Juneki Takahashi

2023/09/01

Best friends from student days are an irreplaceable asset. You can associate with them regardless of profit or loss. Even as you age and take on socially responsible positions, meeting an old friend instantly returns you to your younger self, allowing you to behave without reservation. This is even more true if you are comrades who ate from the same pot. Yukichi Fukuzawa also had such close friends. One of them was Juneki Takahashi.

Takahashi was born in Miyazu, Tango, in 1832 (Tenpo 3), three years before Fukuzawa. Miyazu is known for Amanohashidate, one of Japan's three most scenic views, but as the poem by Koshikibu no Naishi says, "The road to Ikuno is far," although it now belongs to Kyoto Prefecture, it is very far from the capital of Kyoto. Takahashi left his rural town facing the Sea of Japan for Osaka to study Western medical sciences (Ranpo) and entered Koan Ogata's Tekijuku on August 6, 1854 (Kaei 7). Fukuzawa entered seven months later, but the two likely became close playmates after Fukuzawa became a live-in student (shokkyakusei) at Tekijuku, sharing meals and lodging. In "The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa" (hereafter "Autobiography"), the scenes of Keio students engaging in pranks are vividly depicted, as if Fukuzawa were reminiscing about his happy student days. Takahashi appears three times in these prank scenes.

Case 1: When officials came to inspect the theaters in Dotonbori, they would receive grand hospitality and watch plays for free before returning home. Takahashi, learning of this, imitated an official and showed up at a theater, successfully receiving hospitality. Fukuzawa, who did not originally watch plays, was worried about Takahashi and warned him, "It will be serious if something goes wrong." Takahashi replied, "Oh, it's nothing, I have my own ways," and boldly repeated this until he finally ran into a real official. There were no "ways" to be had, and the incident caused a great uproar. It was somehow settled through mediation, but Fukuzawa recalled it as an event where he was "extremely worried for a time, rather than finding it funny."

Case 2: There was a student named Ryoan Tezuka (later Ryosen). Tezuka had a bad habit of frequenting Kita-shinchi. Fukuzawa, who admonished him, obtained a written pledge from Tezuka stating that he would study from then on, and if he broke the promise, he could have his head shaved. After that, Tezuka began to study diligently, but then Fukuzawa, joined by Takahashi and Yuki Matsuoka of the Choshu Domain, decided it wasn't interesting enough and wrote a fake letter impersonating Tezuka's favorite courtesan to call him out. It was Takahashi who deliberately misspelled the addressee as "Tetsukawa" in an Osaka dialect style, showing the elaborate nature of the prank. Unaware that the conspirators were watching, Tezuka became restless upon reading the letter and eventually disappeared from the Juku. Fukuzawa, holding scissors, waited for his return. Then, a "mediator" appeared (of course, a conspirator), and Tezuka ended up having to treat them to sake and chicken instead of getting his head shaved. Incidentally, the manga artist Osamu Tezuka is a great-grandson of Ryoan.

Case 3: When Fukuzawa quit drinking, believing it was not good for his academic studies, it was Takahashi who kindly suggested smoking, saying, "You must have some form of pleasure." Behind the scenes, there seemed to be a plot by the Keio students to pull Fukuzawa—who had previously hated tobacco and criticized smokers—into the smokers' side. Fukuzawa, taken in by the seemingly kind words of Takahashi and other students, failed to maintain his abstinence from alcohol and eventually "ended up becoming a dual user of both sake and tobacco."

There are several other scenes where, although not named, Takahashi must have been by Fukuzawa's side during his strange tales and failures.

It seems that many of the people Fukuzawa deepened his associations with were, like himself, individuals whose "conduct was pure and clean, with nothing to be ashamed of before heaven and earth." However, the Takahashi who appears in the "Autobiography" seems like a prankster boy who simply grew up. One can imagine that while Takahashi was cheerful and mischievous, he was also dedicated to his studies and never neglected them. I speculate that this is where he and Fukuzawa hit it off.

Fukuzawa went to Edo and opened a Rangaku Juku in October 1858 (Ansei 5), but Takahashi seems to have arrived in Edo before him. At that time, Rangaku scholars in Edo felt the need for a vaccination center (a facility for smallpox vaccination). They submitted a petition to the Shogunate, and 83 Western-style doctors signed a list of founders, raising 580 ryo in construction funds. Takahashi, along with Ryoan Tezuka, was among these founders. The Otamagaike Vaccination Center opened on May 7, 1858, and later came under the jurisdiction of the Shogunate, being renamed the Institute of Western Medical Sciences (later Koan Ogata became its head), becoming the predecessor of today's University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine.

Additionally, in the notes for the dictation of the "Autobiography," there is the following sentence: "Friend Juneki Takahashi (sic) was in Edo before me, often laughed at for blunders at teahouses" (Complete Works of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Vol. 19). The story related to this sentence was not included in the "Autobiography." Since Fukuzawa was a poor student at Tekijuku and only used low-class restaurants, he had developed the habit of ordering by looking at the wooden tags common in such restaurants that listed the day's menu. There is a story that when he went to a restaurant in Edo, Fukuzawa inadvertently said, "Bring the tags," and was embarrassed when the waitress replied, "We don't do that here" (Mikiaki Ishikawa, "Biography of Yukichi Fukuzawa"). It is imagined that there were similar blunders.

