Sōsaku Kobayashi

Sosaku Kobayashi was a Japanese eurhythmics and early childhood education researcher and schoolteacher. He was responsible for popularizing eurhythmics in Japanese early childhood education, and he is also known as the headmaster of the innovative elementary school Tomoe Gakuen.

Early life and education Kobayashi was born in 1893 to a farming family in the village of Iwashima (now Higashiagatsuma) in Agatsuma District, Gunma Prefecture. He was his parents' third son and the youngest child of five. While he was adopted by the family which his elder sister married into, and his legal family name was changed to Kaneko , he generally went by the name Kobayashi. He was interested in music from an early age. During this time, he worked for various public elementary schools and the private Seikei Elementary, which influenced him through its educational philosophy of building character in the students and encouraging their individuality.

Tomoe Gakuen In 1937, he resigned from Seijyo Kindergarten to take over Jiyūgaoka Elementary School, founded by , at the recommendation of Baku Ishii. He renamed the school .

Kobayashi provided food for students when needed. Rather than assigning uniforms, he encouraged parents to send students in worn-out clothing, so that they could play without hesitation about dirtying their clothes and so they could express themselves through what they wore. He also modeled inclusion, listening, and discussion to his students, and those with unusual circumstances or disabilities were welcomed and included by their peers.

Legacy Kobayashi's students included:

Pianist Actress Tetsuko Kuroyanagi Physicist Actress Junko Ikeuchi Actress Keiko Tsushima Actor Akihiro Miwa

Kuroyanagi wrote about her experience at Tomoe Gakuen in her book Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window. It is through this work that Kobayashi is primarily known to the general public. The Chinese translation inspired the establishment of a school for autistic children in Shanghai influenced by Kobayashi's educational philosophy as depicted in the book.

The Sakura Kindergarten founded by Kobayashi continues to operate and still uses eurythmics as part of the curriculum.