Gakumonjo Academies

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. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .
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gakumonjo 学問所 Academies of Higher Learning
hankoo 藩黌 / 藩校 -- hangaku 藩学 - Hanko, domain schools, fief schools

. Hayashi Razan 林羅山 (1583 – 1657) .
Introducing Neo-Confucianism in the Edo period

He founded the
. Yushima Seidoo, Yushima Seidō 湯島聖堂 Yushima Seido Bakufu School .

During the Edo period, many domains founded their own places of learning,
some of them later turned to Universities or High Schools.

The main subjects were kangaku 漢学 Chinese and Confucian Studies, kokugaku 国学　National Learning, and eventually yoogaku /yôgaku 洋学 Western Learning (rangaku　蘭学 "Dutch Learning").

儒学の祖　学問の神 The Confucian God of Learning




- - - - - - - - - - List of the most important schools - - - - - - - - - -

Gakushukan 学習館　Kishu
Jishukan 時習館　Kumamoto
Kodokan 弘道館　Mito
Kodokan 弘道館　Saga
Kojokan 興譲館　Yonezawa
Meirindo 明倫堂　Kanazawa
Meirindo 明倫堂　Owari
. Meirinkan 萩明倫館 Hagi .
Nisshinkan 日進館　Aizu
. Shizutani Gakko 閑谷学校 Okayama .
Shoheizaka Gakumonjo 昌平坂学問所 Edo
. Tooju shoin 藤樹書院 Toju Private School - Shiga .
founded by Nakae Tōju 中江藤樹 Nakae Toju (1608 – 1648)
Yokendo 養賢堂　Sendai
Zoshikan 造士館　Satsuma

- quote -
Samurai of the respective fiefs were required to attend these schools and toward the end of the Edo period
an increasing number of commoners were granted admittance.
A graded system for curricula developed and subjects relating to Western learning were added.
- more about the Japanese education system
- source : edux.pjwstk.edu.pl/mat -


- - - - - The oldest academic institution in Japan is the
. Ashikaga Gakkō 足利学校 Ashikaga Gakko - Tochigi .
founded ca. 832 by Ono no Takamura 小野篁.

Apart from the Samurai schools, there were institutions for the common people:
. terakoya 寺子屋 　"temple school", private school .

. rangaku 蘭學 / 蘭学 "Dutch learning", Western learning .

. bunbu ryoodoo 文武両道 Bunbu Ryodo. .
"The Dual Path of Cultural and Martial Arts,"
A real samurai had to be well educated, but also strong in the martial arts.
budookan 武道館 Budokan Hall to practise martial arts (Budo, the Way of the Bushi Samurai)

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Gakuushukan 学習館 Gakushukan
Founded in 1635 in the Kishu Domain, Wakayama.



During the reign of Shogun Yoshimune (who came from Wakayama), even common people were allowed to attend and the school had about 180 students.
In 1792, its head master was Motoori Norinaga.
In 1804, it was moved to Matsusaka town and renamed 松坂学問所 Matsusaka Gakumonjo.
In 1866, it war renamed 学習館文武場 Gakushukan Bunbujo and had about 600 students.
There are no remains of the buildings any more.

. Motoori Norinaga 本居宣長 (1730 - 1801) .
prominent Kokugakusha. Born in Matsusaka.

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Jishuukan, Jishūkan 時習館 Jishukan
"study and at times learn"
Kumamoto　熊本
active between 1755 and 1870.
Founded by Hosokawa Shigekata　細川重賢　(1721 - 1785)
The first president was 秋山玉山　Akiyama Gyokuzan　(1702 - 1764).
Famous students were Yokoi Shonan, Inoue Kowashi and Kitasato Shibasaburo.

- Other Jishūkan schools were built in
Mikawa Yoshida Han, Tahara Han, Kasama Han, Daiseiji Han and Sakurai Han.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Koodookan 弘道館　Kodokan - 水戸 Mito　



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The Kōdōkan (弘道館) was the largest han school in the Edo period. Located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture,
founded in 1841 by Tokugawa Nariaki,
- source : wikipedia -

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Koodookan 弘道館　Kodokan - 　佐賀 Saga

Founded in 1781 by Lord 鍋島治茂 Nabeshima Harushige (1745 - 1805).
The first head master was the Confucian scholar 古賀精里 Koga Seiri (1750 - 1817).
Harushige also invited 石井鶴山 Ishii Kakuzan (1744 - 1790) from Kagoshima and famous scholars from other domains.

