[Feature: Keio Year 4 — 150th Anniversary of the Naming of the Juku] Panel Discussion: Yukichi Fukuzawa in Keio Year 4

This year, 2018, marks 150 years since 1868, which was the 4th year of Keio (the era name changed to Meiji 1 in September). Therefore, today I would like to talk with everyone about Yukichi Fukuzawa in the 4th year of Keio. That said, I hope to bring the Fukuzawa Yukichi image at that point in time into focus by looking not only at the 4th year of Keio, but also at the ten-year periods before and after it.

I believe the ten years prior to the 4th year of Keio were a very important decade in which Fukuzawa found his life's mission, and the ten years following it could be called the decade in which the foundation of Fukuzawa's thought was established.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the 4th year of Keio was a period of upheaval in Japan when the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and the Meiji government was established, but this year was also a time of great change for Fukuzawa. It was in this year that Fukuzawa's Juku moved to Shinsenza, was named Keio Gijuku, and full-scale education got on track.

The 4th year of Keio is exactly the point where Fukuzawa had passed the halfway mark of his 66-year life. It is precisely the dividing point of "living two lives in one body."

Looking back at earlier stories, when he went to Paris as a member of the mission to Europe in 1862 (Bunkyu 2), the photograph of Fukuzawa taken by Nadar shows him as truly handsome. Looking at this, I think Yukichi was handsome even inside his head. Fukuzawa was only 28 years old, but he was in high spirits; having come to Europe for the first time, he realized that Europeans were not opponents to be so intimidated by. Wearing a black haori and crisp, pleated hakama, with a bamboo hat on his head tied with a white cord at his chin and two swords tucked into his waist, he walked the streets of Paris alongside the likes of Matsuki Koan and Mitsukuri Shuhei.

This was the period when Fukuzawa was about to truly take flight, like standing on a catapult. He was intellectually very fulfilled and full of curiosity; whatever he saw or heard, he would make it his own.

Even looking at Fukuzawa's "Seiko Techo" (Westward Travel Notebook) from this time, he was writing freely from right to left, left to right, in English, French, Dutch, and Classical Chinese, from top to bottom and bottom to top, capturing everything of interest with a truly agile mind. Moreover, he didn't just take notes; he properly assigned meaning to them himself.

What are your thoughts on the impact such Western experiences had on Fukuzawa afterwards, particularly around the 4th year of Keio?

It must have been huge. For Fukuzawa in his late 20s, along with the round trip to America on the Kanrin Maru two years prior, it was a tremendous education. It was as if he had suddenly embraced an entire encyclopedia in his head, and he even remembered which page had which entry and what was written there.

As written in "Fukuo Jiden" (Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi), the keyword for Fukuzawa's actions was, so to speak, "sassa" (briskly/smoothly). That "sassa" is an expression of being intelligent. He didn't dwell on things that weren't worth dwelling on. He immediately turned his eyes toward more important matters.

Throughout his life, "sassa" was a favorite phrase of Fukuzawa's.

That must have been his lifelong keyword. It's quite cool, isn't it?

Fukuzawa had three overseas experiences at the end of the Edo period, and the last one was the year before the 4th year of Keio, so by the 4th year of Keio, his mind must have been under quite a significant influence from those overseas experiences.

Fukuzawa was the only person who went to the West three times during the Bakumatsu period. There were people like Fukuchi Gen'ichiro, Tanabe Taichi, and Ono Tomogoro who went twice, but he is a rare case. Moreover, Fukuzawa didn't just happen to be chosen to go; he seized those opportunities himself to carve out his own destiny. He was under a constant intellectual drive.

The 4th year of Keio was the time when Saigo Takamori, whom Mr. Sakizaki featured in his book, was fighting the Boshin War. Regarding Yukichi Fukuzawa, what points do you focus on?

In the 4th year of Keio, when an official letter arrived from the Shogunate, Fukuzawa declined it citing illness and ceased being a shogunal retainer. At the same time, immediately after that, he also declined an order from the new government to go to Kyoto, again citing illness. In the end, at this time, Fukuzawa declined all his family stipends and chose to become a commoner. Since the abolition of samurai stipends for general warriors happened in Meiji 9, he did this of his own will quite a bit earlier, while simultaneously refusing to serve in the government. Then, the following year, he embarked on the self-management of a publishing business under the trade name "Fukuzawaya Yukichi."

What this means is that, in short, he became someone who was truly a "nobody." What was important for Fukuzawa—politics included—was that he was a person who placed great emphasis on economic independence, on earning his own living, and his intention to live through the publishing business can be seen in his actual actions.

We read the keyword "When the individual is independent, the nation is independent" from Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) to understand Fukuzawa's thoughts on "independence," but I feel it is significant that the vividness and real-life experience of the "independence" he was actually practicing exists in this 4th year of Keio. It is powerful to think that Fukuzawa's specific actions during this period were verbalized into Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning) and An Outline of a Theory of Civilization.

