Ito Jinsai’s Gomo Jigi and the Philosophical Definition of Early Modern Japan

Presenting an unabridged translation of Ito Jinsai’s work, Gome Jigi (philosophical lexicography of the Analects and Menicus , 1705), this volume opens with a brief textual study of the Gomo Jigi and an intellectual biography of Jinsai. While highlighting the Neo-Confucian text, the author suggests that the Gomo Jigi espouses a systematic philosophical worldview for chonin , or townspeople, living in the ancient imperial capital, Kyoto, even during an age of ascendent samurai power.