Akizuki Kan'ei秋月观暎

Style & Daoist names

Akizuki Kan'ei

Period

Modern

Dates

1922 — 2004

Role

Daoist ScholarsProfessor, Hirosaki University

Birthplace

Japan

Life

Akizuki Kan'ei was a Japanese scholar of Daoism, professor at Hirosaki University, known for his research on Jingming Daoism. His The Formation of Modern Chinese Daoism: Foundational Studies on Jingming Daoism (1978) systematically examines the evolution of the cult of Xu Xun from the Six Dynasties to the Song and Yuan, the Jingming Daoism of He Zhengong and Liu Yu, and its ethic of "loyalty and filial piety" in relation to Confucianism; it is the foundational work of Jingming Daoism studies and has also been published in Chinese translation. He also edited the essay collection Daoism and Religious Culture (1987) and took part in the activities of the Japanese Society of Taoist Studies. His research situates Jingming Daoism against the background of the rise of Song–Yuan Confucianism and local gentry society, and its methodology has influenced later discussions of Jingming Daoism among mainland Chinese and Western scholars.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote The Formation of Modern Chinese Daoism, founding the study of Jingming Daoism
• Studied the evolution of the cult of Xu Xun
• Edited the essay collection Daoism and Religious Culture

Works

• Chūgoku Kinsei Dōkyō no Keisei: Jōmyōdō no Kisoteki Kenkyū (The Formation of Early Modern Chinese Daoism: Fundamental Studies on Jingming Daoism)
• Dōkyō to Shūkyō Bunka (Daoism and Religious Culture, editor)