Paper short abstract:

In Taisei-kyō, Shōtoku-taishi is presented as a wise statesman, who combined the three creeds of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Within the intellectual debate of the Edo Period, this implied an opposition to Confucian scholars, who strongly criticized him for his role in the spread of Buddhism.

Paper long abstract:

The dominant assumption in research on the intellectual history of early modern Japan used to be that "in the Middle Ages Buddhism flourished, but in the Early Modern Period the centre of the intellectual world shifted to Confucianism." Thanks to advances in recent scholarship we are discovering that the facts are not that simple, and that also in early modern times religious thought was of considerable importance. Who, then, were the important personalities in the world of religious thought who opposed Confucian scholars like Hayashi Razan 林羅山 (1583-1657) or Ogyū Sorai荻生徂徠 (1666-1728)? In this paper, I want to explore the possibility that their opponent was Crown Prince Shōtoku, or rather, Taisei-kyō, which after its "discovery" at the beginning of the early modern age was promoted as the secret transmission of Shōtoku himself.

As is well known, Shōtoku was an important figure also in the religious thought of the Middle Ages, but in the early modern period he became the target of the virulent criticism that Confucian scholars directed against Buddhism. That at the same time Shōtoku became the object of the people's beliefs is an aspect that has drawn considerably less attention.

The main argument of my paper is that within the society of early modern Japan there existed tenacious supporters of Shōtoku, and of Buddhism as well. In different words, while the medieval Shōtoku was a religious personality, in Taisei-kyō his character has changed and he is revered as an outstanding sovereign. This is an example that shows the importance and the nature of the role Buddhism fulfilled in the intellectual world of early modern Japan. It is my aim, through studying the image of Shōtoku-taishi in Taisei-kyō and related works, is to clarify the characteristic qualities in which early modern thought differs from medieval thought.