The Educational Project of Canadian Mathodist Church in the Meiji Era

2024 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K02483
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 09010:Education-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Tanaka Tomoko 京都大学, 教育学研究科, 教授 (00379041)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2025-03-31
• Keywords: 宣教師 / 旧制中学校 / カナダ・メソジスト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines the educational projects of missionaries belonging to the Methodist Church of Canada, one of the Protestant Christian missions in Meiji Japan, and Japanese Christians and collaborators who came under their influence, and discusses the formation process of regional secondary education in the Meiji period. The study utilized English-language documents from the missionary side, as well as Japanese official documents and newspapers. The study also examined how the formation and transformation of schools took place, mainly in the cities of eastern Japan, and the responses of domestic and foreign actors to these changes.
In this way, it have been attempted to create a stir in the history of Christianity and education where “oppression and resistance” have persisted, or in the history of higher education written in chronological books published by individual schools.

Free Research Field

日本近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

明治国家にとって、キリスト教は文明化への窓口であった。特に教育や医療の方面において、宣教師のもてる力は大きかった。各府県知事や有力者のなかには、宗教としてのキリスト教の危険性を重視し排除を図る者がいた一方、宣教師の伝道活動は可能な限り容認し、教育・医療事業における協調方策へと向かう者もあった。本研究は、地域のいわば公共的事業としての中等教育における、府県の独自性と自主性の存在、その前提と根拠、妥協と協同の可能性について、関係諸勢力を明確にする次元から論じようとした研究である。