小立課程 大作工夫 chiisaku katei o tate, ōi ni kufū o nasu Set the Schedule Small, Make the Effort Great

小立課程大作工夫 Original Scroll by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

Abstract

小立課程，大作工夫, chiisaku katei o tate, ōi ni kufū o nasu, set the stint small; make the effort great, is a saying of Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) ^[1], set down in a pupil's notes and gathered into the 朱子語類, The Conversations of Master Zhu, Arranged Topically, which Li Jingde 黎靖德 completed in 1270 (the 日国 gives 1271), in its eighth chapter, under the heading on the method of learning in general ^[2][3]. A Kyoto print with a postface of 1668 (a slip in one copy says 1669) gives the line Japanese reading marks, 小ニ課程ヲ立テ大ニ工夫ヲ作ス ^[4][5]. Zhu Xi gives a like rule in the same book's tenth chapter, on reading, if you can read two hundred characters, read only one hundred, and work hard on those, and a like thought in a letter to a gifted friend whose search, he writes, seemed too high, 今當小立課程而守之以篤, now set the stint small and keep to it firmly; the letter stands in the Korean scholar 李退渓's selection of Zhu Xi's letters, in a Japanese print with 黒岩慈庵's reading marks ^[6][7][8][9]. A Chinese collection of sayings printed at Ōgaki with a postface of 1859 quotes the line with a second saying of the same chapter and calls the sixteen characters the whole method of learning, by the snippet of its 1974 facsimile, and a Japanese book of 1955, 大教育者のことば, Words of Great Educators, reads it 小さく課程を立て、大きく工夫をなせ, by the NDL index's snippet ^[10][11][12]. I read it as a rule of quantity and intensity: keep the measure small, so that the effort put into it can be great.

A reading

The line, as the 朱子語類 prints it: 小立課程，大作工夫 ^[2].

I read it as a rule about the size of a set stint against the depth of the work done in it. As I read it, 小 and 大 do not set a small ambition against a large one: 小 measures the 課程, the stint of reading or work set for a span of time, and 大 measures the 工夫, the effort put into it. Zhu Xi's own words elsewhere fit it: plainly in the tenth chapter, and in part in a letter. In the tenth chapter he gives the reading rule 小作課程，大施功力 and explains it: 如會讀得二百字，只讀得一百字，卻於百字中猛施工夫，理會子細，讀誦教熟, if you can read two hundred characters, read only one hundred, and on those hundred put fierce effort: understand them in detail, recite them until they are known ^[6]. In the letter, the friend's search seems too high and what he keeps too simple, and Zhu Xi sets the stint small, kept firmly, while he goes into the principles of things and advances by degrees; the letter has no 大 clause, so it is consistent with this reading without deciding it ^[7]. In the eighth chapter itself the line stands among sayings of the same kind, among them 工夫要趲，期限要寬, the effort must be pressed; the time allowed must be generous ^[2]. The pairing is a method, not a modesty: small so that it can be done whole, great so that what is done goes deep.

I sign the reading chiisaku katei o tate, ōi ni kufū o nasu. The 1668 print marks both adverbs with ニ alone, 小ニ … 大ニ, and the verbs 立テ … 作ス ^[4][5]. In kanbun reading, a qualifier that is an adjective, set before a verb, is read in an adverbial form, as Crawcour's rule shows with 審思, 審かに思ふ ^[13]. The 日国 gives 大に, ōi ni, as an adverb from おおきに, and ちいさ as a ナリ adjective (its earliest example of 1836), whose adverbial form is ちいさに; the 名義抄's readings of 小 include スコシキ ^[14][15]. So the print's 小ニ and 大ニ each fit more than one reading, and the marks do not choose among them. The one Japanese reading of this line that the NDL's full-text index showed, searched under four phrasings, is a snippet of 1955, which reads 小さく ^[12]. I take chiisaku from it, since the print's 小ニ does not choose it, and ōi ni from the 日国's 大に, which the print's 大ニ fits, where the 1955 book has 大きく; and the verbs from the print, tate and nasu; sukoshiku, which a novel printed in the 1933 collected works gives for the tenth chapter's rule, by the index's snippet, stands beside it ^[16]. 工夫 is the effort of practice, nearest the 日国's second sense, not the modern kufū, contrivance ^[17]. Signed, 典.

