Nakamura Ritsuen

Fukuzawa Yukichi's father, Hyakusuke, died suddenly at the young age of 45 (by traditional age reckoning) only a year and a half after Fukuzawa's birth. As Hyakusuke's wife, Jun, and her five young children were left at a loss by the sudden tragedy, a man rushed to them from Minakuchi in Omi Province (present-day Koka City, Shiga Prefecture) upon hearing the news. That man was Nakamura Ritsuen.

Nakamura was not born in Minakuchi, but was raised in Nakatsu, Buzen Province (present-day Oita Prefecture). Born in 1806, he was 14 years younger than Hyakusuke. He was the second son of Katayama Tori, a dyer, but he aspired to study Chinese classics from a young age and studied under Hoashi Banri, a renowned Confucian scholar of the Hiji Domain in Bungo Province. While many disciples were cold toward Nakamura (then Katayama) because he was the son of a merchant, Hyakusuke recognized Nakamura regardless of social status and maintained a close friendship with him. Later, in "Fukuo Jiden" (The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi), when Fukuzawa mentions that his habit of not despising others based on social status was not something he acquired on his own but was inherited from his parents, he cites this intimate relationship with Nakamura as a practical example of his father Hyakusuke's character. Nakamura later became a disciple of Kamei Shoyo, but as a follower of Neo-Confucianism, his views clashed with Kamei, who advocated Ancient Learning (Kogaku), leading Nakamura to leave Kamei and head for Osaka. At that time, Hyakusuke, who was stationed in Osaka by his domain and living in the nagaya (row house) of the warehouse district, allowed Nakamura to stay with him and looked after him as if they were brothers. It was likely through Hyakusuke's introduction that Nakamura was able to associate with famous Confucian scholars of the time, such as Shinozaki Shotiku, Saito Setsudo, and Noda Teiko. Nakamura was eventually adopted as the heir to the Nakamura family, who had served as the domain's Confucian scholars for generations in Minakuchi, because the head of the family, Kaiseki, had no children. While Fukuzawa-related materials state that Hyakusuke recommended Nakamura to the Minakuchi Domain, Nakamura's own records list Shinozaki as the recommender. It is easy to imagine that Shinozaki, a well-known Confucian scholar, took the lead, but Hyakusuke surely supported Nakamura behind the scenes to help him transfer to the Minakuchi Domain, as there were no prospects for advancement in the Nakatsu Domain.

In June 1836, Nakamura received news in Minakuchi of the death of Hyakusuke, whom he admired like an older brother, and he rushed to the Nakatsu Domain warehouse in Osaka. Only a month prior, Nakamura had visited Hyakusuke, where they had shared drinks and composed poetry while admiring the beautiful spring scenery of blooming flowers and green willows. Mourning Hyakusuke's death, Nakamura presented a five-character Chinese poem titled "Poem Mourning Mr. Fukuzawa to Serve as a Funeral Oration" (the text is published in Ishikawa Mikiaki's "Biography of Fukuzawa Yukichi").

For Jun, Nakamura's presence must have been a great source of support. When the bereaved family returned to Nakatsu carrying Hyakusuke's remains, Nakamura held the youngest child, Yukichi, in his arms and saw them off to the boat at Ajigawaguchi, bidding farewell to the Fukuzawa family.

In 1846, when warships from great powers such as the United States and France began to arrive, the Shogunate refused to open diplomatic relations, but political instability spread to various domains, and reformist movements became active nationwide. In the Minakuchi Domain, Hosono Wataru, a retainer who had studied coastal defense and Western military tactics in Edo, joined Nakamura, now a domain Confucian scholar, in advising the domain lord Kato Akinori to strengthen military preparations. Although this advice was rejected by conservative forces led by the elder Okada Kurouemon, the political situation fluctuated as the lord later listened to Hosono's lectures on military science, leading to a power struggle between reformists and conservatives. It was after the arrival of Commodore Perry (1853) that the reformists came to occupy the core of the domain administration. Two months later, Hosono and Nakamura's written opinions, which advocated for explaining the overseas situation and expanding armaments, were accepted, and the training of retainers and military maintenance were entrusted to the two men. Furthermore, after Hosono's death, Nakamura, who rose to a leadership position among the reformists, opened the domain school Yokurindo in 1855. Yokurindo served as a training ground for both literary and military arts, becoming the pillar of the Minakuchi Domain's reformists and producing many talented individuals who would be active from the Meiji era onward.

Nakamura strictly admonished his students, saying, "Where I am today is the result of enduring poverty and studying since my youth" (from "Biographies of Omi Figures"). He did not allow the use of folding fans in the height of summer or the use of heaters in the dead of winter. Notices posted in the lecture hall stated that teachers and elders must be respected, manners must be observed, and that aside from discussions, there should be no small talk or idle chatter, and that yawning was disrespectful and therefore forbidden.

In 1858, a young man visited Nakamura. It was Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa was on his way to Edo after completing his studies at Tekijuku in Osaka by order of his domain. Before heading to Edo, Fukuzawa had returned home to bid farewell to his mother, Jun, as he would not be able to return to Nakatsu for some time. At this time, he may have heard about Nakamura Ritsuen from Jun and been told to go and pay his respects. Minakuchi is a unique town where the post town—the fourth from Kyoto on the Tokaido road where commoners traveled—and the castle town—the center of the domain's politics—are adjacent to each other. When Fukuzawa arrived at the Minakuchi post station and stopped by Nakamura's residence near Minakuchi Castle, Nakamura was overjoyed by his visit. Nakamura shared stories of the past, saying, "When your father passed away in Osaka, I went there immediately, and when you all boarded the boat to return to Nakatsu, I held you in my arms and went to the boat at Ajigawaguchi to say goodbye. You were only three years old then, so you probably don't remember anything" ("Fukuo Jiden," three being the traditional age). He urged Fukuzawa to stay the night. Fukuzawa, who stayed the night as suggested, wrote that he felt "a feeling like meeting one's true parent," allowing us to imagine Nakamura speaking of the days of Hyakusuke that Fukuzawa never knew.

