Nishi Amane and the Japanese vocabulary of philosophy

Japanese series, installment: Hyakuichi shinron 百一新論, 1874. It pairs with the Chinese series' Euclid installment (Jihe yuanben 幾何原本, Beijing, 1607).

Section 11:36

The film

download the MP4 · the credits as text

The Videos session made this film in motion/films/nishi-amane from the research package below. The final render of the cut, motion/out/nishi-amane.mp4, plays here from its web copy.

Credits

Nishi Amane and the Japanese vocabulary of philosophy (motion/films/nishi-amane), 95.6 s, 1920 x 1080. A General Translation film, translation series. Ship this text with the film wherever it is published (the description field of the post or the video page). Each picture's credit is also on screen while the picture is shown.

Images

Nishi Amane 西周, 百一新論 Hyakuichi shinron, vol. 2 (published by Yamamoto Kakuma 山本覺馬, permitted August 1873, blocks finished March 1874), leaf 35 recto and leaf 35 verso. Source: National Diet Library Digital Collections (国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション), call no. 特70-75, dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753011 (canvases 35 and 36). Public domain. Changes: cropped and printed through the film's dither screen.
The frontispiece 西周肖像 (a photograph of Nishi Amane late in life; its photographer is not named) of Mori Ōgai 森鴎外, 西周傳 Nishi Amane den (1898; the book prints its title 西周傳, the library catalogues it as 西周伝 and reads it ニシアマネデン). Source: National Diet Library Digital Collections, dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/781845 (canvas 4). Public domain. Changes: cropped.
Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤, 通書 Tongshu, 志學第十, a Japanese printing of 1666 (later impression): 国立公文書館所蔵 (Source: National Archives of Japan), 通書１, digital.archives.go.jp/item/4212197 , from the copy on Wikimedia Commons, File:NAJDA-298-0131 通書1.pdf, PDF page 16. Changes: cropped (the archive's mark is outside the crop) and printed through the film's dither screen.
Fu Yunlong 傅雲龍, 游歷日本圖經 (printed in Japan, 1889), the table of miscellaneous schools 雜學校科表 and its preface: 『游歴日本圖經』（関西大学デジタルアーカイブ. iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/hakuen_bunko/002479052 .より転載） Kansai University Library (KU-ORCAS), 泊園文庫 LH2-2.03-2-9, image 0035, Public Domain Mark. Changes: cropped and printed through the film's dither screen.
幾何原本 Jihe yuanben, vol. 1, sp=8 and sp=23, early 17th-century printing. Library of Congress / National Library of China, World Digital Library, loc.gov/item/2021666487/. No known restrictions. Changes: cropped and printed through the film's dither screen.
The globe is drawn from Natural Earth's 1:50m land (public domain), through world-atlas 2.0.2 (Mike Bostock, ISC licence).

Texts set in type

Nishi Amane's postscript of 1861 (the words 「…至吾希哲學一科、則未見其人矣」) and his note of 1873 in 生性發蘊: 『西周全集』 (Ōkubo Toshiaki 大久保利謙, ed., 宗高書房, 1960–81), 1:13 and 1:31, as quoted by Lin Meimao (2013), Bian Chongdao (2008), Harimoto Takashi (2019) and Kosaka Shirō (2008).
Wang Guowei 王國維, 「論新學語之輸入」 (1905): the sentence 而日本之學者，既先我而定之矣，則沿而用之，何不可之有？, as transcribed on Chinese Wikisource (the text is public domain; the transcription is CC BY-SA 4.0), zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論新學語之輸入.
Zhou Dunyi's line in English, Nishi's words and the four words of his 1870–71 lectures: from the research brief (BRIEF.md), with the Nihon kokugo daijiten for the earliest recorded uses and Masahiro Ogawa (2011, HERSETEC 5.1) for the Euclid terms.

Type: Inter (Rasmus Andersson), Noto Serif CJK (Adobe and Google) and Geist Mono (Vercel), SIL Open Font License 1.1. Voices: ElevenLabs (Frederick Surrey, narrator; Hijiri, Japanese reader). Music: ElevenLabs Music API. Effects: made from seeded noise.

The anchor is the first printed book that uses the word, as the earlier installments anchor on a printed book. Hyakuichi shinron was published by Yamamoto Kakuma; its colophon records official permission in August 1873 and the blocks finished in March 1874, and it prints no city. The story runs from 1861, when Nishi wrote 希哲學, to 1905, when Wang Guowei argued that Chinese should keep the terms Japanese scholars had fixed. The link to the Euclid installment is in the sources: Ricci and Xu's words for figures are used in China, Korea and Japan, and two of the Japanese words that replaced their words for the parts of a proof in Chinese, 定義 and 命題, are first recorded in Nishi's lectures of 1870–71.

Section 2192 frames

Contact sheet

Two frames a second across the cut, each from the middle of its half second, eight to a row: 192 frames. It is the cut that plays above.

Section 317 lines

Script

Japanese and Chinese both write “philosophy” 哲學. Nishi Amane took 希 from Zhou Dunyi’s line that the scholar aspires to be worthy and named the study kitetsugaku in 1861, dropped the 希 by 1870, chose tetsugaku over rigaku to keep it apart from Confucian learning, and printed it in 1874 in a sentence that runs over a page turn. His lectures also gave Japanese its words for induction, deduction, definition and proposition; Chinese books took up the word from 1889, Wang Guowei argued in 1905 for keeping the Japanese terms, and two of those words replaced the ones Ricci and Xu had made for Euclid.

95.6 s · Narrator: Frederick Surrey; Japanese reader: Hijiri

Time	Voice	Line	On screen
0:00.66	Narrator	Japanese and Chinese write philosophy with these two characters.	The last page of text of Nishi Amane’s Hyakuichi shinron (1874), close on its first column, printed through the 3 px screen. On “these” 哲學 lights.
0:03.86	Narrator	A translator named Nishi Amane made the word.	The camera eases back until the column and its neighbours read; 哲學 stays lit.
0:06.92	Narrator	Nishi trained as a Confucian scholar before he learned Dutch and English.	The frontispiece of Mori Ōgai’s 西周傳 (1898), Nishi late in life, and the globe: a pin on Tsuwano, an arc east to Edo, 1853.
0:11.26	Narrator	The eleventh-century Chinese philosopher Zhou Dunyi had written that the scholar aspires to be worthy.	Zhou Dunyi’s Tongshu in a Japanese printing of 1666: the chapter title 志學第十 lights, then 士希賢, then 希 alone.
0:18.58	Narrator	In 1861 Nishi used that line to name philosophy kitetsugaku, the study that aspires to wisdom.	The Tongshu page holds with the type 希 in its box; on “used” the page leaves as 希 moves, and 哲 and 學 print in beside it, with “aspire”, “wise” and “study” under them. Heading: The study that aspires to wisdom.
0:26.78	Narrator	By 1870 he had dropped the first character, and the word was tetsugaku.	希 lifts out of the frame and 哲學 closes up.
0:31.98	Narrator	The direct translation would have been rigaku.	理學 sets beside 哲學 and drops back to grey.
0:35.80	Narrator	Nishi wrote that he chose tetsugaku to set philosophy apart from Confucian learning.	Nishi’s note of 1873 set as type; 今哲學ト譯シ東洲ノ儒學ニ分ツ lights, and the clause before it drops to grey.
0:42.16	Narrator	The word reached print in a book of 1874.	Leaf 35 recto of Hyakuichi shinron, vol. 2, its last column ending ヒロソヒー譯シテ.
0:45.38	Narrator	The sentence that names it runs over a page turn.	Heading: The sentence that names it.
0:48.24	Reader	ヒロソヒー、譯シテ哲學ト名ケSubtitle: “philosophy, which I translate and name tetsugaku”	Each printed character of ヒロソヒー譯シテ lights as the reader says it; the leaf turns, and 哲學ト名ケ lights on leaf 35 verso. The reader is given 訳 in kana (やくして).
0:53.78	Narrator	His lectures of 1870 and 1871 had also given Japanese words to induction, deduction, definition and proposition.	百學連環, “the linked circle of the hundred studies”, and the four words 歸納 kinō, 演繹 en’eki, 定義 teigi and 命題 meidai, in grey from the cut; they brighten on “had also given” and light on their English words. Heading: Induction, deduction, definition and proposition.
1:03.54	Narrator	In 1889 a Chinese book about Japan explained the word as the Western study of human nature.	Fu Yunlong’s 游歷日本圖經 (1889): a light runs down 有所謂哲學者西學中之性學也.
1:10.26	Narrator	In 1905 the scholar Wang Guowei wrote that Japanese scholars had fixed such terms first, so Chinese could use them.	Wang Guowei’s sentence of 1905 set as type, lit in two phrases. Heading: Japanese scholars had fixed such terms first.
1:19.26	Narrator	Two words first recorded in Nishi’s lectures replaced the words Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi chose for Euclid in 1607.	The Jihe yuanben: 界說 lights on “Matteo”, 題 on “Xu Guangqi”, and a slip printed 定義 slides down over 界說. The take’s pause after “Two words,” is closed to 0.25 s.
1:28.32	Narrator	Chinese now uses them for definition and proposition.	A slip printed 命題 slides in over 題, and the caption adds 題 → 命題. Heading: Definition and proposition.
1:31.63	No voice		The globe, the pin on Tsuwano, Nishi Amane’s former residence, and the General Translation lockup.

Times are where each line starts in the final, read from the film's own audio.

the script as Markdown

Section 4About 85 seconds

Animation script

Time	Voiceover	Visual	Caption (on screen, not spoken)	Link
0:00–0:07	"Japanese and Chinese write philosophy with these two characters. A translator named Nishi Amane made the word."	Open close on the first column of the last page of text of Hyakuichi shinron, vol. 2, leaf 35 verso: 哲學ト名ケ. 哲學 is lit first; the camera eases back until the column and its neighbours read	哲學 · tetsugaku · zhéxué · Hyakuichi shinron 百一新論, vol. 2, leaf 35 verso, 1874 · National Diet Library	dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753011 (canvas 36)
0:07–0:12	"Nishi trained as a Confucian scholar before he learned Dutch and English."	The frontispiece portrait of Nishi from Mori Ōgai's 1898 biography, held small. Then the globe: pin on Tsuwano, an arc east to Edo	Nishi Amane 西周, 1829–1897 · portrait from 森鴎外『西周伝』, 1898 · 34.46° N, 131.77° E · Tsuwano → 35.70° N, 139.75° E · Edo · 1853	dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/781845 (canvas 4)
0:12–0:18	"The eleventh-century Chinese philosopher Zhou Dunyi had written that the scholar aspires to be worthy."	The line 聖希天，賢希聖，士希賢 set in a CJK serif; 士希賢 lit, then 希 alone. Alternative: the printed line from the National Archives of Japan copy of the Tongshu (see Image notes)	周敦頤 Zhou Dunyi, 1017–1073 · 《通書》志學第十 · "The sage aspires to Heaven, the worthy to the sage, the scholar to the worthy."	Text: zh.wikisource.org/wiki/通書 · scan: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NAJDA-298-0131_通書1.pdf (PDF page 16)
0:18–0:25	"In 1861 Nishi used that line to name philosophy kitetsugaku, the study that aspires to wisdom."	希 slides out of 士希賢 and stops; 哲 and 學 print in beside it; a gloss prints under each character	希哲學 kitetsugaku · 希 aspire · 哲 wise · 學 study · postscript to Tsuda Mamichi's 性理論, 1861: 「…至吾希哲學一科、則未見其人矣」	Make: typographic. Text: 『西周全集』1:13, quoted in Lin 2013 (n. 7) and Bian 2008 (p. 141), both as 特（獨）至吾希哲學一科; the caption starts at 至 so that neither reading is set
0:25–0:31	"By 1870 he had dropped the first character, and the word was tetsugaku."	希 lifts straight up and leaves the frame; 哲學 closes up	哲學 tetsugaku · lectures at the Ikueisha, Tokyo, 1870–71	Make: typographic
0:31–0:38	"The direct translation would have been rigaku. Nishi wrote that he chose tetsugaku to set philosophy apart from Confucian learning."	理學 sets beside 哲學 and drops back to grey. Nishi's 1873 note sets as one block of type; 今哲學ト譯シ東洲ノ儒學ニ分ツ lit	生性發蘊, 1873 · 「理學理論ナト譯スルヲ直譯トスレドモ、他ニ紛ルヿ多キ爲メニ今哲學ト譯シ東洲ノ儒學ニ分ツ」 · "I now translate it tetsugaku and set it apart from the Confucian learning of the East."	Make: type card. Text: 『西周全集』1:31, quoted in Harimoto 2019, n. 3, and Kosaka 2008, p. 154
0:38–0:47	"The word reached print in a book of 1874. The sentence that names it runs over a page turn."	Vol. 2, leaf 35 recto: the columns of sciences with their katakana names; the last column lit, …ヲ立ツルヲヒロソヒー譯シテ. The leaf turns. Leaf 35 verso: 哲學ト名ケ lit. Hold 1 s	Hyakuichi shinron · published by Yamamoto Kakuma · permitted August 1873, blocks finished March 1874 · 「ヒロソヒー、譯シテ哲學ト名ケ」 "philosophy, which I translate and name tetsugaku"	dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753011 (canvases 35 and 36)
0:47–0:54	"His lectures of 1870 and 1871 had also given Japanese words to induction, deduction, definition and proposition."	Four words print one under another, each with its English: 帰納 induction · 演繹 deduction · 定義 definition · 命題 proposition	百学連環 Hyakugaku renkan, notes by Nagami Yutaka, 1870–71 · earliest recorded uses, Nihon kokugo daijiten	Make: typographic
0:54–1:00	"In 1881 Tokyo University made tetsugaku a department and printed it in a dictionary of philosophy."	Tetsugaku jii, p. 66: the entry "Philosophy 哲學" lit, with "Philosopher 哲學士" above it and "Mental philosophy 心理學" below	『哲学字彙』, Tokyo University, April 1881, p. 66 · Faculty of Letters: 1877 史学、哲学及政治学科 → 1881 哲学科	dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/752942 (canvas 36)
1:00–1:07	"In 1889 a Chinese book about Japan explained the word as the Western study of human nature."	傅雲龍's 1889 book, the page headed 雜學校科表; the preface column 有所謂哲學者西學中之性學也 lit	傅雲龍 Fu Yunlong, 《游歷日本圖經》, printed in Japan, 1889 · 「有所謂哲學者，西學中之性學也」 "There is what is called 哲學: it is the study of human nature in Western learning." · Kansai University Library	iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/iiif/hakuen_bunko/002479052/manifest.json (image 0035)
1:07–1:15	"In 1905 the scholar Wang Guowei wrote that Japanese scholars had fixed such terms first, so Chinese could use them."	Wang's sentence sets as one block of type: 而日本之學者，既先我而定之矣，則沿而用之，何不可之有？	王國維 Wang Guowei, 「論新學語之輸入」, 1905 · "Japanese scholars have fixed them before us. What is wrong with following and using them?"	zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論新學語之輸入 · scan, for reference only (CADAL's terms bar commercial use): commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CADAL02106693_靜庵文集.djvu (from page 152)
1:15–1:25	"Two words first recorded in Nishi's lectures replaced the words Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi chose for Euclid in 1607. Chinese now uses them for definition and proposition."	The Library of Congress copy of the Jihe yuanben (an early 17th-century printing, possibly the 1611 revision), first text page of 卷一: the heading 界說三十六則, 界說 lit; a paper slip printed 定義 slides in from the right and covers it. Cut to Proposition 1, 第一題; a slip printed 命題 slides over 題	界說 → 定義 dìngyì · 題 → 命題 mìngtí · Jihe yuanben 幾何原本, early 17th-century printing, Library of Congress / National Library of China · Ogawa 2011	loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_17216_001/?sp=8 · loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_17216_001/?sp=23
1:25–1:29	(silent)	Globe, pin on Tsuwano. Series tag	34.46° N, 131.77° E · Nishi Amane's former residence · Tsuwano	Make: own render

