Fumio Yano

Image: From "Biography of Ryukei Fumio Yano" (Shunyodo, 1930)

Ogai Rintaro Mori wrote in the preface to "Ryukei's Essays" in 1911 (Meiji 44).

"Ryukei-sensei is not a man who needs my words to be known"—at the end of the Meiji era, his name was widely known throughout the world. Fumio Yano, whose pen name was Ryukei, was a man who was active on the front lines as a journalist, politician, diplomat, and even a man of letters. That is why the great writer said he did not need to introduce him.

However, 110 years later, how many people today know Yano's name or the details of his work? If one looks at the high school textbook "Detailed Japanese History" (Yamakawa Shuppansha), his name appears only briefly in the list of literary works as the author of the political novel "Keikoku Bidan" (A Noble Tale of Statesmanship), which gained popularity during the Freedom and People's Rights Movement.

The reason why Yano's work and personality are not so much considered today is probably due to the very diversity of his activities.

Political scientist Masao Maruyama commented on Yano, saying, "He seems to be the kind of person who should be called a 'universal man' (l'uomo universale), which Burckhardt characterized as a Renaissance human type."

However, Maruyama followed this by saying that if the "universal man" Ryukei were to be described in negative terms, he would have to be called a "jack-of-all-trades." He added, "In modern Japan, which has produced a steady stream of fragmented 'specialists,' I personally believe that even a 'jack-of-all-trades' is worthy of greatness if they reach the level of Ryukei..." (Preface to "Collected Materials of Ryukei Yano, Volume 1," 1996).

Unlike a specialist who has mastered a single art, Yano's activities spanned many fields. In addition, his writing was backed by extensive knowledge, and the more one tries to converge his life into a single image, the more one feels a sense of being lost in a maze of diverse paths. This time, as if intending to paint Mount Fuji on a small piece of paper, I would like to sketch his life and work to serve the convenience of today's readers who view the mountain called Yano from afar.

Fumio Yano was born on January 2, 1851 (December 1, the 3rd year of Kaei) as the eldest son of Mitsunori, a samurai of the Saiki Domain in Bungo. He grew up studying in Saiki. In January 1870 (Meiji 3), after the Restoration, the family moved to Tokyo when his father Mitsunori was promoted from Senior Councilor to Governor of Katsushika Prefecture in Shimosa (now in Chiba Prefecture). After studying Chinese classics, Fumio entered Keio University on April 23, 1871 (March 4, Meiji 4).

When Yano entered, the Juku was still located in Shinsenza, Shiba. He said that "within a month or two of commuting to that location," it moved to Mita (Yano, "Reminiscences of My Time at the Juku").

A well-known anecdote from his days as one of the Keio students is that he lived with his fellow countryman Mokichi Fujita, who was two years younger, on the 10 yen a month sent by his parents.

Fujita, a brilliant talent from the Saiki Domain and Yano's junior in studies, wanted to study in Tokyo but his family was poor and lacked funds for tuition. Therefore, Yano, thinking that "he is an extremely promising young man and must be sent to Tokyo," called Fujita and decided to cover all living expenses for both of them with his own tuition funds. They had no money to spare, so they left the dormitory, rented a cheap room, and continued their studies while cooking for themselves to survive.

In 1873 (Meiji 6), Yano, who completed his studies in just two years, became a teacher at the Juku. After teaching English reading and history, he was dispatched in January 1875 to the branch school of the Juku in Osaka (Osaka Keio University), where he became the principal.

In July of the same year, Osaka Keio University moved to Tokushima, Awa. Yano also served as principal in Tokushima before returning to Tokyo in the spring of 1876.

Looking at the "Keio University Enrollment Register," several students who entered in Osaka or Tokushima moved to the main school, with Yano serving as their guarantor. Bunzo Morita (Shiken), who later became known for his translations of Verne and Hugo, was one of them.

However, Yano resigned as a teacher after returning to Tokyo. He became an editorial writer for the Hochi-sha, which published the "Yubin Hochi Shinbun." This was due to his connection with Mokichi Fujita, who had become the editor-in-chief there. Hochi was a newspaper with deep ties to the Juku; its former editor-in-chief, Joun Kurimoto, was close to Fukuzawa, and Fukuzawa himself contributed articles.

During his time in Tokushima, Yano had read widely in Western books, studying political systems, law, economics, and history with single-minded devotion. The position of a newspaper editorial writer was likely ideal for putting his scholarship to the test in practice. He discussed various issues from all angles.

However, his mentor Yukichi Fukuzawa seemed to feel uneasy about his lifestyle. According to Tsuyoshi Inukai, when Fukuzawa once called Yano and asked what he intended to do in the future, Yano replied, "Since it is something I have started, I intend to see it through even if I have to eat stones." Fukuzawa cautioned him, saying, "Stones and sand do not turn into rice, so you must not say such things" (Mitsuaki Ishikawa, "Biography of Yukichi Fukuzawa").

Perhaps because of that, Fukuzawa eventually gave Yano a major turning point. One day, when Yano visited Fukuzawa to boast about a mallard he had shot while hunting—a hobby of his—he was told something unexpected: "Actually, I was about to call you. Shigenobu Okuma asked me to recommend a suitable person as a subordinate, and I just told him you were the right man. Why don't you go into the government and work under Okuma?"

A letter from March 1878 (Meiji 11) remains in which Fukuzawa recommended Yano to Okuma as a person in charge of compiling an "encyclopedia." Okuma was a Councilor and the Minister of Finance at the time.

