ABSTRACT
At its inception the Tokugawa regime was in many ways a miracle of political craftsmanship. No aspects of Japanese political, social, economic or intellectual life were left unregulated in the attempt to create stable and durable institutions. Controlled and limited foreign contacts were further indications of the desire of the government to minimize disturbing influences from within or without. Moreover, the Bakufu attempted to maintain self-sufficiency not only in the realm of politics and economics but in the world of the intellect as well. By means of a combination of the Chu Hsi brand of Neo-Confucianism for the elite and of popular Buddhism for the masses, the Tokugawa leaders sought to devise a system which would satisfy the country both philosophically and spiritually.
