Debts
Year. (millions of _yen_).
1890 ¾
1894 10
1899 32
1904 65
1907 89[29]
The chief purposes to which the proceeds of these loans were applied
are as follow:--
Millions of _yen_.
Education 5
Sanitation 12
Industries 13
Public works 52
Local corporations are not competent to incur unrestricted
indebtedness. The endorsement of the local assembly must be secured;
redemption must commence within 3 years after the date of issue and be
completed within 30 years; and, except in the case of very small
loans, the sanction of the minister of home affairs must be obtained.
_Wealth of Japan._--With reference to the wealth of Japan, there is no
official census. So far as can be estimated from statistics for the
year 1904-1905, the wealth of Japan proper, excluding Formosa,
Sakhalin and some rights in Manchuria, amounts to about 19,896,000,000
_yen_, the items of which are as follow:--
_Yen_ (10 _yen_ = £1).
Lands 12,301,000,000
Buildings 2,331,000,000
Furniture and fittings 1,080,000,000
Live stock 109,000,000
Railways, telegraphs and telephones 707,000,000
Shipping 376,000,000
Merchandise 873,000,000
Specie and bullion 310,000,000
Miscellaneous 1,809,000,000
--------------
Grand total 19,896,000,000
Early Education.
_Education._--There is no room to doubt that the literature and learning
of China and Korea were transported to Japan in very ancient times, but
tradition is the sole authority for current statements that in the 3rd
century a Korean immigrant was appointed historiographer to the Imperial
court of Japan and another learned man from the same country introduced
the Japanese to the treasures of Chinese literature. About the end of
the 6th century the Japanese court began to send civilians and
religionists direct to China, there to study Confucianism and Buddhism,
and among these travellers there were some who passed as much as 25 or
30 years beyond the sea. The knowledge acquired by these students was
crystallized into a body of laws and ordinances based on the
administrative and legal systems of the Sui dynasty in China, and in the
middle of the 7th century the first Japanese school seems to have been
established by the emperor Tenchi, followed some 50 years later by the
first university. Nara was the site of the latter, and the subjects of
study were ethics, law, history and mathematics.
Not until 794, the date of the transfer of the capital to Kioto,
however, is there any evidence of educational organization on a
considerable scale. A university was then opened in the capital, with
affiliated colleges; and local schools were built and endowed by noble
families, to whose scions admittance was restricted, but for general
education one institution only appears to have been provided. In this
Kioto university the curriculum included the Chinese classics,
calligraphy, history, law, etiquette, arithmetic and composition; while
in the affiliated colleges special subjects were taught, as medicine,
herbalism, acupuncture, shampooing, divination, the almanac and
languages. Admission was limited to youths of high social grade; the
students aggregated some 400, from 13 to 16 years of age; the faculty
included professors and teachers, who were known by the same titles
(_hakase_ and _shi_) as those applied to their successors to-day; and
the government supplied food and clothing as well as books. The family
schools numbered five, and their patrons were the Wage, the Fujiwara,
the Tachibana (one school each) and the Minamoto (two). At the one
institution--opened in 828--where youths in general might receive
instruction, the course embraced only calligraphy and the precepts of
Buddhism and Confucianism.
Combination of Native and Foreign Element.
The above retrospect suggests that Japan, in those early days, borrowed
her educational system and its subjects of study entirely from China.
But closer scrutiny shows that the national factor was carefully
preserved. The ethics of administration required a combination of two
elements, _wakon_, or the soul of Japan, and _kwansai_, or the ability
of China; so that, while adopting from Confucianism the doctrine of
filial piety, the Japanese grafted on it a spirit of unswerving loyalty
and patriotism; and while accepting Buddha's teaching as to three states
of existence, they supplemented it by a belief that in the life beyond
the grave the duty of guarding his country would devolve on every man.
Great academic importance attached to proficiency in literary
composition, which demanded close study of the ideographic script,
endlessly perplexing in form and infinitely delicate in sense. To be
able to compose and indite graceful couplets constituted a passport to
high office as well as to the favour of great ladies, for women vied
with men in this accomplishment. The early years of the 11th century
saw, grouped about the empress Aki, a galaxy of female authors whose
writings are still accounted their country's classics--Murasaki no
Shikibu, Akazome Emon, Izumi Shikibu, Ise Taiyu and several lesser
lights. To the first two Japan owes the _Genji monogatari_ and the _Eiga
monogatari_, respectively, and from the Imperial court of those remote
ages she inherited admirable models of painting, calligraphy, poetry,
music, song and dance. But it is to be observed that all this refinement
was limited virtually to the noble families residing in Kioto, and that
the first object of education in that era was to fit men for office and
for society.
