Tokujirō Obata

2024/06/26

Image: Collection of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies

Masafumi Tomita, the editor of "The Complete Works of Yukichi Fukuzawa," wrote in issue No. 621 of Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press) (December 1963) regarding Tokujirō Obata: "We must never forget that behind Yukichi Fukuzawa's founding of Keio University and its growth into the greatness it achieved, this man's work was consistent from beginning to end. Tokujirō Obata was the person who made the greatest contribution to the success of Keio University as Yukichi Fukuzawa's right-hand man and a power behind the scenes. To Yukichi Fukuzawa, he was the foremost among his disciples, and to those outside the school, it is no exaggeration to say there was no one else but him to represent the school on behalf of Yukichi Fukuzawa."

The image of Obata as Fukuzawa's collaborator was also recognized by his contemporaries. For example, the Choya Shimbun dated March 5, 1890, stated, "Those who know of Keio University must surely know of Mr. Tokujirō Obata. Among those who know the name of the venerable Fukuzawa, who could fail to record his name?" Obituaries in various newspapers after his death also reported: "His character was gentle, he received the deep trust of the late Yukichi Fukuzawa, and was highly respected among the Keio Gijuku Shachu. In particular, his contribution to the education of the students of Keio University was immense" (Mainichi Shimbun, April 18, 1905); "He mastered English studies early on and assisted Mr. Yukichi Fukuzawa as a pioneer of our nation's culture" (Niroku Shimbun, same date). However, as time passed, far from "never being forgotten," Obata's name became known to fewer and fewer people, even within Keio University.

Until now, there has been no proper biography of him, only the "Anecdotes of Mr. Obata" published in 12 installments in the Jiji Shimpo starting May 14, 1905, and a small booklet titled "A Brief Biography of Mr. Tokujirō Obata and an Outline of the History of the Obata Memorial Library," created for "Reading Week" in 1926 by the Nakatsu Library, which was established through his will and donations.

Finally, in March 2022, as a joint project between Keio University and the Fukuzawa Yukichi Association, the publication of his first collected works began. He has various achievements, including translations from the works of Wayland, Tocqueville, and J.S. Mill, translations of practical books, and the writing of history and geography books for elementary school students. Volume 1 includes "English Idioms," "Natural Disasters," "Supplement to New Compendium of Natural History," "Guide to the Way of Production," and a brief biography of Tokujirō Obata. Volume 2 includes "Table of Revenue and Expenditure of Western Countries," "On the Freedom of Publication," "Mill's Three Essays on Religion," "Manual for Meetings," and writings published in newspapers and magazines up to 1878. Volume 3 includes "Wayland's Elements of Political Economy," and Volume 4 includes "Elementary History Steps," "Elementary History," "Elementary Geography Steps," and writings published in newspapers and magazines from 1879 onwards. Subsequent volumes are planned to include "Complete Book of British Naval Gunnery," "New Book on Marine Steam Engines," and outgoing correspondence.

Tokujirō Obata was born in 1842, seven years after Yukichi Fukuzawa, in Nakatsu, Buzen Province (now Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture). Both were sons of Nakatsu samurai, but while Yukichi's father Hyakusuke was a lower-ranking samurai with a stipend of thirteen koku and rations for two people, Tokujirō was the son of an upper-ranking samurai with a stipend of two hundred koku. He learned the punctuation of the Four Books and Five Classics from his father, later studied under the Nakatsu Confucian scholar Hakugan Nomoto and others, entered the domain school Shinshukan, and eventually became involved in education at the same school. The turning point for him, who was making a living through Confucianism, came in 1864. Having witnessed the high level of Western civilization during his inspection of Europe in 1862, Fukuzawa considered human resource development through Western studies an urgent task. He sought collaborators in Nakatsu for the reform of his own Juku and chose Obata.

According to Obata's recollections in his final years ("Fifty-Year History of Keio University"), he had known Fukuzawa through his "uncle" since he was four or five years old, wearing only a bellyband, and had the "honor of reading" Things Western (Seiyō Jijō) before its publication. However, at that time, his father had already passed away, so he thought of his remaining mother and avoided meeting Fukuzawa to ensure he wouldn't be invited. However, they met unexpectedly at his "aunt's house," and he was strongly persuaded with the words, "I have never heard of a student starving to death in Edo," leading him to head to Edo.

According to recollections of disciples who entered the school from the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji era, Obata was studying and lecturing himself while also handling enrollment procedures and supervising boarding students (Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press) No. 223, No. 233, No. 250, etc.). Fukuzawa believed that civilization and enlightenment would progress under a stable feudal system under the "Monarchy of the Shogun," but the Shogunate met its end sooner than expected. Looking at the February 1868 diary of Yoshitake Kimura, who was the admiral of the Kanrin Maru, Fukuzawa was consulting about a "school" around that time. Then, in April, "Keio Gijuku no Ki (Notes on Keio Gijuku)," which can be called the declaration of the founding of a new school, was announced. According to Toan Matsuyama, it was Obata's draft ("One Hundred Year History of Keio University," Volume 1).

