Died 1732Edo Name Hayashi Hoko | Children Hayashi Ryuko, son | |
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Subject Japanese history, literature Relatives Hayashi Gaho, fatherHayashi Razan, grandfather | ||
Hayashi Hōkō (林 鳳岡, January 11, 1644 – July 22, 1732), also known as Hayashi Nobutatsu, was a Japanese Neo-Confucian scholar, teacher and administrator in the system of higher education maintained by the Tokugawa bakufu during the Edo period. He was a member of the Hayashi clan of Confucian scholars.
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Hōkō was the tutor of Tokugawa Tsuneyoshi.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Hayashi Gahō, and his grandfather, Hayashi Razan, Hōkō would be the arbiter of official neo-Confucian doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate. As a result of his urging, the shogun invested Confucian scholars as samurai.
Academician
Hōkō was the third Hayashi clan Daigaku-no-kami of the Edo period. After 1691, Hōkō is known as the first official rector of the Shōhei-kō (afterwards known as the Yushima Seidō) which was built on land provided by the shogun. This institution stood at the apex of the country-wide educational and training system which was created and maintained by the Tokugawa shogunate. Gahō's hereditary title was Daigaku-no-kami, which, in the context of the Tokugawa shogunate hierarchy, effectively translates as "head of the state university.
The scholars of the Hayashi school were taught to apply what they had learned from a Confucian curriculum. Typically, they applied the Confucian texts conservatively, relying on Soong Confucian anlayis and metaphysical teachings.
The neo-Confucianist scholar Arai Hakuseki generally expressed scant regard for opinions expressed by Hayashi Hōkō.