Clara Matsuno
Clara Matsuno | |
|---|---|
| Born | Clara Louise Zitelmann 2 August 1853 Berlin |
| Died | 1931 or 1941 Germany |
| Other names | 松野 クララ, Matsuno Kurara, Klara Matsuno |
| Occupation(s) | Teacher, musician |
Clara Matsuno (松野 クララ, Matsuno Kurara, 2 August 1853 – 1931 or 1941), born Clara Louise Zitelmann, was a German-born educator, a pioneer in the kindergarten movement in Japan.
Early life
[edit]Clara Louise Zitelmann was born and educated in Berlin,[1] the daughter of Carl Friedrich Zitelmann and Emma Pauline Ulrike Zitelmann.
Career
[edit]In 1876,[2] Matsuno became the first head teacher at the first kindergarten in Japan, with Froebel-inspired methods emphasizing outdoor play, puzzles, songs and games.[3][4] The school's principal, Shinzo Seki, translated for her, as she did not speak Japanese upon arrival in Japan.[5] She was also a teacher-training instructor at the Tokyo College of Education for Women from 1876 to 1881. She also taught English and German, and gave piano lessons for the Imperial Household Agency.[1][6]
Personal life and legacy
[edit]Clara Louise Zitelmann married Hazama Matsuno (松 野 礀) in Ueno in 1876; the couple met in Berlin, where Matsuno was studying forestry.[1] They were the first German-Japanese couple married in Japan; she became a Japanese citizen by marriage. They had a daughter, Frieda Fumi, who died in 1901, at age 24. Matsuno's husband died in 1908; for a time she lived with her sister and sister-in-law in Japan. She died in Germany in 1931, aged 77 years; some sources give her death date as 1941.
The novel Ein Adoptivkind: Die Geschichte eines Japaners (1916) by Katharina Zitelmann is based in part on Clara Matsuno's life.[7] In 1976, the Japanese post office released a postage stamp honoring Clara Matsuno on the centennial of her founding the kindergarten program at the Tokyo College of Education for Women. There is a monument honoring Matsuno in the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Kawano, Kirsty (2016-12-14). "The woman who brought the joys of kindergarten to Japan". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
- ^ Anderson, Ronald Shand (1975). Education in Japan: a century of modern development. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education. p. 39.
- ^ Wollons, Roberta (1993). "The Black Forest in a Bamboo Garden: Missionary Kindergartens in Japan, 1868-1912". History of Education Quarterly. 33 (1): 1–35. doi:10.2307/368518. JSTOR 368518.
- ^ Soga, Yoshie (2008). "Study on the Creation Process of "Singing Dance" Writing process of Hoiku-shoka (Childcare songs) found in the Gagaku-roku (The Official Documents of Japanese Imperial Court Music)". Taiikugaku Kenkyu (Japan Journal of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences). 53 (2): 297–313. doi:10.5432/jjpehss.a530222. ISSN 1881-7718.
- ^ Tsujimoto, Masashi; Yamasaki, Yoko (2017-03-16). The History of Education in Japan (1600 – 2000). Taylor & Francis. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-317-29575-4.
- ^ Howe, Sondra Wieland (January 1995). "The Role of Women in the Introduction of Western Music in Japan". Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education. 16 (2): 81–98. doi:10.1177/153660069501600201. S2CID 157827079.
- ^ Zitelmann, Catharina (1916). Ein Adoptivkind. Die Geschichte eines Japaners (in German). Engelhorn.
External links
[edit]- A painting illustrating a kindergarten class playing a game (Pigeon's Nest) led by Clara Matsuno, from the Ochanomizu University Digital Archives.
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