Late in 1880's and early in 1890's Japanese pupils were asked to learn English at the primary school level if they wished to be enrolled in a prefectural middle school. Generally speaking there was only one middle school in each prefecture at that time. It is absolutely true that the competition was very hot and that English as one of the requirements for entrance made the competition much hotter and more serious. In some areas pupils had to attend a special lesson or institute, because they had neither English teachers nor opportunities to learn English at school.
In this paper, the writer included (1) when and where English was required in the entrance examination, (2) what educational policy the then governmentmade, and (3) how pupils learned English before they were successful in the examination.