나카무라 게이우(中村 敬字)의 도덕과 자유

Abstract

As is indicated in "Invention of Tradition", Meiji Japan was not a country that just imported modern science and technologies from Europe. To the intellectuals of Meiji Japan, Confucianism was not just to be denied, but also to be re-interpreted and rebuilt.

This paper aims to analyze Masanao Nakamura"s thoughts on modernization by focusing on the disputes over "morality" before the enactment of the Imperial Rescript on Education. Nakamura was an educator and leader of the Meiji Enlightenment. Originally a Confucian scholar, he got selected by the Tokugawa Bakufu to study in the Great Britain. After he mastered the English language, Mr. Nakamura translated into Japanese Self Help by Samuel Smiles and On Liberty by J.S.Mill, both of which won tremendous popularity in the Meiji period.

Not as well known as his translation works, Nakamura also drafted several versions of the Imperial Rescript on Education. What was the spirit of his versions? How to comprehend the relationship between his insistence on Confucian morality and assertion on liberty? Such issues will be addressed in the paper.