The transformation of the meaning of "Ch'eng" in Japan: Discussions of the meaning of "Cheng" from Chu Hsi and Yamaga Soko respectively

Cheng as a concept of morality is highly valued by Chinese and Japanese Confucianist. In China, it's undoubted that the thought of Zhu Xi valued Cheng greatly. And in Japan, Cheng was also paid much attention by Kogigaku which was a school that promoted by Yamago Soko and Ito Jinsai. However they had different understanding of Cheng. In this paper, I compared the concept of Cheng in Zhu Xi's understanding with Yamagos' to explain the similarities and dissimilarities of them and to confirm the characteristic of Japanese ethics. We can see that Zhu Xi's understanding of Cheng and Kogigakus' have the different attitude toward Li in this paper. Briefly, Yamago's understanding is removed from Li, but Zhu Xis' tended to it. It means that Yamago's understanding is not base on the abstract Li but the internal and specific emotion. And it also reflects that emotion is the characteristic of Japanese ethics.