Traditional Practices in Japan
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Cultivating traditional values is definitely a crucial way that the Meiji government wanted to pursue for their national plan of modernization. The essence of education is the basis of mastering knowledge and skill. They believed education was the way to the Way of Man. It was believed that going to western civilization to learn and gather information of skills and knowledge was going to the extreme. Instead of going forward with the practices of the past, by taking knowledge and skills from the West it reduces the loyalty, justice, and filial piety down to an afterthought. This will cause people to forget about the principles of the relations between ruler and subject and father and son. The way to achieve benovolence, justice, loyalty, and filial piety is by the teachings of their past.
To keep moral standing, it is best achieved by their ability of studying the guide of Confucious just as their ancestors did. Education then will be showed to the other countries and the world will see them as in independent nation by their spirit, morals, and knowledge.
The Emperor wanted his subjects to pursue in two traditional values. The first one was that he wanted his subjects to learn filial piety and loyalty at a young age by exposing them to such sights in the classrooms. By utilizing virtuous women, filial children, warriors, and loyal subjects throughout the classrooms will cause students to immediatly feel the significance of loyalty and filial piety. Once this is done first, the subjects will be taught to develop this spirit and that it is not the end of their other studies. The second practice he wanted his subjects to pursure was people need to carry out their oppucations. The sons of famers and merchants needed to learn about agicultural and commercial subjects from their fathers so their occupations can be carried on when they finish schooling. Therefore, the education will stay on course and they hoped the system would then result in being less high flown and more practical in the education being taught and learned.
With talking about traditional values, they are an important facor in being a modern nation to Japan without causing destruction within in the nation. For example, Motoda states, “–abandonment of the undesirable practices of the past and learning from the outside world–this procedure had a serious defect:” (“Imperial Rescript,” p. 152). If the people of Japan continued learning from the West, it could end up hurting the government because the people can end up becoming strong enough to take over themselves. If everyone continued learning from the past traditions it would help keep everyone in the same mind set and will allow Japan to become as one as a nation. Motoda states, “Our aim, based on our ancestral teachings, is solely the clarification of benevolence, justice, loyalty, and filial piety,” (“Imperial Rescript,” p. 152). This shows using