Joseph Hardy Neesima

Image: Collection of the Keio Institute for Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies

Soho Tokutomi compared Yukichi Fukuzawa and Joseph Hardy Neesima as contrasting Meiji-era educators. While acknowledging Fukuzawa's practical success, Tokutomi consistently supported his mentor, Neesima. What was the charm of Neesima that made people want to support him? Furthermore, are there no commonalities between Fukuzawa and Neesima, despite their lack of direct contact?

Neesima was born on January 14, Tenpo 14 (February 12, 1843), at the Edo residence of the Annaka Domain, as the fifth child of Tamiji Neesima, a samurai of the domain, and his mother Tomi. He was named Shimeta after the shimenawa (sacred straw rope) of the New Year. Since he was the first son after four consecutive girls, those around him doted on him, and Shimeta grew up taking it for granted that he could have his own way. In terms of environment, this is similar to Yukichi Fukuzawa, who grew up surrounded by his elder brother Sannosuke and three elder sisters, and became the center of the family after the deaths of his father and brother.

Neesima was selected by the domain lord to begin studying Dutch studies around the age of 13, but he was soon assigned to clerical tasks such as record-keeping. He began to express his dissatisfaction through actions, such as taking unauthorized absences from work. Those around him rebuked him strongly for this. From 1860 (Man'en 1), he was able to attend the Shogunate's Naval Training Center to study mathematics and navigation, but he left two years later due to an eye disease. Around that time, he had the opportunity to board a Western-style sailing ship and sailed to Tamashima (Okayama Prefecture), where he enjoyed a sense of freedom. Neesima, who had begun English studies, went to Hakodate on the same ship in 1864 (Genji 1) and stayed there as a Japanese language teacher for Nicolai of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In June of the same year, Neesima boarded a ship anchored in Hakodate Port and attempted to stow away abroad, which was prohibited at the time. This is said to have been influenced by his dissatisfaction with his stagnant situation, a longing for freedom, and the descriptions of the United States he had read in books. He transferred to another ship in Shanghai, where the captain called him "Joe." Arriving in Boston in July of the following year, Neesima had the opportunity to meet Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, the ship owners. Moved by the English text he wrote explaining the circumstances of his departure, the couple invited him to become a member of the Hardy family. Under their protection, he attended school, was baptized at a church, graduated from Amherst College, and entered Andover Theological Seminary. Hardy held key positions at all of these schools. Neesima continued to receive financial support from the Hardys thereafter, and it can be said that meeting the couple opened the path he would follow. In 1871 (Meiji 4), through the mediation of Arinori Mori at the Japanese Legation in the U.S., the Japanese government issued him a passport and a permit to study abroad, turning Neesima from a stowaway into an official international student. The following year, when he was asked to serve as an interpreter for the Iwakura Mission visiting the U.S., he was favored by Fujimaro Tanaka of the Ministry of Education and had the valuable experience of inspecting education in European countries as a third-class secretary. Afterward, he was scheduled to be employed by the Kaitakushi (Hokkaido Development Commission), but he requested an extension of his studies and received tuition from the government.

Appointed as an associate missionary of the American Board, the oldest missionary organization in the U.S., Neesima set foot on his homeland for the first time in ten years in 1874 (Meiji 7) and began calling himself "Joseph Hardy Neesima." This was both a return home and a missionary dispatch from the United States.

After returning to Japan, he began working toward establishing a new school based on Christian principles and moved to the Kansai region, where senior missionaries were based. He hit it off with Kakuma Yamamoto, an advisor to Kyoto Prefecture, who encouraged him to open a school in Kyoto. He acquired the site of the former Satsuma Domain residence for the school grounds and moved into Yamamoto's house. In November, he was finally able to open the Doshisha English School. In January 1876 (Meiji 9), Neesima married Kakuma's younger sister, Yae. In September, about 40 students from the Kumamoto Western School, known as the "Kumamoto Band," entered Doshisha, bringing a fresh perspective. Around this time, he established a church in his home, and after holding the first graduation ceremony in 1879 (Meiji 12), he departed on a missionary tour. Thus, Neesima had multiple faces as an educator (principal) and a religious figure (pastor, evangelist).

In the early days of Doshisha, students of the Kumamoto Band, who were often at odds with other students and teachers, went on strike (unauthorized absence) when talk of merging classes arose, leading to a conflict with teachers who tried to suppress them from above. After the decision was made to discipline the students, a distressed Neesima stated that the responsibility for Doshisha was the principal's responsibility, and the "Self-Rebuking Whip (Staff)" incident occurred, in which he struck his own hand with a tree branch he had brought from home (the broken branch is still preserved at Doshisha University today). However, problems remained even after the incident, leading to the withdrawal of Soho Tokutomi and other Kumamoto Band students from the school.

Thereafter, Doshisha got on track as a school, and the number of affiliated schools and students increased. In April 1884 (Meiji 17), he departed for a trip to Europe and the U.S. for recuperation, but he suffered from breathing difficulties while mountain climbing in Switzerland. After recovering, he received a $50,000 donation from the American Board for the establishment of a university and returned to Japan. In 1887 (Meiji 20), a conflict arose regarding the merger of two church factions. Christians from the Kumamoto Band and Doshisha, such as Danjo Ebina and Hiromichi Kozaki, expressed their support, but Neesima emphasized church autonomy and opposed the merger while trying to soothe the conflict.

