Confucianism developed not as a religion but rather as a study, and from the beginning to the middle of Edo period, the doctrines of Zhu Xi (the shushigaku school) and the teaching of Wan Yangming (the yomeigaku school) became popular.
儒教は日本においてはむしろ儒学として発展し、江戸時代初期から中頃にかけて朱子学や陽明学が盛んになった。