Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/149

* JAPAN. 131 JAPAN. toward tlie Five Home Provinces (Fuji-san, Tokio, Yokohama, and other important or well- known places are in this do) ; (4) Hokuroku-do (or riku-do), the "Northern-land Circuit,' lies along the Sea of Japan, and comprises seven prov- inces; (5) San-in-do. or "Mountain-sliade Circuit,' comprises eight provinces which border the Sea of .Japan; (0) San-yo-do or 'ilountain-sun Cir- cuit.' lying along the south or 'sunny' side of the niountain.s (the last two circuits are fre- quently spoken of as Chiugoku or the 'central provinces'); (7) Xan-kai-do or the 'South-sea Circuit," comprising the four provinces of Shiko- ku, the island of Awji, and Kishiu on the main island, six in all; (8) Saikai-do or the 'West-sea Circuit,' comprising the nine provinces of Kiu- shiu. The subdivisions of the provinces are called kiyri. For administrative purpo.scs the Empire — ex- cluding Hokkaido (Yezo and the Kurile Islands) and Formosa, is divided into three fu (Tokio, Kioto. Osaka 1, and 43 ken or prefectures, one of which comprises the Loo-ehoo Islands, annexed in 1878-79, and is grouped with Kiushiu as Okin- awa Ken. They are here given with their area and the population at the census of 1898: PREFECTURES Area in square miles Population 1898 Main Island (central): 749.76 927.79 1,585.30 1.943.85 2,235.67 2,854.14 2,427.21 5,088.41 1,727.50 3.002.76 1.864.17 2.196.56 4,001.84 1.540.30 1.621.50 1.611.50 1,587-80 4,914.55 5,042.57 3,223.11 3.576.89 4.493.84 5.359.17 3.617.89 1,767.43 689.69 1,200.46 1,851.29 3,318.31 2,509.04 3.103-84 1.324.34 2.597.48 1.335.99 1,.507,011 776,685 1.174.094 Chiba 1,273,389 1,131,556 Tochigi Gumma 788,324 774,604 1,237,627 Yamana-^hi Shidzuoka Aichi Miye Gifu Shiga Fukui 489,539 1,199,805 1,591,3.56 996.411 996.062 712.024 633.840 781.784 Tovama Main Island (northern). Niigata 785,554 1,812.272 1.057,971 Miyagi 835,830 829.210 Akita 776.077 Iwate Awomori 720.386 612.171 Main Island (western): Kioto fu (old capital) 931.560 Os.aka fu Nara Wakayama Hiogo 1,311.909 .538,.';07 681,572 1.077.226 1,132,000 1,436 410 Yamaguchi 986.161 Shimane ■ Tottori 721.448 418.929 Total Main Island 86,891 95 1.616.82 676.46 2,0.33.57 2.720.13 1.401.49 984.07 1.894.14 2.774.20 2,400.27 2,904.54 3,589.76 935.18 33,329,304 Shikoku: Tokushima Kagawa 699,398 700,402 Ehime ... 997 468 Kochi 616,549 Kiushiu; 821,823 Saga Fukuoka. . 621,011 1 362 777 Kumamoto 1.151.401 Oita 839.485 454.7.30 TCnposhimn 1 106 969 Okinawa (Loo-choo) 410.881 110,822.58 43.112.198 These prefectures are further divided into 557 gun, 52 shi, or independent towns with a popula- tion of more than 20,000, and 13,949 villages ranked as cho and son. Yezo is similarly' subdi- vided into 88 gun, 3 shi, and 753 villages. The capital of the country is Tokio (q.v.). The pre- Kestoration capital was Kioto. Population. The first really reliable census of the whole country wa.s taken in 1872. This showed 7,107,841 houses, and a total population of 33,110.825 — very nearly that of the main island at the present time." At the end of 1893 tile number of houses (including a slight gain through the annexation of the Loo-ehoo Islands in 1879) had increased to 8,281,708, and the pop- ulation to 43,763,153. of whom 22.073.896 were males and 21,689,357 females. Of this total number the Imperial famil.v claim 53, the no- bility 4551, the gentry 2.105.(>90. and the com- mon people 41.050,508. In these figures (which do not comprise Fonnosa, with nearly 3.000.000 inhabitants) are also included 17.573 Aino dwell- ers of Hokkaido, 70,801 Japanese residing abroad, and 12.664 foreigners from 29 difl'erent countries — the diplomatic and consular service claiming 128. The population of the whole Japanese Em- pire (including Formosa, acquired in 1895) at the present day does not fall far short of 50.000.- 000. As will be seen from the table of fu and ken given higher up, Hondo, the main island, with 381 to the square mile, is the most densely popu- lated part of the Empire, especially in its south- western portion, having there 475 to the square mile, as compared with 220 in the northern third. Since the centralization of modern industries there has been .a large concentration of popula- tion in the cides and lowiis. In 1S98 there were 78 towns with a population of 20.000 and over. Education. Since Japan was opened to for- eigners much attention has been given to educa- tion, and for a time foreign teachers and advisers were in demand, both b}- the Government and by private persons. The present Department of Education was established in 1871. but much organizing had been done before that time. The advisers were rao.stly from the United Slates, and a.s regards the public school system which the Government had determined to establish. United States models were largely followed. Later Ger- man influences prevailed, and the system now in vogue is largely patterned after German models. It includes the following grades: ( 1 ) Kindergarten work or infant schools, which originated first in 1876 in connection with the normal school, but has since been extended. The age is from three to six. In 1899 (here were 230 such schools, employing 618 women, with 21,801 infants in attendance, of whom 11.704 were boys, and 10,097 airls. (2) Elementary schools, attendance at which is compulsory, as far as the lower division called 'ordinary schools' is concerned. It is for children from six years to ten ; the school year is 32 weeks long, and the children are taught morals, reading, writing, composition, arithmetic, and sometimes g>Tnnastics, drawing, and mu^ic are provided. The higher grade is optional for chil- dren between ten and fourteen. The course of instruction includes geography, history, English, agriculture, and commerce. (3) iliddle schools, in two grades, ordinary .Tnd higher. The ordinary covers a course of five years, and includes ethics, Japanese Ian-