Also, there is the famous story of how he continued his lectures while the Shogitai were fighting the Battle of Ueno. What I want to focus on there is that, in the end, whether it was the imperial army or the anti-government army, he demonstrated that a third position—doing academic work without daring to intervene directly while political struggles are occurring—is important.

Even in times like now, when people tend to act impulsively on the right or left regarding political matters, I believe that showing an attitude of calmly pursuing scholarship at the very beginning of modernization is something very important even today.

Fukuzawa always kept a step's distance from real-world politics and had other things he was passionate about. Since this was a time when he was likely passionate about scholarship, education, and a new way of living, he probably felt he couldn't be bothered with wars or political struggles.

That seems to be the case. One can see a strong will saying, "I have other things to do."

Looking back now, the fact that Fukuzawa was studying alone with his students was more important for the overall history of Japan than the Shogitai at Ueno or the Boshin War.

The roots of Keio University are said to be Fukuzawa's Juku, which began in Ansei 5 (1858), but it was from around Bunkyu 3 (1863), after his return from the mission to Europe, that Fukuzawa began to tackle education there in earnest.

What I find amazing about that time is that he foresaw the limits of teaching by himself and tried to educate those who would carry out education in the future. To that end, he brought six talented individuals, including Tokujirō Obata, from Nakatsu to educate them. Since this new policy of Fukuzawa's likely got on track in the 4th year of Keio, I think it was a time when he was incredibly fired up.

As Mr. Sakizaki mentioned earlier, in this year he resigned as a shogunal retainer and aimed to be a "commoner making a living through reading," but what did he think regarding the Nakatsu Domain? Mr. Nishizawa, what are your thoughts on this point?

Right now, I am wondering at what point Fukuzawa began to think that the Baku-han system was no longer viable. Even after the Restoration of Imperial Rule (Keio 3), Fukuzawa did not yet have a clear opinion on what kind of political system would be best for Japan, and I suspect his views began to change around the time the Return of Lands and People to the Emperor became concrete.

Regarding the Nakatsu Domain, in a letter sent from Europe in Bunkyu 2, he advocated for human resource development through Western studies, but that was a proposal to the Nakatsu Domain, saying they must not lose to other domains and that Nakatsu must not let other domains take the lead; his awareness of the domain still seems strong.

Within Fukuzawa, I think that up to a certain point, he believed the premise of a solid nation under the Baku-han system was necessary for Japan to advance its civilization and enlightenment. That is why he also spoke of "the Taikun's monarchy" (letter to Hidenosuke Fukuzawa, Keio 2). Precisely because he had seen countries of various origins in Europe, he thought the establishment of the nation's diplomatic rights was important and believed it better not to change the foundation.

However, by Meiji 3, he was preaching to the Nakatsu Domain that "When the individual is independent, the nation is independent" and about a "true Great Japan," so I think there was a major change there. I suspect the period around the 4th year of Keio was the turning point.

Fukuzawa also placed "independence of the family" at the foundation of "independence of the nation." In that regard, what was the relationship between the vision of the nation and the vision of the family during this period?

Fukuzawa's eldest son was born in Bunkyu 3 (1863), his second son was born during the Keio era, and his third child, the eldest daughter, was born on the 10th day of the intercalary 4th month of Keio 4, when they moved to Shinsenza. In the same year, Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen) was published, and it describes how humans and families should be constituted. There, Fukuzawa states for the first time—though it is a translation—a vision of the family where a couple bound by emotion becomes the basis from which human social interaction begins.

As he had his own family and children were born one after another, he considered how a home should be. I think the idea that the family must be significantly changed as the foundation of society had begun from the time he returned from seeing foreign countries. At the same time, it was likely a period when his previous way of thinking about what kind of national vision to create changed significantly, and he began to set the goal of building a new nation with the independence of the individual at its core.

On the way back from Europe in Bunkyu 2, he was frequently discussing with Matsuki Koan and Mitsukuri Shuhei on the ship about what Japan should do from then on. In the end, they settled on something like a federal system like Germany's, where the various daimyo take responsibility for their own subjects but the political sovereignty as a nation is concentrated in the Taikun. In other words, they thought there was no choice but to move toward a "Taikun's monarchy."

An intellectual of Fukuzawa's caliber must have been strongly aware that if the various domains continued to act independently under the current Baku-han system, the country would be fragmented and unable to respond to future national crises; he probably already knew in Bunkyu 2 that the Shogunate would not last. The alternatives to that system were gradually narrowed down.

That's right. He thought an alliance of domains would not work and that it had to be a "Taikun's monarchy." However, that too gradually changed.

