Value-Creating Pedagogy and Japanese
Education in the Modern Era
by Kazunori Kumagai
1. Problems in Modern Japanese Education
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi wrote Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei [The System ofValue-Creating Pedagogy] in response to the numerous problems heencountered while working in the education system of modern Japan(late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries). He hoped to reform an
educational system no longer able to cope with the changes taking
place in Japanese society.
Modern Japanese education began with the Education Law of1872 that mandated the objective of “education for all.” The basic
structure of the school system introduced at that time was modeled on
the centralized school system of France, a system that made it easierfor government to control and administer education uniformly. In
terms of accelerating the modernization of Japan (which at that time
lagged behind the nations of the West), it was urgent to establish amodern school system, to give all citizens access to education, and toraise the standard of education. In order to achieve this massive taskof modernization efficiently, the state needed a school systemcentrally controlled. This would enable the Meiji government toachieve its political objectives quickly — as encapsulated in the slogan
fukoku kyohei or “wealthy nation, strong army.”
There is no doubt that modern schools were established quickly inJapan as a result of this centralized system. In the year following thepromulgation of the Education Law, the proportion of children
attending elementary school was a little over 28%; forty years later, it
was over 98%. In 1896 when Tsunesaburo Makiguchi graduated from
Hokkaido Normal School and took his first steps into the world of
education, there was only one university in Tokyo. Some 30 years
later (1930), when the Society for Value-Creating Pedagogy (Soka
Kyoiku Gakkai) was formed and the first volume of the The System
of Value-Creating Pedagogy was published, that number had grown29T he Jou rn a l of Or i ent a l St ud ie s 10 :S p ec ia l Iss u e

to forty-six. The growth and rising standards in education were major
factors that contributed to the modernization of Japanese society,enabling the economy to develop and the military might of the nation
to expand.
The centralized school system certainly proved the correct choice interms of modernizing Japan and creating a powerful nation; as societychanged, however, this system also created numerous problems.
Repeated reforms were carried out at the elementary, middle andhigher school levels from the Meiji through the Taisho periods.
Attempts were made to put the school system in a more comprehensible
form by (a) providing educational content and methods directly related
to the mental and physical development of the child (b) improving thesystem for advancement to higher education and (c) improving the waythat schools were run. As the damaging impact of socioeconomic
conditions were increasingly felt in education, problems in education
were only exacerbated. During the period when The System of ValueCreating Pedagogy was written and published (from the end of Taisho
through the early years of the Showa periods), these problems received
considerable attention as a social issue, to the extent that the term kyoiku
kokunan [“the crisis in national education”] was coined.
Major problems in education at that time included the following:

30•

The uniformity of educational strategies due to thecentralized administration of education by the state, theinherent lack of freedom in the classrooms, and theprevalence of educational methods not conducive to thenurturing of creativity•

Problems with remuneration of teaching and administrative
staff in a system controlled by bureaucrats and school
inspectors (low wages, delayed or missed paychecks, lowsocial status, and the lack of comparative administrative
authority)•

Classrooms focused on the teacher and rote memorizationof facts and dependence on textbooks mandated by theauthorities•

Intense competition to pass exams as greater numbers ofstudents went on to higher education, resulting in school
entrance difficulties and “examination hell”

V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y•

Inequality of opportunity in education as a result of the twotrack education system and as a reflection of social andfinancial inequality•

Employment difficulties for graduates of universities andhigher vocational schools, owing to the recession and thegrowing number of institutions of higher education•

