This is part 16 of my series on Shinto as a civil religion, you can find the rest of the series here.
Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s education system was structured around the class system. Schools for the samurai class were exclusive, while other educational options were available for lower classes. The length and quality of education depended on each family’s specific needs and financial resources. Teachers had no set curriculum, so what was taught varied widely. This resulted in a highly diverse education system.
After the Meiji government took power, they began to nationalize and standardize the education system. Mandatory education was introduced, requiring children to attend school for at least six years. Teachers were now trained at state-run institutions, and textbooks were approved and published by central authorities. By expanding and standardizing education, the Meiji government created an opportunity to instill their new civil religion and national ideology into a large number of children.
In 1890, the Japanese government issued The Imperial Rescript on Education. While it wasn’t a law, it was presented as instructions from a higher authority and written in a formal style to reflect its importance. The rescript outlined moral and ideological principles to be taught in schools, emphasizing loyalty and respect for family and others. Copies of the rescript, along with a portrait of the Meiji Emperor, were sent to all schools. These items were treated as sacred objects, stored in a separate room under guard.
The rescript was loosely based on Confucian ideology, but it was framed broadly enough to be interpreted as “universal human values” if desired. Additionally, as I will show in my analysis of its introduction, the text also reflects the ideologies of kokugaku (national learning) and kokutai (national identity), which were explored in earlier sections.
By combining these ideas with the standardized education system, the Meiji government effectively used schools to promote loyalty to the emperor and embed their national ideology in the minds of the younger generation.
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Sources
Theodore De Bary, William(ed.). Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume Two 1600-2000. Colombia University Press: New York, 2005. Print. Pp. 1082-1083.
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