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Book Review Seminar on Professor Tao’s When
Christianity Met the Religions of China and Japan heldat Academia Sinica*
Chaired by Senior Professor Li Ming-hui 李明輝, a book review seminaron Professor Tao Demin’s 陶德民 latest work, When Christianity Met theReligions of China and Japan: From Ritual Bowing to Questions of Dignityand Faith 西教東漸と中日事情－拝礼・尊厳・信念をめぐる文化交渉 (Researchseries No. 57 of the Institute of Oriental and Occidental Studies, Kansai
University, March 2019), was held at the Academia Sinica’s Institute ofChinese Literature and Philosophy in Taipei on July 19, 2019.
Professor Tao received his PhD in Literature from Osaka University andPhD in Cultural Interaction Studies fromKansai University, and worked as a
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Reischauer
Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard
University and a Shibusawa Eiichi ResearchFellow. He taught at Bridgewater State
University, Massachusetts in the early
1990s, and since 1996 has served in theFaculty of Letters of Kansai University inOsaka, Japan. He is the author of A Study ofKaitokudō Neo-Confucianism 懐徳堂朱子学の研究, The Meiji Sinologists and China 明治の漢学者と中国, and The Origins ofModern Japanese Sinology 日本における近代中国学の始まり, and is a coeditor of theDictionary of Modern Japanese Persons Involved with China 近代日中関係史
人名辞典, Selected Works of Samuel Wells Williams 卫三畏文集, and The
Tokugawa World.
The history of religious conflicts between Christianity, Confucianism,Buddhism, Islam and Shintoism in early modern and modern East Asia has
been a central area of interest in Prof. Tao’s work. Using a series of historical
pictures from the book as a visual introduction, Tao presented a brief background lecture at the beginning of the seminar. He confessed that his motiva* Edited and translated by Zhang Zikang 張子康 and revised by Tao Demin based on thereport of the seminar,「近世近代儒教和基督教交涉的歷史經驗的反思——《西教東漸と中日事情》的成書背景之介紹」紀要 written by Zhan Yi-ying 詹宜穎, with permission bythe Committee for Promotion of Ming-Qing Studies, Academia Sinica. http://mingching.sinica.edu.tw/Academic_Detail/786

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Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 11 2020tion for writing the book could be traced back to “9/11”; arriving at theReischauer Institute on precisely September 11, 2001 as a Visiting Fellow, helearned of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York through televised reports, and was shocked by the vivid scene of smoke billowing fromthe windows. Later, when President George W. Bush declared war on
terrorism and used the word “crusade” to justify the invasion of Iraq, hebelieved that the clash of civilizations in the post-Cold War world due to thedifferent religious faiths, as predicted by Samuel P. Huntington (1927-2008)
in the early 1990s, had now become a harsh reality. Coming back after
sabbatical, Tao introduced the progressive opinions of Harvard professors
Iriye Akira and Tu Weiming to Director Wakata Kyōji of the Institute ofLegal Studies, Kansai University. The Director was delighted to invite thetwo professors to the 25th and 26th “Seminars in Modern Law” held in Julyand November 2002, where they gave lectures on the “InternationalCommunity” and “Dialogue Among Civilizations” respectively. Professor Taohimself began to examine the major historical experiences of religious
conflicts between the West and East Asia, and felt increasingly that an alarm
needed sounding, namely that in the face of the crises of global warming, thespread of deadly pathogens and even nuclear wars, peoples of the world
should try to break away from the traditional model of “rivalry and interdependence” (相生相克) in international relations and explore possible paths tobuilding a global village of “empathy and coexistence” (共感共存).
The term 西教東漸 (seikyō tōzen / xijiao dongjian) in the book title wascoined in 1949 by Saeki Yoshirō 佐伯好郎（1871-1965), a prominent scholar
specializing in the history of Christianity in China; the phrase literaallymeans “the eastward dissemination of Western religions”. Professor Taoreactivated this little-known term to make a sharp contrast with thefrequently-used term 西学東漸 (seigaku tōzen / xixue dongjian (“the eastwarddissemination of Western learning”) so as to emphasize that not “all thingsWestern” should be understood as exclusively “Western property”; Westernreligions, for example, have constituted serious creative challenges to Easternpeoples. “Western religion” in this book, moreover, refers not only toChristianity, but also to Buddhism, which came much earlier from India(Tenjiku / Tianzhu) and constituted the first serious challenge to the traditionalreligions of China and Japan, resulting in a more or less happy marriage after
a thousand years of religious and cultural interaction. But Christianity, in bothits Catholic and Protestant forms, is still very much in the process of contestation and partial adoption by native religious cultures in East Asia; thisgradual nativization of Christian monotheism is likely to take much longer
than that of Buddhism, which itself took almost a thousand years from theHan to the Song dynasties.

