Six great educators in the Meiji period (明治六大教育家)
The term "the six great educators in the Meiji period" refers to a special, collective title of six great educators who contributed a great deal to promoting the modern education in the Meiji period.
In 1907, a large national meeting of educators was jointly held by the Imperial Educational Society, the Educational Society of Tokyo Prefecture and the Educational Society of Tokyo City at the auditorium of Tokyo Kuramae Higher Technical School. Six great educators were posthumously awarded in the meeting.
Four educators were selected on account of founding respected private schools that had been already given special treatment as 'the four great imperial private schools.'
After that, two educators who reformed the educational system were added to the above-mentioned four educators so that the great educators totaled six. A ceremony to award an honor to the six great educators posthumously was held.
For this reason, they are often introduced as 'one of the great six educators in the Meiji period.'
The six great educators include the following persons:
Takato OKI: Established a modern educational system as Monbukyo (chief of Ministry of Education). Makoto KONDO: Founded an incorporated educational institution, Kogyokusha Gakuen, and played an active part mainly in mathematics, engineering and navigation.
Masanao NAKAMURA: Founded Dojinsha (a private school) and published many translations such as Saigoku Risshihen (a translation from Self-Help written by Samuel Smiles)
Joseph Hardy Neesima (Joe NIIJIMA): Founded an incorporated educational institution, the Doshisha, to educate many talented persons in the fields of English and Christianity. Yukichi FUKUZAWA: Founded an incorporated educational institution, Gakko Hojin Keio Gijuku, and was a famous thinker in many fields, especially in law and economics. Arinori MORI: Was the representative of the founders of Meirokusha (Japan's first academic society), and reformed the educational system as the Minister of Education.
Kogyokujuku (the original name of Kogyokusha Gakuen), Keio Gijuku and Dojinsha in Tokyo are collectively referred to as 'the three great private schools in the Meiji period' or 'the three great private schools' in some cases. These collective names are also based on the evaluation of private schools during the period of the Meiji restoration, which was summarized by the Imperial Educational Society from the Taisho period to the early Showa period. But the Imperial Educational Society referred to them as 'the three great private schools in the imperial capital' at that time. These schools came to be referred to as 'the three great imperial private schools in the Meiji period,' etc. in the Taisho period.
In some cases, Kogyokujuku and Dojinsha are excluded from the above-mentioned school group, to which other schools such as Tsuda College and the incorporated educational institution Nishogakusha are added, and the schools of the group are collectively referred to as 'the three great private schools.'
However, there is no literature showing that the Imperial Educational Society referred to them as the three great private schools.