"How to Create a Literary Mock Trial: Connecting Japanese Language Arts and Civics."

2025/04/09

Even today, Keio students who aspire to become teachers are likely in the minority. I graduated in 1985, and I don't think anyone from the Department of Political Science became a teacher after graduation (almost all members of the Masaru Ikei seminar I belonged to found employment at companies). After serving as a junior and senior high school social studies teacher for three years, I switched to being a high school Japanese language arts teacher. While teachers from Keio are rare enough as it is, a Japanese language arts teacher from the Juku Faculty of Law must have been a "natural monument."

This book was born as a result of such a rare career path. In 2002, I encountered mock trials and was captivated by the phrase "seeing the human being," and I have been working on mock trials ever since. While mock trials are often associated with social studies, from the perspective of Japanese language arts, they are a linguistic activity. The aim of mock trials in social studies is to cultivate legal thinking skills, but the purpose in Japanese language arts is to "think about humans through words." From that standpoint, the primary goal of a mock trial in Japanese language arts is to "deepen one's gaze toward people and society through the mock trial, using legal thinking as a means." Through repeated practice and research supported by KAKENHI grants, I created a method for reading and interpreting literary works by fitting them into the framework of a mock trial. I call mock trials based on literary works "Literary Mock Trials," and since 2020, my laboratory has hosted an online Literary Mock Trial competition twice a year. I also visit schools to provide guidance whenever I receive a request for a mock trial in daily classes.

As a summary of my practice and research results to date, this book explains how to teach the novels "Takasebune," "Rashomon," and "Kokoro" using mock trials. Teaching scenes and classroom materials can also be viewed via QR codes. To many legal professionals from Juku, "law and literature" may seem incompatible. However, a legally correct solution does not necessarily make people happy. Only when those who apply the law have a deep gaze toward humanity can the law truly save people.

Juku has the creed of "Jiga Sakko" (We make history). Literary Mock Trials are an unprecedented form of education. I have the desire to make them as widespread as running water and change Japanese education. Regarding my book published after I turned sixty, I received a letter from my former seminar professor, who had reached his ninetieth birthday. "I believe this is a gift resulting from your knowledge and interest in literature, law, and trials, as well as your experience in teaching students with affection, even before the attempt to connect Japanese language arts and civics..." It contained the same warm gaze toward a former student as always.

"How to Create a Literary Mock Trial: Connecting Japanese Language Arts and Civics."

Kazuo Fudano

Shimizu Shoin

240 pages, 1,760 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.