The Birth of Japanese Kindergartens

Following a period of isolation lasting approximately 215 years under the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan officially opened its doors to the West in 1868, a historical development known as the Meiji Restoration. The Meiji period (1868-1912) was the most turbulent and revolutionary time in Japan's history, owing to the major political, economic, social, cultural, and educational changes that occurred in those years.Footnote ¹⁰ The new government's goals were initially presented in the Oath in Five Articles, which was promulgated by Emperor Meiji in April 1868.Footnote ¹¹ The Oath's fifth article, in particular, encouraged the acquisition of knowledge from the West: “Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundation of the Imperial Rule.”Footnote ¹² The Meiji government leaders enthusiastically sought a wide range of knowledge and skills from a number of Western countries, believing that such sources of knowledge and skills and their industries could be the key to national survival in the face of Western power.Footnote ¹³ The Meiji government was particularly intent on escaping Western subjugation. Therefore, it perceived rapid modernization, enlightenment, and industrialization without the loss of national identity as being essential to gaining parity with Western nations. Education was regarded as a key instrument in the formation and consolidation of the new nation-state of Japan. The Meiji government created the Ministry of Education in 1871. It also promulgated, in 1872, the Fundamental Code of Education, along with establishing a compulsory education system.Footnote ¹⁴ Although kindergarten education was not included in the official public education system, it was introduced as an educational institution for young children between the ages of three and six. The Ministry of Education established kindergartens primarily to increase the elementary school enrollment rate and foster a high level of academic performance, especially in reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as prepare children for the next school level.Footnote ¹⁵ The Meiji government authorities and the Ministry also considered the development of kindergartens to represent the process of modernization.Footnote ¹⁶

With the establishment of the first kindergarten, a wide range of literature on kindergarten education was brought from Europe and the US to Japan. These texts and books were translated into Japanese and introduced during the first two decades of the Meiji era. They were useful for the dissemination of ideas regarding the education of young children and the development of Japanese kindergartens. In particular, Shinzo Seki (1843-1880), who later became the first principal of the first Japanese kindergarten, introduced the ideas of kindergarten education to Japan by translating Douai's The Kindergarten: A Manual for the Introduction of Froebel's System of Primary Education into Public Schools; and for the Use of Mothers and Private Teachers.Footnote ¹⁷

Fundamentally, Froebel's theory has a religious aspect. Froebel believed that the Christian religion serves to wholly complete the mutual relationship between God and man, and all education that is not founded on Christianity is one-sided, defective, and fruitless.Footnote ¹⁸

However, although Seki referred to the concept of God many times in his work, the specific word “God” hardly ever appears in his translation, an expression of the contemporary Japanese social and political milieu. Instead, Seki created an edited translation where God is referred to as Sozobutsu shu (the Creator).Footnote ¹⁹ Seki did not introduce Froebel's theological perspectives, as he considered Froebel's ideas to be abstract, metaphysical, and extremely religious and therefore too complex for Japanese people to understand. Moreover, these ideas were unsuitable for the contemporary social and political context, as Japanese people had no idea what kindergarten education was. Johann and Bertha Ronge's Practical Guide to the English Kinder Garten (Children's Garden): For the Use of Mothers, Nursery Governesses, and Infant Teachers; Being an Exposition of Froebel's System Of Infant Training (1858) was also widely used during the initial stages of the establishment of kindergartens in Japan.Footnote ²⁰ This book focused on the methodology of Froebel's Gifts (wooden blocks) and Occupations (a series of hands-on activities such as paper-weaving and paper-folding). However, none of Froebel's works, such as The Education of Man (1826) and Mother-Play and Nursery Songs (1844), were on the list of required literature for the development of kindergartens in Japan. Following Seki's concerns, the Ministry of Education pondered on the notion that Froebel's Christian ideology figured significantly in his kindergarten educational principles, which were not in line with the national religion of Shintoism and its veneration of the emperor of Japan. Under the emperor, children were not to be exposed to Froebel's Christian viewpoints, as they were mystical and metaphysical and rooted in a firm Christian ideology.Footnote ²¹ In order to properly indigenize and localize kindergarten education as Japanese centers for pre-school learning, the ideas about kindergarten education were translated according to Japan's political, social, cultural, and educational needs.

