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TERAKOYA(PRIVATE SCHOOL) AND CHILDREN
   WITH DISABILITIES

  During Edo period, almost all han(feudal clans) installed
schools to teach children of vassals.
  On the other hand,increased rapidly the number of Terakoya
for children of ordinary people as time went by. 
  Public schools for elites and private schools for general 
public. More precisely, we can image it as private school 
with easygoing atmosphere, not aiming at higher education.
  The ratio of popularity of such terakoya in big cities 
like Edo and Osaka was surprisingly high near the end of Edo
shogunate. We can guess that it served as basis of rapid 
infiltration of school system in Meiji period.
  They taught mainly elementary Japanese, Chinese characters
and caligraphy, mathematics with abacus as often said reading
, writing and abacus without much formalities. 
  There are records of that among pupils were some children 
with disability. It reveals wish of parents for those 
children to lean writing so that they could earn money.
Children with hearing problem wewe, however, not accepted.

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