Yokoi Shonan’s Pragmatic Philosophy

As a political economist, Shonan (1809-1869) not only in his lifetime hasbecome the country’s known figure, even after his death, his ideas are still affectingmany reformers. In this paper, through the main line of Shonan’s life activities,through his hanko period,‘study in edo’ period, kumamoto period, travel period, lateryears of the reflection period and the Meiji Restoration ideological activitiesinvestigation, sketched out the development process of his pragmatic philosophy, byanalyzing its related works and theories, grasp the characteristics of his ideas.This article is based on relevant historical sources of Shonan, mainly divided intosix parts to discuss the formation and characteristics of Yokoi Shonan’s pragmaticphilosophy.The first part is the introduction. Firstly, the author discusses the current statusand existing problems of Japanese intellectual history briefly, pointing out thecomplexity and difficulty of carrying out research on intellectual history. Secondly,the author brings in the concept of ‘Pragmatic Philosophy’, although it may vary inunderstanding its inner meaning, but that does not affect our understanding. Referringto Minamoto Ryouen, a specialist in the study of Japanese history of pragmatic history,indicates empirical and practical features of practical learning. Again, through theintroduction of the current research situation of this topic, the author thought that,compared with the prosperous atmosphere in Japan, our research on this issue is stillin its infancy, not systematic enough.So the research related to this topic is highlynecessary. Finally, the author pointed out that due to the limited standard himself, soeither in terms of the interpretation of historical sources,or in the grasp of the data stillneeds improving, besides, there are many shortcomings of the understanding ofShonan’s thoughts,which need to be solved gradually in the future learning process. The second part is the preliminary formation of Shonan’s thoughts.In this partthrough description of his thought and words in hannko period,‘study in edo’ periodand kumamoto period, readers can have a clear understanding of the formationprocess of his pragmatic philosophy.It is in this period that Shonan’s pragmaticphilosophy has been founded.The third part interprets the practice and setbacks of his pragmatic philosophy,focusing on discussion that due to internal struggles of the clan, he received theinvitation of Echizen Han after he can’t achieve his dream, beginning with the reformof hanko Meidoukan,he proposed ‘Kokuze Sanron’, which is mainly about enrichingthe country, strengthening the army and forming the principles, at the same time, heproposed political reform plan ‘Kokuze Shichijo’ to the chief administrative officer，whose name is Mtsudaira Shungaku, based on the reformation of the shogunategovernment in Bunkyu era. Although this process was put to an end because of "ShidoForgotten Incident",later he chose to go back to kumamoto due to the drawback of the‘go to Kyoto’Plan,but also to some extent provides objective criteria for the mature ofhis practical thoughts in the future.The fourth part is Shonan’s mature thought and his return to Meiji government,mainly describes after he settled in ‘Nuyamazu’. In this part, mainly describes his lifehere, by working with Inoue Kowashi, Motoda Nagazane and his examination, heformed his own unique philosophy ‘Shonan’s philosophy’,concentrating on Shonanwho works after the establishment of government of Meiji to grasp his philosop hy indetail.The fifth part is the characteristics of Shonan’s pragmatic philosophy.In this partthrough Shonan’s words and books instead of his activities,the author indicatesseveral certain characteristics to Shonan’s thoughts, hoping that the reader could get adeep understanding of ‘Three Generations(Yao and Shun)’s country management andsafeguard for the ordinary people, advocate the world should encourage publicdiscussion of political thought.Finally, as a conclusion, through the summarizing of his life experience, not onlyhe imposed a significant effect on Japanese society, but upon his death. Those who grew up influenced by Shonan’s ideological disciples still play an important role inthe process of the modernization of Japan. His pragmatic philosophy is stillmeaningful today.