2003/01/15
Published in "Juku" No. 237 (2003)
A clear photograph of Yukichi Fukuzawa from his travels across Europe as a member of the First Japanese Embassy to Europe in the Bunkyu era has been discovered.
Toshio Shibata, a teacher at Keio Senior High School, introduces us to the young Yukichi Fukuzawa.
Last summer, I received a slide of a remarkably clear portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa from Ms. Violet Hamilton, director of the Michell G. Wilson Centre in London. The original picture is currently housed at the Centre. An almost identical portrait, formerly in the possession of the main Fukuzawa family, is now in the collection of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, but unfortunately, its clarity has significantly deteriorated. This portrait, presented here, is likely one of the clearest and highest-quality portraits of Fukuzawa in existence.
This portrait, discovered in London, was taken during Fukuzawa's year-long tour of European countries—including France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Prussia (Germany), Russia, and Portugal—starting in January 1862 (Bunkyu 2), when he was still a young man of 27.
To provide some historical context, Fukuzawa started a private school for Dutch studies in Edo in the autumn of 1858, the same year Japan signed treaties of commerce with Western powers. Consequently, Fukuzawa promptly went to Yokohama, which had become a treaty port, to test his language skills. However, his Dutch was completely useless; he could not even understand the signs on foreign shops. He could not even tell if they were in English or French. But upon realizing that English was the dominant global language, he switched to English studies with his characteristic spirit of daring and enterprise. Thanks to his hard work, he was dispatched to San Francisco aboard the Kanrin Maru in 1860.
This experience in the United States further improved Fukuzawa's English proficiency, ultimately leading to his selection as an interpreter for the year-long Japanese Embassy to Europe sent by the Edo Shogunate. It was unusual at the time for a mere retainer of the Nakatsu Domain in Oita Prefecture, not even a direct vassal of the shogun, to become an official member of this mission, even as an attendant. The main purpose of the mission was to negotiate the postponement of the opening of ports as stipulated in the earlier commercial treaties, due to the chaotic political situation at the end of the Edo period. While the negotiations faced a tough reception in each country, Fukuzawa took the opportunity to energetically observe European civilization firsthand. This experience later blossomed into the publication of his breakout work, "Things Western (Seiyō Jijō)".
Over a dozen portraits taken during this tour have been confirmed from places like Paris, the Netherlands, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, but until now, not a single one from London had been discovered. The delegation stayed in London for a long time, about a month and a half, from the first day of the fourth month to the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in 1862.
I believe this newly discovered portrait magnificently captures Fukuzawa's compassion, wisdom, and dignity, while also expressing a high degree of human solemnity. One can imagine him, as a member of the Japanese mission, interacting with a firm sense of pride and without any timidity, even while touring the prosperous great powers of Europe in the latter half of the 19th century. Furthermore, despite his youth at just 27 years old, he already gives the impression of a man who has perfected "independence and self-respect".
Today, there is no one left alive who was directly taught by Fukuzawa. For us to carry on his teachings, we have no choice but to learn through those who convey Fukuzawa's spirit today, as well as through his many remaining books, calligraphic works, and portraits. I hope that this newly discovered portrait photograph will help convey Fukuzawa's "spirit of independence and self-respect" to Keio students.