Abstract
This chapter represents various processes of learning that were deeply embedded in society, beginning with the formation of a writing-based society, and continuing on to the rise of the publishing media, which Kaibara Ekken utilised as a way of disseminating knowledge. Under gradually changing political and social conditions as described in the chapter, the early modern period saw the formation of an education-based society that required education for its own survival. The Tokugawa period refers to the period from 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu gained political control over all of Japan, until 1867, when the shogunate went out of existence. From the perspective of the history of education, early modern Japan saw the establishment of an 'education-based' society in which educational institutions that transmit knowledge to succeeding generations are deemed an indispensable component for social stability.