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In addition, Professor Tao’s book title Seikyō tōzen 西教東漸と中日事情
was also designated intentionally to be linked with the book Seigaku tōzen tochugoku jijo 西学東漸と中国事情 written by Masuda Wataru 増田渉, hispredecessor in the same Department of Chinese Studies at Kansai University,
who was fortunate to be given weekly private lectures on the history of theChinese novels by Lu Xun 魯迅 at his home in Shanghai for a period of ninemonths in 1931.
The book contains three parts. The first treats the “Rites Controversy”
between the Kangxi emperor and Pope Clement XI, and the generally positive experiences of exposure to and appreciation of different religions andcultures as exemplified by the amicable relations between Wang Tao and his
two missionary bosses, Walter H. Medhurst in Shanghai and James Legge inHong Kong. Competing views of a legitimate “National Religion” for thenew Republic of China in the early 1910s are also discussed. The second partexamines the tensions between Christianity and “New Religion” in the Meiji
period. The term “New Religion” (translated into Japanese as chukun aikokukyō 忠君愛国教) was coined by Tokyo Imperial University professor Basil H.
Chamberlain (1850-1935) in his Things Japanese for criticizing Japan’s godmaking movement from 1890 to 1935, which he had witnessed and followed
right up to his death.
One important discovery made by Professor Tao at the Central Libraryof Metropolitan Tokyo was the prominent German-trained ideologue Inoue
Tetsujirō’s 井上哲次郎 (1855-1944) critical comments, written in the Keiubunshu 敬宇文集, anthology of Nakamura Masanao 中村正直, a leading
Confucian and Methodist educator and an admirer of English liberalism andconstitutional monarchy. While Nakamura once suggested that Emperor Meiji
convert to Christianity to show an example of determination in adopting
Western civilization, Inoue, as the officially appointed annotator of Emperor
Meiji’s “Imperial Rescript on Education” of 1890, called for restricting the“extraterritoriality in the spiritual world” enjoyed by Christians in Japan, andlaunched an attack on such influential Christian leaders as Uchimura Kanzō
内村鑑三. This part also includes an article on Kurita Hiroshi 栗田寛, a deadly
foe of Christianity and the leader of the Mito school who had written
provocative Shinto-related chapters which brought the 200-year project ofcompiling A Grand History of Japan 大日本史 (Dai-Nihon shi) to completionin 1906. There is also an impressive piece discussing the causes and consequences of Shintoist, Buddhist, and Christian Leaders’ Meetings forReconciliation (三教会同), which meant that the legitimacy of Christianity wasofficially recognized by such open-minded government leaders as Premier
Saionji Kinmochi, Home Minister Hara Takashi and Vice-Minister Tokonami
Takejirō 床次竹二郎. The significance of the founding of Association

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Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 11 2020

