ABSTRACT
THE TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION in the Meiji period has been aptly summarized with the phrase “from one room to one system”.1 Education in the Tokugawa period was decentralized, diverse and often informal. A variety of schools existed, run by the shogunate, the domains or private individuals. They were not part of one coherent system, and by today’s standards they were small. Attendance patterns varied, including different types of schools and private tuition. Different schools catered for different classes of society, and the link between achievement in school and social advancement was at best tenuous.
