Changes

==Policies==

==Policies==

Hakuseki espoused a philosophical approach he called ''kakubutsu'', which advocated taking nothing for granted (e.g. practices performed simply according to precedent), but instead carefully examining and considering the origins or reasons for everything. As a result, he was to oversee or at least push for numerous policy reforms.

Hakuseki espoused a philosophical approach he called ''kakubutsu'', which advocated taking nothing for granted (e.g. practices performed simply according to precedent), but instead carefully examining and considering the origins or reasons for everything. He also believed that [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] had intended to establish a new system of rites (or etiquette, J: ''[[li (rites)|rei]]''), as proper Confucian rulers of a new regime were meant to do, and that Ieyasu's death before implementing such a system was a key reason underlying a number of the shogunate's difficulties, including the fact that several shoguns had by that time already died without siring a direct (biological) heir, causing the shogunal lineage to deviate from a more strictly direct father-to-son line of descent. Hakuseki wrote that now, a century later (i.e. in the 1710s), it was time for such a system of rites to be put into place. Thus, with these as his guiding beliefs, Hakuseki suggested or authored numerous policy reforms.

In his capacity as chief Confucian advisor in the court, Hakuseki played a key role in proposing [[year dates|era names]], and crafted the era name Shôtoku ("correctness and virtue") in 1711 to correspond with Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's reign. He also initiated and oversaw a revision of the ''[[Buke shohatto]]'', the various laws of the military houses (i.e. the samurai clans), as well as composing a line-by-line commentary on this revision, entitled ''Shinrei kukai''.

In his capacity as chief Confucian advisor in the court, Hakuseki played a key role in proposing [[year dates|era names]], and crafted the era name Shôtoku ("correctness and virtue") in 1711 to correspond with Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's reign. He also initiated and oversaw a revision of the ''[[Buke shohatto]]'', the various laws of the military houses (i.e. the samurai clans), as well as composing a line-by-line commentary on this revision, entitled ''Shinrei kukai''. Hakuseki also attended the 1709 investiture ceremony of Tokugawa Ienobu (as representatives of the [[Imperial Court]] came to [[Edo]] and formally named Ienobu "[[Shogun]]" in the name of the [[Emperor]]), and the accession and [[genpuku|coming-of-age]] ceremonies of [[Emperor Nakamikado]] in 1710 and 1711 respectively, and having witnessed the forms of these rituals, suggested or authored numerous changes to ritual protocols, including new guidelines for the shogun's dress and behavior when visiting the Confucian temple & academy at the [[Yushima Seido|Yushima Seidô]], and a revision of court dress for ''daimyô'' and ''hatamoto'', based on his attitudes and expertise in Confucian political philosophy.

Hakuseki was particularly influential in effecting a shift in [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]] attitudes and policies regarding foreign relations, articulating the conceptual meaning and discursive value for the shogunate's legitimacy of conceptualizing foreign relations with [[Joseon Dynasty]] Korea and the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] in terms of a [[tribute|tributary]] relationship patterned after the [[Sinocentric world order|Sinocentric worldview]]. In much of his writings and policy advice, he emphasized shogunal authority over the authority or autonomy of the ''daimyô'', and similarly avoided rhetoric of Imperial authority, though without overtly opposing or denying it.<ref>[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 25, 42.</ref>

Hakuseki was particularly influential in effecting a shift in [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]] attitudes and policies regarding foreign relations, articulating the conceptual meaning and discursive value for the shogunate's legitimacy of conceptualizing foreign relations with [[Joseon Dynasty]] Korea and the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] in terms of a [[tribute|tributary]] relationship patterned after the [[Sinocentric world order|Sinocentric worldview]]. In much of his writings and policy advice, he emphasized shogunal authority over the authority or autonomy of the ''daimyô'', and similarly avoided rhetoric of Imperial authority, though without overtly opposing or denying it.<ref>[[Mark Ravina]], ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan'', Stanford University Press (1999), 25, 42.</ref>