Abstract

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Title:: A Historical Treatise on Doshinshugi in Japanese Children’s Literatureduring the Taisho Era

Keywords:: doshinshugi; discovery of the child; child orientedness; children’s literature; philosophy of theheart of the newborn

Abstract:: Modern children’s literature was established in Japan during the Taisho era. Purity andinnocence of children was admired by authors and poets of the day，and doshinshugi 童心主義（literallydoctrine of childlike mind） literature，i.e. children’s literature in that period indicate that the notion of doshin童心（childlike mind） was created. The idea of doshinshugi has made great contributions to the modernizationof the views on the child，education and culture as well. The theory of China’s Yangming School，especially LiZhi’s philosophy of the heart of the newborn，is one of the important driving forces behind the developmentof doshinshugi. During the period of New Cultural Movement，there appeared in China a trend which canbe called“ Child Orientedness Movement”，and this was actually an analogy with Japan’s doshinshugiduring the Taisho Era. Both doshinshugi in Japan and the philosophy of the heart of the newborn in Chinahave already helped deepen and will go on deepening the research as well as the discovery of the heart ofthe newborn，childhood and the child. With the discovery of the inner links of the heart of the newborn，childhood and the child with human civilization，the philosophy of childhood and the philosophy of the heartof the newborn are bound to have a brilliant future.