Figure 1.--Here we see the Prussian cadet uniforms worn at Koshi Senior High School. This is the most common uniform style at Japanese secondary schools. We are not sure when this photograph was taken, probably the 1970s. |
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Many public schools in Japan have school uniforms. Here the pattern is somewhat complicated. Uniforms are worn in primary schools, but it is not the most common approach. About one-third of primary schools have uniforms, but uniforms are not worn at about two thirds of these schools. The pattern is different in secondary schools, almost all of which have uniforms. Public schools are less individualistic than private schools. Primary that require uniforms usually only require very basic uniforms of white shirts and normally blue and grey short pants. Secondary uniforms are more involved. The most common uniform is a Prussian cadet uniform for the boys and sailor suits for the girls. Some schools have more civilian looking outfits, but the two milkitary styles are the most common. The styles available from the nation-wide outlets are quite similar with only minor stylistic differences. Private school uniforms are often brought at specialized shops and usually more expensive. Hopefully our Japanese readers will tell us about their schools and school experiences.
This photo were taken in a kindergarden in Ibaraki Prefecture about 2010. The children no only do gym without their shirts but also dp other activities shirtless. This approach varies from school to school, but some schools even do it in the winter. The idea is to toughen the children up which will make them more healthy.
Here we see what looks like a secondary school class. All we know for sure was that the school was located in Kanazawa, a Japanese city on the Sea of Japan. The boys all wear the standard cadet uniform. We still see some children wearing traditioinal clothes to school in the 18920s, but mostly at primary schools. At secondary unifoems the cdet uniforms were increasingly standard. We do see some traditional outfits worn as uniforms in seconmdary chools, but this may have been for special days. The cadet uniforms like the ones here were increasingly standard. The boys look to be about 15-016 years of age. We note one younger boy. Perhaps he was a particular clever boy who had skipped a few grades. Two teachers are seated with the boys. Kanazawa was a rare Japanese city which escaped bombing during Workd war II. The boys here, however, woukd have been involved both the war in China (1937-45) and the Pacific War (1941-45).
The photo shows a primary school class in Kobe. This is of course a large city with many primary schools. We do not know which school it was. We are guessing the schools had numbers rather than names, but perhaps a Japanese reader will be able to tell us more about hiw the schools were named. From the background it looks like a school in the suburbs outside the central city. The children look to be about 7 years old. Notice the size of the class, nearly 45 children. That is quite a large class for one teacher, especially younger children. The portrait is interesting because it was taken in 1946, just after the War. The boys are wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts. They look like white shirts. The uniformity suggests a uniform. Children at most city primary schools wore basic uniforms before and during the War and this is probably a continuation of this. The girls wear dresses, but they do not look like uniform dresses. We can see in the front row a girl wearing strap shoes, some children wear zori, but most are barefoot. This is probably a reflection of the difficult conditions following the War. The boys have their hair clipped very short as was common in Japan before the War. This cropped hair gradually declined in popularity during the late-1940s.
Koshi was the second High School in Fukui Prefecture. The school was founded as Japan was rebuilding following the Pacific War (April 1948). The school's initial curriculum was courses in agriculture and industrial arts. The following year, the school was renamed Koshi Senior High School, and became a co-educational institution. Japanese high schools before World War II were single gender schools. After the War under the influence of the American occupation which promoted women rights, many coeducational schools were founded. The school eventually was moved to its present location in the Miyuki section of Fukui City. Ths was originally the site of Fukui Girls' High School. The Koshi school uniform is the Prussuan cadet uniform for boys (Figure 1). The girls wore sailor suits.
Here we see a scene at the Shuei Elementary School in Osaka during the 1910s. It appears to be a boys' primary chool. The boys are playing some sort of wide game like capture the flag. We are not sure it was during the refular school day. It looks like it my hve been some sort of special event.
This is the Kendo Club at the Toba Shousen High school in Mie prefecture. We are not sure if thee were clubs for other martial arts, but this shows that kendo was very popular at Japanese schools. They look to be some of the older boys. This mneans that the boys began school when Japan was just beginning to build its Western-style school system. The names of the boys and some other information is written on the back of the cabinet card portrait. The boys all wear the Prussian cadet uniforms, both the cadet caps and jackets. This shows that this uniform had become standard in secondary schools by the 1900s. As the boys were Kendo devotes, we suspect they many came from traditional families. The date is given at Meiji 7th April. I don't think the year is indicated, but perhaps our Japanese readers can better make out the riting on the text. It is clearly a 20th century image which means it was probbly taken in the 1910s. The Meiji era continued to 1912, so the early 1910s is possible. Notice their teacher wearing a bowler hat.
