at his homeland on the seashore, and weeping bitterly.
However, Zhu Shunshui was on fire in Japan, perhaps, even he did not think of it. When Chu Shunshui came to Japan, during the shogunate era of Japanese politics, the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate closed the country to stagnant thought. After Zhu Shunshui came to Japan, he was recommended to Tokugawa Mitsukuni, who was the prime minister of the shogunate because of his good academic skills.
Tokugawa Mitsukuni visited Zhu Shunshui, and after some conversation, he praised Zhu Shunshui greatly, and this person was indeed talented, so he hired Zhu Shunshui to go east to Edo and wait for him.
In 1665, Chu Shunshui was hired by Tokugawa Mitsukuni as a guest teacher and was welcomed to Mito to give a lecture. With a larger platform, Zhu Shunshui relied on his profound academic skills to resound throughout Japan, causing a great sensation in Japan, and a large number of disciples came to listen to his lectures and witness his style.
Tokugawa Mitsukuni personally led the civil and military officials to greet him, and he was treated as a national teacher and accepted as a disciple. Tokugawa Mitsukuni respected him so much that every time he came to his door, he had to get out of the car and get off his horse as a sign of respect. It is said that when Zhu Shunshui fell ill, Tokugawa Mitsukuni personally greeted him from his sickbed. Japan reveres Zhu Shunshui as the "Taishan Beidou", and many elderly Japanese scholars also go to listen to his lectures on crutches.
At this time, Zhu Shunshui was like "Confucius of Japan", how famous and respected Confucius was in China, and how famous and respected Zhu Shunshui was in Japan.
So, why is Zhu Shunshui so popular in Japan? To answer this question, we must first understand Zhu Shunshui's thoughts.
From the existing literature, it can be seen that Zhu Shunshui's philosophical thought is mainly based on the criticism of Song Ming's theory of science, and is characterized by emphasizing practice.
This is mainly related to his living environment, he lived in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the world is getting worse, he deeply feels that only by taking action can he get what he wants. He hated all false theories that did not eat human fireworks, abstract emptiness, and bluff, and he scoffed at anything that could not bring reality.
He advocates the practical application of the world, and those "present truths" that are easy to use, visible and tangible, practical and clear are the "present truths" that he admires, that is, the truth of concrete things and the way of things. On the contrary, it is practical to be able to achieve practical functions and practical functions.
Unlike Wang Yangming's "conscience", Zhu Shunshui proposed "learning knowledge". "Learning knowledge" is "daily use of energy" and "kung fu of learning", which refers to the learning and practice of the day after tomorrow, emphasizes the subjective efforts of the acquired individual, and attaches importance to practical learning and personal experience.
This was the essence of Zhu Shunshui's thought, and this kind of thinking was just suitable for Japan at that time. When Zhu Shunshui came to Japan, Japan was closed to the country, and at that time, Japanese society was filled with an empty and sparse learning style, from the princes and nobles down to the scholars, who respected Buddhism and empty learning, and had no essentials for true Confucianism.
Zhu Shunshui prescribed the right medicine for the symptoms, and he advocated "practical theory" and "application of academic affairs". Advocate "concise and historical, deep and historical, far and near", emphasizing that historical works should be "clear", "real", and "close". In the end, the "Edo School" was formed in Japan with the purpose of "Shunshui Studies", which influenced the "Meiji Restoration" and influenced Japan for three hundred years.
Zhu Shunshui's ideas promoted the progress of Japanese society and became Japan's "most powerful teacher of reform and strength". Because his ideas of respecting the king and suppressing the domain, being loyal to the king and loving the country, and great unification were generally imported into the national consciousness of Japan, this idea gradually evolved into The Unification Movement of Japan, that is, the Meiji Restoration. It laid the foundation for Japan to become a modern rich and powerful country.
When he died of illness in 1682, Zhu Shunshui died at the age of 83. To this day, we should not forget Mr. Zhu Shunshui's contribution to Sino-Japanese friendship. It is said that when Zhu Shunshui's descendants went to Japan every year to visit the graves, the children of the Tokugawa family accompanied them throughout the whole process to show their respect for the Chinese Confucian master.
Friends, welcome to pay attention!