ABSTRACT
The richness and variety of intellectual life during the first two centuries of Tokugawa rule were further reflected in the institutional supports used to sustain and encourage learning. The initial impetus for education in Tokugawa Japan came from the shogunate. In 1630 it provided a plot of land and funds for the Hayashi family to expand their private school into a center for the Zhu Xi brand of Neo-Confucianism. By the end of the eighteenth century more than half had domain schools for their own samurai retainers. By the end of the Tokugawa period most domains had at least one official school, and some had more than one. Peasants were left behind in the countryside, entirely responsible for tax collecting as well as dealing with the profusion of edicts and regulations that characterized administration under Tokugawa rule. Extant Tokugawa-period enrollment data show far fewer opportunities for women, particularly in rural areas.
