（3）The Completion of State Editing of Elementary School Textbooks

The immediate occasion for the establishment of a system of state editing of textbooks was the Textbook Scandal, but a more general factor was the overall trend in education toward greater state involvement. With the issuance of the Imperial Rescript on Education, the unification of the thought of the people and the strengthening of state control over education advanced rapidly, and particularly after the Sino-Japanese War, statist thought was ascendant. In this context the opinion was strongly voiced that the state ought to directly edit elementary school textbooks, especially those for morals. In 1896, aproposal that the state directly edit elementary school textbooks for morals was prepared in the House of Peers of the Imperial Diet, and the next year, in 1897, the government was requested by that House to edit elementary school textbooks for morals and Japanese language readers. Also, in the House of Representatives, in 1899, a plan for state editing of elementary school textbooks for morals was put forth (and in 1901, that House proposed a new plan extended to include all elementary school textbooks). As a consequence, in 1900 the Ministry of Education set up the Textbook for Morals Survey Committee (Shushin Kyokasho Chosa Iinkai) and set about establishing standards for the state editing of elementary school textbooks for morals. It was at this point that the Textbook Scandal developed toward the end of 1902.

As a consequence of the Textbook Scandal, the main elementary school textbooks of the day were deemed unsuitable for use in accordance with the application of the 1901 revision of Regulations for the Enforcement of the 1900 Elementary School Order, and thus the state authorization system of elementary school textbooks was effectively suspended. Then from April, 1904, the government began the strict system of state editing of elementary school textbooks and these textbooks were immediately put into use. Under this system as specified in the April, 1903 revision of the 1900 Elementary School Order, the authorship of elementary school textbooks was undertaken by the Ministry of Education, but publication and supply was delegated to the private sector. In April, 1905, an announcement (kokuji) was issued stipulating qualifications for the publishers, the quality of paper to be used, maximum price, etc. With the extension of compulsory education to six years in April, 1908, the state edited elementary school textbooks were reedited by the Ministry of Education (and for editing textbooks for morals, history, and Japanese language the 1908 Textbook Survey Committee (Kyokayo Tosho Chosa Iinkai) was established on September 5 of that year as authorized in the 1908 Textbook Survey Committee Organization Order promulgated on that day), and the numerous editions thereafter reflected the character of each period and changes in official thinking concerning education. With the completion of the system of state editing of textbooks, it was most easy for the smallest details of content to be controlled by the government.