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

LIFE AT THE JUKU 123was transferred to the Imperial University he became one of thefirst professors of Japanese history. He had to resign in 1893, butwas reappointed as a professor of Chinese studies in 1898.Shigeno was also employed in the Imperial Household Ministryand the Ministry of Education. In the Metropolitan Archives inTokyo there are two applications to open juku by Shigeno, dated1873 and 1888. Apparently neither of these was long-lived, but hecontinued to lecture regularly on the Confucian classics in his ownhome.These examples suggest that the master’s involvement in theday-to-day running of the juku varied and may have beenminimal in some cases. Looking at the busy lives and careers ofHayashi Kakuryō, Oka Senjin and Shigeno Yasutsugu, onewonders that they had any time to teach privately at all. It maywell be that their input was limited to a few lectures and thatwhen the students were not studying by themselves, most of theday-to-day teaching was done by head students.Other masters devoted all or most of their time to their juku,having either retired from official appointments or never heldany in the first place. Murakami Butsusan was one of the manycountry samurai who never had the chance of a publicappointment Ikeda Sōan was a commoner who devoted all hislife to private study and teaching, although he did lectureoccasionally at nearby domain schools. Inukai Shōsō (Hiroshi,Gensaburō; 1816–93) also spent most of his life as a privatescholar; he regarded farming as his main occupation. He camefrom a farming family in Yamaki, now part of Kurashiki city. 22Apparently urged by his mother, he studied with local kangakuscholars and then for ten years at the Meirinkan in Kurashiki(gōgaku, established by the domain in 1834), where he metprominent scholars, including Mishima Chūshū and Kawada Ōkō.Inukai was a great believer in self-study and acquired much ofhis knowledge on his own. At the same time he believed thatpractical work came before the study of books. He turned downinvitations from feudal lords. San’yo juku, founded in 1856, waspart of Inukai’s efforts to improve the lot of the poor farmers inhis area at a time when educational opportunities for commonersin the villages were few. 23 From 1868 he also taught at theMeirinkan in Kurashiki and lectured at the Seishūkan in Tenjō. In1882 he was invited by the prefectural governor to teach at theOkayama teacher training college.