2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The fixation of mathematical education in the feudal clan schools under influences of the Confucianism
| Project/Area Number |
12610301
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Educaion
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| Research Institution | Tokiwa University (2001)
Okayama College (2000) |
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Principal Investigator |
SATO Tamaki Tokiwa University, Faculty of Human Science, assistant professor, 人間科学部, 助教授 (50280136)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2001
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| Keywords | Japanese History of Education / Edo era / feudal clan schools / Wasan / mathematics education / the samurai class / liberal arts / mathematics courses |
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| Research Abstract |
Generally, the samurai who was the ruler in the Edo Period should not learn mathematics because mathematics was thought to be the learning of daily life for the people except the samurai. The Confucianism which despised practical use affected this thought.
However, it was proved that about 20 % of all the feudal clan schools which were the educational faculties for the samurai in the Edo Period installed mathematical courses by the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. They were classified in three types as follows;
Type 1: Even the Tenzan method which was an advanced mathematics was made contents of education for the volunteers in the feudal clan. This type was general.
Type 2 : It was forced to make fundamental mathematics learn for all the samurai in the feudal clan. There were several instances in this type.
Type 3 : Mathematics education was imposed on the lower samurai engaged in the duties such as a tax levy and rice field area measurement, and even the Tenzan method was made contents of education. But this type was rare.
Japanese mathematics in the Edo Period had two tides. One was "practical mathematics" which an abacus was used for, and the other was "scholarly mathematics". Mathematical education in the feudal clan schools was adopted when the samurai recognized mathematics as a worthwhile learning for the ruler. The contents were not practical mathematics which the people except the samurai used but were advanced and scholarly mathematics.
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