Fumio Yano

2021/07/27

Image: From "Ryukei Yano Fumio-kun Den" (Shunyodo, 1930)

Ogai Mori Rintaro wrote in the preface to "Ryukei Zuisetsu" in Meiji 44 (1911).

"Master Ryukei is not a person who needs my words to be known"—at the end of the Meiji era, his name was widely known throughout the world. Fumio Yano, whose pen name was Ryukei, was a figure who active on the front lines as a journalist, politician, diplomat, and even a man of letters. That is likely why the great writer said he did not need to introduce him.

However, 110 years later, how many people today know Yano's name or the details of his work? If one looks at the high school textbook "Shokusetsu Nihonshi" (Yamakawa Shuppansha), his name appears only briefly in the list of literary works as the author of the political novel "Keikoku Bidan" (A Noble Tale of Statesmanship), which gained popularity during the Freedom and People's Rights Movement.

The reason why Yano's work and character are not so well remembered today can perhaps be found in the very diversity of his activities.

Political scientist Masao Maruyama evaluated Yano, stating, "He seems to be a person who should be named the 'universal man' (l'uomo universale), which Burckhardt characterized as a Renaissance human type."

However, Maruyama followed this by saying that if one were to describe the "universal man" Ryukei in negative terms, he would have to be called a "jack-of-all-trades." He added, "In modern Japan, which has produced a flood of fragmented 'specialists,' I personally believe that even a 'jack-of-all-trades' is worthy of greatness if they reach a level like Ryukei's..." (Preface to "Yano Ryukei Shiryoshu Vol. 1," 1996).

Unlike a specialist who has mastered a single art, Yano's activities spanned many fields. Additionally, his writing was backed by extensive knowledge, and the more one tries to converge his life into a single image, the more one feels a sense of being lost in a maze of many paths. This time, with the intention of sketching Mount Fuji on a small piece of paper, I would like to outline his life and work for the benefit of modern readers looking at the mountain that is Yano from afar.

Fumio Yano was born on December 1, 1850 (January 2, 1851, in the Western calendar) as the eldest son of Mitsunori, a samurai of the Saiki Domain in Bungo. He grew up studying in Saiki. In January of Meiji 3, after the Restoration, the family moved to Tokyo when his father Mitsunori was promoted from Senior Councilor to Governor of Katsushika Prefecture in Shimosa (now in Chiba Prefecture). After studying Chinese classics, Fumio entered Keio University on March 4 of Meiji 4 (April 23, 1871).

When Yano entered, the Juku was still located in Shinsenza, Shiba. He said that "within a month or two of commuting there," it moved to Mita (Yano, "Reminiscences of My Time at the Juku").

A well-known anecdote from his days as a Keio students is that he lived with his fellow countryman Mokichi Fujita, who was two years younger, on the 10 yen a month sent by his parents.

Fujita, a brilliant talent from the Saiki Domain and Yano's junior student, wished to study in Tokyo, but his family was poor and lacked funds for tuition. Yano, thinking that "he is an extremely promising youth and must be brought to Tokyo," called Fujita and decided to cover all living expenses for both of them with his own scholarship funds. They had no financial leeway; both left the dormitory to rent a cheap room and continued their studies while cooking for themselves to survive.

In Meiji 6 (1873), having completed his studies in just two years, Yano became a teacher at the Juku. After teaching English reading and history, he was dispatched in January of Meiji 8 to the branch school of the Juku in Osaka (Osaka Keio University), where he became the principal.

In July of the same year, Osaka Keio University moved to Tokushima, Awa. After serving as principal in Tokushima as well, Yano returned to Tokyo in the spring of Meiji 9.

Looking at the "Keio University Enrollment Register," several students who entered in Osaka or Tokushima moved to the main school, with Yano serving as their guarantor. Bunzo Morita (Shiken), later known for his translations of Verne and Hugo, was one of them.

However, Yano resigned as a teacher after returning to Tokyo. He became an editorial writer for Hochisha, which published the "Yubin Hochi Shinbun." This was due to his connection with Mokichi Fujita, who had become the editor-in-chief there. Hochi was a newspaper with deep ties to the Juku; its former editor-in-chief, Joun Kurimoto, was close to Fukuzawa, and Fukuzawa himself contributed articles.

During his time in Tokushima, Yano had pored over Western books, studying political systems, law, economics, and history with single-minded devotion. The position of an editorial writer for a newspaper was likely the best place to put his studies into practice. He discussed various issues with great versatility.

However, his mentor Yukichi Fukuzawa seemed to feel uneasy about his lifestyle. According to Tsuyoshi Inukai, when Fukuzawa once called Yano and asked what he intended to do in the future, Yano replied, "Since it is something I have started, I intend to see it through even if I have to eat stones." Fukuzawa reportedly cautioned him, saying, "Stones and sand do not turn into rice, so you must not say such things" (Mitsuaki Ishikawa, "Biography of Yukichi Fukuzawa").

Perhaps because of this, Fukuzawa eventually gave Yano a major turning point. One day, when Yano visited Fukuzawa to boast about a mallard he had bagged while hunting—a hobby of his—he was told something unexpected: "Actually, I was just about to call you. Shigenobu Okuma asked me to recommend a suitable person as a subordinate, and I just told him you were the right fit. Why not go into the government and work under Okuma?"

A letter remains from March of Meiji 11 (1878), sent from Fukuzawa to Okuma, recommending Yano as the person in charge of compiling an "encyclopedia." Okuma was a Councilor and the Minister of Finance at the time.

