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

LIFE AT THE JUKU 163was variable, as it was based on the rice price. In his secondapplication of 1888, Shigeno stated that he had an income of 50sen per person per month in fees, totalling 360 yen a year. Ofthis, 300 yen came from tuition fees and 61 yen was“miscellaneous income”. His expenditure totalled 361 yen, ofwhich 300 yen were teachers’ salaries (for 2 teachers) and 61 yen“miscellaneous expenses”. The juku rules stated that the monthlyboarding fees were 2 yen 50 sen, but could vary with thecommodity prices. 129According to Taka Otozō, who was at Shigeno’s juku from 1889until its closure in 1891, Shigeno had too few students to makethe juku financially viable. He received a loan from thepublishing house Taiseikan, which dealt with the publications ofthe Office of Historiography, where Shigeno was employed, butfinally had to close his juku. 130Many kangaku juku had a reputation for being cheap, whichexplains why some became popular boarding houses. In general,registration fees, if they were fixed, ranged from 25 sen to 1 yenfor kangaku juku and from 1 yen to 2 yen 50 sen for foreignlanguage schools. The monthly fees, where fixed, ranged from 10sen to 50 sen, sometimes with variations depending on the levelof study or the subject; again foreign language institutions weremore expensive, ranging from 25 sen to 2 yen 50 sen and in onecase three yen. Foreign language juku or schools tended to belarger and employ teachers, who had to be paid for, and this mayexplain the higher prices. There is less variation in the boardingfees, although some kangaku juku did not take a fixed fee (eitherin money or in kind) even for boarding. A monthly sum between1 yen 50 sen and 2 yen 50 sen was common. 131How high were prices outside Tokyo? Nishinomiya Tōchō’sapplication to reopen Shijodō (Chapter 5) gives the sum of 25 yen,possibly a yearly fee, which is broken down into proportions forchanging the tatami mats once a year, fuel, roof maintenance andmiscellaneous costs. The report for Chōzenkan in Niigata,submitted in 1870, states that there was no entrance fee: 1 shūeach was due at the beginning of the year and at the beginning ofMarch, 2 shū in May, 1 bu in midsummer, 1 shū in September and2 bu at the end of the year; the report added, however, that thiswas not definitely fixed. A pupil of Gengaku’s time reported thatthe monthly fee was 50 sen when he attended. 132 An applicationto open a juku in Osaka in 1882 stated that the fees were 50 sen on