A proliferation of socialist and communist ideas among
students

Makiguchi was concerned about every issue and was determined totackle all of them head on. At the root of his determination werepowerful humanistic sensibilities. Makiguchi was tormented by theidea that unless something was done about the current state of affairs
in which “eleven million children and school pupils are struggling —unable to get into school, suffering the hell of examinations and unable
to get work when they leave school” (Pedagogy 8), the suffering would
continue into the next generation. Makiguchi believed that problems
in education must be solved for the sake of the happiness of children
and the younger generation, and these humanistic ideals spurred him
to write The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy. Makiguchi wanted
happiness for the youth of the next generation as they were to carrywith them hopes for the future. He sought ways to approach the
problems in education through experience and based on the practiceand knowledge gleaned from diligent academic endeavors. The resultof his research was The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy, a work
infused with the spirit of humanism.
The first volume was published in 1930, the second volume in1931, the third in 1932 and the fourth in 1934. Thus Makiguchi set
forth his ideas for education based on the world of the first half of the
1930s (or, according to the Japanese mode of counting years, the firstyears of the Showa Era). If the time required for writing The System
of Value-Creating Pedagogy is added to that for publication of theseries, it would be correct to view its creation as spanning the years
from the latter half of the 1920s through the first half of the 1930s.
These ten years were also a significant turning point in modern
Japanese history. It was a period during which the creeds of liberalismand democracy based on respect for human dignity and the ideas ofhumanism were a powerful force — so much so that the period was31Th e Jou rna l o f Ori en t a l Stu d ie s 10 :S pec i a l Iss u edubbed the era of Taisho democracy. It was followed by years of
oppression at the hands of those opposed to this freedom, forces
backed by the authority of a state that gave rise to a nationalism
grounded in the idea of the emperor as absolute power. It was the
beginning of an era of violence.
In April of 1925 the Public Security Preservation Law was passed.
Its main aim was to tighten state control over speech and thought andwas later to become the legal basis for the arrest of Makiguchi. In May
the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law (a revision in the laws
governing the election of members to the House of Representatives)
granted the vote to all males aged twenty-five and over. It was amanifestation of democracy developing in modern Japan. On theother hand, the passing of the Public Security Preservation Law
signaled that Japanese nationalism was poised to move in a dangerous
direction. In 1928 (the year Makiguchi encountered the Lotus Sutra)
the first election under the Universal Manhood Suffrage Law washeld for the House of Representatives. That same year there weremass arrests of Communist party members as the Public Security
Preservation Law swung into action. Thus the period during which
The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy was in the making was oneof great change in Japanese history: Humanism, liberalism andnationalism had existed side by side then competed with one anotheruntil the first two were suppressed and finally supplanted by the third.
Amidst the tumult of the modern era, problems in Japanese
education became increasingly serious and required a better methodof education than what had existed in the past. These problems
provided the impetus for Makiguchi’s value-creating pedagogy.
Responding from an acute awareness of the mood and demands ofthe times, Makiguchi chose to make his stand with the forces of liberal
humanism against the tide of nationalism sweeping the country. He
embarked on devising a system of educational theory that would
contribute to solving the problems in modern Japanese education.
The result was The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy.
2. Education for the State and Education for Happiness
For what purpose do we educate people? For whom do we educate
them? It is necessary first to answer these questions and clarify the32

V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y

goal of education before we begin to educate. Makiguchi likened thegoal of education as a target into which an arrow is shot, and stressed
the importance of knowing exactly what the target is. In the first
volume of The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy there is a section
entitled “Kyoiku Mokuteki Ron” [A theory on the goal of education]. It
is important to understand the goals proclaimed by Japanese
education during this period of heavy state control if we are tounderstand fully the goal of education Makiguchi set forth. Later, I
will describe Makiguchi’s view on the goals of education.
The ideological basis and the goals of education are set forth in
the preface to the Education Law of 1872. Accordingly, people
were to receive an education not so much for the sake of the state
but to enable them to get ahead in life, to prosper and progress intheir endeavors, and to lead fulfilling lives (Ministry of Education
21–24). At root was the idea that people should cultivate goodcharacter, increase their knowledge and expand their skills.
Education and learning were the means to personal advancement,
prosperity and fulfillment. The Education Law put forth acentralized model, based on the French school system, as abuilding block in the formation of a modern state. Its ideology andgoals initially were not nationalist in character but, instead,influenced by the utilitarianism of modern Britain. By the 1880s,
however, the imperatives of education were transformed by andsubsumed under nationalism, with the imperatives of the statetaking priority over all else.
Arinori Mori was appointed Japan’s first Minister of Education in
December 1885. He believed that education formed the basis of thewealth and power of the nation and, by extension, that theestablishment and maintenance of schools served the state. Moriasserted that administrators must not lose sight of the fact that
education is provided not only for the benefit of the student but also
for the benefit of the state. Mori also proposed that under thejurisdiction of the Ministry of War, military calisthenics be included
as part of the curriculum in middle school and higher in order toinstill a patriotic spirit in young people. In 1913 these military
calisthenics became a formal part of the physical education
curriculum in middle and higher schools. In 1925 a system wasestablished in which officers of the military were assigned to schools
33

