2019 Volume 86 Issue 4 Pages 485-496
Education in Japan has drawn Western attention several times in the past. For instance, Francis Xavier in the 16th century and other Western visitors in Japan from the late early-modern era to the early Meiji era were surprised by the literacy rate of the Japanese people and their reading customs.
In the mid-1960s, some researchers such as R. P. Dore and H. Passin refocused on the high literacy rate of the people of the early-modern era in the context of the theory of “modernization in Japan.” Other researchers mentioned the high literacy rate as a reason for the rapid economic growth of Japan in the 1980s while discussing education reform in the U. S.
However, the high literacy rate in early-modern Japanese society is not axiomatic. Most studies either simply consider school enrollment as the literacy rate, or base their argument on the subjective observations of foreigners. Considering the above circumstances, there are some new studies which attempt to reveal the accurate literacy rate.
As R. Rubinger mentions, however, the meaning of the popularization of literacy in early-modern society has not been considered. With an eye to this issue, this paper attempts to examine the meaning of the peopleʼs literacy in early-modern society.
Previous studies have mentioned that the early-modern society was a “society of letters”: letters were indispensable. It is true that literacy among the people spread, mostly in urban areas, in the seventeenth century. Even in rural districts, various account books, records and diaries were created. In the process of the establishment of a documentism society, the business of scriveners appeared in some areas. We can see that literacy was imperative in society. The creation of various documents shows both aspects of the control and governance of the people and the self-assertion and security of the people by documentation. Thus, while the people were controlled and governed, they petitioned and self-asserted by documentation such as peasantsʼpetitions.
The characteristics of the early-modern society of letters are the nationwide homogenization of letter writing style (the Oie school), phrases, grammar, and formats. It is true that it is difficult to address the legal grounds of the standardization and homogenization. However, the writing style and formats had a certain force as a social custom. The people wrote, read, and learned their letters at Tenarai-juku, private educational institutions.
The high literacy rate was the attainment of a “society of letters,” in which the people read books. Needless to say, the “society of letters” became the significant foundation of language education in terms of national education in early-modern Japan.
