Fukuzawa Yukichi Research Articles

Fukuzawa Yukichi and religion

Abstract When the Meiji government allowed Christianity to be proclaimed in Japan in 1873, there aroused heated controversy about how to deal with religion including Christianity. Fukuzawa Yukichi, the most influential thinker and opinion‐leader among Japanese intellectuals in those days, participated in the controversy and wrote more than 80 articles concerning religion. At first, he took a critical standpoint against Christianity from the Utilitarian viewpoint. Then he changed his viewpoint of religion and came to admit a Unitarian Christianity for a little while. But he gradually came to be familiar with Pure Land Buddhism and developed his original phibsophy of religion in his later years. In this article I trace the process of change in Fukuzawa's religious viewpoint and clarify his philosophy of religion in his later years, by examining his writings in chronological order.

On the episodes related to the history of English studies in Japan in <I>The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi</I>

Fukuzawa's visit to Yokohama, one of the ports newly opened on July 1, 1859, has been regarded as one of the most important events in his life. His experiences at the open port made him decide to begin learning English, giving up Dutch which he had learned desperately for many years. His great achievements in westernization of Japan in his later years implicit in this event.The present article presents evidence enough to prove that this impressive episode, however, is a fiction. In reality he had started his English study certainly before the opening of Yokohama.The other episodes on his efforts of studying English, the persons from whom he learned English, his three visits abroad and a number of English books he brought back on each occasion contain several points seriously out of accord with the actual facts.It seems to be most unfortunate that Fukuzawa paid no respects to numerous pioneers of English studies in Japan many years before him, as a result of giving himself the position as such in his autobiography.Conscious and unconscious fictionalization is a destiny of an autobiography, and this masterpiece by Fukuzawa the great cannot be an exception.

Debate and Dissent in Late Tokugawa and Meiji Japan

has often been portrayed as lacking traditions of rhetoric, public speaking, and debate. Acccording to this view, as expressed by Roichi Okabe, Japan has not witnessed the development of any indigenous rhetorical theory and practice. (187). Both and communication scholars have argued that the supposed dearth of indigenous rhetoric is the result of strong cultural proscriptions, deep currents of resistance to Western logic, public discourse and the clear expression of opinion. Debate seems an especially alien activity from the essentialist view of as a harmonious and homogeneous culture. The modern appearance of speech and debate activities in is often attributed to contact with the during the Meiji era (1868-1912) and to the efforts of Yukichi Fukuzawa and other popularizers of culture. Klopf and Kawashima, among others, insist that Japan's practice of debate is on its century-old history of speech education introduced by Fukuzawa. (4). Becker also portrays debate as an alien activity introduced to during periods of political Westernization in the Meiji era and again during the American occupation after World War II. As culture-specific transplants in strange soil, Becker argues, these movements did not spread widely or extend beyond periods of intense contact with the, Limited States. (Becker, Japanese 144). Such characterizations of history and culture as arhetorical or antirhetorical are based on myths of homogeneity and harmony that conceal centuries of ideological conflict, dissent, struggle, and repression in Japan. For the ruling elite and its supporters, the notion that dissent is somehow un-Japanese has along been used to justify the suppression, even execution, of those who engage in it. (Hane, Reflections 1-28). Myths of unanimity have real consequences. For the United States government, whose sponsorship and dissemination of national character studies during and before World War II continue to inform rhetorical scholarship on Japan,(1) pan, I portrayals of homogeneity have been used to justify total war. Belief in predisposition to the irrational and illogical, and in their supposed antipathy toward reasoned deliberation, strengthened American insistence upon area bombardment and unconditional surrender. (Dower 94-117; Hikins 379-400). More generally, characterizations of culture as hostile to argument, logic, declamation, exposition, and debate have fueled judgments of cultural inferiority when viewed from within a culture that equates such activities with civilization itself.(2) But in the past decade historians such as Mikiso Hane, Tetsuo Naiita, and J. Victor Koschmann have reviced the portrait of Japan's past. What has emerged is not the relatively peaceful arhetorical society described by Becker (Reasons 90) and others, but a country whose past three hundred years have been marked by great ideological and often physical conflict, and whose disputes have often been conducted and recorded in the form of debates. In this paper I will demonstrate that: (1) had a rich and well-documented tradition of debate for centuries before its opening to the West in 1853; (2) Fukuzawa and other proponents of public political debate in the Meiji era had little meaningful exposure to theories or strategies of debate; and (3) The spread and subsequent decline of public political debate during the late Tokugawa and Meiji periods should be understood not as proof of essential cultural qualities or their absence, but as internal political developments grounded ill the turmoil of the times. Debate Traditions Notions persist that debate is somehow antithetical to culture or even that it is impossible to conduct in language. Even so respected an observer of culture as Edwin Reischuer note the absence of much genuine debate on the floor of the Diet and conclude that it is absent from culture in general. …

