Abstract
Recently, the concept of resilience engineering has often been introduced in the field of patient safety in Japan. Although the word “resilience” cannot be translated exactly into simple Japanese, the Japanese can consider the original Japanese way of education, which fostered resilience in reality.
This study surveys how the Shonai clan, the Aizu clan, and the Nagaoka clan had provided education in their academies in the last years of Edo-era and how they battled resiliently in the Boshin war, and deduces the way of education to foster resilience of organization. In their academies, the clans had made elaborate efforts to cultivate humanity in students mainly by Confucianism and additionally through history, thought, and literature. They had arranged reward systems. The Shonai clan and the Aizu clan had let students move up to the next grade according to only their ability. The Shonai clan and the Nagaoka clan had not let only teachers but also clan executives examine students. The Shonai clan, influenced by the Sorai school, had especially respected the individual’s personality, promoted self-study, and adopted the Socratic method. The Aizu clan had let students shape their character and establish human relationships under discipline from the viewpoint of the Zhu-zi school, and never condoned underachievers. The Nagaoka clan had adopted a voluntary entrance system for their academy, supported extracurricular activities, and tolerated various schools. Tsuginosuke Kawai who was its governor-general at the time of the Boshin war had studied the extracurricular activities at the Yang-ming school and furthermore had studied abroad after graduation. Through the war, the Shonai clan could devise many creative and reasonable tactics, so it was extremely strong in close battles. The Aizu clan could stand together as one and heighten their spiritual strength, so it could endure and keep combatting over the long term. Under Kawai’s leadership, the Nagaoka clan resolutely opposed the new government's unfairness and unrighteousness, cooperated brilliantly with allied forces, used creative and tenacious tactics, and achieved the recovery of the Nagaoka castle. The three clans maintained a high level of military discipline and fought outstandingly well even though they were designated as rebels by the nation and had a serious shortage of personnel and materials. To foster the resilience of organizations, moral and ethical education and reinforcement of spiritual strength; meritocratic education specialized toward development of creativity, adaptability, and practicality; and education that emphasizes fundamentals are essential.
