A Historical Study on the Predominant Influences on Fixing the Type of the Playground of Elementary Schools in Japan (1872-1899)

Abstract

In the period from the establishment of the institution of modern school system (1872) to the revision of the standard for elementary school facilities (1899), the playground of elementary schools in Japan had been well equipped. During this period, the following five conditions were the requisites of establishing a playground : a) The surface of a playground should be flat without any obstacles, b) a playground should be established in parallel with a school building, c) a playground should be located at the south or the east of a school building, d) the space of a playground obtained by locating a school building in the corner of school area to assign the rest of the space for the playground should occupy more than a half of the school area, and e) the form of a playground should be square. The purpose of this paper is to point out some primary factors of these conditions which exerted influence on fixing the type of the playground of elementary schools. The materials, chiefly used for this paper, consisted of the Manuals of School Building Plan which were published by the Ministry of Education (1882, 1892 and 1895) and the Standard for Elementary School Facilities enacted in 1890 and revised in 1890 and 1899. The summary of the result was as follows : 1) The provisions of a playground in the regulation of a school building which were introduced from England, U.S.A., and Germany and translated into Japanese by the Ministry of Education had influence on the conditions a) and b). 2) The condition c) was based on the hygienic considerations upon the sunshine and draft. 3) The primary factors which had influence on the conditions d) and e) were the restriction of educational finance in local public bodies, the introduction of military gymnastics to the physical education program and the promotion of extracurricular activities (chiefly ball games) in the 20's of the Meiji era. 4) The conditions a) and e) were strengthened by the promotion of modern school physical education and sports.