Kaitokudō

The Kaitokudō began as a small meeting group of Osaka merchants, Tashōdō, who met to discuss virtue, or moral education, through the reading and study (gakumon) of classic texts.

A fire at the Tashōdō in 1724 spurred already developing plans to establish a legal institution in the form of a public academic with a continued focus on the moral education of merchants.

Public lectures maintained this focus and classes were regularly scheduled on business, whereas private seminars moved beyond the four books to examine Chinese poetry, native literature, and also science and astronomy based on the expertise and interests of the teacher (jusha).

Najita marks the academy's decline with reference to the rise of the Tekijuku as a nearby foreign language school of medicine and other (western) sciences which gained in popularity since its inception in 1838.

[5] The academy was revived in 1910 based on a publication called the Kaitoku, which sponsored lectures and meetings in the spirit of the Kaitokudō from funds contributed by Sumitomo and other commercial Osaka operations.