Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline ...

84 CASE STUDIESLessons took place on 290 days of the year, twelve hours eachday, divided into 6 hours from 5 to 11 a.m. for the boarders andsix hours from 3 to 9 p.m. for the day pupils. The traditionalmethods of lecture, group readings and group discussions wereused. Examinations were held each month and at the end of eachsession. Prospective pupils had to be over 15 years old and tohave mastered the Nihon gaishi. To attend the juku they had to beregistered by a guarantor who would also notify the academy ifthe pupil wanted to leave. Regulations for pupils were similar tothose of other juku; they were forbidden to leave the premisesexcept during their free time; the gates closed at nine p.m.;punishable offences were damaging buildings and objects withinthe school, hurting fellow students, quarreling and creatingdisturbance. Punishments were admonition, notifying theguarantor, compensation payments, cleaning the school grounds,confinement or expulsion. These regulations are similar to thosegiven in applications by male scholars.Fees were 20 sen per month for boarders and 10 sen for daypupils. Masako paid 1 yen 60 sen rent per month and 50 sen forvarious costs. At the time the document was submitted, the jukuhad over 70 male and 3 female students. The rent was fairly highfor the time, though the school fees were comparatively low. 40Masako was the only woman to run a kangaku juku in Ehimeprefecture; two other women ran terakoya-type schools in the lateTokugawa and early Meiji periods, in contrast to Tokyo, whereabout half of the terakoya were run by women. The low status ofwomen is shown by the fact that Masako’s application wassigned by two male witnesses; her own son, who was only sevenat the time, and her brother-in-law. The early 1880s were a goodtime for opening a new school in Ehime. The central governmentwas increasing its efforts to spread education, but Ehime still hadfew schools beyond elementary level.At the same time the government attempted to control privateschools. When Masako’s application, having been accepted bythe prefectural authorities, was passed on to the Ministry ofEducation in 1883, the ministry disapproved of it on the groundsthat no lessons in moral instruction appeared in the curriculum.In October 1884 Masako submitted a new application. 41 This timethe courses were divided into only two levels, each eighteenmonths long. The books were almost the same, with a fewadditions. A quarter of the weekly lessons were allocated tomoral instruction.