The was the largest han school in Bakumatsu period

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Located in Mito,

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

, three of its buildings have been designated Important Cultural Properties and the school is a Special Historic Site.

History

The Kōdōkan was founded in 1841 by

Tokugawa Nariaki Tokugawa Nariaki (徳川斉昭, April 4, 1800 – September 29, 1860) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who ruled the Mito Domain (now Ibaraki Prefecture) and contributed to the rise of nationalism and the Meiji Restoration. Biography Clan leader ...

, ninth ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of Mito Domain. Tokugawa Nariaki was a leading figure in the late

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

and a strong proponent of efforts to defend the country against encroaching foreigners. His pro-''

sonnō jōi was a '' yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s, during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sou ...

'' views often were at odds with the '' tairō'' Ii Naosuke and he was also influenced by the nativist ''

kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

'' philosophy, both of which laid the foundations of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

as well as the development of

State Shinto was Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for Kannushi, priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that ...

. The academy he founded in Mito also promoted to Mitogaku school established by Tokugawa Mitsukuni. It was located in the third bailey of Mito Castle, and construction work on its buildings was not completed until 1857. Admission was at age 15; however, in line with Mito Domain's philosophy on education, classes were open to all ages provided that academic ability was above a certain level. The number of days a student attended was also dependent on his social standing. The curriculum included widespread topics, including medicine, mathematics, astronomy,

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

, history, music, and military arts. From 1863 to 1864, the Kōdōkan was the epicenter of the Mito rebellion, a civil war within Mito Domain which involved an uprising and terrorist actions against the central power of the Shogunate by proponents of more rapid and direct action against the foreign powers. In April 1868,

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Kazoku, Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned his position as shogun in late 1867, while ai ...

(who was himself a native of Mito Domain and once a student at the Kōdōkan), abdicated his position as

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

and was ordered by the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

to retire under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

to a building within the Kōdōkan. However, the situation in Mito Domain was very unstable during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

, and he was ordered to relocate to Shizuoka a few months later. The Meiji government's fears were well-founded, as only a few months after he relocated, survivors of the Battle of Aizu barricaded themselves within the Kōdōkan. In the ensuing battle with government troops, many of the structures in the school were damaged or destroyed. The school closed in 1872 after the

and the introduction of the new school system and the site was designated as a public park. Most of the library was taken over by the Mito High School, were destroyed by the air raid on Mito (水戸空襲) in August 2, 1945. The park is planted with some 60 varieties of ''

Prunus mume ''Prunus mume'', the Chinese plum or Japanese apricot, is a tree species in the family Rosaceae. Along with bamboo, the plant is intimately associated with art, literature, and everyday life in China, from where it was then introduced to Kor ...

'', some of which date from the time of Tokugawa Nariaki. The Kōdōkan was designated as a national historic site in 1922 and became a special historic site in 1952.It is about a 10-minute walk from Mito Station on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Joban Line. Some of the buildings were damaged in the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

Notable buildings

* (1841) ( ICP) Main gate, pillars have bullet holes from the 1868 battle * (1841) (ICP) The administration complex of the Kōdōkan. It includes the Bunkan (consisting of four dormitories for studying, training, and boarding), a training ground sword practice, and ground for martial arts training. * (1841) (ICP) Four rooms located in the northeast of the main office. wereused as a waiting room for the daimyo and a place for learning for his children

Gallery

File:Kodokan Plan.jpg, Map of the Kōdōkan File:The gate of Kodokan, Mito.jpg, Seimon File:弘道館八卦堂.JPG, Octagonal chapel File:学生警鐘.jpg, Belfry File:Kodokan-Kashima Shrine.jpg, Kashima Shrine File:水戸弘道館.jpg, Seichō

References

External links

Kōdōkan - English language page

Ibaraki Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodokan (Mito) Tourist attractions in Ibaraki Prefecture Mito Domain Mito, Ibaraki Education in Ibaraki Prefecture Buildings and structures in Ibaraki Prefecture Special Historic Sites 1841 establishments in Japan Important Cultural Properties of Ibaraki Prefecture

History

Notable buildings

Gallery

See also

References

External links