is a Japanese high school

Education in Japan

In Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Approximately 98% of all students progress to the upper secondary level, which is voluntary . Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper...

 founded in 1878 as Matsuyama Middle School.

History

The high school was founded as Matsuyama Middle School in 1878. Although the school was founded during the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

, it has earlier roots in the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain

Iyo-Matsuyama Domain

The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, with its holdings centered in modern-day Matsuyama, Ehime.-History:The Iyo-Matsuyama domain passed through several hands before settling as the fief of a branch of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira. In the Bakumatsu period, the domain took part in the Tokugawa...

's Han school

Han school

The han school was an educational institution in the Edo period of Japan, originally established to educate children of daimyo and their retainers in the domains outside of the capital...

, Kōtokukan, Shūraikan and Meikyōkan.

Among the first students at the new school was Masaoka Tsunenori, later known as Masaoka Shiki

Masaoka Shiki

, pen-name of Masaoka Noboru , was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry...

. As Seishi Shinoda and Sanford Goldstein explain,

In the 1870s and 1880s, the democratic movement was at its height, and one of its chief leaders was Taisuke Itagaki (1837-1919) from Kochi Prefecture... The prefectural governor of Ehime and the principal of Shiki's school. Though the principal had to resign in the summer of 1879 because of his radical views, his influence remained strong at Matsuyama Middle School. For some years after his departure, democratic thought reigned at the school; yet after the principal's departure many students left, and their numbers decreased from 213 in 1879 to 102 in 1881. Among those strongly influenced by the former principal was Shiki. He neglected most of his schoolwork, so caught up was he in the excitement of making political speeches night after night with ten or so of his classmates.

Undoubtedly the most famous teacher at Matsuyama Middle School was Natsume Kinnosuke, better known as Natsume Soseki

Natsume Soseki

, born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...

, who arrived in 1895 and taught for only a year, but later memorialized the experience in one of Japan's most popular novels, Botchan

Botchan

Botchan is a novel written by Natsume Sōseki in 1906. It is considered to be one of the most popular novels in Japan, read by most Japanese during their childhood. The central theme of the story is morality.-Narrative:...

(1906). Botchan describes the comically unfortunate experiences of a young teacher fresh from Tokyo (called, euphemistically, "Botchan" or "little master") as he attempts, with little enthusiasm or success, to adapt to the academic regime and the local culture. In the novel, Botchan's colleagues are given comical names such as Tanuki

Tanuki

is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...

 (Raccoon-dog), Akashatsu (Red-shirt), etc., prompting continued speculation as to which of Soseki's fellow teachers might have been their real-life models.

The school name was changed to the present one in 1949.

Notable students and teachers

• Akiyama Saneyuki
  Akiyama Saneyuki
  was a Meiji-period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was famous as a planner of Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru was his elder brother.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Akiyama Yoshifuru
  Akiyama Yoshifuru
  was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was considered the father of the modern Japanese cavalry. Akiyama Yoshifuru was Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki's older brother.-Early life:...
  
  
• Abe Yoshishige
• Ishida Hakyo
• Jūzō Itami
  Juzo Itami
  , born , was an actor and a popular modern Japanese film director. Many critics came to regard him as Japan's greatest director since Akira Kurosawa. His 10 movies, all of which he wrote himself, are comic satires on elements of Japanese culture....
  
  
• Mansaku Itami
• Itō Daisuke
• Masanobu Fukuoka
  Masanobu Fukuoka
  was a Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for his natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands. He was a proponent of no-till, no-herbicide grain cultivation farming methods traditional to many indigenous cultures, from which he created a particular method of farming, commonly...
  
  
• Noburu Katagami
  Noburu Katagami
  was a Japanese literary critic and a professor of Russian literature at Waseda University. He is also known as Tengen Katagami .-Biography:...
  
  
• Kawahigashi Hekigotō
• Yoshiyuki Kawashima
• Masaoka Shiki
  Masaoka Shiki
  , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru , was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry...
  
  
• Nakamura Kusatao
• Soseki Natsume
• Shikimura Yoshiko
• Hisui Sugiura
  Hisui Sugiura
  was a Japanese graphic designer who was a pioneer of modern Japanese graphic design.-Early life:He was born in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture in 1876....
  
  
• Kyoshi Takahama
  Kyoshi Takahama
  was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. His real name was ; Kyoshi was a pen name. He was one of the closest disciples of Masaoka Shiki.-Early life:...
  
  
• Asaichi Tamai
• Moritake Tanabe
  Moritake Tanabe
  -Notes:...
  
  
• Kenzaburō Ōe
  Kenzaburo Oe
  is a Japanese author and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His works, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues including nuclear weapons, social non-conformism and existentialism.Ōe was awarded...
  
  
• Masataka Ogawa
  Masataka Ogawa
  was a Japanese chemist known for the discovery of rhenium, which he named nipponium.After graduating from the University of Tokyo, he studied under William Ramsay in London, where he worked on the analysis of the rare mineral thorianite...
  
  
• Ryūtarō Ōtomo
  Ryutaro Otomo
  was a Japanese film actor. He committed suicide in 1985.- Filmography :He played in 272 films:* * Akō Rōshi * The Magic Serpent - External links :...
  
  
• Uehara Senroku
• Satsuo Yamamoto
  Satsuo Yamamoto
  was a Japanese film director.Yamamoto was born in Kagoshima Prefecture on July 15, 1910. He dropped out of Waseda University to join Shochiku, where he worked as an assistant director to Mikio Naruse and others. He followed Naruse when he moved to PCL, and became a director in his own right after...
  
  

External links