Itō Jinsai
Itō Jinsai (伊藤 仁斎, August 30, 1627, Kyoto, Japan – April 5, 1705, Kyoto), who also went by the pen name Keisai, was a Japanese Confucian philosopher. He is considered to be one of the most influential Confucian scholars of seventeenth century Japan, and the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) generally, his teachings flourishing especially in Kyoto and the Kansai area through the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Jinsai's school, known as the Kogigaku, criticized the teachings of Song dynasty Chinese philosopher Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) and instead advocated a philosophical vision based on an understanding of the meanings of key terms in the Analects and the Mencius. His school has been considered part of a larger movement, Kogaku ("ancient learning'), including earlier scholars such as Yamaga Sokō 山鹿素行 (1622–1685), and later thinkers such as Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠 (1666–1728). However, Jinsai never mentions Sokō or his ideas, and Jinsai's own statements of philosophical meaning were strongly and systematically criticized by Sorai.