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

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN 95forms. The day began and ended with a short ceremony in whichthe pupils, after tidying their persons and putting their writingutensils in order, would sit lined up according to age to greettheir teacher. Lessons themselves were informal. There were nodesks, so pupils could not hide behind them and fool about; thetexts were spread on fans. There were no formal ranks; pupilswere grouped together roughly by ability, so group sizes varied.The older pupils taught the younger ones after being thoroughlybriefed by Sōan. Lectures based on the Confucian classics wereheld in the morning and in the afternoon. There was not muchteaching of composition and none of poetry. Sōan sometimesgave special lessons to slow or to exceptionally enthusiasticstudents.There was no formal curriculum until 1871, when the ministryof education demanded it. The list of texts prepared forsubmission then contains the usual Confucian classics, groupedin order of priority:– The Elementary Learning, The Great Learning, The Analects,Mencius, TheDoctine of the Mean, Reflections on Things atHand.– Book of Odes, Book of Documents, Book of Changes.– Outlines of the Eighteen Histories, Spring and AutumnAnnals, Sashiden.– Bunsho kihan (Wenzhang guifan), Tōsō hatsukabun. 59Other texts were used according to students’ needs.Outside lessons, pupils were encouraged to exercise and madeto work in the fields. They also took turns helping with housholdduties, according to their age; the oldest pupils were responsiblefor finances, supervising the younger ones and appointingpeople for different tasks. Some days, when there were nolectures were designated cleaning days. Sōan considered takingpart in the daily chores as part of the education.There were few rules; Sōan placed trust in his pupils. As withthe curriculum, rules were only written down in answer toofficial demand, probably in 1871. Even then there were only sixof them, which can be summarized as follows:1) All were to sleep and rise together, unless a pupil feltsick.