T he Jou rn al o f Ori ent a l St ud ie s 10 :S p ec ia l Iss u e

to carry out military training. Thus Mori’s proposal had the effect of
initiating the militarization of school education.
In 1890 (the year after Makiguchi entered Hokkaido Normal
School), Mori’s idea of education as a tool of nationalism was linked
to the idea of “loyalty to the sacred person of the Emperor” in theform of the Imperial Rescript on Education. In it, the emperor
instructs his subjects, that is, the people of Japan, on morality. The
Rescript was a lecture in Confucian ethics, professing loyalty to theemperor and sacrifice of the individual for the state. The Rescript
formed the ideological basis of education in Japan from the middle ofthe Meiji Period to the end of — that is, Japan’s defeat in — the Second
World War and dictated the direction of school education. A copy of
the Rescript was kept as a sacred object in special facilities at eachschool along with a photograph of the emperor and taken out andread to students at school ceremonies by someone like the principal.
This was a ceremonial act designed to impress upon the listeners that
education was for the emperor and the state. Thus the fundamental
goal of education was to inculcate young people with the idea of theemperor as center of the universe and the nation before all else and aspirit of loyalty to the emperor and of patriotism.
The ideas embodied in the Imperial Rescript on Education exercised
control over school education in Japan until the end of the war. All goals
and objectives of practical education were drawn from and came backto the Imperial Rescript. The ultimate goal of Japanese education until
the end of the war was to follow the Imperial Rescript on Educationand produce citizens of high caliber who were unswervingly loyal to thenation ruled by the emperor and who would not hesitate to give up
their lives for this nation. Under the centralized school systemdescribed earlier, the uniform control and administration of schools wasa simple matter, enabling a system of education to be put in place that
did indeed work efficiently for the state and which fulfilled the goals set
out in the Imperial Rescript on Education.
While the Imperial Rescript on Education became the final
authority on the fundamental goals of education, Makiguchi sought a
different kind of education than education for the state. The goal that
Makiguchi postulated for education was very different in nature thanthose goals controlling schools at the time. Makiguchi took the viewthat people and not the Imperial Rescript on Education formed the34

V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y

cornerstone of education, and that the purpose of education must be
to ensure the happiness of human beings. According to Makiguchi,
the goal of value-creating pedagogy was the realization of happiness:“Education is guiding the person being educated in such a way thatthey are able to achieve happiness” (Pedagogy 124). And: “The life of
the person receiving the education should form the subject of that
education, and the goal of education be their happiness in that life”(Pedagogy 124). In other words, Makiguchi believed that providing
instruction to enable children now and in the future to attainhappiness in their lives was the goal of education.
Makiguchi was not the first person to link happiness to the goal of
education. Early in the 19th century, John Stuart Mill had described
the goal of education as being the means for the happiness of oneself
and others, while Herbert Spencer described education as preparation
for a perfect life that would bring with it happiness. Makiguchi wasundeniably influenced by the views of the educational utilitarianismof 19th century Britain. What is important here, however, is that in an
era when “education for the benefit of the state” was enforced by theauthorities and schools were steeped in the ideology of the Imperial
Rescript on Education, Makiguchi gave priority to people and not thestate. He declared unequivocally that the goal of education was tohelp children attain happiness in life. In today’s Japan where our basic
human rights are guaranteed and the right to pursue happinessrecognized, declaring education to be for the happiness of children
seems almost ridiculously obvious. But at a time when extreme
nationalism cast a cloud over the country and the state was linked toworship of the emperor to the exclusion of the individual, what
Makiguchi said took considerable courage. At the root of this courage
we can sense the strength of Makiguchi’s humanistic beliefs.
Why did Makiguchi position happiness as the goal of education?
According to Kant, happiness is something human beings instinctively
seek. Because he believed this, Makiguchi asserted that helping
children attain happiness in life was the goal of education because
education should help us in life. If the things that every person wantsout of life were to be distilled and expressed in a one word, this word
would be happiness; therefore the goal of education must be tocontribute to happiness. It would be fair to say that Makiguchi’s
insistence on education for happiness was based on a belief that35

Th e Jo ur na l of O ri en t al St u d ie s 1 0: Sp ec ia l I ss ue

human beings and their lives deserve respect above all else, and on abelief in infinite love for all that is life. In the context of Japanese
education in the modern era, directed by the state and controlled bynationalist ideology, Makiguchi’s belief was foreign and out of step,
but from the perspectives of the dignity of human life and of humanrights it has a universal value that transcends the ages.
3. Progressive Proposals for Educational Reform
and the Fascist System
The title of volume III of The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy is“Kyoiku Kaizoron” [A Theory on the Rebuilding of Education]. In thisvolume, Makiguchi first identifies value-creating education as a systemof education with aims to mold the person’s natural individuality intoa culturally sophisticated personality. He then proposes reforms forresolving the aforementioned problems in education and for building
the ideal education system. He defines his plan for educational reform
as a plan for nurturing the people who will build the ideal society, andmakes the following specific recommendations:
1. Reform teacher training – more thorough training inteaching materials for different subjects, in knowledge ofteaching methods, and in nurturing of a personality suitable
for the teaching of morals; establishment of an apprenticeteacher system in which teachers would learn by working
with more experienced teaching staff.
2. Establish a public education research institute which would
have an elementary school attached for the training ofteachers and would conduct surveys and studies of theeducation system, its regulations and policies.
3. Hold examinations for the post of elementary school
principal.
4. Improve conditions for elementary school teachers –making salaries, status and position of teaching staff
equivalent to those of general government officials andmilitary staff.
5. Abolish the school inspector system of administering,supervising and directing schools.
36

VALUE -CREATING PEDAGOGY

6. Establish the right of school autonomy, preventing undue
control from outside by political or administrative
authorities. At the same time, encourage participation ofparents in education. (Makiguchi was of the view thatparents should have a voice in their children’s educationand that a mother’s participation in school education waspart of her household management.)
7.

Abolish the higher schools of the period (educational
institutions positioned between the old middle schools anduniversities) as well as the universities in order to makeeducation truly an equal opportunity, and switch to asingle-track school system consisting of three stages:
elementary school (six years), national people’s school, andhigher national people’s school. Above these institutions
would be graduate schools and institutions for academic
research. (Makiguchi was a critic of the double-track school
system of the time, which reflected and encouraged
differences in social class and was a contradiction of theprinciple of equal opportunity.)

8. Recognize the privatization of school operations while
recognizing that the state has supervisory rights.
9. Introduce a half-day school system by conducting lessons atelementary and national people’s schools for half of everyday. Children would then spend the second half of the day
helping in the home or engaging in productive activities forthe local community. At higher national people’s schools,
vocational instruction and studies would dominate, withlessons held mainly at night. Makiguchi advocated a halfday school system – he believed it linked school education
directly to productive activity and was beneficial to the livesof students and to society. He believed people needed tocontinue learning throughout their lives in a way that was
related to the conduct of everyday life. These ideas are
echoed in the philosophy of lifetime education that has
spread through Japanese society rapidly since the 1970s.
10. Replace rote learning with a system of education thatconcentrates on teaching students how to learn (the conceptof gakushu shidoshugi).
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The Journal of Oriental Studies 10:Special Issue

At the root of these proposals for educational reform are ideas thatcharacterize the modern era and the rationalist and democratic
viewpoints. Grounded in the rationalist viewpoint are the proposals
for reform in teacher training which requires candidates for elementary
school principals to pass examinations, the setting up of a national
education research institute, privatization of school management and ahalf-day school system. The products of a democratic viewpoint are
better conditions for elementary teaching staff, abolition of the school
inspector system, autonomy for schools, encouraging and assisting
parents to participate in education, and the creation of a single-trackschool system. Makiguchi’s proposals for educational reform wererational and democratic in nature and very progressive for their time.
It is the humanism of Makiguchi — his desire for children to be happy– that underpins the characteristically modern rationalist anddemocratic nature of these progressive reform proposals.
By advocating progressive reforms in education (especially by
advocating the abolition of the school inspector system and increased
autonomy for schools), Makiguchi earned the suspicion and enmity ofthe officials and inspectors responsible for overseeing education. The
atmosphere in Japanese society at the time his System was publishedand in the following years from the late 1930s to the early 1940s was
far from conducive to acceptance of these humanist proposals foreducational reform. 1931, the year in which Volume II was published,saw the Manchurian Incident and the beginning of a state of war forJapan that would last fifteen years. Nationalist ideology became evenmore extreme, national life was increasingly influenced by militarism,
and in 1934, the year in which Volume IV was published, a “thought”
bureau was established at the Ministry of Education. Controls were
further tightened on freedom of speech and thought.
In 1937, Makiguchi published Soka Kyoikuho no Kagakuteki
Choshukyoteki Jikken Shomei [Scientific and Religious Proof of ValueCreating Pedagogy], in which he linked methods of education with
Buddhist theory and posited that life must have instructions. Thatsame year, war broke with China and the system of National Spiritual
Mobilization was adopted. This National Spiritual Mobilization was a
movement aimed at boosting Japanese spirit in order to unite thepeople as one and form a structure of national unity. It was extremely
totalitarian and fascist in nature. The year 1937 was also the year that38

