Hana and Kazuto, two significant characters from 'The Return of Layhar,' both belong to the warrior class (as mentioned in Social Classes in Early Modern Japan). In the book, Kazuto eventually mentions that he has completed his entire education, but what does that education entail? What did the education of bushi (= samurai) consist of? That’s the question central to this article.
Rise of a reading culture
A bit of context is helpful to begin with. During the seventeenth century in Japan, there was a significant increase in literacy. This coincided with the emergence and growth of an industry publishing books on a wide range of topics (Shively 1991, 715). In the chaos of Sengoku Jidai 戦国時代 ('the Warring States period'), from 1467 to 1600, most people had little need or time for extensive education (Shively 1991, 715). When Edo Jidai 江戸時代 ('Edo Period') began in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first Shogun of the Edo Period, wanted to establish lasting peace.
To achieve this, he had to find a way to restrain the belligerence of the bushi. He made them 'civilized' by supporting libraries—and thereby promoting education—and subsidizing the publication of books on law, administration, and military statesmanship (Shively 1991, 715). The martial arts were still part of a bushi's education, but they were no longer a means to climb the social ladder. Martial prowess was of little use to bushi of lower rank; acquiring knowledge was a more effective means to improve their position (Shively 1991, 716).
How did education work?
During the Edo Period, four major types of schools emerged:
(1) official leadership schools (Shochiko, a Confucian school for the Shogun's family members and retainers, served as an example for hanko or clan schools in domains);
(2) gogaku, local schools, scattered across larger cities in domains;
(3) shijuku, private academies, where respected scholars taught both bushi and chōnin children;
(4) terakoya, temple schools, small elementary schools providing practical training for chōnin children (Shuyama 1996, 38).
Most bushi children were taught at home by a private tutor or in small groups by either a Buddhist monk or a bushi man or woman (Shively 1991, 716). Bushi boys had to learn various skills, including martial arts and reading and writing in Japanese and Chinese (Shively 1991, 717).
The basic texts used for learning to read were readers and scrolls with enlightening quotes from the Chinese Classics or histories (Shively 1991, 717). These quotes conveyed Confucian values that characterized the desired behavior of a bushi, such as loyalty to the lord and dedication to parents and family members (Shively 1991, 717).
If a bushi wanted more than a basic education, he could continue his studies with a private tutor in his domain or a scholar in Kyoto or Edo (now: Tokyo) (Shively 1991, 717). According to a work from 1670, Shison kagami ('a mirror for sons and grandsons'), an exemplary study program looked like this (Shively 1991, 717):
7-8 years old:
The child practices writing the first (Chinese) characters.
11-13 years old:
He learns to read the Four Books (of Confucianism).
He learns to perform the tea ceremony, recite Noh (theater) plays, and play the Noh hand drum.
He learns proper behavior.
14-17 years old:
He learns defensive fencing, swordsmanship, archery, horseback riding, and fighting with a spear and musket.
He learns falconry and board games (go, chess, backgammon).
18-19 years old:
He learns military administration, tactics, and medicine.
He learns to write Chinese and Japanese poems.
For those who have read 'The Return of Layhar,' it won't be difficult to guess which part of this was Kazuto's favorite 😉 Although, of course, he didn't learn everything mentioned above. Muskets, for example, do not exist in the world of Shirareta Sekai.
And what about Hana's education? Her area of interest—magic—is not something bushi girls learned in Early Modern Japan, as one might expect. But what did they learn?
Women's education
Of the aforementioned types of schools, only the last two types, shijuku and terakoyaprovided education for women (Shuyama 1996, 38). Terakoya, temple schools, were entirely voluntary and not regulated by the government (Shuyama 1996, 40). Although there was much diversity, a general pattern can be recognized: typically, a child attended temple school from 6-7 years old until 10-13 years old (Shuyama 1996, 41).
Lessons included individual guidance, reading and writing (calligraphy), learning syllabaries, and arithmetic (with an abacus), and girls also learned sewing (Shuyama 1996, 41). The schools usually had between 20 and 50 students, and if there were few girls in the class, boys and girls shared the classroom, even though Confucius dictated that men and women should be separated (Shuyama 1996, 41-42).
In addition to training skills, temple school students received social studies, professional education, and instruction in Confucian moral values (Shuyama 1996, 41). The basic education of boys and girls largely overlapped. Temple schools may not be for bushi children, but I included them in this article because both Hana and Kazuto attended a temple school with the other children from their village.
Once someone had received a basic education at a temple school, they could be admitted to a shijuku (Shuyama 1996, 39). However, women generally weren't quick to attend a shijuku This was because the content of the curriculum was quite advanced (Shuyama 1996, 39). The organization, curriculum, and direction of study varied by shijuku , and among women, artistic programs for learning advanced calligraphy and drawing, for example, were much more popular than kangaku schools, where they would engage with the Chinese Classics (Shuyama 1996, 39).
Although gender was not a grounds for rejection, men and women used different textbooks, and women's textbooks usually focused on Confucian virtues and basic-level Chinese Classics (Shuyama 1996, 39-40). Alternatively, women could continue learning at home or through 'correspondence education,' exchanging letters with shijuku teachers (Shuyama 1996, 43).
The education of bushi women mainly focused on morality and the development of virtues and skills that a wife should possess (Shuyama 1996, 46). The belief was instilled that the ideal Confucianist woman should be passive, obedient, chaste, and submissive (Shuyama 1996, 48). They were also supposed to follow bushidō ('the way of the warrior').
In terms of skills, it was sufficient for a woman if she could write in the Japanese syllabary, sew her clothing, and style her hair before getting married, which usually happened at the age of 13 to 16 (Shuyama 1996, 56). Other qualities women could develop—provided they had the time—were poetry, calligraphy, identifying incense, drawing, music, dance, and performing the tea ceremony (Shuyama 1996, 58-59). The things bushi women learned were largely subject to their families' ambitions, and opinions on what they should or should not learn varied greatly (Shuyama 1996, 61).
I hope you found it an interesting article! If you have questions about this or have topics you'd like to read more about, let me know 🙂
Leuk artikel! Sowieso was Kazuto’s favoriete onderdeel de theeceremonie 😂