e. Middle Level Education for Girls

The term "girls' school" (jogakko) dates back to the Edo period at which time it simply meant a school which included girls among its students rather than an institution set up specifically to conduct middle level education for girls. This vague concept of a girls' school persisted well into the Meiji era. And as increasing numbers of girls' graduates of elementary schools expressed their desire to continue on in higher level schools, steps were taken to develop special schools for them distinct from the boys' middle schools.

The Government Girls' School (Kanritsu Jogakko) was opened by the Department of Education in March, 1872, as the first government-sponsored institution and renamed Tokyo Girls' School (Tokyo Jogakko) in December of that year. In the first Annual Report of the Department of Education for 1873, the number of students registered there was listed to 38. The course of study was fixed at six years, and as the curriculum had reached a fairly high level the Department of Education used the School as a model for later girls' institutions at the middle level. The revised entrance requirements issued in 1875 stated that girls who had graduated from an elementary school and who were at least fourteen years of age, but not over seventeen, might be admitted. The School was to offer courses of the same level as the middle schools.

In 1877, this School and several others like it under government jurisdiction were discontinued. However, they are still remembered as an important chapter in the history of middle level education for girls.

In 1874, there were 436 girls attending regular middle schools and foreign language schools. This total gradually increased to 1,497 in 1876 and to 1,940 in 1878.

Among the girls' schools established by prefectural governments, the most remarkable was the New English School (Shin Eigakko) with its attached girls' practical arts school (nyokoba) set up in May, 1872, by the prefectural government of Kyoto, as mentioned in Chapter 1. This School was established with the purpose of teaching English, sewing and handicrafts. In 1874, the School's name was changed to the English Girls' School (Eijogakko) and in 1875 abacus, arithmetic and calligraphy were added to the curriculum. The name was changed to the Girls' School (Jogakko) in 1876 when Chinese and Japanese classics were offered, and again to Kyoto Prefectural Girls' School in 1882. Tochigi Girls' School founded in 1875 was another famous girls' school in this case established by a prefectural government. It became Tochigi Model Girls' School in 1877 and again to the First Tochigi Prefectural Girls' Middle School in 1879 with 110 pupils attending.

During this period while there were these scattered efforts by the Department of Education and prefectural authorities to provide middle level education for girls, the real pioneers were the girls' schools established by Christian Churches. Initially the scope of these institutions was limited and many of them were no more than classrooms set up in individual residences. Sakurai Jogakko, Rikkyo Jogakko and Eiwa Jogakko were all established in Tokyo as Christian girls' schools. In other large cities throughout the country, similar schools were established: Among the more famous were Ferris Waei Jogakuin at Yokohama, Kassui Jogakko at Nagasaki, Baika Jogakko at Osaka and Doshisha Jogakko at Kyoto. The majority of these girls' schools were staffed by British and American ladies who provided instruction in the English language. In that these schools were founded upon Christian principles, they fostered a new Western outlook toward humanity and society among the young women who were pupils.

In addition, there were a few private girls' schools of non-Christian origin. Atomi Jogakko established in 1875 was noteworthy for its emphasis on the traditional cultivation of Japanese women.