In 1876, the first kindergarten was established as part of the Tokyo Women's Normal School (today known as Ochanomizu University Kindergarten). Its initial intake was seventy-five children aged between three and six who were mainly from upper-class families.Footnote ²² The teachers at the kindergarten included Clara Zitelmann Matsuno,Footnote ²³ whose German background exposed her to Froebel's kindergarten principles; Fuyu Toyoda; and Hama Kondo.Footnote ²⁴ The Ministry of Education wanted to incorporate every single practical element of Froebel's kindergarten curriculum into that of the Japanese kindergarten. These elements included songs, games, and Froebel's Gifts and Occupations and other pedagogical materials. Kindergarten teachers provided sets of Gifts and Occupations for children to finish or let them copy from a drawing of Gifts and Occupations on the blackboard.Footnote ²⁵ However, while the use and operation of Gifts and Occupations was highly stressed in the Japanese kindergarten curriculum (see Figure 1), the Froebelian theological views that supported his curriculum were excised.Footnote ²⁶

Figure 1.

The instruction of Froebel's Gift 1 and 2. Source: Shinzo Seki, Yochien Ho Nijyuyugi [Kindergarten methods—twenty plays] (Tokyo: Aoyamado, 1879), 10–11. Reproduced by kind permission of National Diet Library Digital Collection, Tokyo, Japan.

Kindergarten Teacher Training Programs in Nineteenth-Century Japan

The Ministry of Education also developed the first kindergarten teacher training course, provided at the Tokyo Women's Normal School in 1879. Clara Zitelmann Matsuno was the main instructor and led the training course. The entrance requirements were limited to women aged between twenty and forty who were in excellent health, were personable, and displayed high numeracy, literacy skills, and intellectual competence. The first graduates were sent to various regional towns, such as Osaka and Kagoshima, and took an active part in the development of kindergartens as central fixtures in these places.Footnote ²⁷ However, the course only lasted a year because there was an insufficient number of students to facilitate its operation; it remained unavailable until 1896. In the nineteenth century, the promotion of elementary education had just begun; Japanese people did not acknowledge the importance of elementary education and in fact, relatively few children attended elementary schools. Therefore, there were very few applications to primary teaching courses at conventional schools. Up until the Tokyo Women's Normal School's reopening of the kindergarten teacher training course in 1896, the course was combined with the school's elementary education teacher training course. The original kindergarten training course offered two terms (23 hours per week) for one year. However, to qualify as kindergarten teachers, students enrolled in the elementary education teaching training course were, for example, only required to complete a couple of extra modules, to gain practice teaching at a kindergarten and develop operational knowledge of Gifts and Occupations. The ministerial authority reasoned that teacher did not necessarily have to be scholars. As long as they were women and could teach elementary school children, they could undoubtedly look after young children.Footnote ²⁸

During the expansion of kindergartens in the 1880s, kindergarten teacher training courses were limited, and the shortage of kindergarten teachers was a constant issue.Footnote ²⁹ In order to meet the immediate needs and demands of kindergarten teachers, the quality of training courses suffered, and the work was fragmentary and inconsistent. The Ministry of Education offered a number of ways for the teachers to receive training, in the form of six pathways to becoming a kindergarten teacher: (1) the kindergarten teacher training course, combined with the elementary teaching training course at the Tokyo Women's Normal School; (2) the intensive training courses run by regional normal schools; (3) the short courses or workshops organized by the Ministry of Education or the Local Department of Education; (4) the apprenticeship system in local kindergartens that allowed young women to serve as kindergarten assistants; (5) evening courses organized by private institutions; and (6) the teacher training schools organized by missionary women.Footnote ³⁰ The alternative training courses offered by the Ministry of Education or the Local Department of Education lasted three to six months. The short duration of the training and the lack of instruction in the theory underpinning Froebel's Gifts and Occupations was detrimental to the effective application of Froebel's methods. Also, importantly, the courses were designed to train kindergarten teachers as rapidly as possible in order to meet the growing demand for them. The quantity of available staff was emphasized over the quality of kindergarten teacher training. The courses led to a new and more provisional model of kindergarten training courses under the apprenticeship model, with a less rigorous commitment to raising professional standards.Footnote ³¹ There was no regular arrangement or legislation regarding kindergarten education, nor were there any training courses or even a rigid curriculum until the Ministry of Education promulgated the Kindergarten Ordinance in 1926.Footnote ³² Supply and demand, funding and remuneration, and differing expectations for kindergarten teachers were identified as the main issues. The balance between quality and quantity also remained tenuous during the nineteenth century.

