Throughout the Edo period, Ju-kyo took root in Japan mainly in the samurai family class, impacting Mitogaku and so on, and eventually connected to the thought of Sonno Joi (reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners) to become one of the driving forces behind the Meiji Restoration.
江戸時代を通して、武家層を中心として儒教は日本に定着し、水戸学などにも影響、やがて尊皇攘夷思想に結びついて明治維新への原動力の一つとなった。