Figure 1.-- |
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Japan was well unified by the Tokugawa regime or Shoumate which persisted for nearly three centuries (1603–1867). Education at the beginning of the Tokugawa Era was highly restricted to the wealthy, as is often the case in agricultural societies. Most Japanese were illiterate. Major educational developments unfolded as the Tolygawa Era infolded. The Yushima Seidō (Neo-Confucian academy) in Edo was the chief educational institution of the Tokugawa state. It was overseen by Daigaku-no-kami. He was the head of the Tokugawa training school for Shogunate bureaucrats. At the begimming of the Edp Tokugawa period, very few common people were literate. Slowly literacy spread. Tokugawa Shogunate created an increasingly literate populace, rare in Asia at the time and also only becoming important in parts of Europe and North America. And flowing from that was a meritocratic ideology, and an emphasis on discipline and competency. This development under Meiji leadership was the foundation for Japan's rapid transition from a rural feudal society to Asia's first modern nation. [Dore] An important development was the changing roles of the bushi (samurai) class. The evolved from fierce warrior to government bureaucrat. This was a factor in Japan's evolving education system. Formal education and literacy became increasingly important. A form of public education was provided by provincial lords (daimyo) who established special schools for the hildren of the warrior class. The curricula stressed morality and included both military and literary studies. Confucian classics were central and were commited to memory. Reading and reciting the classics were at the core of the system. Math and calligraphy were also studied. The samurai tended to stufy at schools sponsored by their han (domains). Some 200 of the 276 han would establish such schools. Private acadamies were founded. Samurai and even commoners attended these academies. They tended to focus on specific Japanese subjects or on modern often describd as Western (Rangaku neaning Dutch) subjects. This included medicine, science, gunnery, and other subjects. Mmerchants and land owning farmers taught basic reading and math to their own children. Some parents irbgroups of parents hired young teacherbasically tutors. Basic primary education was availanle for a fee at private 'temple' schools (terakoya) which essentially function as primary schools. They were mostly located in towns. The name came from the earlier Buddhist schools taught by monks. The term was a misnomer by the late Tokugawa era. They were no longer religious schools and they were no longer mostly located in temples. We are not sure to what extent the monks were still involved. Unemployed warriors or others might also teach. The education at these schools was practically oriented, providing basic instruction in reading, writing, and math. There was an emphasis on calligraphy and use of the abacus. This is the school system inherited by the Emperor Meiji (1868). There were more than 11,000 temple schools educating some 750,000 childrem. Instructional methods included styidying textbooks, memorizing, abacus, and extendiveky copying Chinese characters and Japanese script. One estimate suggests that some 40–50 percent of Japanese boys, and 15 percent of the girls had at leadt ome schooling outside their home. This may not sound impressive, but actuallu it was comparable to much of Europe at the time. Only German states and America had important public school systems for all children--including the girls. We do not know much about the early- and mid-19th century because of the the limited number of photographic images. Europeans introduced photography to Japan, but the number of images are very limited until the Meiji Restoration
The Shogun was the military dictator of Japan. Shoguns largely dominated Japan during tge second mellinum. This began (1185) and continued until the Meiji Restoration (1868). The Shogun was nominally appointed by the Emperor, but were usually de facto rulers of the country, reducing the emperor to a ceremonial role. During part of the Kamakura era shoguns became figureheads, but for centuries it was the shoguns who ruled Japan. The most important dynasty of the Shogunate was the Tokugawa. The Tokggawa Shoumate which persisted for nearly three centuries (1603–1867). The Tokagawa would fundamentally change the education system. After American Commodore Perry opened Japan with his black ships (1853), however, many in Japan begun to doubt the Shogun's abilkity to modernize the Japanese miklitary and resist Western encroachments.
Education at the beginning of the Tokugawa Era was highly restricted to the wealthy, as is often the case in agricultural societies. Most Japanese were illiterate. Only the elite were literate. Major educational developments unfolded as the Tokagawa Era unfolded. At the begimming of the Edp Tokugawa period, very few common people were literate. Slowly literacy spread. Tokugawa Shogunate created an increasingly literate populace, rare in Asia at the time and also only becoming important in parts of Europe and North America. And flowing from that was a meritocratic ideology, and an emphasis on discipline and competency. This development under Meiji leadership was the foundation for Japan's rapid transition from a rural feudal society to Asia's first modern nation. [Dore]
The Yushima Seidō (Neo-Confucian academy) in Edo was the chief educational institution of the Tokugawa state. It was overseen by Daigaku-no-kami. He was the head of the Tokugawa training school for Shogunate bureaucrats.
