[1] Hakuseki's innovative effort to understand and explain the history of Japan differs significantly from previous chronologies which were created by other writers, such as Hakuseki's work avoids such easy categorization, and yet, he would have resisted being labeled non-Shinto, non-Buddhist, or non-Confucianist in his life or work.
His analytical approach to history differed from his predecessors in that the Tokushi Yoron identifies a process of transferring power across generations.
Earlier Japanese histories were intended, in large part, to be construed as documenting how the past legitimizes the present status quo.
For example, he borrowed extensively from Hayashi Gahō's Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; but he felt no need to acknowledge this fact.
[6] Nevertheless, the organizing schema of Tokushi Yoron presented the periodization of history on the basis of changes in political power; and this rational stance sets this work apart from its sources.