Taneichi Kitazawa was a reformer of the New Education Movement during the period of Taisho democracy. He served as the director of the elementary school attached to Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School and advocated Sagyokyoiku.

 Historical researchers have dismissed the New Education reformers' thoughts on democracy as similar to Minponshugi (democratism), the political ideology of Sakuzo Yoshino. However, the previous studies neither verified how the reformers attained this concept nor explained how they understood it. In this paper, the author attempts to clarify Kitazawa's understanding of democracy and how he implemented practical studies based on this concept.

 In the late 1910s, Kitazawa wrote that there are two concepts of democracy. One represents a political government form, and the other represents more than that, “a way of associated living.” He supported the latter concept (social democracy), which he translated as kyotsushugi in Japanese. To Kitazawa, this concept meant extending the number of participants in an activity who share a common interest. He believed an individual could consider the actions of other participants to give direction to his or her own actions and grow through various interactions. In particular, John Dewey's Democracy and Education influenced Kitazawa's concept of democracy, which he accepted as an educational inquiry based on common interests.

 At the same time, Kitazawa examined William H. Kilpatrick's theory and experimental study on the Project Method. He grasped the meaning of this theory in the Deweyan sense. For example, he saw the spirit of ideal practice in a common purposeful activity accompanying a common interest, and empathized with Kilpatrick's definition of the project, “a wholehearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment.” He was also interested in Kilpatrick's experiment at the Horace Mann School, particularly its classroom life as social life.

 After studying abroad for two years, Kitazawa began a radical reform for experimental studies at the elementary school attached to Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School. In the late 1920s, Kitazawa advocated the theory of classroom management, which became a pivotal tenet of Sagyokyoiku. Although some reformers insisted on reducing the number of children in each classroom, he believed the ideal classroom should have as many children as possible. Kitazawa argued that the most important principles underlying class organization were “common interests,” “communication” and “community.” Dewey's theory of interest remained at the center of his philosophy of education from before his study abroad until thereafter.