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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>

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]].

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]].