The heritage of liberal education in modern Japan-The education of BUNKA-GAKUIN and Isaku Nishimura-

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22653101
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Educaion
Research Institution	National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya
Principal Investigator	HIRASAWA Nobuyasu 鹿屋体育大学, スポーツ人文・応用社会科学系, 教授 (70208817)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2011
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2011)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,150,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2010: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Keywords	大正自由教育 / 芸術自由教育 / 生活改善 / 近代日本の社会主義 / 大逆事件 / 近代日本キリスト教史 / 知識社会 / 治安体制 / 教育学 / 思想史 / 社会学 / 政治学 / 日本史
Research Abstract	The Bunka Gakuin, which was established in the district of Tokyo's Kanda Ward in April 1921 as a small-scale institution for the secondary education of young women, was among the so-called "new schools" founded during the Taisho period a private school. Its educational practices, which were part of the main stream of the so-called "new education" movement, were at the same time in the vanguard of the so-called Taish. free education movement and especially of "free education" in the realm of the arts. Nishimura Isaku, who provided the school's founding and was its first director recalls many of the "things which have greatly influenced the Bunka Gakuin since its very birth" by making use of such "key words" and phrases as Christianity, America, sexual curiosity or interest, globally oriented, and "prophetic." The basic personality and liberal thinking of Nishimura, who styled himself a "free thinker," had a direct or indirect influence on the school's organization and the content of the education that was offered.