Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline and Transformation of the Kangaku Juku

by Margaret Mehl

This comprehensive study of a little-known but significant area in Japanese education not only contributes to a better understanding of education in the Meiji period but is also relevant to the reform of Japan’s public education system today. The modern state-controlled system we take for granted today is just as much a product of historical circumstances as the juku was; it, too, must therefore be open to challenge.

“That Mehl … connect[s] her research … to a larger discussion of Japan’s modern cultural history is a testament to her broadmindedness and methodological flexibility, and makes what is already a valuable contribution to the history of Japanese education all the more worthy of our attention.” - Brian W. Platt, Monument Nipponica 59:3

Margaret Mehl, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, has published widely on the history of historical writing, education and music in modern Japan.

Publication year: 2003
280 pp / 217mm x 139mm
1 map, 10 figures, 5 tables
ISBN: 978-87-91114-94-6, Paperback
ISBN: 978-87-91114-03-8, Hardback

NIAS Press