This is a study of Kenya Matsunaga's theory of out of school education focusing on “Jidomondaikenkyu” which was published from 1933 to 1935. His theory contains two views; one was a scientific view of children, the other was a nationalistic view. I examine the connection between the former and the latter.

  In the first part, I survey Matsunaga's background and the idea of the Department of Children at Tokyo Imperial University settlement. In the second part, I survey Keiji Yamawaki's articles in “Jidomondaikenkyu” (Research in Children's Problems). The third and fourth parts examine Matsunaga's articles in “Jidomonndaikenkyu” and his book “Jido kogai-kyouiku to sono jissen” (Out of School Education for Children and its Practice). His theory contained the view that society developed from children. His work was empirically based but excluded labor from the concept of out of school education. Furthermore, he didn't question the nationalism inherent in his theories.