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

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN 75Evidently, Chūshū read the signs of the times. His approachwas pragmatic. He did not offer anything but kangaku in hisschool, but realizedthat his students needed to become proficientin Western learning aswell and provided space for them toacquire itThe regulations of 1879 also defined the tasks of the juku’semployees. The teaching staff (kyōin) were expected to adhere tothe appointed lesson times and teach conscientiously. Theadministrator (kanji) was to act as the master’s representative, todeal with reports and applications to the metropolitangovernment and with the finances, to receive any visitors and tosupervise the servants (jukuboku). The prefect (jukuchō) had tosupervise juku affairs, to make sure students observed the rulesand report them if they did not. Room prefects (bōchō) wereappointed to supervise each dormitory and to meet daily withthe new students and the students of the lower ranks to heartheir questions. The prefects were chosen from the graduates bythe head or, if none were suitable, from the older students.The curriculum given in the regulations is among the mostcomprehensive for a kangaku juku and includes nearly all theworks mentioned in other curricula. It was divided into fourranks, of which the fourth was subdivided into two courses, therest into four. Twenty-three works are listed, beginning with theFour Books and the FiveClassics. Most of them are Chinese, butsome Japanese works in kanbun are included, such as the Nihongaishi by Rai Sanyō, which was widely read, and the Dainihonshi,which was more unusual. Teaching methods are also mentioned:reading (sodoku), translating classical Japanese back into classicalChinese in class, descriptive compositions in class andcomposing argument and poetry in class.The regulations stated that apart from the texts named,anything in Japanese, Chinese or translations from Western workscould be read that did not do damage to good conduct orcontradict national prohibitions. Moreover, students who wereolder, perhaps already pursuing a career or studying elsewhereand not able to follow the regular curriculum, could, if theyprovided an explanation from their guarantor, study whateverthey chose.According to the regulations, assignment to a rank wasdecided by general performance and performance in theexaminations, held twice yearly, at the end of April and thebeginning of November, or in February and July for late entrants.