ABSTRACT
Any society whose educational thinking has been as strongly influenced by the Confucian tradition as the Japanese is going to place great emphasis on the contents of the textbooks in its schools. Prior to 1872, when a national school system was created, textbooks in schools were left to the teachers' discretion. When the national system was established in 1872, the tradition of free choice continued, and teachers were permitted to use either books written by independent scholars or newly prepared government texts. In 1881 the Ministry of Education began to take steps to tighten its control over textbook use and published a list of texts considered appropriate. In May 1948, the Ministry of Education established a Textbook Authorization Committee to supervise the examination of all manuscripts submitted by independent authors. By the end of the 1950s, textbook authorization had become more strict owing to political conflicts between the Japan Teachers Union (JTU) and the Ministry of Education.
