Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran 改正小学讀本便覧

Title Translation: Manual for the Elementary School Reader, revised

58 pages with images Size: 5 x 7 in.

The Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran appears to be a revised version of the teacher’s guide for a revised version of the student Shōgaku tokuhon (Elementary school reader). The most impressive image in the Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran is a full-page, full-color print showing a teacher presenting what could be a copy of the Shōgaku tokuhon to students. Following the Meiji government’s initial push for modernization and Westernization, the Japanese government began to re-evaluate and rework the Western models to better suit the needs of Japanese children.1 Still, the importance of the preparation of teachers that arose in the first push toward a modern education system remained strong.2 The Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran appears to have been a part of both the reassessment of the education system and the instruction of teachers. This becomes particularly apparent through the inclusion of the new section in the Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran on scientific and mathematic topics and includes new illustrations. Other than this new section, most of the book remains the same. In fact, the illustrations of the main text of the Kaisei shōgaku tokuhon binran present simplified versions of the images from the Shōgaku tokuhon, including the images of the “five races” and the Meiji coins. Researcher: Colleen Bache 1 E. PatriciaTsurumi, “Meiji Primary School Language and Ethics Textbooks: Old Values for a New Society?” Modern Asian Studies 8 (1974) 250-253. 2 Benjamin C. Duke, The History of Modern Japanese Education: Constructing the National School System, 1872-1890, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009), 140-141. Other information: National Diet Library: http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/867974, opens in a new window