Chokyuro Kadono

Image: From "Heiheibonbon Kyujunen" (Ninety Ordinary Years)

Chokyuro Kadono was the younger brother of Ikinoshin Kadono (who served as the Vice President of Keio University and founded Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Company). He is generally regarded as a businessman who served as the Vice President of Okura-gumi and the Chairman of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Because Chokyuro lived a long life of over 90 years and possessed a sharp memory that did not fade even in old age, he left behind many memoirs. His autobiography, "Heiheibonbon Kyujunen," can be seen as a compilation of these. This article focuses on the events leading up to his recruitment by Okura-gumi, which had a major influence on the formation of Chokyuro's character. These can be summarized into three points: the teachings at Keio University, his career as a professional starting as a railway operator specializing in railway engineering, and the English language skills he honed through both study and work.

Chokyuro was born in September 1867 in Toba, Shima Province (now Toba City, Mie Prefecture), as the second son of Toyoemon Kadono, a samurai of the Toba Clan. In his early childhood, he was raised particularly strictly by his parents and older siblings, who feared he was a good-for-nothing. Chokyuro himself thought he was a good child, and because he was treated so strictly despite this, he felt a deep inner resentment.

According to Renpachiro Kadono (a Keio University alumni who held key positions in the Mitsui Zaibatsu), a relative who grew up with him, Chokyuro was the ringleader of all the mischief. Furthermore, when the family of Makoto Kondo (founder of Kogyokusha), an old friend of his father, lived with them, Kondo's adopted son Motoki was contrasted as the "good boy," while Chokyuro was labeled the "bad boy."

Even after the school system was promulgated in 1872, his father did not send Chokyuro to school properly, but instead called upon young men from the Toba Clan to teach him the Four Books and Five Classics and brush calligraphy. However, Chokyuro was forced to cram these subjects and found them completely incomprehensible; he took pride in lying around the room and being extremely lazy. According to Chokyuro, as a result, he could never fully shake off his habit of laziness and never did any more study than was absolutely necessary.

In 1877, Chokyuro left his hometown accompanied by his mother. They traveled by sea from Yokkaichi via Yokohama and entered Tokyo by train for the first time. In later years, he reflected, "At that time, the railway I looked upon only with eyes of wonder became my major tenet of study 10 years later, and the object of my profession in America and Japan 15 years later." The purpose of going to Tokyo was for Ikinoshin, who was 11 years older, to take in the unruly Chokyuro and try to do something with him. At the time, Ikinoshin had become the youngest teacher at Keio University and was also dispatched to teach at schools such as the Mitsubishi Commercial School.

The following year, 1878, Chokyuro enrolled in Wada Juku (later the Yochisha Elementary School) on the Mita Hilltop Square. Wada Juku was a private school for primary education started by Yoshiro Wada and his wife under the orders of Yukichi Fukuzawa. There were about 25 to 26 students in a co-educational setting (co-ed only for a brief period in the early 1880s). Among them, seven were boarders, all of whom were children of the samurai class, including local lords. The day students were children of high-ranking Meiji officials, wealthy families near Mita, and children of Keio faculty and staff (including Fukuzawa's children). The day students all wore silk and were accompanied by attendants on their way to and from school. Therefore, the atmosphere of Wada Juku was aristocratic, and everyone's behavior was said to be generous and composed.

While many students described their memories of the Wada couple as being "like a loving father and mother" or "familial," Chokyuro himself had a different impression. He felt as though he alone was regarded as a very troublesome fellow, and he was frequently scolded by Yoshiro's wife, Kisa, who told him, "You really have a bad nature." On the other hand, he also shared the following memory:

"Every morning when I woke up, I would shake my blanket over the goldfish in the pond, but there were so many fleas that even the goldfish were startled and wouldn't eat them. Even so, I was often scolded by Mr. Wada, who told me I had to be a bit cleaner or that I had to clean up. I also feel that Mr. Wada's younger sister, a woman named O-hide Yamaguchi, protected me very much in place of my mother."

On the other hand, he described Yukichi Fukuzawa as "feeling like a loving father." Chokyuro spent time with Fukuzawa's children, and perhaps because his lodging was adjacent to Fukuzawa's tenement house, he would go to the Fukuzawa home to eat meals together, be treated to rice cakes at New Year's, and sometimes join a circle to play while holding hands. Fukuzawa was kind to children, and even if they were scolded with a "Hey!" for playing too much, they would sometimes approach him timidly to strike up a conversation.

Classes at Wada Juku consisted of English plus Chinese classics, which was advanced for an elementary curriculum. Study was entirely self-directed; lower-level students were taught by upper-level students, and upper-level students researched what they did not understand among themselves. Anything that still could not be resolved was brought to the student assistants (senior students). Chokyuro honed his English during his time as a student, and there are no records of him struggling with English during his stay of over ten years in the UK and US.

After moving to the regular course at age 15, he conversely had fewer opportunities to interact with Fukuzawa. His classmates included Sanji Muto (President of Kanegafuchi Spinning Co., Ltd.), Jiro Yamana (Appraiser at the Nippon Kangyo Bank), and Toyoji Wada (President of Fuji Spinning Co., Ltd.). Among the boarders were Yukio Ozaki and Tsuyoshi Inukai, and Chokyuro could no longer act as unruly as he had before. At the same time, Ikinoshin returned to Mita from the Risshisha in Tosa, which made Chokyuro feel somewhat constrained. However, during this period, it seems he did not just find his brother annoying; his consciousness began to change.