V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y

the Prime Minister and General Senjuro Hayashi took on the
additional post of Minister of Education.
The military began to have an increasing say in education andfurther steps were taken to make education an instrument of military
and war policy. In terms of the actual content of education, revisions
were made to the Ministry of Education’s Chugakko Kyoju Yomoku[Essential Points of Secondary School Teaching] and Shihan Gakko Kyoju
Yomoku [Essential Points of Normal School Teaching], emphasizing a
Japan where the sacred and inviolable Emperor ruled as the absolute
being. Even greater efforts were made to raise a generation of young
people infused with the spirit of loyalty and patriotism. For example, inthe civics’ course of the old middle schools, teachers were required tostress the unique nature of the structure of the Japanese nation that was
ruled by the emperor and to inculcate their students with these beliefs
as Japanese subjects. During military training at schools, teachers weretold to heed the Imperial instructions bestowed upon soldiers.
In 1938, the National General Mobilization Law was passed,
allowing the government enormous powers of control andadministration over the human and material resources of the nation.
Another military officer, Sadao Araki, became Minister of Education,
resulting in further militarization of the school system. In 1940, thesystem of parliamentary democracy crumbled to be replaced by aJapanese version of fascism with the disbanding of political parties
and the formation of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association. Under
extreme nationalism and the fascist system, the humanistic education
leading to the happiness for children that Makiguchi wanted was
discarded completely and was replaced with education incorporated
into the wartime system, created solely to spur on the enthusiasm of
young people for the war and serve the national war effort.
As we have seen, Japanese society was increasingly in thestranglehold of fascist ideology in the years after the publication of
Makiguchi’s System of Value-Creating Pedagogy. An awareness of
being at war permeated everyday life, and the conditions in which
Makiguchi’s progressive ideas for educational reform would bevalued and realized were rapidly being lost.
However most of Makiguchi’s proposals for educational reform,
which under the fascist system never saw the light of day, were
eventually adopted under the liberal democratic system established39Th e Jou rn a l of O ri ent a l St ud i es 1 0:S p ec ia l I ss u eafter Japan’s defeat and the end of the Second World War. The singletrack school system for example, with its objective of equal
opportunity education for all, became the 6-3-3 system. Just as
Makiguchi had proposed to abolish the school inspector system andintroduce autonomy for schools, unwarranted control of education
was removed (Fundamental Law of Education, Article 10). Candidates
for the post of elementary school principal were required to passexaminations. And progress was made in the teacher training systemby the upgrading of teacher training facilities to university status.
It would be fair to say that these changes were a reflection of themodern, democratic nature of Makiguchi’s pedagogy and its
humanistic foundations. Although the half-day school system isdifficult to implement in its proposed form, we can appreciate themeaning of this concept and the forward-looking nature of
Makiguchi’s views on pedagogy. When education for life is viewed asimportant and our access to information grows, we may need to adopt
the half-day system.
4. Value-Creation in Education and Humanism
The most fundamental terms in value-creating pedagogy are value
creation and happiness. Makiguchi’s ideas on education were basedon a combination of these two concepts and were rooted inhumanistic thought.
In the search for the goal of education, Makiguchi contemplated in
depth the systemization of his theories on education, particularly theissue of value. He developed a unique theory termed kachiron. Thisvalue theory was influenced by ideas from two schools from modern
Europe. The first was the philosophy of neo-Kantianism with origins
in the philosophy of Kant, known as the father of German idealism.
Makiguchi was introduced to the value philosophy of the neoKantians through the writings of the Japanese economic philosopher,
Kiichiro Soda. To the usual value categories of truth, good, beautyand holiness, Soda added economic value. He discussed values from
two angles — as universally applicable standards and as something
created by human beings. Makiguchi gleaned two main ideas from
Soda’s writings — that of including economic value (for which
Makiguchi used in his theory of value the general term ri or “benefit,40