Education in the Middle Ages.
Meanwhile, beyond the precincts of the capital there were rapidly
growing to maturity numerous powerful military magnates who despised
every form of learning that did not contribute to martial excellence. An
illiterate era ensued which reached its climax with the establishment of
feudalism at the close of the 12th century. It is recorded that, about
that time, only one man out of a force of five thousand could decipher
an Imperial mandate addressed to them. Kamakura, then the seat of feudal
government, was at first distinguished for absence of all intellectual
training, but subsequently the course of political events brought
thither from Kioto a number of court nobles whose erudition and
refinement acted as a potent leaven. Buddhism, too, had been from the
outset a strong educating influence. Under its auspices the first great
public library was established (1270) at the temple Shomyo-ji in
Kanazawa. It is said to have contained practically all the Chinese and
Japanese books then existing, and they were open for perusal by every
class of reader. To Buddhist priests, also, Japan owed during many years
all the machinery she possessed for popular education. They organized
schools at the temples scattered about in almost every part of the
empire, and at these _tera-koya_, as they were called, lessons in
ethics, calligraphy, reading and etiquette were given to the sons of
samurai and even to youths of the mercantile and manufacturing classes.
Education in the pre-Meiji Era.
When, at the beginning of the 17th century, administrative supremacy
fell into the hands of the Tokugawa, the illustrious founder of that
dynasty of shoguns, Iyeyasu, showed himself an earnest promoter of
erudition. He employed a number of priests to make copies of Chinese and
Japanese books; he patronized men of learning and he endowed schools. It
does not appear to have occurred to him, however, that the spread of
knowledge was hampered by a restriction which, emanating originally from
the Imperial court in Kioto, forbade any one outside the ranks of the
Buddhist priesthood to become a public teacher. To his fifth successor
Tsunayoshi (1680-1709) was reserved the honour of abolishing this veto.
Tsunayoshi, whatever his faults, was profoundly attached to literature.
By his command a pocket edition of the Chinese classics was prepared,
and the example he himself set in reading and expounding rare books to
audiences of feudatories and their vassals produced something like a
mania for erudition, so that feudal chiefs competed in engaging teachers
and founding schools. The eighth shogun, Yoshimune (1716-1749), was an
even more enlightened ruler. He caused a geography to be compiled and an
astronomical observatory to be constructed; he revoked the veto on the
study of foreign books; he conceived and carried out the idea of
imparting moral education through the medium of calligraphy by preparing
ethical primers whose precepts were embodied in the head-lines of
copy-books, and he encouraged private schools. Iyenari (1787-1838), the
eleventh shogun, and his immediate successor, Iyeyoshi (1838-1853),
patronized learning no less ardently, and it was under the auspices of
the latter that Japan acquired her five classics, the primers of _True
Words_, of _Great Learning_, of _Lesser Learning_, of _Female Ethics_
and of _Women's Filial Piety_.
Thus it may be said that the system of education progressed steadily
throughout the Tokugawa era. From the days of Tsunayoshi the number of
fief schools steadily increased, and as students were admitted free of
all charges, a duty of grateful fealty as well as the impulse of
interfief competition drew thither the sons of all samurai. Ultimately
the number of such schools rose to over 240, and being supported
entirely at the expense of the feudal chiefs, they did no little honour
to the spirit of the era. From 7 to 15 years of age lads attended as day
scholars, being thereafter admitted as boarders, and twice a year
examinations were held in the presence of high officials of the fief.
There were also several private schools where the curriculum consisted
chiefly of moral philosophy, and there were many temple schools, where
ethics, calligraphy, arithmetic, etiquette and, sometimes, commercial
matters were taught. A prominent feature of the system was the bond of
reverential affection uniting teacher and student. Before entering
school a boy was conducted by his father or elder brother to the home of
his future teacher, and there the visitors, kneeling before the teacher,
pledged themselves to obey him in all things and to submit
unquestioningly to any discipline he might impose. Thus the teacher came
to be regarded as a parent, and the veneration paid to him was embodied
in a precept: "Let not a pupil tread within three feet of his teacher's
shadow." In the case of the temple schools the priestly instructor had
full cognisance of each student's domestic circumstances and was guided
by that knowledge in shaping the course of instruction. The universally
underlying principle was, "serve the country and be diligent in your
respective avocations." Sons of samurai were trained in military arts,
and on attaining proficiency many of them travelled about the country,
inuring their bodies to every kind of hardship and challenging all
experts of local fame.
