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

138 PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPANregulations of juku life, but part of the wording in the section ontextbooks is the same as Bundai’s in 1854. In 1878 Tekiken drewup a “Composition to present the timetable of the classroom” inthe form of a modern-style poem (shintaishi). 69 After anintroduction full of literary phrases stressing the value of time, thetransience of life and the short period available for study, thefollowing timetable is presented:You wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning; wash your face,tidy you hair and perform the ceremonial greeting. /At 7o’clock you clean up and have breakfast; 8 o‘clock shitsumon,9 o‘clock sodoku. /At 10 o‘clock rinkō and rindoku; at 11o‘clock it is shūji [writing practice]. /At 12 o‘clock lunch,from 1 o‘clock the afternoon’s sodoku with a new subject. /At2 o‘clock sakubun [composition], and rinkō is scheduled onalternate days. /At 3 o‘clock it is the same; sanjutsu[arithmetic] and mondō [question and answer session] onalternate days. /At 4 o‘clock onshū [revision], from 5 o‘clockcleaning, and when it is finished, you have your eveningmeal. /The time for a walk is 6 o‘clock; from 7 o‘clock to 9o‘clock/yoka [additional lessons] are organized for readingthe hundred sages and histories; each as they wish will readand translate. /And the constraints of the daytime will berelaxed slightly. /By 10 o‘clock, when the clappers sound,all must go to rest.The poem ends with more general exhortations, reminding thestudents that by following this routine dilligently the seedsplanted in youth will flower later in life, for the benefit of thecountry and their personal relationships. Thus the prosperity of allnations will be supported and their names will find entry into thehistory books. Finally the brief spell of time available is againstressed and at the end students are told, “Read continuouslywithout inattention; to study assiduously is wise”.The importance of the moral training as an inseparable part ofstudy at a juku was and is often invoked by those singing itspraises. Tekiken’s poem illustrates this idea; lofty statements ofprinciple are combined with down-to-earth regulationsconcerning study and daily life. A similar combinationcharacterizes the stated aims and regulations of KunitomoKoshōken’s juku, Ronseidō, in what is now Tamana city in