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318 When will the cherry-flowers open? Such are the expectant thoughts That on this day Crowd into all men's minds."

About the same time Kitamura Kigin, a scholar employed by the Shōgun's Government, performed a useful service by editing and annotating most of the classical works of the Heian period. His editions of the Genji Monogatari and Makura Zōshi are still much esteemed by students. Kigin also wrote Tanka and Haikai.

Kada Adzuma-maro (1669–1736), the son of the guardian of a Shinto shrine, was Keichiu's successor as a student of Japanese antiquity and the old classical literature. He presented to the Government a memorial, in which he protested vigorously against the exclusive study of Chinese, and urged the establishment of a school for the cultivation of the Japanese language and literature at Kiōto. This project received the approval of the Shōgun's Government, but was never carried out. Kada was succeeded by his nephew and adopted son, Kada Arima-maro (1706–1751). Arima-maro took up his residence in Yedo, where he continued his uncle's teachings with some success.

Among the elder Kada's pupils the most distinguished was (1697–1769). Like his master, Mabuchi came of a family of guardians of Shinto shrines. In 1738 he removed to Yedo, where he spent the remainder of his life. He formed there a school which produced many famous men, and soon rivalled the Kangakusha in popularity and influence. Motoöri, who was one of his pupils, describes him as "the parent of the study of antiquity."

"It was he," he adds, "with whom began that style of