The document states that establishing a "company" where "fellow scholars study and refine each other" and engage in Western studies is not a "private" matter, but a broad "public" one, welcoming all with ambition "regardless of whether they are samurai or commoners." In other words, Keio University aimed for the sharing of knowledge. In a letter to Ryozo Yamaguchi around 1870 or 1871, Obata calls Fukuzawa "Master" and is conscious of "our party." For Obata, Fukuzawa was both a predecessor and a comrade.

Through the publication of works such as "Natural Disasters" and "Supplement to New Compendium of Natural History," Obata introduced new knowledge based on physics and biology to a wide range of people, including women and children. These activities were collaborative with Fukuzawa, as shown by the explicit complementary relationship between "Natural Disasters" and Yukichi Fukuzawa's "Research Bulletin Kyurizukai" (early autumn 1868) within each other's books. Furthermore, he spent seven years from 1871 completing the full translation of Francis Wayland's economics book, which he took over from Fukuzawa to lecture on ("Wayland's Elements of Political Economy," 9 volumes).

It is well known that the first volume of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" was "co-authored" with Fukuzawa, but Obata is often perceived as merely lending his name. Fukuzawa also included it as his own work in his collected works during his lifetime. However, that volume has a predecessor called "Literary Proclamation to the Samurai and People of the Prefecture," which is almost identical except for the last quarter. In Nakatsu Prefecture, an application for publication was submitted to the Ministry of Finance to disseminate this to the world as widely as "newspapers." Considering the differences in content from the first volume of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)," there may be room to reconsider whether Obata had no involvement at all in the "Literary Proclamation to the Samurai and People of the Prefecture," which would have been developed with the prefecture's officials.

Fukuzawa deeply trusted Obata's scholarship. In the introduction to "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" in 1875, he stated that the "value" of the theory greatly increased after receiving Obata's corrections. When Jiji Shimpo was launched in 1882, it was noted regarding the editorials that they "specifically requested the drafts of both Mr. Fukuzawa and Mr. Obata, and troubled them with their review." In the "Biographies of Newspaper Contributors" edited by Gompei Tsuda and published in 1881, it is recorded that because Obata was superior in his knowledge of Confucianism, Fukuzawa would never publish a translation of a "Western book" without it first passing through Obata's "correction and criticism."

Was the relationship between Fukuzawa and Obata always good? In 1887, Fukuzawa began to think about establishing specialized departments and turning Keio University into a "university." Nobukichi Koizumi, who was then serving in the Ministry of Finance, was welcomed as the Chancellor, and under him, reforms were to be carried out by Sadashiro Hamano, Ikunoshin Kadono, and Eiji Masuda. However, Obata's name was not there. Fukuzawa's nephew Hikojiro Nakamigawa was worried and advised Fukuzawa, but Fukuzawa replied that it was "unnecessary worry" and that Obata would take the position of "advisor" or "retired status" (letter dated October 1, 1887).

Obata's reaction at this time is not clear. However, at the end of 1877, he had been forced to return from London, where he had planned to stay for a year, after just over six months. While being consulted by Fukuzawa about closing the school during a period of deteriorating management, he bore the operation of Keio University on his shoulders. In a lecture he gave in 1883 at the request of students, he had to make excuses, saying, "I am usually occupied with administrative affairs and cannot simply focus my eyes on books. Therefore, I cannot give a sufficient lecture to satisfy you all." Obata had worked so hard for academic affairs. Was the sudden notice of retirement something he could accept? In the end, the Koizumi system did not go well, and it was Obata who settled things, becoming the President in March 1890.

Furthermore, in 1896, regarding the continuation of the college, which continued to run a large deficit, Obata, who was President at the time, agreed with Nakamigawa's plan to abolish the college and enhance the advanced courses. The Board of Councilors decided on the abolition and the addition of subjects to the advanced courses. However, Fukuzawa insisted on its continuation to the end and overturned the decision at the next Board of Councilors meeting. Obata resigned as President on August 13, 1897, before a successor was even decided. As the head of the organization, he likely felt that ignoring the decision of the highest decision-making body was unacceptable. He became the Vice-Head of the Corporation less than eight months later, but in "Anecdotes of Mr. Obata (9)" in Jiji Shimpo, it is stated that since he was "not involved in school affairs" and only "oversaw the general outline of matters," he was "now at peace" and intended to return to Nakatsu. However, he was persuaded to stay by Fukuzawa, who said, "If not Obata, who else could be the second chief priest of this head temple?" He assumed the position of Head of Keio Gijuku in October 1901 after Fukuzawa's death and died of stomach cancer on April 16, 1905. His grave is at Shoun-ji Temple in Hiroo, Tokyo.

Reading the minutes of the House of Peers, one can see scenes where even Obata's statements as a member were suspected of having Fukuzawa's opinion in the background, and Obata would counter that it was "my own individual thought." It cannot be denied that not only the public but also Fukuzawa had a side that identified Obata with himself.

From the writings and letters included in his first collected works, Obata's own social vision becomes clear, and it is evident that he was involved in the management of Keio University and Kojunsha as his own conviction. I hope that research will progress and Obata's achievements will be clarified from various perspectives. This will undoubtedly lead to the elucidation of who the actual bearers of Japan's modernization were—that is, the essence of the Meiji Restoration.