Arai Hakuseki

(born March 24, 1657, Edo [Tokyo], Japan—died June 29, 1725, Edo) Japanese scholar of Confucianism and government official of the mid-Tokugawa period. Arai was tutor and later adviser to Tokugawa Ienobu, the sixth Tokugawa shogun. He wrote on such subjects as Japanese geography, philosophy, and legal institutions and is considered one of Japan's greatest historians. Among his best-known works are Tokushi yoron, a history of Japan, and Koshitsu, a study of early document sources. See also Genroku period; Edo culture.

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