An important development was the changing roles of the bushi (samurai) class. The evolved from fierce warrior to government bureaucrat. This was a factor in Japan's evolving education system.
Formal education and literacy became increasingly important.
A form of public education was provided by local feudal lords (daimyo) who established special or feif schools for the boys of the warrior class. Only the biys were educated here, unlike the commoners' schools (the temple schools) where a substantial number of girls were educated. Thus every samurai was literate. The curricula stressed morality and included both military and literary studies. Confucian classics were central and were commited to memory. Reading and reciting the classics were at the core of the system. Math and calligraphy were also studied. The samurai tended to stufy at schools sponsored by their han (domains). Some 200 of the 276 han would establish such schools. Private acadamies were founded. Samurai and even commoners attended these academies. They tended to focus on specific Japanese subjects or on modern often describd as Western (Rangaku neaning Dutch) subjects. This included medicine, science, gunnery, and other subjects.
Merchants and land owning farmers taught basic reading and math to their own children. Some parents in bgroups of parents hired young teachers, basically as tutors.
Basic primary education was availanle for a fee at private terakoya (temple schools ir huses) which essentially functioned as primary schools. They might be seen as private schools, but these werevno schools for the wealthy, tutors were hired for thgeir children. They were mostly located in towns. The name came from the earlier Buddhist schools taught by monks. The term was a misnomer by the late Tokugawa era. They were no longer religious schools and they were no longer mostly located in temples. We are not sure to what extent the monks were still involved. Unemployed warriors or others might also teach. The education at these schools was practically oriented, providing basic instruction in reading, writing, and math. There was an emphasis on calligraphy and use of the abacus. This is the school system inherited by the Emperor Meiji (1868). There were more than 11,000 temple schools educating some 750,000 childrem. The students were at first the children of the more prosperous commoners (ordinary farmers, craftsmen, and merchants), mostly boys. Gradually attendamce expanded. Attendance varied demographically. Most children attended in rural areas. Attendance was high in urban areas< At Edo (modern Tokyo, over 85 percent of the children. It was much lower in rural areas. And it was not just boys, althiugh biys oredominated. One estimate of gender attendance was 79 percent boys and 21 percent girls. [Passin, pp. 44-47.]. Instructional methods included styidying textbooks, memorizing, abacus, and extendiveky copying Chinese characters and Japanese script. One estimate suggests that some 40–50 percent of Japanese boys, and 15 percent of the girls had at leadt ome schooling outside their home. This may not sound impressive, but actuallu it was comparable to much of Europe at the time. Only German states and America had important public school systems for all children--including the girls. We do not know much about the early- and mid-19th century because of the the limited number of photographic images. Europeans introduced photography to Japan, but the number of such images are very limited until the Meiji Restoration
Gurls were no admitted to the Han schools for the children of Samurai. This meant that theiur girls were poorly educated. There were girls in the terakoya (Temple schools), although nmot nearly as many as boys. Well into the Edo Era, an new entirely new educational establishment was founded (early 18th century). These were the Wakamono-gumi (young men's activity group). There were also the Musume-gumi (daughters’ activity group). These developed as a function of the village and town community. They were not part of anational system. They were cinceived out of a precr=eived need of preparing immature youths for every vday life. Te included instruction in sexual behavior. This system of community education was disbanded in the middle of the Meiji (around 1890). Thge Meiji were focusing on ther public school system. These Wakamono schools were seening as arcgaric reminder if traditional Japan as there was nothing blike vthem in theWest.
Dore, R.P. "The Legacy of Tokugawa Education," in Marius B. Jansen, ed. Changing Japanese Attitudes toward Modernization (1965), pp 99–131.
Passin, Herbert. Society and Education in Japan (New York: Teachers College Press, 1965), 347
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