But the idea of a Taikun's monarchy was considered by both the Imperial Court side and the Shogunate side. Placing the Taikun in the center and having influential figures among the daimyo serve as ministers to rule. That was a discussion that frequently emerged within the Imperial Court even during the era of Emperor Komei.

The radical argument of people like Tomomi Iwakura, Toshimichi Okubo, and Takayoshi Kido was that such a system wouldn't work and the Shogun had to be cut off, and the result ended up moving in that direction.

Fukuzawa himself was likely in a situation where he was thinking about various things in real-time. Regarding the domains, as in Mr. Nishizawa's story, up to a certain point there was still an expectation of utilizing the domain organizations.

But it's very cool that when he left Nakatsu for the first time at age 19 to go to Nagasaki, he looked back, spat toward the domain, and said he would never return to such a place (laughs). Leaving the place of his birth by his own feet while kicking up dust. This was the same for people like Lessing during the European Enlightenment.

As Mr. Nishizawa pointed out, Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen) was released in the 4th year of Keio. This is a translated work, and the original is said to be a general textbook on liberal economics. However, that does not necessarily mean Fukuzawa was a devotee of liberal economics at this time. The reality is that he was engrossed in reading new economics; it wasn't about whether liberal economic theory was good or bad, but rather that he was fascinated by its analytical methods and new ways of thinking.

The reason the early Keio University produced so many great talents is that the teacher himself was engrossed in studying in real-time. That drew in the young people around him. I feel that the 4th year of Keio was exactly such a period.

One question for Mr. Komuro: when you say Things Western (Seiyō Jijō) is a book on liberal economics, what was the economic thought in the West like and how was it taught at that time?

Broadly speaking, liberal economics, known as the Classical school, was the basis, but it was an era led by people like J.S. Mill, who showed an understanding of social policy while maintaining the Classical framework. Also, in Germany, the Historical school, which emphasized the historical realities of each country and society in opposition to the Classical school, was rising and influencing Britain and America.

However, in Britain and America, the Classical framework had not collapsed for general texts. Both John Hill Burton's book, which was the basis for Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen), and William Ellis's textbook, which Takahira Kanda translated under the title "Keizai Shogaku," are of the Classical school based on liberal economics. The economics book by Wayland that Fukuzawa and others were reading during the Battle of the Shogitai was the same.

I see. The reason I asked that question is that in Japan, even in literature, there is a tendency for history that is connected vertically in the West—like Classicism and Romanticism—to come in all at once. For example, about ten years later, in the case of Nakae Chomin, he would criticize liberal economics at every opportunity, saying "The Manchester school of economics is..." and after returning from France, he studied Confucianism and pointed out the importance of morality. Given that flow, I wonder what Fukuzawa was like.

Regarding economics, I think he was still in the process of learning. He was learning with great sympathy, but he didn't have the conviction of a prominent economic theorist.

In Meiji 10, Tokujirō Obata, who could be called a comrade, published a full translation of Wayland's economics ("Eishi Keizairon"), but in the preface, Obata expressed doubts about Wayland-style liberal economic theory.

By that time, Obata and Fukuzawa had come to the view that in a late-developing country like Japan, the role of the government is also important. However, at the stage of the 4th year of Keio, I think they were still in the middle of their studies.

To a mind like Fukuzawa's, economics was probably more interesting than politics. Because you can go with mathematical formulas. From the time he went to Europe, while his fellow shogunal retainers were saying things like how many centimeters high the train rails were or how many meters in diameter the wheels were, Fukuzawa was thinking about how the enormous amount of money to build this was raised. He had an economic mind to begin with. His father was a manager at a rice warehouse in Osaka, after all.

He came to Shinsenza in the 4th year of Keio, named it Keio Gijuku, and became independent from the Nakatsu Domain, but was there ever a time when Keio went deep into the red?

Keio had management crises many times, but the first management difficulty was from around Meiji 10.

At the time, many students were from the shizoku (former samurai) class, but due to the abolition of stipends, the shizoku became impoverished, and government policies favoring official schools led to a decrease in enrollment and tuition income, while expenses increased due to rising prices. Also, the increase in dropouts among shizoku from Kyushu during the Satsuma Rebellion had an impact.

It wasn't this specific period, but as the power of the "official" grew stronger, I imagine there were times when coming to Keio as a private school and being able to get a good post in the new government became inconsistent, leading to a decrease in students. Doshisha and others must have suffered greatly because of that.

After Meiji 12, privileges regarding conscription became limited to official schools, and as a result, the number of students decreased. Or, when the economy worsened from around Meiji 14, the shizoku, who were the core, found it difficult to continue their studies.

Competition with official schools likely became full-scale in the Meiji 10s. During the first decade of Meiji, the official schools were not yet well-organized, so Keio was in a position to appeal its leading significance.

