is Japan's oldest standing academic building. It is located in the city of Ashikaga,

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

, about 70 kilometres north of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. It was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1928.

History

There are various theories and controversies as to when the Ashikaga Gakkō was founded, ranging from the early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

to the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, with sometime around the year 839 or 842 being the most likely based on documentary evidence. The school had declined in the first half of the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

but was revived by

Uesugi Norizane Uesugi Norizane (上杉憲実; 1410 – March 22, 1466) was a Japanese samurai of the Uesugi clan who held a number of high government posts during the Muromachi period. ''Shugo'' (Constable) of Awa Province (Chiba), Awa and Kōzuke Province, h ...

in 1432 when he became lord of the surrounding

Shimotsuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Hitachi Province, ...

. Ujizane invited priest from

Engaku-ji , or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo. Founded ...

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

and donated books from his own collection to revitalize the schools and as a result Ashikaga Gakkō again attracted students from all over the country. He also fixed the curriculum around Chinese classical literature,

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 ...

, ''

Liezi The ''Liezi'' () is a Taoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a c. 5th century BC Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher. Although there were references to Lie's ''Liezi'' from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a number of Chinese and Western scholar ...

'', ''Zhuangzi'', ''Shiji'',

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

and

Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or ...

. Although the instructors were mostly Zen monks, the school was a center for

and secular learning, with the teaching of Buddhist theology and doctrines expressly excluded. During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

studies also included practical sciences, and an alternative "light curriculum" was devised for the sons of military commanders rather than full-time scholars. Tuition was free and students were expected to find accommodation at local private houses. The school had a garden to grow its own food and an herb garden to raise medicinal herbs. The Ashikaga Gakkō suffered from a fire in 1530, but was rebuilt under the patronage of

Hōjō Ujimasa was the fourth head of the later Hōjō clan, and ''daimyō'' of Odawara. Ujimasa succeeded the territory expansion policy from his father, Hōjō Ujiyasu, and achieved the biggest territory in the clan's history. Early life and rise In 1538 ...

and its number of students around that time was estimated at 3000. The

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary Francisco Xavier described the school in his reports to Rome as "the largest and most famous academy in Bando" and the largest of the eleven universities and academies in Japan. However, with the rise to power of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

, the

Late Hōjō clan Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

was destroyed in 1590 and the

Ashikaga clan The was a Japanese samurai Japanese clans, clan and dynasty which established the Ashikaga shogunate and ruled History of Japan, Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573. The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originall ...

no longer had any power or influence. The Ashikaga Gakkō lost the estates that provided it with financial support and a part of its collection was looted by Hideyoshi and taken to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. Under the

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 ...

, the Ashikaga Gakkō's fortunes revived, but only slightly.

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

granted the school a fief of 100 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' for its upkeep, and the school was also protected by the ''

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 Ashikaga Domain. However, by the middle to end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, its teachings were increasingly regarded as obsolete, as the

Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...

of the Cheng–Zhu school became orthodoxy. By the end of the Edo period, the Ashikaga Gakkō was regarded by leading scholars as little more than a library. After 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 ...

, Confucianism itself fell from favor. Ashikaga Gakkō was closed and half the site was converted into a local elementary school. Many of its buildings were removed or destroyed. In addition, the new Tochigi Prefecture attempted to appropriate its library. In 1903, the local government established the first public library in Tochigi Prefecture, on the grounds of the Ashikaga Gakkō to preserve the old collections and to collect general books. In 1928, the site of Ashikaga Gakkō and existing buildings such as the Confucius Temple and gate received protection as a National Historic Site. A large scale restoration project began in the 1980s, which involved removing the elementary school and restoring the buildings and gardens to reproduce the Ashikaga Gakkō as it was during the middle of the Edo period.

Gallery

File:Ashikaga Ashikaga-School Panorama 1.JPG, Complete view File:Ashikaga School Confucius temple ac (1).jpg, Temple of Confucius File:Ashikaga School ac (4).jpg, Main gate File:AsikagaGakkou2.JPG, Back gate File:Ashikaga School Confucius temple ac (3).jpg, Statue of Confucius File:Ashikaga School Iseki Library ac (2).jpg, Ashikaga School Iseki Library

References

External links

Ashikaga city home page

Ashikaga-Gakko
in ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' online. Retrieved 8 June 2008. {{Authority control Historic Sites of Japan Schools in Japan Educational institutions established in the 9th century Buildings and structures in Tochigi Prefecture Tourist attractions in Tochigi Prefecture Education in Tochigi Prefecture Shimotsuke Province History of Tochigi Prefecture Ashikaga, Tochigi

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links