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

128 PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPANestablishing a new kangaku juku, Keishikan, near his home, andtwo students taught there until 1879. Mishima Chūshū liked totravel around the country visiting his former students, accordingto Yamada Jun; 34 Jun was adopted into the family of Hōkoku,Chūshū’s teacher, and in 1926 became head of Nishō gakusha.Ties between families of kangaku scholars over generations werenot uncommon; in his article commemorating Yasui Sokken’sheir, Bokudō, Shionoya On (1878–1962)—a descendant of thescholar Shionoya Tōin—stresses the friendly relations between thetwo families. 35 Of course the scholars in the towns had morepossiblilities for maintaining relationships, but even masters withjuku in remote rural areas did not exist in isolation; contacts withother scholars they knew from their own period of study weremaintained through letters, the travels of their students and theoccasional visit when they travelled themselves. 36Through the sometimes lifelong ties with their students(especially if they became scholars and teachers in their ownright), as well as with other scholars of their own generation, themasters formed a nationwide scholarly community boundtogether by the kangaku heritage.TEACHING METHODS AND CURRICULUMStudy at a juku was above all self-study. 37 In Aoyama Enju’s jukuin Mito, students spent a considerable part of their day practisingreading and writing by themselves, while Enju went out to workfor the domain or worked in his study, ringing a bell when hisstudents became too noisy. 38 Enju’s juku provided mainlyelementary teaching; more advanced students presumably spenteven more time reading alone. Fukuzawa Yukichi, in hisautobiography, describes how he and the other students spentmuch time reading by themselves at Ogata Kōan’s Tekijuku. 39This was a juku for Western studies, but the pattern was similarin kangaku juku, especially in those catering for older students.Kōda Rohan reports that students at the juku he attended spentmuch of their time reading alone, often choosing what theywanted to read and only asking their teacher if they were reallystuck. 40 Shōda Yōjirō, who entered Nishō gakusha in 1882,reported that free self-study predominated and lectureattendance was not monitored. There was a daily question time(shitsumon), when students could ask the teacher about a passagethey were reading. 41