Here we have an unidentified school, probably in the 1920s. We do not know the name of the school or even where ot was located. The photograph is in color, but we think it is a colorized photograph, not a true color image. We think it may be a junior high school. The boys are uniformed in cadet uniforms, but not the blue ones that were popular after World War II. The white caps they wore were very common before the War. The boys wear leggings. One boy has done up his pants wrong. The building in the background looks like the school. The image is coded Pai-Chai. We do not know if that is the name of the school.
Here we see what looks like a military school, by this we mean a school for military dpndent on a Japanese military base, not school run like a military academy as he term is used in America. Unfortuntely there is absolutely no information associted with the photograph. All we have to go on is the image itself.It was a coed school. And the children do not wear uniforms. We think it is a school on a military base because the teachers ll seem to be military officers. And the white uniforms suggest that thy are mostly naval officers. We are guessing it wss taken in he 1930s because only one boy wears traditional rather than Western clothing. We are not sure just where ths school was located, but the white uniforms and light clothing of th children suggest warm weather. This leads us to beieve it was somewhere on the southern Home Islands or possibly the Marianas, perhaps Saipan or Tinian where there were Japanese colonists. Here we invite comment by readers.
This is another unidentified school. We believe it was a boarding school in the 1930s, shortly before World War II. There is some writing on the photographs so we hopefully may be able to learn the name of the school. Before the War, most Japanese children did not progress beyound primary school. There were no secondary schools in rural areas. Thus capable children desiring to continue their education had to stay with ity relatives or attend boarding schools. We believe their public boarding schools. Ww are not sure, however, how a child erarned a place in these schools are to what extent the psrents were responsible for the costs. Hopefully we will lern more from the written text on the back of the photographs. The photographs include a formal and informal portrait as well as a view of their dormitory. Secondary schools at the time were single gender schools. The boys wore the standard Japanese cadet-styled uniform.
A reader sent us this school portait at an unidebntified primary school, he thinks in 1956. The portait is notable because it shows the transitiion from the World War II ra to thev modern era. This was in part a reflection of the recovering Japanese economy. We are not sure where the school was located, but we suspect that it was not Tokyo or even a major city. We see some children wearing their own clothes. We no longer see any of the Workd War II-era armu uniforms. Many of the boys are wearing the pre-War cadet styles with long pants. In a few years short pants were becoming standard at primary schools. Only a few of the girls, however, are wearing sailor outfits. We are not sure just what the school policy was. We do not see any of the contemprary European styles that schools began to adopt in the 1960s. Many of the children wear zori, the traditiional Japanese platform sandals, both with and withoutb socks. They were going out of style for school wear, but still seen gto some extent in he 1950s.
This was a very large city primary school. Unfortunately we do not know the name of the school or where it was located. We have found a series of photographs taken in 1963. It is a very large, mulkti-story school. The building is an extremely ugly, austete structure. We suspect this may be of many schools built by Japan in an effort to replace all of the buildings destroyed in the War. This schools seems large for a primary school, but perhaps many of the nre schools were large. There seem to be all kinds of school activities including trips to beaches, parks, and other sites. This included over night trips. Most Japanese primary schools did not require uniforms, but this ome did. And they chose one of the Western-styled uniforms that began to becomr popuilr in the 1969s. The children wear a uniform of soft caps, blazer without lapels, short pants or suspender skirts, and long stockings/tights. They may have worn socks when the weather got warmer. We assume that the blazers, shorts and skirts were blue. The hats, however, were a light color. The school was vry strict about the children wearing the uniform, even the proper colored hosiery. We see some lady teachers, but the staff was still predominately male.
This class portrait was dated 1964. That is all we know about it. We would have guessed that the 1950s were more likely but are not at all sure. Our archive for the period is still very limited, but we are gradually building it. . Internet dating is not always accurate. So although the source specified, 1964, we can not always take that as accurate. We can tell from the age of the children that this was a class, so this was not a small country school. These look to be some of the younger children at the school. The building in the background suggests to us that this was not a big city urban school. The fashionable dress of the teacher and girls suggests it was also not a rural school. We see a lot of public primary schools like this in the 1950s. The Japanese Army uniforms are gone, but many of the boys wear the Prussian cadet uniforms. Apparently it was not a strict requirement because not all of the boys wear the cadet uniforms. Most of the children wear short pants, but one boy wears long pants with his cadet jacket. The girls do not wear uniforms at all. We see all kinds of fashionable dresses. We are not sure if the children are wearing long stockings are tights.
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