福澤諭吉の地理教育観に関する一考察

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Yukichi Fukuzawa's thought on geography and geographic education.Various people learned geography via Fukuzawa's texts, which he wrote using Western books as a reference. We can find his many new techniques and ideas which were absorbed by these studious readers. For example “Sekai-Kunizukushi”, was used as a textbook by the oldest public schools in the Meiji era. These contents are simplistic and basic. However, they developed Japanese people's knowledge of geography, especially children and women, in those days.Trying to consider him as an enlightenment philosopher, his basic thought toward geography and geographic education is “the theory of development stages of civilization”. According to his opinion, Japan must achieve highest level of civilization in the future. He stressed to learn practical knowledge and sciences, including geography, as a subject everyone must learn in infant days, because they consist of basic knowledge.Fukuzawa also insisted on the importance of “independence”, because this is the fundamental problem for his “theory of the development stage of civilization”. We can understand them through the course of study of Keiogijuku. On the other hand, he didn't think of geography as a field of science to promote the civilization, but, (1) he understood geography as fundamental knowledge for everyone, (2) moreover his own knowledge of geography did not exceed elementary level, and finally (3) he didn't consider the geography as a study of humanities.

Nationalism and feminism in Yukichi Fukuzawa, the most influential leader of enlightenment in modern Japan

Nationalism and feminism in Yukichi Fukuzawa, the most influential leader of enlightenment in modern Japan

Japanese Scholarship and the Meaning of American History

Journal Article Japanese Scholarship and the Meaning of American History Get access Tadashi Aruga Tadashi Aruga professor of diplomatic history in the faculty of law Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 79, Issue 2, September 1992, Pages 504–514, https://doi.org/10.2307/2080041 Published: 01 September 1992

On McGuffey's Readers

In the summer, 1989 the writer had the first chance to touch the copies of the McGuffey's Eclectic Readers in the Special Collections of Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio. William Holmes McGuffey, author of the Readers, was president of the University (1839-43) and pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in the town.The first editions of the Readers 1-VI were issued through 1836-57 in Cincinnati, Ohio and after that they were revised and spread mainly in Middie America over two generations. The total of the copies amounted to 122, 000, 000. The popularity was due to McGuffey's first intention of teaching young learners moral values in the Bible as much as literary stories.The writer's question is why McGuffey's Primer and Readers were little known in early Meiji period, though they were said to have made the American mind. It was partly because Fukuzawa Yukichi, whose school was very influencial, took Wilson's Primer and Readers and other readers home with him from America, but not McGuffey's ones, and also partly because he regarded Reading as a means of understanding other English books such as science and history, not as for knowing moral background of European civilization.

Shintoists in Restoration Japan (1868–1872): Towards a Reassessment

In April of 1868, the Restoration government issued an anti-Christian proscription—‘a fixed law for all ages’ it was styled. Christianity was declared a pernicious sect; rewards were offered for information leading to the discovery of Christians. In the name of the proscription, the government carried out a persecution which, in the first four years of the new era, resulted in the deaths of as many as 500 native Christians. These men, women and children died from torture, starvation or from sickness induced by the conditions in which they were kept. The native Christians were, of course, from the recently discovered hidden Christian communities around Nagasaki. The Nagasaki Christian affair is a fascinating one to which I shall return, but I mention it at the outset since it serves usefully to stress the climate of the times as far as Christianity was concerned. Given this climate, it is remarkable that there emerged by 1871, or thereabouts, a small number of enlightened intellectuals who criticized government policy on Christianity and went so far as to advocate religious freedom. The most famous of the few were Mori Arinori, Nakamura Keiu, Fukuzawa Yukichi and Nishi Amane—names known to anyone familiar with early Meiji intellectual history. There is, however, one other name that needs to be added to this short list. That is Fukuba Bisei. The little known Fukuba Bisei was, perhaps, the most remarkable of these men since he was an early Meiji Shintoist.

