Shukichi Okamoto (Masao Furukawa)

2016/08/05

Yukichi Fukuzawa was the youngest of five siblings, with one older brother but no younger brothers. In his autobiography, Fukuō Jiden, Fukuzawa described only one person as being "like a younger brother." That person was Shukichi Okamoto. Okamoto looked up to Fukuzawa like an older brother, and Fukuzawa looked after Okamoto like a younger brother, caring for him during his life and supporting his family after his death.

This article introduces Okamoto's short but eventful 40-year life, focusing on his relationship with Fukuzawa.

Okamoto was born in 1837 (Tenpo 8) to a village headman in Aki Province (now Kitahiroshima Town, Yamagata District, Hiroshima Prefecture). Around the age of 16 or 17, he aspired to study medical sciences and first studied Chinese classics in Hiroshima before enrolling in Tekijuku in August 1856 (Ansei 3). Since he enrolled about a year and a half after Fukuzawa, it is thought that he received guidance from Fukuzawa as a junior.

In 1858 (Ansei 5), Fukuzawa was ordered by the Nakatsu Domain to go to the domain's Edo residence to teach Dutch studies. Since this was an official assignment to Edo for the domain, he was permitted to take one servant with him. The situation at that time is described in Fukuō Jiden (The Collected Works of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Vol. 12) as follows.

"Is there anyone in the Juku who wants to go to Edo? If you want to go, I will take you. What do you say?" When he asked this, it was Shukichi Okamoto who immediately replied, "Please take me with you." Then, when asked, "I will take you, but you will have to cook the rice. Is that alright?" he replied, "'Cooking rice is nothing. I will do it.' 'Then come with me.'"

Thus, another Keio student from Bitchu named Raizo Harada joined them on the journey, and the three of them headed for Edo. Upon arriving in Edo, Harada entered the service of the physician Shunsai Otsuki, so Okamoto lived with Fukuzawa in the tenement house of the Nakayashiki in Tsukiji Teppozu and helped him open the Dutch studies Juku. Around this time, Okamoto changed his name to Setsuzo.

Okamoto was the first student of the Fukuzawa Juku and, as its first President (head), he also looked after the new Keio students who enrolled. He also received an allowance from the Nakatsu Domain. Consequently, after a while, Okamoto received word from his older brother back home that his tuition allowance would be stopped. However, since the allowance from the Nakatsu Domain was small, he sent a letter to his brother asking for the continuation of the support. At that time, Fukuzawa provided a supporting note, emphasizing the importance of this year of study for Okamoto and stating that he had requested an increase in Okamoto's allowance from Tarohachi Toki, a steward of the Nakatsu Domain who would later become Fukuzawa's father-in-law, and that the prospects for this were good, showing his sincere support.

In 1860 (Man'en 1), Okamoto published a book titled Bankoku Seihyō. This was a translation of a statistical table of all nations of the world, published in the Netherlands in 1854 under the title Statistical Tables of All Parts of the Earth, Including Country Names, Land Area, Form of Government, Heads of State, etc. It was written on a single sheet of paper measuring about 100 cm by 60 cm and is considered the oldest translated statistical work in Japan.

On the cover of Bankoku Seihyō, it is written "Reviewed by Fukuzawa Shii, Translated by Okamoto Yaku Hakukei." "Shii" was Fukuzawa's courtesy name (azana), "Yaku" was Okamoto's real name, and "Hakukei" was his courtesy name. In other words, this book was translated by Okamoto and supervised by Fukuzawa. Regarding the circumstances, Okamoto states the following in the preface of Bankoku Seihyō:

"Yukichi Fukuzawa desired to translate this and make it public, and was engaged in the task. However, before the draft was even half-finished, he suddenly had to depart for America, so he ordered Yaku to continue the translation."

While teaching Keio students at the Dutch studies Juku in Tsukiji Teppozu, Fukuzawa began translating Bankoku Seihyō and was preparing to release it as his first publication. However, because he had the opportunity to go to America on the Kanrin Maru accompanying Kimura Settsu-no-kami, he left the translation work to Yaku (Okamoto) and departed. After returning to Japan, he reviewed it and published it under Okamoto's name.

Why, then, did Fukuzawa choose the translation of Bankoku Seihyō for his first publishing project? This is also described in the preface of Bankoku Seihyō as follows:

"Although there are many geographical books published recently that are sufficient for understanding the state of various nations, they are all voluminous and none are as easy to understand at a glance as this table. Therefore, Yukichi Fukuzawa desired to translate this and make it public, and was engaged in the task."

In other words, he believed that to help the Japanese people of that time understand the current status and existence of various countries, the best way was to present numerical values (statistical data) in a compact table format. Fukuzawa was quick to realize the eloquence of statistics.

In the translation of Bankoku Seihyō, traces of Fukuzawa's hard work can be seen beyond just the choice of translation terms. This is evident in the notation of numerical values. In the original, numbers were written horizontally in Arabic numerals. In Bankoku Seihyō, these are expressed in vertical kanji numerals, but for example, "5054" is written as "五千〇五十四" (five thousand zero fifty-four), using "〇" for empty places.

