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Yoshiyasu became lord of the 150,000 ''[[koku]]'' domain of [[Kofu han|Kôfu]] in [[1704]], and then ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' and ''Tairô'' in 1706, serving in that position until 1709. At the peak of his status, he claimed a fief of some 228,765 ''koku''.<ref name=chaiklin/> Due to the responsibilities associated with his high-ranking position in the shogunate, however, it is unclear if Yoshiyasu ever in fact traveled to Kôfu.<ref name=clements605/>
Yoshiyasu became lord of the 150,000 ''[[koku]]'' domain of [[Kofu han|Kôfu]] in [[1704]], and then ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' and ''Tairô'' in 1706, serving in that position until 1709. At the peak of his status, he claimed a fief of some 228,765 ''koku''.<ref name=chaiklin/> Due to the responsibilities associated with his high-ranking position in the shogunate, however, it is unclear if Yoshiyasu ever in fact traveled to Kôfu.<ref name=clements605/>
He is known as an avid patron of Chinese thought and culture, inviting a number of Chinese [[Obaku|Ôbaku]] [[Zen]] monks, as well as [[Nagasaki]]-based Japanese scholars of colloquial Chinese language and culture, to his mansions, and appointing [[Ogyu Sorai|Ogyû Sorai]] as a scholar in his service. Yanagisawa also sponsored discussions, sometimes attended by the shogun, of [[Confucian classics]], conducted in Chinese; in connection with this, he also organized language classes in colloquial Chinese which served as the basis for Sorai's own study of the language. When the Chinese monk [[Eppo|Eppô]] was interviewed by Tsunayoshi in [[1705]], it is said that Yanagisawa was the only one in the room who did not need to wait for the interpreters to understand what was being said.<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 56-57.</ref>
He is known as an avid patron of Chinese thought and culture, inviting a number of Chinese [[Obaku|Ôbaku]] [[Zen]] monks, as well as [[Nagasaki]]-based Japanese scholars of colloquial Chinese language and culture, to his mansions, and appointing [[Ogyu Sorai|Ogyû Sorai]] as a scholar in his service. Yanagisawa also sponsored discussions, sometimes attended by the shogun, of [[Confucian classics]], conducted in Chinese; in connection with this, he also organized language classes in colloquial Chinese which served as the basis for Sorai's own study of the language. When the Chinese monk [[Yuefeng Daozhang]] was interviewed by Tsunayoshi in [[1705]], it is said that Yanagisawa was the only one in the room who did not need to wait for the interpreters to understand what was being said.<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 56-57.</ref>
His engagement with Chinese language and Zen Buddhism is said to have begun around [[1677]], when at 20 years old he began frequenting the [[Ryuko-ji|Ryûkô-ji]] and other [[Rinzai]] Zen temples in Edo. In [[1692]], he met [[Gaoquan Xingdun]], the fifth abbot of [[Manpuku-ji]]; after this initial meeting, Yoshiyasu regularly received Gaoquan whenever the monk came to Edo, and in [[1695]] Yoshiyasu officially became his disciple.<ref>Clements, 610.</ref> Though Gaoquan died later that same year, Yoshiyasu maintained contacts with subsequent heads of the Manpuku-ji, including especially Yuefeng Daozhang. Yuefeng established the [[Eikei-ji]] in [[Kai province]] in [[1708]] as a personal family temple (''[[bodaiji]]'') for Yoshiyasu, and the following year, after the death of Shogun [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]], Yuefeng conducted the ceremonies in which Yoshiyasu and his wife [[Soshi Sadako]] ([[1661]]-[[1713]]) took the tonsure.<ref>Clements, 610.</ref>
Much of the day-to-day details of Yoshiyasu's activities are known from the Yanagisawa family record, ''[[Rakushio nenroku|Rakushidô nenroku]]'', and from ''[[Matsukage nikki]]'', the diary of his wife [[Ogimachi Machiko|Ôgimachi Machiko]].
Yanagisawa had the [[Rikugien]] gardens in [[Edo]] built sometime around 1699-1706, on land granted him in [[1695]], by Tsunayoshi, for a new mansion.
Yanagisawa had the [[Rikugien]] gardens in [[Edo]] built sometime around 1699-1706, on land granted him in [[1695]], by Tsunayoshi, for a new mansion.
He died in [[1714]], and was succeeded as lord of Kôfu by his son [[Yanagisawa Yoshisato]].
==References==
==References==