Nakamura himself instructed retainers as a professor at Yokurindo but never picked up a sword himself. However, among the young retainers who advocated for "Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians" (Sonno Joi), many were hot-blooded, and some in the Minakuchi Domain resorted to the use of force. In February 1864, the elder Okada Naojiro was struck down by the blades of reformists on his way home from a banquet. Following this assassination, the reformists led by Nakamura took control of the domain administration, and the domain's policy unified under the banner of Sonno Joi. The Minakuchi Domain, being close to Kyoto, was responsible for guarding gates such as the Shimodachiuri-gomon of the Imperial Palace. Even when the Tenchugumi raised an army in Yamato and the Shogunate ordered its suppression, the domain showed a passive attitude. Later, when the Minakuchi Domain was ordered to join the second Choshu expedition, Nakamura led the refusal to serve, successfully securing a mission to guard Kyoto instead under the pretext of the domain lord's illness. In his old age, Nakamura never left Minakuchi, but because his adopted son Kakudo and retainers who studied at Yokurindo traveled frequently, he was able to accurately grasp information from both inside and outside the domain. In this way, during the difficult period at the end of the Edo era, Nakamura steered the domain's administration while restraining the reckless bravery of the young retainers.

In 1864, Fukuzawa returned to Nakatsu for the first time in six years. By this time, Fukuzawa had already completed two overseas voyages and had become a target for the exclusionist (Joi) faction. On the return journey, when Fukuzawa's party reached the Minakuchi post station, Nakamura's residence was right before his eyes, and Fukuzawa felt that he "must visit this time by all means" ("Fukuo Jiden"). However, rumors suggested that Nakamura was an exclusionist. While he felt that "Master Ritsuen is not the kind of person who would harm me even if asked" (ibid.), he did not know what Nakamura's many disciples might do. "Thinking that I would not survive if I stopped by, I passed straight by his gate against my will" (ibid.). After this, Fukuzawa never had the opportunity to meet Nakamura again, and passing by Nakamura's gate remained a lifelong regret for him.

In 1869, when the lord of the Minakuchi Domain became the domain governor following the Return of the Land and People to the Emperor (Hanseki Hokan), Nakamura was appointed as a Senior Councilor (equivalent to a vice-governor today) and handled domain administration in the early Meiji era before resigning the following year. Yokurindo was renamed Shoshikan and continued until the promulgation of the modern school system; its collection included not only the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism but also Fukuzawa's "Things Western (Seiyō Jijō)." It is said that Nakamura recommended many of the former samurai from Yokurindo who had lost their jobs to become elementary school teachers, thereby saving their livelihoods.

In August 1878 and July 1880, when Emperor Meiji passed through Minakuchi, Nakamura was granted an audience in recognition of his service. However, in 1881, he died of illness and was buried in Minakuchi, which had truly become his home.

Within the scope of Fukuzawa's memory, he and Nakamura had met for only a single night. However, a letter Nakamura sent to Fukuzawa before his death (dated January 4, 1878) had a significant impact on Fukuzawa's later life.

Nakamura's letter was written in classical Chinese. Its purpose was to lament the current state of elementary schools, which taught only technical skills, and to seek Fukuzawa's help in reforming education to prioritize the path of filial piety and brotherly love (kotei), with technical arts to follow. In the text, a passage that particularly shocked Fukuzawa was: "If you consider the path of filial piety and brotherly love to be narrow and unnecessary, it would go against the will of your father, who lectured on the classics and preached filial piety during his lifetime."

Fukuzawa quickly wrote a reply, informing Nakamura of the family's situation, including the death of his mother, Jun, and mentioning that he himself had reached the age of 45 (traditional reckoning), the same age his father Hyakusuke was when he died. In a subsequent reply dated January 25, Fukuzawa discussed education from the Edo period to the present day, stating that while he also lamented that filial piety was being neglected, the general trend of the world was beyond his control and he had no choice but to follow the times. Furthermore, he wrote that although he lost his father at 18 months old, he had heard detailed accounts of his father's words and deeds from his mother and deeply respected him. He concluded by saying, "If the words and deeds of my predecessor were indeed those of a Confucian, then I am one who believes in the Confucian way without doubt," and "It is my lifelong commitment to preserve the family tradition of integrity held since our ancestors, so as not to bring shame upon my late parents." Fukuzawa published this reply, "Response to Master Nakamura Ritsuen," along with "The Letter from Master Nakamura Ritsuen" in the February 3 and 6 issues of "Minkan Zasshi." Nakamura subsequently sent three more letters to Fukuzawa in quick succession, and the tone of his writing became softer, like that of a letter to a relative. Nakamura expressed his gratitude, saying the salmon sent by Fukuzawa was exquisite, and through the letters, he conveyed the character of Fukuzawa's father, Hyakusuke, to him.

Nakamura's letters were more than enough to remind Fukuzawa of his late father's teachings. On February 5, Fukuzawa wrote a note titled "Record of the Distribution of Mr. Fukuzawa's Old Coins," sharing anecdotes of Hyakusuke's honest, upright, and kind personality with his children (six at the time) (see People Around Him 1: "Fukuzawa Hyakusuke"). He then distributed Hyakusuke's heirloom coins to his children, telling them to live lives that would not shame their grandfather.