On philanthropy in Japan

Generally speaking, a society can be separated into three areas : Government and all the administrative activities that accompany it (the first sector), private business activities for profit (the second sector) and non-profit organizational activities (the third sector).Non-profit organizations are financed by the Government and from individual and corporate donations. Usually foundations are set up as financing organizations. These foundations help to promote the welfare of the community in a democratic society. Such contributions and activities are known as philanthropy.Japanese philanthropic spirit, which is emerging today, can also be traced to two periods of Japanese history. The first in the latter half of the 16th century and early part of the 17th century. During this period Christians (“Kirishitan”), actually Roman Catholics, organized “Misericordias”, a mutual support group to aid orphans, the old, the weak and the sick.On the other hand, during this period, the roots of public spiritedness can be found among the people of Kyoto (“Machishu”). Representative of this time were Ryoi Suminokura and his son So-an. This family of wealthy pawnbrokers were engaged in foreign trade with Siam and other South East Asian countries. The profits they made were used for the public good, one of which was the deepening of the Oigawa River by Ryoi to open a water transportation route to Kyoto from the Tanba area. So-an published the so-called “Saga-block”, a beautiful set of books on the classics of China and Japan.Such “Machishu” philanthropic spirit continued to thrive during the Edo era despite Tokugawa Shogunate feudalism. Such illustrious names as Suzuki Seisan, Ishida Baigan kept the spirit alive. Yokoi Shonan and Fukuzawa Yukichi carried the torch during the Meiji Restoration.The second period was from the middle of the Meiji era (1868-1912) to the Taisho era (1912-1926). During this period, Japan became a modern country and a world power. Foundations were set up by a number of business leaders of the period and these foundations contributed to many non-profit organizations engaged in education, medicine, social work and so on.We are now entering what I feel is the third period. A Japanese research fellow of the Urban Institute in America, who returned to Japan after several years' absence, said her impression was that Japanese society was dominated by government and private business organizations and that non-profit organizational activities were very limited indeed.After fifty years of democracy and with the economic stability and wealth of the country established it is important to promote philanthropy for the benefit of all citizens.

Two Models of the Japanese Nation-State in the Meiji Era : Yukichi Fukuzawa and Hiroyuki Kato

Two Models of the Japanese Nation-State in the Meiji Era : Yukichi Fukuzawa and Hiroyuki Kato

The cardinal and the samurai: Reflections on the purpose of education in the works of J. H. Newman and Fukuzawa Yukichi

ABSTRACT A comparative study of the works, particularly with regard to the purpose of education, of J. H. Newman and Fukuzawa Yukichi serves to bring out the necessary complementarity, rather than exclusivity, of the liberal and utilitarian positions. The study places their work in the respective socio-economic and educational contexts of mid-nineteenth century Ireland and Japan.

The Foundation of the “the Kanpo” and Yukichi Fukuzawa's Breakdown on Publishing “the Kanpo” Newspaper

The Foundation of the “the Kanpo” and Yukichi Fukuzawa's Breakdown on Publishing “the Kanpo” Newspaper

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. Eiichi Kiyooka , Fukuzawa Yukichi

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsFukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. Eiichi Kiyooka , Fukuzawa Yukichi Richard RubingerRichard Rubinger Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 32, Number 2May, 1988 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/446766 Views: 2Total views on this site Copyright 1988 The Comparative and International Education SocietyPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

<sc>eiichi kiyooka</sc>, editor. <italic>Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works</italic>. Foreword by <sc>kazuyoshi nakayama</sc>. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press; distributed by Columbia University Press, New York. 1985. Pp. xv, 280. $24.50

Journal Article eiichi kiyooka, editor. Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. Foreword by kazuyoshi nakayama. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press; distributed by Columbia University Press, New York. 1985. Pp. xv, 280. $24.50 Get access Kiyooka Eiichi, editor. Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. Foreword by kazuyoshi nakayama. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press; distributed by Columbia University Press, New York. 1985. Pp. xv, 280. $24.50. Donald Roden Donald Roden Rutgers University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 93, Issue 1, February 1988, Page 210, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/93.1.210 Published: 01 February 1988

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Japanese Women: Selected Works.

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Japanese Women: Selected Works.

