PHILOSOPHERS from Japan

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Japanese Philosophers of all time. This list of famous Japanese Philosophers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835 - 1901)

With an HPI of 64.75, Fukuzawa Yukichi is the most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages on wikipedia.

Fukuzawa Yukichi (福澤 諭吉, January 10, 1835 – February 3, 1901) was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper Jiji-Shinpō, and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ideas about the organization of government and the structure of social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji period. He appears on the 10,000-Japanese yen banknote from 1984 to 2024.

2. Masanobu Fukuoka (1913 - 2008)

With an HPI of 62.13, Masanobu Fukuoka is the 2nd most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Masanobu Fukuoka (Japanese: 福岡 正信, Hepburn: Fukuoka Masanobu, 2 February 1913 – 16 August 2008) was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, herbicide and pesticide-free cultivation methods from which he created a particular method of agriculture, commonly referred to as "natural farming" or "do-nothing farming". Fukuoka was the author of several books, scientific papers and other publications, and was featured in television documentaries and interviews from the 1970s onwards. His influences went beyond farming to inspire individuals within the natural food and lifestyle movements. He was an outspoken advocate of the value of observing nature's principles.

3. Daisaku Ikeda (1928 - 2023)

With an HPI of 58.53, Daisaku Ikeda is the 3rd most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Daisaku Ikeda (池田 大作, Ikeda Daisaku, 2 January 1928 – 15 November 2023) was a Japanese Buddhist leader, author, educator and businessman. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan's new religious movements.: 5  At this time, he became a controversial leader, in Japan and abroad. Ikeda was the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International, which claims to have approximately 11 million practitioners in 192 countries and territories, more than 1.5 million of whom reside outside of Japan as of 2012. Although these numbers are impossible to verify, recent research and surveys suggest that two percent of the Japanese population are active members of Soka Gakkai (2.5 million people). Ikeda was the founder of a variety of educational and cultural institutions including Soka University, Soka University of America, Min-On Concert Association and Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. In Japan, he was also known for his international outreach to China. Ikeda has been described as a "controversial figure" over several decades from the 1970s in Japan and other countries due to the ambivalent reputation of the Soka Gakkai — whose name has been linked to various political and financial scandals, cult of personality accusations, and his relation to the political party Kōmeitō, which he founded. He has been the subject of numerous articles, questions and accusations in Japanese and international media.: 43 : 147 : 149 At his death, scholars and journalists described Ikeda as among the most polarizing and important figures in modern Japanese religion and politics.

4. Kitaro Nishida (1870 - 1945)

With an HPI of 57.62, Kitaro Nishida is the 4th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Kitarō Nishida (西田 幾多郎, Nishida Kitarō, May 19, 1870 – June 7, 1945) was a Japanese moral philosopher, philosopher of mathematics and science, and religious scholar. He was the founder of what has been called the Kyoto School of philosophy. He graduated from the University of Tokyo during the Meiji period in 1894 with a degree in philosophy. He was named professor of the Fourth Higher School in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1899 and later became professor of philosophy at Kyoto University. Nishida retired in 1927. In 1940, he was awarded the Order of Culture (文化勲章, bunka kunshō). He participated in establishing the Chiba Institute of Technology (千葉工業大学) from 1940. Nishida Kitarō died at the age of 75 of a renal infection. His cremated remains were divided in three and buried at different locations. Part of his remains were buried in the Nishida family grave in his birthplace Unoke, Ishikawa. A second grave can be found at Tōkei-ji Temple in Kamakura, where his friend D. T. Suzuki organized Nishida's funeral and was later also buried in the adjacent plot. Nishida's third grave is at Reiun'in (霊雲院, Reiun'in), a temple in the Myōshin-ji compound in Kyoto.

5. Hakuin Ekaku (1686 - 1769)

With an HPI of 56.37, Hakuin Ekaku is the 5th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴, January 19, 1686 – January 18, 1769) was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism, who regarded bodhicitta, working for the benefit of others, as the ultimate concern of Zen-training. While never having received formal dharma transmission, he is regarded as the reviver of the Japanese Rinzai school from a period of stagnation, focusing on rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice.

6. Hayashi Razan (1583 - 1657)

With an HPI of 55.34, Hayashi Razan is the 6th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Hayashi Razan (林 羅山, 1583 – March 7, 1657), also known as Hayashi Dōshun, was a Japanese historian, philosopher, political consultant, and writer, serving as a tutor and an advisor to the first four shōguns of the Tokugawa bakufu. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japan. Razan was the founder of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars. Razan was an influential scholar, teacher and administrator. Together with his sons and grandsons, he is credited with establishing the official neo-Confucian doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate. Razan's emphasis on the values inherent in a static conservative perspective provided the intellectual underpinnings for the Edo bakufu. Razan also reinterpreted Shinto, and thus created a foundation for the eventual development of Confucianised Shinto in the 20th century. The intellectual foundation of Razan's life's work was based on early studies with Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619), the first Japanese scholar who is known for a close study of Confucius and the Confucian commentators. This kuge noble had become a Buddhist priest; but Fujiwara's dissatisfaction with the philosophy and doctrines of Buddhism led him to a study of Confucianism. In due course, Fujiwara drew other similarly motivated scholars to join him in studies which were greatly influenced by the work of Chinese Neo-Confucianist Zhu Xi, a philosopher of the Song dynasty. Zhu Xi and Fujiwara emphasized the role of the individual as a functionary of a society which naturally settles into a certain hierarchical form. He separated people into four distinct classes: samurai (ruling class), farmers, artisans and merchants.

7. Motoori Norinaga (1730 - 1801)

With an HPI of 55.21, Motoori Norinaga is the 7th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Motoori Norinaga (本居 宣長, 21 June 1730 – 5 November 1801) was a Japanese scholar of Kokugaku active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.

8. Arai Hakuseki (1657 - 1725)

With an HPI of 53.96, Arai Hakuseki is the 8th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Arai Hakuseki (新井 白石, March 24, 1657 – June 29, 1725) was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo period, who advised the shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi (君美). Hakuseki (白石) was his pen name. His father was a Kururi han samurai Arai Masazumi (新井 正済).

9. Ogyū Sorai (1666 - 1728)

With an HPI of 51.03, Ogyū Sorai is the 9th most famous Japanese Philosopher.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ogyū Sorai (荻生 徂徠, March 21, 1666 – February 28, 1728), pen name Butsu Sorai, was a Japanese historian, philologist, philosopher, and translator. He has been described as the most influential such scholar during the Edo period Japan. His primary area of study was in applying the teachings of Confucianism to government and social order. He responded to contemporary economic and political failings of the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the culture of mercantilism and the dominance of old institutions that had become weak with extravagance. Sorai rejected the moralism of Neo-Confucianism and instead looked to the ancient works. He argued that allowing emotions to be expressed was important and nurtured Chinese literature in Japan for this reason. Sorai attracted a large following with his teachings and created the Sorai school, which would become an influential force in further Confucian scholarship in Japan.