Lord 鍋島直正 Nabeshima Naomasa (1815 - 1871) improved the facility to educate future leaders of the Saga domain, introducing new technologies, especially new weapons from the West.
He also founded the 蒙養舎, where young Samurai children below the age of 15 were educated.



A memorial stone reminds of the school.

The third of the famous Kodokan schools was in 但馬 Tajima.


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Koojookan 興譲館　Kojokan



Founded by Lord 上杉治憲 Uesugi Yozan in 米沢 Yonezawa, now Yamagata prefecture. He resurrected the Gakumonjo of his father, 上杉綱憲 Uesugi Tsunanori (1663 - 1704).
The teachers were Confucian scholars.
In 1775, 吉江輔長 became head master.

It is now the site of 山形県立米沢興譲館高等学校 the famous Yonezawa High Schoo.
- reference : Yonezawa Kojokan High School -

. Uesugi Yoozan Harunori 上杉鷹山 治憲 Uesugi Yozan (1751 - 1822) .
... he is best remembered for his financial reforms, and he is often cited as an example of a good governor of a domain.

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Meirindoo 明倫堂　Meirindo - 金沢 Kanazawa
加賀金沢藩 Kaga Kanazawa Han Domain



Built in 1792 by Lord 前田治脩 Maeda Harunaga (1754 - 1810).
The first head master was the Confucian scholar 新井白蛾 Arai Hakuga (1715 - 1792).
The first building was in the South-West of park 兼六園 Kenraku-En, but in 1822 it was relocated to the district 仙石町 Sengokumachi.
It had a long corridor between the Southern and Northern buildings and also the hall 経武館 Keibukan a hall for martial arts.
It had about 300 students of all social positions and various ranks of teachers.
Special subjects were astronomy and herbal medicine.

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Meirindoo Meirindo 明倫堂　Meirindo -　尾張 Owari
名古屋　Nagoya, 愛知県　Aichi



Founded in 1749 and reformed in 1782 by Lord 徳川宗睦 Tokugawa Munechika (1733 - 1800).
The first head master was 細井平洲 Hosoi Heishu (1728 - 1801), followed by 岡田新川 Okada Shinsen (1737 - 1799)、石川香山 Ishikawa Kozan (1736 - 1810)、冢田大峯 Tsukada Taiho (1745 - 1832)、細野要斎 Hosono Yosai (1811 - 1878) and other Confucian scholars.
The school was open not only for Samurai children, but all who wanted to study.
In 1871 the school was abolished. Later in 1875 its remains were brought to the Nagoya castle.
Now it is the site of 愛知県立明和高等学校 the Aichi school.

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Meirindo 明倫堂 in the following domains:

久米村 Kumemura, Okinawa (1718)
小諸藩 Komoro、上田藩 Ueda、高鍋藩 Takanabe、新庄藩 Shinjo、大洲藩 Ozu and 安志藩 Anji.

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Nisshinkan 日進館　Aizu Wakamatsu
Aizu hankoo. Aizu hankō　会津藩校 Old Aizu clan school



The Samurai school of the Aizu domain was built in 1803 by 松平容頌　Matsudaira Katanobu　(1744 - 1805), the fifth Lord of the Aizu Matsudaira Clan. Samurai boys from the age of 10 years had to attend it. Katanobu also introduced other reforms in the Aizu domain, making agriculture, commerce and industry the main pillars.
At that time there were about 300 domain schools in Japan and Nisshinkan had a very good reputation. Many members of the Byakko-tai studied at Nisshinkan.
Medicine, astronomy, literary and military arts were taught based on the principles of Confucianism. Otherfacilities for the students included an observatory, a printing office, a large library and a swimming pool. The students were also taught Samurai etiquette, from table manners to ritual suicide (harakiri).
The present-day Nisshinkan is reconstructed.
- reference : aizu nisshinkan-


