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

PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPAN 79school and admitted over 100 students. The entrance examinationincluded kanbun, for it was thought that the students should notbe confronted by Western learning without a good grounding inthe learning of their own country. Once admitted, the studentshad no lessons in kangaku, but studied only French and Frenchlaw. 29 Consequently, many aspiring law students came to Nishōgakusha to prepare for the ministry’s entrance examination or forentry into the law school attached to the ministry. Othersprepared for entry into the army’s school. When in 1882 theUniversity of Tokyo established a department of Chinese andJapanese classics (koten kōshūka), many students from Nishōgakusha went there.Mishima was obviously successful in filling a niche inprovision. When it was established, Nishō gakusha had 32students; by the end of the year, 42. The following year saw anincrease to about 250 students. The Ministry of Education listed itamong the 9 private middle schools with over 200 students. By1881 student numbers had increased to 300.The documents submitted to the metropolitan governmentstate that Nishō gakusha had only one teacher. But in factChūshū, who had other commitments, gave his morning lecturesand led the group readings (rinkō) in the evenings, while otherclasses were given by assistant teachers and prefects. 30 In 1883Nishō gakusha reported twelve teachers. Among those involvedin teaching and running the school were Chūshū’s sons. Hiseldest son, Katsura, is even named as master of the juku (jukushu)in the early documents and up to 1887, although in 1877 he wasonly nine years old. From 1894 his second son, Hiroshi, is namedas jukushu. He and Chūshū’s third son, Mata, also taught, andMata took Chūshū’s place when he became too old to teach. Hedied in his forties, however, and was succeeded by Yamada Jun,a former student of Chūshū’s, in 1926.The rapid growth of Nishō gakusha meant that it was soon nolonger the typical juku, with no more than thirty students in thehouse or the grounds of the founder and teacher. The schoolbuildings erected on the grounds of Chūshū’s residence inDecember 1877 soon became too small, and former samurairesidences in the neighbourhood were used to house thestudents. The additional boarding houses were known as gaijuku(outer juku) and at first simply numbered. In January 1880 thefirst of these was rebuilt and named the Yanagi [Willow] jukuafter a willow tree on the premises. The following month Chūshū