# Nishikawa Joken

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{{Short description|Japanese geographer and astronomer}}
{{family name hatnote|Nishikawa|lang=Japanese}}
{{Nihongo|'''Nishikawa Joken'''|西川 如見||1648 &ndash; November 9, 1724}} was an [Edo period](/source/Edo_period) Japanese [geographer](/source/geographer) and [astronomer](/source/astronomer),<ref>Rengō Puresu Sha ''The Japan biographical encyclopedia & who's who'', 3rd Edition (1964), p. 1057</ref> and author of the encyclopaedic text ''Ka'i tsūshō kō'' (''Thoughts on trade and communication with the civilised and the barbaric''). He played a role in popularizing early modern European astronomy in Japan through works such as ''Tenmon Giron'' (''A Discussion of Astronomy'').

==Contributions to Neo-Confucian philosophy==
Nishikawa's writings on astronomy are notable for reworking [Neo-Confucian](/source/Edo_Neo-Confucianism) philosophical ideas in light of the success of Western science; his idea of science separated [metaphysical](/source/metaphysics) and [ethical](/source/ethics) ideas from empirical observation, whereas Confucianism traditionally saw moral cultivation and empirical study as linked.<ref name=Josephson>{{cite book|last=Josephson |first=Jason |title=The Invention of Religion in Japan|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=105–7|location = Chicago|year=2012|isbn=9780226412351 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxzuzIszO60C}}</ref> This new conception of Confucianism became non-empirical but also allowed Japanese cultural and political ideas to accommodate European science.

Nishikawa's philosophical ideas may have influenced [Tokugawa Yoshimune](/source/Tokugawa_Yoshimune) through a series of lectures on astronomy that Nishikawa delivered before the Shōgun in 1720. After the lectures, Yoshimune relaxed the rules on the importation of European books, which had previously been highly restricted by the ''[Sakoku](/source/Sakoku)'' policy.<ref name=Josephson />

== References ==

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nishikawa, Joken}}
Category:1648 births
Category:1724 deaths
Category:18th-century Japanese astronomers
Category:Science and technology during the Edo period
Category:Writers of the Edo period
Category:17th-century Japanese astronomers

{{Japan-astronomer-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nishikawa Joken](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishikawa_Joken) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishikawa_Joken?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.