 Returning to Fushimi and the Shrine in 1713, Azumamaro’s later writings spanned the entire range of what would become the Kokugaku curriculum: commentaries on prose and poetry classics, studies of ancient histories (especially the 720 CE Nihon shoki), historical linguistics, and antiquarian matters generally. The core of his scholarship, however, was Shinto and Shinto-related topics. Azumamaro’s focus was on the most ancient texts, seeking to disentangle the Shinto of his day from centuries of Buddhist syncretism and, less successfully, more recent decades of Confucianized Shinto. Nonetheless, he did champion Shinto and its ancient links with the monarchy as the native Japanese Way, the essence of Japaneseness, and the principal factor behind the historical stability of the Japanese polity.