An Exhibition Plan Eighty-Plus Years in the Making: Toward the Opening of the Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial Keio History Museum

2020/09/03

Image: The Old University Library, where seismic isolation work has been completed to house the Keio History Museum on the second floor.

Rebuilding Keio University is... not just for the sake of the Juku alone. It is a matter of the utmost urgency, not only for the true democratization of Japan but also for the education and culture of the new Japan. It is no exaggeration to say that quickly restoring Keio University, which lost three-quarters of its facilities to war damage and requisition, is ultimately for the sake of world peace and human civilization.

This passage is from a prospectus written in 1947 for the 90th anniversary of the founding of Keio University. It claims that the reconstruction of Keio University is for "world peace" and "human civilization." You might wonder if that is a bit of an overstatement. At the time, the Juku, which is said to have suffered the greatest war damage in Japan, lacked even enough classrooms to conduct daily lessons properly. Yet, it spoke of world peace.

However, Keio University has historically maintained an incredible sense of pride and confidence—a belief in "intellect" that the development of scholarship is what changes the world, and that it is the Juku, and no one else, that leads this charge. I wonder if that spirit still exists today.

Next spring, the "Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial Keio History Museum," which introduces the life of Fukuzawa Yukichi and the 160-year history of Keio University, is set to open in the former grand reading room on the second floor of the Old University Library at Mita. As far as I know, this plan began to move in earnest in 2015 during the tenure of former President Seike. In March of that year, the President and 11 faculty and staff members visited Harvard University. The purpose was to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the "college" as a higher education institution linked to the current university, and to express gratitude to Harvard for its significant assistance in that founding. The visit included a meeting with President Faust, a commemorative lecture by the President, and a dinner party.

Between the President's lecture and the dinner, the group was guided to the university archives and given the opportunity to view historical documents showing the connection between Keio University and Harvard. Among them was a letter from Fukuzawa Yukichi to then-Harvard President Eliot requesting the dispatch of teachers for the establishment of the Keio college. Because of this letter, the Keio University of today exists. Through the arrangements of President Eliot, three American teachers came to Japan, and the "Keio University college" was launched with them as deans.

The participants were there because of a history from 125 years ago, and seeing that connection with physical evidence, they shared a truly deep sense of emotion. The frontispiece of this magazine reporting on the visit includes a photo of the President viewing the Fukuzawa letter and a group photo taken in front of the materials (April 2015 issue).

At that time, the conversation turned to the state of Keio's own historical materials. Unfortunately, no records of the negotiations at the time of the college's opening in 1890 remain, and the correspondence between Fukuzawa and Eliot can only be read as a one-way street. However, I remember desperately explaining, as a junior member of the group, that plenty of materials showing the subsequent thick and deep relationship with Harvard remain at the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, which serves as Keio's archives. The byproduct of this was my article, "Harvard in the History of Keio University," written for the May issue of the same year.

In a report article contributed to the same issue by Vice-President Komamura, who was a member of the delegation, there is the following passage: "...I was once again taught the difference between us. The passion for archives that preserves a wide range of the President's speech drafts and letters, and even houses materials from a university in the Far East, is formidable. While this is unique to Harvard, which is the very path of American intellectual history, the Juku, which possesses Fukuzawa Yukichi as an icon of modern Japanese history, also needs an archive to systematically exhibit his footsteps."

Shortly after returning to Japan, the issue of the seismic resistance of the Old University Library surfaced, and it was decided that seismic isolation work would be carried out. Along with this, President Seike set a policy to establish a facility for exhibiting Juku history on the second floor of the Old University Library, a policy that has been carried forward by current President Haseyama.

Meanwhile, in 2017, based on a donation of art pieces from the Century Cultural Foundation to Keio University, plans were also finalized for the Keio Museum Commons (KeMCo), a place for the exhibition and research of academic materials. This was to be a new building constructed along Mita-dori.

Thus, the two museum plans, referred to as the "Twin Towers" in President Haseyama's New Year's greeting this January, began to move forward.

By the way, it is not as if there had been no opinions until now about having a permanent exhibition of Fukuzawa and Keio University history at Mita. No, there were many. In fact, there may be no other project that has been abandoned so many times.

As far as I know, it was first planned around 1937 during the era of President Shinzo Koizumi. There were large donations and the gift of Fukuzawa Yukichi's former residence for this purpose, but construction was halted due to wartime resource controls, and the Fukuzawa residence was destroyed in the war.

In 1950, following the entrustment of a large amount of Fukuzawa materials from the Fukuzawa family to the Juku, President Kōji Ushioda planned the construction of a storage facility that would eventually be developed into an exhibition facility. However, priority was given to resolving the shortage of research offices, and it was changed to the Second Research Building (the old Banraisha). At this time, the site of the burned-down Fukuzawa residence (Fukuzawa Park) was set aside as a future site.

In 1958, after seeing the Fukuzawa exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the founding, Mitsukoshi President Eiichiro Iwase (a Keio University alumni) offered a lump-sum donation for the construction of a memorial hall and the organization and maintenance of materials. Plans for construction in Fukuzawa Park were initiated. There were also large donations from the Mita-kai, but the project stalled due to Iwase's sudden death.

In 1983, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding and the 150th anniversary of Fukuzawa's birth, calls for an exhibition facility resurfaced, and the existing Juku History Materials Room was newly launched as the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies. Its prospectus stated: "Whether precious materials are being stored with meticulous care, whether a system for providing convenience for Fukuzawa research is in place, and whether the public exhibition of held materials within Keio and outside is being appropriately implemented... the intention behind establishing the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies is to compensate for these deficiencies." However, in the end, the system for exhibition and public access was not established.

In 1997, a virtual museum concept was considered under President Torii, and there were movements requesting a physical exhibition, but both faded away.

