Fukuzawa Sannosuke

2019/11/25

In June of Tenpo 7 (1836), only a year and a half after Yukichi was born, a sudden change occurred in the Fukuzawa family, who had been living in Osaka. Yukichi's father, Hyakusuke, died suddenly, and the remaining mother and six children were forced to return to Nakatsu. At this time, Yukichi's older brother, Sannosuke, was only 11 years old by the traditional counting method, but he inherited the headship of the Fukuzawa family.

Although I wrote that they returned to Nakatsu, the children were all born in Osaka, and everything from their speech to their hairstyles and clothing was in the Osaka style, making them quite different from the children in Nakatsu. Naturally, they grew apart from the neighborhood children and relatives, often playing only among themselves, and it is said they never had a single sibling quarrel.

One day, Sannosuke asked his younger brother Yukichi, "What do you intend to become in the future?" (From "The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi"; hereafter, quotes are from the same source unless otherwise noted). When Yukichi replied, "Well, I think I'll try to become the richest man in Japan and spend money as I please," Sannosuke made a bitter face and scolded him. When Yukichi asked, "What do you intend to do, brother?" Sannosuke reportedly replied with total seriousness in a single phrase: "Filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, and sincerity until death."

This scene symbolically represents Sannosuke's character as he appears in "The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi" (hereafter "The Autobiography") and the differences between the brothers. To the young Yukichi, Sannosuke, who was eight years older, may have appeared like a solid rock standing in the way of his free-spirited path.

According to Yukichi, their father Hyakusuke was a "Confucian scholar" of the type who felt defiled even by the sight of money. There was a calligraphy teacher at the Nakatsu Clan warehouse in Osaka, and when Hyakusuke heard that Sannosuke was being taught the multiplication tables along with the alphabet, he stopped it, saying, "Teaching such outrageous things. It is out of the question to let young children know about calculation." Because the father's legacy remained in the Fukuzawa household, Sannosuke also grew up as a "pure Confucian scholar" under the principles of Confucianism, and in Nakatsu, he studied Confucianism under Nomoto Hakukan. Since Nomoto was a student of Hoashi Banri—a Confucian scholar of the Hiji Domain in Bungo who also valued the abacus—Sannosuke also studied mathematics.

In "The Autobiography," Sannosuke is depicted as a solemn lower-ranking samurai whose very bones were soaked in Confucianism. This was the image of the older brother Sannosuke as seen by the younger brother Yukichi. An incident Yukichi introduces from when he was 12 or 13 years old is very famous. Yukichi came stomping into the room where Sannosuke was organizing used documents. Sannosuke shouted, "Wait!" and scolded him with great intensity, saying, "Are you blind? Look at this. What is written here? Is it not the name of Lord Okudaira Daizen-no-daibu?" Yukichi was lectured by Sannosuke on the "way of the subject and the son," and although he apologized, inwardly he felt disgruntled, thinking, "It shouldn't matter if I step on a piece of paper just because a name is written on it." From there, Yukichi's disposition of not being satisfied until he tested things himself emerged, and his experiments escalated to stepping on divine amulets, taking them into the latrine, and even swapping the stone that was the deity of the Inari shrine.

Meanwhile, after returning to Nakatsu, Sannosuke had been exempt from service due to his youth, but in Tenpo 9, he was called up and ordered to serve as a liaison at the government office. Sannosuke performed his duties solemnly, but while he told his brother Yukichi "Filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, and sincerity until death," it seems he also felt dissatisfied with the clan culture that was strict about social rank. When Sannosuke sent a letter to a clan elder and wrote the address in the Confucian style as "To the Sub-Steward of Mr. XX," the letter was thrust back at him with the remark, "What is this 'Sub-Steward'? Rewrite it in the Japanese style as 'To the Liaison Officers.'" Yukichi says, "Seeing this, I stood by and wept with indignation on his behalf," but what Yukichi saw was likely Sannosuke's figure, never leaking a complaint but unable to hide his mortification. Also, when a relative came to Sannosuke to complain that the clan culture was bad, Yukichi would always stop them, saying, "Stop it, it's ridiculous. As long as you are here in Nakatsu, such foolish arguments are useless. If you are dissatisfied, you should leave. If you don't leave, you should not complain." Was Sannosuke also complaining along with the relatives? Since there is no scene in "The Autobiography" where Sannosuke rebukes Yukichi for this, the author would like to believe that Sannosuke sympathized with Yukichi in his heart. After this, Sannosuke himself persisted in "not complaining if one does not leave," while guiding Yukichi so that he could choose the path of "leaving if one is dissatisfied."

It was the "Confucian scholar" Sannosuke who invited Yukichi to the path of Dutch Studies (Rangaku). At this time, Yukichi may have been at a loss, as his Confucian teacher Shiraishi Shozan had just been punished and expelled from the clan for involvement in an incident. To Yukichi, who did not even know the meaning of original texts, Sannosuke recommended the study of Dutch, saying, "There are currently translated books in Japan that describe Western matters, but to investigate things truly, one must read the original Dutch books. Regarding that, do you not feel like reading the original texts?" Yukichi did not have a desperate desire to learn Dutch, but he thought he would try it if it was difficult and something people in general did not do. Thus, Sannosuke took advantage of an opportunity to go to Nagasaki on business to have his brother Yukichi accompany him and study there. In Nagasaki, Okudaira Iki, the "son of a clan elder," was studying and staying at Kotsuryu-ji Temple. It was likely Sannosuke who recommended to Okudaira Iki that Yukichi become a "dependent at the temple."

