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

112 CASE STUDIESestablishing Suisaien, he corresponded with several famousscholars, including Saitō Setsudō and Mishima Chūshū, andmany came to visit him. Twelve years after his death, in 1891,observances were held in Tokyo by leading kangaku literati of thetime, including Shigeno Yasutsugu. 94 In 1916 Butsusan washonoured with a court rank (upper 5th) in recognition for hiscontributions to education. That year Suematsu Kenchō editedhis collected works. In 1936 Murakami Ryōichi, with the help offormer students and local people, constructed a building to houseButsusan’s library and other objects associated with him, whichcan be viewed today. Otherwise Butsusan’s study remains,although it was rebuilt after being damaged by floods in 1979.The premises of Suisaien are still the home of the Murakamifamily.Zōshun’en and Suisaien appear to have been typical for manyrural juku run by scholars who had no chance of an officialappointment and who catered mainly for the local elite. They didnot survive for as long as other juku of this type often did,perhaps because the heirs lacked the determination to continueand there were accepted alternatives.NOTES1 Kanbe Yasumitsu, Nihon ni okeru chūgakkō keiseishi no kenkyū(Meijishokihen) (Tokyo: Taga shuppan, 1993), 680.2 The main biographical sources on Yasui Sokken are WakayamaKōzō, Yasui Sokken sensei (Miyazaki-ken Miyazaki-gun Miyazakichō:Zōroku shobō, 1913) and Kuroe Ichirō, Yasui Sokken (Hyūgabunko kenkōkai 1982; originally 1953). See also Machida Saburō,“Notes on Yasui Sokken”, Tōhōgaku 72 (1986):111–126.3 Wakayama, 184.4 Wakayama, 139.5 Kuroe, 17–18.6 Kuroe, 90; Ōgai’s story closely follows Wakayama’s biography ofSokken; see Inagaki Tatsurō, “Yasui fujin’ nōto”, Kokubungaku 4(1951):23–35.7 Kuroe, 13–14.8 Quoted in Wakayama, 50.9 Yasui Sokken shokanshū, ed. Kuroki Moriyuki (Mizaki-kenMiyazaki-gun kiyotake-chō: Yasui Sokken kenshōkai, 1987), 264–265.10 Wakayama, 56–57.