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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>
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>
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]].
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]].
