Japanese Participation in the Early International Congress on Education for the Deaf
 
MATSUFUJI, Midori

Division for General Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired,Research and Support Center on Higher Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired, Tsukuba University of Technology

Abstract: The International Congress on Education for the Deaf (ICED) was first held in 1878 in Paris, and its 22nd, and most recent, edition was held in Athens, Greece, in 2015. For the 1980 ICED in Hamburg, a list of the previous ICEDs, including the year, attending countries, and host city of each, appeared in the congress brochure, and in this the Tokyo congress was numbered as the 15th. However, Richard Brill reprinted the list in a book published in 1986 and deleted one meeting, so the Tokyo congress was renumbered as the 14th.   It was long believed that the first ICED attended by a Japanese educator was the 1933 congress, which was held in Trenton in the US. Brill’s book shows that there was a Japanese attendee in 1900, 1915, and 1925. The identity of the attendee at each of these congresses can be guessed. Thanks to digital archives, tracing the past has become much easier. It may be possible to verify other claims made about previous ICED congresses.
 Keywords: Archive, ICED, Meiji

1. Introduction
1.1 Early students sent abroad by the government
 After Japan’s long period of seclusion, the new government of the Meiji era hired many foreigners from Europe and the US to teach Japanese people. After they had studied in Japan for a period of time, the government planned to send these Japanese students overseas to study before having them assume leading roles upon their return.Education of the deaf in Japan was also influenced by those students who studied abroad and observed the educational situation during the Meiji era (1868.1912). Among them was Iwazo Ototake (1875.1953), who graduated from the Higher Normal School (one of the origin schools of the University of Tsukuba). 

1.2 Iwazo Ototake
 After hiring foreign teachers from abroad, the government also sent students to study abroad in order to have them train to become professors; students who graduated from the Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) were chosen to travel abroad. In 1885, this scheme was expanded to students from government special schools, including the Higher Normal School and, consequently, Iwazo Ototake received an opportunity to travel to Europe in 1904, at the age of 29. Ototake studied at Berlin University, visiting the universities of Jena and Leipzig. In September 1906, he changed his base to the University in Paris, and then, in January 1907, to Cambridge, where he stayed for three months. Before returning to Japan, he traveled to the US in April 1907 and left there in May. Upon his return to Japan, he taught at the Tokyo Higher Normal School as a professor, and in 1929 he taught as a professor in the Tokyo Liberal Arts and Science University (both of these being origin institutions of the University of Tsukuba). In 1932, he earned a Doctor of Literature degree with a paper concerning the history of ordinary people’s education in Japan. He studied education in Europe and in the US, the history of education in Japan, and researched ordinary people’s education, especially the type of education provided in private elementary schools during the late feudal period; these were called “Terakoya” and in these schools the children of common people were taught how to read, write, and perform arithmetic. He mentioned in this study that even deaf children were educated in these schools. He was known to the field of education for the deaf through his writings on Terakoya, but an article he wrote about attending the ICED in Liege, which was published in the official gazette in Japan, can be found in digital archives and was republished in a book of his entire works in 2010[1].

2. International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED)
2.1 Numbering the congresses
 The International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED) was first held in 1878 in Paris, and its 22nd, and most recent, edition was held in Athens, Greece, in 2015. The Tokyo ICED, which was held in 1975, was not given a number when it was convened. In the ICED in Hamburg in 1980, a list of ICEDs featuring the year, attending countries, and host city of each was included in the congress brochure, and in this Tokyo was numbered 15th [2]. 

2.2 Brill’s book
 In 1984, Richard G. Brill published a large, 459-page volume on the ICED. The book includes summaries of each of the fifteen ICEDs that had been held by the time of publishing. In addition, there is a sequential analysis of the various topics discussed over the years [3]. In the overview, he reprinted the list provided by the Hamburg congress, but deleted the meeting held in Paris in 1889 because it was actually convened by the International Congress of Deaf Mutes; consequently, the congress in Tokyo was renumbered as the 14th.
 He gives the three following criteria for defining an international congress on education of the deaf:
(1) The congress must have been truly international in character, open to educators of the deaf from any country.
(2) Discussion topics must have been unlimited as long as they were particular to the education of the deaf.
(3) Attendance must not have been restricted to proponents of a particular philosophy or methodology.
According to his criteria, the congress in Liege was the sixth, although there was no number given at the time it was held.Brill admits that his descriptions of the congresses held between 1878 and 1905 are sourced from articles that appeared in the American Annals of the Deaf. Edward Allen Fay, a longtime professor at Gallaudet College, edited the American Annals of the Deaf for 50 years, from 1870 to 1920 [4], contributing a number of articles himself. 

2.3 Translation of Brill’s book into Japanese in 1985
 Soon after the Brill’s book was published, Shuichi Obata, a professor in the University of Tsukuba who later became the second president of Tsukuba College of Technology, had the first pages translated by Michiko Tsuchiya, a graduate from Gallaudet College. The translation was published in a journal named “Auditory Disorders” or Chokaku Shougai, which was mostly subscribed to at that time by teachers and parents of deaf children. The translation appeared in series from January to June 1985 [5]. Consequently, we Japanese have accepted that the Tokyo meeting was the 14th ICED. Obata also contributed to an article on the ICED in the October issue of “Auditory Disorders” in 2004. In this article, Obata said that the first Japanese attendee of an ICED was Unosuke Kawamoto, at the 9th Congress in Trenton in 1933, and this was long believed to be true. Kawamoto was the leading scholar in education for the deaf at that time and was a teacher at Tokyo School for the Deaf (now the Special Needs Education School for the Deaf, University of Tsukuba) from 1924; he also wrote an article about the ICED in the Journal of “Deaf-mute Education,” which later became “Auditory Disorders.” Kawamoto later became the principal of this school from 1942 to 1949. A full list of his works, compiled by Katsumasa Hirata in 1990, is now available online [6]

3. Official gazette of Japan
3.1 History of Japan’s official gazette
 The official gazette, which is a public means of transferring government information such as laws and regulations, was first published in 1883 by the Governor Bureau of Government Affairs. Currently, the cabinet office publishes an issue daily, except on administrative organizations’ holidays. It is now printed by the National Printing Bureau in order to ensure important matters on national affairs are distributed accurately and reliably. In 1999, it was made available online and the issues remain accessible for a week. The National Diet Library has made the archives of the official gazette from 1883 to 1952 available on the Internet [7]. 

3.2 Ototake’s report to the official gazette
 During his stay in Germany, Ototake visited a summer program for teachers held in Jena, and visited Sweden to observe the educational situation there. He attended the International Congress on Education of the Deaf and the Second International Congress on Physical Education, both held in Liege. He also made reports on the education policies in Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, as well as in Germany, particularly noting class formation in schools in the city of Mannheim. He also visited France, England, and the US, where he studied various education themes.

Fig. 1. Ototake’s report on page 19 of issue no. 6722 of the official gazette 

 He diligently sent several articles concerning his studies to the official gazette, and published a 12-chapter, 300-page book of those articles at his own expense in 1908. He published the book in order to give it to his teachers, seniors, and relatives as a memorial of his return. The book was later included as a volume in a six-volume collection of his complete works; the volume containing the book was republished in 2010.Ototake’s report on the International Congress on Education of the Deaf and the Second International Congress on Physical Education was published in issue no. 6722 of the official gazette, issued on November 25, 1905. Using the National Diet Library’s digital collection, we can now read the full report on the Internet [8].

3.2.1 Ototake’s report on the congresses in Liege
 Ototake reported that he attended the International Congress on Salvation of the Deaf, held from August 20 to 24 (he said for “four” days), with 300 delegates from 15 countries: England, China, Denmark, the Netherlands, which he showed as “和蘭” in Chinese character, Spain, France, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Mexico, Pays-Bas, which he showed as “パイバス” in kana, Peru, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden. The congress consisted of two sections: one for teachers and supporters of deaf students, and another for deaf people only; Ototake attended the former section. Brill says that from 1878 to 1907 French was the primary language used in the congresses [9]; therefore, Ototake was forced to use French to obtain information. The arrangement of the countries was set in French alphabetical order.Ototake disagreed with the manner in which the meeting was held. He said the topic was chosen beforehand and opinions had to be submitted a month before the congress. He had prepared to make a report on education for the deaf in Japan, especially on the history and present situation of Tokyo School for the Deaf and Blind, but he was not given an opportunity to make a spontaneous report. He said that the documents concerning the Tokyo School for the Deaf and Blind were given to the chairman to be delivered to those who might have interest. He also said that the documents that he collected at the Congress were sent to Nobuhachi Konishi, the principal of the Tokyo School for the Deaf and Blind.

3.2.2 Dissimulation between Ototake and Fay
 When two people give descriptions of the same event, it is common to find differences. There are several differences between the reports by Ototake, who attended the congress, and those of Fay, who seems not to have attended it himself. Ototake did not mention the “Free Congress” at all. He mentioned that the congress consisted of two sections and that he attended the first of these. Ototake mentioned only the first section (the section for people without hearing impairments, according to Fay) and Fay mentioned both sections. Table 1 shows their descriptions. It seems Ototake counted the Netherland twice; in Chinese characters and kana. If Belgium and Japan are added, there are 15 countries in total.

4. Other Japanese participants before 1933
4.1 Those who appeared in Brill’s book
 Brill’s book mentions that there was a Japanese attendee in the hearing section of the International Congress for the Study of Questions of Education and Assistance to the Deaf (the fifth international congress) along with attendees from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US. In this congress, the official language was French; all speeches, remarks, and papers presented in the hearing section were in French [10]. A.G. Bell and E.M. Gallaudet were the delegates sent by the US government.In the chapter concerning the ICED held in London in 1925, Brill includes a presentation by Makoto Sangu, titled “The Education of the Deaf in Japan.” Brill wrote that Professor Sangu explained to the delegates that he had written this paper shortly before the conference based on material provided by the Tokyo School for the Deaf. Much to his regret, Sangu was not given an opportunity to present it during the section [11]; in other words, he had encountered the same obstacle as Ototake in 1905.

