Yukio Ozaki

2020/09/04

Image: After resigning as Minister of Education in 1899 (Keio Institute of Fukuzawa Studies collection)

Yukio Ozaki is known as the "God of Constitutional Government." He was a rare figure who won 25 consecutive general elections and remained a member of the House of Representatives for 63 years until the year before his death. How did the "God of Constitutional Government" view Fukuzawa?

Yukio Ozaki was born on November 20, 1858 (December 24, 1858) in Matano Village, Tsukui District, Sagami Province (now Midori-ku, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture) as the eldest son of his father, Yukimasa, and mother, Sadako. His childhood name was Hikotaro. His father was born into a family of Kampo doctors and married into the Ozaki family; during the Meiji Restoration, he joined Itagaki Taisuke's unit in the subjugation of Aizu. The family was poor, and it is said that Yukio lived a lonely life with just his mother until his younger brother and sister were born. Yukio was sickly from a young age, suffering particularly from severe headaches. His mother worried and did everything she could to make his body strong. He had a timid personality and hated being interfered with by others. For some reason, he had a nature that made people dislike him—he would have stones thrown at him or be insulted by children he didn't know—and he was called a "poseur" until he reached adulthood. It was only after he turned 40 that he finally stopped caring about such things.

In 1869, Yukio was brought to Tokyo by his mother. He first studied under Ryosuke Yasuoka, a local official served by his father, and then attended the Hirata Juku run by Kanetane, the son of the Kokugaku scholar Atsutane Hirata. Later, he studied English at an English school in Takasaki, where his father had been transferred. In 1874, when the petition for the establishment of a popularly elected assembly was issued by Taisuke Itagaki and others, Yukio was struck by a "thrill as if his whole body had been hit by electricity" and developed an ambition for politics. After spending some time in Watarai Prefecture (now Mie Prefecture) following his father's transfer, his father was further assigned to Kumamoto. At this time, Yukio, disliking his parents' interference, headed for Tokyo with his younger brother Yukitaka.

In May 1874, the brothers entered Keio University. Yukio was extremely afraid of being laughed at for his lack of study, so he decided to lead a "silent life," not speaking at all except when necessary while at school. Because he started from the lowest class along with his brother, who was eight years younger, he understood things much faster than those around him and was promoted one after another. Then, out of a sense of superiority, he stopped speaking to others and troubled his teachers with difficult questions. The teachers recognized his academic ability and promoted him to the highest class in less than a year. He also took up issues of public morals and rebelled against the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration), becoming viewed as a problem within the school.

On one occasion, when asked to submit an essay, Ozaki submitted "On the Independence of Scholars," in which he criticized the trend of talented young people aiming to become government officials and argued that they should live independently. The essay was returned with the comment: "The argument is very good, but it is regrettable that there is no one to carry it out." Reacting against this, Ozaki resubmitted an essay arguing that he intended to practice it himself. He decided to leave the school and start a dyer's shop to aim for independence; as preparation, he entered the Imperial College of Engineering (later the Imperial College of Engineering and the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo). It is said that Shaw, the English teacher at Keio who taught him English, was a close friend of Dyer at the Imperial College of Engineering and introduced him.

Due to the circumstances mentioned above, Ozaki was only enrolled at Keio for a year and a half. Furthermore, at that time, Fukuzawa only gave speeches to the entire student body on the principles of learning and did not provide direct instruction, so they had no contact during his enrollment.

Later, during his time at the Imperial College of Engineering, he grew tired of his studies. When he had Fukuzawa read an essay he had written during class criticizing the domain cliques titled "On the Subjugation of Satsuma," Fukuzawa reportedly said, "If you write things like this, you'll be tied up." Ultimately, the essay was sent to the Akebono Shimbun and was well-received. Furthermore, during the period when he had dropped out of the Imperial College of Engineering and was exclusively contributing to newspapers and translating books, he once showed a book he had written to Fukuzawa. At that time, Fukuzawa, while trimming his nose hairs with tweezers, looked at Ozaki's face askance and asked, "Who do you intend to have read this when you write such things?" When Ozaki replied, "It is for the general public of intellectuals," Fukuzawa said, "Fool! Write as if you are showing it to monkeys! I always write as if I'm showing it to monkeys, and that is just right for the world," and laughed with a charming laugh. Ozaki, reacting against Fukuzawa's attitude, avoided visiting him thereafter (Complete Works of Gakudo Ozaki, Vol. 11).

Later, in 1879, Fukuzawa invited him to become the editor-in-chief of the Niigata Shimbun. Ozaki headed for Niigata without hesitation. At this time, Fukuzawa advised him on the mindset of a journalist: "You must not only write for the newspaper, but at the same time hold public speaking events and lead the public through both eyes and ears. Make that your life's work." This may have been what created the later orator Ozaki. In addition, Fukuzawa advised him on the dissemination of commercial ideas and the guidance of the prefectural assembly; Ozaki followed this by establishing the Hokuetsu Kosho-kai as a business organization and working hard to open the prefectural assembly. At the assembly, despite being a secretary, he showed behavior that went beyond guidance, such as ordering the chairman to adjourn and writing in the minutes, "The foolish arguments are unbearable to listen to."

