In Japan, even in today's technologically highly advanced society, Confucianism is still alive and is still evolving.

Last year, a major event occurred as Japan issued a new set of banknotes for the first time in 20 years. Among them, the portrait of Shibusawa Eiichi, who was active more than 100 years ago, was chosen for the design of the 10,000 yen bill.

Shibuzawa Eiichi was an industrialist known as the father of Japanese capitalism. In 1961, he edited and published The Analects of Confucius and the Abacus, in which he put forward the idea of the "unity of morality and economy." He held that the source of wealth must be benevolence, justice, and morality, and if the right path were not followed, wealth would not last long. Later, he applied such thinking to his own business and achieved great success.

It can be seen that the traditional Chinese culture, with a history of thousands of years, had an indispensable influence on the development of capitalism in Japan at that time, and is still of great significance in Japan today. It also proves that Confucianism has the power to transcend time and space and is therefore of universal value.

From the 7th century on, Confucianism was applied in the Seventeen Articles Constitution drawn up and issued by Japanese Prince Shotoku Taishi. This constitution is the first known written code in Japan's legal history. Although the spread of Confucianism witnessed ups and downs due to the changes of the times, Confucianism was inherited, as always, through the spread of this code, and gradually penetrated the national governance of Japan and the lives of the Japanese people, and was held as the standard of evaluation for Japanese rulers and ordinary people.

From the 18th century on, the study of Confucianism was greatly developed in the Japanese leadership. At that time, not only did many Confucian scholars emerge but Confucianism was also widely spread in Japanese schools and in many intellectual families, serving as an important basis for people's behavior and ideology. This momentum continued into the 20th century without interruption.

In my family, both my grandfather and father were educated in Confucianism. In particular, my great-grandfather was a disciple of a famous Confucian scholar, and under his guidance, both my grandfather and father were devoted themselves to the study of Confucianism. In my family and the families around me with a certain educational background, we all believed that Confucianism was an indispensable quality for educated people and people with social status at that time. When I was in junior and senior high school, I took Chinese literature classes and read Confucian works, such as the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and Records of the Grand Historian. It is a great pity that there are fewer and fewer opportunities to study Confucianism in Japan today, but there is no doubt that the Confucian spirit, being passed down from generation to generation, is still the foundation of Japan.

With the release of the new banknotes featuring the portrait of Shibuzawa Eiichi, I think it's the right time to reaffirm the value of Confucianism. The essence of Confucianism is to guide us in what state we should face life for the sake of national and social stability. This universality of Confucianism is universal all over the world, and it is also universal in every era, and should become a thought and philosophy that can be popularized all over the world.

This article is excerpted from the speech of Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan and chairman of the International Association of Confucianism, at the opening ceremony of the 10th Nishan World Civilization Forum.

Liu Xian /Editor    Wu Yongqiang /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Liu Xian /Coordination Editor

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

The views don't necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.