Uncommon schooling: the history and legacy of Ainu schools in Meiji Japan
Yoko TANABE
Institute of Education, University College London
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Japan’s indigenous education policy and the school experiences of the Ainu during the Meiji period, with special emphasis on the legacy of two different education systems: the government Ainu schools and Ainu schools run by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). After more than 200 years of self-imposed isolation, Japan opened several ports to trade with foreign countries and allowed missionaries to live within foreign settlements in 1858. In Hokkaido, the CMS established more than 10 Ainu schools between 1887 and 1906 (Frey, 2007, p.233). John Batchelor, later called “the Apostle of the Ainu,” and Charles Nettleship paid special attention to the Ainu and they taught some subject in the Ainu language.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan had undergone drastic political, social and economic changes. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Emperor restored to supreme power and Japan pursued vigorous efforts to build a “modern” nation-state. As part of the government’s modernisation policy, the northern island Ezochi, where the indigenous Ainu people had inhabited from time immemorial, was renamed Hokkaido and the Ainu were incorporated into Japan with nominal grant of Japanese “citizenship”. In addition, due to the influx of large number of Wajin (ethnic Japanese) immigrats to the northern island, the Ainu became considerably outnumbered and fell into distress.
Given the growing number of impoverished Ainu, the Former Natives Protection Act, which shares some similarities with the Dawes Act of 1887 (Tomita, 1989&1990), was promulgated by the Imperial Diet in 1899 and some twenty-three public elementary schools for Ainu children were established between 1901 and 1907 in Hokkaido (Ogawa, 1992, p. 199). The school enrolment ratio of Ainu children then increased rapidly, from 17.9 % in 1895 to 84.2 % in 1907 (Ogawa, 1992, p.201). However, the education that Ainu children received was principally assimilation-oriented and use of the Ainu language was strictly prohibited in schools.
In this paper, special attention will be given to the Hakodate Ainu Training School (1893-1906), and the way in which the school trained young Ainu students to become catechists in their home communities. Referring to the CMS Archives, such as the Japan mission’s annual reports and missionary photos, this study examines the purpose, curriculum, and impacts of the “uncommon” missionary-run Ainu boarding school in Hakodate and compares them with those of the government Ainu schools. The significance of this research lies in shedding light on the relatively unknown foreign missionary education work and boarding school experience of indigenous Ainu people in the Meiji period.
Yoko TANABE
Institute of Education, University College London
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Japan’s indigenous education policy and the school experiences of the Ainu during the Meiji period, with special emphasis on the legacy of two different education systems: the government Ainu schools and Ainu schools run by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). After more than 200 years of self-imposed isolation, Japan opened several ports to trade with foreign countries and allowed missionaries to live within foreign settlements in 1858. In Hokkaido, the CMS established more than 10 Ainu schools between 1887 and 1906 (Frey, 2007, p.233). John Batchelor, later called “the Apostle of the Ainu,” and Charles Nettleship paid special attention to the Ainu and they taught some subject in the Ainu language.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan had undergone drastic political, social and economic changes. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Emperor restored to supreme power and Japan pursued vigorous efforts to build a “modern” nation-state. As part of the government’s modernisation policy, the northern island Ezochi, where the indigenous Ainu people had inhabited from time immemorial, was renamed Hokkaido and the Ainu were incorporated into Japan with nominal grant of Japanese “citizenship”. In addition, due to the influx of large number of Wajin (ethnic Japanese) immigrats to the northern island, the Ainu became considerably outnumbered and fell into distress.
Given the growing number of impoverished Ainu, the Former Natives Protection Act, which shares some similarities with the Dawes Act of 1887 (Tomita, 1989&1990), was promulgated by the Imperial Diet in 1899 and some twenty-three public elementary schools for Ainu children were established between 1901 and 1907 in Hokkaido (Ogawa, 1992, p. 199). The school enrolment ratio of Ainu children then increased rapidly, from 17.9 % in 1895 to 84.2 % in 1907 (Ogawa, 1992, p.201). However, the education that Ainu children received was principally assimilation-oriented and use of the Ainu language was strictly prohibited in schools.
In this paper, special attention will be given to the Hakodate Ainu Training School (1893-1906), and the way in which the school trained young Ainu students to become catechists in their home communities. Referring to the CMS Archives, such as the Japan mission’s annual reports and missionary photos, this study examines the purpose, curriculum, and impacts of the “uncommon” missionary-run Ainu boarding school in Hakodate and compares them with those of the government Ainu schools. The significance of this research lies in shedding light on the relatively unknown foreign missionary education work and boarding school experience of indigenous Ainu people in the Meiji period.
