5. Content Analysis of Japanese Ethics Textbooks 1 Presentation
5.3 Portrayal of Groups
5.3.1 Ethnic Groups
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ingenuity. While they only take up a small amount of space proportionally, the variety of virtues present and lack of connection to the overall themes of loyalty and service to the state leads one to agree with Tsurumi’s conclusion that common school textbooks were not just watered-down versions of their elementary school counterparts, nor was all of the content intended to politically indoctrinate students or make them into loyal Japanese citizens.
5.3 Portrayal of Groups
Analyzing how different groups are portrayed in the textbooks can provide some insight into how those groups were treated in society. More accurately though, it provides a window onto the hidden curriculum, and shows how the colonial administration wanted schoolchildren to think about these certain groups of people. Illustrations also provide additional cues as to how children were to view certain groups. In the United States today, sensitivity regarding race, gender, and religion play a very important role in how certain groups are depicted in textbooks. Certainly, the Japanese educational authorities were not dealing with a diverse society like the United States, nor did they face significant public criticism or pressure. All the same though, their depictions of different groups, as well as the selection and omission of certain details in illustrations, were all part of a carefully designed curriculum. Thus, how different genders, professions, ethnic groups, etc. were portrayed in the textbooks is worth investigating. The following section will cover in more detail the depictions of various groups in the textbooks.
5.3.1 Ethnic Groups
Considering the education goals of the colonial government and the fact that schools were at the center of the Japanization process, it is not surprising that most of the characters in the textbooks are Japanese. While in the early Meiji-era textbooks there are some Chinese and Western historical figures, this phenomenon had all but disappeared by WWI. In addition, the words denoting either Chinese or Taiwanese ethnicity never appear in any of the texts. This was part of the effort to suppress any non-Japanese identity.
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Taiwanese characters and settings do appear in the texts though, but there is a trend of them being phased out over the years. As noted in the literature review, with the outbreak of war and the beginning of the kōminka movement in the late 1930s, Taiwanese characters and settings were removed from many of the texts.
If the Taiwanese characters are never actually referred to by their ethnicity, how can they be accurately identified as Taiwanese? The short answer is, they can’t. However, looking at family names and styles of clothing can provide a degree of certainty as to the ethnic identity of characters in the texts. The following Images M-L provide a clear example.
Image L (left): The clothing of the boy and his father as well as the furniture and decorations in their home are characteristic of the traditional Chinese style.
Image M (right): The young boy’s school uniform and the woman’s dress are both characteristic of Western-style dress which was popular in contemporary Japan.
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Image L is from 1921, while Image M came 20 years afterwards. The difference is very stark. In Image L the little boy is being lectured by his father, and both are wearing the traditional Chinese-style shirts and trousers, which was characteristic of dress in Taiwan prior to the arrival of the Japanese. The house is filled with Chinese-style furniture and other decorations, and both father and son are wearing shoes in the house, which would not be done in a Japanese household. Additionally, the little boy’s name is A-Fuku (阿 福), which is the Japanese reading of a typical Taiwanese name. Conversely, Image M features the little boy Masao-san (正男さん) who is wearing a Western-style elementary school uniform. Such uniforms were in use in Japan at the time and are still in use today.
Another key feature of this uniform is the backpack, known as a randoseru (ランドセ ル). This style of backpack was initially adopted by the Japanese military during the Edo period and later during the Meiji period it gradually came to be associated with elementary school students. Masao-san’s neighbor is also wearing a Western-style dress, without the trousers associated with traditional Chinese dress.
The textbook from 1921 almost exclusively features Taiwanese characters and settings.
There are many palm trees and tropical plants, and buildings feature Chinese-style architecture. The children wear Chinese-style clothes and shoes and also have Taiwanese names. By 1930 though, Taiwanese characters and settings become much less noticeable.
Only one lesson from Common School Ethics, Vol. 5 (1930) features a story with a Taiwanese setting and non-Japanese protagonist. The lesson features the story of Sōkin (曹謹), a Qing dynasty magistrate in charge of a county in southern Taiwan. The story tells of how Sōkin addresses a serious drought in the region by overseeing the construction of a canal. After the canal is completed, the area becomes prosperous and the local people display their gratitude by naming the canal after Sōkin. However, in the story no actual background is provided on Sōkin. The story simply begins without any introduction: “When Sōkin became the magistrate of Fengshan county, the region was plagued by drought-induced famine, and the people faced serious hardships.”18
18 Common School Ethics, Vol. 5 (1930), 8.
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Other Taiwanese characters do appear in texts published in the 1930s and 1940s, but it is never explicitly mentioned that they are Taiwanese. This has to be deduced from details in the story, such as their age. Another good example of this is the lesson entitled ‘Taiwan in the Old Days and Taiwan Today.’ In this lesson, a grandfather tells the children about how so much in Taiwan has improved since the old days. For example, to go from Taihoku (台北) to Tainan (台南) required more than ten days of traveling, but Japanese improvements to transportation infrastructure considerably reduced the travel time. The story is also narrated in perfect Japanese, and there is really no hint (other than his age) that the grandfather himself isn’t Japanese. Even these types of stories only feature the
‘Taiwanese grandfather’ character though, and they are few and far between.
