Zoshikan

• Established: 1773
• Destroyed: 1877
• Japanese: 造士館 (zoushikan)

The Zôshikan was a domain school established in Kagoshima by Shimazu Shigehide in 1773.

The school covered some 3,350 tsubo, and included lecture halls, a small shrine called the Senseiden, and lodgings for samurai students who came from outside of the city. Tachibana Nankei, a scholar from Kyoto who visited Kagoshima in 1782-1783, wrote that it was large and beautiful, the best in the realm (i.e. in all of Japan).

As a result of succession disputes within the Shimazu clan in 1808-1809 (eventually ending in Shimazu Narinobu abdicating in favor of Shimazu Narioki), the curriculum of the school departed from its earlier purposes of training men for service. Shimazu Nariakira later lamented this change, and took steps to revive the quality of education at the school.

In 1869, the school was renamed Hongakkô (lit. "Main School"), and came to simply accept all students who completed elementary school. Studies were divided chiefly into Chinese Studies (kangaku), National Learning (kokugaku), and Western Learning (yôgaku). The school was completely destroyed in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877.

References

• "Zôshikan," Shimazu-ke ga hagukunda bunka, Shôkoshûseikan official website.