Osaka and the Meiji Restoration - Koan Ogata's Tekijuku, the roots of Osaka University where Yukichi Fukuzawa also attended, still exists in Osaka.
2022-11-25
Category:Japanese culture
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Roots of Osaka University “Tekijuku”
When I researched Osaka and the end of the Edo period, I discovered that there was a school called Tekijuku, which was founded by Koan Ogata to study Dutch studies. It seems to have roots in Osaka University. Japan at the time was isolated from the rest of the world, trading with the Netherlands through Nagasaki, and receiving academic information from the Netherlands about the world. This was called Dutch studies. Koan Ogata is said to be the father of modern medicine in Japan, and even appears in the popular drama ``JIN.'' Yukichi Fukuzawa also entered Tekijuku in Osaka at the age of 20 to study Dutch studies.
Keio University also started a Dutch studies school.
Keio University appears to be based on the former Dutch Studies School. In Japan, learning was carried out in small cram schools and terakoya like this one. They were not in the position of teacher and student in the current educational system, but rather had a close relationship between teacher and student. Learning flowed from the source to the disciples, and had the energy to directly change the country and society.
Seoul National University is the former Gyeongseong Imperial University
Seoul National University was formerly an imperial university and was established in 1924 as Gyeongseong Imperial University. It is said that Japan brought modern learning to the Korean peninsula, but what is the true story? In other words, there was no teacher-disciple relationship that aimed to enrich the Korean peninsula.
South Korea's highest academic institutions are historically divided
I have heard that Seoul National University is the best academic institution in South Korea, but what do you think about the origins of the university and its academic activities?
In any case, education during the Japanese colonial period on the Korean peninsula was the same as it is today. If we were to call this a science, it would be completely different.
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Hideki Tojo's grave is located in Migane, Aichi Prefecture - China and South Korea's opposition to visiting Yasukuni Shrine is cultural interference born of ignorance.
Hideki Tojo rests in Migane, Aichi Prefecture
What are China and South Korea demanding
All graves are in separate locations
Shrines are not graves
I think Yasukuni Shrine is a graveyard
South Korea, a country that digs up graves
Yasukuni Shrine throughout Japan
The photo I posted is of the Mausoleum of the Seven Martyrs of Japan, located on Mt. Mt. Mt. Mt. in Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture. It enshrines seven soldiers and politicians who were executed by the Tokyo Tribunal.
Those enshrined are Hideki Tojo, Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Hyotaro Kimura, Iwane Matsui, Akira Muto, and Hiroki Hirota. The remains of these seven people are said to be buried under this mausoleum. In other words, the graves of Hideki Tojo and others are located here.
So what exactly are China and South Korea saying? They say that the Prime Minister should not go to Yasukuni Shrine because war criminals are enshrined there. The German Chancellor is loudly shouting that he will visit Hitler's grave.
As mentioned above, the grave is in a different location. A shrine is a shrine. It is said that there are over 2,466,000 heroic spirits enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine, and each of their graves was probably erected by their local community or family members.
I wonder if the Japanese Prime Minister went to visit the Mausoleum of the Seven Martyrs of Japan in Aichi Prefecture.
A shrine only has a divine seat, which is said to be the place where the god appears and sits. A shrine is not a grave. It is essentially impossible to separate the divine throne. If there is a division, it is a branch shrine.
China and South Korea demand that the Yasukuni Shrine be separated for war criminals, but this is probably also the idea of graves. The remains of the heroes are not buried anywhere in Yasukuni Shrine. They mistakenly think it's some sort of mass grave.
In South Korea, the grave of a Korean War hero buried in South Korea's national cemetery was recently dug up because he had served in the former Japanese army. From Japan's perspective, it is a country with a culture that is extremely abnormal. In the first place, shrines are not graves, and that is also the extent of our understanding of graves.
In conclusion, if Yasukuni Shrine is enshrined in two parts, there will be two Yasukuni Shrines, and if it is enshrined in ten parts, there will only be ten Yasukuni Shrines. It might be a good idea to have Yasukuni Shrines all over Japan. It may be a talisman to keep people who flirt with you away from Japan.
