In these circumstances the educational chief in Yedo lost control of
the situation. Even among his own students there were some who
rejected the teachings of Chutsz, and Confucianism threatened to
become a stumbling-block rather than an aid to ethics. The prime
minister, Sadanobu, now appointed four philosophers of note to assist
the Hayashi family, and these famous teachers attended in turn at the
Seido to lecture, commoners as well as samurai being allowed to
attend. Sadanobu further directed that the heads of Government
departments should send in a list of those best educated among their
subordinates, and the men thus recommended were promoted after
examination. Moreover, the prime minister himself, attended by his
colleagues and the administrators, made a habit of inspecting
personally, from time to time, the manner of teaching at the college,
and finally, in 1795, the Seido was definitely invested with the
character of a Government college, a yearly grant of 1130 koku being
apportioned to meet the expenses, and an income of 1500 koku being
bestowed upon the Hayashi family.

In the same year, it was decreed that no one should be eligible for a
post in the civil service unless he was an avowed follower of the
Chutsz philosophy. This bigoted measure, spoken of as the
"prohibition of heterodoxy," did not produce the desired effect. It
tended rather to accentuate the differences between the various
schools, and a petition was presented to the Bakufu urging that the
invidious veto should be rescinded. The petitioners contended that
although the schools differed from each other, their differences were
not material, since all stood on common foundations, namely, the
doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, and all agreed in inculcating the
virtues of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, humanity,
righteousness, politeness, and general tranquillity.

THE PHILOSOPHIES OF CHUTSZ AND WANG YANG-MING

It will be interesting to pause here a moment in order to inquire
briefly the nature of the philosophies which occupied Japanese
thought throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. We
need not go beyond the schools of Chutsz and Wang Yang-ming, for the
third, or "ancient," school adopted the teachings of Confucius and
Mencius in their purity, rejecting all subsequent deductions from the
actual words used by these sages. These two schools have been well
distinguished as follows by a modern philosopher, Dr. Inouye
Tetsu