Introduction

This chapter presents previously unknown historical documents related to literacy in Wakayama Prefecture. The materials are useful because they paint a detailed picture of Wakayama literacy during the transition from the early modern period to the beginning of Meiji (roughly 1850s– 1870s), an era that has largely been underreported in terms of individual reading and writing skills of the non-elite population.

The Meiji government issued an edict calling for a modern national education system (Gakusei) in 1872. Because the new schools were compulsory and focused on basic literacy, it is important to consider how quickly and how comprehensively these schools influenced national literacy rates. It was not instantaneous. This chapter addresses these early Meiji years before the new system had the enormous impact it eventually would have.

In the first chapter of this book, Kimura Masanobu critiqued previous research on literacy in the early modern period and pointed out that: (1) Estimates of school attendance based on government statistical records like Nihon kyōiku shi shiryō (NKSS) have generally lost their validity as measurements of literacy, and (2) the greatest current need in literacy research is detailed primary source data at the regional level. This chapter will address that need.

It has been noted in this book and elsewhere how important the primary research on literacy by Yakuwa Tomohiro, Richard Rubinger and others has been. They have confirmed enormous regional and gender distinctions that existed with regard to literacy in early modern Japan. They have also shown that literacy increased in all areas during the Meiji period, with the greatest improvements made in areas that started at the lowest. But even the best of these earlier studies have serious limitations. Yakuwa's data, for example, did not distinguish between the ability to sign and practical or functional (jitsuyōteki) literacy. The Tokiwa Village survey (see Chart 4), which did do that and covered the transition between Tokugawa and Meiji, was limited to 883 men in one remote village.

Chart 4 is based on a survey of males in Kita Azumi District's Tokiwa Village in Nagano Prefecture. This is a valuable survey in that it specifically distinguishes between abilities of literacy.