Rabindranath Tagore: The Foreigner Who Visited the Juku

Around the time of his visit to the Juku in 1916

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941; Robindronath Thakur in his native Bengali), the 1913 Nobel Laureate in Literature, first came to Japan in 1916 (Taisho 5) and visited Mita. He did so not once, but twice. His lecture on July 2, held in the former Public Hall (which stood where the current West School Building is now), is well-known because it became part of a seminal book sounding an alarm against modern civilization. However, his first visit to the Juku on June 13 has been almost entirely forgotten. The "Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press)," which had begun publication as a Juku periodical in January of the previous year, recorded the event as follows:

"On June 13, at 8:30 a.m., the Indian poet-saint Mr. Tagore, who has been visiting our country, arrived at the Juku by carriage accompanied by Dr. Anesaki and his attendant Mr. Andrews. On the Juku side, President Kamada and various other professors met the party at the library entrance and guided them to the Memorial Room, where they were served tea and sweets. From there, Mr. Tagore toured the library, the Gepparo room, and the reading rooms. He then stood on the upstairs balcony and, with a satisfied smile, gave a greeting—the gist of which follows below—to over 6,000 students from the college, Keio Futsubu School, the School of Commerce and Industry, and the Elementary School. He then rested again in the Memorial Room, conversed with the President, secretaries, and professors, signed the guest book, and quietly departed at 9:00 a.m. through the ranks of students."

I would like to quote his short greeting to the students, as it clearly conveys the thoughts of a poet-educator who managed his own school.

"Seeing you gathered here, I feel as though I am facing the beauty of fragrant, blooming flowers. Because of my natural affection for youth, meeting you students overflowing with the spirit of youth throughout your country makes me feel deeply nostalgic for my own past youth; conversely, I feel a keen sense of the prosperity of the Land of the Rising Sun. You are by no means strangers; rather, you are my most beloved friends who should strive together in unity for the sake of global humanity. It is my hope that you will hold ever firmer convictions and leap forward toward your ideals."

On July 2, Tagore visited the Juku again for a lecture held at 4:00 p.m. The lecture was a joint event organized by a union of three universities: Waseda University, Japan Women's University, and Keio. President Eikichi Kamada served as the moderator, and after Tameyuki Amano, President of Waseda University, delivered the opening remarks, Tagore gave a lecture titled 'The Spirit of Japan.'

When the "passionate lecture spanning tens of thousands of words" concluded, Jinzo Naruse, President of Japan Women's University, gave the closing remarks. The Public Hall was overflowing with an audience of about 1,000 people, and the Asahi Shimbun reported that the event was as successful as his lecture at Tokyo Imperial University on June 11.

It is often said that Tagore's popularity ebbed like the tide because his lecture at Tokyo Imperial University was poorly received due to its criticism of Japan; however, the Mita lecture was so popular that tickets were impossible to obtain. Tagore's popularity following his 1913 Nobel Prize had reached an extraordinary peak, while a cooler atmosphere had also existed even before his arrival. In the May 1916 issue of "Mita Bungaku," Yonejiro Noguchi (the poet Yone Noguchi), a professor of English literature at the Juku, stated the following at the beginning of an essay titled "Tagore as a Short Story Writer":

"I feel regret regarding the 'Tagore fever' in Japan, which seems to have blown in like a sudden gust of wind and then immediately blown away. While Mr. Tagore may not possess the absolute value he was momentarily credited with, it is also true that he is not so worthless as to be discarded like an old shoe and ignored."

This qualified evaluation seems to have been the reaction of intellectuals. As Kyoko Niwa has pointed out, Tagore's popularity was supported by the "younger generation, including women" (Tagore, translated by Kyoko Niwa, 'A Japanese Traveler,' Hongo Shomori, 2016, "Commentary"). It is perhaps best understood in the context of the early stages of mass culture, which was deeply connected to Taisho Vitalism (Seimei-shugi).

In fact, Tagore's lecture once again included sharp criticisms of Japan, but the audience seemed more captivated by the tall figure of the poet, who possessed the air of an ancient sage, than by what was actually being said. From mid-June, Tagore stayed at Sankeien Garden in Yokohama, owned by Sankei Hara. The young Yukio Yashiro, who would later achieve fame as a Botticelli scholar, was hired as his interpreter. His memoirs reveal just how deep an impression Tagore's appearance made.

"I remember Tagore in that noble, prominent form, his long, half-white hair flowing back in waves, his long, half-white beard fluttering in the cool breeze, his beautiful, deep features showing a gentle smile... and his slender fingers joined in prayer before his chest, like an Eastern saint depicted in a famous painting" (Quoted from Yashiro's memoirs in Hideo Shirasaki's 'Sankei: Tomitaro Hara,' p. 133).

