Shigenobu Ōkuma

Image: Source National Diet Library "Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures"

Shigenobu Ōkuma passed away in the 11th year of the Taisho era, specifically on January 10, 1922. Therefore, on January 10 of this year, while the Yukichi Fukuzawa Birthday Commemoration was held on the Mita Hilltop Square as it is every year, a memorial ceremony for the 100th anniversary of Ōkuma's death was held in the afternoon at Waseda University's Okuma Auditorium.

Yukichi Fukuzawa was born in Tenpo 5 (1835), and Ōkuma was born in Tenpo 9 (1838), making them of almost the same generation. However, Ōkuma lived a long life and survived for 21 years after Fukuzawa's death. Consequently, many reminiscences of Ōkuma speaking about Fukuzawa after his passing remain. I would like to examine the relationship between the two primarily based on those accounts.

It is said that the two first met in either the 4th or 6th year of the Meiji era. Ōkuma recalled that time as follows.

At that time, I was an official with a bit of power, and on top of that, I hadn't lost my student-like spirit. To put it bluntly, Fukuzawa also spoke grandly and criticized officials. We were both getting on each other's nerves. We were like cats and dogs—one a wild man among private scholars, the other a wild man among officials. Some mischievous people thought it would be interesting to pit us against each other. They brought us together at the house of a certain Satsuma man in Ueno Tennoji, as if they were watching a play. I went there without knowing this, and it seems the teacher also came. At that time, I was thirty-five or six, and the teacher was nearly forty. We were introduced to each other—this is Fukuzawa, this is Ōkuma—and we gave our names. Our first meeting ended in a strange place, but as we talked more, we found that our inclinations were originally the same, so instead of being like cats and dogs, we got along well. Let's stop fighting. Instead, let's do something together, we said, and from then on, we became quite close. ("Count Ōkuma's View of Society")

Since then, the two maintained a close relationship. They visited each other's homes and were involved on a family-to-family basis. For example, in a letter dated July 9, 1887, from Fukuzawa to his eldest son Ichitaro, who was studying in the United States, it says, "Tomorrow, the 10th, my wife, Osato (eldest daughter Sato), and I—three of us—are invited to Ōkuma's, and we must attend this as well."

Ōkuma also said, "Once we got to know each other, we became very intimate. When the teacher came to my place, even my family became close to him, so we sometimes had dinner together. Since the teacher was a strong drinker and took a long time to eat, he would eat and talk until late at night. When we tried to clear the table, he would say 'not yet, not yet' and continue drinking with my wife, talking quite a lot." ("Talking about Yukichi Fukuzawa: Direct Accounts from Notables")

As the two became close, their interaction expanded to Fukuzawa's students. Looking at letters from Fukuzawa to Ōkuma, in 1878, when Ōkuma consulted him about finding someone to handle the compilation of an encyclopedia for the government, Fukuzawa introduced his student Fumio Yano. Also, when the government considered establishing a department for statistical surveys, in response to an inquiry from Ōkuma, Fukuzawa wrote a letter dated January 31, 1879, listing the names of 13 members of the Keio Gijuku Shachu as "colleagues in statistics."

Furthermore, in August of the same year, Fukuzawa, concerned that foreign exchange business was dominated by foreign banks and trading companies, explained the necessity of a bank for exchange and trade business to Ōkuma, who was then the Minister of Finance. Ōkuma showed understanding, and the Yokohama Specie Bank was established through their cooperation, beginning operations in February 1880. Michita Nakamura, a close friend of Fukuzawa, was appointed president, and Nobukichi Koizumi, a student of Fukuzawa, was appointed vice president.

In this context, the Political Crisis of 1881 occurred. Originally, from late 1880 to 1881, Fukuzawa had been told by three councilors—Ōkuma, Hirobumi Ito, and Kaoru Inoue—that the government intended to open a national assembly and that a newspaper to enlighten the public was necessary for that purpose. Fukuzawa had undertaken the publication of a newspaper similar to an official gazette. However, as the government faced strong public backlash over the so-called Hokkaido Colonization Office Property Sell-off Incident, Ito and Inoue amplified their distrust of Ōkuma. Siding with the Satsuma-Choshu clans, they plotted against him. Taking advantage of Ōkuma's absence in October 1881 while accompanying Emperor Meiji on a tour of Tohoku and Hokkaido, they planned and executed his dismissal. Moreover, everyone considered to be part of the Ōkuma and Fukuzawa faction was purged from the government. This included Fumio Yano (Secretary of the Statistics Bureau and Senior Secretary of the Great Council of State), Takuzo Ushiba (Junior Secretary of the Statistics Bureau), Tsuyoshi Inukai and Yukio Ozaki (Assistant Junior Secretaries of the Statistics Bureau), and Hikojiro Nakamigawa (Senior Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs).

However, some things were born because of the political crisis. These were the "Jiji Shinpo" newspaper by Fukuzawa and the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (today's Waseda University) by Ōkuma, both established the following year.

