Shoheizaka gakumonjo

• Established: 1630, Hayashi Razan
• Closed: 1871
• Other Names: 湯島聖堂 (Yushima seidou)
• Japanese: 昌平坂学問所 (Shouheizaka gakumonjo)

The Shôheizaka gakumonjo, or Shôheizaka Academy, was a school of Confucian learning where shogunate and domain (han) officials trained and studied.

It was originally established as a private academy by Hayashi Razan in 1630, on land given him by the shogunate at Shinobu-ga-oka, in Ueno. The academy consisted originally, essentially, of a study and a library. Two years later, with the help of Tokugawa Yoshinao, lord of Owari han, Razan built a Confucian temple on the site. Razan's successor, Hayashi Gahô, in 1663, added a dormitory and began training disciples in earnest, calling the school Kôbunkan.

In 1690, at the orders of Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the academy was moved onto the premises of the Yushima seidô (which was itself established that year), and Gahô's successor as head of the Hayashi clan, Hayashi Hôkô, was formally named its head.

After Hôkô's death, the Hayashi clan fell into decline, as did the school, which came to be dominated by other schools of thought (other than the Hayashi school of Neo-Confucianism). In 1703, and again in 1772, the school suffered extensive damage from fires.

Matsudaira Sadanobu was appointed head of the rôjû in 1787. He brought the school under the direct control of the shogunate, rebuilt and expanded the school buildings, and made it a site for the training of shogunate and domain officials. It was at this time that the school was officially named "Shôheizaka gakumonjo." As part of the Kansei Reforms which Sadanobu initiated, all teachings but those deemed "correct" or "appropriate" by the shogunate were banned, and the faculty was bolstered by the addition of Shiba no Ritsuzan, Okada Kansen, Bitô Jishû, Koga Seiri and others.

Matsudaira Taira, the son of Matsudaira Norimori, lord of Iwamura han, became the head of the Hayashi clan in 1793, taking on the name Hayashi Jussai. He became head of the academy as well, and took over its administration, opening up enrollment or attendance to the children of hatamoto, daimyo's retainers (baishin), country samurai (gôshi), and ronin, where previously it had been limited only to higher-level shogunate or domain officials (or those being cultivated for such positions). By the Bakumatsu period, the student body consisted of some of the brightest from a variety of domains, and from other samurai backgrounds.

Other teachers at the school included Satô Issai and Asaka Gonsai, and in 1862, with the establishment of the gakumonjo bugyôsho, Shio no Yatôin, Asai Sokuken and others also joined the faculty.

After the Meiji Restoration, for a brief period, the academy was renamed the Shôheigakkô, and then the Shôhei-daigakkô, but in 1871 the school was closed. The structures built in the Kansei period (c. 1789-1801) were destroyed in the 1923 Kantô earthquake, but reconstructions built in 1935 still stand today.

References

• "Shôheikô" 昌平黌。 Nihon daihyakka zensho Nipponica 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ). Shogakkan. Accessed via JapanKnowledge online resource, 13 September 2011.