Map Education in the First Half of the Meiji Era

TANAKA Kozo

doi:10.5996/newgeo.36.2_1

Map education can be divided into three fields, i. e. map-reading, map-drawing and map-making. This paper is aimed at clarifying the development of map education in primary schools during the first half of the Meiji era, until 1886. Since the beginning of compulsory education, map education has been achieved by the exchange of questions and answers between the teacher and pupiles and by using a blank map designed to enable pupiles to memorize place names. The teaching of map-drawing was started a little later than that of map-reading, in 1876, when the book “HOW TO DRAW MAPS” was published by the Ministry of Education. Teaching of map-making started even later than that of map-reading and map-drawing, in 1877-1887, when the concept of developmental education was introduced into Japan from Europe and the United States. The concepts of teaching map-reading, map-drawing and map-making were completed in the first half of the Meiji era. However, this idea, which was imported from Europe and the United States, seems incompatible to the backward content of Japanese school text-books and the actual situation of school teaching in Japan. In order to clarify the actual situation of the map education provided in those times, it is necessary to collect more detailed data related to the school education in that days.

Map Education in the First Half of the Meiji Era

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