A Missionary's Mission: The Dissemination of Christianity and the Establishment of Christian Kindergartens and Teacher Training Schools

Historically, Japan did not have an amiable relationship with Christianity. Following the visit of US naval officer Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan in 1853, missionary boards eventually seized on the opportunity to travel to Japan. Their evangelical efforts were initiated through English private tutors, because, at the time, Christianity was still banned in Japan. Soon after the Meiji government lifted its ban on Christianity in 1873, missionary women from various sects set foot on foreign soil. The Meiji government repealed anti-Christian laws in order for the country to gain Western knowledge but offered no specific protection against religious activity.Footnote ³³ This period was marked by Japan's favorable reception and acceptance of Christianity and Western culture, and was succeeded by an era of Westernization.

The first missionary group arrived in Tokyo and Yokohama in 1859. Its members all belonged to various denominations in the US and eventually Canada, Britain, and Europe. Missionary activities continued to proliferate, and a wider range of groups were represented, including Catholics, Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Presbyterians.Footnote ³⁴ These groups promoted grassroots work in the fields of construction, medicine, social welfare, and education as a missionary tool for evangelization.

Missionary educational activities, in particular, had a significant impact on education in Japan. The purpose of establishing educational institutions was to spread Christianity and Western knowledge throughout the nation. Among missionary women's educational activities, the development of kindergartens and schools for girls was one of the most successful activities commercially and in terms of spreading Christianity in Japan. “Kindergarten is our greatest educational and evangelistic agency in Japan,” they boasted.Footnote ³⁵ American missionary women were especially committed to the belief that the best way to spread Christianity was through the development of kindergartens, as had been done in the US between 1870 and 1900.Footnote ³⁶ This dissemination strategy took advantage of the numerous opportunities the missionary women had to interact with mothers, as they typically were the ones who brought their children to kindergarten each day. Thus, by conversing with the mothers, it was possible to deliver Christian values and faith and to propagate Christianity efficiently.Footnote ³⁷

The majority of the missionary women had completed kindergarten training courses in their own countries and were qualified kindergarten teachers. Importantly, they were also advocates of Froebel. Although Froebel's theory of early childhood education was closely interwoven with Christianity, his pedagogy and practice was not the same as that in Christian education. For Froebel, the fundamental concept of the interconnectedness of all life in this world was related to the rules and laws of God. The undoubtedly religious nature of his theory of education was congruent with Christian values; however, the purpose of his kindergartens was not to create Christians.Footnote ³⁸ Missionary women understood the importance of translating Froebel's theory in the spirit of Christianity, but how to deliver their Christian pedagogy and practice along with his theory in Japan was an enduring question for discussion.Footnote ³⁹

The kindergarten program was unorganized in the days of Froebel. Froebel never left behind any sort of manual with detailed instructions about how to create a successful program. Today's programs are based on the models created by earlier generations of Froebelians, who translated his principles into practice. Since Froebel had left behind no detailed program to constrain them, the missionary women considered his spirit and the principles that underlay his work as they began designing a model Froebelian kindergarten for Japan. What were the principles that gave birth to Froebel's informal program; and how could they best be adapted to contemporary conditions in Meiji-era Japan?Footnote ⁴⁰ Such questions guided their work.

In the first two decades of the Meiji era, Western theories and knowledge were, indeed, held in particularly high regard in Japan, with people showing great appreciation for virtually any Western theory. Froebel's kindergarten theory was no exception. Many Christian schools, including their kindergartens, were considered to be the best places to learn and gain Western-derived knowledge. Upper-class Japanese people, in particular, appreciated and embraced Christianity and the Froebelian theory emphasized by missionary women. However, at the beginning of the 1880s, there was a political backlash against Westernization and Christian evangelization. A desire to preserve or revive traditional Japanese values emerged.Footnote ⁴¹ The Meiji government thought the rapid growth of Westernization was making it more difficult to maintain national and social unity, and thus began promoting traditional Shinto practices, most significantly by deifying Emperor Meiji and making his reign a sacred part of Japanese ideology. As Shinto became Japan's state religion during the Meiji period, the government also resisted the presumption that Christianity was a non-negotiable part of Westernization, and it grew opposed of the religion in all its Western forms.Footnote ⁴²

