 thumb|250px|bronze statue of yokoi shÅnan with other meiji leaders in kumamoto city  ; was a bakumatsu and early meiji period scholar and political reformer in japan, influential around the fall of the tokugawa bakufu. his real name was yokoi tokiari. == life and career == yokoi was a samurai born in kumamoto, higo province (present-day kumamoto prefecture), and a distant descendant of hÅjÅ takatoki. he was sent by the domain to edo in 1839 for studies, and developed contacts with pro-reform members of the mito domain. after his return to kumamoto, he started a group to promote the reform of domain administration along neo-confucianism lines, opening a domain school called shÅnan-do. in 1857, he was invited by the daimyÅ of echizen, matsudaira yoshinaga to become his political advisor. while in fukui, yokoi wrote "kokuze sanron" (the three major discussion of state policy). one of the topics covered in yokoiâs treatise was on state religion, in which yokoi commented that although japan had buddhism, shinto, and confucianism, it lacked a true national religion in the manner of western nations, and that this lack was a weakness in the japanese kokutai, which placed japan at a disadvantage to the western powers. this concept provided one rationale underpinning the formation of state shinto in the later meiji period empire of japan.wakabayashi. anti-foreignism and western learning in early-modern japan. page 143 in the same treatise, he also stressed the importance of a strong navy for the defense of japan.hodge. encyclopedia of the age of imperialism. page 782 in 1862, matsudaira was unexpectedly made acting prime minister of the tokugawa administration (seiji sÅsai) in a move calculated to obtain imperial approval for the shogun's actions in signing unequal treaties (similar to those signed by qing dynasty china) with the western powers in 1858, ending the national seclusion policy which was supported by the imperial court, and yokoi accompanied him to edo. yokoi called for a complete reform of the tokugawa government, including reconciliation between the shogunate and the imperial court. he also called for the complete opening of japan to foreign trade, economic ref
1809_births 1869_deaths Assassinated_Japanese_politicians Meiji_Restoration People_from_Kumamoto,_Kumamoto People_murdered_in_Japan People_of_Meiji-period_Japan Samurai