Korea and Japan have recently been groping for a new mutual relationship under the policy of "cultural opening." A new kind of contact is needed to build up a progressive relationship between the two countries. There still lie many stumbling blocks ...
Korea and Japan have recently been groping for a new mutual relationship under the policy of "cultural opening." A new kind of contact is needed to build up a progressive relationship between the two countries. There still lie many stumbling blocks to the establishment of the new relationship, such as the issues concerning history textbooks, dominion over Tokdo, or Korean comfort women. Now, at the threshold of a new era of international cooperation, the two countries are trying to shake off the memory of an unhappy past between them as victim and victimizer, in hopes of setting up new, mutually complementary relations. For this reason it is important to clarify the questions of when modern Korean-Japanese relations began and what factors influenced them in the beginning. Korean modernization was made possible through the importation of modern culture and social system from Japan. Thus, the modern Japanese social system needs to be studied in order to understand Korean modernization.
Recent studies in modern Korea, however, tend to focus on cultural aspects. Although modernization and cultural development are inseparable from each other, we should first pay attention to the modernization of the mind that made modern culture possible. For moral education plays the role of alleviating physical weariness, boredom, and skepticism in the process of modernization. Thus, it is important to examine what assumed a crucial role in the moral reform during the era of Korean modernization.
Japanese modernization began with the Meiji Restoration in 1868. It made its start as a spontaneous process rather than a revolution. It took place with the expectation that Western science and technology would play a leading role in future Japanese society. So Japan embarked on her modernization in an active and autonomous way. It was, however, made possible through a downward, not a upward, movement. In other words, Japanese modernization largely owed its momentum to the awakening of the elite ruling class. Under the hegemony of the elite class, educational programs were established to enlighten ordinary Japanese people. School education was regarded as the most official and reasonable means of nurturing modern consciousness in the people. In particular, the elementary school took the role of bringing up the workforce of future Japan. Pupils were required to learn Japanese, arithmetic, geography, and shushin as core subjects, which helped to build up the modern linguistic system, the capacity for logical thought, and the consciousness of national identity in the regional or world society. And the subject of shushin was supposed to serve as the moral groundwork for the other three subjects.
Shushin literally means "cultivating the body." Another word in similar usage at that time was shuyo, which corresponds to "culture" in English and "Bildung" in German. It carries various meanings such as edification, cultivation, education, enlightenment, development, amelioration, formation, etc. These concepts were introduced into Japan in the early modern period and incorporated into the words shushin or shuyo. But the content of shushin/shuyo textbooks was not totally new, for the texts were compiled on the basis of Oriental classic thought or religion, with additions from Western thought and Christianity.
The concept of shushin was quite pervasive in various fields including education, culture, and literature. Emphasis on shushin since 1880 was not limited to education. It became the moral foundation for building up modern Japanese society as well as for the culture of knowledgeable individuals. It laid the groundwork for Japanese modernization and modern education in Japan.
This study attempts to view modern Japan in a new light, centering on shushin textbooks in the Meiji-Taisho era. More specifically, five key subjects are dealt with.