Historically and culturally, Christianity was depicted as a foreign religion that was naturally alien to, if not subversive of, the Shinto Japanese spirit. This opposition guided the drive during the Meiji era to preserve or revive traditional Japanese values, which supported a nationalistic reaction favorable to Shinto, causing the tide of anti-Christian sentiment to grow ever stronger.Footnote ⁴³

The focus of these anti-Westernization and anti-Christianity reactions gradually moved from political to educational issues. In terms of education policies, the political dogmas of state-based Shinto and the idea of a sovereign family, headed by the emperor, ruling Japan were enshrined as key elements of Japanese national identity that were expected to be promoted through education. The Ministry of Education thus acknowledged that to achieve this, it was necessary to not only reinforce the public education system but also control private schools, especially with regard to the missionaries’ Christian schools. By placing its emphasis on the sovereignty of the emperor, based on Shintoism, and promoting the traditional values of Confucianism, the government thus laid the foundation for several years of intense attacks on Christianity. In this period of political and religious turmoil at the turn of the twentieth century, although missionaries supported the government's efforts to rebuild Japan as a nation-state as they disseminated Christianity, the government did not want Christianity to continue to spread. Christian missionaries thus faced practical difficulties in developing Christian kindergartens.Footnote ⁴⁴

Two decrees in particular created turmoil for the missionary communities: the Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890 by the Meiji government, and the Private School Order No. 12, promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1899, which strengthened the foundations of imperial rule. The Imperial Rescript on Education signified the country's moral and civic ethos, accentuating the values and ideas of Confucianism, civic obedience and loyalty, filial piety, love of country, self-sacrifice, the requiting of blessings, and the proper practice of rituals.Footnote ⁴⁵ The path leading to Japan acquiring modern-nation status would be determined by the strong and autocratic rule of a new imperial system emphasizing the emperor's divinity. The Rescript limited Western education's influence in Japanese schools and emphasized Confucianism as the social norm. It also helped to build a Japanese national ideology and identity that would endure until 1945.Footnote ⁴⁶

The Ministry of Education's Order No. 12 stated that Christian schools were required to be licensed and authorized by the Ministry of Education. It also forbade religious education in any schools. The Order dealt a great blow to missionaries and was ostensibly an attempt by the Ministry of Education to control and cause ruin for Christian schools; in addition, the Ministry demanded the imperial portraits of the incumbent emperor and empress be hung in all schools, at every level of compulsory education in Japan.Footnote ⁴⁷ Any formal occasions at a school, such as a graduation ceremony, required that imperial portraits and the national flag be displayed and that students recite the Imperial Rescript on Education.Footnote ⁴⁸ The imperial couple's birthdays were also celebrated as important occasions during which children and students were expected to draw on their own experience of parental love to reflect on their relationship to the emperor and empress, who, in their roles as father and mother to the nation, cared for all families in Japan.Footnote ⁴⁹ Christian schools and kindergartens were not exempt from these rules. Although kindergartens were not part of the system of compulsory education, they were still under the control and supervision of the Ministry of Education and its regulations.

Consequently, although missionary women strongly resisted the Order, some ultimately accepted it rules for the sake of preserving their kindergartens. Others gave up their licenses, closed down their institutions, and left Japan.Footnote ⁵⁰

However, teacher training schools were exempt.Footnote ⁵¹ This allowed the missionary women who ran kindergarten teacher training schools to continue their mission of simultaneously training teachers and disseminating Christianity in Japan.

Missionary Froebelians and Their Kindergarten Teacher Training Schools

Despite the growth of kindergartens in Japan in the nineteenth century, which was particularly acute during the 1880s, kindergarten teacher training courses were quite limited, which provided a welcome opportunity for missionary women to meet the demand for kindergartens through teacher training.Footnote ⁵²

Missionary women were eager to improve and expand the training schools because they were apprehensive about the quality of the kindergarten training courses provided by the Ministry of Education and the Local Departments of Education. They were already familiar with the unpleasant conditions they had witnessed in those courses and schools.Footnote ⁵³ Annie Howe observed:

Missionary women believed that professionals well trained in Froebel's theory and Christian faith and values were an essential prerequisite for the effective promotion of kindergarten education. They reasoned that although students were not Christian when they entered the kindergarten training schools, some might convert to Christianity and become baptized before they graduated. The long duration of the training schools allowed ample time for evangelization and conversion.Footnote ⁵⁵

While the kindergarten training courses offered by the Ministry of Education and other Japanese providers were short, with apprenticeships lasting only three to six months, the kindergarten teacher training schools organized by missionary women employed a rigid and advanced teacher training curriculum, with courses extending two or three years (Table 1).Footnote ⁵⁶

Table 1.

