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47 3 The Meiji Restoration Reemergence of Tokugawa Schools, 1868–1871 With the overthrow of the Tokugawa government in 1868, the Meiji Restoration marks the beginning of the modern era in Japanese history. The Restoration does not, however, mark the beginning of the modern era in Japanese education. During the initial three-year period after the Restoration, education for the ruling samurai classes took preference over education for the masses, as it did in the Tokugawa era just ended. After three and a half centuries of uninterrupted rule by the Tokugawa regime, revered educational institutions founded during that period of unparalleled stability predictably resurfaced under the new Meiji government. The process began with the first educational measure taken by the new government on February 22, 1868. Three officials were appointed to an Office of Education under the newly organized Bureau of Internal Affairs charged with setting the direction of educational policy of the Meiji government.1 Since all three were noted figures from the ranks of the Kokugakusha, specialists on Japanese history and culture centering on Shinto beliefs and customs in contrast to the new western studies, their recommendations inevitably embraced traditional educational patterns .The modern era in Japanese history was about to be launched on institutions revived from the former feudal era. There was no feasible alternative. The Office of Education issued the first official pronouncement on March 12, 1868, declaring that the Gakushuin in Kyoto would be reopened on the 19th.2 Both the institution and its location were fitting under the prevailing circumstances. The venerable Gakushuin was originally founded by an emperor to serve the families of the nobility. Kyoto was the city of nobility where the imperial family had resided for centuries. Accordingly, the curriculum of the school was intimately related to imperial traditions with a close relationship to indigenous Shinto ceremonies and customs. It marked the first logical step in education under the movement to restore imperial authority. Continuing the contrasting trends under way during the Tokugawa government , exactly two days later, March 14, the Meiji government issued the wellknown Charter Oath in the name of the youthful Emperor Meiji, then age sixteen. Among the five so-called oaths or declarations of intent of the new government, number five ultimately became the most important. It symbolically marked the end of three hundred years of isolation and the opening of the country (kaikoku) to the international community: “Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world, so as to strengthen the foundation of Imperial rule.”3 The interpretation 48 The Feudal Foundation of Modern Education and application of this single provision would prove highly controversial as the Restoration movement matured. In one declaration, the goal of assimilating modern western knowledge with seemingly incompatible ancient Japanese traditions epitomizes the basic scenario for the entire Meiji era. The confrontation between the two positions forms the underlying theme running through the first two decades of modern education in Japan. Amid the haste to open schools for the nobility, coupled with the issuing of the Charter Oath seeking knowledge from “throughout the world,” the Dajōkan, the highest governmental organ, called for members of noble families to become leaders of the country. They were urged to come to Tokyo, the new administrative capital, from Kyoto where most lived. Members of the nobility were also encouraged to go abroad to learn about modern western societies in order to assume leadership positions. Although only a limited number of noble families sent their youth abroad for study, it became fashionable for motivated samurai youth to study abroad in preparation for leadership positions at home. Study abroad was considered similar to visiting the Ise Shrine (O Ise Mairi), that is, once in a lifetime.4 The number of Japanese studying abroad reached a record number of nearly four hundred by the beginning of the 1870s.5 Interest in the West was stimulated by the most prominent Japanese educator of the period, Fukuzawa Yukichi, highly respected among intellectuals as well as the general populace. His books on the West based on his travels to both America and England during the late Tokugawa period were widely circulated, including his best-selling Seiyō Jijō (Conditions in the West), a veritable encyclopedia of things western from politics to education. Two other writers also reached a broad audience. The great classic Self-Help by the British author Samuel Smiles was translated by Nakamura Masanao, who had studied in England before the Restoration. The oft-quoted line from the book, “Heaven helps...

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