Surprisingly few countries see the first sunrise of the year - The arrival of sunlight in Japan is connected to the sun worshiping Amaterasu Omikami
When I looked into how many countries have the custom of watching the first sunrise of the year, I found that it was fewer than I expected, with countries such as Mongolia, South Korea, Russia, the United States, and Canada mentioned. It is said that Russia, the United States, Canada, and other countries have a culture that spread from the Arctic Circle, so it is a so-called Inuit culture. There is a connection because the Inuit are said to be Mongoloids.
It is unclear why this custom spread to Korea, but the prevailing theory is that Japan's ethnic roots are Mongoloid or Caucasian, and I have seen the genetic theory of Lake Baikal. Although Lake Baikal is now part of Russia, it is thought that Mongoloid people lived at that time as well, and Kyrgyz folklore says that it was the Japanese who moved east and the Kyrgyz who moved west. . Even Japanese people are surprised at how similar Kyrgyz people are to Japanese people.
In Japan in particular, the first sunrise is also called goraiko and is considered a blessing, as it is associated with ancient Japanese beliefs. Japan's national flag is the Japanese flag and the sun. The Rising Sun Flag also has a deformed sun design to make it stand out. What does this originate from? It is a belief in the sun, which is a belief in nature. In other words, Amaterasu Omikami. Amaterasu Omikami, said to be the origin of the imperial lineage, is enshrined at Ise Grand Shrine, and there are many shrines dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami in various places. Currently, there is a debate about male-lineal succession, but if you trace the paternal lineage, you will reach the first emperor, Emperor Jimmu, and in fact, in mythology, you will reach Amaterasu Omikami. This has been the legitimate imperial line in Japan since the beginning of recorded history.
The reason that many Japanese people raise the national flag and sing the national anthem without learning anything about the history of the national flag and the Emperor (Imperial lineage), which are considered symbols of Japan, is a problem of education. Why aren't these basic things taught in elementary school? Taking up the Amanoiwato myth, the imperial lineage is written from Amaterasu Omikami, the sun god, and the sun is depicted on the Japanese flag. It's that simple.
The prohibition on religious education under the Constitution only prohibits propagating or excluding a specific religion, recommending conversion to any religion, or denying religion itself. There is no problem if you explain the customs and culture of the beginning of the year, such as Christmas, New Year's Eve bell, and the first sunrise of the year. At least many Japanese people enjoy Christmas, listen to New Year's Eve bells on New Year's Eve, and visit shrines on New Year's Day.
What do teachers who refuse to sing the national anthem teach children? Kimigayo is the very essence of Japanese culture that has been passed down since ancient times. ``Kimigayo'' is a tanka poem that appears in the Kokin Wakashu. In the Kokin Wakashu, it begins with ``Waga Kimi wa.'' It was put to music during the Meiji period, and officially became Japan's national anthem in 1999, when the ``Law Concerning the National Flag and Anthem'' was enacted. Until then, it had been handed down from ancient times in Japan.
Does it matter for whom Kimigayo was composed? The main idea is to pray for the eternal prosperity of the other person's life, family, and descendants, and it is important that the concept of eternity is expressed as ``until the rocks turn into rocks and become covered with moss.'' It is included in the anthology of ancient and modern waka poems because its outstanding expressiveness moved people, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. If you were not familiar with the poems in the Heian period, it is clear that they had been written and loved long before that.
It was composed at various celebratory occasions, and it no longer matters who the author wrote it for. Since the Meiji era, songs have been written about You as the Emperor, and if you value His Majesty the Emperor, who is also a symbol of the Meiji Restoration, it is no wonder that people sing it like that.
If this song exists to help us imagine and pass on the spirituality of the ancient Japanese people when they prayed for the happiness of others, what on earth should Japanese educators teach? I wonder if it is.
In Japan, there is a ``misunderstanding'' that the inclusion of the ``Kojiki'' in school education violates the constitution, which prohibits religious education.
When asked about the idea of teaching the Kojiki in compulsory education, I was surprised to find that even self-proclaimed conservatives became so passionate about counterarguing it. When I asked the basis for this objection, I was told that the ban on religious education is written into the Constitution. And it seems that there are many people who are poisoned by the self-deprecating historical view that Shinto led to the Greater East Asia War. These people have no understanding of religious education.