Since his promise with Inoue, Ito, and Ōkuma, Fukuzawa had been steadily making preparations, such as securing personnel, for the publication of a newspaper. In that sense, the unilateral breaking of the promise was unforgivable to Fukuzawa, but he shifted those preparations toward the publication of his own independent newspaper. Then, on March 1, 1882, less than five months after the political crisis, he launched "Jiji Shinpo." While various newspapers of the time were highly partisan, this paper gained trust as an impartial and independent publication.

Meanwhile, Ōkuma founded the Rikken Kaishinto (Constitutional Reform Party) and the Tokyo Senmon Gakko. Yano, Ozaki, Inukai, and others came to support the Rikken Kaishinto. Ōkuma said of this time:

"From my perspective, the teacher was my senior, and I gained various benefits through him. For example, it is fair to say that this Waseda school was created because of my association with the teacher. (Omitted) After I began associating with the teacher, I conducted various studies on education, which eventually led to the founding of the school." ("Talking about Yukichi Fukuzawa: Direct Accounts from Notables")

Because of such a relationship, Fukuzawa and the Juku elder Tokujirō Obata attended the opening ceremony held on October 21. Furthermore, at the first graduation ceremony on July 26, 1884, Tokujirō Obata delivered a congratulatory address, and Fukuzawa delivered congratulatory addresses in the following two years. However, Ōkuma did not attend these ceremonies where Fukuzawa and others were present. He feared that the Tokyo Senmon Gakko's connection with the Rikken Kaishinto would be viewed with suspicion. It is said that the first time Ōkuma attended an official event was the 15th-anniversary commemorative ceremony.

Regarding the similarities between Fukuzawa and Ōkuma, Fumio Yano once said:

"These two have many points in common. It is just that one is a scholar and the other is a politician; their characters are very similar. It is likely that if Yukichi Fukuzawa were a politician, he would be Shigenobu Ōkuma, and if Mr. Ōkuma were a scholar, he would be Yukichi Fukuzawa." ("Supplement to the Reminiscences of Marquis Ōkuma")

But above all, both were people who poured warm affection onto young people and encouraged them well. In 1909, eight years after Fukuzawa's death, Ōkuma gave a speech at the Mita Political Science Association titled "To Young Politicians." In it, he said:

"Nothing is as innocent as youth, nothing is as optimistic as youth, nothing is as pleasant as youth, and nothing is as filled with great hope as youth. The light of the future is truly shining. I love students very much; I like them immensely. My love for students from the bottom of my heart is greater than my love for my own children. I believe the late Yukichi Fukuzawa was likely the same. I am not a great idealist or a great scholar like Yukichi Fukuzawa, but somehow our dispositions seem similar. I love them, and the teacher loved them too. I am a junior to the teacher, but since the teacher's love for his juniors was extraordinary, the teacher loved me quite well." ("Keio Gijuku Gakuho No. 145")

As mentioned earlier, Ōkuma was cautious about his involvement with the school so that the Tokyo Senmon Gakko would not be regarded as a partisan school. Therefore, unlike Fukuzawa, there are very few anecdotes involving students, and his image as an educator is difficult to see. However, this passage he spoke at Mita regarding Fukuzawa seems to project the feelings Ōkuma himself held for the students of the Tokyo Senmon Gakko.

On February 3, 1901, Fukuzawa passed away. There is a famous anecdote from this time. Later, Fukuzawa's fourth son, Daishiro, wrote in "My Father, Yukichi Fukuzawa":

"When my father died, a magnificent flower arrived from Ōkuma. Since many university students at the entrance were handling the reception, they told the messenger that while they appreciated the sentiment, they were declining all flowers and other offerings. As if expecting this, the messenger explained, 'I understand that well, but this flower was not bought in the city. It is a friendship where the master himself selected flowers from those he personally tended in his greenhouse to be placed before the Buddha. It would be too heartless to refuse that.' Everyone could say nothing more and accepted it gratefully."

Ōkuma had a hobby of gardening. The Okuma Garden that remains today is a vestige of that. Once, when Fukuzawa was shown many potted plants in this greenhouse by Ōkuma, he asked if it was possible to remember every single one of so many pots. Ōkuma reportedly laughed and replied that if even one pot were moved, he would know immediately.

Recalling Fukuzawa, Ōkuma said, "He has already passed away, but the teacher had many enemies because of his methods. In response to that, he was not a man of weak will and feeble action who just spoke or wrote; he hated causing trouble where there was none. He was a truly gentle and peaceful person, and the more one associated with him, the deeper his friendship became. However, no matter how much pressure he received, he would not bend his convictions. This is the high character of Yukichi Fukuzawa." And then he continued as follows.

"Before I knew it, even my tone of voice began to resemble the teacher's. Eventually, I felt as if the teacher and I were of one mind and body, as if we had a promise to serve society together. Now that the teacher is gone, I feel as if I am carrying the burden of two people alone, and I feel a secret unease in my heart." ("Count Ōkuma's View of Society")

Keio University and Waseda have had many great matches as good rivals in sports. The two schools have different origins and different spirits. However, the underlying mutual sense of trust and security has its origins in the relationship between the founders of both schools, Fukuzawa and Ōkuma.