In this study, preliminary research was conducted regarding scholars who contributed to the introduction of Gustav Theodor Fechner's (1801–1887) aesthetics in Japan's Meiji era. Fechner was a German philosopher and the founder of psychophysics; in the later part of his life, he proposed a new kind of aesthetics. In contrast to the conventional ʻspeculative aestheticsʼ̶ based on speculation and philosophical thinking̶ Fechner's ʻnatural science-based aestheticsʼ was based on experimental and numerical methods. Rintarō MORI̶ whose pseudonym was Ōgai MORI (1862–1922)̶ was a novelist, Japanese army surgeon, and representative of speculative aesthetics, introducing this field to Japan. Yūjirō MOTORA (1858–1912) and Matatarō MATSUMOTO (1865–1943) were two representatives of natural science-based aesthetics in Japan. In the preliminary research, descriptions of Fechner's natural science-based aesthetics were surveyed in the main works of MORI, MOTORA, and MATSUMOTO. Contrary to expectations, it was discovered that the works of MORI were more descriptive of Fechner's natural science-based aesthetics than those of MOTORA and MATSUMOTO. Research was conducted to investigate the reason for MORI's interest in Fechner. It was found that as an army surgeon, he regarded experimental and numerical methods as important for developments in the medical field; however, as a novelist, he felt the need for a philosophy opposing the materialistic views of nature. It has been suggested that MORI was interested in Fechner because he was drawn to the experimental and numerical methods in Fechner's aesthetics and his anti-materialistic view of nature.

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