This investigation, as a part of research on the history of environmental education, seeks to clarify the generation process of practices by kogai sufferers related to the passing down of kogai issues. Research on environmental education in Japan has continued to overlook the existence of kogai sufferers. Related to this, a question remains, “How have kogai sufferers passed down their respective kogai experiences?”

  This study addresses the aforementioned question by examining the life history of Eiko Sugimoto (1938-2008), who was a pioneer of “passing down the Minamata disease,” which is considered to be the “starting point of kogai.” The study reveals how the generation process of Eiko Sugimoto’s practice of passing down the Minamata disease— which was also the process of becoming an “educator” —was the result of an internal conflict accompanying her shift in identity as a “Minamata disease sufferer” to that of a “seikatsu-sha.” The study also reveals one aspect of the history of environmental education in Minamata diseaseaffected areas.