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One of the major reforms instituted after the Meiji Restoration was to found a modern school system. Initially there was no required uniform. Japan was, however, a very class-based society. The children thus came to school dressed as they normally did in clothing reflecting their family background and social standing.
Boys from a samurai family would dress to show off their family stature, even wearing swords to school. Boys from a merchant family might wear trading gear. Girls wore kimonos, but again these varied as to social standing and family income. School authorities foundcthis to be disruptive and gradually came to see that uniforms would avoid these disruptions and place the children on an equal footing. Thus during the later phase of the Meiji period and throughout the Taisho period, schools began introducing military-style uniforms. Interesting rather than introducing a Japanese military uniform, school authorities turned to European military styles. Presumably western style school uniforms were introduced because they were more practical than traditional Japanese garments. This is of course the same reason that the miklitary chose Western-style uniforms. Cadet or army styles were selected for the boys and sailor suits for the girls. I am not sure what role the Ministry of Education had in this, but the schools basically chose the same styles. There were, however, differences from school to school.
One of the major reforms instituted after the Meiji Restoration was to found a modern school system. Japan founded a modern school system based on European models. The educational system was for both boys and girls, although there were separate schools, especially at the secondary level. Initially there was no required uniform. Japan was, however, a very class-based society. The children thus came to school dressed as they normally did in clothing reflecting their family background and social standing. Boys from a samurai family would dress to show off their family stature, even wearing swords to school. Boys from a merchant family might wear trading gear. School authorities found this to be disruptive and gradually came to see that uniforms would avoid these disruptions and place the children on an equal footing. Thus during the later phase of the Meiji period and throughout the Taisho period, schools began introducing military-style uniforms. It was the boys for who uniforms were first intoduced. You also see the same pattern in overall dress, boys and men were the first to adopt Western clothing. Interesting rather than introducing a Japanese military uniform, school authorities turned to European military styles. Presumably western style school uniforms were introduced because they were more practical than traditional Japanese garments. This is of course the same reason that the Japanese military also chose Western-style military uniforms. This reflected the influences of the new western-style military force that Japan began to build. We note two basic styles. One was a Prussian styled cadet uniform. The other was the uniform actually adopted by the Japanese Army. There seems to have been a seasonal factor involved. I am not sure what role the Ministry of Education had in this, but the schools basically chose the same styles. There were, however, differences from school to school. The process of instituting school uniforms varied from school to school. Schools varied as to when they adopted the military style unifirms. We see boys wearing traditional garments with cadet caps into the 1930s. After World War II, many primary schools dropped the uniformn requirement. The schools that retained uniforms, mostly adopted non-military Western styles. Secondary schools on the other hand almost all retained uniforms, although only the Prussian cadet style. This included both intermediate schools and high schools. The Japanerse Army uniforms disappeared. We begin to see some schools shifting tho British style blazers by the 1980s, especially coed schools. The cadet uniforms, however, are still widely worn. While the basic style is fairly standards, there were differences in detail among the cadet uniforms worn at different schools. The Prussian cadet uniforms were done with some differences as to detail, concerning the collar, buttons, and other features. Most jackets had shiny brass buttons, but some jackets were done with black buttons. The basic style was very similar. There were also cadet style caps. The caps were mostly black, but we have noted some white ones.
As part of the Menji reforms an educational system was designed to educate girls as well as boys. This was a major step for traditionally minded Japan. While schools were established for girls, there was a first considerable reluctance on the part of parents to send girls to school, espeially to secondary schools. And at first there were no uniforms adopted when Japan first began building a modern eductionl system. Girls wore kimonos, but again these varied as to social standing and family income. And school authorities to avoid disruption decided to also introduce uniforms for the girls. The uniform selected was the sailor outfits worn by the British Royal Navy. It took longer to accomodate paents to the unforms for the girls than for the boys.
Girls for some time wore either kimonos or a variety of Western outfits. Educating girls was not initually a priority, especially in the pre-World War I era. The girls sailor outfits were also basically the same, but had many stylistic differences. The girls wore a variety of hats with their sailor outfits. Some secondary schools now have British sttle blazers abd skirts, but the sailor outfits are still very common.
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