The Huang Kan Commentary on the Analects: A Critical Examination

This article discusses changes in the legacy of the Huang Kan 皇侃 (488–545) commentary on the Analects, or the Lunyu yishu 論語義疏, and outlines its textual history in China, specifically its bibliography and the various extant and nonextant editions. The author also examines the transmission and reception of the text in Japan, the ancient handwritten copies currently available, and the origin, back-transmission, and reprinting of the Nemoto edition. Lastly, a summary of Qing-era research into the Huang Kan commentary is presented from a philological history perspective, as well as studies by Japanese scholars that attempt to restore collations of the text and studies that compare ancient handwritten copies from Japan with those from Dunhuang. The reliability of recent Japanese studies that have attempted to examine the features of the Huang Kan commentary by making use of compilations of lost texts are also scrutinized.