Narration: 210 written words in 16 sentences, about 78 to 81 s of speech at 2.6 to 2.7 words a second. With 0.4 s gaps, the 1 s hold on the page turn and the 4 s close, the film runs about 90 s. If the takes run long, take time back in this order: drop the Tokyo University line (about 6 s; its dictionary page can sit under the end of the lecture line instead); cut "of 1870 and 1871" from the lecture line (about 1 s). Every sentence is a complete declarative sentence. None quotes a source directly except the Zhou Dunyi line, which is given in translation; Nishi's 1873 note and Wang Guowei are paraphrased, with their sentences on screen.

Headings, each made of the words spoken under it: "The study that aspires to wisdom" (0:18), "The sentence that names it" (0:38), "Induction, deduction, definition and proposition" (0:47), "Japanese scholars had fixed such terms first" (1:07), "Definition and proposition" (1:15).

Pronunciation for the voice: Nishi Amane (NEE-shee ah-MAH-neh); kitetsugaku (kee-TETS-gah-koo); tetsugaku (TETS-gah-koo); rigaku (REE-gah-koo); Zhou Dunyi (JOH dwun-YEE); Wang Guowei (WAHNG gwoh-WAY); Xu Guangqi (SHOO gwahng-CHEE; the jihe-yuanben takes respelled Xu as "Shoo"); Ricci (REE-chee).

Coordinates for the globe build

Tsuwano, Nishi Amane's former residence (西周旧居): 34.457° N, 131.767° E. The Agency for Cultural Affairs' own map point for the National Historic Site, designated 20 July 1987 (kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/401/2225). OpenStreetMap has no feature for the house. Opening pin and closing pin
Edo, the Bansho shirabesho at Kudanshita (蕃書調所跡 board, 千代田区九段南1-6): 35.695° N, 139.751° E (OpenStreetMap node 6267045872; visit-chiyoda.tokyo/app/spot/detail/82). The institute opened here in 1857 with Nishi among its assistant instructors, moved to Ogawamachi in 1860 and to Hitotsubashi in 1862, so in 1861 it was at Ogawamachi, whose site is not located. Mori Ōgai's chronology (『西周伝』, 1898, 年譜) puts the move into the 講武所 at Ogawamachi in 文久元年 (1861) and the next move, to outside the 雉子橋 gate, in 1862, so where the institute stood in 1861 is uncertain. OpenStreetMap spells the board's name 藩書調所跡. Caption the pin "Edo" with no street claim
Leiden, the Academiegebouw (Rapenburg 73): 52.157° N, 4.485° E (OpenStreetMap way 52965132). Vissering lived on the Rapenburg in 1862–65 (Erfgoed Leiden civil records); his house number, and whether the lessons were held at his house, are not known. Optional, for a pin in the post or a longer cut
Kyoto, Shijō-Ōmiya (stand-in for Nishi's private school of 1867): 35.003° N, 135.749° E. The school's site is not documented; the temple 更雀寺 is named only by a popular-history site. Optional
Kyoto, the Yamamoto Kakuma and Yae residence marker near Kawaramachi-Oike: 35.011° N, 135.769° E (OpenStreetMap node 5199096756). Whether Yamamoto lived there in 1874 is not confirmed. Optional
Tokyo, the "東京大学発祥の地" stone at Kanda Nishikichō: 35.693° N, 139.759° E (OpenStreetMap node 12399668438). The faculties of law, science and letters were on this campus from 1877; the old campus covered more than this plot. Optional
Beijing, the remains of the Imperial University (京师大学堂建筑遗存), 沙滩后街 55/59: 39.925° N, 116.395° E (Wikidata Q98074505). Whether the philosophy classes of 1914 met on this site is not confirmed. Optional
Tokyo, Tetsugakudō Park (哲学堂公園), Nakano, with Inoue Enryō's 四聖堂 of 1904: 35.722° N, 139.674° E (OpenStreetMap way 145524218). Optional
Ōiso, where Nishi died: about 35.311° N, 139.314° E (town level only)

Image notes

The anchor scan is the NDL copy of Hyakuichi shinron (call no. 特70-75), two volumes, marked PDM in its IIIF manifests. Each canvas is a two-page spread, 3861 × 3039 px in vol. 1 and 3722 × 3112 px in vol. 2; full-size images come from https://dl.ndl.go.jp/api/iiif/<pid>/R<7-digit canvas>/full/full/0/default.jpg. The pages the film needs:
vol. 1 (pid 753010), canvas 1: the title leaf (明治七年三月刊行 / 西周先生著 / 百一新論全二冊 / 相應齋藏) and the first page of Yamamoto's preface, with 哲學 in its sixth column. Canvas 2: the rest of the preface (且能明哲學者). Canvas 3: the preface's date line (明治七年二月一日山本覺馬撰 / 友人南摩綱紀書) and the first page of the text (百一新論巻之上 / 西周著).
vol. 2 (pid 753011), canvas 35: right page leaf 34 verso, left page leaf 35 recto, whose columns list the sciences with katakana glosses and end ヒロソヒー譯シテ. Canvas 36: right page leaf 35 verso, the last page of text, opening 哲學ト名ケ; left page the colophon 明治六年八月官許 / 同七年三月彫成 / 山本覺馬藏版.
The scan is black and white. Canvas 36 carries a 衆議院図書館 date stamp, a 購入 stamp and the handwritten accession numbers 1670 / 120 / 44384 in its top margin, and vol. 1 carries the library's seals. Crop the frame or keep them; do not retouch them.
The page turn in the script is real. In a Japanese bound book the right page of a spread is the verso of one leaf and the left page the recto of the next, so turning leaf 35 brings 哲學ト名ケ to the top of the right page.
Do not caption the book with a city. The colophon names the publisher and no place, and the booksellers' list (vol. 2, canvases 37–38) names shops in Tokyo, Osaka, Owari, Ise and Kyoto. The NDL catalogue record gives 東京 as the place of publication; that is the cataloguer's entry, not the book's. The title leaf's 相應齋藏 is not explained in any source read; do not gloss it.
Portrait: use the frontispiece of Mori Ōgai's 『西周伝』 (1898; NDL pid 781845, canvas 4, PDM), captioned 西周肖像 in the book: Nishi late in life, in kimono, with a small printer's credit (東京印刷株式會社製) and a round library seal beside the caption. The NDL portrait site's crop of it is https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/img/portrait/0309_2.jpg. A younger Nishi in Western dress is the 1933 frontispiece of 『西周哲学著作集』; that book is not open on NDL, and its photograph is reusable only as the portrait site's JPEG (0309_1.jpg) or as the Commons file "Portrait of Mr. Amane Nishi (taken in 1880).jpg" (PD-Japan-oldphoto; the 1880 date comes from the Commons caption only). Takahashi Yuichi's oil portrait of 1893 at the Tsuwano local history museum is on Commons as PD-Art, but only at 428 × 644 px and from a personal blog that has closed, so it is too small to use. Avoid the 1952 postage stamp (Not-PD-US-URAA, confirmed on its file page). None of the photographs names its photographer. The portrait site's terms (ndl.go.jp/portrait/about) put its images in the public domain, allow commercial reuse without applying, and ask for the credit "出典：国立国会図書館「近代日本人の肖像」 (ndl.go.jp/portrait/)"; for 0309_1.jpg that statement is the only basis for reuse, since the 1933 book is not open.
The shogunate's students in the Netherlands: NDL 『幕末名家寫眞集』 (pid 2575328, canvas 15, PDM), a halftone captioned 阿蘭陀派遣幕府留學生 with nine names; the rightmost name is 西周助. The page carries red handwritten notes and the NDL ruler and label strip along its bottom edge; crop to the photograph. The photograph is undated in the book; the red note says it was taken during the stay in Holland. Commons copies date it 1862, which cannot be right. Caption it "photographed in the Netherlands, 1863–65".
Shinrigaku (NDL pid 759705, PDM): canvas 2 is the title leaf (明治八年四月 / 心理學 / 文部省) with the Tokyo Library seal; canvas 17 is the first text page, with the headnote メンタル・ヒロソヒー、爰ニ心理上ノ哲學ト翻シ、約メテ心… in its top margin; the headnote finishes in the top margin of canvas 18, 理學ト譯ス、此學如何ヲ論ス. The scan is greyscale with visible noise. The translator's note that calls the logicians' terms 大率新造 is not in this printing: it is the 心理學飜譯凡例 of the second Ministry printing, 心理学上・下 (February 1878 to February 1879, NDL call no. 35-49; 上 is pid 759708, PDM), canvases 2–3.
Tetsugaku jii (NDL pid 752942, PDM; 和田垣謙三等編, 東京大学三学部, April 1881): canvas 36 is pp. 66–67, and "Philosophy 哲學" is on p. 66 with "Philosopher 哲學士" above it and "Mental philosophy 心理學" further down. The scan is high-contrast. The 1884 revised edition (pid 994560, canvas 52, p. 91) has the same entry.
Chichi keimō (NDL pids 753066 and 753067, PDM; title leaf 明治七年六月發兌甘寐舍藏梓). Not needed by the script; listed for a longer cut.
周敦頤《通書》: Commons "NAJDA-298-0131 通書1.pdf" (the National Archives of Japan copy, with Zhu Xi's commentary), PDF page 16, left page: the heading 志學第十 and the line 聖希天賢希聖士希賢 (confirmed). The Commons file is tagged PD-old (no US tag) and records the edition as 刊本（後印），寛文06年, a later impression of a 1666 Japanese printing; its source links are dead, and the item now lives at digital.archives.go.jp/item/4212197. The archive's reuse terms (digital.archives.go.jp/secondary-use) allow commercial use without applying, ask that changes be marked, and recommend the credit 国立公文書館所蔵 ("Source: National Archives of Japan") with the item's name and URI. The archive's logo sits in the grey margin at lower right on every page; crop it and say the image was cropped. The printed line may be used with that credit; caption the page "Japanese printing of 1666 (later impression)".
Fu Yunlong's 《游歷日本圖經》: Kansai University Library, 泊園文庫 LH2-2.03-2-9, a colour photograph of the open book on grey (image 0035; the manifest gives "license": "creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/" and "attribution": "関西大学アジア・オープン・リサーチセンター[KU-ORCAS]"). The left page is headed 雜學校科表, and the line 有所謂哲學者西學中之性學也 is in the second column of its preface. The book is a Japanese movable-type printing; the catalogue gives no place or publisher (Feng 2010 says Tokyo). The book's own title line reads 游歷日本圖經 (with 游; read on image 0002), and Kansai catalogues it as 游歴日本圖經. Image 0035 is confirmed: the fold reads 日本圖經廿下, leaf 十七. Kansai's reuse page (iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/reuse) puts the images under the PDM, allows commercial use without permission, and asks for a credit in the form 『資料のタイトル』（関西大学デジタルアーカイブ. <URL>.より転載） plus a note of any change; in English, credit "Kansai University Library (KU-ORCAS)" and give the item URL iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/hakuen_bunko/002479052.
Huang Zunxian's 《日本國志》, 卷三十二學術志一, leaf 16b: Internet Archive item 02087155.cn (scanned by Peking University Library for CADAL), page n78, black and white, 2000 × 3000. The same page has 理學分爲五科 (printed with 爲, and broken across a column) before 文學分爲二科一哲學, where 謂講明道義 is a small interlinear note, not a bracketed phrase; 理學 and 哲學 can be lit in one frame. The item's metadata carries no rights statement, and CADAL, which sponsored the scan, opens its resources only for non-commercial fair use (its 版权声明: 禁止将资源用于商业牟利); do not use this scan in the film. Use the National Library of China copy on Commons instead ("NLC403-312001067264-5597 日本國志清光緒16-22年(1890-1896) 卷三十三.pdf", PDF page 18; tagged PD-scan and PD-old-100-expired; 富文齋 woodblock edition). The file title's 卷三十三 is NLC's file number: this file holds juan 32, 學術志一, and its fold reads 日本國志卷三十二. It carries the {{Watermark}} tag; the faint logo is plain on blank pages and hard to see on page 18.
Wang Guowei's 『靜庵文集』 (preface dated 光緒三十一年秋八月, 1905): Commons "CADAL02106693 靜庵文集.djvu" (PD-old, no US tag); the essay 論新學語之輸入 starts on djvu page 152, leaf 八十一 (confirmed). The scan is CADAL's, whose terms bar commercial use, so keep Wang's sentence set as type, as the script does, and do not show this scan. Liang Qichao's essay on Kant opens on page 29 of Commons "NLC404-01J000591-11681 新民叢報 1903年25期.pdf" (confirmed; signed 中國之新民; tagged PD-scan and PD-China-1996).
The Jihe yuanben pages for the last beat are the Library of Congress scans the jihe-yuanben film used: vol. 1 sp=8 for the 界說三十六則 heading and sp=23 for Proposition 1, 第一題. That film's crops loc-v1-p008-jieshuo-note.png and loc-v1-p023-prop1-statement.png (in films/jihe-yuanben/assets/zh/) can be copied into this film's folder. Caption them "early 17th-century printing", as the jihe-yuanben image notes require. Checking pass 1 could not reopen loc.gov (it answers generic requests with a bot check, which this pass did not pass); it confirmed the two pages on those crops (sp=8: 界說三十六則 / 凡造論先當分別解說論中所用名目故曰界說; sp=23: 第一題 / 于有界直線上求立平邊三角形) and takes the rights statement from films/jihe-yuanben/assets/SOURCES-zh.md (fetched 2026-10-02). That film credits the pages "Library of Congress / National Library of China" (the LOC record: original at the National Library of China; requested credit "[Original Source citation], World Digital Library"); use the same credit here.
Nishi's postscript of 1861, his 1862 letter and lecture draft, the 1870–71 百学連環 notes, the 1873 生性發蘊 note and the 1863 Dutch letter have no open scans that this lane found. The 百学連環 manuscript is NDL microfilm (永見裕関係文書), and the rest are known from 『西周全集』 (1960–81) and the scholars who quote it. Set these lines as type and credit the edition. If the Dutch letter is used, keep its misspellings (Socke, hegel, Kante) out of the frame. The research transcriptions write the katakana ligature for コト as ┐, a box-drawing stand-in; on screen set it as ヿ (U+30FF), or spell it コト if the face lacks the glyph.
Places, if a cut wants them: Commons "Category:Former Residence of Nishi Amane" (Tsuwano; eight files, seven by そらみみ, 2017-05-03, and one by Heartoftheworld, 2015-09-06, all CC BY-SA 4.0, so credit the author and share alike); Tetsugakudō Park's 四聖堂 ("中野区立哲学堂公園（四聖堂） - panoramio.jpg", koji_h, 2009-08-12, CC BY 3.0; avoid "Tetsugakudoukouen Shiseidou.jpg", whose author and source Commons only assumes). Simon Vissering: a photograph, dated 1879, of an engraved portrait captioned SIMON VISSERING (Noord-Hollands Archief; Commons tags it CC0, and the archive allows free use and asks for a credit in the form "[beschrijving], door: [vervaardiger], Noord-Hollands Archief / [naam collectie], [inventarisnummer]"), and a lithograph by Johan Braakensiek of 26 August 1888 (Rijksmuseum RP-P-1905-1816, marked public domain by the museum, id.rijksmuseum.nl/200281057; CC0 on Commons).
Make: the globe (flat matte, one pin, monospace coordinates), the 希 / 哲 / 學 builds, the 理學 card, the four-word list and the Euclid slips.

