Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline and Transformation of the Kanguku Juku

281 Pages·2003·2.3 MB·English

by  Margaret Mehl

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE
LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN
NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES
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PRIVATE ACADEMIES
OF CHINESE
LEARNING IN MEIJI
JAPAN
The Decline and
Transformation of the
Kangaku Juku
MARGARET MEHL
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Monograph series, no. 92
First published in 2003 by NIAS Press
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Leifsgade 33, DK–2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
tel: [phone] • fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.niaspress.dk
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or
Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© Margaret Mehl2003
Publication of this book was assisted by a grant from
the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Mehl, Margaret
Private academies of Chinese learning in Meiji Japan: the
decline and transformation of the kangaku juku. — (NIAS
monograph; 92)
1.Private schools—Japan—History—19th century
2.Education—Japan—History—19th century 3.Japan—
Social life and customs—1868–1912
I.Title II.Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
371’02’0952’09034
ISBN 0-203-50716-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-59821-0 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 87-91114-03-9 (Print Edition)
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements xi
Notes on Usage xiii
Notes on Currency and Prices xiv
Introduction 1
The juku in the history of education
The focus of this book
CHAPTER 1: Education in Transition from the 10
Tokugawa to the Meiji Period
Education and juku in Tokugawa Japan
The education policies of the Meiji
government
Types of private schools
Kangaku in the Meiji period
Kangaku juku in transition
CHAPTER 2: Kangaku Juku in the Meiji Period 39
Juku and juku attendance after 1868
Juku in Tokyo
Juku outside Tokyo
CHAPTER 3: Case Studies 61
The “old guard”: Yasui Sokken
The modern success story: Mishima
Chūshū
vii
A woman changing with the times:
Miwada Masako
The recluse: Ikeda Sōan
The country scholars: Tsunetō Seisō and
Murakami Butsusan
CHAPTER 4: Life at the Juku 117
The masters
Teaching methods and curriculum
Organization and rules
Boarding house life
The students
The juku as a business: finance
CHAPTER 5: The Decline of the juku 174
The case of Akita
Juku and public education in conflict
Student careers: narrowing options
The gakureki shakai and the juku as a cram
school
CHAPTER 6: The Legacy of the juku 208
Kangaku scholars and juku commemorated
Inspired by the juku
The juku myth
Continuities
Conclusion 238
Is the juku unique?
The idea of juku education today
Select Bibliography 247
Index 255
viii
Illustrations and Tables
MAP
Places mentioned in the text xvi

FIGURES
Cover illustration: Scene from the kangaku juku of Kodama Nanka
in Iwatsuki domain around the middle of the nineteenth century.
I thank Professor Ishikawa Matsutarō for permission to use the
picture.
Initial chapter pages: Sketch of Murakami Butsusan’s juku
Suisaien preserved at the Suisaien museum and printed in
Tomoichi, 214 (see Chapter Three).
1: Seikei shoin, the juku of Ikeda Sōan in the early 91
twentieth century
2: Portrait of Ikeda Sōan and copy of his Record of Seikei shoin 90
3: Reading stand used by Ikeda Sōan 92
4: Building of the former study at Zōshun’en 100
5: Plan of Zōshun’en 100
6: Former study of Suisaien 110
7: Statue of Murakami Butsusan, reading stand and other 111
possessions in the Suisaien museum
8: Illustration of juku students 153
9: Stone commemorating Uchimura Roka 211
10: Scene from a modern school in early Meiji 239

TABLES
1: Numbers of juku 40
2: Kangaku juku in Tokyo according to the year they were 46
opened