Jidoku (imperial tutor) (侍読)

A Jidoku/Jito was a scholar who was an academic tutor for the emperor.

Under the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code), a professor of the Daigaku-ryo (Bureau of Education under the ritsuryo system) or an individual with similar education and experience was appointed to the position of Jidoku. The main subjects that a Jidoku lectured on were from Confucian scriptures, including the Shishogokyo (Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, the Nine Chinese Classics). Other materials they lectured on included the "Shiki" (a Chinese history book), "Monzen" (Wen-hsen, Ancient Chinese Poems) and "Roshi Dotokukyo" (Lao-tzu - The Way and its Virtue). After the late Heian period, the Oe clan and the Sugawara clan monopolized the position of Jidoku with the hereditary title of Kidendo hakase (chief experts on the history of Japan and China) (Monjo hakase (professor of literature)). Scholars who tutored the family heads of the Sekkan-ke (families which produced regents) and the family of the Shogun also came to be called Jidoku.

[Original Japanese]