This paper follows after The Meaning of “kyo”, (Studies in the Philosophy of Education No. 38, 1978), intending to clarify the meaning of kyo-iku, a lexical equivalent word to education.
Through examining all 24 cases of iku in the Four Classical Chinese Books and the Five Chinese Classics, the author finds that only one case means “bringing up” a child by parents. Majority of the cases doesn't give rise to the meaning, around which present usages are centering. Later, Xu Shen (58 A. D.-147 A.D.), a compiler of a dictionary for Chinese characters, explained iku as “bringing children up to make them do good”.
The author concludes that since then iku in this sense has become influencial, and that in the present usage of kyo-iku this sense still exists. Furthermore, it is pointed out that Xu combined the iku with kyo holding an intention to mean bringing up children good by teaching. Thus, one can find that an embryonic form of the concept of kyo-iku in its modern usage had been born. On the contrary, the author is dubious about a widely held opinion that the usage of kyo-iku in the sense of “education” was originated by Mencius some four centuries before Xu.