ABSTRACT
T HE old-style education was at first Buddhist, afterwards Confucian, in method and matter. It comprised chiefly instruction in the
Japanese and the Chinese languages, literature, and history, and was mostly confined to the samurai (knights), or military class. Female education consisted mainly of reading and writing Japanese, the elaborate rules of etiquette, and "polite accomplishments " in music and art. All instruction was given pretty much by the Chinese system of lectures; and a "memoriter'' method of learning hampered original investigation. Especially in the domain of Japanese history, so called, on which rested the political institutions, skepticism was practically synonymous with treason.
