Mozi

How should people live when luxury, conflict, and aggression threaten the world? Kōda Rohan turns to Mozi’s austere answer: inclusive love, restrained expenditure, sustained labor, and effective defense against invasion.

This 1929 essay traces the Mohist school’s early influence, the loss of its living tradition, and the recovery of its difficult ancient writings. Rohan then compares its teachings with Confucianism, combining admiration for its moral purpose with sharp criticism of its severity.

He considers government, Heaven, fate, mourning, music, logic, and military engineering. The complete chapter catalogs and concluding reflections on women’s military duties remain part of his distinctive historical argument.