The were an array of economic and cultural policies introduced by the Tokugawa shogunate between 1722âÂÂ1730 during the Edo period to improve its political and social status. These reforms were instigated by the eighth Tokugawa shà Âgun of Japan, Tokugawa Yoshimune, encompassing the first 20 years of his shogunate. The name Kyà Âhà  Reforms, refers to the Kyà Âhà  period (July 1716 â April 1736).
The reforms were aimed at making the Tokugawa shogunate financially solvent, and to some degree, to improve its political and social security. Because of the tensions between Confucian ideology and the economic reality of Tokugawa Japan (Confucian principles that money was defiling versus the necessity for a cash economy), Yoshimune found it necessary to shelve certain Confucian principles that were hampering his reform process.
The Kyà Âhà  Reforms included an emphasis on frugality, as well as the formation of merchant guilds that allowed greater control and taxation. The ban on Western books (minus those relating or referring to Christianity) was lifted to encourage the import of Western knowledge and technology (rangaku).
The alternate attendance (sankin-kà Âtai) rules were relaxed. This policy was a burden on daimyà Âs, due to the cost of maintaining two households and moving people and goods between them, while maintaining a show of status and defending their lands when they were absent. The Kyà Âhà  Reforms relieved this burden somewhat in an effort to gain support for the shogunate from the daimyà Âs.
The shogunate's interventions were only partly successful. Intervening factors like famine, floods and other disasters exacerbated some of the conditions which the shà Âgun intended to ameliorate.
This reform movement was followed by three others during the Edo period: the Kansei reforms (1787âÂÂ1793), the Tenpà  reforms of the (1841âÂÂ1843), and the Keià  reforms (1864âÂÂ1867).