National moral education: Abe Isō's views on education

Abstract

Abe Isō, one of the most eminent intellectuals of the Meiji era (1868–1912) and a professor at Tokyo Senmon Gakkō (the present Waseda University), believed in a liberal approach to education and opposed the trend towards state-oriented education and the egocentric approach that superseded it. His views are important to an understanding of educational issues during this pivotal period but have been largely ignored by those who have studied the legacies of his vast and diverse intellectual output. This paper studies his views on education, and in particular, his response to tokuiku (the national moral teaching).

Notes

 See my ‘Abe Isō and New Zealand as a Model for New Japan’, for a further examination of Abe's early socialist thought.

 Pyle, The New Generation in Meiji Japan, 24–25.

 The present Doshisha University, Japan's first English school founded in 1875 by Niijima Jō (1843–1890), a fervent Christian.

 The government's suppression of dissenting opinion was so severe that Abe eventually ceased actively propagating social reform. Despite this, he continued to advocate a socialist approach to education.

 Abe, ‘Socialism in Japan’. Abe drafted the manifesto in collaboration with Kōtoku Shūsui (1871–1911) and Kinoshita Naoe (1869–1937). The English translation is taken from his ‘Socialism in Japan’, edited in Fifty Years of New Japan.

 Abe, Teikoku gikai kyōiku giji sōran, Vols 1, 2.

 Passin, Society and Education in Japan, 89–90.

 Passin, Society and Education in Japan, 149.

 Inoue dominated the world of Japanese philosophy until he resigned from all posts in 1930. His commentary was widely used as an official textbook and sold over four million copies, making it far more influential than its numerous rivals (Davis, ‘The civil theology’, 8–10). It is interesting to note that while Inoue was writing a series of shūshin kyōkasho (self-discipline textbooks), such as Sonken kōwashū (Lectures by Inoue Tetsujirō , 1902) and Joshi shūshin kyōkasho (Textbook for Self Discipline for Women, 1904), Abe was similarly occupied writing his risō (ideals) on self-discipline such as Risō no hito (Ideal Person), Risō no seinen (Ideal Youths) and Fujin no risō (Women's Ideals) (1910). Abe often used the word risō (ideal) as a punning nom de plum, Abe Risō instead of Abe Isō (Powles, ‘Abe Isō the utility man’, 144). Other textbooks by Inoue include Sonken kōwashū (Lectures by Inoue Tetsujirō ), Part 2 (1903), Teisei joshi shūshin kyōkasho (Revised Self-Discipline for Women), Vol. 3 (1907), and Rinri to kyōkasho (Ethics and Textbooks, 1908).

 Inoue in Passin, Society and Education in Japan, 152. Uchimura Kanzō (1861–1930), a fervent Christian and Abe's contemporary, sparked a national controversy with the so called fukei jiken (lèse-majesté) of 9 January 1891. Uchimura, then a lecturer at Dai ichi Kōtō Gakkō (the First Higher School), refused to pay obeisance to the imperial portrait at a ceremony for the reading of the Rescript. ‘His stand was interpreted as disrespectful to the Emperor and almost the whole country condemned him as a traitor. After this incident Christianity began to lose much of the ground which it had gained among intellectuals’ (ibid). It is noteworthy that Abe had encouraged missionaries in Japan to set up their own universities so that Christianity would not be disrespected in light of the clash between education and religion (Abe, ‘Daigakkō to senkyōshi’, 6).

 Abe, ‘Ikanishite shimin kyōiku o nasubeki ka’, 2–3.

 Abe, Jishūron, 217.

 Nitobe, Bushidō, xi.

 Abe, Risō no hito, 32, 48–52.

 Abe, Jishūron, 105. Abe recommended that the number of textbooks used in schools be reduced and that those that remained be replaced with new ones every three months. It was not interesting for students to read the same book over a lengthy period; it took them almost a year to read so many books concurrently. Instead, he argued, it would be better for them to read fewer books in less time (Abe, ‘Dokusho no kairaku’, 6).

 Abe, Jishūron, 21–24, 164.

 Abe, ‘Shiritsu gakkō to shite Tetsugakkan’, 5.

 Abe, ‘Kyōikukai no zatsuji’, 11.

 Abe, ‘Hanbatsu seifu to kajin no seitō’, 7.

 Abe, ‘Shiritsu gakkō to shite Tetsugakkan’, 5–6.

 Abe, ‘Gakusha no dokuritsu to Monbushō no kanshō’, 5.

 Abe, ‘Kyōikuka to jiji mondai’, 11–12.

 Abe, ‘Gakkō seikatsu to shakai seikatsu’.

 Abe, Risō no hito, 102–103.

 Abe, ‘Gakkō seikatsu to shakai seikatsu’, 21.

 Abe, Risō no hito, 28–30; Abe, ‘Gendai no seinen wa naze genki ga nai ka’, 31.

 Abe, Fujin no risō, 197.

 Abe, ‘Watashi no musume o kyōiku suru hōshin’, 19–22.

 In retrospect, Abe mourned the death of his first daughter who had not liked the classical music lessons her grandparents had given her. Since this incident, he believed that young couples should live separately and bring up their family in an environment where they could avoid too much interference from their parents (Abe, Kodomo hon'i no katei).

 Abe, Fujin no risō, 254; Abe, ‘Danjo kongō kyōiku o shuchō su’, 8; Abe, ‘Danjo kyōgaku to danjo kōsai’, 8.

 Abe, Fujin no risō, 254.

 Abe, ‘Ikanishite shimin kyōiku o nasubeki ka’, 6–7. For example, Abe himself belonged to hyakusai kai (the 100 years club) and hoped to increase his longevity and thereby his chances of attaining greater enlightenment. He believed that geniuses that had achieved great things in short lives may have achieved even greater things if they had lived longer (‘Hyakusaikai no ki’, 8). For him, such ongoing self-cultivation was the means by which one might achieve spiritual enlightenment.

 Abe, ‘Gakusha no dokuritsu to Monbushō no kanshō’, 6.

 Abe, Risō no hito, 32–33.

 Abe, ‘Yo no yakyūkan’, 91–95.

 Abe, ‘Waseda daigaku no yakyū senshu’, 19.

 Abe, ‘Yakyūkai ni taisuru shin kibō’, 46.

 Abe, ‘Hyakusaikai no ki’, 3–4.

 Abe, ‘Waseda daigaku no yakyū senshu’, 19.

 Abe, ‘Gendai no kyōiku’, 1.

 Abe, ‘Gendai no seinen wa naze genki ga nai ka’, 31.

 Abe, ‘Shūkyō no dokuritsu’, 54. Abe stressed that this was pleasing especially, after two decades of fierce accusations directed at Japanese Christians, instigated by a professor (Abe was most likely referring to Inoue Tetsujirō) at the Imperial University. He claimed that people had been too materialistic and too preoccupied with obtaining the basic necessities to read self-discipline books, which had been popular among the youth a decade earlier, but no longer (‘Gendai no seinen wa naze genki ga nai ka’, 29).

 Abe, ‘Gendai no seinen wa naze genki ga nai ka’, 29–31.

 Okita, Hawai Nikkei imin no kyōikushi—Nichibei bunka sono deai to sōkoku, 73.