Imperial Rescript on Education
The Imperial Rescript on Education (Kyooiku Chokugo) of 1890 is one of the most controversial documents in prewar modern Japan. It governed the basic purpose of education from its promulgation in 1890 to the end of World War II.
The modern era of Japanese education is commonly dated from 1872 with the Gakusei (First National Plan for Education) issued just four years after the Meiji Restoration (1868–1912) brought to a close 350 years of the feudal Tokugawa military regime (1600/1603–1868). The Gakusei set up a national school system patterned after educational practices in the West. Of all the modern reforms of feudal educational patterns carried out in the 1870s and 1880s by the Japanese oligarchy, however, the most prominent was the replacement of traditional morals education based on Confucian classics from China. As the core of the curricula, Confucian teaching was overshadowed by science, mathematics, and technology imported from the West.
A controversy emerged when figures within the Imperial Household such as the Confucian scholar Motoda Nagazane (1818–1891), acting on behalf of Emperor Meiji, protested these trends. The Imperial Will on Education (Kyoogaku Taishi) of 1879, written by Motoda, called for education in the modern world based on the teachings from the ancient world, particularly those of the Confucian classics. Kyoogaku Taishi led to a confrontation between the modernizers, such as the great statesman Ito Hirobumi (1841–1909) and his political confident Inoue Kowashi (1843–1895), along with Mori Arinori (1847–1899), first Minister of Education, pitted against conservatives like Motoda and other like-minded officials within the Imperial Household and the government, including Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922).
The struggles ended with a unique compromise. Inoue Kowashi, author of the first Japanese Constitution of 1889, which was patterned after the German Constitution, wrote the initial draft of the Imperial Rescript during the summer of 1890. He referred to the modern constitutional state and the necessity of abiding by the laws. Motoda, representing the Emperor, submitted revisions based on cherished Confucian concepts previously included in the 1879 Imperial Will on Education. When Inoue, the German-oriented modernist, incorporated Motoda's recommendations, an East-West compromise was achieved. The Imperial Rescript on Education combined traditional Confucian moral principles governing the relationship between the Emperor and his people with a modern sovereign state based on constitutional laws. Its purpose was to develop a spirit of nationhood and love and respect for the Imperial tradition.
With the rise of Japanese militarism in the first half of the 1900s, however, nationalists turned to the Rescript as a means to foster extreme nationalism and ultramilitarism in the name of the emperor. The Rescript became a sacred document read with great reverence at special school meetings. The original intent of 1890 was subverted, rendering the Rescript a repressive instrument of social and political control. It was controlled by militarists and used to repress any opposition to government policy leading to World War II and the ensuing defeat of Japan. During the Occupation of Japan, American authorities abolished the Rescript as an antidemocratic document of state repression. It was replaced in 1947 by the Fundamental Law of Education, which gave the purpose of education in a democratic society as the development of the individual.
Further Reading
Kaigo Tokiomi. (1981) Chosaku Shu: Kyoiku Chokugo Seiritsu Shi no Kenkyu (The Collected Works of Kaigo Tokiomi: The Formation of the Imperial Rescript on Education). Tokyo: Shoseki.
Morikawa Terumichi. (1994) Kyoiku Chokugo e no Michi (The Road to the Imperial Rescript on Education). Tokyo: Sangensha.
Noguchi Isaaki. (1994) Inoue Kowashi no Kyoiku Shiso (The Educational Thought of Inoue Kowashi). Tokyo: Kazama Shobo.
Yamazumi Masami. (1980) Kyoiku Chokugo (The Imperial Rescript on Education). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha.
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