Section 517 paragraphs

The post

35.70° N, 139.75° E · Edo · 1861

Japanese and Chinese write "philosophy" with the same two characters, 哲学: tetsugaku in Japanese, zhexue in Chinese. The Japanese translator Nishi Amane 西周 (1829–1897) made the word in three steps between 1861 and 1874. Chinese books about Japan used it from the late 1880s, it spread in China in the late 1890s, and several of his other coinages followed it by about 1905.

Nishi was the son of a domain physician in Tsuwano, in western Japan, and trained first as a Confucian scholar. In 1854 he left his domain's service to study Dutch and then English, and in 1857 he became an assistant instructor at the Bansho shirabesho, the shogunate's institute for Western books in Edo. In 1862 the shogunate sent him and his colleague Tsuda Mamichi 津田真道 to the Netherlands. From 1863 to 1865 the two studied with Simon Vissering, a professor at Leiden, in natural law, international law, constitutional law, economics and statistics. After his return Nishi advised the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, in Kyoto, ran the Tokugawa military academy at Numazu, and from 1870 worked in the new government's military ministry. He wrote the first draft of the 1882 Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors, sat in the House of Peers, was made a baron in January 1897, and died that month at Ōiso.

Nishi met philosophy in Dutch books, which call it philosophie or wijsbegeerte, "striving for wisdom". Watanabe Kazan had written wijsbegeerte in katakana in 1839. In 1862 Nishi wrote to his friend Matsuoka Rinjirō that he had begun to see into "the Western study of nature and principle" (西洋之性理學), which he also called "the learning of hirosohi" (ヒロソヒ之學), and that its account of human nature went beyond the Cheng–Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism.

He had already given it a name. In 1861 he wrote a postscript in literary Chinese to Tsuda's essay on nature and principle, 性理論. Western learning, he wrote, had been in Japan for more than a hundred years, and some scholars had seen into its physics, chemistry, geography and machinery, "but as for our one field of kitetsugaku, no one has yet appeared" (特（獨）至吾希哲學一科、則未見其人矣, as the 全集 prints it). The word 希哲學 joins 希 (to aspire to), 哲 (wise) and 學 (study). In 1862 Nishi drafted a lecture for the institute, which he never gave because he was sent abroad. It explains the word through Socrates, who out of modesty called himself a philosopher, "a person who loves wisdom and virtue", "which should equal what we call 希賢". 希賢 comes from the Song philosopher Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤, whose Tongshu 通書 says 聖希天，賢希聖，士希賢: the sage aspires to Heaven, the worthy aspires to the sage, the scholar aspires to the worthy. Lin Meimao 林美茂 suggests that the Dutch wijsbegeerte shaped the word as well. Asō Yoshiteru and Fujita Masakatsu suggest that Nishi and Tsuda devised it together, since Tsuda wrote 求聖學 and 志道希賢者 in the same years. Nishi used wijsbegeerte himself in June 1863, in a letter he wrote in Dutch aboard the ship Ternate before landing: he hoped also to study "the field of sciences called Philosophie or wijsbegeerte".

In 1870 Nishi opened a private school at his house in Tokyo, the Ikueisha 育英舎. There he lectured on the whole system of Western learning under the title 百学連環 (hyakugaku renkan, "the linked circle of the hundred studies"), his rendering of "encyclopedia". The lectures survive in Nishi's own notes and in the notes of his student and later son-in-law Nagami Yutaka 永見裕. The notes gloss Philosophy as 哲学, and add that 希賢学 "would also do as a direct translation" (ヒロソヒーの直譯を希賢學となすも亦可なるへし). Fujita dates Nishi's first written 哲学 to a letter of the same year, 復某氏書, which its colophon dates to 1870. The first character was gone, and Nishi did not record why. Ishii Masami notes that specialists have not settled the reason.

In 1873 Nishi explained the word in a note to a manuscript titled 生性發蘊 (Seisei hatsuun). He derived philosophy from the Greek words for "one who loves" and "wise", and called it "what Zhou Maoshu [Zhou Dunyi] called aspiring to be worthy". The direct translations would be 理學 (rigaku, the study of principle) or 理論, "but because they are easily confused with other things, I now translate it 哲學 and set it apart from the Confucian learning of the East" (他ニ紛ルヿ多キ爲メニ今哲學ト譯シ東洲ノ儒學ニ分ツ). Rigaku was also a name for the learning of the Song Confucians, and the school of Zhu Xi was the official learning of the shogunate. Nakae Chōmin still called philosophy rigaku in the title of his introduction to it, 理学鉤玄 (1886).

The word reached print in Hyakuichi shinron 百一新論, "a new theory of the hundred teachings as one", in two volumes. The colophon records official permission in August 1873 and the blocks finished in March 1874, and it names the publisher, Yamamoto Kakuma 山本覚馬, a former Aizu retainer who lived in Kyoto and had lost his sight. The Nihon daihyakka zensho says that the book is based on notes of lectures Nishi gave in Kyoto in 1866–67; Mori Ōgai's list of Nishi's writings (1898) says only that it was written in Kyoto and that no manuscript survives; Harimoto Takashi writes that the date of the manuscript is not known. Yamamoto's preface is dated 1 February 1874 and was written out by his friend Nanma Tsunanori. It already uses the word twice: it says that Nishi "made clear through philosophy where government and teaching divide", and that "one who can make philosophy clear: our country has never heard of such a person". In the dialogue itself the word comes on the last page. Leaf 35 of the second volume lists the sciences that philosophy must draw on, each with its Western name in katakana beside it: anthropology as 人性學, physiology as 生理學, psychology as 性理學, ethnology as 人種學, theology as 神理學 and aesthetics as 善美學. The page ends "…ヲ立ツルヲヒロソヒー譯シテ", and the next page begins "哲學ト名ケ". The whole sentence reads: 總テ箇樣ナコトヲ參考シテ心理ニ徵シ、天道人道ヲ論明シテ、兼テ教ノ方法ヲ立ツルヲ、ヒロソヒー、譯シテ哲學ト名ケ、西洋ニテモ古クヨリ論ノアルコトデゴザル (Taking all of this into account, testing it against mental principle, making clear the way of heaven and the way of man, and with that setting up a method of teaching: this is philosophy, which I translate and name tetsugaku; in the West it has been argued since ancient times).

The same decade produced most of his words that lasted. The lecture notes of 1870–71 contain the earliest recorded Japanese uses of 帰納 (kinō, induction), 演繹 (en'eki, deduction), 定義 (teigi, definition) and 命題 (meidai, proposition), according to the Nihon kokugo daijiten, which credits 命題 to Nishi outright. 演繹 was an old Chinese verb for drawing out the meaning of a text, and Nishi gave it the sense of deduction. His logic textbook Chichi keimō 致知啓蒙 (1874), based on Mill's System of Logic, adds 概念 (gainen, concept) and uses 理性 (risei) for reason and 直覚 (chokkaku) for intuition. The Ministry of Education published his translation of Joseph Haven's Mental Philosophy as 心理学 (shinrigaku) in 1875–76, and again in two volumes in 1878–79; a headnote on the first page of the first printing explains that he rendered "mental philosophy" as "the philosophy of the mind" and shortened it. In the translator's note to the second printing, Nishi says that 知覚 (perception), 記性 (memory), 意識 (consciousness) and 想像 (imagination) keep their existing senses, but that 理性 (reason), 感性 (sensibility), 覚性 and 悟性 (understanding), and the logicians' terms 観念 (idea), 実在 (reality), 主観 (subjective), 客観 (objective), 帰納, 演繹, 総合 (synthesis) and 分解 (analysis), "are for the most part new creations" (大率新造ニ係ハル). Some were old words in new senses: Nishi noted in 1873 that 観念 came from Buddhist language, and 総合, 分解 and 実在 all occur earlier. Teshima Kunio has studied Nishi's vocabulary in detail, and he gives the reasons so many of the words lasted: they were precise, Nishi printed the source word beside many of them and explained his choices in notes, a dictionary of 1881 adopted many of them, and his own standing among scholars, at the time Tokyo University set up its department of philosophy, gave them weight. Inoue Tetsujirō compiled that dictionary, and in 1930 he wrote that Nishi "was skilled at coining words, and later scholars took over many of his philosophical terms".

