Imperial Rescript on Education

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The Imperial Rescript on Education (教育勅語 Kyôiku Chokugo) was signed by Emperor Meiji of Japan on October 30, 1890. It was distributed to every school in the Japanese Empire, along with a portrait of the Emperor that was to be kept hidden from view. The Rescript pushed traditional ideals of Confucianism.

Details

The Rescript requested of the people that "furthermore advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth".

After that, the Rescript was used (or abused) in many ways by Japanese fascism during peak of the era of Japanese expansionism. Moreover after the World War II, the Imperial Rescript on Education was abolished by both Houses of Diet of Japan on June 19, 1948.

Kikuchi Dairoku and the Imperial Rescript on Education

In 1907, Kikuchi Dairoku was invited by London University to give lectures on education from the middle of February for about five months. The central focus of his lectures was the Imperial rescript on Education. The request for the lectures was initially communicated to Hayashi Tadasu, then ambassador in London (from December 1905). At first Sawayanagi Matsutaro was to give the lectures, but he was recalled when in Rome on the way to London and Kikuchi gave the lectures instead. As a preparation for the lectures he translated the Imperial rescript into English.

Sources

• Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era, 1868–1912: Pioneers for the Modernization of Japan, by Noboru Koyama, translated by Ian Ruxton [1], (Lulu Press, September 2004, ISBN 1411612566).

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