Clara Matsuno

, born Clara Louise Zitelmann, was a German-born educator, a pioneer in the kindergarten movement in Japan.

Early life Clara Louise Zitelmann was born and educated in Berlin, the daughter of Carl Friedrich Zitelmann and Emma Pauline Ulrike Zitelmann.

Career In 1876, Matsuno became the first head teacher at the first kindergarten in Japan, with Froebel-inspired methods emphasizing outdoor play, puzzles, songs and games. The school's principal, Shinzo Seki, translated for her, as she did not speak Japanese upon arrival in Japan. She was also a teacher-training instructor at the Tokyo College of Education for Women from 1876 to 1881. She also taught English and German, and gave piano lessons for the Imperial Household Agency.

Personal life and legacy Clara Louise Zitelmann married (松 野 礀) in Ueno in 1876; the couple met in Berlin, where Matsuno was studying forestry. In 1976, the Japanese post office released a postage stamp honoring Clara Matsuno on the centennial of her founding the kindergarten program at the Tokyo College of Education for Women. There is a monument honoring Matsuno, with the same image as on the stamp, in the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo.