Itō Jinsai

His school has been considered part of a larger movement, Kogaku ("ancient learning'), including earlier scholars such as Yamaga Sokō 山鹿素行 (1622–1685), and later thinkers such as Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠 (1666–1728).

Jinsai is widely known for his outspoken affirmation of the validity of human emotions, and his articulation of a metaphysics highlighting the pervasiveness and infinite creative potential of a "unitary generative force" (Jpn: ichigenki).

Indicative of his renown in the larger world of East Asian philosophy, Jinsai's writings have frequently been compared to those of the Qing dynasty scholar Dai Zhen 戴震 (1724–1777), whose key work, Mengzi ziyi shuzheng (The Meanings of Philosophical Terms in the Mencius) is very similar in theme and method to Jinsai's opus, the Gomō jigi (The Meanings of Philosophical Terms in the Analects and Mencius).

He began studying Chinese from an early age and devoted himself to Zhu Xi's expression of Song dynasty Neo-Confucianism.

Given the distinctively Kyoto lineage of Jinsai's learning, there are good reasons for interpreting it as an expression of the philosophical world of the ancient imperial capital.

During this time he began to have his first doubts over Zhu Xi's philosophy, even changing his pen name which showed his commitment to humaneness (jin).

Instead, he felt one could learn the way of the sages through an understanding of the meanings of words in the Analects and the Mencius, two of the Four Books that Zhu Xi's philosophy had elevated to nearly canonical status within the broad field of East Asian Confucianism.

Instead of the Great Learning, Jinsai's approach was to focus on an explanation of the meanings of philosophical terms as discussed in the Analects and the Mencius.

[4] In significant respects, Jinsai can be seen as advancing the Neo-Confucian project that Zhu Xi, his chief philosophical adversary, had otherwise so effectively and persuasively championed.

Much of the philosophical structure of Jinsai's Gomō jigi as well as its methodology of conceptual clarification and analysis clearly derive from Beixi's work.

Jinsai's project of defining philosophical terms rightly is very much a later day expression of Confucius' view that in order to govern effectively, one must ensure that words are understood and used correctly.

Jinsai had several fundamental philosophical disagreements with Zhu Xi, the premier interpreter of Confucian thought since the late-Song dynasty.