When he moved to Shiba Shinsenza, he wrote Keio Gijuku no Ki (Notes on Keio Gijuku) and other works to show what kind of school it was. In those, he clearly wrote that it was a school centered on Western studies. Even if it didn't go as far as a confrontation with the "official," I think he was quite strongly conscious of individual independence from the official and the state from around this time. I read it as having the idea that Keio is different from the official and will do things more freely.

At this time, even if they weren't called official schools yet, places like Daigaku Nanko and the Military Academy (later the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, established in Osaka in Meiji 2) were created one after another, right? Both the Shogunate at the end of the Edo period and the new Meiji government built official schools at a tremendous pace. Keio existed among them, aiming to be independent from the state and central government and to teach freely according to its own ideas. I think such an ambition existed from quite early on.

In Keio Gijuku no Ki (Notes on Keio Gijuku), he says he will create Keio Gijuku taking public schools as an example. Also, rather than a relationship where there is a teacher and students who are taught, there seems to have been a very strong sense of Keio Gijuku Shachu, or comrades learning together, and I believe that is reflected in the name "Gijuku."

I think Fukuzawa's sense of rivalry with the official became stronger a bit later, around Meiji 14 or 15, after official education began to put forward a new Confucianism. Until then, I suspect Fukuzawa didn't have the official much in his sights and wanted to enhance the Gijuku while working hard together among themselves.

But when Fukuzawa started working at the translation bureau of the Shogunate's foreign affairs office at the end of the Edo period, even in a place like that, there were plenty of officials with a sluggish attitude, and I imagine he was already fed up. He probably couldn't stand the idea of Western education being dominated by people like that.

Certainly, a negative view of officials existed since the time of the domains and the Shogunate. However, in terms of rivalry with official schools, I think he was still optimistic during the first decade of Meiji. It could be said that he truly began to feel a sense of crisis from around Meiji 14 or 15, when, along with the development of public education, the official revived Confucianist education, as Mr. Nishizawa pointed out.

Looking at the current discussion in terms of how he thought about Confucianism, Rai San'yo appears in Chapter 9 of An Outline of a Theory of Civilization, but he dislikes Rai San'yo. There is a certain image Fukuzawa has of Confucianism there. Simply put, he brings up Rai San'yo as a typical image of the theory of legitimate succession—in short, a fixed class society.

However, Fukuzawa evaluates Saigo Takamori very highly. The keyword when he wrote "Teichu Koron" in Meiji 10 was the "spirit of resistance," but what permeated Saigo Takamori's thought was the concept of "Heaven" in Confucianism rather than the theory of legitimate succession. It is the Heaven, the Way of Heaven, and the Mandate of Heaven of Confucianism. People who were very strongly conscious of that generated a strong will to complete their social destiny, the Meiji Restoration.

People like Masao Maruyama say that we must also look at that aspect of Confucianism. If so, I feel that if we read a bit more closely than just An Outline of a Theory of Civilization, Fukuzawa's way of grasping Confucianism might have said some interesting things.

Professor Maruyama said that Fukuzawa is a thinker who develops his arguments by considering what must be refuted within the context of the times.

Fukuzawa actually does evaluate some aspects of Confucianism, but I feel he is the kind of thinker who, if he judges that he must deny this Confucianism now, will refute it thoroughly.

In works like Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning), he is quite harsh toward Confucian scholars, calling them walking dictionaries or empty-headed. However, even in Confucianism, a ruler must take responsibility for the lives of the people as a kind of intellectual elite. This is the fundamental ethics of the samurai, and Fukuzawa had firmly acquired that as well.

Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, Japan's excellent samurai—whether Watanabe Kazan or Abe Masahiro—had a consistently unwavering sense of mission toward the society they were responsible for. They did not hesitate to sacrifice themselves for it. I believe it was because of that that modern Japan endured.

It is written that An Outline of a Theory of Civilization itself was written for Confucian scholars. I suspect he thought that since Confucian scholars were, in modern terms, a typical kind of intellectual middle class, if he could get them to properly understand Western civilization, they would flip over and become a force for advancing important modernization.

How much did Saigo study about the West?

He recommended his disciples to read "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization." Other than that, there were many political works, such as translations related to Napoleon.

Since Saigo passed away in Meiji 10, that means he read "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" shortly after it was published.

That's right. Although they never met in person, it seems he held Fukuzawa in high regard.

There is a theory that the end of the Edo period in intellectual history should be considered to have started around 1790, when the Kansei Prohibition of Heterodox Studies was implemented. This is because it created the possibility for people outside the samurai class to enter domain politics through scholarship. Above all, the number of domain schools increased, giving lower-ranking samurai more chances to encounter learning.

In that environment, lower-ranking samurai like Saigo Takamori received an education from a young age.