Yukichi's studies in Nagasaki had to come to an end in about a year due to a plot by Okudaira Iki's biological father. However, Yukichi, who had no intention of returning to Nakatsu, decided to go to Edo and first headed for Osaka by boat.

The Nakatsu Clan warehouse in Osaka was Yukichi's birthplace and also the place where his brother Sannosuke worked. After his assignment in Nagasaki, Sannosuke had been stationed in Osaka, just like his father. To Sannosuke, who was surprised by the sudden arrival of his brother who was supposed to be studying in Nagasaki, Yukichi told the whole story of what happened in Nagasaki without hiding anything. Sannosuke's response here is interesting. "You are coming from Nagasaki, and Nakatsu is on the way. You looked past Nakatsu and avoided our mother's place to come here. (Omitted) If I were to meet you here and tell you to let go and go to Edo, it would be a conspiracy between brothers. That would be truly inexcusable." While scolding him for not greeting their mother, he did not tell him to return to Nakatsu, but instead recommended that he stay in Osaka and study at a Dutch Studies Juku. Yukichi took his brother's advice, heard that there was a teacher named Ogata Koan in Osaka, and began attending Tekijuku from Sannosuke's residence. The story in "The Autobiography" ends here, but one can imagine that after this, Sannosuke wrote a letter to their mother and proceeded with the procedures for Yukichi's stay in Osaka.

Misfortune befell the brothers in Osaka in Ansei 3 (1856). Sannosuke contracted rheumatism and became unable to use his right hand. Around the same time, Yukichi also contracted typhoid fever. Fortunately, Yukichi recovered, and as Sannosuke had finished his term in Osaka, the brothers returned to Nakatsu together. Yukichi fully recovered in two or three months and returned to Osaka, but soon an urgent message arrived from Nakatsu. It was a notice saying, "Your brother died of illness on September 3rd, so return immediately." Sannosuke had a short life of 31 years by the traditional counting method.

Sannosuke's attitude changed considerably between Yukichi's childhood and youth. This should be considered in conjunction with the growth of the two brothers. Sannosuke, who inherited the family headship early, must have carried the responsibility of protecting the family while secretly making his brother into a respectable man. Perhaps that is why he lectured his free-spirited brother on how to live within a feudal society using extreme phrases like "Filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, and sincerity until death." A few years later, Sannosuke may have seen Yukichi's potential. At the very least, he must have sensed that his brother wanted to leave Nakatsu, which was shackled by the hereditary rank system. Previously, their father Hyakusuke had said he would make Yukichi a monk to escape the rank system, but brother Sannosuke, at a time when Western-style gunnery research was drawing attention, surely found Dutch Studies as the path for Yukichi to follow. Sannosuke took Yukichi to Nagasaki and further looked after him so that he could continue studying Dutch in Osaka. There, one can see the figure of a brotherly older brother concerned for his younger brother's future.

Upon hearing the news of Sannosuke's death, Yukichi returned to the house in Nakatsu and found that "after consultation among relatives, I had perfectly become the master of the Fukuzawa house without my knowing it." However, Yukichi could not bear to stay in Nakatsu, and without gaining the approval of his uncle and others, he was encouraged by his mother O-Jun to return to Tekijuku in Osaka once again. At this time, of course, brother Sannosuke was gone, but while he was alive and on his sickbed, he may have discussed future matters with O-Jun. If it were Sannosuke, he would surely have anticipated that Yukichi would say he wanted to return to Osaka.

After Yukichi left for Osaka, his mother O-Jun and Sannosuke's only daughter, Ichi, were left in the Nakatsu house. Sannosuke's wife was named Toshi, the second daughter of Fujimoto Juan and Hyakusuke's sister Kuni. Since Toshi remarried Kawashima Tobe, a Nakatsu clan samurai, after Sannosuke's death, Ichi was taken in by her grandmother, O-Jun.

Yukichi was worried about these two, and taking the opportunity when the relocation of Keio University to Mita became certain, he returned to Nakatsu and brought the two of them to Tokyo. Thus, Ichi lived in Mita for a while, but after O-Jun's death, she returned to Nakatsu and became the adopted daughter of her aunt (Yukichi's older sister), Hattori Kane. Later, she married into a farming family named Tajiri Takenosuke and passed away in Meiji 26 (1893). In a letter Yukichi sent to Kane the previous year, he wrote detailed instructions out of concern for the ill Ichi, such as "Let her eat plenty of whatever she likes, not only milk and eggs but also eel, soft-shell turtle, sea fish, etc." and "Do not spare money for her health" ("Collected Letters of Fukuzawa Yukichi").

Later, Ichi's second daughter, Toyo, became Kane's adopted daughter, and her descendants are still alive and well. The author met with Mr. Masakazu Hattori, Toyo's great-grandson, and his son Yudai (a student at Keio Futsubu School). For the 2018 Keio Futsubu School Labor Exhibition, Yudai conducted a detailed investigation into his ancestor Hattori Kane and her family, exhibiting a work that approached Kane's personality. Unfortunately, there are no mementos or deathbed instructions from Sannosuke in the Hattori family, but through Yukichi's consideration and financial support, and Kane's devoted upbringing, the Hattori family and Sannosuke's bloodline have been passed down to this day.