When Fukuzawa moved to Shiba Shinsenza (now Hamamatsucho), Takahashi said, "I'll go near Fukuzawa too," and sought a rental house in Shiba Gensuke-cho (now Higashi-Shinbashi) to open a medical clinic. The two also frequently visited the home of Kimura Settsu-no-kami, who lived in Shinsenza, together. One day, seeing Kimura's wife baking waffles, an amused Fukuzawa borrowed the equipment the next day to try cooking them. The eggs splattered and popped, hitting Takahashi who was peeking in from beside him. Kimura described their interaction: "When Takahashi started his usual complaining, the Master (Fukuzawa) said, 'Be quiet and watch; in exchange, I shall treat you to eel and rice.' Takahashi accepted the feast and left, saying his anger was somewhat healed" ("Remembering Master Fukuzawa"). It is said the two would joke and play around, making those around them laugh, so one can imagine how joyful Fukuzawa was when he was with Takahashi. Kimura described their relationship as "extraordinary intimacy beyond compare" (Bakugyaku ni shite Kanpo tadaranazu).

Takahashi also frequented the Toki family of the Nakatsu Domain and gained the trust of the head, Tarohachi. It is said that the rice merchant Shuzo Buzen-ya and his wife, who were purveyors to the domain, mainly arranged the marriage between Fukuzawa and Tarohachi's daughter, Kin, but Takahashi also acted as a bridge between them ("Biography of Yukichi Fukuzawa"). Two years later, at Takahashi's wedding on December 21, 1863 (Bunkyu 3), it is recorded in the "Kaki" (Family Record) diary of Yoshihisa Sugiura, a Kofu Kinban Doshi and father of Takahashi's wife Fudeko, that Kendo Ishii, a close friend since Tekijuku days, attended as if he were a relative (Shigetomo Koda, "Biography of Aizo Sugiura").

Takahashi also appears in the "Nitteiki" (Daily Record) of Shindayu Owarashi, an official of the Sendai Domain with whom Fukuzawa was "very close." On September 17, 1863, Fukuzawa visited Owarashi, but after lunch, Owarashi fell ill with a cold. Four days later, likely through Fukuzawa's introduction, he "requested an examination from Juneki Takahashi."

In May 1865 (Keio 1), Takahashi went to Kyoto as part of the advance party for Munehide Honjo (a member of the Shogun's Council of Elders), the Lord of the Miyazu Domain, who was heading to Kyoto for the Choshu Expedition. Takahashi returned to Edo slightly ahead of Honjo. On June 18, Owarashi visited Takahashi, and four days later on the 22nd, Takahashi and Fukuzawa visited Owarashi together and drank sake. However, in July, Takahashi's health declined. Because he forced himself to work before recovering, his fever and diarrhea worsened, and he began to talk in his sleep. He was treated by Ishii and Sosetsu Kumagawa, who had studied at the Institute of Western Medical Sciences. Despite Fukuzawa's overnight nursing, Takahashi passed away before 10:00 PM on the night of August 15. Fukuzawa's grief was deep: "The discouragement was just as if I had lost a brother" ("Remembering Master Fukuzawa").

Worried about Takahashi's bereaved family, Fukuzawa immediately consulted with Ishii and Aizo Sugiura (also known as Yuzuru, who worked hard to establish the postal system), the brother of Takahashi's wife Fudeko, the next morning. At that time, Takahashi's younger brother Kenzo (likely the "Kanzo" in Fukuzawa's letters) and younger sister Aiko were in Edo, and Fudeko was pregnant. Fukuzawa and the others decided that Kenzo would return to Miyazu to establish a medical practice, the assets would be split between Aiko (who was also Ishii's fiancée) and the child's upbringing, and the house in Gensuke-cho and the pharmacy equipment would be entrusted to Kumagawa until the child grew up (Letter 24). Almost the same content is recorded in the "Kaki," and it was also decided that "the widow may be free after childbirth" ("Biography of Aizo Sugiura").

However, a letter to Kumagawa dated October 19 of the same year states, "Even after Takahashi's death, it is truly outrageous... the only unborn child also died..." (some parts illegible), showing Fukuzawa's discouragement: "I am at the height of disappointment" (Letter 26). Fudeko returned to the Sugiura surname in February of the following year, as noted in Aizo Sugiura's brief biography ("Biography of Aizo Sugiura").

The younger sister Aiko married Ishii, with Fukuzawa's house serving as her family home (foster parents). For a while during the Meiji era, Ishii took in Mine, the daughter of Rangaku scholar Hoshu Katsuragawa. According to Mine, Fukuzawa frequently visited the Ishii residence, and she heard that "Mr. Ishii also helped correct parts of 'Sekai Kunizukushi' (Geography of the World). They seemed to be consulting and creating it together." Mine would carry the Ishii couple's child on her back and hum the song written in the 7-5 syllable meter starting with "The world is wide, all nations are..." even before it became popular in society (Mine Imaizumi, "Dreams of Remnants").

When Ishii was transferred to Osaka as the principal of the Osaka Medical School and hospital director, Fukuzawa sent a letter to his cousin Senzan Fujimoto in Osaka, asking him to look after Ishii's wife and children (Letter 103). Their families continued to associate after that. In a letter from Fukuzawa to Ishii in Osaka (Letter 115), he expressed thanks for a letter Aiko sent to Kin and asked Kin to send her regards since he hadn't been able to reply yet. Furthermore, when Ishii died of illness in 1882 (Meiji 15), Fukuzawa took charge of everything, including the funeral and supporting the bereaved family.

In writing this, the author visited Takahashi's hometown of Miyazu. However, no traces of Takahashi or materials introducing him as a local figure could be found in Miyazu. Kimura praised Takahashi as "a person well-versed in Western studies with a promising future." If Takahashi had lived a long life, what kind of person would he have become, and what influence would he have had on Fukuzawa in the latter half of his life? Takahashi's early death is truly regrettable.