1902, was the Philosophy Academy Incident when an examination question written by Philosophy Academy teacher NAKAJIMA Tokuzō was seen as disrespecting the emperor. The incident was rooted in Nakajima’s prior position in a Ministry of Education committee. In 1900 Enryō was commissioned by the Ministry to be an exam-iner of textbooks for the cultivation of character. The term “cultiva-tion of character” referred to what we call today “morals and ethics.” At the time this was mainly based on the decree of Emperor Meiji—that is to say, on the Imperial Rescript on Education—but even though ten years had passed since its promulgation it had not taken root in society. There was also the problem of its incongruity with the general trend of changes around the world at the time. On the ground at elementary schools, it was normal to have students rote memorize the Rescript, but this was not helping them understand the value of good morals. In 1900 the Ministry of Education asked Nakajima to become a member of the drafting committee for the cultivation of character textbooks but he refused. The Ministry continued to repeat its re-quest and finally Nakajima was forced to accept. The drafting of textbooks was extremely difficult because of the relationship with the emperor’s Rescript. This is probably why Nakajima repeatedly declined the request. Six months after Nakajima took up the position he was suddenly directly accused by a right-wing journalist who said, “A certain Mr. Nakajima, a terribly blasphemous liberal, is making an argument for repealing the Imperial Rescript.” Although this issue was raised in the 123
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