The following file will be hosted temporarily.
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/tnamwong/web/Nisshinkan.zip
In the zip file are 2 items.
1) the original article in German by Kenji Koike (1940)
2) a rough translation/summary of the main points of the article in
English (the translator received very LITTLE compensation so I let
him do whatever he wanted) I do not know any German so I have no way
of double checking his work
The orginal article and translation are both very short. I highly
recommend these files for people who may in the future create their
own fictional characters and needed reference material. There are
some humorous moments in the article (^_^) ::ice skating::
The article is basicallly about Nisshinkan a school for boys in
Aizu. Nisshinkan was ranked in the top 5 schools of Japan before
1868 (I read somewhere it was #3). It educated boys who later were
part of the Byakkotai when the domain was besieged by the Imperial
Army.
All domains are unique and this article focuses only on Aizu's
Nisshinkan however I assume that some of the disciplinary codes may
be easily found elsewhere in Japan---it is part of samurai culture.
Interestingly, when I researched Takagi Tokio by examining her
famous cousin, Takamine Hideo, his biographer emphasized Nisshinkan
because the dorms for young women in Tokyo Women's Normal School
emulated the "format" of Nisshinkan (which is not surprising given
Hideo's background as Matsudaira Katamori's page). Ironically,
during the early days of the Meiji era dorms for boys lacked
discipline, it was in the 1890s when they returned to their more
Spartan roots. Hence, the article was significant for me because
the three people from Aizu (Takamine Hideo, Takagi Tokio and
Yamakawa Futaba) all would've been very familiar with
the "traditional" system and made some adaptions in the Meiji Era.
[notes for the article]
The idea of the oldest student supervising the younger ones is
called self-governance---something emphasized in the dorms Takagi
Tokio supervised.
Reading out loud still continued into the Meiji Era. Many
westerners who taught at Tokyo University commented that some of
their students had to learn how to read silently when they reached
the university level. They often saw boys moving their lips as they
read. Reading out loud was believed to help in absorbing the
material.
The strong emphasis on camaraderie/teamwork ofcourse may reflect on
the sad end of one Byakkotai unit.