Tsuda Umeko

Tsuda Umeko

By Anonymous

Many people know Tsuda Umeko as an educator for Japanese girls. However, there are few people who understand her background. She surely spent a strange life compared with other people at the time, but it is the fact that all her experience made her strong as an independent woman. Therefore, we couldn’t speak about girls’ education without Tsuda Umeko, and she is one of the most important women in Japan.

Tsuda Umeko was extremely inspired by American society system through studying abroad. She was in the U.S. for 11 years when she was a child. Originally, this project was held under Kuroda Kiyotaka who was impressed by high position of women in the U.S. There were few people who thought to let their lovely daughter go, but Tsuda Sen, Umeko’s father, had a flexible idea about it. Umeko grew up in traditional Christian family, so she also became a Christian perfectly because she was really smart and noble (www.yomiuri.co.jp). In short, she spent her school days in the U.S., so she became a completely Americanized woman.

She was really surprised at a gap between men and women when she came back to Japan after her long life in the U.S. She was so excited to come back to her mother country even though she couldn’t speak Japanese. According to a letter to her friend Shige (Tsuda, 1882), Umeko was looking forward to living in Japan and thought it was like a dream. However, she was shocked, against her expectation. Of course, she understood Japanese and their culture gradually, but she didn’t understand why the position of Japanese women was low compared with men. Her feeling then made her stand up for Japanese women. It was also a big challenge to conservative Japanese society at the same time. Gender gap was a good opportunity to make a new woman for Umeko.

It was Umeko’s life project that she made an effort to modernize and improve the status for Japanese women. After she learned biology at Bryn Mawr College, she came back to Japan again. Professor Iino Masako (2009) mentioned that Umeko had both awareness about a favor against the government and what she should do (www.yomiuri.co.jp). By the way, her goal for girls’ education was not just to produce noble women. She wanted Japanese women to contribute Japan by helping men intellectually and mentally. She thought that it was true contribution to society to play an active part inside and outside the house. To realize it, she suggested that it was a good idea to mix traditional Japanese values and American ones. Then, she used “All Round Woman” when she opened Girls English School (present-day Tsuda Juku University) in 1900. It means every woman should learn English and other major subjects and broaden her range wider. Her wills took over Tuda Juku students now. It would not exaggeration even if we say that her ambitious dream almost became the reality.

Tsuda Umeko is one of the women who changed Japan, and she got stronger thorough the three life turning points. Study abroad made her not only good English speaker, but also created Christian base. The gap between men and women made her confused, but she found the way to educate girls at the same time. Finally, she succeeded in founding the girls’ school and in telling them how important the woman's independence is. This smart woman moved Japan and came to be handed down as an advanced educator for Japanese girls.

References

Minako Oba. (1990). Tsuda Umeko. Asahi Newspaper Co.

Nobori Kiuchi. (2013, May 19) Tsuda Umeko; be sophisticated in any environment, from Japan Economy Newspaper Web. http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFE2201F_Q3A510C1TY5000/

Yomiuri Online. (2009, April 25) Tsuda Umeko and America; the background of founding “Girls’ English School”. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/tokyotama/feature/hachioji1267517640969_02/news/20100302-OYT8T00872.htm