Japan Special Collection: Hawaii Japanese Language School Textbook Collection: Textbooks by the Ministry

  In 1898, Rev. Okumura wanted to create educational opportunities for children of Japanese immigrants and requested the Ministry of Education in Japan to help provide Japanese language textbooks. In response to Okumura’s request, the Japanese government sent school textbooks along with physical education equipment in 1898. These textbooks were identical to the ones used in Japan.

Textbooks published by the Japanese Ministry of Education were used during the early years of the Japanese school. After 1910, an anti-Japanese campaign grew and the schools were accused of keeping the immigrant children from becoming Americanized. In 1915 representatives from the Japanese schools organized an educational committee. 

The committee decided to abolish the textbooks of the Japanese Ministry of Education and instead compile textbooks in Hawaii, and the Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society Fund was used to help pay for this project. The Society's members included Jukichi Uchida (内田重吉) and Takie Okumura (奥村多喜衛), and they each donated $300 in February 1915. In 1916, the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu also donated $10,000 to the Hawai Kyoikukai (布哇教育会) to help with the textbook project. Dr. Yaichi Haga (芳賀矢一) from Japan was invited to help compile and edit the textbooks. The Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society (伏見宮記念奨学会) held the copyright on the textbooks.

For additional information about textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education Japan, please visit Tosho Bunko 東書文庫 and Hiroshima University Japanese Textbook Collection 広島大学教科書文庫.