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

LIFE AT THE JUKU 125students of all ages. 27 In addition they also taught members of thenobility in their homes. In 1870 Kakei’s father accompanied theAnenokōji family to Tokyo. Kakei followed her father later thatyear. Until then she had been teaching both boys and girls, butsoon she began to take a special interest in girls’ education. Kakeiopened a new juku in the Anenokōji residence. She did not haveto advertise; her family was by then well known and manyfamilies from the upper classes sent their children to beeducated, especially families from Kyoto, to whom the capitalwas unfamiliar and who distrusted the schools there. 28 Soon shehad to move to larger premises, and in 1875 she formally openeda new girls’ school there. It was not strictly a kangaku juku, since avariety of subjects were taught, but kangaku was an importantpart of the curriculum and for the first few years the schoolretained the flavour of a juku. In 1889 the school moved to itspresent location in Koishikawa, and during the following yearsthe organization became more and more formal. EvidentlyAtomi Kakei strove for official recognition so that her workwould outlast her. She continued as head of the school until1919, when her adopted daughter Momoko took over.What motivated the founder of a juku, apart from teachingbeing a recognized part of a Confucian scholar’s role, and (forthose who did not receive a stipend as a samurai) the necessity tomake a living? The juku was independent and the master was theonly one in charge, so he had plenty of scope to develop hisindividual style. But he did not necessarily compose detailedstatements about his views on education and his aims for thejuku. The names of juku, often allusions to passages in theChinese classics, could represent a motto. Murakami Butsusannamed his Suisaien after a passage from Mencius, praising thecalmness and steadiness of flowing water as something to becultivated by students. 29Sometimes the name is accompanied by a programmaticstatement entitled (name of the juku) juku ki Yasui Sokken’sSankei juku ki, quoted in Chapter 3, is an example. Inukai Shōsōnamed his juku after a heading in the textbook Mōgyū (Men qiu),based on a saying in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sankokushi,Ch. San guo chi), where it is said (by Dong Yu) that readingshould be done in the “three periods of spare time” (san’yo) whenone is not working the land: in the evening, in the winter andwhen it is dark and rainy. Shōsō'’s San’yo juku ki tells ussomething about his views: