Inoue Tetsujirō
Born	(1855-02-01)February 1, 1855  JapanFukuoka
Died	November 7, 1944(1944-11-07) (aged 89)
Occupation	Philosopher

Inoue Tetsujirō (井上 哲次郎; February 1, 1855 – December 7, 1944) was a Japanesephilosopher, poet and educator. He is known for introducingWestern philosophy in Japan and for being a pioneer inEastern philosophy. He became the first Japanese professor of philosophy atTokyo Imperial University, and also served as the 2nd President ofDaito Bunka Academy.

He condemnedChristianity as fundamentally incompatible with thetheocratic,polytheisticJapanese polity and thus considered its followers "inherently disloyal" to Japan. He compiledA Dictionary of Philosophy (哲学字彙,Tetsugaku jii), which was first published in 1881, again in 1884, and finally in 1912.

Inoue was born on February 1, 1855, inDazaifu,Chikuzen Province (present-day Dazaifu,Fukuoka Prefecture), the third son ofphysician Funakoshi Shuntatsu.^[1]

After moving toHakata to study English in 1868, he studied Western studies at Kōunkan inNagasaki. An outstanding student, he was sent to Kaisei Academy inTokyo in 1875, after which he proceeded toTokyo Imperial University to study philosophy. In 1878, he was adopted by Inoue Tetsuei. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1880,^[1] he composed Chinese poems, one of which inspired the composition of the poemWhite Aster byOchiai Naobumi.

He helped introduceWestern philosophy in Japan and became the first Japanese professor of philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University. He was also a pioneer inEastern philosophy.^[2][3]

He was also a member of the International Education Movement. He wrote a commentary on Japan'sImperial Rescript on Education, wherein he encouraged the Japanese people to support the state andimperialism.^[4] Inoue's support of imperialism established him as opposed to the ideas of other proponents of International Education, such asShimonaka Yasaburo,Noguchi Entaro, andIzumi Tetsu.

Inoue was the most prolific and prominent promoter ofbushido ideology in Japan before 1945, authoring dozens of works and giving hundreds of lectures on the subject over almost half a century.^[5]

• Aizawa Seishisai, who was similarly distrustful of Christian converts

• Eddy Dufourmont.Is Confucianism philosophy ? The answers of Inoue Tetsujirō and Nakae Chōmin, in Nakajima Takahiro ed.,Whither Japanese Philosophy? II Reflections through other Eyes (UTCP Booklet 14), 2010, p. 71-89.

http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publications/pdf/UTCPBooklet14_04_Dufourmont.pdf

• National Diet Library on Inoue Tetsujirō

Les Sectes bouddhiques japonaises, E.Steinilber-Oberlin, K. Matsuo, Paris 1930, pp. 293/4

• 1855 births
• 1944 deaths
• Japanese critics of Christianity
• Anti-Christian sentiment in Japan
• 19th-century Japanese philosophers
• 20th-century Japanese philosophers
• University of Tokyo alumni
• Leipzig University alumni
• Heidelberg University alumni
• Academic staff of Daito Bunka University
• Academic staff of the University of Tokyo
• Academics from Fukuoka Prefecture
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