Hayashi Razan
Yamada was born in Aizuwakamatsu the son of a "rōnin" formerly of Aizu Domain and moved to Edo at the age of six in 1628. He had been studying the Chinese classics from that time, and at the age of nine became a student of Hayashi Razan, a follower of Neo-Confucianism who had developed a practical blending of Shinto and Confucian beliefs and practices which became the foundation for the dominant ideology of the Tokugawa shogunate. At the age of 15, he travelled to Kai Province to study military strategy under Obata Kagenori.