DOI Hiroshi

During the Meiji Restoration, there was a faction of strong willed patriots called Shishi in the Choshu Domain. This was the result of the education which had been done throughout the Edo period. The schools representing that education were the domain school Meirinkan and the private school Shokasonjuku Academy by Shoin Yoshida. In the Choshu Domain, we had some other excellent schools called Gogaku. They were built by the Mori clan and the upper samurai. They were proud of their facilities, many books, excellent teachers and students who were sons of the samurai. But little research has been done on these schools because there are only few sources whereas many researchers have focused on the Meirinkan and the Shokasonjuku. In this study, I focus on the Ikueikan Academy, a Gogaku built and managed by the Masuda clan who reigned Susa (now a part of Hagi city) and were political top leaders in the Choshu Domain. What historical conditions led to it’s foundation and what kind of education was practiced there ? How was the relation between the Ikueikan and the Shokasonjuku, and the exchange of the students ? How did the students of the Ikueikan contribute to the political movements during the Meiji Restoration ?

In spite of vaccination on a large scale, COVID-19 has continued spreading all over the world. In the history of Japan many epidemics such as Smallpox and Tuberculosis have broken out and taken many people's lives. In this study, I research on the epidemic outbreak of Cholera which was raging throughout the Choshu domain in 1858. It happened after Japan was forced to open the country to the Western countries, and Cholera spread almost all over Japan from the crew of an American ship in Nagasaki port who was infected in China. The Cholera epidemic was one of the reasons for the expulsion of foreigners from Japan. It was an age when neither vaccines.treatments.nor even original pathogens were known. How did the statesmen and people in the Choshu domain confront this terrible and unknown infectious disease? What did they leave as lessons for the future? In this study, I inquire into the following historical sources : One is the Ura Dairy written by Yukie Ura, an upper samurai.the Lord of Atsuki (a part of now Yanai) and one of the top political leaders of the Choshu domain. The other is the Furuya Douan Nichijou (Dairy) written by a doctor and educator living in a small village north of Shimonoseki at that time. The descriptions of the Cholera epidemic in the end of the Edo era give us useful hints about dealing with the challenges we face in our Reiwa period.