He learned Confucianism including shishogokyo (the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, the Nine Chinese Classics) and martial arts at the domain's school, Seitoku Shoin College (the predecessor of Chiba Prefectural Sakura Senior High School where his father Tsuneaki had once worked as the headmaster of the college) in the Sakura Domain.
佐倉藩の藩校・成徳書院(現在の千葉県立佐倉高等学校の前身。父・常明は、この成徳書院の校長をしていたこともある。)で四書五経などの儒教や武芸を学ぶ。