V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y

gain” as a category of value) and the idea that value can be created
and is important in terms of human existence.
The second influence on Makiguchi’s theory of value creation was
the utilitarianism of Britain, which deemed happiness to be the goalof life and the ultimate aim of human behavior. It sought the greatest
happiness for the greatest number. Utilitarianism was introduced toJapan from the mid-1870s to the 1890s. As the democratic movement
grew during the Taisho years, so did interest in utilitarian ideas.
Makiguchi came into contact with utilitarian thought during his youth
while looking for the goals of education from the perspective ofhuman happiness. Because he became convinced that education was
linked to happiness, his interest grew in utilitarianism.
Makiguchi developed a theory of value that combined the idea of
happiness as the goal of life with that of value as something that canbe created. He asserted that if we were to distill what everyone wants
in our lives and express it succinctly, the goal of life would behappiness. How then may we attain happiness? What do we have to
do to reach a state of happiness? Makiguchi’s answer to thesequestions: By creating value. To achieve happiness we must create
value. Everyone alive on this earth must work to create value with theaim of achieving happiness – this was the idea forming the basis of thepedagogy of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.
From this idea of value creation as the precondition for happinessin life, Makiguchi declared that the purpose of education was forliving life and defined value-creating pedagogy as “a knowledge
system for teaching people to create the value that is the goal of life”(Pedagogy 13). Based on this definition, the goal of education must bederived from the goal of life, which is, ultimately, the achievement ofhappiness in life and, more specifically, guiding children toward a
happy life. In value-creating pedagogy the main point of education is
to aim for a happy life and to develop the ability and attitude required
to create value. Although discussed from a variety of angles, themethods and conditions of education, educational research and thestate of pedagogy are all with reference to this central point.
It goes without saying that Makiguchi’s belief in a teaching system
for happiness in life and in education for the happiness of children
both had their origins in his humanism. The concept of value creationand the ideas of utilitarianism are part of a current of humanism that
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The Journal of Oriental Studies 10:Special Issue

has flowed through history since the Renaissance. Makiguchi’s theoryof value creation and the pedagogy based on his theory are generated
by his own love for humanity and the stimulated by these ideas. They
are part of a lineage of humanism which forms the foundation ofmodern pacifist ideas.
At the root of Makiguchi’s humanism was a belief in the dignity oflife, a belief at one with that of love for humanity. This belief isapparent in Makiguchi’s views on the definition of value.
Makiguchi did not see value in terms of absolute standards, but assomething generated within a relationship between subject and object.
The subject, needless to say, is the living being. Makiguchi describedhis definition of value as follows:
Value cannot exist on any other basis than that of the concept of
its relationship to life. (Pedagogy 219)
Value is not generated by anything of a nature unrelated to theshortening or extension of human life. Therefore value is theobject in a relationship with the life of a human being.
(Pedagogy 293)

Thus value is born of its relationship with life. In Makiguchi’s
theory of value creation, life is the source of value, and a system ofvalues is founded on the basis of life as the absolute value. Life istherefore central to this theory of value. All pacifist ideas have attheir root a respect for life. The fundamental character ofMakiguchi’s theory of value, in which the worth of a thing is judged
according to the degree to which it fulfils the purpose of life, is oneof pacifism.
After being drawn to the Lotus Sutra, Makiguchi stated that theroots of the idea of value-creating pedagogy could be found in thecentral concepts of the Lotus Sutra. More specifically, he describes
the educational methods of value-creating pedagogy as grounded in
the spirit of mercy found in the Lotus Sutra (Summary 411). The
central concept of the Lotus Sutra is explained in the Juryohon [ThusCome One], the sixteenth of the twenty-eight chapters of the Sutra.
According to the Juryohon, the eternal Buddha is constantly hoping tosave living beings from their suffering. Since ancient times, he has
preached the truth (the Buddhist law) everywhere to many, and willlead those who seek the Buddha with all their hearts and obey his
42V A LU E - C R E A T I N G P E D A G O G Y

