Although the content of education differed according to each domain, general teaching focused on reading of shishogokyo (the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, or the Nine Chinese Classics) without comprehension or calligraphy; in the latter half of the Edo period, Western learning and Japanese martial arts were also taught, including swordplay, spearmanship, archery, gunnery, horsemanship and jujitsu.
教育内容も藩によって異なるが一般に四書五経の素読と習字を中心とし、江戸後期には蘭学や、日本武術として剣術・槍術・弓術・砲術・馬術・柔術などが加わった。