The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the process and circumstances surrounding the regulation of students’ behavior, referred to as controlling out-of-school life, known as “Kōgai-Torishimari” or “Kōgai-Kantoku,” which was undertaken by secondary schools in Miyagi Prefecture during the Taisho era. This occurred as the popularity of movies rapidly increased among the public, with teachers being dispatched to entertainment venues, primarily movie theaters.

The findings of this study can be summarized as follows. Firstly, in Miyagi Prefecture, while the police had traditionally controlled entertainment itself, during the Taisho era, secondary school teachers across the whole prefecture began to regulate individual audiences, specifically the students who frequented entertainment venues. This new form of control can be understood as a more assertive measure compared to previous methods.

Secondly, these regulations were ineffective for three main reasons: they necessitated uniform regulation across different types of schools; there was a lack of consensus across schools regarding the necessity of such regulation; and there was no uniform and specific criteria for approved viewing entertainment.

Thirdly, the rapid rise in popularity of movies as a highly attractive form of entertainment for young people, coupled with the state of the prefectural government may have contributed to this scenario. This indicates that controlling out-of-school life was influenced by and subject to prevailing social and political trends.

While this paper examines only one case, it posits itself as a foundational point in the history of education in Japan concerning the emergence of direct teacher oversight over student behavior outside of school. However, compared to later eras, the control observed in this case can be described as situational and functionally immature.

This study examines the questions on Moral Education in the Secondary School Teacher Certification Examination reflecting Tetsujirō Inoue’s theory of national morality and its propagation to examinees by emphasizing the academic trends behind the theory.

Questions about national morality began to appear in the examination in the early 20th century. Inoue’s theory of national morality is clearly reflected in the following questions. In addition to questions about his theory in the written examination, an understanding of national morality as defined in the history books was required in the oral examination. Therefore, examinees who had prepared comprehensively for the examination understood Inoue’s writings. Because of the large number of examinees, the examination played a significant role in the propagation of his theory.

However, other scholars criticized Inoue for his exclusive position during the examination. Nakajima Tokuzō pointed out that the examination effectively authorized a particular theory of national morality, criticizing Inoue’s theory as a narrow interpretation dependent on history. Additionally, Fujii Kenjirō indicated that the examinees only studied Inoue’s theory to understand national morality. Inoue’s theory was propagated as “truth” based on authority of place in the examination; however, examinees could not study the various perspectives on national morality.

Although Inoue retired from the examination committee because of the incident of Lese Majesty in 1926, his theory continued to influence the examination. Even after his retirement, some examinees listed Inoue’s books as required reading, reinforcing the continued influence of his theory. Furthermore, Fukasaku Yasufumi, Inoue’s successor, took charge of the national morality field as a member of the examination committee. The continued authority of Inoue’s theory indicates that the examination continued to propagate Inoue’s theory.

This study focuses on Mutai Risaku, who was consistently involved in the formation of post-war educational philosophy centred on the former Fundamental Law of Education, and clarifies the characteristics of his theory of Japanese culture in a holistic manner, including an analysis of historical documents that have not previously been examined.

Mutai’s concept of culture, consisting of basic and upper cultures, was based on the triadic structure theory of the intermediary relationships between the three concepts of individual, nation, and the world. Mutai attempted to discover the base culture as the archetype of national traditions in the Manyōshū (famous 8th-century poetry collection) in a manner that extended the contents of Nishida Kitaro’s The Problem of Japanese Culture (1940). Mutai found that the spirit of Manyō, as the archetype of Japan’s base culture, acquired deep inspiration from the extraordinariness of everyday life. He then attempted to derive a logic from it that could continue to innovate and create Japanese culture.

The characteristics of Mutai’s theory of Japanese culture are found in the fact that he saw ‘culture’ as the creation of a new culture based on tradition, which is constantly being revolutionised through its relationship with diverse cultures mediated throughout the world, and simultaneously, in the fact that he expected the creation of culture to be based on the nation as the substrate or subject to avoid decadence in culture. This concept of culture led to the understanding of ‘culture’ in the educational philosophy of the former Fundamental Law of Education.

The aim of this article is to elucidate how public schools were established in the Xiluo region of Taiwan and what kind of enrollment behaviors occurred during the Japanese colonial period. The population of the Xiluo region was enthusiastic about education, to the extent that it was described by the colonial administration as having “an unsuitable intellectual ambition for a rural area,” with many local academies for classical learning predating the Japanese colonial period. To borrow Hsu Pei-Hsien’s expression, Xiluo’s first public school was a kind of “communal school”, in the sense that it collected public assets from local academies and those involved in its management served as teachers and members of education committees. Initially, recruitment of students posed a significant challenge to the school. It competed unsuccessfully with local academies to attract boys, so that many girls, who had traditionally been outside the scope of traditional education, were recruited. As a result, the gender ratio for girls became relatively higher than in the rest of Taiwan. However, due to colonial circumstances surrounding female education, there were discrepancies between the experiences of boys and girls. Furthermore, from its founding until the end of the war, its principals were all Japanese. The colonial nature of education can be discerned in the situation in which, despite efforts of the Xiluo’s population to appropriate a “communal school” and to show their agencies, they were pushed into an even more “passive position” due to the declining value of Classical Chinese as a subject and the absence of higher-level schools.

This study examines the process and debate surrounding the introduction of statewide curriculum reform in African-American schools in Virginia in the 1930s, based on an analysis of trends in African-American educational organizations at the time. Previous research argue that Virginia’s curriculum theory at the time was based on social adaptation. However, few empirical studies have examined whether the Virginia Plan promoted social adaptation. This paper focuses on African-American education, which is often seen as the subject of social adaptation.

It can be concluded that after its introduction in African-American schools, the Virginia Plan followed a complex process unlike the typical social adaptation model. First, the State Board of Education and the African-American Advisory Committee had diverse views on “Negro needs,” and the Committee’s ideas were only partially reflected in the State Course of Study. Second, regarding the implementation of the Virginia Plan, there was momentum in African-American communities to examine and share educational practices, and discussions on improving the educational environment for African Americans simultaneously gained traction. Third, when classroom development within the black community became more active, the practice of confronting social issues related to racial segregation, as called for by the Advisory Committee, was also observed in some cases.

Based on the above, it can be said that the attempts at a voluntary curriculum development movement based on the needs of children, as required by the Virginia Plan, encouraged the development and implementation of educational practices that had the potential to address social issues (as required by the Advisory Committee) for blacks as a minority group.