This is the first step in a project for the close reading of the Pansophia, the third part of the
17th century Czech thinker Johannes Amos Comenius’s major work in his later years, entitled
De rerum humanarum emandatione concultatio catholica.
In the former part of this paper, the author has outlined how Pansophia has been dealt
with in pedagogical writings in Japan.　Generally speaking, major pedagogists in Japan have
tended to give Pansophia a negative evaluation.　However, this is influenced in no small part
by misunderstandings that lacked enough references to Comenius’ text itself, as well as by the
trends in education and pedagogical debates at the time.
In the second part of this paper, the author followed up on previous researches on Pansophia
in Japan.　Post-war era, when Pansophia became known in Japan, was a time when
Marxist-based pedagogy research was thriving, and the research on Pansophia during this
period was, more or less, a modernization of Comenius.　This is why a reinterpretation
through a close reading of Pansophia is required.