（4）Country Schools

Although the fief schools for the samurai and the terakoya for the commoners were representative educational institutions of the Edo period, other types of schools did exist. One of particular interest was the country school called the gogaku or goko. Some of these country schools were established by fief lords as an extension of the small scale fief schools at appropriate locations within the fief domain. Certain high ranking retainers also established country schools in their own domains using the fief schools as a model. Some of these country schools were for samurai, some admitted both samurai and commoners, and still others were largely for commoners. The latter were much like the terakoya except that they were under the direct supervision of the fiefs. These country schools can be thought of as the predecessors of the present-day elementary school.