ABSTRACT
JUKU IN GENERAL, INCLUDING KANGAKU JUKU, flourished in the 1870s and continued to hold their own in the 1880s. But by around 1890, sooner in some places, later in others, they were definitely in decline. The national school system was by then fully established. It stressed Western knowledge, and as a new generation educated in the new schools grew to maturity, the importance of the traditional kangaku education declined. Given the government’s aim to control education and its preference for public schools, it is perhaps surprising that the kangaku juku survived for as long as they did. But the example of Akita shows that private initiative was not easily suppressed, nor was a hard line approach necessarily beneficial in achieving the central government’s goal of spreading education.