Several of his words did not last. 希哲学 and 希賢学 gave way to 哲学. His word for logic, 致知学 (chichigaku), lost to 論理学 (ronrigaku), a word he had also used in print in 1874. In the 1874 book psychology is 性理学, the Neo-Confucian name for the study of human nature; in 1875 he kept 性理学 for psychology and used 心理学 for mental philosophy, and from 1877 the two terms were used loosely, until 心理学 named both subjects. For aesthetics he tried 善美学, 美妙学 and 佳趣論, and none of them spread. 審美学 spread through Mori Ōgai's frequent use from the late 1880s, and Japanese now uses 美学, first recorded in Nakae Chōmin's translation of Eugène Véron's L'Esthétique (1883–84).

Lists of Nishi's coinages also include words he did not make. 科学 (kagaku, science) is usually credited to him, but the Nihon kokugo daijiten reads his 1874 use in the Meiroku zasshi as "branches of learning" or a misprint, notes that he wrote 学 alone for science, and finds the first secure use in the dictionary of 1881. 技術 (technique) is in the Shiji and in the 1774 preface to the anatomy book Kaitai shinsho. 芸術 (arts) is in an entry for 703 in the Shoku Nihongi, and its sense of "art" settled only about 1897. 意識 (consciousness) is a Buddhist term, and Nishi's own note of 1878 lists it among the words he kept in their existing sense. The Nihon kokugo daijiten gives 倫理学 (ethics) to Inoue Tetsujirō in the dictionary of 1881 and first records 美学 (aesthetics) in Nakae Chōmin. 形而上学 (metaphysics) first appears in the 1881 dictionary. The Nihon kokugo daijiten's first records of 悟性 (understanding) and 感性 (sensibility) as philosophical terms are also in that dictionary, but Nishi had already named both among his new words in 1878.

The university made the word official. Tokyo University opened in April 1877 with a Faculty of Letters whose first department covered history, philosophy and political science (史学，哲学及政治学科). In 1879 it became philosophy, political science and economics, and in September 1881 philosophy became a department of its own, 哲学科. In April 1881 the university printed Tetsugaku jii 哲学字彙, a dictionary of philosophical terms with 2,437 entries, compiled by Inoue, Wadagaki Kenzō and others; on its page 66, "Philosophy" is 哲學, "Philosopher" is 哲學士 and "Mental philosophy" is 心理學. Zhu Jingwei took 881 basic terms from nine Japanese dictionaries of philosophy, from 1881 to 1974, and traced 503 of them to Nishi's writings or that first dictionary; of the 503, 250 had a precedent in Chinese texts and 253 were new.

The word reached Chinese readers through books about Japan. Fu Yunlong 傅雲龍 travelled in Japan and had his account of it printed there in 1889, under the title 游歷日本圖經. The preface to its table of Japan's miscellaneous schools says, "there is what is called 哲學; it is the study of human nature in Western learning" (有所謂哲學者，西學中之性學也). Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲 had served as counsellor at the Qing legation in Tokyo, and he finished his Treatise on Japan 日本國志 in 1887. Its section on learning describes Tokyo University: the faculty of science, 理學, has five departments, and the faculty of letters two, "the first, philosophy (that is, explaining the moral way), political science and economics" (一哲學（謂講明道義）、政治學及理財學科). The treatise was printed only in the 1890s; Feng Tianyu and Li Cunshan date it to 1895, after China's defeat by Japan, and Feng dates the word's circulation in China to the second half of that decade. Huang Qingcheng 黃慶澄 mentioned a Japanese philosophical society in a diary of 1893, and Kang Youwei 康有為 listed philosophy among the subjects of German universities in a memorial of 1898.

Liang Qichao 梁啟超 fled to Japan after the failed reforms of 1898. In 1899 he wrote that Chinese readers who wanted the new learning should learn written Japanese. In the thirty years since the Restoration, he wrote, Japan had translated and written several thousand useful books, and "those who study written Japanese succeed a little in days and greatly in months, and the learning of Japan is then all ours". In that essay he still called philosophy 智學, "the study of wisdom", and added "the Japanese call it 哲學" (智學（日本謂之哲學）). By 1902 his essays used 哲學, and in 1903 he opened an essay on Kant by recalling a rite at Japan's Tetsugakkan, a school of philosophy, that honoured four sages: the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and Kant. Chinese students went to Japan in growing numbers. The Qing government sent 13 in 1896, and an American diplomat in Tokyo reported in January 1906 that their number "is said to have reached 8,000".

Wang Guowei 王國維 learned Japanese at a school in Shanghai from 1898. In 1901–02 he studied at a physics school in Tokyo; by his own account he stayed four or five months before illness sent him home. He then taught philosophy, psychology and ethics (哲學、心理、倫理) at a normal school in Nantong. In 1903 he wrote that "the word 哲學 in fact begins with Japan", and that the Japanese had not used 理學 for it because 理學 meant natural science there; Feng Tianyu points out that in Japan 理學 had meant philosophy first. In 1905 he wrote that the Chinese-character words Japan had made to translate Western terms were entering Chinese writing in large numbers, and he argued for keeping them: "Japanese scholars have fixed them before us; what is wrong with following and using them?" He granted that some, such as 觀念 for idea and 直觀 for intuition, were imperfect, judged that new Chinese coinages would not improve on them, and preferred the Japanese 進化 (evolution) to Yan Fu's 天演. Yan Fu had made his own words for induction and deduction, 內籀 and 外籀, in the preface to his Tianyan lun, dated 1896 and printed with the book in 1898. Huang Kewu finds that by the 1920s Yan Fu's terms in general had lost to the Japanese ones.

Wang noted that the new school regulations of January 1904 followed the Japanese system. They left philosophy out of the university and placed 理學, the Neo-Confucian learning of principle, among the departments of classical studies. Wang answered in 1906 that the regulations' fundamental error "lies only in lacking the one field of philosophy" (其根本之誤何在。曰在缺哲學一科而已). Peking University's philosophy programme was founded in 1912 and took its first students in 1914, and it became the Department of Philosophy (哲學系) in 1919.

In the Euclid installment of this series, Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi gave the parts of a proof Chinese names in 1607: 界說 for definition, 求作 for postulate, 公論 for axiom, 題 for proposition and 論 for proof. Masahiro Ogawa notes that their words for figures are used as technical terms in China, Korea and Japan: 點 (point), 線 (line), 平行線 (parallel lines), 三角形 (triangle) and others. Their words for the structure of a proof are not. In Ogawa's words, they "were replaced by the Japanese words 定義 (teigi), 公準 (koujun), 公理 (kouri), 命題 (meidai) and 証明 (shoumei)", and in China 公設 stands for postulate. Two of those five, 定義 and 命題, first appear in Nishi's lectures of 1870–71. Ricci and Xu's words for figures passed from their Chinese book into Japanese and Korean, and about three centuries later two words first recorded in Nishi's lectures passed into Chinese and took the place of their words for the parts of a proof.

If you have worked with Nishi's manuscripts: does any draft of the Hyakuichi shinron earlier than the 1874 printing contain 哲學, or did the word enter the text after the 1870 lectures?

34.46° N, 131.77° E · Nishi Amane's former residence · Tsuwano

Section 620 terms

Vocabulary table

Japanese is romanized in Hepburn, with Meiji readings where they differ, and Chinese in Hanyu Pinyin. "First attested" means the earliest use the cited source records; it shows priority within that source's corpus and does not prove that no one used the word before. NKD is the Nihon kokugo daijiten (精選版, read on Kotobank); it cites the lectures as 百学連環 (1870‐71頃), the text of Nagami Yutaka's notes (Nishi's own outline, 百学連環覚書, also survives). Chinese forms are traditional, then simplified where they differ.

Reliably Nishi's: first recorded in his writing, with the sense he gave it

Term	Romanization	Meaning	Coiner	First attested work and date	Later use in Chinese	Status and source
希哲學	kitetsugaku	"the study that aspires to wisdom": philosophy	Nishi; Asō 1942 and Fujita 2012 suggest he devised it with Tsuda Mamichi	Postscript (跋) to Tsuda Mamichi's 性理論, 1861: 特（獨）至吾希哲學一科、則未見其人矣 (『西周全集』1:13, as Lin and Bian quote it); lecture draft for the Bansho shirabesho, 1862 (1:16–17)	None found	Dropped by 1870. Lin 2013, pp. 224–225 and nn. 7, 10, 13; Bian 2008, pp. 141–142
希賢學	kikengaku	"the study that aspires to be worthy", offered as the literal rendering	Nishi	百学連環, 1870–71: ヒロソヒーの直譯を希賢學となすも亦可なるへし (4:146)	None found	Never adopted. Lin 2013, n. 11; NKD 哲学語誌
哲學 / 哲学	tetsugaku; zhéxué	philosophy	Nishi	Letter 復某氏書, dated 1870 by its colophon (Sawai 2020, p. 65), 「大率孔孟の道、西洲の哲学に比して大同小異」 (1:305, quoted in Lin 2013, p. 226; Fujita, via Lin n. 20, calls it the first use); 百学連環, 1870–71 (4:145); explained in 生性發蘊, 1873 (1:31); in print in 百一新論, 1874 (preface dated 1 February 1874; text vol. 2, leaf 35 verso)	傅雲龍《游歷日本圖經》, printed in Japan, 1889: 「有所謂哲學者，西學中之性學也」; 黃遵憲《日本國志》, completed 1887, printed in the 1890s; 梁啟超 1899 glosses his own 智學 as 「日本謂之哲學」 and uses 哲學 by 1902; Peking University's philosophy programme, founded 1912, first students 1914. Lydia Liu lists it among Sino-Japanese-European loanwords (1995, App. B)	Standard in Japanese and Chinese. NDL scans; NKD; Feng 2010, pp. 244–245; Li Cunshan 2020
心理學 / 心理学	shinrigaku; xīnlǐxué	at first the sciences of mind in general; then "mental philosophy"; now psychology	Nishi	百学連環, 1870–71 (NKD sense 1); 心理学, Ministry of Education, 1875–76, headnote: メンタル・ヒロソヒー、爰ニ心理上ノ哲學ト翻シ、約メテ心理學ト譯ス (NDL scan; NKD)	Wang Guowei taught 心理 at the Nantong normal school after 1902 (Luo Zhenyu's biography); Liu 1995, App. E (seen in snippets)	Standard. Nishi kept 性理學 for psychology in 1874–75; from 1877 the terms were mixed until 心理学 named both (NKD 心理学語誌)
歸納 / 帰納	kinō; guīnà	induction	Nishi	百学連環, 1870–71: induction（帰納の法）(NKD); 致知啓蒙, 1874; 哲学字彙, 1881	Took the place of Yan Fu's 內籀 (天演論自序, dated 1896, printed 1898); Shen 2015 reports that Yan Fu equated the two in a lecture of 1906 (seen only in quotation; unverified). Liu 1995, App. B (seen in snippets)	Standard. NKD 帰納語誌; Feng 2010, p. 245 (in the 1881 dictionary as Nishi's)
演繹	en'eki; yǎnyì	deduction	Old Chinese verb "to draw out, expound" (朱熹, 中庸章句序); Nishi gave it the sense of deduction	百学連環, 1870–71: deduction 演繹の法 (NKD); paired with 帰納 in 致知啓蒙, 1874	Took the place of Yan Fu's 外籀 (天演論自序, dated 1896). Liu 1995, App. D, as a classical word given a new sense in Japan (seen in snippets)	Standard. NKD 演繹語誌
定義	teigi; dìngyì	definition	Nishi (earliest record); Ogawa: "a Japanese word … coined in the Meiji era"	百学連環, 1870–71: 而して其学に定義と云ふあり (NKD)	Replaced Ricci and Xu's 界說 (1607) in Chinese and Korean (Ogawa 2011, pp. 19–20). Not found in Liu's appendices in a snippet search	Standard
命題	meidai; mìngtí	proposition	Nishi (NKD 語誌: 「西周の考案による」)	百学連環, 1870–71 (with 演題 for syllogism); kept in 哲学字彙, 1881; general after 1887 (NKD)	Replaced Ricci and Xu's 題 (Ogawa 2011, p. 24, citing An 2007). Liu 1995, App. D, citing 王禹偁's 「命題立意」 (to set a theme) as the classical use (seen in snippets)	Standard
概念	gainen; gàiniàn	concept, notion	Nishi	致知啓蒙, 1874: 概念〔notion〕 (NKD)	Wang Guowei in 1905 counts it among the terms the Japanese had fixed: Conception之爲「概念」. Liu 1995, App. B (inferred from snippets)	Standard
觀念 / 観念	kannen; guānniàn	idea	Buddhist word for contemplation, given the sense "idea" by Nishi	生性發蘊, 1873: 観念の字は仏語に出づ、今此書には英のアイデア、仏のイデーなる語を訳す (NKD)	Wang Guowei 1905: Idea爲「觀念」, imperfect but better than the Chinese 想念. Liu 1995, App. D (seen in snippets)	Standard. NKD 観念語誌
主觀 / 主観	shukan; zhǔguān	subject, subjective	Nishi	心理学, vol. 2 of the first Ministry printing (1875–76; NDL pid 759706, canvas 32: 主觀、及客觀ナル語ヲ用井ル); listed as new in the translator's note of the second printing, 1878 (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3), which the NKD cites as 心理学 (1878)	余又蓀's list of Japanese-translated terms (via 高明珠 2012); Liu 1995, App. E (seen in snippets)	Standard. NKD; 世界大百科事典 (佐藤能丸)
客觀 / 客観	kakkan (Meiji), kyakkan; kèguān	object, objective	Nishi; in classical Chinese 客觀 meant a fine appearance	心理学, vol. 2 of the first printing (1875–76; NDL pid 759706, canvas 32); translator's note of the second printing, 1878 (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3): 致知家ノ術語觀念實在主觀客觀歸納演繹總合分解等ノ若キニ至リテハ大率新造ニ係ハル	余又蓀's list (via 高明珠 2012); Liu 1995, App. B (inferred from snippets)	Standard. NKD 客観語誌
理性	risei; lǐxìng	reason	Buddhist 理性 (rishō, the true nature of things), given the sense "reason"	致知啓蒙, 1874 (NKD); listed among the mostly new words in the 1878 translator's note (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3)	Standard in Chinese; the route was not checked (not found in Liu's appendices)	Standard
現象	genshō; xiànxiàng	phenomenon	Nishi (NKD 語誌)	利学, 1877, his translation of Mill's Utilitarianism (NKD); "Phenomenon 現象" on p. 66 of the 1881 哲学字彙	Standard in Chinese; the route was not checked	Standard; general after the 1881 哲学字彙 (NKD)
直覺 / 直覚	chokkaku; zhíjué	intuition	Nishi	致知啓蒙, 1874: 直覚、又無媒諦〔intuition〕 (NKD)	Wang Guowei used the later Japanese 直觀 in 1905	直観 later prevailed in philosophy translated from German; 直覚 stayed in translations from English (NKD 直観語誌)
致知學 / 致知学	chichigaku	logic	Nishi	百学連環, 1870–71 (NKD); title word of 致知啓蒙, 1874	Not used; Yan Fu wrote 名學	Replaced by 論理学
論理學 / 論理学	ronrigaku; lùnlǐxué	logic	Uncertain; the earliest NKD citation is Nishi's	明六雑誌 23, 1874, 「内地旅行」: 『ロジック』即ち論理学 (NKD)	Liu 1995, App. E (inferred from snippets); Yan Fu wrote 名學	Standard in Japanese
性理學 / 性理学	seirigaku	psychology, in Nishi's use; the Neo-Confucian study of nature and principle	Neo-Confucian word, reused	百一新論, 1874 (ピシコロジー); 生性發蘊, 1873; 心理学, 1875 (サイコロジー)	Chinese 性理學 keeps its Neo-Confucian sense; not used for psychology	Replaced by 心理学 from 1877 (NKD; Anzai 2019). 心理学 vol. 1 (1875; NDL pid 759705, canvas 20): 方今サイコロジー譯シテ性理學ト云フ語ヲ用井ル
善美學 / 美妙學 / 佳趣論	zenbigaku; bimyōgaku; kashuron	aesthetics	Nishi	百一新論, 1874 (善美學, エステチーキ); 美妙学説 (NKD dates it 1872; dating not checked)	none found	None spread (NKD 審美学語誌). 審美学 spread through Mori Ōgai's use from the late 1880s; Japanese now uses 美学 (first recorded in Nakae Chōmin, 1883–84)
百學連環 / 百学連環	hyakugaku renkan	"the linked circle of the hundred studies": encyclopedia	Nishi	title of the 1870 lectures (日本大百科全書)	none found	Not adopted as a common noun

