Showa, Men Had It Tough Too 49: Higher Elementary School Textbooks (2)
(Continued from "Higher Elementary School Textbooks (1)") In the 1930s, the first lesson in the table of contents of "Elementary Agriculture for Boys," Volume 1 (published in 1930), which is believed to have been used by Tsugio (my father) and his peers who advanced to higher elementary school, is "Agriculture."
The subsequent lessons are quite "practical," starting with how to distinguish the quality of seeds, land preparation and the necessary agricultural tools, soil types, fertilization, and soil water, temperature, and drainage. As for crops, it covers a considerable variety, ranging from Tokinashi radishes, tubers like sweet potatoes and potatoes, summer vegetables such as cucumbers, pumpkins, eggplants, and tomatoes, legumes like soybeans, root vegetables like burdock, and even fruits like strawberries, as well as chrysanthemums and tea.
Furthermore, it extends to poultry farming, cocoons (sericulture), and the handling of fruit trees such as peaches, persimmons, and citrus. The fact that flowers, rapeseed (canola), and rushes are treated separately might be because they were important cash crops. The items also extend to the benefits of forests and afforestation, call for an understanding of and prevention of frost damage, and end with "Lesson 71: Knowledge for Farmers." (The parts in parentheses above are the author's additions.)
The content makes one wonder: did children around 12 years old, who had just finished elementary school, really study this? I will try transcribing the first lesson.
"Lesson 1: Agriculture
Agriculture is the work of cultivating crops, raising livestock, and growing trees to produce what is necessary for food, clothing, and shelter.
Without agriculture, we could not live for even a single day, and if agriculture does not flourish, commerce and industry cannot prosper either.
Thus, agriculture is not only essential for human life and the development of industry, but those who engage in it are also rich in the most steadfast spirit, and are physically strong and long-lived. Indeed, agriculture is something that humanity cannot do without, and it is the source of a nation's prosperity." (Author's note: Kanji are kept as close to the original as possible. Some could not be converted.)
It is natural that the whole text is in a literary style and uses old kanji, but to eyes accustomed to the friendly, universally flat, and short sentences of today, it appears dignified.
The textbook's prose is "stiff," but the characters are relatively large, and furigana are properly provided for difficult-to-read kanji. In addition, each lesson (almost one page each) is accompanied by symbolic illustrations and explanatory diagrams, a structure that allows one to grasp the general meaning. There must have been an intention to keep the children from getting bored.
Imagining the scene where a teacher read this aloud in the classroom, the children followed along, and the teacher added supplements or wrote on the blackboard while the children took notes in their notebooks, and hearing those voices, I (Fumiyo) am reminded of "Twenty-Four Eyes," which I saw parts of on TV as an "old movie" when I was a child.
At that time, elementary school was compulsory, but one could not advance to higher elementary school unless one had the will to learn and came from a family that (at least in principle) supported it. How lively the classrooms must have been.
--As I (Fumiyo) write this, I feel a sense of warmth in my chest, and a pride in the work of agriculture wells up.
For the children of that time, especially in rural areas, where information was not overflowing like it is today, and where it was natural to live within a very limited scope of life and information while observing the order of the local community, including respect for elders, the content of the textbooks taught by teachers must have been "absolute and immense." (Continued to "Higher Elementary School Textbooks (3)")