“Hihyō”, a translation of the western term“ criticism” in modern Japan, is considered mainly as literary criticism from a viewpoint of literary history so far, while little attention is paid to another grasp differing from a literary one. However, it could not be overlooked since “hihyō” also meant Kant’s critical philosophy in the Meiji era. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate an alternative genealogy of “hihyō” from 1880s to 1930s by focusing on discourses of Ōnishi Hajime (1864-1900) and Tosaka Jun (1900-1945), both of whom made fundamental inquiries into “hihyō” from a philosophical standpoint. At first, this paper considers Ōnishi’s argument about “hihyō” in a context of the formation of “hihyō” and the development of journalism during the Meiji period. It is found that Ōnishi’s notion of “hihyō” implies an understanding of Kantian critique. Next, through giving a brief outline of cultural critics in the late Meiji period and the Taishō period such as Takayama Chogyū( 1871-1902), Kuwaki Genyoku( 1874-1946), Kaneko Chikusui (1870-1937), Tanaka Oudou (1868-1932), Tsuchida Kyoson (1891-1934) and Hasegawa Nyozekan (1875-1969), some of whom were pupils or juniors of Ōnishi, the way in which criticism unfolded after Ōnishi will become clear. Finally, an analysis of Tosaka’s works concerned with “hihyō” will be made with relevance to the cultural criticism (Bunmei hihyō) and culturalism (Bunka shugi) involving intellectuals mentioned above. Opposing the literary criticism that took “hihyō” merely as a literary idea, Tosaka grasped this concept in a Kantian sense and reviewed it from a perspective of epistemology. His “hihyō” that indicated a concern about social reality and the idea of philosophical criticism in pre-war Japan was an attempt to ensure a critical position connecting to the universal. Consequently, the discussion of this paper will lead to a dislocation of both the history of literature as well as the history of philosophy in modern Japan