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

104 CASE STUDIESnext largest group are members of temples (18) and teachers (11).Others were in national government and the military or workedas doctors or lawyers. From this sample it would seem thatstudents typically became leading members of the localcommunity, with some rising to leading positions on a nationallevel.In 1878 the juku was renamed Shiritsu (private) Zōshun gakkō.It may have closed shortly after 1886, the year we have the laststudent register. However, members of the Tsunetō familycontinued to be involved in education; Saisō’s eldest son, Baison(1869–1955), was a prominent teacher and educator, and hisgrandson, Tsunetō Toshisuke, who resides in the juku buildings,now designated a cultural asset, is a high school teacher....Not far from Zōshun’en, in the village of Hieda, now part ofthe town of Yukuhashi, lies Suisaien, perhaps the most famousjuku in Kyūshū after Kangien. Suisaien was established by theConfucian scholar and kanshi poet Murakami Butsusan (1810–79)in 1835. 79 Suisaien usually had more students than Zōshun’enfrom the 1840s onwards, especially after 1868, when attendancelevels peaked. After Butsusan’s death, Suisaien was taken overby his nephew, whom he had adopted, and continued until 1884,when it had to close. By then Hieda had its own public school.Butsusan came from a family of country samurai (gōshi). Hereceived his first schooling in 1818 from a local Shintō priest whoran a terakoya-type school. In 1823 he went to a priest in aneighbouring village, but studied with him for less than a year. In1824 he left his home for the castle town of Akitsuki to study inthe juku of Hara Kosho (1764–1827), who was famous for hispoetry. However, Kosho died while Butsusan was there and hereturned home. His mother took him to Kyoto, Nara, Yamato andYoshino, where he met various scholars. After their return,Butsusan lived in his home village. A this time Kosho’s son anddaughter, both poets in their own right, were staying in a nearbyvillage. Butsusan studied with Hara Hakukei (1789– 1828) andhis sister Saihin (1798–1859) until Hakukei died and his sisterreturned home. For the rest of his life Butsusan regarded Koshoand Hakukei as his most important teachers; although over thenext few years he travelled widely and visited several scholarsand juku, he never spent more than a few months in them.In 1835, Butsusan received land from his brother to set up aseparate household and settled in his home village. After that he