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Shooheizaka Gakumonjo 昌平坂学問所 Shoheizaka Gakumonjo
Shooheikoo 昌平黌 Shoheiko



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（1）Education within Samurai Families
The samurai families of the Edo period not only used education to stabilize their own position but also came to further the cause of learning, especially through the systematized teaching of literary studies. Initially, the fief lords (daimyo), in order to further their own personal cultivation and, in turn, to maintain control of their fief governments, summoned Confucian scholars and military specialists (heigakusha) to conduct lectures which their chief vassals were required to attend. The fief lords also encouraged learning for the lesser vassals and urged the cultivation of literary accomplishments along with the practice of martial arts. Learning during this period, being based upon Shogunal policy, was thoroughly imbued with Confucian thought. Samurai families originally availed themselves of the services of priests in Buddhist temples for their education. But by the Edo period, this class began to employ Confucian scholars to act as preceptors in fief schools they founded in the castle towns. During the early days of the Edo period, only a few fiefs had established fief schools but from about the middle of this period onward the spread of such institutions increased rapidly, culminating in a total of some 270 schools at the end of the period.

The Shoheizaka Gakumonjo, alternately called the Shoheiko, under the direct control of the Shogunate at Edo, became the highest seat of learning in its time as well as a model for all the other fief schools, The original institution was the training center of the Confucian temple (koshibyo) which had been established on a site at Ueno in Edo by a Confucian scholar of the Chu Hsi school, Hayashi Razan (1583-1657), under the auspices of the Shogunal government. Later this was relocated at Yushima, where an Athenaeum was constructed known as the Yushima Temple. This school started first as a semiprivate, semigovernmental organization under the protection of the Shogunate. It was not long, however before the government recognized the necessity of direct control over these educational facilities and in 1797 the school was brought under the immediate supervision of the central authorities.

The school prospered from that time not only as the nucleus of education for the Shogunate but as the highest center of learning in the nation as well, a position it maintained until the decline of the Shogunate's authority and the development of Western learning. During the Edo period, this school acted as a model for other fief schools. Many fief governments established their fief schools along this model and also sent their brightest youths there for training. Many of those who completed their studies at the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo were engaged at fief schools as Confucian scholars. Thus besides enjoying the highest scholastic reputation in the land, the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo also served as a training ground for instructors assuming positions in fief schools. In addition to the Chinese-oriented Shoheizaka Gakumonjo, other government institutions included the National Learning-oriented Wagaku Kodanjo and the Igakukan which was devoted to the study of traditional Chinese medicine. Toward the end of Edo period, various centers for the study of Western learning were also established as we shall see below.

Many schools which originally had been private institutions for Chinese studies (kangakujuku) came under the control of the fiefs and were enlarged and reorganized to form fief schools. Their curriculum was gradually expanded - in addition to Chinese studies National Learning and other subjects were introduced and toward the end of the Edo period Western learning and medicine were also offered. At the same time, the trend toward military subjects grew more pronounced, and thus in the fief schools there arose a special relationship between literary studies and martial arts.

By the close of the Shogunate the fief schools provided a comprehensive education for the samurai class. Instruction was centered about Chinese classics. This meant studies in Confucian doctrine and the history and literature of China. Elementary classes used the Primer of Chinese Characters (Senjimon) for practicing calligraphy and the Brief History of Japan (Sanjikyo) for practice in reading. Other elementary textbooks that were frequently used included the Book of Filial Piety (Kokyo), the Book of Manners (Shogaku), and the Collection of Chu Hsi's Sayings.
Others were the Four Books (Shisho):
1) Great Learning (Daigaku), 2) Doctrine of the Mean (Chuyo), 3) Confucian Analects (Rongo), and 4) Sayings of Mencius (Moshi);
and the Five Canons (Gokyo):
1) Book of Changes (Ekikyo); 2) Book of Odes (Shikyo); 3) Book of Annals (Shokyo), 4) Spring and Autumn (Shunju), and 5) Record of Rites (Raiki).

