An Investigation Into The Japanese Traditional Initiatory Textbook--Oraimono

Oraimono is a Japanese traditional teaching material for children. Before the Meji Age, it was widely used in the civilian private teaching system (old style private schools, temples, terakoyas and so on).Oraimono came into being in the late eleventh century and lasted till the late nineteenth century. It went through each period of the Japanese feudal society and amounted to 6000 volumes. It developed from the original simplex collection of epistle to a textbook system with various compiling styles and a wide range of disciplines; it also developed from the collection of model essays compiled only for the better cultivation of the noble and the children of warriors to a initiatory teaching material for the children of the common people.Oraimono is closely related with the occurrence and development of the Japanese education. During the 800 years between the late years of the Hean Age and the early stages of the Meji Age, it underwent various phases of germination, development, prosperity and extinction. It reflected the alternation of the right of culture and education, the development of educational view about children and the extension and differentiation of the educational content. Especially in the Edo Age, oraimono arrived at a quite advanced level with the development of terakoyas.The noble private schools of the early stage, temples of the middle age and terakoyas of the neoteric age are all the spontaneous outcomes from among the people. They represent the educational needs of civilians and the hope of bourgeoning forces to a certain extent. Thus in the aspects of content, educational view and compiling styles, oraimono displays a certain advancement of the times. And especially in the Edo Age. it embodied a certain characteristics of the neoteric education.As an initiatory teaching material for children, oraimono reflects the development of the educational view about children before the neoteric age; as a media for the cultural transmission, it promotes the popularization of Japanese education; and as an embodiment of the educational content, it also reflects the elementary evolution process of the modernization of Japanese education.Oraimono continuously draws lessons from and assimilates the Chinese initiatory reading materials during its development. It also attaches much importance to the cultivation of children's ethic and morality at their illuminative period, and it covers a wide range of homiletic contents from Confucianism. However, as a very important content of the Japanese national and cultural tradition, oraimono embodies much more individuality of the Japanese educational development. It strives to break through the influences of the Chinese initiatory reading materials and tries to be indigenous in the aspects of contents, compiling styles and so on. Oraimono regards practical knowledge as its highest value and it pays attention to the practical functions of knowledge. However, influenced by the system of imperial examinations in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese traditional initiatory reading materials gradually became the dependency of the examination system. The comparative study of the Chinese and Japanese traditional education can be deepened and expanded by comparing the initiatory textbooks of the two, which can enable us to realize the relationship between traditional and modern education.