Love Without Distinction of Age or Gender: Yukichi Fukuzawa and His Nine Children

February 15, 2010 / Published in "Juku" 2010, No. 265

He brought back what is said to be the first baby carriage in Japan from the United States and wrote short stories for his young children every morning to impart morality and knowledge. Discover the family love of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a doting and education-minded father who loved all nine of his children equally—a forerunner of the modern family man.

Image courtesy of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, Keio University

Yukichi Fukuzawa's family consisted of himself, his wife, and their four sons and five daughters, making a large family of 11. His view of the family placed great importance on it as the foundation of human relationships, as he asserted in "Appendix to Things Western (Seiyō Jijō Gaihen)": "Human relationships are based on the family... In all the world, there are no relationships as warm and intimate as those within a family."

Furthermore, in an era of male dominance and primogeniture, he strongly advocated for the importance of equality within the family.

"There can be no difference between the boys and girls among my four sons and five daughters... What would be wrong if they were daughters? I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if all nine of my children were daughters... I love them all from the bottom of my heart, regardless of gender or age, without the slightest distinction" ("The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa").

And so, Fukuzawa, together with his wife Kin, cherished and carefully raised their nine children. On his second trip to the United States in 1867 (Keio 3), he brought back what is said to be the first baby carriage ever imported to Japan as a souvenir for his two sons who had already been born. Amidst a strong anti-foreigner sentiment, he likely faced cold stares from those around him, but he was a doting father who paid no mind to such things.

"Hibi no Oshie" (Daily Teachings) is a collection of short stories that Fukuzawa gave to his sons, eight-year-old Ichitaro and six-year-old Sutejiro, in 1871 (Meiji 4). He would call the two boys to his study every morning and write a story for each of them in a notebook, which they are said to have looked forward to.

At the beginning of Ichitaro's notebook, made of traditional Japanese paper folded in four, the following seven rules are written under the heading "Osadame" (Rules):

1. You must not lie.

1. You must not pick things up off the ground.

1. You must not accept things without asking your father and mother.

1. You must not be stubborn.

1. You must not fight with your siblings.

1. You must not gossip about others.

1. You must not be envious of what others have.

These seven statements are recorded.

Following this, under the date of October 14, the following text is written.

"Reading a book and forgetting the beginning is like drawing water into a bottomless bucket. It is all effort for nothing, and no water accumulates. Therefore, Ichi-san and Sute-san, if you do not review what you have read and forget the beginning, it will be all for naught, and no learning will accumulate within you."
He is writing about the importance of reviewing one's studies, and his affection is evident in how he addresses them as "Ichi-san" and "Sute-san." This notebook-based education was continued almost daily around that time.

Twelve years later, in 1883 (Meiji 16), when Ichitaro and Sutejiro went to study in the United States, Fukuzawa not only wrote and gave them "Instructions for Studying Abroad" but also wrote to them almost weekly during their approximately six-year stay, sending over 300 letters in total. He also instructed them, as noted in "The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa," "The two children over there must send a letter every time the mail boat arrives... 'If you have nothing to say, write and tell me you have nothing to say.'" This shows how much he valued parent-child communication, even across the Pacific Ocean.

In modern Japan, the nuclear family has become the norm, and not only has the number of siblings decreased, but the number of people who choose not to start a family continues to grow. While Yukichi Fukuzawa speaks of the importance of family as the foundation of human relationships, he does not simply praise large families one-sidedly. There are writings that show his consideration for the feelings of single people as well.

"From the perspective of human selfishness, there is nothing as carefree as being single. One can monopolize all pleasures and, if there is pain, simply view it as the result of one's own actions. Sleeping, eating, coming and going—all are at one's own discretion, with no one to consider. It is a state of supreme self-centeredness. But once married, becoming a wife or a husband, the carefree life of a single person ends that very day. Sleeping, waking, coming, and going are no longer freely done as one pleases... Moving from being single to being married is like doubling the sources of one's troubles, and on the abacus of life, it may seem like a bad deal. However, in return, the joys of married life are more than double those of a lonely single life, so when you subtract one from the other, the calculation is correct."

He also says that having more children brings not only joy but also hardship.

"When you have one child, you increase your hardships by one, but you also increase your joys. With two or three children, you gradually increase the seeds of both pleasure and pain, half pain and half pleasure. In the end, it can be said that this expands the scope of one's life activities."

Fukuzawa writes that "a happy family gathering is a supremely enjoyable thing," but it is an "exchange of pleasures and pains" that involves labor. These are words typical of Fukuzawa, who valued rational thinking without relying on sentiment, even when it came to family matters (both quotes are from "One Hundred Discourses of Fukuzawa").

As for the later lives of Yukichi Fukuzawa's nine children, his eldest son, Ichitaro, became an educator and the President of Keio University, while his second son, Sutejiro, became the president of the Jiji Shimpo newspaper. His five daughters—Sato, Fusa, Shun, Taki, and Mitsu—all married, but his eldest daughter, Sato, lived with the Fukuzawa family after her husband's early death. His third son, Sampachi, taught as a mathematician at Keio, and his fourth son, Daishiro, became a businessman.