The concept of “expressive play” was first introduced publicly at the Centennial World Exposition in the United States in 1876 as part of Froebel Kindergarten education, and was introduced to Japan as “yugi” by the Japanese Minister of Education, Fujimaro Tanaka, in his report of his experiences at the Exposition. “Yugi” was exhibited for the first time at the opening ceremony of a government kindergarten in 1877, during which children sang and moved their arms and legs, with spirit to represent a windmill. The term “yugi” had rarely been used before the Meiji Era (1868-1912), but with this occasion yugi became incorporated into the kindergarten curriculum in the early Meiji Era. The present study examined the awareness of “yugi” in kindergarten education during the history of Japan, starting with the report by Tanaka, who was a member of the Iwakura Mission that visited Europe and America in 1873, and was involved in the establishment of kindergartens. It was found that (1) in the early writings of Tanaka, the term “yugi” was used in a negative context indicating a “waste of time”. In the next stage (2), it was used in reports introducing non-deskwork activities conducted by public school pupils in the playground. Finally, (3) “yugi” was introduced not as simple exercise, but as an activity in which children moved their arms and legs while singing, with the intent of expressing some type of form.
