ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the ways in which the native cultural model or schema of gambaru is inculcated in preschools. It argues that gambaru is related both to an individual centered cultivation of personal qualities and, by way of these qualities, to the construction of groups. The chapter focuses on a variety of games and play activities in which the children at Katsura Day-Care Center participate. It argues that the gambaru "complex" gains motivational force by being related to the other key schema that is being internalized by the children. Japanese educational institutions see direct experience as the most powerful educational strategy in inculcating gambaru: carefully constructed experience is more powerful, it is thought, than lecturing or telling. The emphasis on gambaru is evident in the mundane activities as eating with chopsticks, cutting with scissors, preparing one's bag for returning home, or folding a towel after swimming.
