Confucianism and Intellectual Suppression
From its beginning, Tokugawa education was focused on conservative Confucian ideals based on Chinese history. Confucianism stresses loyalty to one’s elders as a chief characteristic of an enlightened being, and the government at the time considered education without a component of loyalty to be nonsense.[i] The Tokugawa regime also wished to exploit Confucian tradition to foster loyalty toward itself. Students were forbidden to discuss current affairs or consider radical political philosophies, and in 1797 schools were restricted to the children of the House of Tokugawa and its immediate vassals, fostering elements of discontent among the ruling lords.[ii]
[i] Lombard, 89.
[ii] Lombard, 80.
[i] Lombard, 89.
[ii] Lombard, 80.