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

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN 63In 1839 Sokken opened his Sankei juku in Kōjimachi. Over theyears he had to move several times, and in the beginning he wasso poor that he could hardly buy books of his own and had toborrow them from a wealthy merchant. But his fame grew and bythe late 1850s he is said to have taught hundreds of students,although only a few of their names are known. 4 Many weretalented people from different domains who later becamepolitical leaders or educators. Sokken was by then well knownamong the literati of Edo. Soon after moving there, he organizeda literary association, where members would criticize eachother’s work over drinks of sake. 5In 1862 Sokken’s contribution to learning in the capital was atlast officially recognized and he was appointed to the Shōheikōby the shogunate. This was remarkable, because until then theshogunate had only appointed Confucianists of the orthodoxschool of Zhu Xi and Sokken was an adherent of the kogaku(Ancient learning, pristine Confucianism) school. Only monthsbefore his appointment his wife Sayoko died. She had followedhim from Obi domain and served him through the years when hewas too poor to afford servants. Immortalized in Mori Ōgai’s taleYasui fujin, she was held up as a model of virtue in middle schooltextbooks before the Second World War. 6During the Restoration wars Sokken left the capital and stayedin a village farmhouse in Saitama prefecture for eight months. Hespent his time writing, teaching and observing the hard life of thepeasants. He returned to Edo at the end of 1868 and reopened hisjuku. He was offered a post in the new government, but declinedon the grounds of his old age. He also declined when it wassuggested that he become lecturer to the Meiji emperor. 7 In theyears before his death he suffered from ill health, affectingespecially his legs and his eyesight. Many former pupils visitedhim during his last illness.The name of Sankei juku is an allusion to a passage in a work(falsely) ascribed to Guan Zhong (d. 645 BC), a chapter in theGuanzi. Sokken explained the name and stated his principles inhis “Sankei juku ki” [Record of Sankei juku] : 8What does Sankei mean? The total measure of a day of aday is decided in the morning, that of a year in the springand that of a lifetime in youth. Why does my juku bear thisname? I thought of students, who tend to sleep late andindulge in their sexual passions. The students who come to