 Ōkuni Takamasa (1792–1871) and Fukuba Bisei (1831–1907) were samurai of Tsuwano domain, and both studied at the domanial school Yōrōkan. Takamasa learned Kokugaku from Hirata Atsutane and Murata Harukado, and studied for a time at Shōheikō Academy in Edo. In 1853, U.S. Commodore Perry led a fleet of four “Black Ships” to the bay of Edo, which led to the Tokugawa bakufu signing treaties which opened Japanese ports to Western powers. Facing the challenges of domestic politics and encroaching Western powers, Takamasa noted that the Kokugaku of the Motoori school which focused on “ancient matters” and literary texts, and that of Atsutane which concerned itself with the spirit realm of “yumei” or “kakuriyo” were insufficient to respond to foreigners. Takamasa renamed his version of Kokugaku “hongaku” or “mototsu manabi”, the “essential learning”, based on “honkyō” or the “essential teachings” which he quoted from the Kojiki. In his Hongaku kyoyō, completed in 1855, Takamasa outlines the goal of his “hongaku” scholarship: