[Feature: Confronting the Gender Gap] The Women of Keio University in 1872

Image: "Keio Gijuku Tailoring School Opening Handbill" (Collection of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies)

Looking at the "Private School Details" submitted by Keio University to the Tokyo Prefectural Government in November 1872 (Meiji 5), the students at the time were described as "one male aged six to nine, 23 males aged 10 to 13, 63 males aged 14 to 16, 94 males aged 17 to 19, and 122 males aged 20 and over, totaling 302 [sic] males." All were male. The staff consisted of nine members of the "Administrative Shachu" and 15 members of the "Faculty Shachu" (excluding those holding concurrent posts), all of whom were men in their 20s and 30s, including four in their teens, led by the 37-year-old Yukichi Fukuzawa. Even before secondary education became gender-segregated in 1879, Keio University was truly a society of young men. However, within this environment, Fukuzawa preached that there was "no reason for a distinction in importance" between men and women, arguing that in the new society of the Meiji era and beyond, men and women must be equal. Why did he, while living in a "male society," take such an interest in the social issues facing women?

One of the keys lies in the fact that Keio University was also home to a diverse group of women. In 1870, Fukuzawa brought his mother, Jun, from their hometown of Nakatsu to Tokyo. Jun was born into the Hashimoto family, "lower-ranking samurai" of the Nakatsu Domain with a stipend of 15 koku and rations for two, and married Hyokusuke Fukuzawa, a "lower-ranking samurai" with 13 koku and rations for two. She was widowed at the age of 33 and raised five children alone, including the one-and-a-half-year-old Yukichi. Later, she raised the orphaned child of her eldest son, who died at 30. Fukuzawa likely encouraged her move to Tokyo to allow her to live in comfort.

Kin, the daughter-in-law who welcomed Jun, was born into the Toki family, "upper-ranking samurai" of the Nakatsu Domain with 250 koku who were permanently stationed in Edo. According to Fukuzawa's "Kyuhanjo" (Conditions in the Old Domain), the lifestyles of upper and lower-ranking samurai in the Nakatsu Domain differed greatly. Had the peaceful era of the Shogunate continued, Jun and Kin would never have lived together due to the strict marriage restrictions of the Nakatsu Domain.

In 1872, the family of the former Nakatsu Domain Lord Okudaira and the families of Fukuzawa's second and youngest sisters were also brought to Tokyo. In November 1870, the government ordered former daimyo to move to Tokyo, as it was deemed undesirable for former lords to maintain bonds with their former retainers and subjects by remaining in their domains. The last lord, Masayuki Okudaira, had entered Keio University in February 1871 and left to study in America at the end of that year. Therefore, those who moved to the capital were the previous lord Masamoto and the "princesses" who had lived within Nakatsu Castle after the relaxation of the Sankin-kotai system in 1862. Their destination was a former secondary residence in Nihonenoki, Takanawa, but since repairs were not finished in time, they ended up living near the current West Gate of the Mita Campus.

One of them, Horeinin, had a deep connection with Fukuzawa. In "The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa," he mentions that a high-ranking female retiree from the Okudaira family's inner palace showed interest in his theories on monogamy, which led to his close relationship with the Okudaira family. Fukuzawa's letters reveal his deep respect for Horeinin. Horeinin herself took a liking to Keio University; after moving to the Takanawa residence around the spring of 1875, she returned to Keio University by 1879 at the latest and lived there until her death in 1886. Fukuzawa wrote the following Chinese poem about her:

A noble lady of the nation, served by four generations; over seventy years of blessings like rain and dew.

Peaches and plums fill the gate, spring is like the sea; not a single one among them is not like a grandchild.

This expresses his respect for the noble and beautiful Horeinin, who was served by four generations.

Horeinin was born in 1811 as the fifth daughter of Nariyatsu Hitotsubashi and was named Sakihime and later Kuniko. Her father Nariyatsu's older brother was the 11th Shogun, Ienari. Her older sister Mikihime was the legal wife of Yorinori Arima, Lord of the Kurume Domain, and Akihime was the legal wife of Nariakira Shimazu, Lord of the Satsuma Domain. Her marriage to Masanobu Okudaira was decided in 1826, and after marrying in 1829, she had one daughter. When Masanobu died in 1832, she took the name Horeinin. Coming from the Hitotsubashi family, which was closely related to the Shogunal house, she was an extremely symbolic figure for the Okudaira family. When the Shogunate ordered the Choshu Expedition at the end of the Edo period, Horeinin herself sent a message to the commander urging them to "fight with all their might." Horeinin seems to have been an active woman; she frequently visited the Okudaira family temple and other locations, to the point where the gatekeepers had to be paid overtime allowances for staying late.