The Main Christian Kindergarten Teacher Training Schools in Japan in the early Meiji Era.

Source: Tomoe Shiga, “Meiji, Taishoki Nii Okeru Kirisutokyo Shugi Hoikusha Yosei” [Christian Kindergarten Teacher College During Meiji and Taisho Periods], Bulletin of Cultural Research Institute, Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College, no. 4 (Dec. 1996), 68.

The missionary women founded the Japan Kindergarten Union (JKU) in 1906. The purpose of establishing it was to promote kindergarten education, disseminate Froebel's theory along with Christianity, and set professional standards for teacher training schools.Footnote ⁵⁷ The members represented twelve different denominations including the Presbyterian, Catholic, Congregationalist, Methodist, and Anglican Churches. The JKU held monthly meetings and an annual conference every summer, at which members shared their practices with one another. It also released annual reports, publishing the first report in 1907 and continuing to release subsequent ones for three more decades until 1939, the year the union was merged to form the Japan Christian Federation on Early Childhood Care and Education, which remains in operation today. At the JKU meetings, the sharing of Froebelian practices and curricula was considered a strategy for improving the quality of kindergarten education and teacher training schools. The meetings also covered international trends and research on kindergarten education.Footnote ⁵⁸ In addition to the goals of maintaining a high quality of kindergarten education and disseminating Froebel's kindergarten theory, the missionaries also highly prioritized evangelization.Footnote ⁵⁹ Back in the West, in the missionary women's home countries, many Froebelian women, like their counterparts in Japan, established kindergarten teacher training courses along with kindergartens, as teacher training was at the center of the kindergarten movements, tied as it was to the critical issues of “programmatic quality and professionalisation.”Footnote ⁶⁰

Given the growing appreciation in Japan for Western theories and knowledge and the adoption of Western values, Christian kindergartens were often considered to provide a better quality of education to young Japanese children than the kindergartens that were supported by the Japanese government. Some of the missionary women's practices started to appear in the curricula of those other kindergartens. For example, Miss Fannie Caldwell Macaulay, principal of the Hiroshima Girl's School Kindergarten, introduced hopping and skipping dance to Japanese kindergartens. Annie L. Howe introduced gardening as a pedagogical element into Japanese kindergartens.Footnote ⁶¹ The Christian institutions, as a result, became increasingly popular in the 1890s. Their teacher training schools were also acknowledged as institutions that provided virtuous training courses.Footnote ⁶² Their curriculum emphasized academic subjects, beginning with the study of Froebel's theory and methods and including child development theory and psychology. Eventually, the two-year kindergarten teacher training course and its curriculum became the foundation for kindergarten teacher training and early childhood qualification courses in Japan, and that remains the case today.Footnote ⁶³ With the assistance of missionary women, a good number of qualified kindergarten teachers advanced kindergarten education in the late nineteenth century in Japan. Most of the graduates of missionary women's kindergarten training schools were sent to large cities and various regional towns, where they played an active role in the development of both Christian and non-Christian kindergartens.Footnote ⁶⁴

An American Missionary Froebelian Woman: Annie L. Howe and Her Kindergarten Teacher Training School

One highly prominent missionary Froebelian woman who had a significant impact on the development of kindergarten education in Japan was Annie L. Howe. She is often acknowledged as a “true” Froebelian and disseminator of Froebel's kindergarten theory of early childhood education.

Annie L. Howe was born into a strict Congregationalist family in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1852, to Charles Howe (1822-1915) and Mary Howe (1829-1918). She graduated from Rockford Seminary in Chicago, where she studied music, after which she attended the Chicago Froebel Association Training School to pursue a career as a kindergarten teacher. Soon after completing the course, Howe opened a kindergarten in Chicago and worked there as a headteacher for nine years with her younger sister, Mary Deming Howe Rogers (1854-1935). In 1886, Howe learned that the women of the Kobe Congregational Church in Japan were planning to establish a Christian kindergarten and looking to employ a kindergarten teacher. Her application to the position was accepted, and in 1887 she was sent to Japan as a Congregational educational missionary by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.Footnote ⁶⁵ Howe had a twofold mission: establish a Christian kindergarten in Japan and communicate the importance of a kindergarten education founded on Froebel's theory and dedicated to the glory of God.

