The Meiji Restoration and the assimilation of Western civilization

In 1867 the Tokugawa (Edo) shogunate, a dynasty of military rulers established in 1603, was overthrown and the imperial authority of the Meiji dynasty was restored, leading to drastic reforms of the social system. This process has been called the Meiji Restoration, and it ushered in the establishment of a politically unified and modernized state.

In the following generation Japan quickly adopted useful aspects of Western industry and culture to enhance rapid modernization. But Japan’s audacious modernization would have been impossible without the enduring peace and cultural achievements of the Tokugawa era. It had boasted a high level of Oriental civilization, especially centring on Confucianism, Shintōism, and Buddhism. The ruling samurai had studied literature and Confucianism at their hankō (domain schools), and the commoners had learned reading, writing, and arithmetic at numerous terakoya (temple schools). Both samurai and commoners also pursued medicine, military science, and practical arts at shijuku (private schools). Some of these schools had developed a fairly high level of instruction in Western science and technology by the time of the Meiji Restoration. This cultural heritage helped equip Japan with a formidable potential for rapid Westernization. Indeed, some elements of Western civilization had been gradually introduced into Japan even during the Tokugawa era. The shogunate, notwithstanding its isolationist policy, permitted trade with the Dutch, who conveyed modern Western sciences and arts to Japan. After 1853, moreover, Japan opened its door equally to other Western countries, a result of pressures exerted by the United States Navy under Admiral Matthew C. Perry. Thenceforth, even before the Meiji Restoration, Japanese interest in foreign languages became intense and diverse.

Western studies, especially English-language studies, became increasingly popular after the Restoration, and Western culture flooded into Japan. The Meiji government dispatched study commissions and students to Europe and to the United States, and the so-called Westernizers defeated the conservatives who tried in vain to maintain allegiance to traditional learning.

Establishment of a national system of education

In 1871 Japan’s first Ministry of Education was established to develop a national system of education. Ōki Takatō, the secretary of education, foresaw the necessity of establishing schools throughout the country to develop national wealth, strength, and order, and he outlined a strategy for acquiring the best features of Western education. He assigned commissioners, many of whom were students of Western learning, to design the school system, and in 1872 the Gakusei, or Education System Order, was promulgated. It was the first comprehensive national plan to offer schooling nationwide, according to which the country was divided into eight university districts, which were further divided into 32 middle school districts, each accommodating 210 primary school districts. Unlike the class-based schooling offered during the Tokugawa period, the Gakusei envisioned a unified, egalitarian system of modern national education, designed on a ladder plan. Although the district system was said to have been borrowed from France, the new Japanese education was based on the study of Western education in general and incorporated elements of educational practice in all advanced countries. Curricula and methods of education, for instance, were drawn primarily from the United States.

This ambitious modern plan for a national education system fell short of full realization, however, because of the lack of sufficient financial support, facilities and equipment, proper teaching materials, and able teachers. Nevertheless, the plan represented an unprecedented historic stage in Japanese educational development. Under the Gakusei system, the Ministry of Education, together with local officials, managed with difficulty to set up elementary schools for children aged 6 to 14. In 1875 the 24,000 elementary schools had 45,000 teachers and 1,928,000 pupils. This was achieved by gradually reorganizing terakoya in many areas into modern schools. The enrollment rate reached only 35 percent of all eligible children, however, and no university was erected at all.

In 1873 David Murray, a professor from the United States, was invited to Japan as an adviser to the Ministry of Education; another professor, Marion M. Scott, assumed direction of teacher training and introduced American methods and curricula at the first normal school in Tokyo, established under the direct control of the ministry. Graduates of the normal school played an important role in disseminating teacher training to other parts of the country. By 1874 the government had set up six normal schools, including one for women. The normal school designed curricula for the primary schools, modeled after those of the United States, and introduced textbooks and methods that spread gradually into the elementary schools of many regions.

The conservative reaction

Following the repression of the Satsuma Rebellion, a samurai uprising in 1877, Japan again forged ahead toward political unity, but there was an increasing trend of antigovernment protest from below, which was epitomized by the Movement for People’s Rights. Because of the Satsuma Rebellion, the government faced serious financial difficulties. Also, with the people’s inclination toward Western ideas fading away, a conservative reaction began to emerge, calling for a revival of the Confucian and Shintō legacies and a return to local control of education as practiced in the pre-Restoration era.

