Japan Heritage story
Japan's old schools: where a nation learned to read
近世日本の教育遺産群
Long before modern schools, samurai and townspeople alike learned to read, write and count. Four historic schools show how it happened, and you can still sit in their halls.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Kanto, Chugoku, Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 近世日本の教育遺産群
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 学ぶ心・礼節の本源
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 茨城県（水戸市）・栃木県（足利市）・岡山県（備前市）・大分県（日田市）
The story
Visitors to Japan in the 1500s to 1800s kept noticing the same thing: people of every class, men and women, could read and write, and they were strikingly polite. This Japan Heritage story links that to schools run by domains and private teachers, not by the central government. Historians see this as part of what let Japan modernise so quickly after 1868.
The four schools
- Ashikaga Gakko (Tochigi): the missionary Francis Xavier called it the largest and most famous university in eastern Japan. It holds the oldest surviving Confucian shrine in Japan.Google Maps 足利学校 (opens in a new tab)
- Shizutani School (Okayama): founded by lord Ikeda Mitsumasa for ordinary people, not just samurai. Its lecture hall is a National Treasure, built to resist fire and rain.Google Maps 旧閑谷学校 (opens in a new tab)
- Kangien (Oita): a private academy in Hita that graded students every month and drew more than 5,000 pupils from over 60 provinces. The old Mameda merchant quarter is next door.Google Maps 咸宜園跡 日田 (opens in a new tab)
- Kodokan and Kairakuen (Ibaraki): the largest domain school, founded by lord Tokugawa Nariaki in Mito, paired with a garden for rest that he planted with plum trees.Google Maps 弘道館 水戸 (opens in a new tab)
Good to know
- At Shizutani School the Analects are recited aloud on Sundays, which is a good day to visit.
- Ashikaga Gakko holds its Sekiten ceremony for Confucius in November.
- Visit Kodokan together with Kairakuen in Mito, as the school and garden were planned as a pair.
Questions travellers ask
Which is the oldest school in Japan?
Ashikaga Gakko in Tochigi is often called the oldest university in Japan. Shizutani School in Okayama is seen as the oldest surviving school built for ordinary people.
Can I go inside these schools?
Yes. All four are open to visitors and still hold classes or events, such as reading the Analects aloud.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- 140 years of Japan Wine: Koshu and Ushiku
- Awa, home of indigo: the blue that dyed all of Japan
- Fukiya: the birthplace of Japan Red
- Kasamashiko: the sibling pottery towns of Kasama and Mashiko
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Kunisaki: where the ogres became buddhas
- Kurashiki: a textile town that grew from one cotton flower
- Nasunogahara: the future that Meiji nobles dreamed of
- Okayama, where the Momotaro legend was born
- The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- Utsunomiya: the underground labyrinth of Oya stone
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.