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International audience ; It can be said that mathematics education in Japan was started in 1872 when the school system was established. Since that establishment era, controversies have emerged time and again in mathematics education in Japan. Through these controversies, debates have been held on views on mathematics education such as how mathematics ought to be taught and what constitutes knowledge concerning numbers, quantities, and shapes that is desirable for students to acquire. In this paper, I shall look back at how views on mathematics education in Japan have developed since the Meiji era from the perspective of such controversies on mathematics education. As the controversies on mathematics education, the four phases are picked up. The first is Theoretical Mathematics and the Enumeration Principle. The second is Controversy over Formal Building. The third is Conventional Teaching of Mathematics and the Creation of Mathematics. The forth is Relationship between Daily Life and Mathematics. With regard to the conflict between theoretical arithmetic and the enumeration principle, debates were held over which policy to adopt in the process of editing the first government–designated textbook which was published in 1905. The conflict was ultimately settled when it was decided that the enumeration principle would be adopted. Attention must be paid to the fact that this conflict was taking place in an era when it was questioned what constitutes mathematics education in introducing the modern education system in Japan. In the controversy over formal building in 1920's , both the opponents and proponents based their arguments on overseas theories and survey results. The controversy was not settled in the form of one view being adopted while the other view was discarded in the education policy and the editorial policy concerning government-designated textbooks. Regarding formal building, assertions regarding the objectives of mathematics education and what is desirable for children to acquire are at the basis of ...