Society gradually entered a period of upheaval, and mobility increased. Mobility gives lower-ranking individuals the chance to participate in society; in other words, people who at first glance seemed steeped in feudal ideology ended up becoming the force that changed society and pushed modernization forward. Since Fukuzawa was more well-versed in Confucianism than most, he likely had the self-confidence to overturn the thinking of traditional intellectuals who had received a Confucian education through works like "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization." In that sense, I believe Fukuzawa was indeed one of the thinkers of the late Edo period.

As you say, Fukuzawa had considerable confidence in his own Chinese studies, which is why he believed he was a powerful critic of Confucianism. In "Fukuo Jiden," he says that he is a "parasite in the lion's belly" to Chinese studies.

Nishi Amane also studied Confucianism extensively, but he threw it away and converted to Western studies. In the same year that Fukuzawa left Nakatsu for Nagasaki, Nishi Amane slipped out of the Tsuwano domain residence in Edo at dawn and headed toward Tezuka Ritsuzo's Dutch studies school while loudly singing Chinese poems. Kanda Takahira was likely the same. Also, Nishimura Shigeki, who served the Sakura domain under Hotta Masayoshi, requested to study abroad around the same time. That development was significant.

Shiba Ryotaro calls that Perry's shockwave. Young people around the age of 20 in both the East and West simultaneously abandoned Confucianism and converted to Western studies. I believe it was precisely because they had a sense of mission given by heaven, or a sense of responsibility as samurai toward the country and society, that they were able to respond to the American and European powers at the end of the Edo period and achieve the great transformation of the Meiji era. Supporting that were things like Heaven and the "Gi" (righteousness) of Gijuku.

In a sense, for the shizoku (former samurai) who received an education during the old shogunate era, those moral aspects already existed in reality. Therefore, one could say Fukuzawa thought that from then on, the ability to see things objectively and the ability to measure things were more necessary.

That is also spot on. For example, an oil painter named Takahashi Yuichi emerged at the end of the Edo period. He would stare at the weave of clothing, its texture, and even the way it reflected light, and try to reproduce it. Observation, then reasoning based on those results, and then synthesis. That is the most important issue in Fukuzawa's "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)."

Abstract things, such as the sense of morality or heaven and the sense of responsibility within oneself, will naturally be transmitted to students, so what should actually be taught are foreign languages and the abilities of observation, reasoning, and synthesis. It's very pragmatic and good, isn't it?

But I think it's very interesting that Fukuzawa is attracted to Saigo.

What he says in "Teichu Koron" is that one must have a perspective that properly criticizes the government, and he saw that very much in Saigo since the Seikanron (debate on the invasion of Korea).

Also, after Saigo passed away, Fukuzawa came to evaluate Itagaki Taisuke. What is interesting about looking at Fukuzawa during this period is the intellectual history surrounding the word "hoken" (feudal). Normally, we think the opposite concept of "feudal" is "modern." We think of it as a chronological relationship. However, in Fukuzawa's time, the opposite concept of "feudal" was "gunken" (prefectural system). Of course, the former symbolizes the bakuhan system and the latter symbolizes the political system of the new Meiji government. In other words, it was an institutional issue of local autonomy versus centralization, not a concept on a timeline.

And during the Satsuma Rebellion, Fukuzawa was likely desperately groping for something like decentralization or local autonomy in a form different from military force. He sought a way to vent the frustration of the disgruntled shizoku by training them in local autonomy. Fukuzawa himself developed his thoughts while wavering between "feudal" and "prefectural."

So, as a kind of model, there is something like a Saigo who does not use military force.

Around Keio 4, Fukuzawa published true enlightenment books, such as "Guide to travel in the western world" and "Research Bulletin Kyurizukai." I love that kind of writing. In "Guide to travel in the western world," he even writes things like, "Be careful in Panama because there are giant snakes and lions," or "It's not good to gulp down strange things just because they are cold." It's very specific, and I think it's magnificent how he vividly writes about his own experiences as they were. Wasn't that the first direct travel guide to the West written by a Japanese person?

Even if "Research Bulletin Kyurizukai" was based on Chambers or something else, he is as good a storyteller as a rakugo performer or a kodan storyteller. He writes so that even a 10-year-old child would find it interesting. He takes up very familiar things and preaches observation and reasoning. The skill with which he provides scientific wisdom by citing familiar examples right in front of him. It's natural that he would dislike someone like Rai San'yo. I was impressed when I read it. I want to evaluate this more highly.

It seems Fukuzawa himself thought "Research Bulletin Kyurizukai" was important. In the "Foreword to the Collected Works of Fukuzawa," he states that he wrote it believing that having the general public, young and old, come into contact with physics was the key to accepting Western civilization.

