Born in Edo, son of a samurai of the Kururi domain in Kazusa, he excelled at learning from childhood.
Expelled from the domain with his father, he became a masterless samurai and pursued learning in poverty.
He became a pupil of the Neo-Confucian scholar Kinoshita Jun'an.
On his teacher's recommendation he became tutor to Tokugawa Tsunatoyo, lord of Kōfu.
When Tsunatoyo became the sixth shogun Ienobu, Hakuseki became his political adviser. The edicts on compassion were abolished, and government based on learning (the Shōtoku rule) was pursued.
He questioned Sidotti, an Italian missionary who had slipped into Japan, learning about the West, and later wrote Seiyō Kibun.
He reduced the costs of entertaining the Korean embassy and revised its protocol.
He restored the coinage debased under Tsunayoshi to its former quality to steady prices.
To stop gold and silver flowing abroad, he capped trade at Nagasaki (the Kaihaku Goshi Shinrei).
When Yoshimune became the eighth shogun, Hakuseki left government and wrote his memoir Oritaku Shiba no Ki.
He died in Edo, a scholar who left works on history, geography, language and much else.
Kawamura ZuikenTokugawa IenobuAmenomori HoshuYanagisawa YoshiyasuOgiwara Shigehide
Seki TakakazuMatsuo BashōTokugawa TsunayoshiChikamatsu MonzaemonOgata KōrinYanagisawa YoshiyasuOgiwara ShigehideŌishi Kuranosuke (Yoshio)
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.