Fukuzawa Yukichi

Yukichi Fukuzawa was a Japanese philosophy of the European Enlightenment and educator from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era.

• Born in 1835
• 19 years old

  • At the age of 19, on the advice of his older brother, Yukichi went to Nagasaki to study Dutch studies… The arrival of the black ships increased the demand for artillery, and his brother invited him to read the Dutch original to learn Dutch-style artillery.

• 20 years old

  • Studied at the “Tekijuku” school of the Dutch scholar Ogata Koan.

  • At the age of 22, he became the headmaster of Tekijuku

• 23 years old

  • Ordered by the Nakatsu Clan to leave for Edo… To become an instructor at the Dutch school… This year is considered to be the year of the founding of Keio University, since this Dutch studies school “Ichikoie-juku” became the foundation of the later educational corporation Keio University.

• 24 years old, went to the U.S.

  • The Shogunate decided to send a Shogunate delegation (an envoy to the United States in the first year of the Man’en era) to the United States to exchange ratification of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States.

  • Arrived in San Francisco… …spends about 3 weeks… Return to Japan.

• 26 years old

  • The Shogunate… The Shogunate decided to organize a Bunkyu mission to Europe and dispatched it to various European countries. Yukichi joined this mission as a member of the “translator’s group” and went with it.

• 32 years old

  • The Imperial Court proclaimed the restoration of the monarchy.

• 33 years old

  • The Dutch school was renamed Keio University and devoted to educational activities.

• 45 years old.

  • He met with three high-ranking government officials, Okuma, Hirobumi Ito, and Kaoru Inoue, at the residence of Shigenobu Okuma, and was asked to publish a gazette newspaper.

  • “It is meaningless for a newspaper to merely make the public aware of the true intentions of the government,” he thought, and decided to decline… However, when Inoue said, “The government has made up its mind to open the Diet,” Fukuzawa was delighted with his wise decision and accepted to publish the newspaper.

  • However, Okuma Shigenobu submitted his own proposal for a British-style party cabinet system, which was considered too radical at the time, without prior consultation with Ito, and Ito became wary of Okuma’s radical tendencies… It created an atmosphere in which government officials believed the rumors of a conspiracy between Okuma, Fukuzawa, and Keio University to be true… In 1881, the political upheaval of 1881, which led to the resignation of the Okuma faction from government positions, occurred.

• 47 years old.

  • After deepening his friendship with Kim Ok-yun and his comrade Park Young-hyo, Yukichi developed a strong interest in Korean affairs. In Yukichi’s view, Japan’s military was not for the benefit of Japan alone, but to protect the Oriental nations from Western aggression. To this end, he believed that Japan needed to lead the modernization and reform of Korea by eliminating Qing influence in Korea, and he became the most strident advocate of war against Qing in Japan.

• 60, Sino-Japanese War

Fukuzawa Yukichi - Wikipedia - When old ideas are in the brains of young people, new civilizations cannot enter. - Use easy-to-understand sentences.

In the “Encouragement of Learning,” Confucius’ time was 2000 years ago in the age of barbarism, and the only way to maintain the public mind under heaven was the path of right and wrong, but those who study Confucius in later generations should take the times into consideration and make their own choices. Those who try to apply what was taught 2000 years ago to the present are criticized as people who do not understand the market price of things. He also argued that this is possible only because they refute the theories established by the ancients and question the customs of the world.

• Coexistence of diverse elements is the driving force of civilization Notation shake: Fukuzawa Yukichi.

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