I think that the Japanese word kyoiku began to be used from the end of the eighteenth century, and means to instruct and to bring up. The word kyoiku was used not by commoners but by the Tokugawa Government and we can find it in the official documents, so that it was used as means of instructing the people. A great variety of other words are used in the Tokugawa period, for example, kyokun, kyoka, kyodo, kyoyu and yoiku. In early Meijiperiod, the Government and leaders must modernize our country rapidly, so that many of the Western ideas and institutions on education were translated, published and circulated in all parts of this country. According to many translations, education is the effort to bring out all the faculties of man, and aims at awaking all the power of the person. This was a new meaning for Japanese, and a distinct word in this sence from "upbringing" or "learning." This paper aims to clarify when and why the word kyoiku began to be used in Japan.