Unfortunately, however, the policy of national seclusion prevented for a
long time all access to the stores of European knowledge. Not until the
beginning of the 18th century did any authorized account of the great
world of the West pass into the hands of the people. A celebrated
scholar (Arai Hakuseki) then compiled two works--_Saiyo kibun_ (_Record
of Occidental Hearsay_), and _Sairan igen_ (_Renderings of Foreign
Languages_)--which embodied much information, obtained from Dutch
sources, about Europe, its conditions and its customs. But of course the
light thus furnished had very restricted influence. It was not
extinguished, however. Thenceforth men's interest centred more and more
on the astronomical, geographical and medical sciences of the West,
though such subjects were not included in academical studies until the
renewal of foreign intercourse in modern times. Then (1857), almost
immediately, the nation turned to Western learning, as it had turned to
Chinese thirteen centuries earlier. The Tokugawa government established
in Yedo an institution called _Bansho-shirabe-dokoro_ (place for
studying foreign books), where Occidental languages were learned and
Occidental works translated. Simultaneously a school for acquiring
foreign medical art (_Seiyo igaku-sho_) was opened, and, a little later
(1862), the _Kaisei-jo_ (place of liberal culture), a college for
studying European sciences, was added to the list of new institutions.
Thus the eve of the Restoration saw the Japanese people already
appreciative of the stores of learning rendered accessible to them by
contact with the Occident.
Commercial Education in Tokugawa Times.
Commercial education was comparatively neglected in the schools. Sons of
merchants occasionally attended the _tera-koya_, but the instruction
they received there had seldom any bearing upon the conduct of trade.
Mercantile knowledge had to be acquired by a system of apprenticeship. A
boy of 9 or 10 was apprenticed for a period of 8 or 9 years to a
merchant, who undertook to support him and teach him a trade. Generally
this young apprentice could not even read or write. He passed through
all the stages of shop menial, errand boy, petty clerk, salesman and
senior clerk, and in the evenings he received instruction from a
teacher, who used for textbooks the manual of letter-writing (_Shosoku
orai_) and the manual of commerce (_Shobai orai_). The latter contained
much useful information, and a youth thoroughly versed in its contents
was competent to discharge responsible duties. When an apprentice,
having attained the position of senior clerk, had given proof of
practical ability, he was often assisted by his master to start business
independently, but under the same firm-name, for which purpose a sum of
capital was given to him or a section of his master's customers were
assigned.
Education in Modern Japan.
When the government of the Restoration came into power, the emperor
solemnly announced that the administration should be conducted on the
principle of employing men of capacity wherever they could be found.
This amounted to a declaration that in choosing officials scholastic
acquirements would thenceforth take precedence of the claims of birth,
and thus unprecedented importance was seen to attach to education. But
so long as the feudal system survived, even in part, no general scheme
of education could be thoroughly enforced, and thus it was not until the
conversion of the fiefs into prefectures in 1871 that the government saw
itself in a position to take drastic steps. A commission of
investigation was sent to Europe and America, and on its return a very
elaborate and extensive plan was drawn up in accordance with French
models, which the commissioners had found conspicuously complete and
symmetrical. This plan subsequently underwent great modifications. It
will be sufficient to say that in consideration of the free education
hitherto provided by the feudatories in their various fiefs, the
government of the restoration resolved not only that the state should
henceforth shoulder the main part of this burden, but also that the
benefits of the system should be extended equally to all classes of the
population, and that the attendance at primary schools should be
compulsory. At the outset the sum to be paid by the treasury was fixed
at 2,000,000 _yen_, that having been approximately the expenditure
incurred by the feudatories. But the financial arrangements suffered
many changes from time to time, and finally, in 1877, the cost of
maintaining the schools became a charge on the local taxes, the central
treasury granting only sums in aid.
Every child, on attaining the age of six, must attend a common
elementary school, where, during a six-years' course, instruction is
given in morals, reading, arithmetic, the rudiments of technical work,
gymnastics and poetry. Year by year the attendance at these schools
has increased. Thus, whereas in the year 1900, only 81.67% of the
school-age children of both sexes received the prescribed elementary
instruction, the figure in 1905 was 94.93%. The desire for instruction
used to be keener among boys than among girls, as was natural in view
of the difference of inducement; but ultimately this discrepancy
disappeared almost completely. Thus, whereas the percentage of girls
attending school was 75.90 in 1900, it rose to 91.46 in 1905, and the
corresponding figures for boys were 90.55 and 97.10 respectively. The
tuition fee paid at a common elementary school in the rural districts
must not exceed 5s. yearly, and in the urban districts, 10s.; but in
practice it is much smaller, for these elementary schools form part of
the communal system, and such portion of their expenses as is not
covered by tuition fees, income from school property and miscellaneous
sources, must be defrayed out of the proceeds of local taxation. In
1909 there were 18,160 common elementary schools, and also 9105
schools classed as elementary but having sections where, subsequently
to the completion of the regular curriculum, a special supplementary
course of study might be pursued in agriculture, commerce or industry
(needle-work in the case of girls). The time devoted to these special
courses is two, three or four years, according to the degree of
proficiency contemplated, and the maximum fees are 15d. per month in
urban districts and one-half of that amount in rural districts.
