二十世紀日本荀子研究之回顧

Abstract

論述日本前世紀《荀子》一書的研究，可以說是一張敘述日本中國思想史研究興起與「成熟」（或是「衰退」）的縮圖。本文介紹從一九三○年代到最近的日本荀子思想、哲學研究的主要論文以及著作，並且整理了日本學者所採取的基本觀點、分析方法以及研究結果的主要脈絡，以期本文將能夠為中文的讀者在搜尋日本荀子研究時發揮索引的功能。

This review introduces main perspectives on the text and thought of Xunzi in important Japanese studies by analyzing problematique and context in which these researches have been produced. In the early 20th century, modern Japanese studies on the Book of Xunzi was set out by incorporating the textual and philosophical study of the western scholarship, and received a great stimulation by Hu Shi, and Yang Yunru’s textual studies which doubted the authenticity or authorship of the large part of the text. A series of textual studies conducted by Eiichi Kimura, Osamu Kanaya and Mutsumi Toyoshima repudiated such a notion. However, their research ironically confirmed that the large part of the extant text can only represent the thought of Xunzi school rather than his own. Meanwhile, Toshiro Shigesawa and Chôhachi Itano presented their comprehensive pictures on Xunzi’s philosophical system. After the Second World War, the various subject in the philosophy of Xunzi attracted keen attentions from Japanese scholarship (e.g., logical thought, human nature, discourse on Heaven etc.). Accordingly, a large number of detailed studies on specific topics have been produced during 1960s and 70s. After 1980s, the main focus of Japanese scholars has gradually changed from the topic on Xunzi’s philosophy itself into that on the origin and context which facilitated it. As is shown in the research by Shinichirô Watanabe and Hirotsugu Sugamoto, a close influential relationship between Legalism, so-called the Jixia Academy and the formation Xunzi’s socio-political theory has been suggested.