it was definitely in practice pre-ww2. The schools my grandparents attended are still around (Taiwan), still same traditions 🥳

I looked it up, that style school system was established by the Meiji (1868) government modeling European (German/Austrian?) school systems -- to bring Japan into the modern era and establish their empire

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So it has nothing to do with militarization

depends how one looks at it, handing over education to the state (emperor in this case) probably a pre-requisite to undergo militarization -- the islands of Japan were never capable to raise national armies before.

Like part of a skill tree to unlock to raise an army across an empire.