Fukuzawa Yukichi

By Kaede Uchiyama

Fukuzawa Yukichi on the 10,000 yen note

Do you know how the person who is printed on paper money is chosen? In Japan, the person on paper money should have great achievements, be well-known, and be the person who can represent Japan (Kinan, 2004). In 1835, Fukuzawa Yukichi, who is printed on 10,000 yen note, was born as the youngest son of a poor lower samurai of the Nakatsu Clan in Osaka. After his father passed away, he went back to Nakatsu and became a disciple of Tsuneto Shiroishi, and then he went to Osaka to study about Western things in Dutch language (Fukuzawa Yukichi (b), 2013). He was a Japanese author, educator, publisher, Enlightenment writer, and he founded Keio-Gijuku university which is one of the famous universities in Japan. He is one of the influential people in Meiji era because he created up-to-date Japan through his experiences in Western countries.

Firstly, I am going to focus on Fukuzawa Yukichi’s first mission to America. In 1860, he was sent to America as one of the members of a diplomatic mission. He was really surprised at difference between Japan and the United States. In America, he bought a Chinese-English dictionary, Kaei Tsugo, and brought it back to Japan. After he came back, he started to translate it into Japanese. Based on Kaei Tsugo, Fukuzawa published Zotei Kaei Tsugo, which is Japanese-English dictionary, and it was his first publication (Fukuzawa Yukichi(c), 2013). I think his English-Japanese dictionary was very important to Japan because many people thought Dutch was more important than English during the sakoku (closed country) period, so there were few English-Japanese dictionaries at that time. However, Fukuzawa Yukichi realized the necessity and importance of English through his experiences. I think he is one of the leaders of the encouragement of English education in Japan.

Secondly, I am going to focus on Fukuzawa Yukichi’s publications. He went to the United States and Europe three times as one of the Shogunate mission members, so he wrote many books about Western culture based on his experiences in foreign countries such as “Gakumon no susume” (Encouragement of Learning), “Seiyo jijo” (Conditions in the West), and “Bunmeiron no gairyaku” (An Outline of a Theory of Civilization) (Fukuzawa Yukichi (b), 2013). “Seiyo jijo” (Conditions in the West), which introduced many aspects of Western life, history, and ideas, became extremely popular. He clearly described them, so ordinary people, who do not have knowledge about Western view, were able to understand easily (Fukuzawa Yukichi (a), 2013). Japan was not an open country for a long time, so ordinary people did not know about foreign countries. However, I think his simple books helped Japanese citizens understand new opinions from Western countries.

Finally, I am going to consider Fukuzawa Yukichi’s focus on the inner spirit. He believed that education, individualism, and national independence were the power of Western countries, so he introduced them through his writings (Fukuzawa Yukichi (c), 2013). In addition, his ideas helped to civilize and modernize Japan. I think he created foundation of current Japanese system because, for example, he asserted that everyone should have a chance to get education equally, and we are able to get education equally today, so I think that his belief must have affected modern society. Despite the great job he did supporting Japan, he never accepted any high position, and he stayed an ordinary citizen in his whole lifetime.

In conclusion, Fukuzawa Yukichi was an important person who impacted on Japan because he introduced Western things which were not familiar at that time to Japanese through his experiences in foreign countries and his books, and helped Japan become modern and civilized country. I had never thought about why he appears on paper money before now, but I was able to understand through this final project.


References

Fukuzawa Yukichi(a). (2013). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 24 July, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/221689/Fukuzawa-Yukichi

Fukuzawa Yukichi(b). (2013), Modern Japanese Historical Figures. Retrieved 24 July, 2013, from http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/185.html

Fukuzawa Yukichi(c). (2013). Wikipedia. Retrieved 24 July, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuzawa_Yukichi

Kinan, H. (2004). Life Planning. Retrieved 24 July, 2013, from http://woman.excite.co.jp/lifeplanning/news/rid_1592/

Fukuzawa Yukichi: Aspects of Learning

Fukuzawa Yukichi

By Daiki Ito

What is learning? Fukuzawa Yukichi may give you a hint about it. He lived from 1834 to 1901 and became a translator and teacher. He is very famous for education, and was a founder of Keio University which is one of the most famous universities in Japan. He is also known for the expression “Heaven doesn't make a man better than others, nor does it make a man worse than others” (Fukuzawa Yukichi, 1994). In reality, however, we are not equal in many ways, but what makes the gap? He says it is learning that creates the disparity. Assuming that is true, so as to fill in the gap and become happier, it is probably the first step to ponder the aspects of “learning’’.

First of all, Fukuzawa learned from other countries and broadened his horizons. He was dispatched by the government to the countries such as America, Britain, Germany, and France. In 1860, he went to America and he was shocked so much by the cultural difference such as America’s indifference to offspring of famous people like George Washington. In 1861, he was dispatched by the government to Europe as a translator. When he went to London, he visited an international exhibition for research and saw things such as steam locomotives, electrical equipment, and linotypes. In addition, utilizing money provided by the Japanese government, he bought lots of books about Europe and scrutinized European’s culture. After these surveys, he wrote a book named “Things Western (西洋事情)’’ which describes European culture, politics, economy and so forth. If you can conjure up a time when you have had an experience in a new place, you must know that as his case, expanding your field of vision is a significant part of learning.

