ied in company with his father. As for the feeling of
the nation at large, it was abundantly manifested by many of the
great feudatories, who vied with one another in conferring offices
and revenues on the sons and grandsons of the "Forty-seven."

YAMAGA SOKO

The affair of the forty-seven ronins helped to bring into eminence
the name of Yamaga Soko, a firm believer in Confucianism and an
ardent follower of military science. Amid an environment of
unfavourable conditions Soko preached the cult of bushido, and was
the first to embody that philosophy in a written system. His
books--the Shi-do (Way of the Warrior) and Bukyo Shogaku (Military
Primer)--contain minute instructions as to the practice and the
morale of the samurai. Soko rejected the Chutsz interpretation, then
in vogue, of the Chinese classics, and insisted on the pure doctrine
of the ancient sages, so that he found himself out of touch with the
educational spirit of the time. Thus, falling under the displeasure
of the Bakufu, he was charged with propagating heterodox views and
was sent to Ako to be kept in custody by Asano Naganori, who treated
him throughout with courtesy and respect. In return, Soko devoted his
whole energy during nineteen years to the education of the Ako
vassals, and the most prominent of the Forty-seven Ronins was among
his pupils.

THE SIXTH SHOGUN, IENOBU

Tsunayoshi died of small-pox in 1709, after a brief illness. He had
no son, and: five years previously, his nephew Ienobu (third son of
his deceased elder brother, Tsunashige) had been declared heir to the
shogunate. Having been born in 1662, Ienobu was in his forty-seventh
year when he succeeded to the office of shogun. His first act was to
abolish Tsunayoshi's legislation for the protection of animals. He is
said to have offered the following explanation at the tomb of the
deceased shogun: "You desired to protect living animals and strictly
interdicted the slaughter of any such. You willed that even after
your death the prohibition should be observed. But hundreds of
thousands of human beings are suffering from the operation of your
law. To repeal it is the only way of bringing peace to the nation."

ARAI HAKUSEKI

Ienobu gave evidence of his sagacity by dismissing Yanagisawa
Yoshiyasu, the corrupt favourite of the late shogun; by appointing in
his stead Manabe Norifusa to the office of personal assistant (soba
yoniri), and by reposing full confidence in Arai Hakuseki. This