ABSTRACT
SIMPLE WRITING PRACTICE was the main staple of terakoya education, conducted in much the same way as at the samurai schools. Hours of attendance were irregular-there were no clocks in any case-and the usual practice was for pupils to go to the teacher for their day’s brief lesson as soon as they arrived and then settle at their desks to practise what they had learned. They did not necessarily go every day. One Gifu village teacher, for instance, whose records have been examined, held classes on seven or eight days of each month, and most of his pupils attended for only three or four.1
