ABSTRACT

The didactic unit “Inochi (Life)” by Toshiaki Ôse was realized within the school concept of the “caring community”, where children could heal each other through learning together “学び合い” (Manabiai). In borderline situations, it was the family with whom one shared one’s fate. The prototype “Family/Inochi” can be seen in the homage paid to ancestors, similar to Confucian veneration, by the reorganized families of the reconstructed village Kambara, following its destruction in 1783 after a disastrous volcanic eruption. What is “Family/Inochi”? The goal of Ôse’s philosophizing with children is concept formation within a context of caring thinking. This chapter aims to clarify the dynamic process of inquiry in its structure, using Ekkehard Martens’ five-finger method, and will also examine reasonable thinking through conceptual analysis of the pupils’ norm-consciousness, as based on ethical categories such as: (i) obligation 義理 (Giri); (ii) filial piety 孝行 (Kōkō); (iii) mercy 慈悲 (Jihi); and (iv) benevolence 仁 (Jin). But we should not forget that Ôse’s teaching was developed under the influence of Takeji Hayashi, who first founded his teaching as archetype science.