Shokasonjuku

A private school opened in Hagi-cho, Choshu Domain (Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) during the late Edo period. It was presided over by Yoshida Shoin and is famous for having produced many patriots for the Meiji Restoration. It was opened in 1843 (Tenpo 14) at Shoin's uncle Tamaki Bunnoshin's home, but was discontinued when Bunnoshin was appointed to the government. However, in 1856 (Ansei 3), after Shoin was released from prison and was under house arrest, he began lecturing on military science to children in the neighborhood. The school merged with the Shoka Sonjuku (next door school) which had moved from Tamaki to Kubo Seitaro at the time, and Shoin became the school's prefectural head in 1857. By 1858, the number of students had grown to several dozen, so the teacher and student worked together to build an additional building in the garden. Around this time, Tominaga Yurin was released from prison and taught at the school for a time.

The education Shoin received here was not merely a matter of broadening knowledge and enhancing insight, as he had received at the Meirinkan domain school. He injected military knowledge and insight into the real political situation (foreign invasion) into his military science lectures. In 1858, 26 young men from Toda Village, Tsuno County (Shunan City) came to the school and practiced gun battles with the students in order to acquire military knowledge and training. In the same year, a plan to ambush the Shogunate's Elder, Manabe Akikatsu, was also planned to awaken the Shogunate, which had succumbed to external pressure. In this way, Shoin's education was one in which scholarship and practice were two sides of the same coin, and this was a distinctive feature of the education at Shoka Sonjuku. However, at the end of the same year, Shoin was implicated in the Ansei Purge and was re-imprisoned, and the following year, in 1859, he was sent to Edo and executed. As a result, the school was closed, but many of its students went on to become philosophical scholars, including Takasugi Shinsaku, Kusaka Genzui, Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, and Maebara Issei.

[Nobuhisa Hirota]

In 2015, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) registered the site as one of the World Heritage Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

[Editorial Department]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

幕末期、長州藩萩(はぎ)町（山口県萩市）に開設された私塾。吉田松陰(しょういん)が主宰し、明治維新の志士を輩出したことで有名。1843年（天保14）ころ松陰の叔父玉木文之進(ぶんのしん)が自宅に開設したものであるが、文之進の任官とともに中断していた。しかし、1856年（安政3）出獄して自宅謹慎中の松陰が近隣の子弟に兵学を講義するようになると、当時玉木から久保清太郎に移っていた松下村塾（隣家であった）と合体し、1857年には松陰が主宰者となった。1858年には塾生が数十名となったので、庭内に師弟協力して1棟を増築した。このころ、富永有隣(ゆうりん)が出獄し、同塾で一時教えたこともある。

　ここでの松陰の教育は、かつて藩校明倫館(めいりんかん)で教えたような、知識を広め見識を高めるだけのものではなかった。兵学講義のなかに、現実の政治状勢（外国の侵略）に対応できる軍事知識と識見を注入した。1858年、都濃(つの)郡戸田(へた)村（周南(しゅうなん)市）から青年26名が来塾し、塾生とともに銃陣の稽古(けいこ)をしたのは、軍事知識と軍事教練を習得するためであった。また同年、老中間部詮勝(まなべあきかつ)を要撃しようとした計画は、外圧に屈した幕府を覚醒(かくせい)させるためであった。このように、松陰の教育は学問と実践が表裏一体をなすものであり、ここに松下村塾教育の特徴があった。しかし、同年末に松陰は安政(あんせい)の大獄に連座して再入獄し、翌1859年江戸に送られて刑死する。このため同塾は閉鎖されるが、門人からは高杉晋作(しんさく)、久坂玄瑞(くさかげんずい)、伊藤博文(ひろぶみ)、山県有朋(ありとも)、前原一誠(いっせい)など多くの志士が輩出した。

［広田暢久］

　2015年（平成27）、ユネスコ（国連教育科学文化機関）により「明治日本の産業革命遺産　製鉄・製鋼、造船、石炭産業」の一つとして世界遺産の文化遺産に登録された。

［編集部］

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