In contrast, every lesson which features characters from Japanese history will also include a brief introduction of the person. This may include their birthplace, family background, occupation, and/or descriptions of their personality. Where there are illustrations, these historical figures are usually shown wearing traditional Japanese clothing or modern military uniforms. Another interesting characteristic of these lessons is that the historical character is usually mentioned as having naturally embodied a certain moral virtue. Some typical examples are as follows:
「渡邊崋山は、小さい時からすなほな人で、よく父母のいひつけを守り、少
しも父母に心配をかけるやうなことはありませんでした。」
“Since he was very young, Watanabe Kazan was obedient and listened to his parents’ instructions, never causing them any worry.”19
「光圀は身分の高い人でしたが、常に儉約を守り衣服や食物などをつとめて
質素にしました。」
“Mitsukuni was high-ranking person, but he was always very frugal and maintained
19 Elementary-Level Ethics, Vol. 2 (1943), 25-26.
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a modest lifestyle.”20
Very rarely are they described as having learned their virtue from someone else. Again, if one doesn’t think too much, it would be easy conclude from the texts that the Japanese are naturally virtuous. This would seem to defeat the purpose of learning to be virtuous in school though.
Western characters and places hardly feature at all in any of the texts. When they appear, no context or background is provided. The lesson featuring the German sailors who are rescued by the people of Okinawa is one such example. America and England are occasionally mentioned, but only as destinations for study or business. In the books published in the 1940s America and England are also briefly mentioned in the context of the war. This is about the extent of the Western presence in the texts. While the presence or lack of certain ethnicities may be slightly distorted due to the sample size, the overall focus on Japanese identity and lack of Taiwanese characters are clear.
5.3.2 Gender
While the Japanese colonial administration was committed to giving both boys and girls a modern education, this did not mean that boys and girls were to be equals. That Japanese society is deeply patriarchal goes without saying, and in Taiwan opportunities for girls’
education were particularly limited. As the education system developed, girls also began to attend common schools in increasing numbers, but opportunities for schooling were by and large restricted to girls from wealthy families. The government’s educational goals for boys and girls also differed. The idea of producing ‘good wives and wise mothers’
(ryōsai kenbo 良妻賢母) was one of the aims of girls’ education in Taiwan as well as Japan (Hu 2011, 4-12). Strict gender roles are also explicitly supported in the texts themselves. An excerpt from the lesson ‘The Duties of Boys and the Duties of Girls’ is as follows:
20 Common School Ethics, Vol. 5 (1930), 24-25.
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「男子も女子も人として國民として行ふべき道に違ひはありません。世の繁 榮をはかったり、一身の品行を慎んだりしなければならないことは男子も女 子も全く同樣です。しかし男子と女子は生まれながらにして身体も違ひ性質 も違ってゐますから、實際の務はおのづからわかれてゐます。強くはきはき としてゐるのは男子のもちまへで、やさしくおだやかなのは女子のもちまへ です。それで家族を保護し國や社會のためにつくすやうなことは男子の務で、
家のないを治めて一家の和樂をはかり、また子供を養育するやうなことは女
子の務です。」
“There is no difference in the way in which boys and girls should conduct themselves as individuals and as citizens. Both must conduct themselves morally and aim to help society prosper. In this boys and girls are absolutely the same.
However, because from birth boys and girls are different both in body and in temperament, in actuality their duties are naturally separate. Boys are by nature strong and restless while girls are by nature gentle and calm. Accordingly, tasks such as protecting the home and serving the nation and society are the duties of boys, while tasks such as managing the home, promoting harmony within the family, and raising and educating children are the duties of girls.”21
A patriarchal society, traditional beliefs about the inherent nature of boys and girls and their roles, as well as certain educational goals of the colonial government all can help explain why there are almost no female characters present in the ethics texts. Moreover, all of the elders and other authority figures in the texts are also male, including policemen, teachers, principals, and officials. In some of the books intended for younger children there are illustrations which feature girls playing and studying, but they are never mentioned in the text and there are very few important female characters in general. Where they do appear, female characters are usually servants, mothers, or working women of some kind. The lesson entitled ‘Kurume Gasuri’ is the only one which features a female protagonist. The lesson features a weaving girl named Denko who
21 Common School Ethics, Vol. 6 (1930), 15-16.
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through her own ingenuity discovers a new technique for weaving patterns on silk. The design becomes very famous and popular, but this does not help Denko advance her own position. Rather, more emphasis is placed on how ingenuity can be enable one to create new and beautiful things.
