A Japanese document believed to be an original manuscript of the Imperial Rescript on Education has been found after last being seen 50 years ago.
The document will be moved from Tokyo National Museum’s library, where it was found, to the National Archives of Japan, in line with a law for preserving official documents, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said.
It is expected to go on public display eventually.
The Imperial Rescript on Education was issued in 1890 and focused on morals, including filial piety, loyalty and patriotism. But the rescript was believed co-opted into the militaristic education system before and during the war and was abolished in 1948.
The original manuscript was reportedly put on public display at a department store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in 1962, but the ministry lost track of it afterward.
An official found the deteriorating three-page document, about 12 by 9 inches, in a wooden box in the museum. The ministry carried out a thorough investigation after discovering the document. Another document, “Jikei,” concerning the attitudes required of officials issued by the nation’s first education minister, Arinori Mori, was also identified.