The 187th anniversary of Yukichi Fukuzawa's birthday was celebrated on Monday, January 10. Every year, on this date, the Keio University community comes together to commemorate the birthday of Yukichi Fukuzawa, the founder of the university. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance at this year's event was limited to relevant participants from Keio, with an online livestream of the proceedings also provided.
The ceremony began with a live rendition of Here Stands Yukichi Fukuzawa by students from Keio Yochisha Elementary School and a recorded performance of Nihon no Hokori (Japanese pride) by the Wagner Society. This was followed by a new year's greeting from Keio President Kohei Itoh and speeches from Takeshi Fukuzawa of the Fukuzawa family and Iwasa Hiromichi, Chair of the Board of Councillors.
After this, Professor Emeritus Naoaki Hiraishi of The University of Tokyo gave a commemorative lecture titled, "How to Read Yukichi Fukuzawa: A Focused Analysis of the Positions in 'Independence of the Scholar's Mind.'" In this lecture, Dr. Hiraishi situated several discourses by Fukuzawa on the relationship between the general population and the government—a relationship which, on the surface, appeared to be tumultuous and ever-changing—in terms of specific historical settings and contexts, to reveal Fukuzawa's critical awareness of underlying issues in society.
Following the lecture, an award ceremony was held for the Keio University-sponsored national high school student essay contest established in honor of Shinzo Koizumi. The certificates for the recipients of the award were read out by President Itoh, with Hiroshi Hayakawa offering comments on behalf of the contest panel for the essay competition.
While it was again unfortunately not possible to gather on the Hill of Mita for this year's event, it nonetheless proved an excellent opportunity to reflect on Yukichi Fukuzawa's life and achievements, with many viewers sharing in the festivities through the ceremony's livestream.
Video of the celebrations of the 187th Anniversary of Yukichi Fukuzawa's Birthday (Language: Japanese)