Yukichi Fukuzawa's Footsteps in London

2000/12/20

Published in "Juku" No. 227 (2000)

In December 1861, Fukuzawa departed aboard the British warship HMS Odin as a member of the First Japanese Embassy to Europe.
Over six months, he toured six countries, including France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Russia, eagerly observing their various systems, cultures, and technologies.
This article traces Fukuzawa's footsteps in London, United Kingdom.

The 2000 overseas study tour, organized by the Student Affairs Center's "University Life Roundtable," was a journey to reflect on the past by visiting the places and historical sites that Fukuzawa visited as a member of the embassy to Europe. The 10-day tour was held from Monday, September 11 to Wednesday, September 20. It traced the footsteps of the embassy in London and Birmingham, and also included visits to Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds, where Keio University has a training facility.

The 22 participants came from nearly every undergraduate faculty. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Satoshi Yabushita of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Teruyoshi Osawa, a teacher at Chutobu Junior High School with deep knowledge of Fukuzawa's life, accompanied the group as a lecturer. Additionally, two faculty members studying abroad in the area unexpectedly joined the group and also served as lecturers.

In London, they visited many famous historical sites, including St. Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum. Many buildings have been preserved just as they were at the time, allowing the students to witness the same sights Fukuzawa saw over 130 years ago. Here, we introduce four places Fukuzawa visited during his stay in London from May 5 to June 11, 1862, along with excerpts from his own records.

On May 15, 1862, Fukuzawa visited the Royal Observatory and the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, where he learned about the naval school system and the latest military technology of Great Britain, then a great naval power. "I saw the observatory and naval office at Greenwich... Here there is a naval school and government housing to support elderly naval officers and sailors... The cost of supporting the school and the old officers and sailors is covered by selling what was captured from the enemy in past victories in foreign wars, and by law, five percent of the value of items taken as spoils by soldiers is paid to the government. This money has gradually increased, and now the interest is said to be sufficient... (*Seikōki*)." The observatory was relocated to Herstmonceux, Sussex, in 1958. The old observatory building remains as it was when Fukuzawa visited and is now part of the National Maritime Museum.

Visited on May 20. The building now known as the Imperial War Museum was a psychiatric hospital called "Bethlem Hospital" at the time of Fukuzawa's visit. In the early 20th century, the hospital moved to Croydon, a southern suburb of London, but the building remains largely as it was. This was an era when psychiatric hospitals did not yet exist in Japan, and Fukuzawa wrote in great detail about the hospital's conditions.

"Each patient is given a room, and during the day they are let out of their rooms to walk within the hospital, or play in the garden and pick flowers, or sing and dance on the upper floors of the hospital, play with a ball, or there are some who paint pictures, or some who play music... (*Seikōki*)"

Fukuzawa also actively visited medical institutions outside of London, showing his great interest in Western European medical systems.

"In the middle of the capital is a great river called the Thames. Its width is about the same as the Sumida River in Edo, but it is deeper than the Sumida River... (*Jōyaku Jūikkakoku-ki*)"

Built over 20 years from 1825 to 1845, it was the world's first tunnel constructed using the shield tunneling method. Fukuzawa first saw it on May 15 and visited again on June 11. Fukuzawa was amazed by Britain's advanced civil engineering technology, but in recent years, Japanese general contractors have been digging tunnels under the Thames using the latest technology. This, too, is one of the interesting twists of history.

Since the early 20th century, the East London Line of the Underground has run through the tunnel, but at the time of Fukuzawa's visit, it was used for pedestrian and horse-drawn traffic. Part of the brick wall in the underground passage remains in the same state as when Fukuzawa saw it.

On May 14, Fukuzawa visited the site of the "Fourth International Exhibition" being held in London. The International Exhibition, a major event that brought together the most advanced culture and technology in Western Europe, must have been a truly eye-opening experience for Fukuzawa and the other members of the embassy. Ten days later, on May 24, he visited the Crystal Palace. This was the structure from the "First International Exhibition" of 1851, which had been relocated to Sydenham, a southern suburb of London. The magnificent, all-glass building that Fukuzawa saw was destroyed by fire in 1936. Today, several remains, such as the foundations, are left, and a museum has been built to commemorate its past.

After traveling through Birmingham and Cambridge, the overseas study tour group stayed at Keio University's training facility in Bury St Edmunds from September 14 to 15. Using the facility as a base, they toured towns in East Anglia, such as Lavenham, which strongly retains its medieval townscape, and experienced British history and culture.

The East Anglia region, where Bury St Edmunds is located, is an area northeast of London that juts out into the North Sea. Although it may be unfamiliar to Japanese people, it can be said to be an extremely important land in British history. In Bury St Edmunds, once the center of this region, there are remains such as the abbey where the Magna Carta was conceived.