Here, I would like to consider the circumstances that made Tagore's visit to the Juku possible. No direct documents showing the details of the process have been found. Based on circumstantial evidence, it appears that Jinnosuke Sano acted as an intermediary. In 1905, Tagore consulted Ekai Kawaguchi about wanting to recruit teachers of judo and Japanese for his school in Santiniketan.

The details of the selection process are unknown, but the person who ultimately took on the role was Jinnosuke Sano, who had just graduated from the Juku. During his time as a student, Sano, who was from Hokkaido, lived in a room at the residence of Yukichi Fukuzawa and joined Yukichi Fukuzawa on his early morning walks after his major illness. Furthermore, Sei'ichiro Takahashi, who was also a member, wrote that Sano participated in the "Jison-to," a self-cultivation group organized by Yukichi Fukuzawa's third son, Sanpachi, and fourth son, Daishiro.

Sano, who had learned closely from Yukichi Fukuzawa in this way, traveled to India and taught at the newly founded Santiniketan. Afterward, he seems to have moved around various parts of India for several years. His movements were recorded by Shintaro Ishida (1870–1927), who was then a secretary of the Juku. Ishida was a graduate of the Juku's Faculty of Letters and had a distinguished career in military education, including serving as the vice-principal of the Tokyo Army Junior Regional School. At the time, he was President Kamada's right-hand man as a secretary. He used his connections in the military to secure a recommendation from Mori Ogai to invite Nagai Kafu as a professor of literature and entrust him with the editing of "Mita Bungaku." Since Sano's name appears on the list of attendees for the New Year's card exchange on January 1, 1916, the relationship between the Juku and Sano must have been close. Sano served on the welcome committee for Tagore's visit to Japan. Additionally, Sano translated Tagore's representative novel, 'Gora.'

Tagore caused a massive boom in the early Taisho era, and even during my own student days (the 1960s), he was a great poet known to every university student. Today, he is almost forgotten in Japan, but it is no exaggeration to say that he still reigns over the entire cultural life of his homeland, Bengal (West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh).

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for the poetry collection 'Gitanjali (Song Offerings),' which Tagore himself translated into English. However, as Bengalis say in unison, the Bengali poems are far better than the English translations. I believe he is a great poet of the kind that appears once in a thousand years, like Goethe in Germany. There is a richness of sound that simply cannot be conveyed through translation (though he did not touch upon the epic poetry that was popular in the preceding period).

It was not just poetry. He produced outstanding works in every genre of literature (novels, short stories, plays, travelogues, essays, journals, diaries, and lecture records). The period of Tagore's activity coincided exactly with the transition from literary to colloquial style, and he left masterpieces in both.

Furthermore, he produced his own plays and performed the lead roles himself. He set his poems to music, numbering over 1,000 songs. Singing these songs—composed and written by Tagore, known as Rabindra Sangeet in Bengali and Tagore Songs in English—became a refined pursuit for the middle class, especially women. His plays included musical dramas with many songs. Some works took the form of dance dramas, and he also provided dance instruction. What is notable about these attempts at song and dance is that while he respected both Indian classical and folk traditions, he remained strictly faithful to his own sensibilities without being bound by any authority.

Tagore sought a quiet environment, yet he actively committed himself to social issues, including politics and economics. His educational projects, such as managing the school at Santiniketan and writing textbooks, formed an important part of the global New Education movement. He also worked on the revitalization of impoverished rural villages. Overall, his activities—having been called the Shelley of Bengal in his youth—clearly belong to the Romantic lineage. Amidst the crisis following World War I, this evolved into a sharp critique of modern civilization, becoming the voice of India's conscience sent out to the world alongside Gandhi.

Tagore's stance of communicating to the world became clear through his lectures in Japan. In particular, the lecture at Mita, 'The Spirit of Japan,' was, as Ujaku Akita noted in his diary, "higher in tone and more magnificent than the one at the Imperial University." Let us conclude by summarizing what Tagore sought to appeal for in this lecture given in the midst of World War I. It was an alarm born from Tagore's responsibility as a "world poet" who had received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In this lecture, while praising the "Japanese people who have mastered the secrets of nature," Tagore explicitly criticized a Japan driven by nationalism. To the Japanese of that time, who were growing in confidence after joining the ranks of the world's first-class nations based on nationalism, this criticism seemed like nothing more than the "delusional ramblings of a poet from a fallen nation." There was some shared ground regarding the sense of crisis toward Western modern mechanical civilization and commercialism at the root of his critique of nationalism. However, the critique of nationalism itself was impossible for them to accept.

This was also true in India during its independence movement; Tagore's critique of nationalism was a voice crying in the wilderness. The strength he displayed in maintaining his critique of nationalism while surrounded by enemies on all sides is worthy of admiration. We should reflect on the source that supported it.

Nationalism remains an issue that pierces us today. I believe Tagore's Mita lecture is worth rereading.