(1622-1685)
A Confucian kogaku ('ancient learning') scholar and military scientist, influential in samurai ethics and an important influence on later thinkers such as Yoshida, Shoin who educated a number of leading figures of the Meiji restoration. Yamaga was originally a shushi-gaku student of Hayashi, Razan and studied Ryobu Shinto. He developed a critique of what he regarded as overly-theoretical neo-Confucian (shushi) thought, arguing that a study of the ancient texts (kogaku) was needed. He indirectly encouraged kokugaku tendencies by insisting that Japan was in no way inferior to China.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.