This book grew out of a dissertation completed at Yale University under the direction of Edward Kamens. For over a decade Ed has continued to see more potential in me than I gave any reason to warrant and offered me opportunities to succeed regardless. I can only hope this book provides him some degree of satisfaction in return. While at Yale, I met Fujiwara Katsumi through the introduction of Robert Borgen. Every week during the summer of 2006, Professor Fujiwara invited me to his office at the University of Tokyo and patiently led me through texts in Honchō monzui, providing the core of my dissertation. When I returned to Tōdai the following year, I received an invitation from Satō Michio, first to join his seminar at Keiō University and then his Chōya gunsai reading group with Gōtō Akio and Kōno Kimiko. The guidance these scholars have provided is attested to throughout the following pages, but here I want to express my profound gratitude for their unstinting kindness and patience.