Nakamura Ritsuen

2024/01/17

Image: Portrait of Nakamura Ritsuen (Detail, owned and provided by the Koka City Curriculum Advisory Committee)

It was only a year and a half after Fukuzawa's birth that his father, Hyakusuke, died suddenly at the young age of 45 (by the traditional counting method). As Hyakusuke's wife, Jun, and their five young children were left at a loss by the sudden tragedy, a man rushed to them from Minakuchi in Omi Province (present-day Koka City, Shiga Prefecture) upon hearing the news. That man was Nakamura Ritsuen.

Nakamura was not born in Minakuchi, but was born and raised in Nakatsu, Buzen Province (present-day Oita Prefecture). Born in 1806, he was 14 years younger than Hyakusuke. His father, Katayama Tori, was a dyer, and Nakamura was his second son. From a young age, he aspired to study Chinese classics and studied under Hoashi Banri, a renowned Confucian scholar of the Hiji Domain in Bungo Province. While many fellow students were cold toward Nakamura (then Katayama) because he was the son of a commoner, Hyakusuke recognized Nakamura's talent regardless of social status and maintained a close friendship with him. Later, in "The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi," when Fukuzawa mentions that his habit of not despising others based on social status was not something he acquired on his own but was inherited from his parents, he cites this intimate relationship with Nakamura as a practical example of his father Hyakusuke's character. Nakamura later became a disciple of Kamei Shoyo, but as a follower of Neo-Confucianism, his views clashed with Kamei, who advocated Ancient Learning (Kogaku), leading Nakamura to leave Kamei and head for Osaka. At that time, Hyakusuke, who was stationed in Osaka by his domain and living in the longhouse of the warehouse district, took in Nakamura and looked after him as if they were brothers. It was likely through Hyakusuke's introduction that Nakamura was able to associate with famous Confucian scholars of the time, such as Shinozaki Shotiku, Saito Setsudo, and Noda Tekiho. Nakamura was eventually adopted as the heir to the Nakamura family, who had served as the official Confucian scholars of the Minakuchi Domain for generations, because the head of the family, Kaiseki, had no children. While materials related to Fukuzawa state that Hyakusuke recommended Nakamura to the Minakuchi Domain, Nakamura's own records list Shinozaki as the recommender. While it is easy to imagine that Shinozaki, a well-known scholar, took the lead, Hyakusuke undoubtedly supported Nakamura behind the scenes to help him transfer to the Minakuchi Domain, where he would have better prospects than in the Nakatsu Domain.

In June 1836, news of the death of Hyakusuke, whom Nakamura admired like an older brother, reached Nakamura in Minakuchi, and he rushed to the Nakatsu Domain warehouse in Osaka. Only a month earlier, Nakamura had visited Hyakusuke, where they had shared sake and composed poetry while admiring the beautiful spring scenery of blooming flowers and green willows. Mourning Hyakusuke's death, Nakamura presented a five-character Chinese poem titled "Poem Mourning Mr. Fukuzawa to Serve as a Funeral Oration" (the text is published in Ishikawa Mikiaki's "Biography of Fukuzawa Yukichi").

For Jun, Nakamura's presence must have been a great source of support. When the bereaved family returned to Nakatsu carrying Hyakusuke's remains, Nakamura held the youngest child, Yukichi, in his arms and saw them off to the boat at Ajigawaguchi, bidding farewell to the Fukuzawa family.

In 1846, when warships from powers such as the United States and France began to arrive, the Shogunate refused to open diplomatic relations, but political instability spread to various domains, and reformist movements became active nationwide. In the Minakuchi Domain, Hosono Wataru, a samurai who had studied coastal defense and Western military tactics in Edo, joined Nakamura, the domain scholar, in advising the domain lord Kato Akinori to strengthen military preparations. Although this proposal was rejected by conservative forces led by the elder Okada Kurouemon, the political situation fluctuated as the lord later listened to Hosono's lectures on military science, leading to a power struggle between reformists and conservatives. It was after the arrival of Commodore Perry (1853) that the reformists came to occupy the core of the domain administration. Two months later, Hosono and Nakamura's written opinions explaining the overseas situation and advocating for military expansion were accepted, and the training of samurai and military preparation were entrusted to the two of them. Furthermore, after Hosono's death, Nakamura, who rose to a leadership position among the reformists, opened the domain school Yokurindo in 1855. Yokurindo became a pillar for the reformists of the Minakuchi Domain as a place for both literary and military arts, producing many talented individuals who would be active from the Meiji era onward.

Nakamura strictly admonished his students, saying, "Where I am today is the result of enduring poverty and studying since my youth" ("Omi Jinbutsu-shi"). He did not allow the use of folding fans in the height of summer or the use of heaters in the dead of winter. The lecture hall notices stated that teachers and elders should be respected, manners should be observed, and that idle talk or gossip was forbidden except for discussions, and that yawning was disrespectful and therefore prohibited.

In 1858, a young man visited Nakamura. It was Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa was about to head to Edo after completing his studies at Tekijuku in Osaka by order of his domain. Before heading to Edo, Fukuzawa had returned home to bid farewell to his mother, Jun, as he would not be able to return to Nakatsu for some time. At this time, he may have heard about Nakamura Ritsuen from Jun and been told to go and pay his respects. Minakuchi is a unique town where the post town, the fourth from Kyoto on the Tokaido road where commoners traveled, was adjacent to the castle town, the center of the domain's politics. When Fukuzawa arrived at the Minakuchi post station and stopped by Nakamura's residence near Minakuchi Castle, Nakamura was extremely pleased by his visit. Nakamura shared old stories, saying, "When your father passed away in Osaka, I went there immediately, and when you all boarded the boat to return to Nakatsu, I held you in my arms and went to the boat at Ajigawaguchi to say goodbye. You were only three years old at the time and probably knew nothing" ("The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi"), and he urged Fukuzawa to stay the night. Fukuzawa, who stayed the night as suggested, wrote that he felt "a feeling like meeting a real parent," allowing us to imagine Nakamura describing the days of Hyakusuke that Fukuzawa never knew.