Horeinin was not the only daimyo's wife Fukuzawa brought in 1872. Tagawa, a concubine of Munenari Date, Lord of the Uwajima Domain, also accompanied them. Munenari Date was known as one of the "Four Wise Lords" alongside Nariakira Shimazu, Yoshinaga (Shungaku) Matsudaira, and Toyoshige (Yodo) Yamauchi, and played a central role in the movement to unite the court and the shogunate. Likely for political reasons, the Nakatsu Domain adopted the son born between Munenari and his concubine Tagawa in 1863. This was the aforementioned Masayuki. Tagawa lived in Nakatsu Castle as the birth mother of the domain lord and moved to Keio University with Horeinin and others. She was from the Ooka family, direct retainers of the Tokugawa house. Tagawa also seemed to like Keio University, as she continued to live within Keio even after Masayuki's death in 1884. After Horeinin passed away in 1886, she moved to the Ooka family home in Aizumi-cho, Yotsuya. She died in 1902 at the age of 68, making her about 24 years younger than Horeinin—a relationship perhaps similar to that of a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Furthermore, according to the 1869 "Register of Land and People," Masayuki Okudaira's family consisted of six members: in addition to the previous lord Masamoto and Horeinin, there were three great-aunts and a younger sister. The three great-aunts were daughters of Masataka, who was known for his love of Dutch Studies and had been adopted into the Nakatsu Domain from the Satsuma Domain. They were sisters of Horeinin's husband Masanobu. They included Shoreinin, who had married Sadanobu Suganuma, Lord of the Shinshiro Domain, but returned to the Okudaira family after being widowed in 1862; "Kyau," who had been the legal wife of Tadahiro Shimazu, Lord of the Sadowara Domain, but returned to the Okudaira family; and "Ine." Masayuki's younger sister, Haru, was still in her teens.

Alongside the former daimyo wives, as mentioned earlier, the families of two of Fukuzawa's sisters (excluding the eldest) also moved. The husband of his second sister, En, was Saizo Nakamigawa, a "lower-ranking samurai" of the Nakatsu Domain of similar rank to the Fukuzawa family, but he passed away that year, leaving En with four unmarried daughters. The husband of his youngest sister, Kane, was Fukushiro, the younger brother of Gorobe Hattori, an "upper-ranking samurai" of the Nakatsu Domain from whom Fukuzawa first learned the Four Books and Five Classics. Fukushiro was apparently not very physically strong. Fukuzawa had been encouraging his sisters to move to Tokyo for some time.

Additionally, To, the older sister of his wife Kin, was living with them. To had married Gunji Imaizumi, an "upper-ranking samurai" of the Nakatsu Domain, but Gunji died in 1865 while she was pregnant with their eldest son, Hidetaro (Ippyo). It was agreed that if the child were a boy, they would discuss a branch family; an adoptee from another family succeeded the Imaizumi house, and To accompanied Jun to Tokyo along with Hidetaro.

In other words, women of diverse social statuses who would never have lived together in the previous era were living at Keio University. The former daimyo wives were naturally accompanied by maidservants. Faced with this large group of women, what did Yukichi Fukuzawa think—or what was he forced to think? It was nothing other than their future.

Whether they were active like Horeinin, or the type who preferred to stay out of the public eye like Kin (as far as can be seen from Fukuzawa's letters), and whether their status was high or low, these women had no professional skills and had no choice but to live in dependence on men such as husbands or sons. Even those men had to consider their own means of livelihood in a new society where social rank no longer held sway. While the former daimyo families had some assets, what would become of En or To, who had lost their husbands? When his sisters moved to Tokyo, Fukuzawa stated his intention to "help them find a way to make a living." It was essential for them to be able to live without hardship through their own efforts.

But what exactly could they do? Even if one believes women should acquire the means to support themselves, it is impossible without suitable occupations. Fukuzawa took the initiative to create a vocational facility for women within Keio. This was the Keio Gijuku Tailoring School. The pamphlet at the time of its opening stated the following:

While every "human being" should be economically independent, women in cities in particular are raised to be weak and think only of depending on men. The cause of this harmful practice is the lack of suitable occupations. I do not want to produce such women, at least within Keio. It states that the Tailoring School was planned based on the reality faced by such women.

Despite making an initial investment of about 1,000 yen (at a time when the Keio entrance fee was 3 yen) for purchasing machinery and other costs, he decided to transfer the business to Maruzen after about three months. While there are no historical documents stating the reason, a letter remains in which he consulted Masanao Makimura, the Governor of Kyoto, about raw materials. In terms of management, acquiring raw materials of uniform quality and securing or developing sales channels was not something that could be done as a side project. It may be that from the beginning, he intended to eventually leave the business to the specialists. In the following year, 1873, he built a "workshop" in the Okudaira family's living area within Keio, stating his intention to have both "princesses" and "maidservants" engage in "side jobs."

While his biological sisters never ultimately found a "way to make a living," his sister-in-law To became a midwife. According to documents submitted to the Tokyo Prefectural Government, she studied obstetrics under Ine Kusumoto (the daughter of Siebold) and the American doctor Simmons, and opened a practice within Keio. Given the demand for midwives with accurate medical knowledge at the time and the fact that Ine and Simmons were acquaintances of Fukuzawa, it is imagined that this was through his mediation.

While Yukichi Fukuzawa existed in a "male society," the reality of women's lives was right before his eyes. As someone who aimed for a society that emphasized the individual, starting with "independence of the self," he could not turn a blind eye. Only if men and women are equal can they support society together. He acted practically to solve problems. Fukuzawa's theories on women held power precisely because he faced them with a perspective of how to change reality, rather than just speaking of ideals. Shiro Fukushima believed that if ideas like Fukuzawa's spread, the unfortunate circumstances of his own sister might change, and he founded the "Fujun Shinbun" (Women's Newspaper).

However, subsequent national policies moved away from Fukuzawa's vision. And it cannot be said that the current situation in Japan has yet become the "shared gathering of men and women" that Fukuzawa idealized. First, regardless of gender, we should look at the reality around us and strive to change it—that could be said to be the message from Yukichi Fukuzawa.