Accordia 帰一協会 by Shibusawa Eiichi 渋沢栄一 (1840-1931) and other menof insight is also discussed in this context. Both events happened in early
1912, which symbolized the beginning of the rise of progressivism anddemocracy in the Taishō period (1912-1926).
The third part of the book explores the transformation of views of civilizations and theories of politics under Western influence, as well as theenduring spirit of adhering to traditional Japanese values and cultural heritage.
Professor Tao concluded his lecture with three lessons drawn from thehistory of cultural interaction between Christianity, Confucianism andShintoism. First, the ignorance of global geography and history, the lack oflinguistic knowledge and communications technology, and divergent culturalbackgrounds have significantly hindered mutual understanding between
Eastern and Western peoples. But as the undisputable fact that the “RitesControversy” was finally solved after 220 years in 1939 by Pope Pius XII’s
approval of Confucian ritual among Chinese Catholics shows, although it
takes time to overcome many difficulties, mutual understanding at different
levels is possible. Second, it is understandable that a new religion wasinvented and the god-making movement was promoted for strengthening
national identity and solidarity in Japan in order to withstand the unprecedented power of Western impact in the Meiji period, but if things go to theother extreme, namely of claiming the supremacy of the Japanese race andimperial system, then this will inevitably lead to a new round of fierce
confrontation and even military clashes, as indicated by the harsh reality of
the Second World War.
Thirdly, from the Association Accordia’s leader Shibusawa Eiichi’s efforts
for enhancing mutual understanding between Confucianism and Christianity,
as well as the China-based English missionary publisher Timothy Richard’s李提摩太 (1845-1917) promotion of a “Common Religion for Peoples of theGlobe” 地球通教 based on the essence of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism,and Christianity, we can see an emerging quest for spiritual universality interms of religious beliefs and ethical values already a hundred years ago, one
which could provide us with stimulating hints for building a global village of“empathy and coexistence” (共感共存) in our own time.
After the lecture, Professor Tien Shih-min (田世民) of Taiwan University,
who served as the commentator at the seminar, said that the book, with its
hundred-plus pictures and solid historical materials organically connected
over eleven chapters, offered a “broad panorama” which would help readers
to expand their historical and conceptual understanding of cultural interaction
between the religions of East and West. Professor Tien summarized thecontents of each chapter with particular attention to Chapter 4, which

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described Japanese responses to Western impact (including the invention ofthe National system of Shinto shrines, the promotion of Emperor worship tounify the citizenry, and Kurita Hiroshi’s argument that “the world is theworld of the emperor”, including his reconstruction, after the victory of the1894-95 Sino-Japanese War, of an East Asian history with the JapaneseEmperor as the top ruler in a fictitious hierarchical tributary system). Inaddition, Chapter 8 presented case studies of Shigeno Yasutsugu 重野安繹,and Nakamura Masanao, follow students at the Shogunate’s ConfucianCollege and later professors at Tokyo Imperial University who played
pioneering roles in the reception of Western learning while still maintaining astrong faith in Chinese culture. Shigeno and Nakamura believed the value ofConfucianism and Chinese experience should not be underestimated, and wasworthy of selective adoption even in a climate of Western domination. Their
examples revealed that positive views about cultural diversity still existed
among the leading intellectuals of the day, and made a sharp contrast with the
popular argument of “Break-off with Asian Neighbors” 脱亜論 (Datsu-A ron)advocated by the radical thinker Fukusawa Yukichi.
Professor Lin Yuehui 林月惠, a leading scholar of Neo-Confucianism witha focus on comparative research on Sino-Korean Confucianisms, raised threequestions. The first concerned the meaning of the expression “Conflicts
between Education and Religion” 教育宗教衝突 in the title of Chapter 5; thesecond was about the meaning of “extraterritoriality in the spiritual world;”
and the third concerned the localization of Christianity in prewar Japan.
Professor Tao replied in three parts. First, “Conflicts between Education andReligion” is a condensed expression of the book title of Inoue Tetsujirō’s
Kyōiku to Shūkyō no shōtotsu 教育と宗教の衝突, published in April 1893,
which sparked a heated debate in newspapers and journals which, if dated
from an earlier public comment on the relationship between education andreligion by Inoue in November 1892, continued in earnest for almost a fullyear. These exchanges were collected in a three-volume series in October
1893, with Dr. Inoue and Christians 井上博士と基督教徒 as its main title andKyōiku to Shūkyō no shōtotsu as its subtitle. From the context, therefore, it isclear that the word “education” here is an abbreviation of the “Imperial
Rescript on Education” promulgated in October 1890, and that the “religion”
in question is “Christianity.”
The phrase “extraterritoriality in the spiritual world”, meanwhile, couldbe traced back to early modern times. Because of the influence of Francisco
Xavier, the Catholic Church gained hundreds of thousands of converts insouthern Japan at the turn of the 16th century, which threatened Toyotomi
Hideyoshi and the subsequent Tokugawa rulers, and finally led to theShimabara Revolt of 1837-1838. After the religious force was put down, the68

Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 11 2020

Tokugawa Shogunate proclaimed a strict isolation policy, ordering all families
to register with a local Buddhist temple and prohibiting overseas travel. Inaddition, the “Fumi-e” method was used to hunt for “hidden Catholics” or“kakure kirishitan” 隠れキリシタン. That is, if a suspect hesitated to step on
the wooden or copper block on which a likeness of Jesus or St. Mary wasprinted, he or she would be identified as a Catholic convert. Likewise,
Protestantism enjoyed a speedy expansion in the early Meiji period after theopening of Japan for foreign trade in 1859 and the Iwakura Embassy’s
promise of lifting the ban on Christianity in exchange for Western powers’
agreement on the revision of the unequal treaties in 1873. In view of therapidly increased numbers of Protestant converts, the government decided tomake full use of Emperor Meiji’s authority in the sacred form of the“Imperial Rescript on Education” to cope with the problem. The expression“extraterritoriality in the spiritual world” came from Inoue’s autobiography,written in his last years during World War II; the expression sums up his lifelong fight with Christian influence. Inoue had praised some Japanese priests
for their independent management of Christian churches, but in general heconsidered Christianity as a monotheism which constituted a serious spiritualchallenge to the Japanese nation. His attack on Christianity had significantly
subdued Japanese Christian leaders, who became increasingly afraid of being
seen as “unpatriotic and disloyal to the Emperor.” It is no exaggeration to saythat the major reason that Christians only constitute 1.1% of the Japanese
population today was due to Inoue’s desperate and enduring efforts over halfa century as an educator and ideologue. However, at the turn of the 20thcentury, as Japan sought to become a fully modernized nation, many intellectuals argued that if the country hoped to advance further, it had to adopt
the spiritual civilization of the West, with Christianity as its backbone. As aresult, the aforementioned Shintoist, Buddhist, and Christian Leaders’Meetings for Reconciliation were held, and and the Association Accordia wasfounded in 1912. The major members of the Association Accordia continued
to exert influence in religious and educational circles, and finally worked out
an “Official Notice” with the Ministry of Education in 1935 for directing all
schools to initiate a new kind of spiritual education program which could
comprise religious elements including those of Christianity. Because international tensions were intensifying at the time, however, this liberal program
was unable to be put into practice. Nevertheless, it is apparent that many
prominent thinkers and educators in modern Japan were Protestants whoplayed a key role in guiding the Japanese people on their march toward
liberal democratic institutions.
Philosophy Professor Huang Kuan-min 黃冠閔, the Vice-Director of theInstitute, asked a series of questions, ranging from the deep reason for theBook Review69

Tokugawa officials’ request that foreign diplomats perform ritual bowing tothe Confucian statue in the Shogunal College, to the position and influence ofConfucius and Confucianism in the Japanese national polity, value systems,and state ritual, and other stimulating questions worthy of further exploration.