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was a Japanese scholar of yangmingism who, through his philosophy, reportedly exerted considerable influence on many Japanese politicians, including postwar prime ministers of Japan. He has been considered a backroom power broker or eminence grise. ==Early life== He was born in Osaka city on February 13, 1898. When he was a child his parents taught him to read the Chinese classics, the Four Books (''The Great Learning'', ''Doctrine of the Mean'', ''The Analects of Confucius'', and ''Mencius''). He studied at Tokyo Imperial University and his graduation paper ''A study of Wang Yangming '' caught the attention of many intellectuals and politicians in the area. After graduating in 1922, he worked for six months at the Ministry of Education. He established an institute of Asian studies and insisted on the traditional nationalism of Japan when Taisho democracy was in vogue (1912–1926). While working as an instructor at the Department of Asian Thought, Takushoku University, he wrote books such as ''Studies on the Japanese Spirit'' and ''Studies on Emperors and Government Officials'', attracting the attention of some noblemen and military officers. In 1927, he established a private school, ''Kinkei Gakuen'', in the house of Sakai Tadamasa who was a member of the House of Peers (Japan). In 1931, with the help of zaibatsu, Japanese conglomerates, he established a private school in Saitama Prefecture, ''Nihon Nōshi Gakkō'', (or, Japan Farmers' School) to teach Asian thought and his philosophy. In 1932, he founded a right-wing group called ''Kokuikai''. Fumimaro Konoe, Koki Hirota and other influential figures joined, but the group came to be perceived as an eminence grise, leading to its end after two years. He was a brilliant student; however, he skipped classes when he was at Tokyo Imperial University in favor of reading books at the library. In the second edition of his study on Wang Yangming in 1960, he wrote of reading many important Western works, but also of returning to Chinese and Japanese works. He said, "I felt that my backbone was strengthened when I read through Records of the Grand Historian and Zizhi Tongjian."〔Okazaki ()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Masahiro Yasuoka」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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