The purpose of this paper is to clarify that Japanese special education had been continued or discontinued before and after World War II, and the background and reasons that underlay such educational changes. The previous studies insisted on a fundamental discontinuity, although admitting a partial continuity; the post-war democracy replacing the pre-war nationalism and imperial system established the special education system in Japan. In this paper, by analyzing pluralistically the discourse on and system of education, activities of the national and prefectural association of teachers, educational practice or research, and the movement of the person concerned, we concluded there were many parts to be continuous in fact. And, they could not be continuous because it was unable to improve dependence on imports in pedagogy, trendy in teaching method, and the insufficient resources caused by pauperism.