Daigaku
Daigaku, the Japanese word for universities and colleges, has its origins in the earliest academic institutions of higher learning in Japan, centers of scholarship that developed at influential temples not only in Kyoto but in the Kanto region (eastern Japan) as well. The curriculum of these primarily secular institutions, which took their name from the Chinese term for schools that trained government officials, was centered primarily on Confucian texts and Chinese histories and literary anthologies that were transmitted to Japan beginning in the sixth century CE. Two types of schools of higher learning were established for the nobility: the Daigakuryo, a Confucian college for nobility in the capital, and branch schools for nobility in the provinces.
During his stay in Japan in the mid-sixteenth century, Francis Xavier noted that in addition to the university in the capital city of Kyoto there were five other significant universities with enrollments of over 3,500. Of these, the largest and most representative was the Ashikaga Gakko (Ashikaga School), located in the Kanto region.
After completing basic education at one of the numerous local temple schools, students would set out to further their education at centers of higher learning where they could gain the training that would lead to a successful career. Many students completed their training at the Ashikaga School, studying both Buddhist and Confucian texts.
During the Sengoku period (c. 467–1568), when rival clans were continually in a state of war, the university offered a curriculum that came to include medicine, military science, and astronomy, along with the ancient study of divination—all subjects essential to medieval warfare. During the Edo period (1600/1603–1868), there were han (domain) schools for the samurai, as well as private schools that provided advanced instruction to both commoners and samurai in a variety of disciplines, notably "Western" studies. Prior to and immediately following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, desire for knowledge about the West grew rapidly, and institutions of higher education flourished.
In 1872 the Fundamental Code of Education delineated standards for a modern educational system. The first of the modern universities to be established was Tokyo Daigaku in 1877, a merging of two existing shogunal schools. National universities were later founded in Kyoto (1897), Tohoku (1907), and Kyushu (1910). Institutions such as Keio University (founded as a private academy by Fukuzawa Yukichi in 1858) and Waseda University (founded by Okuma Shigenobu in 1882) went through several transformations before becoming full-fledged universities. Several of the most prestigious universities were founded as Christian missionary schools; these include Doshisha, Sophia, and International Christian University. Today there are about 450 public and private four-year universities.
Further Reading
Beauchamp, Edward R., and Richard Rubinger. (1989) Education in Japan: A Source Book. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Government of Japan. (1980) Japan's Modern Educational System: A History of the First Hundred Years. Tokyo: Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture.
Ohto Yasuhiro. (1999) "Schools and Learning in the Medieval Period." Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry November/December: 52–55.
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