Yano accepted this recommendation after consulting with his father. According to his own reminiscences, he initially set the bold condition that he would only serve if he were appointed as a Senior Secretary at the top of the Sonin rank, but in July of the same year, he ultimately entered service as a Third-Class Junior Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Later, when the government system was reformed, Yano moved to the Dajokan (Grand Council of State) along with Okuma and was promoted to Senior Secretary and Manager of the Statistics Board. The Statistics Board was an institution established at Okuma's suggestion along with the Board of Audit. He recommended and brought in Tsuyoshi Inukai, Yukio Ozaki, and Takuzo Ushiba, all from the Juku, to work for Okuma. As seen with Fujita's move to Tokyo, it seems it was in his nature not to leave behind those he considered promising among his juniors.

While Yano progressed smoothly as an official under Okuma, his career ended abruptly with the "Political Crisis of 1881" (October 1881). This was because Okuma, the lead Councilor, was dismissed, and at the same time, officials of the Okuma faction, including many from the Juku like Yano, were driven from the government all at once.

Yano was not merely a member of Okuma's staff; he was also the drafter of the opinion paper on the form of government that Okuma used in his memorial to the throne, which triggered the political crisis. This opinion paper bore a striking resemblance to the private draft constitution of the Kojunsha, in which Yano also participated, and the arguments in Fukuzawa's book "Transition of People's Way of Thinking." The fact that it was seen as such gave credibility to rumors that "Okuma is conspiring with Fukuzawa and the Mita faction to overthrow the government."

After the political crisis, Yano became one of the people supporting Okuma by his side. While conspiring with Okuma to acquire the "Yubin Hochi Shinbun" and becoming its proprietor, he gathered Katsundo Minoura, Ozaki, Inukai, and others under the editor-in-chief Fujita to make it an organ of the Mita faction's discourse, and they took up the pen together. In March of the following year, he joined the Constitutional Reform Party (Rikken Kaishinto) formed by Okuma, and in October, he also joined the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (now Waseda University) as a board member.

Even before becoming an official, Yano was known for his eloquence at various speech meetings related to the Juku. Yukio Ozaki introduced an occasion when Yano gave a speech while holding a roll of blank paper high in his right hand and waving it solemnly, saying:

"...I have heard many different speeches to this day, but I have never heard one in Japan as magnificent as Mr. Yano's speech at that time." "Being Mr. Yano, he must have thought about it for many days in advance and put a lot of research into even the way he waved it." (Ozaki, "Records of Modern Extraordinary Men," 1934).

While Yano used his eloquence to tour various regions to expand the influence of the Constitutional Reform Party, he also focused on writing activities.

The publication of "How to Read Translated Books" (1883), which guided how to read translated works; "Methods of Constructing Speeches and Essays" (1884), which explained techniques for argumentation; and "New Theory on Japanese Style and Characters" (1886), which advocated for the realization of popular and simple Japanese and even touched on the limitation of kanji, were all important works he performed for Japanese public discourse. Furthermore, from 1884 to 1886, he continued to be extremely active, writing "Miscellaneous Notes on a World Tour" (1886) while traveling through Western Europe.

During this time, what raised his fame was the novel "Keikoku Bidan" (Parts 1 and 2, 1883–84), which inspired civil rights thought by using Greek history as an allegory. Along with the method of the political novel, the fact that it was written using a stenographer was a novel experiment; Yano introduced what stenography was and even showed actual examples of stenographic text.

Furthermore, Soho Tokutomi, referring to the design of "Keikoku Bidan"—where the prose is not so radical but the content encourages assassination—described Yano, whose ideas were bold and radical despite his gentle and gentlemanly appearance, by saying, "It is as if he has put dynamite inside a lacquerware tiered box" ("Great Matters and Small Matters").

However, Yano, who frequently fell ill due to his busy schedule, carried out a major reform of the Hochi-sha after returning to Japan, and once this was on track, he decided to take a rest himself. In February 1889, before turning 40, he announced his retirement from politics, and in November of the following year, he entered service at the Imperial Household Agency. On the day the first Imperial Diet opened, Yano stood as a chamberlain to the Emperor in the assembly hall where his former comrades and political enemies were lined up.

However, as the author of "Keikoku Bidan," his presence remained significant, and when the maritime adventure novel "Ukishiro Monogatari" (The Tale of the Floating Castle, 1890), which stimulated the idea of overseas expansion, was published, it became a source of debate between the literary world and popular literature (Izumi Yanagida).

Okuma also did not forget him; at the strong request of Okuma, who had become Foreign Minister for the second time, Yano served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Qing Dynasty from March 1897 to January 1899. Although there must have been many things Yano was unfamiliar with in the field of diplomacy, he dealt with high officials such as Li Hongzhang in post-Sino-Japanese War China and also realized audiences with the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. During this time, he is known to have been active in negotiating with the Qing, which was being encroached upon by the Great Powers, to secure a pledge not to cede Fujian Province, and proposing to the Qing side the dispatch of students to Japan.

After retiring as minister, Yano supported Doppo Kunikida as an advisor to "Kinji Gaho" and further served as an auditor and vice president at the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. He continued to write many books until the end of the Taisho era, but among these later works, he is particularly well known for "New Society" (1902), which discussed a socialist market economy with gradualist social reform in mind, and "Unnecessary" (1907), which fictionalized those ideals. "New Society," which introduced a direct democracy system (direct voting) as a method of reflecting the popular will, is receiving renewed attention today as online voting is discussed as a practical issue (Eiichi Nomura, "Keio University: Politicians of Mita").

Fumio Yano, the encyclopedist whom Fukuzawa had high hopes for, spent his final years wishing for the welfare of humanity and quietly ended his busy 82-year life on June 18, 1931 (Showa 6). His grave is in Tama Cemetery.