Contested: old words Nishi listed as new, or words with a disputed first use

Term	Romanization	Meaning	Coiner	First attested work and date	Later use in Chinese	Status and source
實在 / 実在	jitsuzai	reality	Disputed. Nishi lists it as new, but the word is in 墨子 and in Nakamura Masanao's 西国立志編, 1870–71	Listed as new in the 心理学 translator's note, 1878 (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3); philosophical sense in NKD: 哲学字彙, 1881	route not checked	NKD 実在
總合 / 総合; 分解	sōgō; bunkai	synthesis; analysis	Disputed. Both are older words (詩経大序疏; 後漢書); Nishi used them as technical terms and listed them as new	心理学 translator's note, 1878 (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3)	route not checked	NKD 総合, 分解
悟性; 感性	gosei; kansei	understanding; sensibility	Disputed. Older words in other senses (悟性 "a clever nature", 百丈清規抄, 1462; 感性 "to be deeply moved", 1687); Nishi lists both among his mostly new words	心理学 translator's note, 1878 (NDL pid 759708, canvas 3: 理性感性覺性悟性等ノ若キ…大率新造ニ係ハル); the NKD's first citation for the philosophical sense is 哲学字彙, 1881	route not checked	NKD 悟性, 感性. Moved here from the table below by checking pass 1
美術	bijutsu; měishù	fine art	Uncertain	美妙学説, which NKD dates 1872	route not checked	NKD 美術; dating of 美妙学説 not checked

Commonly credited to Nishi, first recorded elsewhere

Term	Romanization	Meaning	Coiner	First attested work and date	Later use in Chinese	Status and source
科學 / 科学	kagaku; kēxué	science	Not established. Often credited to Nishi; NKD reads his 1874 use (知説, 明六雑誌 22) as "branches of learning" or a misprint, and notes that he wrote 学 for science	First secure use as "science": 哲学字彙, 1881 (NKD)	Liu 1995, App. D, as a classical word (陳亮's 「科學」, examination learning) given a new sense; Gao, Liu Zhengtan and Masini classify it differently (Liu's note)	NKD 科学語誌
技術	gijutsu	technique	Older word	史記貨殖列伝; 玉塵抄, 1563; 解体新書 preface, 1774 (NKD)	classical Chinese word (史記); later route not checked	Not Nishi's
藝術 / 芸術	geijutsu	arts and skills; later, art	Older word	続日本紀, entry for 703; 晋書芸術伝; the sense "art" settled about 1897 (NKD)	classical Chinese word (晉書); the modern sense in Chinese not traced here	Not Nishi's
意識	ishiki	consciousness	Buddhist term (the sixth consciousness)	宴曲集, about 1296; listed in 解体新書, 1774, and 哲学字彙, 1881 (NKD)	Buddhist Chinese word; Liu 1995, App. D, lists it as a classical word given a new sense (seen in snippets)	Not Nishi's. His 1878 translator's note puts 意識 among the words that 從來有ル所ニ從フ (follow existing usage)
知識; 知覺 / 知覚; 感覺 / 感覚	chishiki; chikaku; kankaku	knowledge; perception; sensation	Older words (Buddhist and classical; 感覚 perhaps a Dutch-learning coinage of the late 18th century, first cited 1810)	金剛場陀羅尼経 colophon, 686 (知識); 正法眼蔵随聞記, 1235–38 (知覚); 訳鍵, 1810 (感覚) (NKD)	older Chinese words; route not checked	Not Nishi's. His 1878 note also puts 知覺 among the existing words
倫理學 / 倫理学	rinrigaku; lúnlǐxué	ethics	Inoue Tetsujirō (NKD)	哲学字彙, 1881; "Ethical philosophy 倫理學" on its p. 66	Wang Guowei taught 倫理 at Nantong after 1902; Liu 1995, App. E (inferred)	Credited to Nishi by Anzai 2019; NKD gives it to Inoue
美學 / 美学	bigaku; měixué	aesthetics	Nakae Chōmin (earliest NKD citation)	維氏美学, his translation of Eugène Véron's L'Esthétique, Ministry of Education, 1883–84	Liu 1995, App. E (seen in snippets)	Credited to Nishi by Anzai 2019
形而上學 / 形而上学	keijijōgaku; xíng'érshàngxué	metaphysics	Not established; from 易経繫辞形而上者謂之道	哲学字彙, 1881 (NKD)	Liu 1995, App. E (seen in snippets)	Not recorded in Nishi. His 1875 心理学 renders metaphysics 無形理學 (vol. 1 headnote, NDL pid 759705, canvas 18)

The Euclid pair (Chinese series, 1607)

Ricci and Xu, 1607	Today in Chinese and Japanese	Note and source
界說 jièshuō, definition	定義 dìngyì / teigi	Ogawa 2011, pp. 19–20: "a Japanese word 定義 (teigi), which was coined in the Meiji era … has swept over China and Korea as well as Japan." First recorded in Nishi, 1870–71 (NKD)
題 tí, proposition	命題 mìngtí / meidai	Ogawa 2011, p. 24 (citing An 2007, pp. 112–3). First recorded in Nishi, 1870–71, and credited to him by NKD
公論 gōnglùn, axiom	公理 gōnglǐ / kōri	Ogawa 2011, p. 24. Not recorded in Nishi in the sources read
求作 qiúzuò, postulate	公設 gōngshè (China) / 公準 kōjun (Japan)	Ogawa 2011, p. 24 and n. 24
論 lùn, proof	證明 zhèngmíng / shōmei	Ogawa 2011, p. 24

