a. The Founding of the Higher Middle Schools

As stated earlier, on April 10, 1886, the 1886 Middle School Order was promulgated, and the system of ordinary middle schools and higher middle schools was established. According to this Order, there were to be five higher middle school districts in the country with one school per distrct and these were to be managed by the Minister of Education. In principle the support for these schools was to come from the National Treasury, but in certain cases funds from both the National Treasury and local tax levies from the prefectures within the district in which the school was located might be used. As for the characteristics of higher middle schools, the general regulation concerning the goal of middle schools in Article 1 of the 1886 Middle School Order indicated that these schools would "carry out the education necessary for those who wish to go into business as well as those who wish to enter a higher level school." In his speeches, Education Minister Mori Arinori often said that the higher middle school was not simply a facility to prepare those who sought to advance to higher education. Rather it ought to be considered a facility for educating people of the upper ranks in the fields of business as well as governmental work and learning; and many of these would proceed directly from the higher middle school to their jobs. In order to realize the goal of providing practical education, courses could be created in law, medicine, engineering, literature, science, agriculture, commerce and others.

Following the promulgation of the 1886 Middle School Order and prior to the July, 1886 issuance of Subjects and Their Standards for Higher Middle Schools, the First Higher Middle School was set up in April, 1886, through restructuring the former Preparatory School of the University of Tokyo. At the same time the Third Higher Middle School was established in Osaka through reorganizing the Branch School of the University (Daigaku Bunko), which moved later to Kyoto. And in November Yamaguchi Higher Middle School was structured. The next year, the Second Higher Middle School in Sendai, the Fourth Higher Middle School in Kanazawa and the Fifth Higher Middle School in Kumamoto, and Kagoshima Zoshikan Higher Middle School were established. Thus seven schools were established in different parts of the country. However, in sharp contrast with the dual purpose for higher middle schools envisioned by Education Minister Mori Arinori, the actual schools became little more than preparatory schools for the Imperial University, and their practical side barely developed. The Preparatory School of the University of Tokyo, the forerunner of the existing First Higher Middle School had had a tradition of being the preparatory school for the University of Tokyo, but with these changes the graduates of the other higher middle schools also were able to advance to the Imperial University. However, at first, apart from the First and Third Higher Middle Schools, the number of students seeking admission to these schools was small. Moreover, the ordinary middle schools had not well developed yet, and hence it was necessary to establish preparatory and supplementary preparatory courses at higher middle schools. The situation was such that the number of students in these courses was larger than that in the regular course. There were frequent debates in the Imperial Diet over the issue of abolishing higher middle schools. However, from the time shortly before the Sino-Japanese War, the higher middle schools began to attract more students and to show a strong and independent character.