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

108 CASE STUDIESThe overall impression of education at Suisaien is that theemphasis was on the cultivation of moral behaviour and ofaesthetic sentiment and not so much on book learning, althoughthe study of Chinese and Sino-Japanese classics would certainlyhave formed a central part of the daily routine. Apart fromButsusan’s own preferences, this type of education may wellhave suited the students who came to him. Most of them werefrom local families, commoners and lower samurai and unlikelyto have aspired to official posts in the government of the domain,much less in the Shogunate. Many of his students, sometimes upto half or more of the entrants, were from temples. From the1840s onwards an increasing number came from outside Buzen,especially from Hizen, Chōshū, Sūō, Aki, Nagato and otherprovinces mainly in the south west of Japan; mostly from thesame sort of areas as the students at Zōshun’en. However, thegreat majority of students were still from Buzen and theneighbouring regions. The number of entrants varied from yearto year. Peak years before 1868 were 1840 (24 entrants), 1845 (25),1849 (25), 1854 (30), 1856 (24), 1860 (26), 1863 (28), 1865 (24), 1867(36). Years with low numbers were 1839 (5), 1851 (8), 1857 (6).From 1868 onwards the numbers were generally much higher:The proportion of students from outside the region dropped after1868, as did that of students from temples. The rise in studentnumbers after 1868 may reflect the lifting of class restrictions andthe increasing demand for education in general.The records list a total of 1,120 students in Butsusan’s time anda further 148 after Seisō took over. Tomoishi assumes thattogether with day pupils this brings the number up to 3,000students who studied at Suisaien, but he cites no evidence forthis figure.Students were usually between 10 and 20 years old, althoughthey could be in their 30s and 40s. 88 Three, possibly four femalesare known to have studied at Suisaien; one who entered in 1839