Meirinkan

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Photograph of the Hagi Meirinkan in 2005.

Meirinkan (明倫館, Meirinkan^?) was a han school located in the Chōshū Domain of Japan. The school was one of the three major educational institutions in Japan, along with the Kōdōkan in Mito Domain and Shizutani School in Okayama Domain.

1 History
2 Hagi Meirikan
3 Yamaguchi Meirikan
4 References
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] History

The school was established in 1718 by the 6th Chōshū Domain daimyō Mōri Yoshimoto as a sannomaru (third bailey) of Hagi Castle, and covered an area of 940 tsubo (approx 3,102 square meters). It was later moved to the lower Hagi Castle area (part of current Hagi, Yamaguchi) by the 14th daimyō Mōri Takachika in accordance with han reforms, where it covered a total area of 15,184 tsubo (50,107 m²). 3,020 tsubo (9,966 m²) of the area were used as military training grounds. The han office was moved to Yamaguchi in 1863, and Hōyō Ueda renamed Yamaguchi Kōdo as Yamaguchi Meirinkan, creating two Meirikan schools located in Yamaguchi and Hagi.

Meiji Restoration intellects Yoshida Shōin and Takasugi Shinsaku were both students at the Meirinkan.^[1] Other distinguished graduates include Japanese Imperial Army army Miura Gorō and diplomat Aoki Shūzō.

[edit] Hagi Meirikan

Hagi Meirinkan (萩明倫館, Hagi Meirinkan^?) is currently part of Hagi City Meirin Elementary School, and its ruins were decreed a historic site by the Japanese government on December 7, 1919. Manga artist Yū Koyama's debut title, Ore wa Chokkaku (おれは直角, Ore wa Chokkaku^?) is set in Hagi Meirinkan.^[2]

[edit] Yamaguchi Meirikan

Yamaguchi Meirinkan (山口明倫館, Yamaguchi Meirinkan^?) was later renamed to Yamaguchi Kōshūdō, and was moved to a large site in central Yamaguchi City surrounded by a moat called Kameyama Kōchi (亀山校地, Kameyama Kōchi^?). The Kameyama campus continued to serve as an educational facility for over 110 years as the current Yamaguchi University School of Business. The moat was filled in order to build a prefectural road after the school was merged into the Yoshida (Hirakawa) campus in 1973, but parts of the facility were later rebuilt. The Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art is located within the former campus grounds. Ōmura Masujirō served as an instructor for the Yamaguchi Meirinkan before the Chōshū civil wars.