Section 769 links

Sources

Primary texts

Nishi Amane 西周. 『百一新論』 2 vols. Published by Yamamoto Kakuma 山本覚馬 (山本覺馬藏版); colophon 明治六年八月官許、同七年三月彫成; title leaf 明治七年三月刊行; preface dated 明治七年二月一日. National Diet Library (NDL), call no. 特70-75: vol. 1 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753010 (doi:10.11501/753010), vol. 2 dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753011 (doi:10.11501/753011). Canvases read: vol. 1, 1–3; vol. 2, 31, 35–38. A second copy is at the University of Tsukuba Library (dc.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/s/pub_ja/document/rb_10076732760; not read)
Joseph Haven, trans. Nishi Amane. 『心理学』 3 vols. Tokyo: 文部省, 明治8–9 (1875–76); vol. 1 title leaf 明治八年四月. NDL call no. 特35-212: dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/759705 , /759706, /759707. Second Ministry printing, 『心理学』上・下, 明治11年2月–12年2月 (1878–79), NDL call no. 35-49: dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/759708 , /759709; the translator's note 心理學飜譯凡例 is on canvases 2–3 of 759708. Mori Ōgai's list of Nishi's works gives only this printing (西周伝, p. 157)
Nishi Amane. 『致知啓蒙』 2 vols. 瑞穂屋卯三郎, 1874 (title leaf 明治七年六月發兌). NDL call no. 特35-211: dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753066 , /753067 (not read in this lane)
Nishi Amane. 百学連環 (lectures at the Ikueisha from 1870; Nishi's 百学連環覚書 and Nagami Yutaka's notes), 生性發蘊 (manuscript, 1873), 復某氏書 (1870), the postscript to Tsuda Mamichi's 性理論 (1861), the letter to Matsuoka Rinjirō (1862) and the lecture draft for the Bansho shirabesho (1862). In Ōkubo Toshiaki 大久保利謙, ed., 『西周全集』 4 vols. 宗高書房, 1960–1981. Not seen: quoted here from Lin 2013, Bian 2008, Kosaka 2008, Harimoto 2019 and the NKD. The 百学連環 manuscript is in the NDL Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room, 永見裕関係文書 (filed as 西周関係文書 168–194), microfilm only: rnavi.ndl.go.jp/kensei/jp/nagamiyutaka.html
Nishi Amane. Letter in Dutch, "Aan den belanghebbenden", June 1863, written aboard the Ternate. Quoted in Kosaka 2008, p. 152; the original's holder was not identified
[Simon Vissering], trans. Nishi Amane. 『性法万国公法国法制産学政表口訣』. Manuscript, 西周関係文書 31a. NDL dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/3851067 (doi:10.11501/3851067)
Mori Ōgai 森鴎外. 『西周伝』. 西紳六郎, December 1898. NDL dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/781845 (doi:10.11501/781845). Includes the 西周年譜 (canvases 89–94) and the list 西周所著書目 (canvases 94–98); read in this pass through NDL's OCR text (lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/api/book/fulltext-json/781845) and checked on the page images where quoted
和田垣謙三 et al., eds. 『哲学字彙 : 附・清国音符』. 東京大学三学部, April 1881. NDL call no. 80-191(洋), dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/752942 (doi:10.11501/752942). 改訂増補 edition, 東洋館, 1884: dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/994560. Inoue Tetsujirō 井上哲次郎, 「我邦に於ける哲学術語の起原（其一）」, 『哲学雑誌』 45, no. 524 (October 1930), quoted in Zhu 2002, p. 100
『幕末名家寫眞集』第[1]集. [19--]. NDL call no. 寄別6-3-4-7, dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2575328 (canvas 15)
Eugène Véron, trans. Nakae Chōmin 中江兆民. 『維氏美学』 2 vols. 文部省編輯局, 1883–84. NDL records: ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/books/R100000039-I849694 , ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/en/books/R100000039-I849695
Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤. 《通書》志學第十. Chinese Wikisource: zh.wikisource.org/wiki/通書. Print: National Archives of Japan copy on Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NAJDA-298-0131_通書1.pdf (PDF page 16; a later impression of a 1666 Japanese printing, 刊本（後印），寛文06年; the archive's item: digital.archives.go.jp/item/4212197)
Fu Yunlong 傅雲龍. 《游歷日本圖經》. Japanese movable-type printing, 1889. Kansai University Library, 泊園文庫 LH2-2.03-2-9, juan 20下, leaf 17a; IIIF manifest iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/iiif/hakuen_bunko/002479052/manifest.json (image 0035); item page iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/hakuen_bunko/002479052 (catalogued as 游歴日本圖經, 1889, juan 20–22)
Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲. 《日本國志》 40 juan (completed 1887; printed in the 1890s), juan 32, 學術志一, leaf 16b. Internet Archive item 02087155.cn, page n78: archive.org/details/02087155.cn (a CADAL scan; reference only); National Library of China copy on Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC403-312001067264-5597_日本國志_清光緒16-22年(1890-1896)_卷三十三.pdf. 《清史稿》卷464, his biography (充使日參贊，著日本國誌上之朝): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/清史稿/卷464
Liang Qichao 梁啟超. 「論學日本文之益」 (《清議報》 10, 1899): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論學日本文之益; 「論學術之勢力左右世界」 (1902); 「近世第一大哲康德之學說」 (1903, 《新民叢報》 25): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/近世第一大哲康德之學說 , print on Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC404-01J000591-11681_新民叢報_1903年25期.pdf (page 29)
Wang Guowei 王國維. 「哲學辯惑」 (《教育世界》 55, July 1903), quoted in 楊冰 2013; 「教育雜感四則」 (1904): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/教育雜感四則; 「論新學語之輸入」 (《教育世界》 96, 1905, per Feng 2010, n. 16): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/論新學語之輸入 , print in 『靜庵文集』 on Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CADAL02106693_靜庵文集.djvu (from page 152; a CADAL scan, reference only); 「奏定經學科大學文學科大學章程書後」 (1906): text on Chinese Wikisource from 《東方雜誌》 3.6; 「自序」 (1907), his own account of his schooling: zh.wikisource.org/wiki/自序_(王國維)
張百熙, 張之洞 et al. 《奏定學堂章程》, 大學堂章程 (13 January 1904), Chinese Wikisource text (奏遵旨重定學堂章程妥籌辦法折 and its attachments), collated there with 《北京大學史料》 vol. 1
Yan Fu 嚴復. 《天演論》自序 (signed 光緒丙申重九, autumn 1896; printed with the book in 1898): zh.wikisource.org/wiki/天演論/自序
Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉. 「海甯王忠愨公傳」: zh.wikisource.org/wiki/海甯王忠愨公傳
Wilson to the Secretary of State, Tokyo, 3 January 1906, no. 364. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1906, part 2, pp. 1072–73: history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1906p2/d183
Jihe yuanben 幾何原本, Library of Congress / World Digital Library (the scan used by the jihe-yuanben film): loc.gov/item/2021666487/; vol. 1 loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_17216_001/?sp=8 and ?sp=23
University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology and Faculty of Letters, departmental chronology (PDF): l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/000005733.pdf
Peking University. 《北京大学本科培养方案（2023）·文科卷》, philosophy programme, p. 150: phil.pku.edu.cn/docs/2023-09/20230901145049447395.pdf
NDL, "Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures", Nishi Amane: ndl.go.jp/portrait/datas/309.html (English: ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/309.html) and Tsuda Mamichi: ndl.go.jp/portrait/datas/584.html; NDL Research Navi, 西周関係文書: rnavi.ndl.go.jp/kensei/jp/nishiamane.html
Agency for Cultural Affairs, 西周旧居 (National Historic Site): kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/401/2225

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

『精選版日本国語大辞典』 (Shogakukan), read on Kotobank, October 2026: 哲学 kotobank.jp/word/哲学-101028; the other entries used (科学, 技術, 芸術, 主観, 客観, 帰納, 演繹, 概念, 観念, 意識, 理性, 悟性, 感性, 定義, 命題, 現象, 実在, 心理学, 美学, 審美学, 美術, 論理学, 倫理学, 形而上学, 総合, 分解, 知識, 知覚, 感覚, 直覚, 直観, 致知学) are listed with their URLs in research/nkd-kotobank-extracts.txt
『日本大百科全書（ニッポニカ）』, entries 西周 and 百学連環 (渡辺和靖), 真景累ヶ淵 (関山和夫), 周敦頤 (大島晃); 『改訂新版世界大百科事典』, entries 西周 (佐藤能丸) and 哲学; 『ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典』, entry 西周; 『山川日本史小辞典』, entry 西周. Kotobank: kotobank.jp/word/西周-17327 , kotobank.jp/word/百学連環-612658 , kotobank.jp/word/周敦頤-77279
Van Veen, P. A. F., and N. van der Sijs. Etymologisch woordenboek. Van Dale, 1997, s.v. wijsbegeerte, via etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/wijsbegeerte
Also read on Kotobank in checking pass 1: デジタル大辞泉, 周敦頤 (1017–1073, 北宋, 字茂叔); 精選版日本国語大辞典, 三遊亭円朝 (真景累ケ淵 composed at 21, i.e. about 1859; later 素噺 and 速記本); デジタル大辞泉 and 改訂新版世界大百科事典, 梁啓超 (fled to Japan after the failed 戊戌 reforms, 1898); 世界大百科事典 (旧版), 井上円了 and 東洋大学 (the 哲学館 founded in 1887)

Scholarship

Harimoto Takashi 播本崇史. 「西周の「哲学」再考 ―『百一新論』と慶応年間の手記から―」. 『国際哲学研究』 8 (2019): 131–141. toyo.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/11065/files/kokusaitetsugakukenkyu8_131-141.pdf
Lin Meimao 林美茂. 「哲学か、それとも理学か ―西周の Philosophy 概念の翻訳問題をめぐって―」. 『アジア文化研究』 39 (2013): 223–236. icu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4203/files/ACS39_12Lin.pdf
Bian Chongdao 卞崇道, trans. Yu Chen 于臣. 「東アジアの哲学史上における西周思想の意義」. 『北東アジア研究』 14・15 (2008): 141–150. ushimane.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/1320/files/KJ00004750010.pdf
Kosaka Shirō 高坂史朗. 「西周の「哲学」と東アジアの学問」. 『北東アジア研究』 14・15 (2008): 151–167. ushimane.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/1321/files/KJ00004750011.pdf
Zhu Jingwei 朱京偉. 「明治期における近代哲学用語の成立 ―哲学辞典類による検証―」. 『日本語科学』 12 (2002): 96–127. doi:10.15084/00002093
Teshima Kunio 手島邦夫. 「西周の訳語の定着とその要因」. 『國語學』 52, no. 3 (2001): 91 (a conference abstract; read on CiNii). cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1570572702121978752. His other articles on Nishi's vocabulary are listed in research/scholarship-excerpts.txt (CiNii records only). Chinese edition: 手岛邦夫著, 刘家鑫编译. 《日本明治初期英语日译研究：启蒙思想家西周的汉字新造词》. 北京：中央编译出版社, 2013. ISBN 978-7-5117-1675-0 (not read)
Anzai Junko 安齊順子. 「西周と教育心理学の関係性」. Hosei University, 2019. hosei.ac.jp/application/files/4315/9219/1063/2019_04.pdf
Feng Tianyu 馮天瑜. 「"哲学"：汉字文化圈创译学科名目的范例」. In 鈴木貞美・劉建輝 eds., 『東アジア近代における概念と知の再編成』. Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 2010: 239–248. doi:10.15055/00002494 (the PDF's text layer is garbled; pp. 244, 245 and 248 were read on the page images)
Li Cunshan 李存山. 「中国哲学知识体系"古今之变"」. 《社科院专刊》 522, 3 July 2020. cass.cn/xueshuchengguo/wenzhexuebulishixuebu/202007/t20200703_5151044.shtml
Ogawa, Masahiro. "Xu Guangqi and the Chinese Translation of Euclid's Elements: Some Problems of Terminology and Their Cultural Context." HERSETEC 5, no. 1 (2011): 13–33. gcoe.lit.nagoya-u.ac.jp/result/pdf/5-1_小川(E).pdf
Liu, Lydia H. Translingual Practice. Stanford University Press, 1995. Appendixes A–G, pp. 265–378 (read only in Google Books snippets)
Masini, Federico. The Formation of Modern Chinese Lexicon and Its Evolution toward a National Language: The Period from 1840 to 1898. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 6. Berkeley, 1993. Chinese translation: 馬西尼著, 黃河清譯. 《現代漢語詞匯的形成：十九世紀漢語外來詞研究》. 漢語大詞典出版社, 1997 (glossary 附錄2; read only in Google Books snippets)
沈国威. Article in 『東アジア文化交渉研究』 2 (Kansai University, 2009), n. 30, for the date of Liang's essay (title not recorded; check); and 《严复与科学》. 关西大学中国语教材研究会, 2015 (read only in quotation)
黃克武. 〈新名詞之戰：清末嚴復譯語與和製漢語的競賽〉. 《中央研究院近代史研究所集刊》 62 (2008): 1–42. doi:10.6353/BIMHAS.200812.0001 (abstract read)
楊冰. 「桑木嚴翼的《哲學概論》（1901年）對王國維早期哲學思想的影響：以王國維的《哲學辯惑》（1903年）、《論新學語之輸入》（1905年）的分析為中心」. 『人文学論集』 31 (2013): 1–11. doi:10.24729/00004363 , omu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/4370/files/2013000056.pdf (read only for its quotations of 「哲學辯惑」, p. 2)
韓立冬. 「「五校特約」下の一高特設予科 : 修了者の進路を中心に」. 『アジア地域文化研究』 9 (2013): 46–. repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/record/37347/files/acb009003.pdf (read only for the figure of 13 students in 1896, p. 46)
Sawai Keiichi 澤井啓一. 「西周と儒学・国学」. 『北東アジア研究』 31 (2020): 59–75. ushimane.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/1935 (for the date of 復某氏書, p. 65)
高明珠. Article in 『同志社政策科学研究』 14, no. 1 (2012): 93–109 (title not recorded; read only for the loanword counts)
沈衛威. Article in 《文藝研究》 2017, no. 11 (title not recorded; read only for the Peking University dates)
Miyanaga Takashi 宮永孝. 「オランダにある幕末維新史料：とくに日本海軍留学生の記事」 (研究ノート). 『社会労働研究』 34 (1988): 57–130. doi:10.15002/00006808 (for Nishi's admission to the Leiden lodge on 20 October 1864; not read in this lane)
Osaka Prefectural Central Library. Reference topic 「哲学の「哲」ってなんでしょう」, 2021, summarizing 石井雅巳『西周と「哲学」の誕生』 (堀之内出版, 2019), pp. 28–29: library.pref.osaka.jp/uploaded/attachment/7086.pdf
Doshisha University. Speeches at the unveiling of the Yamamoto Kakuma and Niijima Yae birthplace monument, 1989: doshisha.ac.jp/attach/page/OFFICIAL-PAGE-JA-324/140204/file/88YamamaotoKakuma.pdf
Yu Wujin 俞吾金. 「哲学何谓？」 (lecture at Beijing Normal University), reporting Chen Qiwei's 陈启伟「"哲学"译名考」: aisixiang.com/data/51902.html (Chen's article was not found)
Further reading, identifiers confirmed, not cited for any claim above: Havens, Thomas R. H. Nishi Amane and Modern Japanese Thought. Princeton University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-691-03080-4; doi:10.1515/9781400869428. 山本貴光『「百学連環」を読む』三省堂, 2016. 石井雅巳『西周と「哲学」の誕生』堀之内出版, 2019. 麻生義輝『近世日本哲学史』近藤書店, 1942. 『新編西周全集』 (2025–, vol. 3 edited by Teshima Kunio and others)