Eiichi Kiyooka (trans. and ed.), Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986), 280 pp. $ 24.50

Eiichi Kiyooka (trans. and ed.), Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986), 280 pp. $ 24.50

Book Reviews : Eiichi Kiyooka (trans. and ed.), Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986), 280 pp. $ 24.50

Book Reviews : Eiichi Kiyooka (trans. and ed.), Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works (Tokyo: Tokyo University Press. Distributed by Columbia University Press, 1986), 280 pp. $ 24.50

Images of America: Travelers from Abroad in the New World by Robert B. Downs

Reviews 77 I See by My Get-Up. By Ron Querry. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1987. 151 pages, $19.95/$11.95.) On the literal level, Ron Querry tells the story of his metamorphosis from English teacher at the University of Oklahoma to cattle baron in New Mexico, to writer in Taos. Allegorically, the narrative celebrates fortitude, patience, and rashness as it interweaves the scenarios of the drifting cowboy who helps to save the ranch, of the tenderfootwho acquireswestern arete, and of the cow­ boywho is socompetent that he can stop being a cowboy—theVirginian motif. Morally, the tale recounts the way in which Querry is able to reconcile, in the process of writing the book, his desire to be a good old boy with his desire to use the academic training which the “real people” regard as womanly. The narrative is a bit weak anagogically, but characters and events are vividly and, as far as my experience reaches, accurately presented. The accounts of the Department Chair at the chili cook-off and of the first meeting of tenderfoot, bull, and squeeze chute do not depend on prior knowledge of the characters—I know the Chair but not Retardo Mountalbull, the two char­ acters least steady on their legs in this otherwise decorous narrative—but they are equally funny. Querry also has a real feeling for the landscape, people, and fauna of eastern New Mexico, and he conveys the passing of a generation whose legacy has been despoiled and abandoned by suburbanites for whom the West has become a picturesque diversion. The style exhibits the strengths (wryness of tone, vernacular rhythm, comic inflation) and weaknesses (vocabulary strained to archness, pseudo-oral padding, mock-self-deprecatory parentheses of southwestern humor.) More damagingly, this mode restricts Querry to stereotyped character and to anec­ dote, so that he is unable to make connections between events and their contexts. If Querry uses his own voice more consistently,' if he abandons the per­ sona of good old boy; and if he learns to trust his material and his reader— then in future work he can do more than entertain: he can tell us some important things about himself, about the West, and about those who read and enjoy his work. ROBERT MURRAY DAVIS University of Oklahoma Images of America: Travelers from Abroad in the New World. By Robert B. Downs. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987. 232 pages, $24.95.) In a career that extends over more than half a century, the author of this volume has contributed prolifically to the literature of American librarianship 78 Western American Literature and bibliography. During the past three decades Robert B. Downs has also successfully addressed a nonspecialist reading audience as a scholar-bookman, summarizing and commenting on groups of “great books” in Western culture —west, that is, of China. His Books that Changed the World (1956) is a classic of the genre. Images of America, Downs’s most recent offering, is a seasoned perform­ ance in the latter line. Here he introduces us to forty works, issued between 1770 and 1944, all describing parts of America as seen by foreign travelers. Following a general introduction, he devotes one chapter to each of the titles under review. The reports of “standard” visitors like Mrs. Trollope, Dickens, and Stevenson all receive treatment, but Downs makes productive forays into less familiar territory. His accounts of independent visits to the United States in 1857 by a Japanese, Yukichi Fukuzawa, and a Russian, Aleksandr Lakier, are especially recommended. Downs’s claims for Images of America as a work of scholarship are mod­ est. His research, cited in the bibliographical notes, is not extensive. His book contains no footnotes, nor do page-references accompany his quotations. His practice of allotting on average about 1250 words to each author necessitates painful omissions and unsatisfying summary comments. Of course, Downs does not pretend to be encyclopedic or definitive. Instead, he offers a pleasant, well chosen, intelligently edited sampler. As he moves from author to author he agreeably varies the mix of biographical background, summary, and quota­ tion. (Henry Nevinson’s Good-bye, America! [1922] is represented almost entirely by a single...

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. By Fukuzawa Yukichi. Translated and edited by Kiyooka Eiichi. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1986. xx, 280 pp. Illustrations, Notes, References, Index. $24.50. (Distributed by Columbia University Press)

Fukuzawa Yukichi on Education: Selected Works. By Fukuzawa Yukichi. Translated and edited by Kiyooka Eiichi. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1986. xx, 280 pp. Illustrations, Notes, References, Index. $24.50. (Distributed by Columbia University Press)