Initially it was performed by powerful feudal lords such as Mitsusada TOKUGAWA of the Kii Domain, Tsunanori MAEDA of the Kaga Domain, and the scholars around them, but when Yoshimune TOKUGAWA, the child of Mitsusada, became the eighth shogun of the Edo bakufu, research was performed in the bakufu as well.
初めは紀伊藩徳川光貞や加賀藩前田綱紀といった有力藩主とその周辺の学者によって行われたのをその嚆矢とするが、光貞の子・徳川吉宗が江戸幕府の第8代将軍になると、幕府内部でも研究が進められるようになった。