How Fukuzawa Yukichi's Travels Changed Japan

During two periods within the last century and a half, Japan has been governed by an extraordinary generation of leaders whose choices brought their citizens prosperity and their country the recognition of the world. They were the Meiji Government, which transformed Japan in the late nineteenth century into the first modern non- Western great power. In order to modernise they had to involve the Westerners, as they needed to have regular relations with foreign nationals in accord with international law. Internally, the government explained the meaning of this newfound independence to the people and had already introduced the use of family names and horse-riding to the commoners.

Thus, all these new changes made Japan stronger with the abolishment of hierarchy, more rights for commoners, and the introduction of Western transportation such as horse carriages. All these changes were seen by Fukuzawa Yukichi. His book “Seijo Jijo”, meaning ‘Western Things’, consists of his research and experiences abroad. This includes descriptions of schools, hospital, transport systems and many other changes. His thoughts about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era.

Therefore, this essay will outline how Fukuzawa Yikichi wanted equality in Japan and how travelling around the world changed his mind set. As he travelled abroad, he was attentive of what he noticed - the difference between two very different sides of the world. This attentiveness is therefore reflected in his many works of literature.

Early life and Experience

Being regarded as one of the great founders of modern Japan from the nineteenth century, Fukuzawa was a Japanese author, teacher and translator of Western thoughts and customs, and broke the restrictive bonds of the Tokugawa Period. He was born in 1835 in Osaka. His early life as a samurai developed his character. In his autobiography, it’s evident he enjoyed hands-on activities. He describes how he loved mending sandals, wooden clogs and fixing items around the house. His father was a low-ranking samurai of the Okudaira clan in Nakatsu. A pivotal moment of his life came early, with his father’s death. “At that time, my brother was only eleven, and I was a mere infant, so the only course for our mother to follow was to take her children back with her to her original feudal province of Natsuku, which she did”.

Thus Fukuzawa “never knew my own father and there is preserved my likeness of his features”. It would seem that he only knew of his father as being a scholarly man and that Fukuzawa was unusually sympathetic to those of an inferior rank to him. These were the characteristics he was trying to live up too. However, due to the passing of his father, the financial situation at home wasn’t poor. As a result, he was only able to go to school at the age of fourteen. He recognized his flaw of being ten years late attending school affected him. “First of all, I lacked someone to look after my education and I grew up without learning calligraphy very well, I might have studied it later in life, but then I had already gone into Western Sciences, and was regarding all Chinese culture as mortal enemy”. Despite the fact, he was unable to master calligraphy, he opted to learn about something more practical such as Western Sciences.

As mentioned above, Fukuzawa’s father came from a samurai clan and after his death, the whole family moved to back to Natsuku. His mother wanted to keep his father’s memory intact. They all grew up in a different environment, so coming from the city to a village was hard for them to adapt. This made them feel isolated. Much of Fukuzawa’s greatest works would be devoted to examining how it would be possible to change Japan from the samurai group and hierarchical society, to an equal independent society. It would seem like there was an absence of freedom and equality in the clan. For example, the clan had the right to take an individual and place him in another family, with another set of relatives, through the process of adoption. Which is why, it would seem that Fukuzawa relived his own experiences and used them to explain how he had himself escaped from that world, and how other people could do so and find their own way.

Fukuzawa believed there was inequality when he was growing up. He criticised the hierarchal social system of Tokugawa Japan. “When his brother sent a letter to the chancellor of the lord of his clan, it was returned to him for the address didn’t contain honorifics appropriate to the chancellor’s status.” He waited for a chance to change the ways of the feudal system. He gradually grew frustrated of the atmosphere in Nakatsu.

At the age of nineteen, he travelled to Nagasaki to study Dutch and gunnery in order to become a western gunnery. He used this as an escape route to travel out of Nakatsu. After a while he ended up being a student at the school of Koan Ogata in Osaka. Ogata was the university to go in order to master Dutch. This I where Fukzawa’s passion with Western sciences and technology comes from. During his stay there he learnt about Chinese medicine and, disliking it, he wanted to get rid of any association with China. It would seem like Fukuzawa wants to abolish any association with Chinese in Japan as he believes in order to move forward. The question he raises is why we should combine Chinese learning and Western learning. In 1858, He was the founder of the Keio University and it is one of the oldest institution of higher education in Japan.

Initially, it was created by Yukichi as a school intended to study western culture. He also funded the newspaper publication called Jiji-Shinpo. It was considered as one of the most influential newspaper of the time as it would encourage people of Japan to accept a new form of government. Yokohama had just opened trade in 1859, he travelled visited another school in Yokohama, in which he was irritated as after so many years of him studying Dutch, it turned out they are only speaking English the language of the world. The use of the Dutch language was useless and now the most powerful language of the world was English. He was determined to master English by buying an English-Dutch dictionary and a conversation book to teach himself.

Upon hearing the Shogunate was sending a Japanese envoy to San Francisco, he saw this as an opportunity to travel to an English speaking country. He convinced the Captain to take him on as a personal servant, which the Captain agreed on.