There are also 294 kindergartens, with an attendance of 26,000
infants, whose parents pay 3d. per month on the average for each
child. In general the kindergartens are connected with elementary
schools or with normal schools.
If a child, after graduation at a common elementary school, desires to
extend its education, it passes into a common middle school, where
training is given for practical pursuits or for admission to higher
educational institutions. The ordinary curriculum at a common middle
school includes moral philosophy, English language, history,
geography, mathematics, natural history, natural philosophy,
chemistry, drawing and the Japanese language. Five years are required
to graduate, and from the fourth year the student may take up a
special technical course as well as the main course; or, in accordance
with local requirements, technical subjects may be taught conjointly
with the regular curriculum throughout the whole time. The law
provides that there must be at least one common middle school in each
prefecture. The actual number in 1909 was 216.
Great inducements attract attendance at a common middle school. Not
only does the graduation certificate carry considerable weight as a
general qualification, but it also entitles a young man to volunteer
for one year's service with the colours, thus escaping one of the two
years he would have to serve as an ordinary conscript.
The graduate of a common middle school can claim admittance, without
examination, to a high school, where he spends three years preparing
to pass to a university, or four years studying a special subject, as
law, engineering or medicine. By following the course in a high
school, a youth obtains exemption from conscription until the age of
28, when one year as a volunteer will free him from all service with
the colours. A high-school certificate of graduation entitles its
holder to enter a university without examination, and qualifies him
for all public posts.
For girls also high schools are provided, the object being to give a
general education of higher standard. Candidates for admission must be
over 12 years of age, and must have completed the second-year course
of a higher elementary school. The regular course of study requires 4
years, and supplementary courses as well as special art courses may be
taken.
In addition to the schools already enumerated, which may be said to
constitute the machinery of general education, there are special
schools, generally private, and technical schools (including a few
private), where instruction is given in medicine and surgery,
agriculture, commerce, mechanics, applied chemistry, navigation,
electrical engineering, art (pictorial and applied), veterinary
science, sericulture and various other branches of industry. There are
also apprentices' schools, classed under the heading of elementary,
where a course of not less than six months, and not more than four
years, may be taken in dyeing and weaving, embroidery, the making of
artificial flowers, tobacco manufacture, sericulture, reeling silk,
pottery, lacquer, woodwork, metal-work or brewing. There are also
schools--nearly all supported by private enterprise--for the blind and
the dumb.
Normal schools are maintained for the purpose of training teachers, a
class of persons not plentiful in Japan, doubtless because of an
exceptionally low scale of emoluments, the yearly pay not exceeding
£60 and often falling as low as £15.
There are two Imperial universities, one in Tokyo and one in Kioto. In
1909 the former had about 220 professors and instructors and 2880
students. Its colleges number six: law, medicine, engineering,
literature, science and agriculture. It has a university hall where
post-graduate courses are studied, and it publishes a quarterly
journal giving accounts of scientific researches, which indicate not
only large erudition, but also original talent. The university of
Kioto is a comparatively new institution and has not given any signs
of great vitality. In 1909 its colleges numbered four: law, medicine,
literature and science; its faculty consisted of about 60 professors
with 70 assistants, and its students aggregated about 1100.
Except in the cases specially indicated, all the figures given above
are independent of private educational institutions. The system
pursued by the state does not tend to encourage private education, for
unless a private school brings its curriculum into exact accord with
that prescribed for public institutions of corresponding grade, its
students are denied the valuable privilege of partial exemption from
conscription, as well as other advantages attaching to state
recognition. Thus the quality of the instruction being nominally the
same, the rate of fees must also be similar, and no margin offers to
tempt private enterprise.
Public education in Japan is strictly secular: no religious teaching
of any kind is permitted in the schools. There are about 100
libraries. Progress is marked in this branch, the rate of growth
having been from 43 to 100 in the five-year period ended 1905. The
largest library is the Imperial, in Tokyo. It had about half a million
volumes in 1909, and the daily average of visitors was about 430.
Apart from the universities, the public educational institutions in
Japan involve an annual expenditure of 3½ millions sterling, out of
which total a little more than half a million is met by students'
fees; 2¾ millions are paid by the communes, and the remainder is
defrayed from various sources, the central government contributing
only some £28,000. It is estimated that public school property--in
land, buildings, books, furniture, &c., aggregates 11 millions
sterling.