In a letter addressed to a high-ranking official of the Nakatsu domain in Keio 2, he attached something called "Wakuun Zuihitsu," in which Fukuzawa wrote that physics is extremely important and must be studied, and that if Japanese people are made to travel to Europe, they will become conscious of Japan, and a sense of pride and self-confidence in Japan will be born. I believe the culmination of this essay was "Guide to travel in the western world" and "Research Bulletin Kyurizukai."

What impressed me about "Guide to travel in the western world" was that in the first line, he says that Confucius said, "Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?" but why don't we try going out from here once in a while? No one had said such a thing in the 2,500 years since Confucius. Fukuzawa performed a truly Copernican revolution.

The 1876 piece "Posthumous Tribute to Master Otsuki Bansui on the 50th Anniversary of His Death," which showed a complete grasp of the context of thought from the Tokugawa 18th century to Meiji through a single-minded focus on Western studies, is also magnificent. Just by reading this, I think Fukuzawa is greater than Saigo. He has ambition and a deep understanding of the history of civilization. He has insight. This is the pinnacle of all of Fukuzawa Yukichi's writings.

I believe Fukuzawa in Keio 4 was a person who never stood still and was always moving. To summarize what constituted Fukuzawa in Keio 4: one was his experience of the West, another was based on his education in Confucianism, and another was likely the baptism of Western natural science he received through Dutch studies.

How did Fukuzawa of Keio 4 change after that, or did he not change? I would like to move the conversation to that area. After this, "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" and "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" were published, and various developments occurred.

After the founding of "Jiji Shinpo," political criticism and such became more frequent, didn't they?

I believe the flow from Fukuzawa the educator to Fukuzawa the journalist also emerges after this.

The period around the first decade of Meiji was likely right between educator and journalist. In Meiji 8, he suddenly realized that enlightenment had ended, shut himself away for a year to study, and wrote "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," but even after that, he published relatively thick, theoretical books.

Rather, in the Meiji 20s, he wrote quite short and realistic things on issues like treaties. So, I feel that this period was a time for creating substantial works.

So, after going through a certain amount of accumulation of enlightening things, he theorized it as a culmination.

That's right. With the accumulation of reading and experience abroad, as he approached his 40s, I feel it was a time when he stood up as a so-called thinker, aiming what he had studied at future generations.

Journalism first appears around the end of the first decade of Meiji. The search for journalism began in the form of "Minkan Zasshi" and "Katei Sodan," but before that, there was a period of intense learning, and "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" was likely somewhere in the middle.

Before he started writing "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)," Fukuzawa read Wayland's "Elements of Moral Science" and found it so interesting that he almost forgot to eat or sleep.

Regarding "Elements of Moral Science," was such a thing really that interesting?

Certainly, one could say it's tedious if we read it now, but for Fukuzawa, who was raised on Confucianism, it contained a clear antithesis to Confucianism, and it must have been a work that excited him to read.

When "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" was published in Meiji 8, I think he still saw Western civilization as something to catch up to. However, when he wrote "Transition of People's Way of Thinking" in Meiji 12, one can read a kind of pride that he had already fully grasped the cutting edge of the era.

I think the transition from the first decade to the tenth year of Meiji is a very important period for Fukuzawa as a thinker. From the consciousness of trying to catch up because Japan was in a sense still lacking, to put it a bit grandly, I think there is a sense of pride in "Transition of People's Way of Thinking" as if his thoughts might have reached the most advanced level in the world.

He takes pride in having seen through things like the situation in Russia at the time and the emergence of nihilists through English texts. I think there was a change from the era of looking up at Europe from below to looking at it from the same perspective as the most advanced people in Europe.

Up until around "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," his gaze was directed more toward the domestic situation in Japan. That became quite open.

"Transition of People's Way of Thinking" is based on the idea that the ressentiment of those with knowledge drives society, so for that period in the 19th century, it was a quite cutting-edge way of thinking. Fukuzawa himself had great confidence in "Transition of People's Way of Thinking."

That's right. He has a strong sense of having tracked the 20 years from the 1850s to the 70s as an era. Since he had already seen through the fact that modernization leads to turmoil, it is quite amazing that he, who had been promoting modernization, saw even the dangers it held within just ten years or so of the Meiji era.

He had high hopes for the transmission of information, but that transmission of information brings about another crisis, doesn't it?

Yes. From the late Edo period, in terms of abstract concepts, he had always favored fluidization. Moving oneself within society.

Not being a "mental slave."

Exactly. That's why he strongly criticizes obsession. But then he realized that fluidization could conversely cause problems.

What surprised me was that Fukuzawa said, to put it simply, Saigo lost the Satsuma Rebellion because of the information war. The young people in Kagoshima who later rose up only read newspapers. In them, there was only information that Okubo Toshimichi's government in Tokyo wore very flashy clothes or was obsessed with the West. Reading that, they confirmed their anger that those guys were indeed bad.

