Japan’s Elementary School History Textbooks In The Early Meiji Period

Stemming from the School System, the modern system of textbooks in Japan hasundergone numerous ups and downs from1872until1945. Throughout the history ofthe development of Japanese modern history textbooks, there are four phases namelythe free-issue period (1872-1979), survey textbook table period (1880-1885),Textbook survey period (1886-1903), Countries to develop（1904-1945）.In the free-issue period, Japan brought in a host of translated textbooks from Europeand the US. Thus, this period is also termed the “translation textbook periond”.Among them, textbooks in Japna’s elementary school is the crucial carrier to putforward the history education. Which can cast light on the, local people’s perceptionby interpreting the textbooks in elementory schools.The whole paper proceeds as follows:Chapter one is a general outline of the historytextbooks in Japan’s elementary schools in the early meiji period. It mainly elaborateson the background of the textbook system in the early meiji period as well as thepublishing and employment condition.Chpater two mainly covers the contents of the history textbooks in Japan’selementary schools. By interpreting the teaching materials of the history textbooks inelementary schools, the part analyzes the influence of history teaching upon thehistory of Japan, the history of China, and the western history, in order to get aglimpse of the changes of the conception of history.Chapter three summerizes the features of the history textbooks in Japan’s elementaryschools in the early meiji period and the implications upon the history teaching.