Tatsui Baba

On November 2, 1896, Yukichi Fukuzawa attended the 8th anniversary memorial service for Tatsui Baba held at Tennoji Temple in Yanaka. In the "Memorial Tribute to Mr. Tatsui Baba," which was read on his behalf by Tsuyoshi Inukai, Fukuzawa praised Baba, writing: "Though your physical form has already departed, your lifelong nobility is something that your acquaintances cannot forget even if they tried, and it shall remain a model for others even a hundred years from now." This occurred just one day after Fukuzawa had delivered a speech at the Keio University Old Boys' Reunion held at the Koyo-kan in Shiba Park, stating that The Mission of Keio University is to be a "source of honorable character and a paragon of intellect and morals for the entire nation."

Baba was born on May 15, 1850, in what is now Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, as the second son of Raihachi Baba, a samurai of the Tosa Domain, and his mother, Tora. He entered the domain school, Bunbukan, at the age of 13 and quickly distinguished himself. When the domain recognized the need to develop a Western-style navy due to the demands of the era, he was selected in March 1866 to be an overseas student in Edo to study steam engine engineering.

Upon arriving in Edo, Baba believed it was necessary to consult original texts to study the steam engine engineering introduced from the West, and he searched for a school where he could learn English. This led him to the Fukuzawa Juku in Teppozu. In the aforementioned "Memorial Tribute," Fukuzawa looked back on the Baba of that time, noting that "not only was his countenance beautiful, but his natural nobility was truly noble and pure," and that he possessed a "meticulousness of literary thought that earned him the affection and respect of his senior classmates."

After returning to Tosa briefly at the end of 1867, Baba headed to Nagasaki the following year with the ambition of further English study. However, realizing he could not learn English sufficiently in Nagasaki, he desired to go to Edo once more. In January 1869, he knocked on the door of the Fukuzawa Juku, which had relocated to Shinsenza and was now known as Keio University. Baba, who noted that "it was immediately apparent that the methods of English study had made extraordinary progress" compared to the Teppozu era (from "The Autobiography of Tatsui Baba," translated by Kocho Baba), read many original texts including Wayland's Elements of Political Economy, while also spending about a year as a teacher responsible for the reading and recitation of original texts.

It was perhaps natural for Baba, who had been diligently studying original texts, to want to study in the West. Upon hearing that the Tosa Domain was sending several samurai abroad, he hurried to petition domain officials and was sent to Britain as a domain-sponsored student. The subject he was ordered to master was naval engineering.

Arriving in Britain in September 1870, Baba first studied English, geometry, geography, and history. From October of the following year, he began attending lectures on physics at University College London.

However, Baba's interests had shifted early on. When the Iwakura Mission visited London in August 1872, he requested and received permission to study law. He was switched to a government-sponsored student and attended the Inner Temple. Additionally, Baba showed a strong interest in British parliamentary politics. At that time, Britain was in what would later be called the golden age of parliamentary politics, a period when the Liberal and Conservative parties engaged in heated debates in the House of Commons. Baba frequented the House of Commons, witnessing firsthand the mechanism by which the will of the people is reflected in national politics through elections, and how freedom of speech serves as the foundation of parliamentary politics. This experience would have a profound impact on Baba's life.

When the Japanese government decided on a general recall of government-sponsored students in December 1873, Baba returned home at the end of the following year. However, he immediately wished to study abroad again. Receiving 500 yen in assistance from Fukuzawa, he set foot in London once more in June 1875.

It was then that he met Nobukichi Koizumi and Hikojiro Nakamigawa, who had arrived in London to study just as Baba was returning. They carried a letter addressed to Baba entrusted to them by Fukuzawa. In this letter, Fukuzawa argued that "reform of the people's hearts" was necessary to compete with Western nations, continuing, "Ultimately, my purpose is nothing but a sincere heart to protect our nation's nationality." Fukuzawa's sentiment of appealing for "national independence" is evident here, but beyond that, he expressed high expectations for Baba, writing: "I hope you will study to your heart's content and, upon your return, take charge of our nation's destiny."

No record remains of Baba's impressions regarding these expectations. However, after this, Baba devoted himself to the study of law and continued his efforts to grasp the characteristics of parliamentary politics. In addition to observing the House of Commons, he visited rallies held across the country by the then-opposition Liberal Party, observing how political parties appealed for public support. One cannot help but imagine that Fukuzawa's expectations became the driving force for Baba.

