The Meiji government created a centralized Department of Education to unify schooling policy after the abolition of the fief system, providing the administrative base for nationwide modern education reform.
A Grand Council proclamation made all prefectural schools subject to direct control of the Department of Education, strengthening central authority over local schooling during early system-building.
The Imperial Library (a predecessor to today’s National Diet Library) was established under the Ministry of Education, reflecting the state’s growing commitment to modern knowledge institutions supporting schooling and scholarship.
The Education System Order (Gakusei) launched Japan’s first nationwide modern school framework, aiming to systematize elementary through higher education via planned school districts and standardized structures.
The 1879 Education Order (Kyōikurei) replaced the Gakusei and shifted policy toward greater decentralization, reducing central control and abolishing the earlier district-based administration approach.
A revised 1880 Education Order reversed aspects of the 1879 decentralization by emphasizing stronger national control and government intervention in local educational administration.
Mori Arinori’s appointment marked a new phase of systematization; he became a key architect of late-1880s school ordinances that further standardized elementary, secondary, and teacher training institutions.
An ordinance created the Imperial University framework (renaming the University of Tokyo as Imperial University), strengthening state-directed higher education for advanced scholarship and training modern administrative and technical elites.
Authored under Mori, the 1886 Elementary School Order set core rules for establishing and managing elementary schools, including a two-level structure and government-defined subjects/standards that followed soon after.
The Normal School Order reorganized teacher training by establishing higher normal schools and requiring an ordinary normal school in each prefecture, helping professionalize and expand the supply of trained teachers.
The Secondary School Order formalized a modern secondary system (including higher secondary schools), clarifying pathways beyond elementary education and supporting elite preparation for advanced study and state service.
The 1890 Elementary School Order greatly expanded detail and regulation (96 articles) for the elementary system, aligning school governance and finance with evolving local-administration laws and clarifying attendance and management rules.
The Imperial Rescript on Education established an official moral-ideological foundation for schooling, emphasizing virtues such as loyalty and filial piety and shaping the civic aims of education in the modern Japanese state.
Establishment of the Modern School System and Education Reform (1872–1890)