Travelling abroad and gaining respect

During his stay for four months, he was stunned by all the ideas in the Western World. Upon noticing the relations between the two sexes when they were dancing together baffled him as he never saw this in Japan as they were very traditional. New forms of transportation such as the horse-drawn carriages surprised him. He also noticed that came from a society that was neat, to a society that was messy and unorganized.

He left America rather surprised and curious. He brought back the Webster dictionary, which is said to be the introduction of the Webster dictionary to Japan. This made him realise how behind Japan was compared to the Western world and he wanted a change. Upon his return from America, he was made the official translator for the bakufu.

In 1861, he got married in a traditional Japan wedding to Toki Kin. He had nine children. In 1862, he was asked by the government to accompany them as a high paid member of a diplomatic mission in Europe. He saw this as a great opportunity. He visited countries such as Russia, Egypt, France, Holland, Portugal and various other ports in Southeast Asia. It would seem like the Japanese government wanted him to take in Western ideals in order for Japan to modernise. He published a book which consisted of his research and experience abroad, called “Seiyo Jijo” which means Western Things. The book became popular of its clear descriptions of the political, economic and cultural institutions. The book included descriptions of schools, hospitals, railways etc. Seiyo Jijo made a significant influence of people just days before the Meiji Restoration, as it introduced different systems of government such as democracy, monarchy and the parliamentary system.

He saw six factors that was necessary for achieving civilization in Japan. These were respect for individual freedom through laws that did not restrict citizens, freedom of religion, encouragement of scientific and technological progress, robust educational system, stable politics based just on laws, and a constant concern for how to improve the welfare of citizens.

Fukuzawa and the Meiji Government

After returning from his travels, he worked as a teacher and translator. He continued teaching and lecturing, as the Meiji Restoration was putting an end to the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868. The Emperor regained his powers but it would seem unlikely there would be a change as most of the Emperors supporters were traditional. Having said that, Fukuzawa noticed the how the government looked like “a collection of fools from the various clans got together to form another archaic anti-foreign government which would probably drive the country to ruin through its blunders”.

Thus as I mentioned above Fukuzawa wanted to leave his clan and since the Meiji Restoration came out he was able to leave his clan as he was fed up following their orders. “If this is disagreeable to them, let them dismiss me. I shall obey the order and get out”. Hence, this shows how he respected his clan and wanted equality for him and other people who were stuck in the feudal system. The only way to do so, would be by leaving the clan and being independent.

Importantly, as mentioned above, the publication of Seiyo Jijo came out at a perfect time as the book would give the people of Japan an insight of Western life and of how far behind Japan was. Even though, this book was published before the Meiji Restoration, the book could be another reason as to why the Tokugawa Shogunate had to be replaced and the Meiji Restoration should be in place. “Even if they were to win some attention, I had no idea that the contents of the books would ever be applied to our own social conditions. In short, I was writing my books simply as stories of the West or as curious tales of a dreamland.” Fukuzawa didn’t know how much of an influence of his “dreamland” would become in Japan.

Fukuzawa was offered several positions in the Meiji Government but refused them as well as renouncing his samurai status and becoming a commoner. The government were seeking information on the western world and only Fukuzawa had a huge knowledge of it. The reasoning for his refusal of government posts was that Japan needed to develop and independent intellectual community. As mentioned before, he wanted equality and to have no hierarchy. He kept to his writings, teaching and lecturing.

All of his writings might have been the greatest contribution to the Meiji Period. Between 1872 and 1876, he published seventeen volumes of Gakumon no Susume which means An Encouragement of Learning. He outlined the importance of understanding the principles of equality of opportunity and emphasised that study was the key to greatness. In saying that, many people were against all these new changes and they turned to violence in trying to get rid of the Americans and Europeans in Japan. There were many attempts made on Fukuzawa’s life and one of his colleagues were murdered.

Conclusion

Looking back through Japanese history, the fall of the Shogunate and a new reformed Japan was one of the greatest changes in its history. The change was called Meiji Restoration. Life and society changed dramatically, to a more open and tolerant regime. The main man who help reform and modernise Japan was Fukuzawa, who is regarded as one of the leaders of the Meiji Enlightenment movement.

In terms of Fukuzawa’s early life and experiences, he moved on in one lifetime from one type of world into its almost complete opposite. It is quite evident that Fukuzawa was born into a system which made strenuous efforts to inhibit individual “selfishness”. As I’ve already mentioned, he read a lot of western books and learned the theory of living and civilisation from them. He tried hard to modernize Japan. He believed in everyone being treated as an equal and not be treated as per the hierarchal system. He gave up his status as a samurai, which was an extremely hard gesture at the time, and spent his time spreading education to the population.

His knowledge in foreign studies were quite valuable and beneficial when he was trying to spread foreign studies in the Meiji Restoration. As I’ve mentioned, he was a well-respected man who gained his respect from the bakufu for his knowledge in English.

Through his travels, he was able to see and observe everything in the western world. All of his most popular books has been centred on rebuilding Japan. When he came back to Japan, he refused to be a member of the Japanese government but instead opted to remain as a private citizen. He lived his whole life as a strong believer of change, and was a leader towards modernization of Japan. Despite threats from conservative-minded people, he died at the age of 66 from natural causes. With all things considered, his legacy will remain forever in Japan.