日本與韓國雖然同樣接受了中國的儒學，但對同樣的儒學文本卻做出了現實的不同詮釋。這種結果是由兩個主體的不同文化機質引發的：日本尚武，韓國崇文；日本是地域分割的有序組織，韓國是依賴血緣的倫理社會；日本是以忠為先的主從秩序，韓國是以孝為先的父子序列；日本是基於人為的他律文化，韓國是基於自然主義的自律文化。而如此各有特點的文化機制又決定了各自不同的價值選擇，使韓國和日本儒學的發展表現出了不同的價值取向。韓國和日本雖然面對的是同一個中國儒學，但如果說韓國較多地選擇了儒學中的“仁”、“義”、“理”、“性”等這些抽象的、形而上學的、終極層次的內容而表現出了“理念型”的特點，那麼，日本則恰好捨棄這些部分，更多地吸收了“忠”、“信”、“誠”等具體、實用的下位層次的道德原則而具有了操作型的特色。

Although both of Japan and South Korea accepted Confucianism of China, they made realistically different annotations on the same confucian text. This phenomenon was initiated by different culture mechanisms of these two subjects. Japan was warrior, while South Korea advocated civilization; Japan was regional-divided ordered organization, while South Korea was ethical society dependant on consanguinity; Japan had a master-slave order with loyalty before all the rest, while South Korea was father-son order giving priority to filial duty; Japan was heteronomy culture based on human attempt, while South Korea was self-discipline culture based on naturalism. These two cultural mechanisms had their own characteristics, and gave different value selections, which finally made the development of Confucianism in these two countries have different value orientations. Though South Korea and Japan faced the same Chinese Confucianism, South Korea came out as 'ideal type' by choosing nonobjective, superorganic and ultimate contents including humanity, justice, propriety and wisdom in Confucianism. On the other hand, Japan exactly abandoned these parts but absorbed specific, practical and lower leveled ethical principles such as loyalty, faith, and honesty to embody features of 'operational type'.