Fukuzawa says that while people in Tokyo can confirm the facts, people in the regions imagine them only through their imagination and let their anger swell. He says that became the cause of inciting the war. I think this is amazing.

Another thing is that after the war started, the government army used the telegraph for the first time to grasp the movements of the Satsuma army, but Saigo's army was unable to do any of that, and he left a short note saying that was why they lost.

It seems that around "Transition of People's Way of Thinking," he grasped the key points for observing the state of the times. Looking back a bit, he saw that even the Satsuma Rebellion was like that. He seems to have a sense of pride in having grasped some powerful weapon to cut through the times. The fact that he commented on Saigo in that way shows that Fukuzawa was quite sharp, and his sense of pride feels very much like Fukuzawa.

If "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" was one culmination of Fukuzawa's learning in Keio 4, then "Transition of People's Way of Thinking" showed a new perspective.

I believe he had an interest in journalism from the time he became interested in education. When he went to Europe in Bunkyu 2, he was asked by a Frenchman named Rosny if it was true that the Russian army had taken Tsushima from Japan, and he said no, that's just a rumor. Then the next day, Rosny brought a newspaper and said that the newspaper article announced it was a complete fabrication. After that, Fukuzawa asked Rosny to include him among his newspaper colleagues.

Therefore, he fully understood that information is extremely important in society and that events are influenced by information, and he became interested in journalism. However, it probably took until "Minkan Zasshi" (later "Katei Sodan") in Meiji 7 before he was able to do it on his own.

I see. So the interest in journalism had existed since the Bunkyu era, but it wasn't until much later that he actually put it into practice. The issue of information, which is also the leitmotif of "Transition of People's Way of Thinking," has been a matter of concern since Bunkyu 2.

The advanced nature of "Transition of People's Way of Thinking" was pointed out, but when it comes to Fukuzawa's advanced nature, there is also the issue of women. What was the situation at the Keio 4 stage?

When he saw the West in Bunkyu 2, he wrote in his "Seiko Techo" (Westward Travel Notebook), for example, that when the economy in England worsens, the number of prostitutes increases significantly, and what kind of measures are said to be taken for those prostitutes. He also wrote about many women working in factories, so I think he was thinking about the problems of the women in the samurai families around him.

However, Fukuzawa himself said that he had been interested in the discourse on women since he came to Edo, but he does tend to exaggerate a bit (laughs). I wonder if he really was interested in the discourse on women in his 20s when he first came to Edo. But after he got married and had children, he must have thought that to change society, the way the family exists must be changed. That's why I think "Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen)" begins with "Humans" and the next is "Family."

I believe the reason he depicted a family image that was not familiar to people at the time was that he wanted to introduce the fact that the West has a family image different from Japan's in order to change society.

In order for Japan to become a civilized nation, was it about hitting them with the image of the Western family right at hand to enlighten them? Furthermore, at the root, there must have been the idea of individual independence, and he thought that for people to joyfully and actively see and think about things, gender and age don't matter, and it starts from becoming interested in social matters or starting to use an abacus.

I am not yet certain whether Fukuzawa was already aiming for a new social and national system when he published "Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen)."

For example, if you read his letters to Fukuzawa Hidenosuke, he says things like, since you were born in the country of Japan, you must protect its system. Also, I believe the "Memorial on the Second Choshu Expedition" (Keio 2) can be read as a memorial to make it clear that the Shogunate is the sovereign, because the Choshu domain's direct contact with foreign countries ignores the country's diplomatic rights.

I think Fukuzawa's view of Tokugawa civilization is very interesting. Whether it's "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)," "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," or "Things Western (Seiyō Jijō)," the writing is very skillful. He rubs people's feelings the wrong way and then does something like "Nanko Gonsuke-ron." He says things like scholars who look grumpy and act important are like hanging a corpse at their own entrance, using that kind of phrasing to rub people's common sense the wrong way, deliberately irritating them, and eventually drawing them into his camp.

That is the method of Edo literature, the gesaku (light fiction) of Hiraga Gennai. Even in "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," Fukuzawa says that Edo gesaku writers, whether Jippensha Ikku, Hiraga Gennai, or Ota Nanpo, were unable to freely develop their own opinions and thoughts within the feudal system and muttered while being indignant.

While saying that, he learned plenty from Edo and Tokugawa things. While calling the Nakatsu domain such a stingy and suffocating world, in the end, Fukuzawa gradually came to understand that "chisoku anbun" (knowing contentment and being satisfied with one's lot), which existed in Tokugawa feudal society, was the most important wisdom that Confucianism taught the masses.

In "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," he attacks "chisoku anbun" head-on as a typical way of thinking of a mental slave, but he gradually realizes its importance, and instead of following a single line of modernization, civilization, and Westernization, a breadth emerges.

Modernization was about forgetting one's lot as a human being and forgetting contentment. Constantly being busy and moving while wishing for more and more is the "modern mind" that still drives us today. Fukuzawa also spent the first half of his life doing just that.