Upon arriving in Japan, Howe visited many Japanese kindergartens and teacher training schools in preparation for establishing her Christian kindergarten. She was also frequently invited to the Tokyo Women's Normal School and other regional normal schools, as there were few educators available to train kindergarten teachers.Footnote ⁶⁶ Howe lamented that in implementing Froebel's theory, the Japanese kindergarten training schools lacked a philosophical basis and were too heavily focused on the technical use of the Gifts and Occupations.Footnote ⁶⁷ But most evident for her in the implementation of the Gifts and Occupations was what she felt was the strongest element of Froebel's theory and that which ought to underline its implementation: Christianity.Footnote ⁶⁸ In a letter to her sister Mary, she stated:

Howe acknowledged that the desired standard of excellence in kindergartens in Japan required the training of kindergarten teachers who understood the importance of Froebel's theory.Footnote ⁷⁰

In 1889, a month before opening a kindergarten, Howe opened a teacher training school named Shoei hobo denshusho. The English translation was “Glory teacher training,” or “Glory,” for short. Footnote ⁷¹ It had an enrollment of twelve students.Footnote ⁷² The entrance requirements for the women enrolling in the Glory Kindergarten training school were that they were between twenty and thirty years old, had a good-natured personality, and possessed a satisfactory high school academic record.Footnote ⁷³

Today, both the Glory Kindergarten and the teacher training school still operate in Kobe, Japan. Since its founding, the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school (today Shoei Junior College) has continued to offer Christian-based character education along with training based in Froebel's theory, and has remained faithful to their original teachings. Traditionally, both the dean of Shoei Junior College and the Glory Kindergarten principal have been Christians. Although the college has lost the evangelical zeal that characterized its early years, Christianity still holds a central place in the structure and operation of the teacher education program, although it is seen more as a moral abstraction than a religious doctrine.

Howe was passionate about training kindergarten teachers, as she believed that there were no kindergartens without them. She acknowledged that the Glory Kindergarten, as a Japanese kindergarten, was under the government and local government's official control; however, she believed that the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school was hers.Footnote ⁷⁴ For her, a well-trained and qualified kindergarten teacher was not just someone with the skill to operate Froebel's Gifts and Occupations, but rather someone who recognized the importance of education for young children and the dignity of working with young children. She also expected kindergarten teachers to have a sincere and sympathetic nature. In the larger picture, she believed the purpose of training kindergarten teachers was to promote and disseminate kindergarten education in Japan.Footnote ⁷⁵ And in addition to producing knowledgeable and skillful kindergarten teachers through Froebel's theory and disseminating the principles of kindergarten education, she strongly wished to propagate Christianity in Japan.

On completion of the Glory Kindergarten teacher training course, candidates were expected to have the knowledge of Froebelian theory and skills to deliver the best education for young children. Howe created five principles that served as the foundation of young children's education at the Glory Kindergarten; they also applied to the kindergarten teacher training school and were shared with parents:

1. 1. Wisdom, power, and beauty in the world are God's work, and the education of young children should recognize the importance of awakening respectful love and praise to God;

2. 2. Educate children in an imaginative way. Tell many good stories to them and use the most beautiful materials and sources;

3. 3. Music is the most beautiful and wonderful gift given to us by God; therefore, teaching music to children helps them develop their emotional sensibility;

4. 4. Foster the feeling of peace in the world and teach children the importance of love and empathy;

5. 5. Acknowledge the importance of a good relationship with the children's family and collaborate with them to provide the best education.Footnote ⁷⁶

Eventually, the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school developed a good reputation and became a model for kindergarten teacher training schools not only for the missionary groups but also for the public sector in Japan. In 1908, Howe's longtime commitment and devoted service to her kindergarten teacher training school and, importantly, the good reputation of the graduates resulted in the government's decision to authorize the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school to award graduates a teaching certificate without a state examination given by the Local Department of Education. At that time, students who completed their teacher training courses at Christian-based institutions were generally required to take an examination to qualify as a kindergarten teacher.Footnote ⁷⁷ The Glory Kindergarten teacher training school became the first Christian institution to earn this privilege in Japan, owing to its strong reputation.Footnote ⁷⁸ All graduates Howe taught were highly favored over other graduates, and many government schools in regional Japan frequently hired graduates of the training school as school directors. They all became Christians and played an active role in both Christian and non-Christian kindergartens in Japan.Footnote ⁷⁹

