 This evolution developed in part from the official Hayashi "schema" equating samurai with the cultured governing class (although the samurai were largely illiterate at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate.The Hayashi helped to legitimize the role of the militaristic "bakufu" at the beginning of its existence.His philosophy is also important in that it encouraged the samurai class to cultivate themselves, a trend which would become increasingly widespread over the course of his lifetime and beyond.