Kobun Shoin

Kobun Shoin (光文書院, KOBUNSHOIN PUBLISHING CO., LTD.) is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its business centers on the development and publication of materials for elementary education: textbooks and supplementary readers for primary schools, library/teaching materials (図書教材), educational books, and teaching aids and tools. The company is best known to Japanese teachers as a supplier of school tests and drills aligned to elementary curricula. On the print side, Kobun Shoin publishes a range of elementary-school tests covering subjects such as Japanese language, arithmetic, science and social studies, with product lines including the Aテスト/Pテスト (for evaluating basic fundamentals), Vテスト/VPテスト (which add applied-ability challenge questions), and Cテスト (designed to reduce the number of test administrations by consolidating units). It also publishes drills, teaching materials and tools, textbooks and supplementary readers, social-studies reference collections (社会科資料集), and free printable worksheets. Its textbooks and supplementary readers include elementary moral education (道徳) and health (保健) titles. Alongside print, Kobun Shoin has built a substantial digital education business. Its digital offerings include Drill Planet (ドリルプラネット), a digital drill designed to let children learn enjoyably with high motivation, and CBT Tower (CBTタワー), a digital testing service that allows checking unit by unit and handles everything from distribution to aggregation without burdening teachers. The company also provides a wide catalog of digital teaching materials across subjects — digital kanji drills, calculation drills, science videos and digital science notebooks, digital social-studies reference collections, digital home-economics notebooks, digital music and recorder materials, digital penmanship notebooks, digital summer-holiday materials, information-literacy and information-morals materials, and more — as well as digital textbooks and learner-facing digital textbooks for moral education and health. Teacher-support services include the Himawari series (ひまわり先生, ひまわりポケット, and the cloud version ひまわりクラウド announced for the 2026 school year), and the company operates the 光文ひろば portal. Kobun Shoin positions itself as a partner to elementary schools, combining curriculum-aligned print materials with digital tools that streamline teachers' administrative work. Its website organizes offerings into library/teaching materials and tools (tests, drills, materials and tools), textbooks and supplementary readers, and digital materials and services, with downloadable catalogs, publication lists and pamphlets. The company is a private publisher; it is not a listed company and no parent-company relationship is indicated in the available sources.

Kobun Shoin (株式会社光文書院) is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. According to its Japanese Wikipedia entry, its business consists of the development and publication of elementary-school textbooks and supplementary readers, elementary-school library/teaching materials (図書教材), educational books, and elementary-school teaching materials and tools. The company's English name is given as KOBUNSHOIN PUBLISHING CO., LTD. Over time the company's catalog has expanded across the elementary curriculum. Its test line has included Aテスト/Pテスト for evaluating basic fundamentals, Vテスト/VPテスト which add challenge questions to assess applied ability, and Cテスト which consolidates units so that fewer test sheets are needed to cover all units. Its textbooks and supplementary readers include elementary moral education (道徳) and health (保健) titles, and it publishes social-studies reference collections and free printable worksheets. In the digital era, Kobun Shoin has shifted substantial effort into digital teaching materials and services. Its website presents digital offerings organized by subject and function: Drill Planet (ドリルプラネット), a digital drill intended to let children learn with high motivation and enjoyment; CBT Tower (CBTタワー), a digital test service that allows unit-by-unit checking and automates distribution through aggregation so teachers need not handle the process manually; and a broad set of subject-specific digital materials such as digital kanji drills, digital calculation drills, science videos and digital science notebooks, digital social-studies reference collections, digital home-economics notebooks, digital music and recorder materials, digital penmanship notebooks, digital summer-holiday materials, and information-literacy and information-morals materials. The company also provides digital textbooks and learner-facing digital textbooks for moral education and health. To support teachers, Kobun Shoin offers the Himawari family of services — ひまわり先生, ひまわりポケット, and the cloud version ひまわりクラウド announced for the 2026 school year — and operates the 光文ひろば portal. Its website also notes forthcoming features such as test audio reading and ひまわりAI from the 2026 school year. The company publishes annual catalogs, publication lists and pamphlets, and maintains a downloads section for schools. It is a private publisher; the available sources do not indicate a parent company or stock listing.

• Kobun Shoin is described as a publisher headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, developing and publishing elementary-school textbooks, supplementary readers, library/teaching materials, educational books, and teaching materials and tools.

  [5]光文書院ja.wikipedia.org
• The company's test catalog includes Aテスト/Pテスト, Vテスト/VPテスト and Cテスト lines for elementary-school evaluation.

  [3]【小学校テスト】小学1年生～6年生の国語・算数などの評価に。｜光文書院kobun.co.jp
• Kobun Shoin offers digital services including Drill Planet (ドリルプラネット) and CBT Tower (CBTタワー).

  [1]光文書院｜小学校 テスト・ドリル・デジタル教材・校務支援kobun.co.jp
• The cloud version ひまわりクラウド is announced as a service from the 2026 school year, alongside test audio reading and ひまわりAI.

  [1]光文書院｜小学校 テスト・ドリル・デジタル教材・校務支援kobun.co.jp

A publisher and digital-materials provider for Japanese elementary schools, combining curriculum-aligned print tests and drills with digital tools that streamline teachers' work.

• ドリルプラネット (Drill Planet)

  A digital drill designed so children can learn enjoyably with high self-motivation.

• CBTタワー (CBT Tower)

  A digital test service allowing unit-by-unit checking and handling distribution through aggregation without burdening teachers.

• Aテスト/Pテスト

  Tests suited to evaluating basic fundamentals.

• Vテスト/VPテスト

  Tests that evaluate fundamentals plus applied ability via challenge questions on a single sheet.

• Cテスト

  Tests that reduce the number of administrations by consolidating units.

• ひまわり先生 / ひまわりポケット / ひまわりクラウド

  Teacher-support services; the cloud version ひまわりクラウド is announced from the 2026 school year.

• Digital teaching materials (デジ漢, デジ計, デジ理科, デジしゃか, デジ家庭, デジ音, デジ書写, デジ夏, etc.)

  Subject-specific digital materials spanning Japanese, arithmetic, science, social studies, home economics, music, penmanship, summer study, information literacy and information morals.

1. 1光文書院｜小学校 テスト・ドリル・デジタル教材・校務支援kobun.co.jp
2. 2このサイトご利用条件 - このサイトについて｜光文書院kobun.co.jp
3. 3【小学校テスト】小学1年生～6年生の国語・算数などの評価に。｜光文書院kobun.co.jp
4. 4Kobun Shoinwikidata.org
5. 5光文書院ja.wikipedia.org