A Froebelian Practice and Pedagogy in the Spirit of Christianity

The Glory Kindergarten teacher training school began with morning worship at 7 a.m., and from 9 a.m. on, students spent the rest of the morning with children as part of their kindergarten placements (Figure 2). From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., students intensively studied Froebel's theory, focusing on the methodology of the Gifts and Occupations. The kindergarten teaching course was delivered 38 hours per week over a two year period. Students were also required to spend most of after the school hours complete their homework. The curriculum of Glory Kindergarten teacher training school was based on the curriculum of the Chicago Froebel Association Training School, where Howe completed her kindergarten teacher qualification.Footnote ⁸⁰

Figure 2.

Glory Teacher Training School Students and Children at Glory Kindergarten (date unknown). Courtesy Shoei Junior College Archive, Kobe, Japan.

In contrast to the short length of the Tokyo Women's Normal School course, the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school course was a two-year program that required thirty-eight hours of lessons per week (Table 2). The course comprised the key elements of Froebel's kindergarten curriculum, which included Froebel's kindergarten theory and pedagogy, Gifts and Occupations, arithmetic, geometry, geography, history, children's literature (e.g., stories and poems), gymnastics, music, psychology, physics, zoology, botany, geology, hygiene, and student-teaching practice. As music was a passion of Howe's and part of her educational background, it was one of the most studied topics at the training school. It was, she explained, the most beautiful and important gift from God, and therefore should be an essential aspect of Christian education for young children. The students used songbooks featuring a selection of hymns prepared by Howe herself.Footnote ⁸¹ Another course subject, believed by Froebel to be one of the most important elements of a small child's education, was the study of nature, which featured topics such as leaves, seeds, silk work culture, care for newly-hatched chicks, shells, stones, and the resurrection of life as illustrated by the four seasons.Footnote ⁸²

Table 2.

A Comparison of Teacher Training Curricula: Tokyo Women's Normal School Kindergarten Teacher Training Course and Glory Kindergarten Teacher Training School.

Source: Japan Ministry of Education, Yochien Kyoiku Hyakunenshi [One-Hundred-Year History of Kindergarten Education in Japan] (Osaka: Hikarinokuni, 1979), 80-90.

The course placed significant emphasis on Bible study, and the students were obliged to study the Bible for at least two hours every day to better understand the Christian-based principles of Froebel's kindergarten theory.Footnote ⁸³ Howe's course covered both the Old and New Testament, as those texts are the heart of the Christian faith. Howe believed it was essential to understand Froebel's kindergarten theory through the lens of the word of God, and to develop a strong spiritual life in daily life. She encouraged students to teach children Christian values by using the Bible, which she believed contained many wonderful stories for young children from both a literary and moral perspective, and could be resources for everyday living and kindergarten programs.Footnote ⁸⁴

In terms of written teaching materials, Howe carefully selected several books in English, some of which she translated into Japanese. She also translated American children's songs into Japanese, and edited and created songbooks for children and students. Additionally, Howe published an introduction to kindergarten teaching for students in Japanese (Figure 3).Footnote ⁸⁵ With regard to assisting students in understanding Froebel's theory, she believed the most important texts were Froebel's The Education of Man and Mother-Play and Nursery Songs. Both books were translated by Howe, making her the first person to translate Froebel's work into Japanese. The translations were and still are considered Howe's most remarkable contribution to early childhood education in Japan. For Howe, the books’ explanation of Froebel's principles conveyed to future kindergarten teachers the critical message that children's early introduction to the force that was manifested in all living things ensured that they would respect the spirituality of existence.Footnote ⁸⁶

Figure 3.

Teaching Materials and Textbooks used at Glory Kindergarten Teacher Training School Selected, Translated, Edited, and Written by Annie L. Howe.Footnote ⁸⁷ Source: Shoei Junior College Archives, https://www.glory-shoei.ac.jp/tandai/library/.

