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

92 CASE STUDIESFigure 3: Reading stand used by Ikeda Sōan (on display in the museum).Photograph: the authorMatso and his subsequent life and writings suggest that he wasnot averse to the life of a recluse, and yearned for quietersurroundings.In the spring of 1843 Sōan returned to Tajima and took over abuilding in the village of Yōka, where the local scholarNishimura Sendō had taught in the tradition of Ishida Baiganuntil his death. The building was called Risseisha. Sōan startedwith 15 students, the number increasing to 35 in his first year.Soon Sōan had so many students that in 1845 he had to haveanother building erected. Sōan seems to have been content withlife in Tajima; he did, however, miss the intercourse with otherscholars, and when he sent his nephew Morinosuke to study withKasuga Sen’an in 1844, it was as much for his own sake as for hisnephew’s.The number of students continued to grow, and Sōan acquiredhis own premises in his native village and built Seikei shoin in1847. Here he continued to teach for the next three decades untilhis death. For some years he lectured at the domain schools ofthe neighbouring domains of Toyooka and Fukuchiyama, but healways returned to Shukunami. He declined an invitation to anofficial post in Utsunomiya domain in 1852. His fame grew and