Rights

NDL items (百一新論, both printings of 心理学, 致知啓蒙, 哲学字彙 1881 and 1884, 西周伝, 幕末名家寫眞集, the Vissering manuscript): each manifest reads "Access Restrictions : PDM", and each item's API record (checked in checking pass 1) gives the rights code pdm, which NDL's own label table maps to インターネット公開（保護期間満了）; no single frame has its own status. NDL's reproduction page (ndl.go.jp/use/reproduction; English ndl.go.jp/en/use/reproduction , section 2.1) says such material is in the public domain and may be reused freely without applying, and asks reusers to name the NDL website as the source. The manifests' attribution field is "国立国会図書館 National Diet Library, JAPAN". 『西周哲学著作集』 (1933, pid 1176475) is not open.
NDL portrait site (ndl.go.jp/portrait/about): its portrait images are public domain and may be reused, including commercially, without applying; the requested credit is "出典：国立国会図書館「近代日本人の肖像」 (ndl.go.jp/portrait/)", in English "Source: Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures (ndl.go.jp/portrait/)".
Kansai University Library, 游歷日本圖經: the IIIF manifest gives the Public Domain Mark 1.0 and the attribution "関西大学アジア・オープン・リサーチセンター[KU-ORCAS]"; the reuse page (iiif.ku-orcas.kansai-u.ac.jp/reuse) allows commercial and non-commercial use without permission and asks for a credit naming 関西大学デジタルアーカイブ with the item URL, and a note of any change.
Internet Archive 02087155.cn (日本國志) and Commons "CADAL02106693 靜庵文集.djvu": CADAL scans (Peking University Library). The Internet Archive item has no rights statement; the Commons file is tagged PD-old. CADAL's own 版权声明 opens its resources only for non-commercial fair use and forbids commercial use and bulk download. The texts are long out of copyright, but keep these two scans out of the film: use the National Library of China copy of 日本國志 on Commons (PD-scan, PD-old-100-expired, watermark tag) and set Wang's sentence as type.
National Archives of Japan Digital Archive (the Tongshu): digital.archives.go.jp/secondary-use allows reuse, commercial included, without applying; mark any change; recommended credit 国立公文書館所蔵, with the item's name and URI (digital.archives.go.jp/item/4212197). The Commons file is tagged PD-old with no US tag.
Library of Congress / World Digital Library (Jihe yuanben): "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection…" (verbatim in films/jihe-yuanben/assets/SOURCES-zh.md, fetched 2026-10-02). Checking pass 1 could not reopen loc.gov, which now answers with a bot check.
Other Commons files, each read on its own page in checking pass 1: 新民叢報 1903年25期 (PD-scan, PD-China-1996); "Portrait of Mr. Amane Nishi (taken in 1880).jpg" (PD-Japan-oldphoto; date field "unknown"; the same photograph as the portrait site's 0309_1); "Nishi Amane by Takahashi Yuichi 1893 (Tsuwano).jpg" (PD-Art; 428 × 644 px; source blog closed); "Nishi Amane poststamp.jpg" (PD-Japan-organization with Not-PD-US-URAA: do not use); "TSUDA Mamichi.jpg" (PD-Japan-oldphoto; identical to the portrait site's 0584_1); the eight Tsuwano residence files (CC BY-SA 4.0); the Shiseidō panoramio file (CC BY 3.0, koji_h); the Vissering engraving photograph (CC0 on Commons; the Noord-Hollands Archief asks for a credit) and the Rijksmuseum lithograph (CC0 on Commons; public domain mark on the museum's page).
Texts quoted from Chinese Wikisource (the Tongshu, Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Yan Fu, Luo Zhenyu, 《清史稿》, the 1904 regulations) are public domain. Wikisource transcriptions are CC BY-SA; quote briefly and set the text as type.
In copyright: 『西周全集』 as an edition (1960–81), the 1933 『西周哲学著作集』, and all modern scholarship cited; quote briefly as type and credit. Waseda University Library's images (the Nishi calligraphy scroll bunko08 B0174, a 致知啓蒙 copy) require an application before publication; prefer the NDL copies.

Section 856 items

Fact-check list

Verified against a primary or scholarly source

Nishi Amane: born 文政12年2月3日 (7 March 1829) in Tsuwano, son of a domain physician; died 31 January 1897 at Ōiso; made a baron in January 1897 (NDL portrait page 309; NDL Research Navi, 西周関係文書; ブリタニカ国際大百科事典). Japanese Wikipedia gives 1 February as the official date of death; the brief uses 31 January.
Trained in Confucian learning and taught at the domain school; went to Edo in 1853; left his domain's service (脱藩) in 1854 to study Dutch and then English, with Tezuka Ritsuzō and Nakahama Manjirō; assistant instructor (教授手伝並) at the Bansho shirabesho from 1857 (日本大百科全書; ブリタニカ; NDL portrait page).
Sent to the Netherlands with Tsuda Mamichi: left Shinagawa on the 18th day of the 6th month of Bunkyū 2 (1862); reached the Netherlands on the 18th day of the 4th month of Bunkyū 3, which is 4 June 1863 (Kosaka 2008, pp. 151–152, gives the lunar date and converts it to 3 June; checking pass 1 recomputed it from the new moon of 18 May 1863, Kyoto time, and the anchor 文久3年5月10日 = 25 June 1863). Studied with Simon Vissering, professor at Leiden, until 1865 (山川日本史小辞典; NDL portrait pages 309 and 584). The five subjects are those named in the title of Nishi's manuscript translation of Vissering's lectures, 性法万国公法国法制産学政表口訣 (NDL pid 3851067).
Adviser to Tokugawa Yoshinobu in Kyoto from 1866, with a private school there; head of the Numazu military academy, 1868; the military ministry (兵部省) from 1870; the Ikueisha and the 百学連環 lectures from 1870; founding member of the Meirokusha, 1873; first draft of the Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors, 1880 (日本大百科全書; 改訂新版世界大百科事典, 佐藤能丸: 「80年には〈軍人勅諭〉の初稿を起案」; NDL portrait page). Mori Ōgai's chronology (『西周伝』, 1898) confirms the dates of the Netherlands voyage (1862), the return (1865), Numazu (1868), the military ministry (1870), the House of Peers (1890–91), and the barony on 29 January 1897 and death on 31 January 1897 at Ōiso (NDL pid 781845, canvases 87–94). The Ikueisha opened on the 4th day of the 11th month of Meiji 3 (late 1870) in Nishi's house at Asakusa Torigoe Misujimachi, at Nagami Yutaka's request (same, canvases 76 and 92).
希哲學 in the 1861 postscript to Tsuda's 性理論, quoted from 『西周全集』1:13 by two scholars, both as 特（獨）至吾希哲學一科、則未見其人矣 (Lin 2013, n. 7, which also gives 諸術（科） and 希哲学（ヒロソヒ）; Bian 2008, pp. 141–142). The script's caption starts at 至.
The 1862 letter to Matsuoka Rinjirō, dated 文久二年五月十五日 (Harimoto 2019, p. 132; Kosaka 2008, p. 152) (西洋之性理學; ヒロソヒ之學; 程朱ニも軼き; Mori Ōgai's 1898 quotation of the same letter prints 「フイロソフイア」(Philosophia)之學 for ヒロソヒ之學, NDL pid 781845, canvas 45), and the 1862 lecture draft that glosses the philosopher as "賢徳を愛する人" and ties it to 希賢 and 希哲学; the draft was never delivered because of the order to go abroad (Lin 2013, pp. 224–225 and nn. 8–10, citing 全集 1:8, 1:16–17 and Asō 1942, pp. 40–42; Kosaka 2008, p. 151).
The 1863 Dutch letter: "het gebied van wetenschappen … hetwelk Philosophie of wijsbegeerte geheeten wordt" (Kosaka 2008, p. 152). Wijsbegeerte is literally "striving for wisdom" and translates philosophia (Van Veen and Van der Sijs 1997). Watanabe Kazan wrote ウェースベーゲルデ in 1839 (Kosaka 2008, p. 153).
《通書》志學第十: 聖希天，賢希聖，士希賢 (Wikisource). Zhou Dunyi, 1017–1073, Northern Song, courtesy name 茂叔 (デジタル大辞泉, NKD and 日本大百科全書 on Kotobank).
百学連環: lectured from 1870 at the Ikueisha; it survives in Nishi's own notes (百学連環覚書) and in Nagami Yutaka's lecture notes; the title renders "encyclopedia" (日本大百科全書; Ōgai, 西周伝, canvas 80: 「別にEncyclopaediaの講筵を開く。所謂百學連環是なり」). It glosses Philosophy as 哲学 and calls 希賢學 a possible direct translation (Lin 2013, nn. 11, 20, citing 全集 4:145–146; NKD 哲学語誌). Nagami was Nishi's student and son-in-law (NDL Research Navi, 永見裕関係文書).
The 1873 note in 生性發蘊 (理學理論ナト譯スルヲ直譯トスレドモ、他ニ紛ルヿ多キ爲メニ今哲學ト譯シ東洲ノ儒學ニ分ツ), quoted from 全集 1:31 by Harimoto 2019 (n. 3), Bian 2008 (p. 143) and Kosaka 2008 (p. 154). Bian dates the manuscript 1871–73 (and once calls the note 1871); Kosaka and the NKD give 1873. Zhu Xi's school was the official learning of the shogunate (Harimoto 2019, pp. 131–132); Nakae Chōmin's 理学鉤玄 (1886) still used 理学 for philosophy (Feng 2010, p. 245).
百一新論, read on the NDL scans: title leaf 明治七年三月刊行; colophon 明治六年八月官許 / 同七年三月彫成 / 山本覺馬藏版; preface dated 明治七年二月一日, composed by Yamamoto Kakuma and written out by Nanma Tsunanori, with 哲學 on its first page (由哲學明政教之所別) and its second (且能明哲學者，我邦未嘗聞有其人也); vol. 2, leaf 35 recto lists 人性學, 生理學, 性理學 (ピシコロジー), 人種學, 神理學 and 善美學 (エステチーキ) and ends ヒロソヒー譯シテ; leaf 35 verso opens 哲學ト名ケ and is the last page of text. Feng 2010 (p. 244) reads the preface the same way. NDL's OCR of both volumes (lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/api/book/fulltext-json/753010 and /753011) finds 哲學 in the dialogue only on vol. 2, canvas 36 (three times), and ヒロソヒー only at the foot of canvas 35, which supports "the word comes on the last page" (OCR can miss a word; Harimoto 2019, p. 131, says the word appears 唐突に near the end).
Yamamoto Kakuma: former Aizu retainer, living in Kyoto, blind after an eye injury in the 1864 Hamaguri Gate fighting and later disease, gave land for Doshisha in 1876 (Harimoto 2019, p. 133; Doshisha 1989).
The earliest recorded uses in 百学連環 (1870–71) of 帰納, 演繹 (as deduction), 定義 and 命題, and the NKD's attribution of 命題 to Nishi; 致知学 for logic in the same notes (NKD entries).
概念, 理性 (as reason) and 直覚 in 致知啓蒙, 1874; 観念 as "idea" in 生性發蘊, 1873, with Nishi's note on its Buddhist origin; 現象 in 利学, 1877 (NKD). "Phenomenon 現象", "Philosophy 哲學", "Philosopher 哲學士" and "Mental philosophy 心理學" on p. 66 of the 1881 哲学字彙 (NDL pid 752942, canvas 36).
心理学: Ministry of Education, vol. 1 dated April 1875; the headnote メンタル・ヒロソヒー、爰ニ心理上ノ哲學ト翻シ、約メテ心 / 理學ト譯ス、此學如何ヲ論ス (NDL pid 759705, canvases 17–18; NKD). In the same volume 性理學 is the word for psychology: 方今サイコロジー譯シテ性理學ト云フ語ヲ用井ル (canvas 20). From 1877 the two terms were mixed until 心理学 named both (NKD 心理学語誌; 百一新論 vol. 2, leaf 35 recto). The Ministry printed the translation twice: three volumes, April 1875 to September 1876 (NDL 759705–759707), and 上・下, February 1878 to February 1879 (NDL 759708–759709); Mori Ōgai dates the completion of the translation to February 1879 (西周伝, canvas 81).
The translator's note, 心理學飜譯凡例, in the second printing (NDL pid 759708, canvases 2–3, read on the scan): 知覺記性意識想像等ノ若キハ從來有ル所ニ從フト雖モ理性感性覺性悟性等ノ若キ又致知家ノ術語觀念實在主觀客觀歸納演繹總合分解等ノ若キニ至リテハ大率新造ニ係ハル (NKD 客観 quotes the second half; Anzai 2019, p. 25). 主觀 and 客觀 are already in vol. 2 of the first printing (NDL pid 759706, canvas 32).
Not Nishi's: 技術, 芸術, 意識, 知識, 知覚, 感覚 (older words; Nishi's 1878 note itself puts 意識 and 知覚 among the existing words); 倫理学 (the NKD gives it to Inoue, 1881); 美学 (first recorded in Nakae, 1883–84, a translation of Véron); 形而上学 (哲学字彙, 1881; Nishi's 1875 心理学 has 無形理學 for metaphysics, NDL pid 759705, canvas 18); 科学 (first secure use as "science" in 1881) (NKD entries). 悟性 and 感性, listed here before checking pass 1, are in Nishi's 1878 note (item 16) and moved to the contested table in section 3.
Tokyo University, Faculty of Letters: 1877 史学，哲学及政治学科; 1879 哲学政治学及理財学科; September 1881 哲学科 (University of Tokyo PDF). The faculties of law, science and letters were at Kanda Nishikichō from 1877 (helper pass, from Japanese Wikipedia).
哲学字彙, April 1881, printed by 東京大学三学部 (the NDL record names 和田垣謙三等編); 2,437 entries; Inoue Tetsujirō's 1930 account says he was always at the centre of the compiling, with others' help, and that Nishi was "skilled at coining words" (Zhu 2002, pp. 99–100). It took over many of Nishi's terms, especially from 心理学 (Teshima 2001; Zhu 2002; Feng 2010, p. 245). Teshima's factors, from his abstract on CiNii: precision and modernity; many ruby glosses giving the source word; many notes on meaning and reasons; adoption by the 1881 哲学字彙 and through it the second 英和字彙; and 「アカデミズムにおける西周自身の権威」, shown with reference to Tokyo University's new 哲学科. Nishi held no post at Tokyo University.
Zhu took 881 basic terms from nine Japanese dictionaries of philosophy (1881 to 1974) and traced 503 of them to Nishi's writings or the first 哲学字彙; of the 503, 250 have a precedent in Chinese texts and 253 do not (Zhu 2002, table 2, §4 and table 16).
傅雲龍《游歷日本圖經》 (printed in Japan, 1889), juan 20下, the preface to 雜學校科表: 「有所謂哲學者，西學中之性學也」 (Kansai University scan, image 0035; Feng 2010, p. 245).
黃遵憲《日本國志》, completed 1887, juan 32 學術志一, leaf 16b: 理學分爲五科… / 文學分爲二科一哲學（謂講明道義）政治學及理財學科二和漢文學科, with 爲 as printed and 謂講明道義 as a small interlinear note (Internet Archive 02087155.cn, page n78; NLC copy on Commons, PDF page 18; Feng 2010, p. 245). Huang served as counsellor at the legation in Japan (《清史稿》卷464: 充使日參贊，著《日本國誌》上之朝). 黃慶澄 1893 and 康有為 1898 as reported by Feng 2010, p. 245 (「介绍德国大学所设科目，列"哲学"一目」); Li Cunshan 2020 quotes Kang's words on German universities, 「其教凡經學、哲學、律學、醫學四科」. Feng (p. 245) also notes that 顧厚焜's 《日本新政考》 (1888) mentions Tokyo University's 哲學科.
Liang Qichao, 「論學日本文之益」 (1899): Japan's several thousand translated and written books; 智學（日本謂之哲學）; 「學日本文者，數日而小成，數月而大成，日本之學，已盡為我有矣」 (Wikisource; the date and journal per 沈国威 2009, n. 30). 「論學術之勢力左右世界」 (1902) uses 哲學 (Wikisource, via the helper pass), and Feng 2010 (p. 245) gives 「論宗教家與哲學家之長短得失」 (1902). The 1903 Kant essay opens with the 四聖 rite at Japan's 哲學館 (Wikisource; the 哲学館 was Inoue Enryō's school of philosophy, founded 1887, 世界大百科事典 on Kotobank). Liang fled to Japan after the failed 戊戌 reforms of 1898 (デジタル大辞泉; 世界大百科事典).
Chinese students: 13 sent by the Qing government in 1896 (韓立冬 2013, p. 46: 「1896 年，清政府より派遣された 13 名の留学生」); "Last summer the number was estimated at 5,000 … In November the number is said to have reached 8,000" (Chargé Wilson, Tokyo, 3 January 1906, no. 364, FRUS 1906, part 2, pp. 1072–73).
Wang Guowei: studied Japanese at Luo Zhenyu's school in Shanghai from 1898, studied at a physics school in Tokyo, came home ill, then taught 哲學、心理、倫理 at the Nantong normal school (Luo Zhenyu, 「海甯王忠愨公傳」, Wikisource). How long he stayed in Japan: Luo says he left in the autumn of 1901 and came back after a year (明年秋，公東渡留學日本物理學校。期年，以腳氣歸); Wang's own 「自序」 (1907) says 晝習英文，夜至物理學校習數學。留東京四五月而病作，遂以是夏歸國 (four or five months). The post follows Wang.
Wang Guowei, 1905: 「而日本之學者，既先我而定之矣，則沿而用之，何不可之有？」; his discussion of 觀念 (Idea), 直觀 (Intuition) and 概念 (Conception), and of Yan Fu's 天演 against 進化 (「論新學語之輸入」, Wikisource; 《教育世界》 96, 1905, per Feng 2010, n. 16). Wang, 1903: 「哲學之語實自日本始。日本稱自然科學曰理學，故不譯費祿瑣非亞為理學，而譯曰哲學」 (「哲學辯惑」, 《教育世界》 55, July 1903, as quoted by 楊冰 2013, p. 2); Feng 2010 (p. 248) calls the reasoning a slip, since in Japan 理學 meant philosophy first and became the name for natural science only after Nishi's 哲學.
Wang Guowei, 1906: 「其根本之誤何在。曰在缺哲學一科而已」, and 「今經學科大學中。雖附設理學一門」 (「奏定經學科大學文學科大學章程書後」, 《東方雜誌》 3.6, 16 July 1906, Wikisource). The 1904 regulations place 理學 among the departments of classical studies and mention 哲學 only for Japan (Wikisource text of the 大學堂章程, read by the helper pass). Wang, 1904: the regulations follow the Japanese system but 「削除哲學一科，而以理學科代之」 (「教育雜感四則」, Wikisource).
Yan Fu's 內籀 and 外籀 (天演論自序, Wikisource; the preface is signed 光緒丙申重九, autumn 1896, and was printed with the book in 1898). Huang Kewu 2008 (abstract): 「至1920年代勝負已判，日譯新名詞可谓得勝」.
Peking University: philosophy programme founded 1912, first students 1914 (PKU 2023 programme document); 哲學系 from 1919 (沈衛威 2017, via the helper pass; Bian 2008, pp. 146–147).
Ogawa 2011, pp. 19–20 and 24 with n. 24, as quoted in sections 2 and 3. Ogawa does not name Nishi; the link to Nishi is the NKD's first citations for 定義 and 命題.
Nishi was admitted to the Leiden lodge La Vertu on 20 October 1864 (Miyanaga 1988, via the helper pass). Not used in the script or post.

