Of all the years that spanned the Tokugawa period, the middle years, Tokugawa chūki, called the eighteenth-century, are distinguished by the creative achievements realized along a broad front. Important innovations were introduced in theater, literature, and printmaking in the arts and, more pertinent to this chapter, into reflections on history, nature, and political economy. As a cosmological system authorized by a transcendent moral absolute, the "Great Ultimate" or taikyoku, Neo-Confucianism articulated a sharp division between the Tokugawa era of peace and tranquility and the immediately preceding Sengoku period of constant warfare. The interplay between principle and play provides people with a key perspective into late-eighteenth-century syncretism. From Ogyū Sorai and Dazai Shundai on down through the Nakai brothers, Seiryo, Toshiaki, and Daini, there is a consistent theme of skepticism regarding the validity of the aristocracy that was contained in general discussions about history and nature.