Also around the end of the 1870s, changes began to appear in the ideological context of
education. Opposing the course of Westernization that had been followed since the Meiji
Restoration, a movement emerged, driven primarily by the conservatives in the Imperial Court,
seeking a change in education policies. They alleged a decline in public morals resulting from
excessive Westernization, and emphasized the need for a restoration of morals based on
traditional ethics. In 1879, the Emperor proclaimed the Imperial Will on the Great Principles of
Education (Kyôgaku taishi). In this document, emphasis was placed on Confucian ideas such as
duty, loyalty and filial piety, and patriotism. In the revised Education Order of 1880, moral
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education (Shûshin) took on a new importance