Itagaki Taisuke
In the early 1880s, segregation of educational systems from political thought emerged. As the Ministry of Education made repeated attempts to separate education and politics, Itagaki Taisuke as well as other leaders of the People's Rights Movement stressed the inseparability of the two realms. A series of ordinances and guidelines were passed by the Japanese government in 1880, which defined the moral character— patriotism and reverence for the Emperor— that should be embodied in all schoolteachers. Local schoolteachers resisted by forming organizational assemblies to lobby high-level political authorities on educational policy. Though by no means independent, these assemblies were a voice for the people to communicate views and exert influence.