| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 日本語文學研究所 === 105 === In the prewar period, the general conception of “public education” appeared for the very first time. The concept has developed into several conceptual standpoints and representations in the 1970s. The concept of gōgaku, which caused “the gōgaku controversy”, brought up a particular discussion about the continuity of public education between early modern and modern Japan which is still going on. Arguably, the gōgaku education system of early modern Japan, an education institute for commoners, contained the origin of public education in Japan. However, a glance at the actual structure of gōgaku in early modern Japan reveals that the concept of public education is distinct from the public education which came into being under the modern system of national education. This thesis illustrates the distinctive characteristics of gōgaku in early modern Japan by exploring the Shizudani School of Okayama domain as an example, discussing the definitions of gōgaku and “the public nature of education in early modern Japan ”（近世的公共性）. It is crucial to redefine the concept from the aspect of early modern Japan in order to refresh the understanding of “public education”.
The Shizudani School was the first gōgaku style school in Japan that was established by feudal lord Ikeda Mitsumasa (池田光政) in 1670. It was open to all, regardless of social class, and was oriented at Confucianist thought. It existed until 1871. In the mid-18th century, villagers who lived near the school asked students to be their lecturers, and they taught the villagers to learn morals and manners. Those occasional learning gatherings of local peasants was called Tenjinkō (天神講), an event
in which commoners took the initiative to popularize education in their own manner. The public accessibility of knowledge in the Okayama domain and its inhabitants'' eagerness to learn was the basis for the Shizudani model of Japanese schooling. The Shizudani School was founded by a domain; however, it was actually supported by local peasantry, offering voluntary learning activities. The commoners’ spontaneous learning is the most distinctive feature of gōgaku education which deserves attention.
A gōgaku was an educational institute where commoners learned without political aims and neither took it as a career ladder comparable to a self-improvement school. It is essential to reconstruct the “public education characteristic of gōgaku in early modern Japan” by elucidating the learning content, teachers’ and students’ identity, and the public accessibility of education in a feudal society is essential to understand its development over time. Education in feudal Toukgawa and modern Meiji Japan, were originally two different systems, and accordingly, it is impossible to discuss the continuity of “public nature education of gōgaku” in the same breath. This thesis elucidates the commoners’ voluntary will to learn in feudal Japan, and restructures “the public nature of education” through the example of gōgaku.
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