Overview

The sense. 課程 is, in the 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 学校などで、ある一定期間に割り当てて行なわせる、学習・作業の範囲, the range of study or work assigned to be done in a set span of time, as in a school, and its earliest example is a daily stint of reading, in the 和俗童子訓 of 1710, a book on teaching children: 其父兄みづから日々の課程(クハテイ)を定めてよましむべし, the father or elder brother should himself set the daily stint and have him read it ^[18]. 工夫 is read kufū; the 日国 gives first 思案して、よい方法を考え出すこと, thinking out a good way, the everyday sense, and second, 一心に仏道修行などに精進努力すること, wholehearted effort, as in Buddhist practice, in Zen above all seated meditation ^[17]. In Zhu Xi's sentence it is nearest the second: the effort spent on the stint ^[6][17].

The words. 小 small; 立 to set up, to fix; 課程 the stint; 大 great; 作 to make, to do; 工夫 effort. The 1668 print's marks join 課程 and 工夫 as words and read 立 and 作 as the verbs, 課程ヲ立テ and 工夫ヲ作ス ^[4][5]. On the adverbs, A reading.

The text in English. Daniel K. Gardner's selection from the 朱子語類, Learning to Be a Sage (1990), renders the line, as I place it by the order of the sayings in chapter eight, as its entry 2.35, keyed to chapter eight, leaf 7b: Set up a limited curriculum, but exert great effort on it ^[19]. I read that wording in the archive.org full-text index's fragments of the book's scan, which the Internet Archive holds in its collection for readers with print disabilities, with access restricted: the page was not opened, its number is not known, and the mark printed after the sentence is garbled in the text layer and unread ^[19]. In the same fragments the chapter's 嚴立功程，寬著意思 is his 2.38, Establish a strict work schedule, relax your thoughts, and the tenth chapter's reading rule, by its wording and by the chapter-ten key printed just before it, is his 4.23, In reading, keep the curriculum small but the effort you make on it large ^[19]. No other English rendering was found: none in our archive.org harvest and none in our shelf's text layers, by a search of its phrasing in English and in romanization; the controls found 102 harvest books and 162 shelf books naming Zhu Xi, and the one pattern hit in each is the same Chinese proverb on teachers, not this line.

The historical record

Before 1200. Zhu Xi 朱熹, the saying, in a pupil's notes. Zhu Xi (1130–1200) ^[1]. His pupils kept notes of his conversations with them, which were gathered after his death ^[3]. The 朱子語類 gives most sayings with the name of the pupil whose notes record it; this one is followed by 可學 ^[2]. The notes are not dated in the text read.

1270. The 朱子語類, compiled by Li Jingde 黎靖德. Li Jingde gathered the pupils' notes, sorted them by topic, and completed the work in 1270, in 140 chapters; the デジタル大辞泉, the 世界大百科事典 and the ブリタニカ give 1270, the 日国 咸淳七年, 1271 ^[3]. In chapter eight, 學二, under the heading 總論為學之方, on the method of learning in general, the line stands alone ^[2]:

「為學勿責無人為自家剖析出來，須是自家去裏面講究做工夫，要自見得。」道夫 / 小立課程，大作工夫。可學 / 工夫要趲，期限要寬。從周

Do not blame others for not taking learning apart for you; you must go in yourself and work at it until you see it. (道夫) / Set the stint small; make the effort great. (可學) / The effort must be pressed; the time allowed must be generous. (從周) After two more sayings, of 德明 and 至, stands 嚴立功程，寬著意思，久之，自當有味, set the course of work strictly, keep the mind easy, and in time it will have its savor ^[2]. In chapter ten, 讀書法上, on reading, stand 寬著期限，緊著課程, keep the time allowed generous and the stint tight, and the rule 讀書，小作課程，大施功力, with its two hundred and one hundred characters (A reading) ^[6].

Zhu Xi's letter 答方耕道. In the third letter to 方耕道 in his collected writings, 『晦庵先生朱文公文集』 卷第四十六, Zhu Xi tells a friend of quick mind and lofty aims that his search has seemed too high and what he keeps too simple, and writes ^[7]:

今當小立課程而守之以篤，窮物理而進之以漸

Now set the stint small and keep to it firmly; go into the principles of things, and advance by degrees. The letter is undated in the text read.

