Tokushi Yoron
The Tokushi Yoron is an Edo period historical analysis of Japanese history written in 1712 by Arai Hakuseki.
Differences from previous chronologies
Hakuseki's innovative effort to understand and explain the history of Japan differs significantly from previous chronologies which were created by other writers, such as Gukanshō by Jien, whose work evidenced a distinctly Buddhist perspective; orJinnō Shōtōki by Kitabatake Chikafusa, whose work evidenced a distinctly Shinto perspective; orNihon Ōdai Ichiran by Hayashi Gahō, whose work evidenced a distinctly neo-Confucian perspective.Hakuseki's work avoids such easy categorization, and yet, he would have resisted being labeled non-Shinto, non-Buddhist, or non-Confucianist in his life or work. His analytical approach to history differed from his predecessors in that the Tokushi Yoron identifies a process of transferring power across generations. Earlier Japanese histories were intended, in large part, to be construed as documenting how the past legitimizes the present ''status quo.''