ABSTRACT
Tokugawa Ieyasu’s great work may be summed up in one word–centralization. Toward the imperial court the early Tokugawa professed the utmost loyalty, providing for suitable revenues, rebuilding the palace, and appointing officers to see that all things were properly conducted. The retainers of the Tokugawa were called Hatamoto, and ranked above the retainers of lesser lords. It came about almost precisely as the Renaissance did in Europe, through the fall of the Ming dynasty, and the exile of many savants, who fled from Nankin to Japan, and were received by Tokugawa and Mito and others, just as the Medici received Greek refugees after the fall of Constantinople. Schools for knights were established and patronized by the great lords, and the Buddhist priests, restored to high favor again under the Tokugawa Shoguns, held schools for the common people at nearly every temple.