That year, Neesima suffered the misfortune of losing his benefactor Hardy and his father in succession, which added to his mental strain. The following year, Tokutomi's "Kokumin no Tomo" began promoting the establishment of the university and Neesima himself, utilizing Tokutomi's network to gather prominent figures from various fields and seek their cooperation. However, Neesima collapsed again due to cerebral anemia and was told by a doctor that he did not have long to live due to cardiac hypertrophy. Nevertheless, Neesima went to the Kanto region for fundraising activities, but he was struck by severe gastroenteritis in Gunma and returned to Tokyo, later recuperating in Oiso. In January 1890 (Meiji 23), his condition worsened and he fell into critical condition. After conveying his will regarding the future of Doshisha to his wife Yae, Tokutomi, and Kozaki, Neesima passed away on the 23rd at the young age of 46 due to acute peritonitis, without seeing the opening of the Diet or Doshisha University. Fukuzawa's "Jiji Shinpo" published a memorial tribute to Neesima, mourning his death.

Since the students of the Kumamoto Band had experience in public speaking, speech meetings were also actively held at Doshisha. In 1881 (Meiji 14), a speech meeting held by Doshisha took the form of an academic lecture series, but the people of Kyoto perceived it as Christian missionary activity. Nevertheless, the first speech meeting attracted an audience of about 5,000 people. Honganji Temple, growing increasingly wary, requested Keio to deliver speeches rejecting Christianity via the Kyoto Kojunsha. In Kyoto, both sides held speech meetings to attack each other, and the conflict intensified. During this period, Fukuzawa was also wary that the spread of Christianity would threaten Japan's independence. In "Jiji Shogen," he argued that "the spread of the Jesus religion is a great obstacle to the maintenance of national rights for future generations," and in his own speeches, he repeatedly advocated for the protection of Buddhism to counter Christianity, saying, "Buddhism should be used to prevent the Jesus religion." However, he later softened his attitude, acknowledging that Christianity also had benefits, which surprised Neesima.

Furthermore, the establishment of a comprehensive university based on Christian principles was Neesima's long-cherished wish. He was always conscious of 1890 (Meiji 23), the year the Diet was to be established, as his deadline. This was because he was aware that it was the year Japan, having shed old customs and opened its doors, would become a constitutional state, and that raising independent people with the knowledge and conduct appropriate for a constitutional state was a hundred-year plan for the nation. For Neesima, the movement to establish the college at Keio Gijuku during the same period appeared as a competitor, and he requested Tokutomi in Tokyo to quickly grasp Keio's trends. In the end, Doshisha, which had been ahead, fell behind Keio. Nevertheless, Neesima succeeded in gaining the cooperation of famous people by utilizing his network, and politicians and businessmen such as Shigenobu Okuma and Kaoru Inoue were listed as supporters. After Neesima's death, Christians such as Kanzo Uchimura and Masahisa Uemura criticized the method of requesting donations even from such politicians, with Uemura in particular calling him a "baptized entrepreneurial hero."

As principal, Neesima was constantly caught in the middle of conflicts between teachers and students, and between foreign and Japanese teachers. In the church merger issue, he mediated between the supporting and opposing factions while inwardly opposing it. Even in the university establishment movement, while he emphasized the training of evangelists in the U.S., in Japan, where there was a headwind, he was forced to call for cooperation by emphasizing the cultivation of human resources useful to the state rather than a religious school. Overall, he was a man of dilemmas.

Considering that after Neesima's death, Doshisha severed its relationship with the American church and Kozaki, a member of the church merger faction, criticized Neesima's behind-the-scenes opposition, it can be said that Neesima's presence served as a balance weight for various conflicts, preventing a breakdown. While struggling and wearing himself out amidst dilemmas, he remained sincere and maintained his faith without making enemies. Although it was an era of Westernization policy, it is thought that if Neesima had been a more radical figure, Christianity would have been rejected early on.

Looking for commonalities between the two, other than their family environments and overseas experiences in their youth, both clearly stated that they were not "teachers" despite being school founders, and both valued dignity. Fukuzawa denied hierarchical relationships, saying, "I am not a school teacher, and the students are not my disciples," emphasizing a school composed of a Keio Gijuku Shachu of equal individuals, and sought to be a "source of honorable character." Neesima also stated, "It saddens me to be called 'Teacher, Teacher' by you all," preferring to face each student as a comrade, and aimed for the cultivation of conduct based on Christianity. For such a Neesima, it may have been a natural act to negate the punishment of students with the "Self-Rebuking Whip." Incidentally, Neesima always referred to Fukuzawa as "Yukichi Fukuzawa," attaching the title of teacher.

The logic of contrasting Fukuzawa and Neesima to emphasize their differences seems to have taken root after Tokutomi, the great producer who sought to market Neesima and Doshisha to the world, began using it. However, it is also a fact that Neesima himself, as a presenter, fascinated many people with his passionate public speaking. It is said that the audience was moved most by Neesima's tearful talk, more so than by other renowned orators. As Tokutomi admitted, the content of Neesima's talk did not feel as deeply scholarly as Fukuzawa's, nor was it rich in wit. However, in reality, he captured the hearts of many people in both Japan and the U.S. and raised funds for the establishment of the university. It can be said that "high presentation skills" and a sincere personality were Neesima's weapons.

Past critiques have sought Neesima-like elements in Fukuzawa and Fukuzawa-like elements in Neesima, and as a result, have criticized them for those deficiencies or absences. However, Fukuzawa was Fukuzawa, and Neesima was Neesima, and each influenced many people.