The purpose of the study is to overview the trends of elementary art education in Japan which has profoundly influenced on the development of Korean art education. More specifically the purpose can be illustrated as ① systematic understanding on the development of elementary art education in Japan from 1850 to 2001, ② diagnosis on the present situation of elementary art education in Korea based on the Japanese perspectives, and ③ preparation for the fulcrum of academic exchanges of elementary art education between Korea and Japan. Based on the literature review, the researcher has classified the period of art education development in Japan as the following three stages, and has revolved the contents and characteristics of each stage: ① the dawn of new age, the era of revision(1850-1945), ② the era of art education movement by the private sector, the period of transition(1945 - 1970), ③ the period of diversity of value, the growth period of art education(1980 -2001). The study has the following significances: First, since the study has examined the Japanese art education which was an unknown world for Korean because of the lack of related materials and previous researches, the study has a significance as the first systematic exploration on the trends of elementary art education in Japan. Second, in this study, the trends of aims and contents of elementary art education in Japan has been clearly defined based on the special consideration. The result of the study can be utilized as a basic research materials, i.e., the comparative study on the development of elementary art education in Korea. Third, the study introduces the new curriculum which was implemented by the Ministry of Education in Japan, and explores the new directions of art education based on the diagnosis on the art education curriculum of both countries(Korea and Japan) for the 21 century.