Clara Matsuno

Clara Louise Matsuno ( Japanese 松 野 ク ラ ラ , Matsuno Kurara ; * August 2, 1853 in Berlin as Clara Louise Zitelmann ; † 1931 ) was a German kindergarten teacher and pioneer of the Japanese kindergarten system.

Life

Clara Louise Zitelmann met her future husband Hazama Johannes Matsuno ( 松 野 礀 ) in Germany . There he was the first Japanese to study forestry, which he later built up in his home country as a cornerstone of economic development in Japan. Together with him, she went to Tokyo as a trained kindergarten teacher , where the two married in 1876. This marriage is the first international marriage between a Japanese and a German. Clara Matsuno was therefore naturalized in Japan .

From 1876 to 1881, Clara Matsuno was employed by the Japanese government and directed the kindergarten of the Tokyo College of Education for Women ( 東京 女子 師範学校 附属 幼稚園 ), the predecessor of today's kindergarten of the Ochanomizu Women's University ( お 茶 の 水 女子 大学 附属 幼稚園 ). She trained kindergarten teachers on the basis of Froebel pedagogy . Clara Matsuno is revered as one of the founders of the modern kindergarten system in Japan.

Clara Matsuno also taught English and German and gave piano lessons as a music teacher for the first time in Japan at the Japanese Aristocratic School for Women ( 華 族 女 学校 ).

To honor her achievements in building up modern education in Japan, a memorial was erected next to the grave of her Japanese husband and daughter in Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo, Clara Matsuno. Clara Matsuno died in Germany, where she returned after the death of her husband. Their final resting place is unknown.

She was also honored in 1976 with a special postage stamp from the Japanese Post.

Individual evidence

• Matsuno, Clara Louise, b. Zitelmann (1853-1931) 松 野 ク ラ ラ . A German founds Japan's kindergarten and music education. German-Japanese culture of remembrance
• Matsuno, Clara Louise at Meiji portraits