a. The 1886 Elementary School Order

The 1886 Elementary School Order, which had been written by Education Minister Mori Arinori, was promulgated on April 10, 1886. Consisting of only sixteen articles, this 1886 Elementary School Order outlined the fundamental principles for the establishment and management of elementary schools. As the1886 Elementary School Order provided that subjects and their standards for elementary schools were to be specified by the Minister of Education, almost immediately after the promulgation of the Order came the Ministry of Education's issuance in May of that same year of Subjects and Their Standards for Elementary Schools.

According to the 1886 Elementary School Order, the elementary school was to be divided into two levels, ordinary and higher divisions, and according to Subjects and Their Standards for Elementary Schools the length of the course was set at four years for each level. The school age for general education was from six to fourteen years of age, and parents and guardians had the obligation to see that their children completed the ordinary elementary course which was set at four years by the Subjects and Their Standards. Provisions concerning the number of pupils in one class were also given by the Subjects and Their Standards, and these set the number of pupils per class at eighty or less for ordinary elementary courses and at sixty or less for higher elementary courses. The main revenues for the costs of education were to come from tuition fees and contributions, but in the event these were inadequate, the council of the responsible ward (ku), town, or village might authorize a supplement from its own revenues. Further in order to rapidly achieve a minimum level of elementary education throughout the nation, a provision was made for the establishment of a simplified elementary course (shogaku kan'ika) which might be used in place of the ordinary elementary course. This simplified course, like a former simplified elementary school (shogaku kyojo) realized in the 1885 Education Order, was in response to the financial difficulties of many of the rural areas. The expenses for this simplified elementary course were met out of ward, town, or village funds, and tuition was not collected.

As a consequence of declaring in the 1886 Elementary School Order that tuition should be the main source of revenue for elementary school expenses, tuition fees quickly increased, and as a result, in 1887, the elementary school attendance rate reached its lowest level. There was a gradual recovery from this low level, but as a consequence, the issue of subsidizing elementary school expenses from the National Treasury was debated and a petition was presented to the Imperial Diet. Finally, in 1896, a subsidy from the National Treasury to pay long service increments to city, town, and village elementary school teachers was established.