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

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN 55to 9 in 1884, but Niigata ranked second nationwide afterFukuoka. In 1885, with 7 public middle schools, Niigata rankedfirst, together with Saitama. 53 How long juku played a significantrole, is not known. In 1881, 17 were recorded (2 had beenrecorded as middle schools in 1879), said to have beenestablished between 1876 and 1881, but probably most of them,like Chōzenkan, were older. All were kangakujuku (one alsooffered National Learning) . 54Niigata prefecture thus illustrates how both traditional andnew institutions of education flourished and contributed to thedevelopment of education in the region. Perhaps the highparticipation of commoners, rather than of samurai associatedwith the old regime, resulted in relative tolerance toward the oldinstitutions, but this would need further investigation.The number of juku NKSS lists for Aomori prefecture (8) is oneof the lowest, but education in the region, particularly in the castetown of Hirosaki, was well developed in the late Edo and earlyMeiji periods. 55 Again subsequent research (and reclassification ofsome terakoya in NKSS as juku) has added to the number of jukurecorded: 70 for the whole prefecture. Twenty-three of these werein Hirosaki; several of them list reading and writing as theirsubjects, suggesting that their level was basic. Two are known tohave continued beyond 1874, one until 1876 and one until 1884.The juku in Aomori prefecture were officially abolished in theearly 1870s (see Chapter 5), but many continued or reopened,often as private elementary schools, which were tolerated inareas where there was no public provision.Hirosaki is well-known for Tōō gijuku, a private school at postelementarylevel. In 1872 the former domain school of Tsugaru/Hirosaki domain (Keikokan, established in 1796) was reopenedas Hirosaki Kan Ei gakkō (school for kangaku and Englishlearning); this school was short-lived but soon reopened as Tōōgijuku. It was founded by an association of men connected withthe former domain school, with the support of the former lord. In1874 it was listed as a private foreign language school, one of twoin Hirosaki and three in the entire prefecture; in 1878 it wasregistered as a private middle school (the only one in Aomoriprefecture).Several juku are known to have existed in Aomori prefectureand especially in Hirosaki until the 1880s. The first regularmiddle school was established in Hirosaki in 1889, when it wasmoved there from Aomori. 56 The 1880s saw the appearance of