“阳明学”是日本人独创的近代学科名称。 “日本阳明学”是 １９ 世纪末一些日本人借用 ４００ 年前中国明代思想家王守仁的号“阳明”在日本发动的一场社会运动。 这一社会运动的发生原因复杂，学术虚构颇多。 这个运动和被简称为“阳明学”的王阳明哲学思想研究在名称上有着类似性，但前者是社会运动，后者是学术研究。 战后日本的中国哲学史领域里的王阳明哲学思想研究成果丰盛，也简称“阳明学”，但是和社会运动“日本阳明学”有着本质上的区别。

“Japanese Yomeigaku” refers to a social movement in Japan in the late 19th century in the name of WANG Yang-ming. The movement had complicated causes and lots of academic fiction. Although “Yomeigaku” literally means “the study of Yang-ming”, we have to make a distinction between Japanese Yomeigaku as a social movement and the study of Yang-ming as the study of WANG Yang-ming’s philosophy, which has flourished after the World War II in Japan.