Professor Hiroshi Watanabe is professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and a specialist in the history of Japanese and Asian political thought.  Students of Japanese history, philosophy and politics will find this book of outstanding value. It is clear, well-constructed and informative.  The translation by David Noble reads well; indeed it rarely seems like a translation.

Professor Watanabe begins with a summary of Confucian thought and much of the book is devoted to an analysis of the various interpretations of Confucian precepts made by Japanese scholars in the Edo period including Hakuseki Arai [新井 白石], Sorai Ogyû [荻生 徂徠] and Shõeki Andõ [安藤 昌益].