Inoue Enryo: A Philosophical Portrait

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Rainer Schulzer provides the first comprehensive study, in English, of the modern Japanese philosopher Inoue Enryo (1858-1919). Enryo was a key figure in several important intellectual trends in Meiji Japan, including the establishment of academic philosophy, the public campaign against superstition, the permeation of imperial ideology, and the emergence of modern Japanese Buddhism. As one of the most widely read intellectuals of his time and one of the first Japanese authors ever translated into Chinese, an understanding of Enryo’s work and influence is indispensable for understanding modern East Asian intellectual history. His role in spreading the terminology of modern East Asian humanities reveals how later thinkers such as Nishida Kitaro and Suzuki T. Daisetsu emerged; while his key principles, Love of Truth and Protection of Country, illustrate the tensions inherent in Enryo’s enlightenment views and his dedication to the rise of the Japanese empire. The book also presents a systematic reconstruction of what was the first attempt to give Buddhism a sound philosophical foundation for the modern world.