5.3.3 Family
Despite the heavy emphasis on family relationships and filial piety in the Imperial Rescript on Education, the family as a unit actually does not appear often in the texts. In line with the beliefs on the nature of boys and girls, the father is the head of household who earns money for the family while the mother is responsible for taking care of the home and raising children. There is little deviation from this model in the texts. However, the family seems to be viewed primarily as an economic unit and a source of authority and control. More emphasis is placed on wealth and reputation of a family than on relationships among family members. Other lessons discuss issues such as family assets and inheritance. There are also many historical figures such as Inō Tadataka (伊能忠敬), Morimura Ichizaemon (森村市左衛門), and Takada Zensaeimon (高田善左衛門), who worked very hard to build up (or restore) their families’ fortunes and reputations. The lesson entitled ‘Ancestors and the Family’ also speaks to this idea. The lesson begins by describing the roles of a mother and father within the family, and continues on with a description of one’s ancestors and the best way to repay the debt owed to them. A passage from the lesson is as follows:
「一家の中で一人でも多くよい人がゐて、業務に勵み公共の事に力を盡せば、
一家の繁榮を増すばかりでなく、家の名譽を高めることにもなります。また 一人でも不心得の者がゐて、惡いことをしたり務を怠ったりすれば、一家の 不名譽となりその繁榮をさまたげます。それ故一家の人々は皆心を合せ、各 自の本分を守り、品行をつゝしんで、その家の名譽と繁榮の為に力をつくし、
祖先に對してはよい子孫となり、子孫に對しては立派な祖先となるやうに心
がけなければなりません。」
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“Within a family even if there is one good person who applies himself to his work and serves the public to the best of his ability, then not only will that family prosper but that family’s prestige will also increase. Also, if even one member of a family is imprudent, and does bad things and slacks off in doing their duty, then that family’s reputation will suffer and it will prevent them from prospering. Thus everyone in the family must work together and fulfill their duties, conduct themselves morally, and give their all for the sake of the reputation and prosperity of the family. We must endeavor to be a credit to our ancestors and to set an excellent example for our own descendants.”22
An almost identical message is presented in the lesson entitled ‘The Family’ more than a decade later. There are other lessons which remind students of the debts that they owe their parents and/or contain more explicit examples of filial piety. By and large though, the characters in the ethics texts tend to achieve great things on their own, or with only minimal support from their family. The emphasis on personal achievement and self-reliance present in many of the lessons is definitely a break with the traditional Confucian ideals of filial piety.
5.3.4 Occupations
Despite investments in education, the colonial government did not intend for native Taiwanese to take up higher-ranking positions in government or in the professions.
Similar to the dumbbell configuration of education in Meiji-era Japan, the masses were to be trained in literacy, basic economic usefulness, and political obedience, while a small corps of elites received higher education and specialized training. In Taiwan though, these elite positions were all occupied by Japanese, thus negating the need to provide higher levels of education to Taiwanese.
That being said, there were opportunities for advancement through the Japanese colonial
22 Common School Ethics, Vol. 6 (1930), 14-15.
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education system. Agricultural specialists, technicians, teachers, doctors, and other skilled labor was not readily available in Japan, and thus native Taiwanese of ability were channeled into certain fields to meet the needs of the state. There is an interesting discrepancy though between the characters and role models presented in the texts and the actuality of the work prospects for Taiwanese. Two lessons, both entitled ‘Occupations,’
present a clear picture of what sort of work the colonial government expected native Taiwanese to pursue. Not coincidentally, both lessons emphasize that taking up the work of one’s ancestors is ideal, and that changing jobs is to be avoided if possible. An excerpt from one of the lessons is as follows:
「職業には種々ありますが、農・工・商は國民の多數が從事して居るもので、
國民の生活に密接な關係があり、其の發達すると否とは國家の盛衰に關係し ます。それで是等の職業に從事するものは、其の職業の重要なことをよく辨
國民の生活に密接な關係があり、其の發達すると否とは國家の盛衰に關係し ます。それで是等の職業に從事するものは、其の職業の重要なことをよく辨