Contested, flag in the post or caption

Who devised 希哲學: Nishi, or Nishi with Tsuda (Asō 1942, p. 46; Fujita 2012, as reported by Lin 2013, n. 13). The script credits Nishi; the caption names Tsuda's essay.
Whether the Dutch wijsbegeerte shaped 希哲學 (Lin 2013, pp. 224–225: 「考えられる」). The post reports it as Lin's suggestion.
Why Nishi dropped 希. He gave no reason (Ishii 2019, pp. 28–29, as summarized by the Osaka Prefectural Library); Bian 2008 (p. 144) offers one interpretation. The film says only that he dropped it.
The date of the 百一新論 manuscript: based on Kyoto lectures of 1866–67 (日本大百科全書; Bian 2008: 「１８６６−１８６７年執筆」) against "not known" (Harimoto 2019, pp. 132–133). Mori Ōgai's 1898 list of Nishi's works says 「京都に在る時の著なり。稿本なし」 (written while he was in Kyoto; no manuscript) (NDL pid 781845, canvas 98). The film dates only the printing.
The NKD's earliest citation for 哲学 is 真景累ケ淵, dated "1869頃", with the words 「是は今申す哲学といふ様なもので」. The tale was composed about 1859, retitled after 1872 and printed from shorthand (日本大百科全書; the NKD's own entry for 三遊亭円朝 has him compose it at 21, i.e. about 1859, and later publish 速記本); the words "what we now call philosophy" read as a later telling. The brief treats 1874 as the first printing.
That 復某氏書 is Nishi's first written 哲学 (Fujita, via Lin 2013, n. 20). Fujita's article was not read. The letter's date is now verified: its colophon dates it to 明治三年 (1870), written in Tsuwano (Sawai 2020, p. 65), and it uses 哲学 (全集 1:305, quoted in Lin 2013, p. 226). Lin reads 百学連環 as no longer using 希哲学, while the NKD's 哲学語誌 says Nishi tried 希哲学 and 希賢学 there; the script's "By 1870 he had dropped the first character" rests on the dated letter.
Resolved by checking pass 1: the Ministry printed Nishi's 心理学 twice, in 1875–76 (NDL 759705–759707) and in 1878–79 (NDL 759708–759709); the NKD's and Zhu's "1878" is the second printing.
論理学: the earliest NKD citation is Nishi's 1874 article; the coiner is not established.
実在, 総合 and 分解: Nishi listed them as new, but all three occur earlier (NKD).
The printing date of 日本國志: 1895 (Feng 2010; Li Cunshan 2020); the National Library of China copy is catalogued 光緒16–22 (1890–1896). The post says "printed only in the 1890s" and gives 1895 as Feng's and Li's date.
The first appearance of 哲學 in Chinese: 1889 (傅雲龍, printed in Japan; Feng 2010 and the Kansai scan) against "1895" (Li Cunshan 2020) and "1901" (Bian 2008, which Feng's earlier cases contradict). The script says "In 1889" without "first".
Peking University: Feng 2010 (p. 248) says a 理學門 was renamed 哲學門 in 1914; PKU and 沈衛威 give a 哲學門 founded in 1912. The post follows PKU.

Also contested, no change to the script: 科学 is credited to Nishi in popular lists (for example the 清水書院 ethics reference cited by Japanese Wikipedia), and 倫理学 and 美学 by Anzai 2019; the NKD rejects all three.

Unverified, check before publishing

Resolved by checking pass 1, see item 16: the note is the 心理學飜譯凡例 of the 1878–79 printing (NDL pid 759708, canvases 2–3). It is not in any of the three volumes of the 1875–76 printing (OCR search of pids 759705–759707).
Teshima Kunio's count of 1,325 two-character terms in Nishi's works, about 310 of them new, reported in 中國文哲研究通訊 84 (the server refused connections). Not used.
Whether any Meiroku zasshi article of March or April 1874 printed 哲学 before the book did (the journal began in March or April 1874; issues 22–23 are not open on NDL).
Where the 1863 Dutch letter is held (the Vissering papers; NDL holds copies of Vissering material, 憲政資料室収集文書 1260).
Whether 相應齋 on the title leaf is Yamamoto Kakuma's studio name.
Masini's first attestations for 哲學 and the other terms (the 1997 Chinese edition was seen only in snippets), and Lydia Liu's appendix rows, which were read only in Google Books snippets; Liu's rows for 概念, 客觀, 倫理學 and 論理學 are inferred from the snippet layout.
Kang Youwei's 1898 memorial read in the original (Li Cunshan 2020 quotes 「其教凡經學、哲學、律學、醫學四科」; the memorial itself was not opened); Cai Yuanpei's 「丁戊之間，乃治哲學」 and his 1903 哲學要領 as a translation of Koeber's lectures by way of 下田次郎 (Feng 2010, p. 246 only); the 1913 大學規程's listing of 哲學 (Bian 2008 only).
Shen Guowei's account of Yan Fu's 1906 lecture equating 內籀 and 外籀 with 歸納 and 演繹 (seen only in quotation; checking pass 1 could not find the lecture or Shen's book, and cut the sentence from the post); Liang Qichao's 1897 list in 《時務報》 45 (seen only as quoted by 沈国威 2009).
Resolved by checking pass 1: the Tongshu print is a later impression of a 1666 Japanese printing, and the National Archives of Japan allow reuse with a credit; the Wang Guowei (CADAL) and Liang Qichao prints on Commons were opened and show the cited pages (see Image notes and Rights).
Korean 철학 and Vietnamese triết học as borrowings of 哲學: not researched. The script leaves Korean out; Korean writes the word in Hangul, so "these two characters" would not apply.
That the 百学連環 lectures used 藝術 for the liberal arts and 技術 for the mechanical arts (seen only in popular summaries). Not used.
The site of the Bansho shirabesho in 1861 (Ogawamachi, not located; Ōgai's chronology dates the move there to 1861, not 1860), Nishi's house and school (Ōgai: in 1870 he lived at Asakusa Torigoe Misujimachi, where the Ikueisha opened, and moved to Kanda Nishi-Ogawamachi in 1871; whether the school moved with him is not known; NDL pid 781845, canvases 76 and 92), Vissering's house number on the Rapenburg and the place of the lessons, and the location of Nishi's 1867 school in Kyoto (see the coordinates).
Added by checking pass 1: the reading 特（獨） in the 1861 postscript (both Lin and Bian print it; what the manuscript has was not seen), and the 1862 letter's word for philosophy (ヒロソヒ in the 全集 as quoted by Lin and Kosaka; 「フイロソフイア」(Philosophia) in Ōgai's 1898 quotation). The script's captions avoid both; the post follows the 全集 readings as the scholars quote them.