Keij? Imperial University was built by Japanese government
during the colonial period. Takahashi T?ru(1878-1967) and
Fujitsuka Chikashi(1879-1948) were professors at Keij? Imperial
University. Takahashi was a professor of Korean Language and
Korean Literature and Fujitsuka was a professor of Chinese
Philosophy. Despite of their position, they have in common that
they were studying Chosen(Korea) Confucianism and their works
have influenced in Korean Confucianism study.
In this paper, I elucidate how they studied Korean Confucianism
and its contents in Keij? Imperial University. Though there was no
major of Korean Confucianism, the two professors had studied
Korean Confucianism because of some political necessity and
private interest in Korean Confucianism. Environmental advantage
and good supports from Keij? Imperial University also made it
possible for them to concentrate on their studies.
I discussed the similarities and differences of the two Japanese
professors and how their studies affected the viewpoint of Korean
Confucianism study in modern days. They shared same idea as
ordinary Japanese scholars that neo-Confucian in Joseon period
was meaninglessness. After they started to study Korean
Confucianism, however, their perspectives started to contradict
each other. Takahashi claimed that there was no such thing as
Korean Confucianism, but on other hand, Fujitsuka considered that
a Korean scholar named Kim Jeong-hui that played a major part
in the interaction between the Confucianism of China and Japan in
19th century.