（2）The Establishment of the Higher Conference on Education

In the 1890s with the opening of the Imperial Diet and the trend toward greater local autonomy, the proposal for educational assemblies, which had been once presented by Tanaka Fujimaro in the draft of the 1879 Education Order as stated in Chapter 2, was once again put forth as one of the desires of those involved in education. These assemblies were to be a means of reflecting in educational policy the opinions and desires of those concerned with education, and proposals for central and local assemblies were advanced.

In this context the Ministry of Education from 1892 began to conduct surveys concerning the formation of organs for educational inquiry. First, during the time of Education Minister Kono Togama (1844-1895) a proposal for the formation of a higher conference on education was drawn up, but as a consequence of Education Minister Kono's resignation, this was not realized. lnoue Kowashi, who followed Kono, used the earlier draft to begin the planning for such a conference, as he also considered such a conference to be an important prerequisite for education system reform. Even though Education Minister Inoue's plan was not realized, the proposal he presented in 1893 for a higher conference on education has great meaning.

After the resignation of Education Minister Inoue Kowashi, the Houses of Peers and Representatives of the Imperial Diet in the session which opened in late 1894 produced concurrent Proposals for the Formation of a Higher Conference on Education and Local Education Conferences. At that time, there was a difference in the interpretation of the character and rights of the proposed conferences and thus the government opposed the proposal. However, later, the government decided to accept the opinion of the Imperial Diet and thus on December 18, 1896, the 1896 Higher Conference on Education Organization Order was promulgated, and with the enforcement of this Order on April 1, 1897, the Higher Conference on Education (Koto Kyoiku Kaigi) was established as an inquiry organ of the Minister of Education.

According to the Order, the Conference was to "receive the supervision of the Minister of Education and express opinions in response to the inquiries of the Minister of Education with respect to educational matters." In addition the Conference might "offer independent opinions to the Minister of Education concerning educational matters." The Conference members were the President of the Imperial University, the heads of the various Colleges of the Imperial University, the heads of the various bureaus in the Ministry of Education, the principals of various other higher level schools directly managed by the government, and those experienced in the field of academia. There was severe criticism from the Imperial Diet concerning this membership structure, and the next year the membership was broadened by the 1897 revision of the 1896 Higher Conference on Education Organization Order. In 1898 the membership was again broadened by the 1898 Higher Conference on Education Organization Order and matters to be deliberated by the Conference were enumerated in this Order.