In his youth, Ozaki took a rebellious attitude toward teachers and adults around him, including Fukuzawa, and did not try to understand Fukuzawa. However, after achieving success, he reflected on this and evaluated Fukuzawa very highly. For Ozaki, Fukuzawa was "the greatest figure born around the time of the First Restoration," and he even wrote that "no one stands to the right of the Master" (Complete Works of Gakudo Ozaki, Vol. 12). However, he also saw him as a "hypocritical villain" who dared to say or show off things that would be criticized by the public. For example, while he usually said, "Anyone who gives money to others without reason is a fool," he did not hesitate to provide financial assistance to those in trouble.

Regarding Ozaki as well, Fukuzawa worried about his wife and children, saying that while politics is important, life is also important, and once sent 50 yen at the end of the year out of pity. Later, when Ozaki was expelled under the Peace Preservation Ordinance and studied in Europe and America, Fukuzawa looked after Ozaki's remaining family, inviting them to a garden party at his home. When a Keio University alumni living in the United States invited Ozaki to a Japanese association and reported the event to the Jiji Shinpo, Fukuzawa was very pleased upon reading the article and sent a letter of thanks (Biography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Vol. 4).

Furthermore, in Ozaki's view, Fukuzawa excelled in the ability to see through people's character. For example, when a student who was slow in his studies and understanding of things consulted him about his career path, Fukuzawa recommended that he become a dentist. As it was a time when there were no other dentists, he was able to become very prosperous and successful.

Ozaki's ability to become the editor-in-chief of the Niigata Shimbun was also due to the recommendation of Fukuzawa, who anticipated his writing skills as a successor to Sukehide Furuto (a Keio graduate) who had died suddenly of cholera. Fukuzawa had conveyed Ozaki's characteristics and how to treat him in great detail to the owner, Chozo Suzuki.

Later, invited by Fumio Yano, who had read his book "On the Martial Spirit" from his Niigata days, he was appointed as a junior secretary of the Statistics Bureau in 1881. However, when Shigenobu Okuma resigned as a councilor in the Political Crisis of 1881, Ozaki also resigned along with Yano and others of the Okuma/Keio faction. After that, he became a reporter for the Yubin Hochi Shimbun and participated in the formation of the Rikken Kaishinto (Constitutional Reform Party). In the Daido Danketsu movement, he played a central role in linking the Reform Party faction and the Liberal Party faction, but because of his outspokenness, he was expelled from Tokyo for three years under the Peace Preservation Ordinance, so he went to study in Europe and America. Ozaki, who did not expect to be a target of expulsion, changed his pen name from "Gakudo" (School of Learning) to "Gakudo" (Hall of Startle) out of his astonishment at the time, and later to "Gakudo" (Hall of Eloquence).

In the first general election for the House of Representatives in 1890, he was elected in a constituency in Mie, and thereafter achieved 25 consecutive victories. Mie was the place where he spent his youth and where his father had many acquaintances, and a strong support base was formed that campaigned enthusiastically even in elections where Yukio was absent. In 1896, he became a counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the second Matsukata Cabinet (Matsukata-Okuma Cabinet) in which Okuma joined the cabinet, and in the first Okuma Cabinet (Okuma-Itagaki Cabinet) established in 1898, he was appointed Minister of Education. However, he resigned to take responsibility for the "Republican Speech" incident, and the cabinet also fell. In 1900, he joined the Rikken Seiyukai created by Hirobumi Ito, and the following year, as the floor leader, he attacked the first Katsura Cabinet. In 1903, he left the Seiyukai because Ito compromised with the government, and was recommended and appointed as the Mayor of Tokyo. It is well known that during his tenure, he gifted cherry tree saplings to Washington, D.C., in the United States.

In 1904, his wife Shigeko, whom he had married during his Niigata days, passed away, and the following year, he remarried Theodora (Japanese name: Eiko), the daughter of the legislative official Saburo Ozaki. Fukuzawa had sympathized with Theodora's circumstances and hired her as an English teacher at the Yochisha, and the wife of Shaw, the English teacher who taught Ozaki, had also looked after her. The two met because a letter addressed to Theodora was mistakenly delivered to the house of Yukio Ozaki, who had the same surname, and Yukio delivered it to Theodora.

Thereafter, he was active in the movement to protect constitutional government, and in 1914, he was appointed Minister of Justice in the second Okuma Cabinet. He joined the formation of the Kenseikai and became the lead executive. Although he was active in the universal suffrage movement, he was expelled for opposing the Kenseikai's proposal for the Universal Suffrage Law, and thereafter remained independent. In 1942, he criticized the Yokusan (Imperial Rule Assistance) election and was elected without recommendation. After the defeat in the war, he began a movement aiming for the construction of a world federation. In 1953, he suffered his first defeat in the 26th general election. While recuperating from illness, Keio students visited him and encouraged him by singing the Juku-ka, and it is said that Ozaki was in a good mood throughout (Gakudo Yukio Ozaki). On October 6 of the following year (1954), he passed away at Fuunkaku in Zushi (aged 95).

Even after his death, movements to praise Ozaki never ceased. In 1960, the Ozaki Memorial Hall was built in Nagatacho and donated to the House of Representatives. Later, the hall became the Museum of Constitutional Government, which it remains today. There are Ozaki Gakudo Memorial Museums in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Ise City, Mie Prefecture, with which he had connections. Also, the Western-style house that Ozaki built in Azabu for his wife Theodora was moved to Gotokuji, Setagaya Ward, and later rented out as an apartment. In recent years, there has been talk of demolishing the Western-style house, and a preservation movement has arisen.