In the early Kamakura Period (1185–1333), there had been extensive exchange between China and Japan: the shōgunate wanted to furnish cultural and intellectual life in Kamakura with Chinese culture so that it could rival the imperial court in Kyoto. However, relations between the two nations soured when the Mongols defeated the Song Dynasty (960–1279) in the late thirteenth century, replacing it with the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). The Japanese were ‘invited’ to become an independent satellite nation as part of the Chinese Middle Kingdom. They would trade freely with China, receive gifts from them, and their ruler would be recognized as a Chinese king, but they would have to pay an annual tribute, accept the Chinese dynastic calendar, and assume a subordinate status to China. When the Japanese refused, the Mongols tried to invade them – twice. Both times their fleets, far superior in military might to the Japanese armies, were obliterated by typhoons that the Japanese would in turn call ‘divine winds’ or kami kaze. Unsurprisingly, there were no relations between China and Japan thereafter.

That was, until the early Muromachi Period (1336–1573). Largely the same conditions were imposed upon Japan by the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), only this time the shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, leapt at the offer. Having spent an enormous amount of money on political manoeuvring, he was completely skint. Realizing that trade with China would bring cash and thereby stabilize his fragile military government, a little tribute and some grovelling looked insignificant.

As well as economic and cultural benefits, what trade with China brought to Japan was Neo-Confucianism. This was a response to the dominance of Taoism and Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) and represented a revival of classical Confucianism updated to align with newer social values. They were dissatisfied with Buddhist idealism and wanted a far more secular, realistic, and commonsensical approach to the social and philosophic problems of the day. However, Neo-Confucians in China, Korea and Japan didn’t see themselves as advancing a novel philosophy and instead thought that they were simply returning to the original teachings of Confucius, who himself also claimed to be propounding nothing new, only what the ancient sage kings taught in the Zhou (1046–256 BCE), Shang (c. 1600–1046 BCE), Xia (c. 2070–1600 BCE) and even earlier.

As well as economic and cultural benefits, what trade with China brought to Japan was Neo-Confucianism. 

Despite this, Neo-Confucianism was …

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