Abstract: Both China and Japan have a long tradition of withdrawing from the society and living in seclusion. Although the Japanese tradition is deeply influenced by the Chinese tradition, the two traditions differ in terms of the identity and number of hermits, the types of seclusion, and the thinking and motive for the lifestyle. In China a hermit is a scholar who chooses to withdraw from the public and political life, be it a Confucianist, who waits for a better chance or a Taoist, who aims to be true and protect himself, and there are systematic thoughts thereof. While in Japan a hermit can originally be one with royal blood, a noble, a warrior or even a civilian who realizes the vanity of life or pursues a life of refinement, and qualification is uniformly through conversion to Buddhism. Japanese thoughts upon living in seclusion find their origin in Chinese Taoism and Buddhism, and flow within the banks of Japans own tradition after merging with its local culture. Behind the scene lies the clear variation between the two nations in political system, social structure, philosophical tradition, and psychological mechanism in their ancient times.

Key words: China and Japan, living in seclusion, Confucianism, Taoism, vanity of life, a life of refinement