Nakamura himself instructed the samurai as a professor at Yokurindo but never picked up a sword himself. However, among the young samurai who advocated for the expulsion of foreigners (Sonno Joi), many were hot-blooded, and some in the Minakuchi Domain resorted to force. In February 1864, the elder Okada Naojiro was killed by the blades of reformists on his way home from a banquet. After this assassination, the reformists centered around Nakamura took control of the domain administration, and the domain's policy unified under the banner of Sonno Joi. The Minakuchi Domain, located near Kyoto, was responsible for guarding gates such as the Shimodachuri-gomon of the Imperial Palace, but showed a passive attitude even when the Tenchugumi raised an army in Yamato and the Shogunate ordered its suppression. Later, when the Minakuchi Domain was ordered to join the second Choshu expedition, Nakamura led the refusal to serve, successfully securing a mission to guard Kyoto under the pretext of the domain lord's illness. Nakamura did not leave Minakuchi in his old age, but because his adopted son Kakudo and samurai who had studied at Yokurindo traveled frequently, he was able to accurately grasp information from both inside and outside the domain. In this way, during the difficult period at the end of the Edo era, Nakamura steered the domain's administration while restraining the reckless bravery of the young samurai.

In 1864, Fukuzawa returned to Nakatsu for the first time in six years. By this time, Fukuzawa had already completed two overseas voyages and had become a target for the exclusionist faction. On the way back, when Fukuzawa's party reached the Minakuchi post station, Nakamura's residence was right before his eyes, and Fukuzawa felt that "this time, I must visit him by all means" ("The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi"). However, according to rumors, Nakamura was an exclusionist. While he felt that "Master Ritsuen would not harm me even if asked" (ibid.), he did not know what Nakamura's many disciples might do. "Thinking that I would not survive if I stopped by, I passed straight by the gate against my will" (ibid.). After this, Fukuzawa never had the opportunity to meet Nakamura again, and passing by Nakamura's gate became a lifelong regret for him.

In 1869, when the lord of the Minakuchi Domain became the domain governor following the return of lands and people to the Emperor (Hanseki Hokan), Nakamura was appointed as a senior official (equivalent to a vice-governor today) and handled the domain administration in the early Meiji era before resigning the following year. Yokurindo was renamed Shoshikan and continued until the promulgation of the modern school system; its collection included not only the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism but also Fukuzawa's "Things Western (Seiyō Jijō)." Nakamura is said to have saved the livelihoods of many former samurai from Yokurindo who had lost their jobs by recommending them as elementary school teachers.

In August 1878 and July 1880, when Emperor Meiji passed through Minakuchi, Nakamura was summoned for an audience in recognition of his service. However, in 1881, he died of illness and was buried in Minakuchi, which had truly become his home.

Fukuzawa and Nakamura met for only a single night within the scope of Fukuzawa's memory. However, a letter Nakamura sent to Fukuzawa before his death (dated January 4, 1878) had a significant impact on Fukuzawa's later life.

Nakamura's letter was written in classical Chinese, and its purpose was to lament the current state of elementary schools, which taught only technical skills, and to seek Fukuzawa's help in reforming education to prioritize the path of filial piety and brotherly respect, followed by technical arts. In the text, Fukuzawa was particularly struck by the passage: "If you consider the path of filial piety and brotherly respect to be narrow and not worth practicing, it would be greatly contrary to the intentions of your late father, who lectured on the classics and spoke of filial piety while he was alive."

Fukuzawa quickly wrote a reply, in which he informed Nakamura of the family's situation, including the death of his mother Jun, and mentioned that he himself had reached the age of 45 (by the traditional counting method), the same age at which his father Hyakusuke had died. In a subsequent reply dated January 25, Fukuzawa discussed education from the Edo period to the present day, stating that while he also lamented that filial piety and brotherly respect were being neglected, the general trend of the world was beyond control and one had no choice but to follow the times. Furthermore, he wrote that although he lost his father at 18 months old, he had heard about his father's words and deeds in detail from his mother and deeply respected him. He concluded by saying, "If the words and deeds of my predecessor were indeed those of a Confucian, then I am one who believes in the way of Confucianism without doubt," and "It is my lifelong commitment to preserve the pure and honest family tradition since our ancestors and not to bring shame upon my late father and mother." Fukuzawa published this reply, "Response to Master Nakamura Ritsuen," along with "Master Nakamura Ritsuen's Letter" in the February 3 and 6 issues of "Minkan Zasshi," making them public. Nakamura subsequently sent three more letters to Fukuzawa in quick succession, and the tone of his writing became softer, like that of a relative. Nakamura expressed his gratitude, saying the salmon sent by Fukuzawa was exquisite, and through the letters, he conveyed the personality of Fukuzawa's father, Hyakusuke, to him.

Nakamura's letters were enough to remind Fukuzawa of his late father's teachings. On February 5, Fukuzawa wrote a note titled "Record of the Distribution of Mr. Fukuzawa's Ancient Coins," telling his children (six at the time) anecdotes about Hyakusuke's honest, upright, and kind personality (see People Around Him 1: "Fukuzawa Hyakusuke") and distributed Hyakusuke's heirloom ancient coins to his children, telling them to live lives that would not shame their grandfather.