Baba returned to Japan in May 1878. This was a time when the Freedom and People's Rights Movement was gaining momentum and calls for the establishment of a national diet were growing louder. Having become convinced in Britain that parliamentary politics was the form of government to strive for, Baba reacted to these trends by thinking, "I considered it necessary to attempt to educate the masses and to find a medium to appeal to their public opinion" (from the aforementioned "Autobiography of Tatsui Baba"). In other words, he resolved to stand at the forefront of the "reform of the people's hearts." Baba joined enlightenment organizations such as the Kyozun Doshu and the Kojunsha, discussing the nature of parliamentary politics primarily through public speaking. At the Kojunsha, he was elected as a founding committee member and also served as a councilor.

In the midst of this, the government, which had long suppressed the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, promulgated the Public Assembly Ordinance in April 1880, stipulating that police permission was required to hold speech meetings. This was an ordinance that threatened the freedom of speech that serves as the foundation of parliamentary politics.

After this ordinance was promulgated, Baba intensified his criticism of the government. Even after the Imperial Edict for the Establishment of a National Diet was issued during the Political Crisis of 1881 and the government declared it would establish a form of parliamentary politics, his criticism grew more severe. In October 1881, he became a standing committee member upon the formation of the Liberal Party, a pro-civil rights party, and engaged in energetic speaking tours. He also founded the party's organ, the Jiyu Shimbun (Liberty Newspaper), and became its editor-in-chief.

However, his days with the Liberal Party did not last long. The year after the party's formation, Taisuke Itagaki, the president (leader) of the Liberal Party, planned a trip abroad. Baba discovered that the funds for this trip were coming from the government and argued that this was inconsistent for a pro-civil rights party attempting to oppose the government. Itagaki was infuriated by this pursuit, and Baba was expelled from the Jiyu Shimbun. Disappointed in Itagaki, Baba left the party of his own accord in September 1883.

Baba continued his speaking tours, but for about nine months starting from the end of June 1884, he did not give any speeches. Although he resumed in March 1885, he was no longer the figure he once was, inspiring people not to yield to government suppression. He began to place emphasis on disseminating non-political information, such as introducing techniques of speaking in a speech titled "Elocution."

While Baba did not explain the reason for this change in his own words, Nobutoshi Hagiwara points out regarding Baba's period of silence that he may have been "continuing to doubt and search" for what he could achieve after seeing the internal chaos of the pro-civil rights faction—such as the riots by radical Liberal Party members represented by the Chichibu Incident and the subsequent dissolution of the Liberal Party (Nobutoshi Hagiwara, "Tatsui Baba"). When considering the fact that he chose a more passive method than before as a result, what comes to mind is the image of Baba experiencing a setback as a Freedom and People's Rights activist.

In November 1885, Baba visited Yokohama to prepare for his departure to the United States. The reason for these preparations is not entirely clear, but it was likely a decision made after various thoughts overlapped, such as wanting to study in the West once more or feeling that staying in Japan was meaningless.

However, Baba was arrested because he stopped at a shop called Morrison & Co., which handled dynamite, while shopping. The charge was a violation of the Explosives Control Regulations. The authorities, who had detectives tailing Baba due to his anti-government stance, imagined that Baba would use dynamite to attack government officials.

Ultimately, Baba was released about six months after his detention due to insufficient evidence. During this time, Baba's tuberculosis, a chronic illness since his time in Britain, had worsened, but he departed for America only ten days after his release. He left without having sufficient time for recuperation or time with his family. Was he that disappointed in Japan?

Arriving in San Francisco in June 1886, Baba stayed in Oakland for a while before moving to New York in November. In February of the following year, he established a base in Philadelphia and later traveled to Washington and Boston. What Baba did on American soil was criticize the Japanese government through speeches and contributions to local newspapers.

Baba's aim was to create American public opinion that Japan was a feudal, backward country by introducing the way the Japanese government did not guarantee freedom of speech. Baba's idea was that if such public opinion were formed, it would be inconvenient for the Japanese government, which was then aiming for treaty revision and seeking to establish equal relations with Western nations; to change that public opinion, the Japanese government would be forced to guarantee freedom of speech. Baba, who had once stood at the forefront of the "reform of the people's hearts," began appealing to the "people's hearts" in America as well. There was the figure of Baba, having overcome his setback and standing up once again.

However, Baba's lonely battle did not last long. As 1888 began, Baba's tuberculosis gradually worsened, and on November 1, he died in a foreign land at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, watched over by Hisaya Iwasaki and others who were studying at the university. He was 38 years old. His remains were buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Just before his death, Baba had published a work titled "The Political Condition of Japan," which denounced the wrongs of the Japanese government. On its cover, it was written in Roman letters: "What I rely on is the public opinion of the world; the enemy I aim for is the tyrannical government." For Fukuzawa, who had championed the "reform of the people's hearts," the grief of losing Baba, who tried to appeal to the "people's hearts" until the very end, must have been immense.