is a
Japanese high school in
Matsuyama, Ehime
270px, Matsuyama City Hall
270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan and also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243541 househo ...
founded in 1878 as Matsuyama Middle School.
History
The high school was founded as Matsuyama Middle School in 1878. Although the school was founded during the
Meiji period, it has earlier roots in the
Iyo-Matsuyama Domain's
Han school, Kōtokukan, Shūraikan and Meikyōkan.
Among the first students at the new school was Masaoka Tsunenori, later known as
Masaoka Shiki. As Seishi Shinoda and Sanford Goldstein explain,
:In the 1870s and 1880s, the democratic movement was at its height, and one of its chief leaders was
Taisuke Itagaki (1837-1919) from Kochi Prefecture... The prefectural governor of Ehime and the principal of Shiki's school. Though the principal had to resign in the summer of 1879 because of his radical views, his influence remained strong at Matsuyama Middle School. For some years after his departure, democratic thought reigned at the school; yet after the principal's departure many students left, and their numbers decreased from 213 in 1879 to 102 in 1881. Among those strongly influenced by the former principal was Shiki. He neglected most of his schoolwork, so caught up was he in the excitement of making political speeches night after night with ten or so of his classmates.
[Masaoka Shiki, ''Songs from a Bamboo Village: Selected Tanka from Take no Sato Uta'', translated by Sanford Goldstein and Seishi Shinoda (Rutland, VA: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1998), 9.]
Undoubtedly the most famous teacher at Matsuyama Middle School was Natsume Kinnosuke, better known as
Natsume Sōseki, who arrived in 1895 and taught for only a year, but later memorialized the experience in one of Japan's most popular novels, ''
Botchan
is a novel written by Japanese author Natsume Sōseki in 1906. It is one of the most popular Japanese novels, read by many during their school years. The central theme of the story is morality, but the narrator serves up this theme with gener ...
'' (1906). ''Botchan'' describes the comically unfortunate experiences of a young teacher fresh from Tokyo (called, euphemistically, "Botchan" or "little master") as he attempts, with little enthusiasm or success, to adapt to the academic regime and the local culture. In the novel, Botchan's colleagues are given comical names such as Tanuki (
Japanese raccoon dog), Akashatsu (Red-shirt), etc., prompting continued speculation as to which of Sōseki's fellow teachers might have been their real-life models.
The school name was changed to the present one in 1949.
Notable students and teachers
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Akiyama Saneyuki
was a Meiji-period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was famous as a planner of Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru was his elder brotherDupuy, Encyclopedia of Military Biography an ...
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Akiyama Yoshifuru
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Juzo Itami
, born , was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself.
Early life
Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto. The name Itami was passed on from his fath ...
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Mansaku Itami
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Masanobu Fukuoka
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Noburu Katagami
was a Japanese literary critic and a professor of Russian literature at Waseda University. He is also known as Tengen Katagami (片上天絃; later 片上天弦).
Biography
Katagami was born in Ehime, Japan, and graduated Waseda University in 190 ...
*
Yoshiyuki Kawashima
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Army Minister in the 1930s.
Biography
Kawashima was a native of Ehime prefecture. He graduated from the 10th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1898 (where one of his classmates was Sa ...
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Masaoka Shiki
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Natsume Sōseki
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Hisui Sugiura
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Kyoshi Takahama
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Moritake Tanabe
was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, commanding the IJA 25th Army from April 1943 until the surrender of Japan. He was the brother-in-law of General Hitoshi Imamura. After the war, Tanabe was charged with war crimes ...
*
Kenzaburō Ōe
is a Japanese writer and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His novels, short stories and essays, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues, i ...
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Masataka Ogawa
was a Japanese chemist mainly known for the claimed discovery of element 43 (later known as technetium), which he named nipponium. In fact, he might have discovered, but misidentified, element 75 (later called rhenium).
After graduating from th ...
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Ryūtarō Ōtomo
(5 June 1912 – 27 September 1985) was a Japanese film and television actor most famous for his starring roles in jidaigeki. In 1936, he made his debut in movies with the film ''Aozura Roshi''.
He ended his life by leaping from the top of a b ...
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Satsuo Yamamoto
References
External links
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{{authority control
Ehime Prefecture
Education in Ehime Prefecture
High schools in Ehime Prefecture
Educational institutions established in 1878
Schools in Ehime Prefecture
1878 establishments in Japan