In 1873 and 1874 (Meiji 6 and 7), Fukuzawa published Japan's first Western-style bookkeeping book, Bookkeeping. In it, he introduced a new approach of omitting place-value characters like "thousand" or "hundred" and writing numbers as "五〇五四." Bankoku Seihyō represents a preliminary attempt before transitioning to that method.

Fukuzawa stated in the "Zenshu Shogen" (Introduction to the Collected Works) that the first thing he "ever published" was the English-Japanese dicitonary published in 1860, and he did not include "Bankoku Seihyo" (International Statistics Tables) among his authored or translated works. It was Fukuzawa who conceived the idea of presenting statistical tables from the Netherlands to the world as "Bankoku Seihyo," started the translation, revised it to completion, and even arranged the publication format by requesting the Confucian scholar Otsuki Bankei to write the preface. Despite this, the reason it was published under Okamoto's name was likely out of Fukuzawa's brotherly desire to open a path for Okamoto's career.

Until around 1864, when Fukuzawa admitted six youths from Nakatsu, including Tokujirō Obata, to the Juku, Okamoto served as the President and was responsible for organizing the Keio students.

Fukuzawa wanted to open a path for Okamoto's career and visited the Hiroshima Domain to recommend him for a position. However, the request was declined because Okamoto was the son of a village headman and not a samurai of the domain. Fukuzawa then made sure the Hiroshima Domain would not complain later about what happened to Okamoto, and since the Furukawa family—a hatamoto family living near Shitaya—had no male heir, he arranged for Okamoto to be adopted as a son-in-law. Thus, Okamoto changed his name to Setsuzo Furukawa. This was around 1861. His attachment to Fukuzawa, the Juku, and learning seemed exceptionally strong, and he continued to visit the Juku thereafter.

Having become a hatamoto and being skilled in mathematics and surveying, Furukawa joined the Shogunate Navy, became an officer, and gradually rose through the ranks to become the captain of the warship Nagasakimaru.

In 1868 (Keio 4), even after the surrender of Edo Castle, the Shogunate Navy gathered its warships off the coast of Shinagawa and continued to resist. Furukawa was to escape from Shinagawa Bay before the Enomoto fleet, but just before that, he went to visit Fukuzawa in Shinsenza to say his farewells. "The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi" recalls the scene as follows:

"'I told him, "You should stop that. It's hopeless... Even if you escape on a ship, you won't win, so you should give up." But Setsuzo was still quite stubborn and said, "No, we will definitely win," and wouldn't listen to me at all. So I said, "Fine, do as you please. I don't care whether you win or lose anymore... The only one I feel sorry for is O-masa-san (Setsuzo's wife). I'll at least look after her so she can survive. Since you won't listen no matter what, there's nothing I can do. Do as you wish," and that was how we parted.'"

While worrying about the future of the stubborn Furukawa, he also showed concern for his family, which reveals how much Fukuzawa cared for him.

Furukawa later became the captain of the warship Takaomaru and took part in the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay. During this battle, the former Shogunate Navy, including the Takaomaru, attacked the imperial government's flagship, the Azumakan, but the operation ended in failure. There is a twist of fate regarding that Azumakan. In 1867 (Keio 3), Fukuzawa made his second trip to the United States as an aide to the Shogunate's warship reception committee. The warship he received from the U.S. government at that time was none other than this Azumakan. It is a strange turn of history that Furukawa, who was like a younger brother to Fukuzawa, would face the very warship Fukuzawa had brought back from America as an enemy and try to capture it.

After their defeat, Furukawa and his men landed and surrendered to the Nambu Domain. They were escorted to Tokyo and confined at the Hiroshima Domain residence. Upon learning of this, Fukuzawa said:

"'I had previously told him not to do anything foolish and tried to stop him, but hearing that he was confined, I felt sorry for him.'" He then asked a friendly doctor at the Hiroshima Domain residence to make arrangements and went to see Furukawa. Fukuzawa recalled:

"'I said, "Look at you now. What a mess. Didn't I tell you to stop? I told you so many times. It's no use talking about it now, but you must be short on food and clothes," and then I went home and brought him blankets (kets) and boiled beef, and listened to him talk about the war and the hardships of confinement' ("The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi"). He visited him as if he were his true younger brother."

In 1870, after being pardoned, Furukawa entered the Navy upon Fukuzawa's recommendation, became an instructor at the Naval Academy, and changed his name to Masao.

Also, between 1870 and 1872, Furukawa published elementary school readers such as "Eiri Chie no Wa" and "Chie no Itoguchi" through the Keio University Press. These are highly regarded as appropriate textbooks for primary education in the new era.

In 1872, Furukawa moved to the Ministry of Public Works, and the following year, he was dispatched to the Vienna World Exposition. In 1874, he joined the Meirokusha and interacted with scholars. He continued to engage in writing and translation, occasionally contributing to magazines published by the Juku. He also converted to Christianity, participated in the establishment of the Kunmouin (School for the Blind), and managed schools such as Kin-kyo Juku and Kodo Gakusha, but died of illness in 1877 while still in the prime of his life. For a long time afterward, Fukuzawa looked after Furukawa's wife and children as if they were his own relatives. His heir, Iwakichi, successfully graduated from Keio University.