Table 1. Different descriptions by Ototake and Fay

4.2 Names of scholars who appeared in “Roua Nenkan”
“Roua Nenkan” or “Annals of the Deaf” is a 947-page work that was published by Roua Geppousha in 1935, edited by Toshifumi Fujimoto, chair of the Federation of the Deaf in Japan. In spite of its name, the annal(s) was published only once. An article from abroad was written by Toyoo Fujii, a teacher at the Osaka City School for the Deaf. He was skilled in languages and introduced diverse information to Japan gleaned from European and American magazines. Fujii had no hearing impairments but was very good at sign language. He was sent to Europe to attend the fourth International Conference of the Deaf in 1931 in Paris, and collected a considerable amount of information on the situation of the deaf in Europe. He mentioned that a Japanese teacher from Tokyo School for the Deaf named “Taminato” attended the meeting in Paris in 1900. He guessed the name was an incorrect spelling of Dr. Tanimoto. The first square in Figure 2 shows this description in Japanese [12]. No teacher named Tanimoto is mentioned in the list of teachers in that school at the time [13], so the man appears to be Tomeri Tanimoto, who was sent to Europe from the Higher Normal School for three years from 1900. Makoto Sangu was also mentioned as having attending the congress in London on behalf of the Ministry of Education, despite having no relationship with education for the deaf. The second square in Figure 2 shows this.  Sangu was a teacher at The Sixth High School in Okayama in 1925, and in 1935, he became a teacher at a high school in Tokyo. He later became a professor of English literature at a private university and published several books in translation.

5. List of Japanese participants 
5.1 Obata’s 2005 list of participants from Japan 
 As the 9th Asia-Pacific Congress on Deafness (APCD) was about to be held in 2006, Suichi Obata wrote an article on the previous ICEDs and APCDs. In this list, he set “zero” as the number of Japanese participants in the ICED in Paris in 1900, in Liege in 1905, and in London in 1925. The list appears online [14]

Fig. 2. Page 296 of Roua Nenkan（聾唖年鑑）, 1935.

 He wrote, “The 1st congress was attended by the countries of Europe. As the United States joined the 2nd congress, it became the ‘Western Conference.’ It began to become more international from the 11th congress; the number of participating countries rose to 41, and the number of participants reached 1,000. The participants from Japan were the 9th Kawamoto Unosuke (Tokyo School for the Deaf), the 11th Isao Ooshima (Nippon Rouwa School), the 12th Mitsuo Yoshimura (Kyoto Prefectural School for the Deaf), and one other member.

5.2 A proposal of a new list of Japanese attendees
 According to the lists made by Brill and Obata and some others after 2000, I have created a list that includes the names of the early participants from Japan, as shown in Table 2.

 6. Conclusion
Many people, including deaf people, visit foreign countries. Before globalization, the amount of information sent and received was very limited. We must reconsider established theories, including in education for the deaf, in which information is very limited and occasionally twisted. Thanks to the digital archives, we can compare reports on the same event in different languages. 

References
[1] Kurematsu, Kaoru. 2010. Comment on the entire works of Iwazo Ototake. Entire Works of Iwazo Ototake, vol. 6, pp.2-3.
[2] German Congress Secretariat. 1980. Previous Congresses, Program p.6. 

Table 2. List of Japanese participants in early ICEDs

[3] Brill, Richard. 1984. International congresses on education of the deaf: An analytical history 1878.1980. Washington, DC: Gallaudet College Press, p.2.
[4] Edward Allen Fay. Gallaudet University (cited 2016.11.24) http://giving.gallaudet.edu/HOF/pastinductees/edward-allen-fay.
[5] Michiko Tsuchiya, Shuichi Obata. The History of ICED. Auditory Disorders, vol. 406, January pp.9-12, February pp.17-25, March pp.21-26, April pp.19-25, May pp.31-37, June pp.37-43. 1985
[6] A Bibliography of Iwazo Ototake's Warks (1) NAOSITE : Nagasaki University's Academic Output SITE (cited 2016.11.24) http://naosite.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10069/30734/1/kyoikuKyK00_39_05.pdf.
[7] National Diet Library Digital Collections http://dl.ndl.go.jp/search/searchResult?categoryTypeNo=1&categoryGroupCode=C&categoryCode=05&viewRestrictedList=0|2|3.
[8] no. 6722 of the official gazette, issued on November 25, 1905 National Diet Library Digital Collections (cited 2016.11.24) http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2950060.
[9] Brill, Richard. 1984. p.3.
[10] Brill, Richard. 1984. p.56.
[11] Brill, Richard. 1984. p.87.
[12] Fujimoto, Toshifumi (ed.). 1935. Roua Nenkan. Roua Geppousha（「聾唖年鑑」聾唖月報社）, p.296 National Center of Sign Language Education (cited 2016.11.24) http://jisls.jp/shiryo/dpview.html?id=33&p=0191.
[13] Alumni Tsukuba-SD 1996.
[14] Shuichi Obata. The tendency of international congresses. Auditory Disorders, vol. 643, October, p.45. (cited 2016.11.24) http://www.normanet.ne.jp/~zenichro/apcd2006/history/obata01.htm.