Principle of Outdoor Education Using the Concept of “Fudo, or climate”

Abstract

This study considers “Fudo, or climate” a key concept in the reinterpretation of the concept of yagai, from the perspective of outdoor education practice, and attempts to stipulate the principles regulating outdoor education. First, the author undertook a critical examination of the well-known Japanese climate scholar Watsuji Tetsurō’s concept of “Fudo.” The results indicated the author interprets Kameyama’s definition‐ “the total integrated relationship between people in a collective society and living nature in a specific geographic space” ‐as comprehensive descriptions of the general sense of the reinterpretation of outdoor education. A concrete description of climate based on Kameyama’s definition was thus adopted, and an attempt to stipulate the principles of outdoor education was made. Finally, the following concrete description was obtained.

I. In outdoor education practice, attention must be paid to “Fudo, or climate”.

I-1. Physical interactions (physical experiences and the act of physically going outside) must be preserved.

I-2. The nature of the region (the venue of practice) must be understood and considered as living nature.

I-3. Collectivity and collective relationships in the local community and interaction between people and nature must be understood and managed appropriately.

I-4. Integration and physical interaction between the people and nature of the region must be understood and managed appropriately.