1668. The 朱子語類 printed at Kyoto, with Japanese reading marks. The National Institute of Japanese Literature images three copies of a print of the 朱子語類 with kunten ^[4][5][20]. The 国文研 copy, 46 volumes, records the Kyoto publisher 風月荘左衛門 and a postface of 寛文8, 1668 ^[4]. The institute's record notes a slip pasted inside the cover that reads 壱千六百六十九年刊初刻也, printed 1669, the first cutting, against the postface's 1668, and goes on 再刻本紅色表紙刻一層粗悪也, the re-cut, in red covers, is carved more coarsely ^[4]. On the eighth leaf of chapter eight, the line stands in its own column, between the sayings of 道夫 and 從周, marked 小ニ課程ヲ立テ、大ニ工夫ヲ作ス ^[4]. Both copies held by 東洋大学, one of 9 volumes (chapters 1–22) and one of 46, carry the line on leaf 8 of chapter eight carved alike, every mark that can be read agreeing, so at this leaf the three are taken as copies of one print; whether either 東洋大学 copy is the first cutting or the re-cut the slip names, the leaves read do not show; the first of them shows clearly the 立テ and 程ヲ that are faint in the 国文研 copy ^[5][20]. The 46-volume copy ends at chapter 140 with no postface or colophon; its front matter was not read ^[20].

The letter in Japan: 李退渓's 朱子書節要. The Korean scholar 李滉 (李退渓, 1501–1570) made a selection of Zhu Xi's letters, the 朱子書節要 ^[8][21][9]. Japan printed it with reading marks by 黒岩慈庵 (1627–1705); in the NDL's copy, which the NDL dates 1871, the letter stands in chapter eleven as 今當小立課程。而守之以篤。博窮物理, with 博窮 where the 文集 has 窮, and its marks are return marks only, with no kana on 小 ^[8].

1859. 集古偶録, printed at Ōgaki. 集古偶録, a collection of sayings by the Qing writer 陳星瑞, was printed in Japan by 井田讓 at Ōgaki, at the 井田氏's 死不休齋, with his postface dated 己未盛夏, the height of summer, 己未 ^[10]; the catalogues of CiNii and the National Diet Library date the print 1859, from that postface ^[11]. Its 1974 facsimile, in 和刻本漢籍随筆集 第9集, by the index's snippet, reads 如此學者粗疎之病其可不克治乎、何以治之曰請靜坐朱子云、小立課程、大作工夫又云嚴立功程、寛着意愚此十六字、爲學之方盡是矣: can such a scholar's fault of carelessness be left uncured? How is it to be cured? The answer: pray, sit quietly. Zhu Xi says "set the stint small, make the effort great," and again "set the course of work strictly, keep the mind easy"; in these sixteen characters the method of learning is complete ^[10]. The index's text reads 寛着意愚 where the 朱子語類 has 寬著意思; the count of sixteen fits 寛着意思 and 寛着意愚 alike, so it does not decide; 愚 may be the index's misreading of 思, the writer's I after a dropped 思, or a misprint in the book, and the snippet does not settle which.

1933–1955. Japanese readings. 直木三十五's novel 黄門廻国記, in the 1933 collected works, by the index's snippet, gives the tenth chapter's variant in Japanese: 書を讀むには、少しく課程をなし、大いに功力を施す ^[16]. 岩垂憲徳's 先賢読書法 of 1936, by the index's snippets, gives a third form, 小立課程、大施工力, read 小く課程を立てて、大に工力を施す ^[22]. 大教育者のことば, Words of Great Educators, published by 光風出版 in 1955, by the index's snippet, gives this line: 小さく課程を立て、大きく工夫をなせ。〔小立課程、大作工夫。〕 ^[12].

Today. JMdict, the dictionary of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, gives 課程 as course, curriculum, the school sense, and 工夫 first as devising (a way), with dedication to spiritual improvement (esp. through Zen meditation) as its third sense, the nearest of its senses to the line's ^[23][24]. Eri Takase brushes the line in two columns, 小立課程 and 大作工夫. The house's working English is Set the schedule small; make the effort great. The 1668 print's marks give the line two verbs, set up and make, each with 小 or 大 before it marked ニ ^[4]; in my reading the small measures the stint and the great the effort (A reading).

Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

小立課程大作工夫VB5JBlock

小立課程大作工夫VC5JCursive

小立課程大作工夫VD5JEri's Choice

小立課程大作工夫VS5JSemi-Cursive

References

1. 「朱熹」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ), 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 and ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/朱熹-77570
2. 『朱子語類』, 卷八, 學二, 總論為學之方, at Wikisource. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/朱子語類/008
3. 「朱子語類」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 and ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/朱子語類-77706
4. 『朱子語類』, 京都, 風月荘左衛門, 寛文8 (1668) postface, 46 冊, 国文学研究資料館 ワ3-219, canvas 220 (卷八, 7 ウ–8 オ). https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/200014066/220
5. 『朱子語類』, 9 冊 (卷一–二二), 東洋大学附属図書館 哲学堂文庫 T8580, imaged by the National Institute of Japanese Literature, canvas 224 (卷八, 7 ウ–8 オ). https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/300094459/224
6. 『朱子語類』, 卷十, 讀書法上, at Wikisource. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/朱子語類/010
7. 朱熹, 『晦庵先生朱文公文集』 (四部叢刊本), 卷第四十六, 答方耕道 (the third), at Wikisource. https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/晦庵先生朱文公文集_(四部叢刊本)/卷第四十六
8. 李退谿 (滉) 編, 黒岩慈庵 点, 牧命順 校, 『朱子書節要』, 真部武助, the NDL's copy dated 1871, 卷之十一, scan 9. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/753287/1/9
9. 「李退渓」, デジタル大辞泉, 改訂新版 世界大百科事典, ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/李退渓-148858
10. 『和刻本漢籍随筆集』 第9集, 古典研究会, 1974 (集古偶録, 陳星瑞 撰, 井田讓 跋, the 1859 Ōgaki print in facsimile; 長澤規矩也's 解題), snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12574479
11. 『集古偶録』, (清)陳星瑞著, (日本)井田讓點, 死不休齋, postface 己未 (安政6, 1859), CiNii Books BB20346927 (京都大学附属図書館); and the National Diet Library's catalogue, 集古偶録1卷, 安政6跋刊(死不休齋藏), NDL bibliographic id 000007597409. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB20346927
12. 『大教育者のことば』, 光風出版, 1955, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/3032181
13. Sydney Crawcour, An Introduction to Kambun, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1965, p. 15.
14. 「小」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (ちいさ 【小】) and 字通 (古辞書の訓), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/小-448356
15. 「大いに」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (【大に】), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/大いに-449557
16. 直木三十五, 黄門廻国記, in 『直木三十五全集』, 改造社, 1933, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1214907
17. 「工夫」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (くふう ① and ②), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/工夫-484821
18. 「課程」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/課程-464692
19. Daniel K. Gardner, Learning to Be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topically, University of California Press, 1990, entries 2.35, 2.38 and 4.23, read in the Internet Archive full-text index's fragments of the book's scan (held in the Internet Archive's collection for readers with print disabilities, with access restricted; the pages not opened). https://archive.org/details/learningtobesage00zhux
20. 『朱子語類』, 46 冊, 東洋大学附属図書館 哲学堂文庫, imaged by the National Institute of Japanese Literature, canvas 224 (卷八, 7 ウ–8 オ), canvas 3663 (卷百四十, the last leaf of text) and canvas 3664 (朱子語類卷之一百四十終). https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100452807/224
21. 「《朱子書節要》」, 世界大百科事典 (旧版), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/朱子書節要-1336934
22. 岩垂憲徳 編, 『先賢読書法』, 啓成社, 1936, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1073120
23. JMdict entry 1195850, 課程, katei, in the local copy of the EDRDG data.
24. JMdict entry 1278220, 工夫 · 功夫, kufū, in the local copy of the EDRDG data.

Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Checked · Takase Studios (an address check by script), 2026-11-07, citations — the cited web addresses opened and the quoted words looked for at each: 35 claims, 2 answered with the words sought, 4 differed, each judged at the source text; the rest outside its reach (Wikisource, kotobank, the Institute's images, snippet items and JMdict, read by eye or at their saved text) · two fresh-context readers per round (Claude), 2026-11-07, every claim in the page's summary block, the abstract and the signed reading traced to its source, claim by claim: round 1 FAIL on one wrong fact (Zhu Xi's letter said to have reached Japan in 李退渓's selection, which no source shows), corrected; round 2 PASS, both; wordings applied

Research depth: step 2 of our 10-step ladder, earliest known copy · November 2026

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 小立課程大作工夫 (chiisaku katei o tate, ōi ni kufū o nasu)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/chiisaku-katei-o-tate-oi-ni-kufu-o-nasu.