There was a time when the “modernization of Japan” was highly touted, especially in the West, and the spread of education in the premodern period was given much of the credit. The books of Herbert Passin and R. P. Dore in particular are often cited in this regard. Dore, in Education in Tokugawa Japan (1965) in the final chapter entitled “The Legacy,” asks the fundamental question: “Why was Japan, alone of all Asian countries, able to keep her independence and carry through the process of politically directed change which has made her a highly industrialized nation?” In his conclusion Dore highly praises the traditions of school education and literacy which spread among non-samurai commoners in premodern society as the basis for Japan's modernization.

Similarly, in Herbert Passin's Society and Education in Japan (also 1965), “Japan of 1855 was already a society showing every disposition and readiness for a modern transformation.” Along with already being a highly centralized nation-state she had a high standard of literacy, particularly among the upper classes, and it was widely diffused. Citing estimates from various scholars Passin also says, “If we can assume that ‘schooling’ equals ‘literacy’ we have the basis for some estimate of the extent of literacy in pre-modern Japan. Taking into account home tutoring, 40 to 50 percent male literacy would not appear unreasonable.”

It is not the purpose of this chapter to go into the issues associated with the “modernization theory” debate. The aim is rather to provide empirical data on the spread of literacy and education in particular social contexts in early modern Japan. We will survey the methods used to estimate literacy up to now, pointing out achievements and limitations.

The focus here will be on research on Tokugawa period literacy. Compared to the relatively easy collection of data on popular schooling and literacy after Meiji, when national systems were established in education and the military, data in the earlier period was not kept in a systematic way and this has made possible a variety of research methods and themes.