Hayashi Jussai was a Confucian scholar of the late Edo period. Born the third son of Matsudaira Norimori, lord of Iwamura Domain, his grandfather was Matsudaira Norisato, who led the Kyoho Reforms, economic and cultural policies implemented by eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune.
Jussai studied Confucianism from childhood, and in 1793, aged 26, was ordered by the shogunate to be adopted into the elite Hayashi family, whose lineage had ceased with the death of leading Confucian scholar Hayashi Kinpo, and so he became the leader of the Neo-Confucian school from a young age. Jussai reformed the Shogunate’s Shoheizaka Gakumonjo school and worked to improve education. One of his famous disciples was Sato Issai, who was also from Iwamura Domain.
