Kaibara Ekken

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Kaibara Ekken or Ekiken (貝原 益軒, also known as Atsunobu (篤信), 1630 - October 5, 1714) was a Japanese Neo-Confucianist philosopher and botanist during the Edo Period of the 16th century of Japan.

Ekken was destined to introduce two great innovations towards the Tokugawa shogunate. One of such was the systematic study of nature based on Neo-Confucianism, which was the beginning of the empirical science in Japan. Ekken's second innovation was to translate the abstruse and forbidding philosophy of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism into the language of the ordinary Japanese.

Ekken's science was confined to Biology and focused on the "natural law". Ekken became as famous in Japan as people such as Charles Darwin when it came to Science. Ekken was known for his manuals of behavior, such as changing his Confucian ethical system based on the teachings of Chu Hsi into an easy "self-help" manuals, such as Precepts for Children and Greater Learning for Women. The textbook of Neo-Confucianism was then known as The Great Learning. Ekken's main goal in life was to make sure that that book was known throughout Japan. This project more than any other accomplishment incorporated Neo-Confucianism into the very fiber of Japanese culture.

He also wrote a seminal study of Japanese plants Yamato honzo.