Hayashi Razan
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Hayashi Razan (林羅山, 1583-1657) was a Japanese Neo-Confucian philosopher, serving as an advisor to the first three shoguns of the Tokugawa bakufu. He is also attributed with first listing the Three Views of Japan.
Razan was greatly influenced by the work of Chinese Neo-Confucianist Zhu Xi, which emphasized the role of the individual as a functionary of society, naturally taking a certain hierarchical form. He separated people into four distinct classes: samurai (ruling), farmers, artisans and merchants. His philosophy was very influential and slowly became the dominant ideology of the bakufu until the end of the 18th century. This stems in part from the fact that by equating samurai with the cultured governing class (though they were largely illiterate at the time), Razan helped to legitimize the role of the militaristic bakufu at the beginning of its existence. His philosophy is also important in that it encouraged the newly emerged samurai class to cultivate themselves, a trend which would lead to widespread intellectual undertaking.
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