However, he eventually realized that humans are a bit more complex, that the people of Edo had great wisdom, and that they did not separate morality from natural science, and that such things should be re-evaluated. Including all of that, I think Fukuzawa's capacity was indeed large.

Regarding "chisoku anbun," Fukuzawa likely harbored something very radical in principle, but when recommending something to people, he avoided saying unrealistic things that would make that person unhappy. That's why he gave realistic advice to students, not to master scholarship, but to finish their studies and get a job quickly if one was available. It could be called a recommendation of "chisoku anbun."

A typical example is his discourse on women; in principle, he thought the ideal for male-female relations was free love, but he said that if you actually did such a thing, you would be socially ruined and only become unhappy. He used both that kind of principled radicalism and realistic lessons for the people.

It's not so much that he used them separately, but that they weren't necessarily contradictory within him.

One thing I found very interesting is that when Fukuzawa Yukichi spoke with people from the new government about creating the "Jiji Shinpo," the people on the new government side said that he was not as radical as they had thought, and that he was someone they could talk to. In research from quite a while ago, this was said to be because Fukuzawa had become conservative or had moved closer to the government side, but I think that is a mistaken view.

In "Transition of People's Way of Thinking," he says that civilization is like a great ocean, and even if it absorbs all the flows of small rivers, its own essence does not change. Therefore, he says that civilization is precisely about incorporating everything, whether it be an aristocracy or a republic. I feel that this magnitude represents the essence of Fukuzawa's humanity, and I think he was a quite free-spirited and energetic man.

So, it wasn't that he became conservative, nor that he joined forces with the government. What Fukuzawa is saying there is that the most important thing is to manage the country of Japan well so that it does not become a colony. In that sense, even if he seems to be saying something different from five years prior, his attitude of striking down anything that was not necessary for the country to rise up successfully at that particular time was always consistent.

The time when he wrote "it is not good to be constantly obsessed with the Imperial Family" and the time when he said "the Imperial Family is necessary for spiritual stability" look different if you only look at the words, but they are consistent in the sense that he was aiming to prevent a Japan thrown into chaos by the Satsuma Rebellion and other events from being taken over.

Finally, I would like to ask each of you to say a few words about how you view the year Keio 4 in Fukuzawa's life.

Keio 4 was likely the very hinge year in which he leaped from being a mere scholar employed by the Tokugawa Shogunate's foreign affairs department to becoming an opinion leader for the Japanese people. He opened Keio University in Shiba Shinsenza and conducted various orthodox educational activities. I believe it was a crucial period that overlapped with that transition.

It was likely the image of a new Fukuzawa responding to the Japan of the Tokugawa era up until the end of the Edo period, and the Japan of the Five Charter Oath in the Meiji era, which stated that "all matters shall be decided by public discussion."

People usually enter the world of Fukuzawa through "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" from Meiji 5, but what I felt again today is that, in a sense, the starting point for everything lies around Keio 4. While the Shogitai were fighting in Ueno, he cast off his titles amidst the chaos of not knowing which way things would go. This determination to not take either side is something that could not be done without a considerable amount of conviction within himself, and it was precisely because of that conviction that his enlightenment activities progressed, including for the sake of making a living.

I felt once again that Keio 4 was truly the beginning of everything we know about Fukuzawa thereafter.

The fact that Keio University moved to Shiba Shinsenza was very decisive for the history of Keio University as well. When it was in Teppozu, it was in rented quarters and still felt like a private Juku. That fact is also significant.

In the period of the fourth month of Keio 4, why did he think to give a name to his Juku, which until then had been called the Dutch Studies Juku or the Fukuzawa Juku?

In "Keio Gijuku no Ki (Notes on Keio Gijuku)," which describes the naming, he recalls the history of Western studies chronologically and says that it is precisely because of the various stages of his predecessors that the present exists for them. Until then, he had understood that society had to be changed and that the current system was no good, but what he himself could do about it became clear. First, he would establish a school and focus on developing human resources. I believe he made a major resolution here, paid the large sum of 355 ryo to buy land, and named it Keio University.

Although he wrote "provisionally," the fact that he used the era name Keio shows his determination that they too would create a new era, taking what their predecessors had built up one step higher and passing it on to the next generation.

Indeed, as we heard today, Keio 4 was a year like a "hinge" for the 20 years before and after it, the "starting point for everything" thereafter, and a time of "major resolution" toward a new direction.

Moreover, he spent that time together with his students. There were no teachers or students; both were teachers and both were disciples.

Fukuzawa himself was reading new English books one after another and was excited by his own learning. He involved the students in that and shared the excitement of knowledge with them. In that respect, I think it was also a period when a very happy form of education took place.

Thank you very much for today.