Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to show another side of the transmission and production of knowledge in the Nara period, that of the private transmission of knowledge, as embodied by Kibi no Makibi (695-775), a promoter of both Chinese-style state-run education and education outside the ritsuryô state.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of the paper is to understand another side of knowledge in the Nara period, namely the private education (shigaku 私学), through the figure and writings of Kibi no Makibi (695-775), who travelled twice across the sea to China and became the tutor of princess Abe (the future Shōtoku tennō). Great reformer of the State Academy (Daigakuryō), he also had a vision of education outside of the ritsuryō system, as is manifested in his founding of what could be one of the first private teaching institution (the Nikyōin) and in a fragmentary work in Chinese left to his family, the Shikyōruijū 私教類聚 (Private Collection of Teachings Sorted by Theme), which emphasises the need to acquire practical knowledge alongside a more traditional form of knowledge, grounded on the Classics.