Ashikaga Gakk?
(
足利?校
, "Ashikaga School")
is Japan's oldest standing academic building. It is located in the city of
Ashikaga
,
Tochigi Prefecture
, about 70 kilometres north of
Tokyo
. It was designated a
National Historic Site of Japan
in 1928.
[1]
History
[
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]
There are various theories and controversies as to when the Ashikaga Gakk? was founded, ranging from the early
Heian period
to the
Kamakura period
, 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
but was revived by
Uesugi Norizane
in 1432 when he became lord of the surrounding
Shimotsuke Province
. Ujizane invited priest from
Engaku-ji
in
Kamakura
and donated books from his own collection to revitalize the schools and as a result Ashikaga Gakk? again attracted students from all over the country. He also fixed the curriculum around
Chinese classical literature
,
Confucianism
,
Liezi
,
Zhuangzi
,
Shiji
,
I Ching
and
Chinese medicine
. Although the instructors were mostly
Zen monks
, the school was a center for
Confucianism
and secular learning, with the teaching of Buddhist theology and doctrines expressly excluded. During the
Sengoku period
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 Gakk? suffered from a fire in 1530, but was rebuilt under the patronage of
H?j? Ujimasa
and its number of students around that time was estimated at 3000. The
Jesuit
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
, the
Late H?j? clan
was destroyed in 1590 and the
Ashikaga clan
no longer had any power or influence. The Ashikaga Gakk? lost the estates that provided it with financial support and a part of its collection was looted by Hideyoshi and taken to
Kyoto
. Under the
Tokugawa shogunate
, the Ashikaga Gakk?'s fortunes revived, but only slightly.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
granted the school a fief of 100
koku
for its upkeep, and the school was also protected by the
daimy?
of
Ashikaga Domain
. However, by the middle to end of the
Edo period
, its teachings were increasingly regarded as obsolete, as the
Neo-Confucianism
of the
Cheng?Zhu school
became orthodoxy. By the end of the Edo period, the Ashikaga Gakk? was regarded by leading scholars as little more than a library.
After the
Meiji Restoration
, Confucianism itself fell from favor. Ashikaga Gakk? 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 Gakk? to preserve the old collections and to collect general books. In 1928, the site of Ashikaga Gakk? 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 Gakk? as it was during the middle of the Edo period.
Gallery
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See also
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References
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Further reading
[
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]
- Roy Andrew Miller,
Review: Studies in the Ashikaga College by Kawase Kazuma
,
The Far Eastern Quarterly
, Vol. 14, No. 3 (May, 1955), pp. 422?424. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
- Haruo Shirane and Tomi Suzuki (eds),
Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature
, Stanford University Press, 2001, pp. 227?228.
ISBN
0-8047-4105-0
- Wayne A. Wiegand and Donald G. Davis (eds.),
Encyclopedia of Library History
, Taylor & Francis, 1994, pp. 320?321.
ISBN
0-8240-5787-2
- Xinzhong Yao
Routledge Curzon Encyclopedia of Confucianism
, Routledge, 2003, p. 121.
ISBN
0-7007-1199-6
External links
[
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]
Media related to
Ashikaga School
at Wikimedia Commons