Education at the Juku encouraged writing well and reading English books thoroughly, and students were taught to study so that these skills would be practically useful in society. Chokyuro understood this as "the so-called jitsugaku (science), which was the educational policy most emphasized by Yukichi Fukuzawa."

At age 18, facing graduation, Chokyuro was vaguely thinking of going on to study politics and economics. However, Ikinoshin, who held the position of head teacher at the Juku, was the first to oppose this, saying, "Even if you call it 'study,' you should avoid subjects like politics and economics where you can't grasp the true nature of the thing. These are things you acquire through common sense rather than academic study. Yukichi Fukuzawa also, if anything, recommends chemistry to young people from now on. You must go into science; master engineering. That way, you will undoubtedly be able to earn a living. It's strange for me to say this while being a teacher at Keio, but it's the truth, so it can't be helped."

In the summer of 1884, Chokyuro graduated from the Keio University regular course and passed the entrance exam for the Imperial College of Engineering (now the University of Tokyo), overcoming a competition rate of about ten times to be selected as a government-sponsored student. In 1891, he graduated from the Civil Engineering Department of the Imperial University (which merged with the old University of Tokyo during his enrollment), specializing in railway engineering.

After graduation, government-sponsored students were obligated to work at government-designated workplaces for a period equivalent to their years of study. However, before the nationalization of railways, there were no places to utilize railway engineering, and he became effectively unemployed. When he consulted Ikinoshin, he received the advice, "Why don't you try going to America?" Through an introduction from Soichiro Matsumoto, Director of the Railway Bureau (who later served as Director-General), he relied on Joseph U. Crawford, an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad (who had come to Japan at the government's invitation to build the Horonai Railway and had appointed Matsumoto for its construction), and began working for that railroad. Upon his departure for the US, he received support from Nobukichi Koizumi.

Chokyuro recalled, "The Keio University alumni who helped me the most was Mr. Nobukichi Koizumi, and I am deeply grateful for the assistance I received from the Yokohama Specie Bank when I traveled abroad." Locally, he was hired at a salary comparable to that of an American, and because there was no one around who could draw satisfactory blueprints, his own were adopted. Furthermore, he suffered little from racial prejudice; rather, people were surprised he was from Japan, and he was warmly welcomed by his colleagues. After finishing four years of life in the US, he returned to Japan via the UK.

Returning to Japan in 1896, Chokyuro was 30 years old. Despite having returned from study abroad, he felt pessimistic compared to his active old friends and regretted that he might have been better off choosing politics and economics over engineering. However, Heigoro Shoda (a Keio University alumni who held various key positions in the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu), an acquaintance, kindly advised him, "That is a terrible misunderstanding. It was better to master engineering than politics and economics. Even for the same four or five years, it was better to have struggled abroad than to have struggled at home."

Shortly thereafter, he began receiving offers from positions such as assistant professor at the Imperial University and the Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Communications. While he was turning these down, the matter of joining Sanyo Railway Co., Ltd. (which laid and opened the current JR Sanyo Main Line) was decided. This was due to a double connection: Director Hikojiro Nakamigawa (a Keio University alumni) and Chief Engineer Junnosuke Yamaguchi were both old acquaintances of Chokyuro. Thus, Chokyuro was involved as an engineer in the construction of extended sections toward the opening of the entire line under Manager Takuzo Ushiba (a Keio University alumni), who was the de facto leader on the front lines.

At that time, Kihachiro Okura (founder of Okura-gumi) was looking for talent to send to the London branch. It was Kumema Okura (Kihachiro Okura's son-in-law and heir) and Koganji Takashima (a Keio University alumni) who invited Chokyuro to Okura-gumi. Kumema Okura was a senior of Chokyuro by several years at the Imperial University, and Takashima was a close friend of Ikinoshin; both had connections to Nakamigawa. These two recommended him, saying, "A man named Kadono is a Keio graduate who has been to America and England. He is an honest man, and has no other particular merit besides honesty. Because he is a dim-witted but honest man, he cannot do clever business, but he will certainly never do anything bad." There was no opposition to this career change from Ikinoshin or Nakamigawa.

In 1898, Kihachiro Okura welcomed Chokyuro with the single phrase, "I'm counting on you." For Chokyuro, there was a latent, vague desire to transition from an engineer to a businessman, and his hopes from his student days were set to be realized. After serving as the London branch manager for 10 years and returning to Japan in 1907, he was appointed Vice President. Later, Chokyuro reflected, "He promoted me, who was nothing more than a single railway engineer, to an important post in Okura-gumi, entrusted everything to me—a young man and a complete amateur in trade relations—and thereafter made sure to support me in every single thing."

After retiring from his key positions at Okura-gumi in 1937 and moving to Odawara for retirement, he stubbornly refused to go to Tokyo. Chokyuro remained modest in his remarks throughout his life, saying, "The public mistakenly recognized me as a significant figure in the financial world, but it was all because I had the 'Okura' name behind me; in reality, I was just a manager for Okura-gumi—in other words, nothing more than a single salaryman." After retiring from the front lines, his only titled position was Chairman of the Standard Romanization Society, which values the Hepburn system. In April 1958, having stayed true to the teachings he gained as one of the Keio students until the end, he brought the curtain down on a life of great longevity.