nsulted him about administrative
affairs, just as Arai Hakuseki had been consulted by Ienobu. In fact,
it was by the advice of Arai Hakuseki that Nawokiyo (whose literary
name was Kyuso), entered the service of Yoshimune. Contemporaneous
with these litterateurs was the renowned Ogyu Sorai, whose profound
knowledge of finance and of administrative affairs in general made
him of great value to the Bakufu. He compiled a book called Seidan
(Talks on Government) which, immediately became a classic. Special
favour was shown to the renowned Confucianist, Hayashi Nobuatsu. He
and his son were asked to deliver regular lectures at the Shohei
College, and these lectures were the occasion of a most important
innovation, namely, the admission of all classes of people, whereas
previously the audience at such discourses had been strictly limited
to military men.

It is to be observed that in the days of Yoshimune's shogunate the
philosophy of Chutsz (Shu-shi) was preferred to all others. It
received the official imprimatur, the philosophy of Wang Yang-ming (O
Yo-mei) being set aside. One consequence of this selection was that
the Hayashi family came to be regarded as the sole depositories of
true Confucianism. Yoshimune himself, however, was not disposed to
set any dogmatic limits to the usefulness of men of learning. He
assumed an absolutely impartial attitude towards all schools;
adopting the good wherever it was found, and employing talent to
whatever school it belonged. Thus when Kwanno Chqkuyo established a
place of education in Yedo, and Nakai Seishi did the same in Osaka,
liberal grants of land were made by the Bakufu to both men. Another
step taken by the shogun was to institute a search for old books
throughout the country, and to collect manuscripts which had been
kept in various families for generations. By causing these to be
copied or printed, many works which would otherwise have been
destroyed or forgotten were preserved.

It is notable that all this admirable industry had one untoward
result: Japanese literature came into vogue in the Imperial capital,
and was accompanied by the development of a theory that loyalty to
the sovereign was inconsistent with the administration of the Bakufu.
The far-reaching consequences of this conception will be dealt with
in a later chapter. Here, it is sufficient to say that one of the
greatest and most truly patriotic of the Tokugawa shoguns himself
unwittingly sowed the seeds of di