Legal opinions have already been issued regarding religious education under the Constitution, and education should not promote a specific religion or exclude or deny a specific religion. Alternatively, the view is that it is education that recommends one to take refuge in some kind of religion, or that it is education that says one should not devote oneself to some kind of religion. Simply put, it's just that education that propagates or excludes religion is no good.
I wonder if Christianity comes up when explaining Michelangelo's murals. If you look at The Last Supper, would you explain who the person in the center is and what kind of circumstances the painting depicts? Why do we know that the founder of Islam was Muhammad and that the founder of Buddhism was Buddha? In other words, in Japan, we firmly believe that such things should not be taught only in Japanese Shinto.
Japanese people know the story of Golgotha Hill and the story of Adam and Eve, but they do not know what kind of being Amaterasu Omikami is or what kind of being Qiong Qiong-no-Mikoto is. It is said that there are more than 80,000 shrines across Japan, which are said to be the most religious facilities in any country in the world, but these should not be explained.
In other words, the interpretation of Japan's ban on religious education is that only Japanese Shinto should not be mentioned. Or there are teachers of the Japan Teachers' Union who are poisoned by a self-deprecating view of history and give off-the-record lessons as if Shinto led to war, showing the children a sense of justice that does not advocate Kimigayo. This is Japanese religious education. Far from being dangerous, there is no other religion as peaceful and tolerant of other religions as Japanese Shinto. On the contrary, GHQ feared the Japanese's familial view of the nation and their unbelievable power of integration, and simply eliminated the Shinto religion at its core.
Isn't Japanese Shinto necessary to teach Japanese culture? Because they are not taught, they cannot learn deeply about Japanese culture. There is no law that prohibits explaining the religious background that is a prerequisite for studying a culture.
Will the issue of separate surnames for married couples change the concept of family in Japan?The issue is not gender equality but the concept of ``home'' that is unique to Japan.
The issue of selective marital separation has recently become a hot topic in Japan. Japan is the only country in the world that has a family registration system that stipulates husband and wife status by law.
A growing number of people are arguing that this is gender discrimination and that it is acceptable for couples to have different surnames. The origin of the problem is that when a woman gets married, she usually takes the man's surname, so it is difficult to use her maiden name at work, or to change information in social procedures, banking, and various other contracts.
However, it is logically incorrect to view this as gender discrimination. This is because under the current law, equality is guaranteed because the surname must be chosen from either a man or a woman. The question becomes what it means for a husband and wife to use the same surname.
In Japan, the concept of family has been around since ancient times, and when you get married, you move into a family. A married woman moves into a man's house and becomes part of his family. There is a cultural background that makes her a member of the family, including her ancestors. The child born there will take the family name of that family. Uji means belonging to the same group, and dates back to the surname system in ancient times.
Japanese people are taught to respect the concept of home and to act in a way that lives up to the name of home. A family crest is a symbol of a family.
In the West, the idea seems to be a little different. Children seem to think that they belong to both the father's and mother's families. In this case, there are four grandfathers and grandmothers, and they belong to the four people. I wonder if the next idea will be to belong to eight people. If you go back in time, you will belong to 100 people.
In other words, the way of thinking about Japanese houses is completely different. In Japan, people search for their ancestors by tracing one family line. In this respect, the opinion that we should refer to Western countries seems to be a rather wild opinion.
Japan has the imperial family as a symbol of the family. The issue of separate family names for married couples and the issue of male lineage inheritance seem to be unrelated, but they are closely related.
The imperial family has stubbornly protected the traditional Japanese concept of home. Joining the imperial family means joining the imperial family. As a unique entity, the imperial family does not have a clan. When a male member of the imperial family marries, the woman he marries loses his family name.
This is stipulated in the Imperial House Law, but when a female member of the imperial family marries and becomes a commoner, like Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako, or a former female member of the imperial family says she does not want to take her husband's name, she is considered a commoner. If current laws are followed, will women remain members of the imperial family? Or will they live a normal life without having a surname?
The Liberal Democratic Party is reluctant to promote separate marriages. This is also because we see it as a problem not with gender equality, but with Japan's unique cultural background and the concept of the Japanese home, which is the foundation of society. Japan has an imperial family that has been connected uninterrupted since recorded history, unlike any other country in the world. Japan has a history of following this model of inheritance.