Howe considered, in particular, Froebel's Mother-Play and Nursery Songs to be his most triumphant achievement. It accomplishes its dual intended purpose of revealing how reason continually manifests itself in childhood, and how children can uphold reason's ideals through their imagination and affection.Footnote ⁸⁸ Her translation of the book into Japanese carefully adapted the content in terms of Japan's cultural context, employing illustrations that depicted real Japanese life and culture. She believed that the explanation of Froebel's philosophy in the Japanese cultural context could improve the Japanese people's understanding of his philosophy.Footnote ⁸⁹

Howe also acknowledged that Froebel's Mother-Play and Nursery Songs presented the fundamental principles of Christian education. She asked students to choose one or two songs from the book and explicate their meaning. Howe then more fully explained the meanings of the songs by linking them to Bible stories and Froebel's theory. She also picked particular songs and interpreted them through literary, historical, and psychological perspectives.Footnote ⁹⁰ For example, the song “The Bridge” is about a child who longs to cross a stream but is hindered by its depth and width. Suddenly, a carpenter arrives and constructs a little bridge so that the child can cross the stream (Figure 4). The song provides a metaphor of bridging: connecting separated individuals and disconnected people.Footnote ⁹¹ Howe's interpretation was inspired by chapter 12 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which provides an explanation of God's nature and why God gives spiritual gifts to Christians. She believed the carpenter in the song represented Jesus, who was always there to help people if they believed in his existence.Footnote ⁹²

Figure 4.

Left, Illustration from Friedrich Froebel, The Songs and Music of Friedrich Froebel's Mother Play (Mutter und Kose Lieder), ed. Susan E. Blow (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1895), 10. Right, Annie L. Howe's Japanese translation of Hahano Yugi Oyobi Ikujiuta [Mother Songs and Play] (Kobe: Glory Kindergarten, 1896), 77, National Diet Library Digital Collection, https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1057343.

Froebel's Mother-Play and Nursery Songs was the principal tool that enabled Howe to transmit Christian values and was linked to Froebel's theory of divine unity. In the early twentieth century, Howe's translation of Mother-Play and Nursery Songs was widely used, not only in Christian-based missionary training schools, but also in many non-Christian teacher training courses in Japan.

In Howe's translation of Mother-Play and Nursery Songs in the Japanese cultural context, one priority she pursued was to authentically reflect Japanese culture. She wanted students to understand Froebel's theory and its manifestation of Christianity through their personal lived experience as Japanese people. In particular, Howe highlighted the Froebelian emphasis on the beauty of nature and the unity of life. To that end, a class on the art of Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana) was included in the training school curriculum. Ikebana is an art form in Japanese culture that reflects views of nature and the universe.Footnote ⁹³ It originated as a ritual flower offering in Buddhism, beginning in the sixth century. After the Meiji period, ikebana became popular and many young Japanese women practiced the art as part of their preparation for marriage.Footnote ⁹⁴

At the Glory Kindergarten teacher training school, practicing ikebana had a double purpose: the flower arrangements were also expected to represent Froebel's philosophy of unity and the beauty of nature. Howe believed that this practice assisted students in understanding concepts about beauty through their Japanese culture (Figure 5).Footnote ⁹⁵ Ikebana has strict rules regarding display and composition. The three main components are known as ten (heaven), chi (earth), and jin (human beings). The inseparable components of Ten-Chi-Jin show how all of life's elements are interrelated and connected in a state of harmony and peace. In Howe's Froebelian theory, man is positioned as a conduit between heaven and earth. The components of Ten-Chi-Jin were closely linked to Froebel's educational principle of the law of unity. More importantly, it was received well in the Christian world as it reflected God's creation of heaven and earth and human beings.

Figure 5.

Ikebana (arranging flowers) at Glory Kindergarten Teacher Training School (date unknown). Courtesy of Shoei Junior College Archive, Kobe, Japan, https://www.glory-shoei.ac.jp/tandai/library/.

In 1927, Howe completed her mission and returned to the US. During her time in Japan, she trained 270 students, and over half of those students went on to have important roles in the kindergarten field.Footnote ⁹⁶ Many of her graduates were employed in important positions throughout Japan. As part of the official farewell to Howe, an “Appreciation” written by a missionary woman, Agnes Gordon, appeared in the 1927 JKU annual report:

Howe's forty years of service in Japan were rewarded when the Ministry of Education recognized the importance of kindergarten education by including kindergartens as an official component of the Japanese education system. Importantly, in 1940, she was awarded the Blue Ribbon Medal by the emperor of Japan. It was acknowledgment, finally, of Howe's work and her devotion to kindergarten education and teacher training, which came to be respected in Japan for its high standard and excellence in the field of early childhood education.Footnote ⁹⁸