Isawa Shuji, Nineteenth-Century Administrator and Music Educator in Japan and Taiwan

Isawa Shuji studied in the United States and made major contributions to the development of the music education in Japan and Taiwan. This paper provides a perspective of Isawa's activities based on sources in Japanese, Chinese, and English. Isawa was familiar with Western education and music before he went to the United States. In Massachusetts, he attended Bridgewater Normal School and studied music with Luther Whiting Mason. In Japan, Isawa worked with the Music Research Institute to publish Japanese music textbooks "Shogaku shokashu" (1881-84), which combined Japanese traditional music and Western music. In the 1890s, Isawa published "Shogaku shoka" (1892-93), which continued his combination of Japanese and Western ideas ("wayo secchu"). As Chief of the Education Bureau in Taiwan, Isawa believed that the essential goal of education was to teach Taiwanese people the Japanese language. The Shizangan school was the first national language school. Isawa brought Japanese music teachers to Taiwan and introduced Japanese songbooks. He was influential in developing normal schools and primary schools. Isawa influenced the history of music education internationally as he brought Western songs to Japan, combined Japanese traditional music and Western music in his publications, and brought Japanese songbooks to Taiwan.