Marcu 3, 1904] 
NATURE 
417 
very large, by 1896 the total number of such foreign 
teachers in State institutions had fallen to thirty-one, 
of whom ten were from Great Britain and eleven from 
the United States. If, however, in addition to State 
institutions all other public and private educational 
establishments are included, it is found that the 
number of foreign instructors is much higher. Thus 
in 1895, 167 men and 1o1 women from Europe and 
America were engaged in teaching in Japan. 
A complete understanding of the success of Japan’s 
provision of university and technical education can 
only be arrived at by first considering the steps which 
have been taken in the direction of securing a satis- 
factory system of primary and secondary education. 
Japan seems to have learnt completely what is now 
only beginning to be understood in this country, that 
for complete success a system of higher education 
must be firmly based upon an adequate and properly 
coordinated supply of institutions in which a sound 
preliminary education is given. This seems to have 
been the idea in the mind of President Ibuka, who, 
speaking in America, said that when Japan reached 
out after western ideas she copied her navy from 
Great Britain and her educational system from 
America. It is therefore desirable to refer briefly to 
the conditions of elementary and secondary education 
in Japan. 
The elementary schools of Japan are of two grades, 
ordinary and higher. It will be sufficient in this con- 
nection to refer to them as public elementary schools. 
In 1898 there were 26,322 of these schools, with an 
annual cost for maintenance of 1,715,470l., to which 
sum the Japanese taxpayer contributed 1,150,446l. 
Nearly five thousand of these elementary schools pro- 
vide special supplementary courses of a more advanced 
character, in which preliminary instruction is pro- 
vided for boys, in the branches of science underlying 
agricultural practice and rural economy, and those on 
which the needs of industry depend, while for girls 
the special requirements of the household are taken 
into account, and instruction is given in such subjects 
as sewing and needlework. It is interesting to notice 
that a decree of the Japanese Government dating 
from August, 1900, made the education in all public 
elementary schools to all intents and purposes free. 
As indicating the attitude of the Japanese people 
towards education, it should be stated that their volun- 
tary contributions towards its support are on a 
generous scale. In 1896 voluntary gifts to the public 
school fund amounted to almost 154,000l., in addition 
to which during a single year the people contributed 
for educational purposes 3,677,000 acres of land, 
14,000 books, and nearly 16,000 pieces of apparatus. 
As Mr. Lewis has remarked, ‘‘it may be said roughly 
that in support of popular education in Japan the gifts 
of the people in money are more than one-fifth the 
amount realised from fees, and that the latter are about 
one-third as much as the amount of the local taxes for 
education.”’ Before leaving the subject of elementary 
education, it is significant to remark that in 1896, while 
the percentage of the population of Great Britain 
under instruction in elementary schools was fifteen, 
Japan, with its short experience in educational 
matters, had managed to bring the percentage up to 
ten. 
Intermediate between the public elementary school 
and the university, two classes of schools are to be 
found in Japan, the common middle schools and the 
high schools. As in some European countries, these 
schools are made more attractive to the Japanese 
people because attendance at them exempts from a 
certain amount of military service. Thus a common 
middle school course exempts from two or three years 
NO. 1792, VOL. 69] 
| 
of military service, and attendance throughout a high 
school course excuses the student from conscriptiom 
until twenty-eight years of age, when a single year 
as a volunteer with the colours exempts from further 
military service. The educational authorities of Japan 
have, too, learnt the importance of carefully coordin- 
ating one grade of school with those immediately 
below and above it. To give an instance, a pupil who 
has successfully completed the course of a common 
middle school can claim admittance to a high school 
without examination, and one who has obtained a 
certificate showing that he has attended the complete 
course of a high school may at once enter the uni- 
versity without a matriculation examination, and he 
is, moreover, considered to be fully qualified for any 
public post. 
In 1898 there were in Japan 169 common middle 
schools, and in 1896 six high schools. In the former 
there were 2061 teachers and 49,684 students, and in 
the latter 290 teachers, of whom only twelve were 
foreigners, and 4231 students. Of the total number 
of students who completed the courses of the common 
middle schools, three-fifths entered high schools, one- 
eleventh entered the army, and one twenty-eighth be- 
came teachers. Of the high school students, 55 were 
in law courses, 127 in engineering, 1469 in medi- 
cine, and 2580 in general courses leading to the univer- 
sity. 
ti appears, says Mr. Lewis, that the subject most 
insisted on in the common middle schools is the 
English language; that the Japanese language and 
Chinese literature, studied as related themes, are 
second; gymnastics receives more attention than 
mathematics or history, and far more than ethics. 
The explanation of the anomaly is in the fact that by 
the training of the body Japan hopes to repair the 
physical defects of the people. The same authority 
states that the courses of study are not uniform in 
the Government high schools; in five of them the 
greatest emphasis is laid on the general preparatory 
courses for the university. One of them has depart— 
ments of law and engineering, and its advanced’ 
courses constitute the beginning of Kioto University. 
Though the foundation for technical education is 
laid in the elementary, middle and high schools of 
Japan, we may fairly say that the higher education. 
of the country is given in its universities and technical 
institutions. It will be convenient to deal with the 
universities first. 
There are two universities, one in Tokyo and the 
other in Kioto. The former is the more important, 
and it will suffice to indicate the nature of its work, 
constitution, and cost. The Imperial Tokyo Uni- 
versity was organised in 1877, remodelled in 1886, and 
enlarged to include a college of agriculture in 1Sgo. 
For the first ten years or so after its organisation the 
university followed the American plan, but since then 
it has been more inspired by German ideals. The 
university at present consists of a university hall— 
devoted to the purposes of post-graduate study in- 
cluding original scientific research—colleges for the 
study of law, science, engineering, medicine, agri- 
culture and literature, library, botanical garden, astro- 
nomical observatory, marine laboratory, and two 
hospitals. 
In 1898 there were 205 professors and 2465 students 
in the university. Though the distribution of these 
professors is not available for 1898, the 161 professors 
attached to the university in 1895 were divided among 
the six colleges as follows :—law, medicine, 30; 
engineering, 35; literature, 25; science, 18; and agri- 
culture, 31. The number of students has increased 
steadily year by year, as the following table shows :— 
22° 
FHA 