For the 150th anniversary in 2008, there were plans to house exhibition functions within the new South School Building, but these were passed over.

I think I could write a whole series of articles just on these detailed circumstances, but I will save that for another time. Instead, I want to consider why an exhibition facility for Fukuzawa and Juku history was never built at Keio University. I believe there are several reasons, both as a university and as Keio University.

First, considering Fukuzawa's philosophy of "independence and self-respect," being taught Fukuzawa's philosophy becomes a self-contradiction. There is a strong awareness within Keio, especially in the university, that it is something one should spin out for oneself.

Furthermore, as a characteristic of a university as an institution, an attitude of evaluating "Fukuzawa," who has become a kind of authority, might be something that cannot be accepted in a university where being a scholar means maintaining a cynical stance toward everything. The "Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies" is sometimes viewed as a government organ or a religious office. In recent years, the Center has become a specialized institution for talking about Fukuzawa, and I feel that the atmosphere for general faculty and staff to casually talk or write about Fukuzawa has completely disappeared.

From the perspective of a historical researcher, Fukuzawa is seen as a man of letters. What matters to researchers is the content of what he wrote, and as long as the sophisticated Complete Works of Fukuzawa Yukichi exists, those texts were all that was needed. At the risk of being misunderstood, I think there is a sense among historical researchers that an "exhibition" is merely a show for amateurs and not a scholarly act.

I think there are sufficient reasons for each of these. Reading past literature, there are many writings that praise anything related to Fukuzawa. The sense to view that with skepticism is absolutely necessary. However, one cannot criticize Fukuzawa without knowing him. It sounds strange, but knowing Fukuzawa becomes the source of healthy doubt and a critical spirit toward him. "In the world of belief there is much falsehood; in the world of doubt there is much truth" are the words of Fukuzawa.

Furthermore, even from a researcher's perspective, the situation has changed today. The digital archiving of historical materials has progressed, and everyone knows the value of touching the real thing. In this environment, Fukuzawa research that relies solely on the Complete Works lacks appeal, and Fukuzawa's presence as a research subject has declined, which I believe has lowered the historical presence of Fukuzawa and Keio University more than it should be.

And above all, I believe Fukuzawa is not that worthless. Keio University would not be the Keio University of today without Fukuzawa. Not only that, Japan would not be the Japan of today without Fukuzawa. Whether one views this positively or negatively, there is no better teaching material, and I believe that not making this public is an abandonment of both responsibility and potential as an educational and research institution.

That is why I once wrote that a "bargain sale" of Fukuzawa Yukichi is necessary. I believe he should be returned to a familiar existence that is talked about more casually. To put it bluntly, we must take him down from the altar and use him to the fullest. Not as an advertisement, but as a teaching material for intellectual training.

Since we are planning with this kind of thinking, the upcoming museum will not be one that shouts "Long live Fukuzawa" or "Long live Keio University." Nor will it depict the current Juku in a glowing way tailored to the eyes of prospective students. It will not include content like an admissions guide. We are proceeding with preparations with the intention of carefully pulling out history that is being forgotten and creating an opportunity for it to be seen by many people once again.

And I want to make it a facility that can be seen by as diverse a range of people as possible, both from within Keio and outside. There is no need to devote precious space on this cramped Mita Campus just to talk about Fukuzawa or Keio University like a password known only to insiders. Since we are opening it, I want to keep foreigners and elementary and junior high school students in mind, and if possible, make it a tourist spot. That said, we will not pander to diverse visitors; rather, we want to create a facility that encourages elementary and junior high school students to reach higher and sows the seeds of broad intellectual curiosity. Keio students and Keio University alumni will, of course, also find the visit interesting. This is also an attempt to "visualize" the school's color (there is even the term "Juku style") that Keio graduates feel they somehow share. Through the exhibition, I hope they can once again become conscious of their own student days on a timeline and make some kind of discovery.

The exhibition structure begins with Fukuzawa's birth in 1835 and reaches the Juku of the present day in 2020. The chapters are organized into the following four sections:

Chapter of Freshness: The Departure of Fukuzawa Yukichi

Chapter of Wisdom and Courage: The Creation of Civilization and the Power of Scholarship

Chapter of Independence and Self-Respect: The Pride and Struggles of a Private Institution

Chapter of Jinkan Kosai (Society): Men and Women, Family, the Juku, and Society

There is also a special exhibition room, where special exhibitions related to Fukuzawa and Juku history will be held several times a year.

The exhibition content is designed so that there are discoveries no matter how many times one visits. Also, I want to place importance on having people feel the interest of "things" (physical materials) in particular.

Unlike the digital-analog fusion of the aforementioned KeMCo, for which preparations are being made separately, the exhibition method will consist of extremely orthodox explanatory texts and exhibits, and may lack novelty. However, we decided that the connections between people in the Keio Gijuku Shachu (not just meaning alumni, but in a broader sense) cannot be fully expressed through analog means. Therefore, we plan to develop an original app that expresses the diverse faces as if they are welling up, allowing visitors to view them freely on a large display.

The environment surrounding universities today is harsh. Just as there are fears of Japanese higher education institutions being buried in the world, we have the COVID-19 shock. Universities, where the "place" accounts for a significant weight if not everything, have lost that "place" and are facing a situation where they must reconsider their significance.

What is education in this society, and what is the role of scholarship? The history of Keio University should be able to speak to that. I want to ensure that this museum can occupy a position not only within Keio but also in society, looking toward the post-COVID era.

So, please remember the opening sentence. The innocent, broad, yet actually radical and piercing intellectual ambition of Keio—that the rise and fall of Keio University is directly linked to "world peace"—should be remembered. I intended to introduce the exhibition content specifically, but I have run out of space, so I will conclude by simply saying, please look forward to it.