Discontent had been mounting among the rural people against the Education System Order of 1872, mainly because it had imposed upon them the financial burdens of establishing schools and yet had not lived up to expectations. Another cause of dissatisfaction was a sense of irrelevance that Japanese attributed to schooling largely based on Western models. The curriculum developed according to the 1872 order was perceived to have little relation to the social and cultural needs of that day, and ordinary Japanese continued to favour the traditional schooling of the terakoya. The deputy secretary of education, Tanaka Fujimaro, just returning from an inspection tour in the United States, insisted that the government transfer its authority over education to the local governments, as in the United States, to reflect local needs in schooling. Thus, in 1879 the government nullified the Gakusei and put into force the Kyōikurei, or Education Order, which made for rather less centralization. Not only did the new law abolish the district system that had divided the country into districts, it also reduced central control over school administration, including the power to establish schools and regulate attendance. The Kyōikurei was intended to encourage local initiatives. Such a drastic reform to decentralize education, however, led to an immediate deterioration of schooling and a decline in attendance in some localities; criticism arose among those prefectural governors who had been striving to enforce the Gakusei in their regions.

As a countermeasure, the government introduced a new education order in 1880 calling for a centralization of authority by increasing the powers of the secretary of education and the prefectural governor. Thereafter, the prefecture would provide regulations within the limits of criteria set by the Ministry of Education; some measure of educational unity was thus reached on the prefectural level, and the school system received some needed adjustment. Yet, because of economic stagnation, school attendance remained low.

Conservatism in education gained crucial support when the Kyōgaku Seishi, or the Imperial Will on the Great Principles of Education, was drafted by Motoda Nagazane, a lecturer attached to the Imperial House in 1870. It stressed the strengthening of traditional morality and virtue to provide a firm base for the emperor. Thereafter, the government began to base its educational policy on the Kyōgaku Seishi with emphasis on Confucian and Shintōist values. In the elementary schools, shūshin (national moral education) was made the all-important core of the curricula, and the ministry compiled a textbook with overtones of Confucian morality.

Establishment of nationalistic education systems

With the installation of the cabinet system in 1885, the government made further efforts to pave the way for a modern state. The promulgation of the Meiji constitution, the constitution of the empire of Japan, in 1889 established a balance of imperial power and parliamentary forms. The new minister of education, Mori Arinori, acted as a central figure in enforcing a nationalistic educational policy and worked out a vast revision of the school system. This set a foundation for the nationalistic educational system that developed during the following period in Japan. Japanese education thereafter, in the Prussian manner, tended to be autocratic.

Based on policies advocated by Mori, a series of new acts and orders were promulgated one after another. The first was the Imperial University Order of 1886, which rendered the university a servant of the state for the training of high officials and elites in various fields. Later that year orders concerning the elementary school, the middle school, and the normal school were issued, forming the structural core of the pre-World War II education system. The ministry carried out sweeping revisions of the normal school system, establishing it as a completely independent track, quite distinct from other educational training. It was marked by a rigid, regimented curriculum designed to foster “a good and obedient, faithful, and respectful character.” As a result of these reforms, the rate of attendance at the four-year compulsory education level reached 81 percent by 1900.

Together with these reforms, the Imperial Rescript on Education (Kyōiku Chokugo) of 1890 played a major role in providing a structure for national morality. By reemphasizing the traditional Confucian and Shintō values and redefining the courses in shūshin, it was to place morality and education on a foundation of imperial authority. It would provide the guiding principle for Japan’s education until the end of World War II.

Promotion of industrial education

Ever since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the national target had been fukoku-kyōhei (“wealth accumulation and military strength”) and industrialization. From the outset the Meiji government had been busy introducing science and technology from Europe and America, but it nevertheless had difficulties in realizing such goals.

Inoue Kowashi, who became minister of education in 1893, was convinced that modern industries would be the most vital element in the future development of Japan and thus gave priority to industrial and vocational education. In 1894 the Subsidy Act for Technical Education was published, followed by the Technical Teachers’ Training Regulations and the Apprentice School Regulations. The system of industrial education was in general consolidated and integrated. These measures contributed to the training of many of the human resources required for the subsequent development of modern industry in Japan.