Learning from other countries, however, does not mean imitating them and proper learning is to be selective. Fukuzawa writes about it on a book named “Datsu-A Ron (脱亜論)’’ which literally means escaping from Asia. You may want to criticize him as an unpatriotic person, but this is not true. He seemed to love Japan and that is why he referred to the necessity for Japan to be civilized. As he said, imitating such as wearing western clothes is not civilization as he would think of it; then, what is civilization? He seemed to regard it as cultivation of ‘’inner spirit’’. In other words he thought that people had to learn things from other countries such as dignity and the way of thinking which are more important than external things like food, hair style, and fashion. Interestingly, it is said that Fukuzawa never wore western clothes at home and he disliked meat and liked fishes, which was typical of Japan. As it shows, he mentioned the importance of being selective about learning (Hutchinson, personal communication, 2013).

Finally, everyone has been learning and will continue to keep learning things. The famous book ‘’Encouragement for education (学問のすすめ)’’ talks about it. What you have to notice here is the word “Gakumon (学問)’’. This word “Gakumon’’ is common in current Japan but it had a different meaning in Edo period. ‘’In this period, when people heard the word, most of them thought of “学文” instead of “学問” (Shibata Toshio, 2005). What is the difference? On one hand, “学文” literally means study such as reading and writing. On the other hand, the word “学問”, as you can see by the word “問’’, is to question things such as “what is happiness?’’ and it was Fukuzawa who popularized it. The thing is that there is no end to questioning things and this indicates that we never stop learning for good as far as we live.

What we can conclude from these facts and his ideas is that learning has at least three cardinal aspects. They are that learning is to broaden your horizon, we must be selective, and learning never ends in our lives. As Fukuzawa Yukichi mentioned, if learning differentiates people, with learning these features as the first step, no one will stop learning for the sake of realization of real equality.


References
Fukuzawa, Y. (1994), 学問のすゝめ [Encouragement of Learning], Iwanami
Shibata, T. (2005), 福澤諭吉のレガシー [The legacy of Fukuzawa Yukichi], Maruzen

Yukichi Fukuzawa

Yukichi Fukuzawa

By Atsuya Shimoju

Yukichi Fukuzawa was a great thinker and educator in Meiji period. His thought influenced many Japanese people and his words "Heaven doesn't make a man better than others, nor does it make a man worse than others" (Encouragement of Learning, 1872) are so famous. These words present his fair thought. In addition he built Keio Gijuku (Keio University) and it is one of the best universities in Japan. This essay says his background, his experience establishing his thought and his contribution to Japan.

Yukichi Fukuzawa was born in Osaka on December 12 in 1835. His father was able but a low rank samurai. He died after eighteen months when Yukichi was born so his family was poorer. When he was thirteen years he started to go to school. It was later than ordinary children but he was a brilliant student so he learned many things quickly. Especially he was good at Confucianism. When he was nineteen years, he went to Nagasaki and there he leaned Dutch. According to Shinzo (1966), he wanted to learn how to use cannons but in order to learn that it was necessary to understand Dutch, because cannons which were in Nagasaki all belonged to the Dutch forces. Then he went to Yokohama and he got to know English was more important than Dutch and he began to learn English. After he was able to speak English fluently to some extent, he went abroad. Thereafter he started to tell his ideas though his books.

He thought class system of Japan should be abolished and Japan should be open to other countries. His thought was established though experiences in childhood and in foreign countries. His childhood was hard. He was superior but born in a low rank samurai family so he was looked down on by children of higher rank samurai families. There is a famous quote that says his thought. It is 'the status system of feudal society is my father's enemy' ("Fukuo jiden"). This quote expresses that he was subjected to great hardships of his class. Yukichi, who experienced discrimination of class system, went abroad three times. When he stayed abroad, he got to know that many Asians were controlled by western people so he came to think that Japan had to be open to other countries and study many things from western countries in order to defend Japan from them. Discrimination in childhood and experience in foreign countries established his thought.

His thought influenced many people and many systems of Japan changed. Among them one of the most important changes was supporting abolishing feudal system of Japan. A class system existed in Japan until Meiji period. Classes of people were decided by occupations. Samurai were at the top of the class system. On the other hand, merchants were at the bottom. Although samurai was the top, there were many ranks in samurai class. As previously stated, Yukichi Fukuzawa hated this system so he criticized it though his books. Some people of new government were influenced by his thought and changed clan system to prefecture system. Clan system was related to feudal system closely so abolishing clan system meant repealing feudal system. Thanks to Yukichi, Japanese people became a little fairer.

In conclusion, when Yukichi Fukuzawa was a child he suffered from class system of Japan and saw a lot of things abroad. Though these experiences his thought was made and had a significant impact on Japan society. He was absolutely one of the most necessary people of pre-modern Japan.

Reference list

Shinzo, K. (1966). Fukuzawa Yukichi, Iwanami Shoten
Shinzo, K. (1991). My Fukuzawa Yukichi, Kodansha