In the 16th year of the Mikado (285 A.D.), a Chinese court academician was sent to Japan to present copies of Lun Yu (The Analects of Confucius) and a copy of Qian Zi Wen (An Article of a Thousand Words), marking the introduction of Confucianism in the country.The government and the public quickly accepted the teachings.

During the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and Tang Dynasty (618-907), many Japanese students were sent to China to study Confucianism. Among them was an expert in Confucianism, who had studied in China for decades. In line with Confucius's theory about a unified domain, he strongly proposed to carry out a reform in his native land. As a result, Japan successfully achieved the transition from a slave-oriented society to a feudal society.

In the following 200 years, great efforts were made in the country to develop national education based on Confucianism Schools were set up to spread the thought of the sage and temples were built in memory of Confucius. Confucius's teachings enjoyed unprecedented popularity in academic circles during the Edo period.

Confucianism has gradually become part of the national culture. It has influenced nearly every field of social life in Japan, especially people's moral concepts and views concerning education.

Apart from China, the study of Confucianism has best developed in Japan over the past 30 years. Nowadays, quite a number of businessmen in the country attribute a lot of their success to the influence of Confucius's teachings.