Ryōsai Kenbo Thought and the Public Education System

Abstract

The advent of ryosai kenbo ideology signified a new understanding of women as true citizens of the nation carrying out the roles of wife and mother. The role of mother in raising and educating children was considered far more important than that of wife. The theory of ryōsai kenbo was inseparable from the theory of home education; in effect, the desire for “wise mothers” became focused on the issue of education at home. This chapter examines the idea or principle of home education as it developed between the end of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth, in order to assess the nature of home education ( katei kyōiku ) in the context of “modernity.” This makes it clearer how women were integrated into the modern public education system and how, exactly, women and the nation-state were linked. Keywords:home education; modernity; public education system; ryōsai kenbo Thought; wise mothers