Japanese Confucianism and Japanese Christianity: Parallels and interactions

Early Tokugawa thought is often characterized as moving away from the spiritualism of the Warring States period to a more ‘rational’ inclination. Changes that occurred in Japanese Buddhist thought at this time, and the advent and popularity of anti-Christian discourse itself have both been described in terms of this paradigm.1 But the perceived flagship of a move towards ‘rationality’ in the early Tokugawa period has always been the rise in the popularity and influence of Confucian thought.2