Yano accepted this recommendation after consulting with his father. According to his own recollections, he initially set the bold condition that he would only join if he were appointed as a Senior Secretary at the top of the Sonin rank, but in July of the same year, he ultimately entered service as a Third-Class Junior Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Later, when the government system was reformed, Yano moved to the Great Council of State (Dajokan) along with Okuma and was promoted to Senior Secretary and Manager of the Statistics Bureau. The Statistics Bureau was an institution established upon Okuma's proposal, along with the Board of Audit. He recommended and brought in Tsuyoshi Inukai, Yukio Ozaki, and Takuzo Ushiba, all from the Juku, to work under Okuma. As seen with Fujita's move to Tokyo, he seemed to have a disposition that could not leave talented juniors alone if he believed in them.

Now, while Yano progressed smoothly as an official under Okuma, his career ended abruptly with the "Political Crisis of 1881" (October Meiji 14). This was because Okuma, the lead Councilor, was dismissed, and at the same time, officials of the Okuma faction, including many from the Juku like Yano, were purged from the government all at once.

Yano was not merely a staff member for Okuma; he was also the drafter of the memorial on the form of government that Okuma used for his petition to the Emperor, which triggered the political crisis. This memorial bore a striking resemblance to the private draft constitution of the Kojunsha, in which Yano also participated, and the arguments in Fukuzawa's book "Transition of People's Way of Thinking." The fact that it was seen this way gave credibility to rumors that "Okuma is conspiring with Fukuzawa and the Mita faction to overthrow the government."

After the political crisis, Yano remained one of the people supporting Okuma by his side. While conspiring with Okuma to buy out the "Yubin Hochi Shinbun" and become its proprietor, he gathered Katsundo Minoura, Ozaki, and Inukai under the editor-in-chief Fujita to make it an organ of the Mita faction's public opinion, and they took up the pen together. In March of the following year, he joined the Constitutional Reform Party (Rikken Kaishinto) formed by Okuma, and in October, he also joined the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (now Waseda University) as a board member.

Even before becoming an official, Yano was known for his eloquence at various speech meetings related to the Juku. Yukio Ozaki introduced an instance where Yano once gave a speech while holding a rolled-up piece of blank paper high in his right hand and waving it solemnly as a performance, saying:

"...I have heard many different speeches to this day, but I have never heard one in Japan as magnificent as Mr. Yano's speech at that time." "Being Mr. Yano, he must have thought about it for many days in advance and put a great deal of research into even the way he waved it." (Ozaki, "Records of Modern Extraordinary Men," 1934).

While Yano used his eloquence to campaign in various regions to expand the influence of the Constitutional Reform Party, he also focused on writing activities.

The publication of "How to Read Translated Books" (1883), which guided how to read translations; "Methods for Constructing Speeches and Essays" (1884), which explained techniques for forming arguments; and "New Theory on Japanese Style and Characters" (1886), which advocated for the realization of popular and simple Japanese and even touched on the limitation of kanji, were all important works he performed for Japanese public discourse. Furthermore, from Meiji 17 to 19, he continued to be extremely active, writing "Miscellaneous Records of a Tour" (1886) while traveling through Western Europe.

During this time, what raised his fame was the novel "Keikoku Bidan" (A Noble Tale of Statesmanship), published in two parts (1883–84), which inspired democratic thought by using Greek history as an allegory. Along with the method of the political novel, the fact that it was written using a stenographer was also a novel experiment; Yano introduced what shorthand was and even showed actual shorthand text.

Furthermore, Soho Tokutomi, referring to the design of "Keikoku Bidan"—where the prose is not so radical but the content encourages assassination—described Yano, who was bold and radical in thought despite his gentle and gentlemanly appearance, by saying, "It is as if dynamite were placed inside a lacquerware tiered box" ("Great Matters and Small Matters").

However, Yano, who frequently fell ill due to his busy schedule, carried out a major reform of Hochisha after returning to Japan, and once this was on track, he decided to take a rest himself. In February of Meiji 22, before turning 40, he announced his retirement from politics, and in November of the following year, he entered service at the Imperial Household Agency. On the day the first Imperial Diet opened, Yano could be seen standing as a chamberlain to the Emperor in the assembly hall where his former comrades and political enemies were lined up.

However, as the author of "Keikoku Bidan," his presence remained significant, and when the maritime adventure novel "Ukishiro Monogatari" (The Tale of the Floating Castle, 1890), which stimulated the idea of overseas expansion, was published, it became the seed of a controversy between the literary establishment and popular literature (Izumi Yanagida).

Okuma also did not forget him; strongly requested by Okuma, who had become Foreign Minister for the second time, Yano served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Qing China from March of Meiji 30 to January of Meiji 32. Diplomacy must have been unfamiliar to Yano at first, but in post-Sino-Japanese War China, he dealt with high officials like Li Hongzhang and also achieved audiences with the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. During this time, he is known to have been active in negotiating with the Qing, which was being encroached upon by the Great Powers, to ensure the non-cession of Fujian Province, and proposing the dispatch of international students to Japan to the Qing side.

After retiring as minister, Yano supported Doppo Kunikida as an advisor to "Kinji Gaho" and further served as an auditor and vice president at the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. He continued to write many books until the end of the Taisho era, but among these later works, the most well-known are likely "New Society" (1902), which discussed a socialist market economy with gradualist social reform in mind, and "Unnecessary" (1907), which novelized those ideals. "New Society," which introduced a direct democracy system (direct voting) as a method of reflecting the will of the people, is receiving attention again today as online voting is discussed as a practical issue (Eiichi Nomura, "Politicians of Keio University Mita").

Fumio Yano, the encyclopedist whom Fukuzawa believed in, spent his final years wishing for the welfare of humanity and quietly ended his busy 82-year life on June 18, Showa 6 (1931). His grave is in Tama Cemetery.