Yang Xiong and the Fayan and Other Scholarly Writings

How should a scholar be judged when his writing speaks against hypocrisy but his public conduct appears to flatter power? Kanō Naoki approaches the disputed reputation of Yang Xiong through biographies, competing chronologies and passages from the Fayan.

The opening essay weighs accusations and defenses without removing their contradictions. It asks how philosophical beliefs and a writer’s literary habits might shape his response to danger.

A brief memorial for Professor Hara turns from intellectual argument to personal grief, remembering a colleague’s teaching, unfinished work and children left behind. The final piece follows the development of European Sinology, from missionaries and the Chinese Rites Controversy to university chairs, dictionaries, translations and diplomatic missions.