teachings swiftly into the world of the Buddha. The Juryohon
preaches the eternal nature of the life of the Buddha, the endlessmercy of that Buddha for all humanity, and the idea that anyone canenter the world of the Buddha and be saved by following theteachings of the Buddha. The idea that everyone receives the mercyof the eternal Buddha equally with no discrimination, and thatanyone can reach the highest spiritual state possible for a humanbeing (a state of true happiness beyond suffering) by obeying thelaws of the Buddha, are the very nucleus of the Lotus Sutra.
According to Makiguchi, these are the very ideas at the root of valuecreating pedagogy.
The ideas from the Lotus Sutra explained here are a higher,
religious form of humanism, and are based on a deep and infinite
spiritual love for mankind, that is, mercy. According to Makiguchi,
this concept of mercy is the very theme running through valuecreating pedagogy. It would be fair to say that this means thatvalue-creating pedagogy is sustained by the spirit of a higher
dimension of love for humanity and life. A respect for life forms thebasis of pacifism. Value-creating pedagogy, based on a great love forlife at the spiritual level, may be viewed as the pedagogy ofpacifism. It is especially noteworthy that this view of educationa p p e a red at a time of rising nationalism and a militarist
stranglehold on society.
5. Significance of Value-Creating Pedagogy in Modern Japan
Makiguchi penned and published his System of Value-Creating
Pedagogy at a time when the modernization of Japan that had takenplace since the Meiji Period was encountering a number of obstacles– political, economic, social and educational. It was a time whenvarious problems in society were increasing in severity. It was a period
during which the tide of the liberal democratic movement receded, tobe replaced by an increasingly powerful nationalism that grew inviolence, resulting eventually in the emergence of militarism.
Sacrificing the good of the individual for that of the nation as a whole
was glorified and became prominent in Japanese society.
Unemployment and the gap between rich and poor threw a dark
shadow over the nation.
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The Journal of Oriental Studies 10:Special Issue

Those working in education faced a host of problems — intensecompetition and the tendency to simply cram students with facts
in order to pass exams; increasing uniformity in education as thestate exercised greater control; and the lack of equal opportunity
in education caused by the double-track school system.
Modernization created an emperor who reigned supreme but did
not bring “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” It
brought, instead, unhappiness for most. As an educator and ascholar of education, Makiguchi examined this state of
unhappiness honestly and earnestly to write The System of ValueCreating Pedagogy and to explain his value-creating pedagogy to
the world.
Faced with this unhappiness in a nation that had developed intoa great power, Makiguchi stated clearly that a nation is only a nation
because of its people. He assigned the life of the individual priority
above all else and asserted that happiness was the goal of life. He
linked these ideas to the goal of education. The significance ofvalue-creating pedagogy was four-fold: First, it advanced a theory ofvalue in which life is central and made the happiness of children thegoal of education — all this at a time when it was deemed an honor
to sacrifice one’s life for the nation. The second significance ofvalue-creating pedagogy was that it linked the idea of value creation
to happiness and presented a theory for education and an argument
for the reform of education from the viewpoints of creating value
and nurturing the character. It avoided being swept along by thetimes. And, third, Makiguchi’s theory was not utopian in nature but
consisted rather of education that actually produces results and was
useful to community life. Thus, it was realistic and rational. And thelast point, emphasized in the latter half of the System, is that
Makiguchi positions Buddhist thought as the basis of his
educational theory in the midst of the limits of modernity with all
its social problems and unhappiness, aiming to overcome thecontradictions of modern life.
The significance of value-creating pedagogy as described here isborn of humanism based on a love for life. This is the basis of peace.
Value-creating pedagogy has played a valuable part in thedevelopment of modern Japanese education. The pressure ofnationalism failed to crush it. The ideas of value-creating pedagogy
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are of benefit in any age and provide us with many valuablesuggestions for solving the problems we face in education today.

Works Cited
Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo. Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei (1) [The System of ValueCreating Pedagogy (1)]. Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Zenshu, vol. 5. 2nd ed.
Tokyo: Daisan Bunmeisha, 1997.
———. Soka Kyoikugaku Taikei Kogai [Summary of The System of ValueCreating Pedagogy]. Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Zenshu, vol. 8. Tokyo:
Daisan Bunmeisha, 1984.
Ministry of Education. Gakusei Hachijunenshi [Eighty Years of the Education
Law of 1872]. Tokyo: Ministry of Finance Printing Bureau, 1954.

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