Yoshida Shoin

By Yoshiki Takanashi

Yoshida Shoin

Do you know the person who tried to sneak into the Perry’s Black Ship, the first ship which came to open Japan to the world? It is Yoshida Shoin who tried to change Japan in the Edo and Meiji era. He is known as a samurai, thinker, educator and community scholar. Generally he is said to be the spiritual leader of the Meiji Restoration. The information from textbook in school is not at all about him. His essence is far away from people we see in the textbook. If I explain his character in one word, crazy is only word which matches him. He did crazy things which usually people do not. I will describe him how great and crazy he was in the view of his background, personality and what we can learn from him.

He was born in Hagi in the Choshu region of Japan as Sugi Yurinosuke. He studied at Shokasonjuku, which is a cram school that his uncle opened. In 1982, he planned to travel to the north-east (Tohoku region) with his friends and to keep the promise of departure, he left the Choshu clan without getting any permission from them. After arriving at Edo, he was accused of a crime and lost his rank of samurai and relations between him and his family. In 1853, when Perry came to Uraga, his mind was heading to go abroad. After that, Russian warship came and he and his friend tried to sneak into the ship but they could not succeed because the warship left earlier than the schedule because of the war. They did the same thing to Perry’s Black Ship but were told to go back because if Perry brought them to U.S it would have been illegal. Their baggage were on the boat which they used to sneak into the Black Ship and the boat was already floated somewhere so they thought they would be caught easily. Therefore, they surrendered not to humiliate themselves. They were sent to prison but a few years later, Shoin was released from the prison and opened Shoukason-juku, the same name as his old school, and educated many talented people.

As I mentioned in the beginning of essay, he was a crazy person. From his totally unexpected action, we can read some of his character. By the way, he was a believer of Youmeigaku which is consciousness that we should not just obey the power but act with responsibility. I will explain this Youmeigaku more specifically and simply by using their precept. First, even if an action is illegal, it is just if you thought it is just. Second, if you did not act what you studied, it means learning is for nothing. Third, every human has moral fiber inborn so as long as you follow it, your action is just. These are his consciousness and also he left a quote which shows his personality. The best quote showing his character is, “if you set an aim, you have to start from the day you set it” (Yoshida Shoin). From his actions such as sneaking into warship and leaving Choshu clan without permission, he completely put into practice this quote. From these elements, we can say he is direct and active.

What we should learn from him is his ability to take action and accomplish a purpose. However, the teller has often spruced up history. Some people say he is dangerous and I think this is true. In fact, he tried to assassinate some people who he thought were wrong. There is doubt about whether he tried to assassinate Perry. His justice is not justice for all people which means he was just evil for the Bakufu government. Whether he is right or not, his way of living is something we can respect because he did it for the country not for himself.

In conclusion, I wrote some criticism of him but he receives recognition from many people and his way of life is admirable. For instance, his action surprised Perry but he felt admiration for Shoin. There is less necessity now for people like him because of change of age but thanks to people who changed or tried to change Japan, what we have today is result of their effort and great success.


References

Hiruta, R. Yoshida Shoin sonohito wo miru (Look at Yoshida Shoin). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://homepage2.nifty.com/kumando/mj/mj011005.html

Quotes of Yoshida Shoin. (9/10/2011). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2131813940838887701

Yoshida Shoin (10/7/2013). Retrieved on 15/07/2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Sh%C5%8Din

Yosshi (8/8/2012). Yoshida Shoin ha tadano terorisuto ni suginai (Yoshida Shoin was a just a terrorist). Retrieved on 17/07/2013 from http://blog.nihon-syakai.net/blog/2012/08/002325.html

Yoshida Shoin

By Masato Takahashi

Yoshida Shoin

There were many people in Japan who were fascinated by foreign countries, and Yoshida Shoin was one of them. He was known as a samurai of Choshu domain, educator of Ito Hirobumi (the first prime minister of Japan and the philosophical leader of Japan in the Meiji restoration), plus as the one of the people who tried to change Japan. Compared to other people, he was quite unique and had only his way to think differently from ordinary people, which made him remarkable. Many people might wonder whether Yoshida Shoin was great or just crazy, thus in this paper, his story will be introduced in terms of his early life with a reason why he began to be interested in foreign countries, characteristic and actions.

Yoshida Shoin was born on September 20th, 1830 as second son of a modest-ranking samurai family in Choshu region. When he was 11 years old, his talent of military studies was improved in Shokason-zyuku cram school, and he was admired by Takachiika Mouri who was a leader of Choshu Domain at that time. However after First Anglo-Chinese war in 1850, he was overwhelmed by the strength of western countries and felt strongly that Japan needed to learn the military studies of western countries. For this, he started to be fascinated by western countries.

Yoshida Shoin was a quite extraordinary-thinking man because he was never afraid of any penalty and neither cared about it in order to achieve his purpose. Here are some examples of his story. In 1852, he and his friend, Teizou Miyabe, a samurai of Kumamoto domain planned to travel Tohoku area in the north east of Japan, but on this travel Shoin quit being a samurai of Choshu domain and abandoned his status not to be late for the travel day, and at last, after this travel which is called ‘Tohoku yu-gaku’, he was penalized. Moreover, in 1854 when Matthew Calbraith Perry came to Japan in second time in order to make a treaty with Japan, Yoshida tried to get in Perry’s ship to ask for passage overseas in secret, but his wish was denied and he was arrested. As these things show, he was quite crazy and did not think of the result after his action.

Yoshida Shoin tried to do many things which were quite crazy, for example as mentioned in the previous paragraph, his trip to Tohoku area or making contact with Matthew Perry. In addition to these actions, there were many other actions, for instance in 1853 he planned but failed to get in a Russian war ship of Jevfimij Vasil'jevich Putjatin to study abroad, because he had been very impressed with western countries’ power when Matthew Perry came to Japan for the first time. Moreover, in 1858, after USA and Japan made ‘Treaty of Amity and Commerce’ without permission from an emperor, he got furious, thought that the biggest obstacle of Japan was its own government and decided to beat Japanese government. However he was arrested again and ended up being executed when he was 30 years old.

In conclusion, seemingly Yoshida Shoin was just crazy and there might not be any specific purpose to do such crazy actions as introduced before, however it is also true that he cared about Japan more than anything and truly loved it. As an educator, he raised Ito Hirobumi and Takasugi Shinsaku who left great feats in Japan, as a revolutionary he dedicated himself to studying western countries and conducted crazy deeds and never was afraid of being punished to improve Japan. In history, there were many people who tried to make changes for their country by knowledge from western countries, and Yoshida Shoin was just one of them. When he died, he left this remark “吾れ今　国の為に死す　死して　君臣に背かず　悠々たり　天地の事　鑑照　明神にあり” which means “I’ll die for my country. Even after I die, I appreciate everything to my lord and my parents, plus I never betray myself and what I’ve done. The world is immortal and broad. Oh, God, please prove that what I’ve done was right” (Yoshida Shoin.com). He always did his best to bring changes to Japan because of his love for Japan which might be little unique, therefore he was truly one of great patriots of Japan.


Reference

吉田　松陰.com (Yoshida Shoin. com). Retrieved from http://www.yoshida-shoin.com/