ASAMI, KEISAI

(1652-1711)

An outstanding scholar of Confucianism and one of thousands of pupils of the influential Confucian-Shinto scholarYamazaki, Ansai. Asami was critical of Ansai's views on Shinto and was expelled from his school, but was later recognised as a legitimate transmitter of Yamazaki's teachings. Asami's pupil Miyake, Kanran spread the teaching of Ansai/Asami to the domain of Mito (see Mito-gaku) and helped compile the Dai-Nihon-shi 'History of Great Japan'.