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Previously known as Fusayasu and Yasuakira, he was at some point granted the privilege of the use of the clan name [[Matsudaira clan|Matsudaira]]. The son of a samurai, he became ''[[soba yonin|soba yônin]]'' under [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]] in [[1688]]. 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.

Previously known as Fusayasu and Yasuakira, he was at some point granted the privilege of the use of the clan name [[Matsudaira clan|Matsudaira]]. The son of a samurai, he became ''[[soba yonin|soba yônin]]'' under [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]] in [[1688]]. 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.

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.<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 [[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>

Yanagisawa had the [[Rikugien]] gardens in [[Edo]] built sometime around 1699-1706.

Yanagisawa had the [[Rikugien]] gardens in [[Edo]] built sometime around 1699-1706.