Hayashi Nobuatsu (1644-1732), a grand son of Hayashi Razan and also a Confucian scholar of the Chu Hsi school, was appointed by the government as Rector of the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo (Daigakunokami) and from that time on the successive heads of the Hayashi family were appointed to that post until the fall of the Shogunate, making the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo a vehicle for the ascendance of Chu Hsi Confucianism. At the same time various other schools of Confucian thought developed during the early Edo period and quite a few government officials were members of schools other than Chu Hsi. However in 1790 the teaching of other schools of Confucianism was banned, and Chu Hsi was officially accepted as the orthodoxy. .....
- source : Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology -

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Yookendoo, Yōkendō 養賢堂 Yokendo
also called - 明倫館 Meirinkan
Sendai-han 仙台藩 Sendai Domain



It started with a school built by Lord 伊達吉村 Date Yoshimura (1680 - 1752) in 1736 in the compound of the 武沢家屋敷 Takezawa family.

In 1772 the school was named Yokendo.
In 1799 養賢堂文庫 Yokendo Bunko (Yokendo Library) was established.
Since 1821 Rangaku "Dutch Learning" was taught by
Sasaku Chutaku (1790 - 1846), student of Otsuki Gentaku
Ozeki Sanei (1787 - 1839) and others.

Since 1760 medicine was taught ant in 1822 the
Igakkan 医学館　Sendai Fief Medical School was established as a separate building in 百騎丁 (now 東二番丁).
In 1871 this institurion was abolished.


- quote -
Otsuki Gentaku 大槻玄沢 (1757 - 1827)
His 1799 Ransetsu benwaku (蘭説弁惑, "Clarifying Errors in Theories about the Dutch") was perhaps the first major Japanese work to assert that Africans were "no different from the rest of mankind," and that they were not, on the whole, as a group, less intelligent or otherwise of inherently lower birth, but rather that Africans, like anyone else, included "the noble and the lowly, ... the wise and the foolish."
This text was also among those which challenged the prevailing notion that dark skin came from extended contact with the water (and that blacks were particularly adept at swimming), suggesting instead that their dark skin derived from their hot, southerly climate, and from lengthy exposure to the sun.
Along with Shimura Hiroyuki,
Ôtsuki produced in 1807 a set of interviews called Kankai ibun, which recorded the experiences of a group of Japanese castaways who had seen the Atlantic, the Straits of Magellan, and Hawaii.
- source : wiki.samurai-archives.com/index -

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Zooshikan, Zôshikan 造士館 Zoshikan
from 1773 - 1877


source : d.hatena.ne.jp/supernil

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The Zôshikan was a domain school established in Kagoshima by
島津重豪 Shimazu Shigehide in 1773.
The school covered some 3,350 tsubo, and included lecture halls, a small shrine called the Senseiden, and lodgings for samurai students who came from outside of the city. Tachibana Nankei, a scholar from Kyoto who visited Kagoshima in 1782-1783, wrote that it was large and beautiful, the best in the realm (i.e. in all of Japan).

As a result of succession disputes within the Shimazu clan in 1808-1809 (eventually ending in Shimazu Narinobu abdicating in favor of Shimazu Narioki), the curriculum of the school departed from its earlier purposes of training men for service. Shimazu Nariakira later lamented this change, and took steps to revive the quality of education at the school.

In 1869, the school was renamed Hongakkô (lit. "Main School"), and came to simply accept all students who completed elementary school. Studies were divided chiefly into Chinese Studies (kangaku), National Learning (kokugaku), and Western Learning (yôgaku). The school was completely destroyed in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.
- source : samurai-archives.com -


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- reference -
List of the Hanko domain schools from North to South
江戸学問所 Edo gakumonjo
内容や規模は多様だが、藩士の子弟は皆強制的に入学させられた。
各地の藩校
江戸幕府 Edo Bakufu Schools
昌平坂学問所（1797年）→ 東京大学 - Shoheizaka Gakumonjo
教諭所（江戸麹町）（1791年）- Kyogujo
教諭所（美作国久世）（1791年）→典学館（1796年）- Kyogujo
敬業館（備中国笠岡）（1797年）- Keigyokan
遷善館（武蔵国久喜）（1803年）- Senzenkan
倉敷教諭所明倫館（備中国倉敷）（1834年）- Meirinkan
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !



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. terakoya 寺子屋 　"temple school", private school .

. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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