A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (48 page)

The answer was obvious. Education itself had to be controlled. What people read had to be controlled, or better still, written to order. Controlled education would in time mean people’s entire worldview – the way they perceived life – could be controlled.
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Universal education had been proclaimed as an aim in 1872. By as early as 1879 almost two-thirds of all boys and one-quarter of all girls were receiving education to at least elementary school level. Initially many school texts were translations of western texts, and students were therefore exposed to such ideas as egalitarianism and individual rights.

However, no less a person than the emperor drew attention to the undesirability of this. During a tour of central Honsh
in 1878 he came to the conclusion that the adoption of things western had gone too far, and at the expense of values such as filial piety. From this point, guided by the imperial tutor and Confucianist Motoda Eifu (1818–91), education was to give increasing importance to appropriate moral instruction, and especially to Confucianist and nationalist/Shint
values. The state was to exert increasing influence over the selection of texts, till by the end of Meiji it had total control.
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Western heroes in school texts were replaced by figures of Confucian virtue, such as the industrious Ninomiya Sontoku (1757–1856, also known as Kinjir
). The flag of Japan started to appear at the head of each chapter of each text. The singing of morally uplifting songs was introduced into school assemblies.

In some ways Japan was simply producing its own version of the sort of nationalistic expression that dominated classrooms in Great Britain or other imperial nations. However, it went a step further in indoctrination, severely restricting the worldview of its students. A major move was the issuing in October 1890 of the
Imperial Rescript on Education
, which was in practice drafted largely by Motoda Eifu and Yamagata Aritomo.
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It was intended as a message for society at large, not just those in schools:

Know ye, Our subjects,

Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting, and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue; Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education. Ye, Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore, advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth. So shall ye not only be Our good and faithful subjects, but render illustrious the best traditions of your forefathers.

The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by Their Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in all places. It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our subjects, that we may all attain to the same virtue.

The
Rescript
had to be memorised by all students and was read aloud on major occasions. Not all the public accepted it readily, especially teachers, and the path to national unity that it represented was not entirely smooth.
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Nevertheless, the ideology it contained gradually became more firmly entrenched.

The youth of the day were thus urged to be diligent, respectful, to work for the public good, and to serve the state and the emperor. The
Rescript
’s Shint
values merged emperor and state, and made this union one and the same as the origin of life itself. Its Confucianist values made the emperor a benign father figure, and also helped promote a respect for the family not always seen in Japan’s earlier history. Harmony begins at home.

The constitution provided for religious freedom, and the
Rescript
seemed to breach this by its stress on Shint
. (Confucianism was not a problem since, lacking a deity, it was an ideology rather than a religion.) However, criticism was circumvented by declaring Shint
to be an expression of patriotism, not a religion as a such. This was ‘State Shint
’.

The
Rescript
did not use alarmist terminology about the foreign threat. But it did give people a nationalistic sense of purpose, for even those who
failed to make a dazzling success in business or any specific field could still feel they had achieved something by faithfully serving the emperor and his family-nation. Did the
Rescript
not say that this was what Japanese had done since the beginning of the world? Was this not their way of life? To serve the emperor was to be a true Japanese. It was a privilege not extended to those of other nations, who by implication were lesser beings.

In many ways it was a reinforcement of the legitimacy of the emperor reminiscent of the
Kojiki
and
Nihon Shoki
of more than a thousand years before. The
Rescript
and similar documents formed in a sense Japan’s ‘modern myths’.
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The antique terminology in which it was couched was no coincidence, and yet again we see a parallel with the Yamato-Nara age.

The Meiji government had re-learned from the nation’s ancient leaders the value of indoctrination.

4.4   Moves towards Democracy – of Sorts

However much it was harnessed for the national good, the self-help movement was still a potential problem for the new government. It encouraged ideas of human rights and democracy. These were unheard of in Japanese history. Such ideas could hamper the government in its business of coordinating the nation.

On the other hand, the western powers clearly seemed to value such ideas. Politically, it would be helpful to Japan to play along at least. The western nations would be more inclined to take seriously a nation that espoused their own political principles. This would help hasten revision of the unequal treaties, a goal which had become a symbol of Japan’s success in modernisation and acceptance by the world powers. It was clear that democracy, like its bed-fellow self-help, should be promoted, but in a controlled fashion and within limits.

Christianity was a related, potentially troublesome issue. The Meiji government knew that westerners often thought Christianity and democracy went hand in hand, and that they even tended to evaluate the degree of civilisation of a nation in terms of its attitude to Christianity. It had looked at one stage as though this might be going to prove a major problem. Some 60,000 ‘hidden Christians’ had emerged in the years immediately before the Restoration, and some samurai had even been converted. In some alarm the new government had reaffirmed the ban on Christianity in 1868, but the foreign powers had protested and it was lifted in 1873. Social commentators such as Tsuda Mamichi had even suggested it might be helpful to Japan to adopt Christianity officially, since it was the religion of the western powers.
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