Background
The son of Ilyakusuke, a retainer of the Nakatsu Clan (Oita Prefecture), Fukuzawa Yukichi was born in his father’s home in Osaka in 1834. Bereaved of his father when a child, he went to Nakatsu with his mother and then to Nagasaki (1855).
福澤 諭吉
The son of Ilyakusuke, a retainer of the Nakatsu Clan (Oita Prefecture), Fukuzawa Yukichi was born in his father’s home in Osaka in 1834. Bereaved of his father when a child, he went to Nakatsu with his mother and then to Nagasaki (1855).
Fukuzawa Yukichi learned the Dutch language in Nagasaki and then Dutch and Dutch science at the private school of Koan Ogata in Osaka.
In 1858 Fukuzawa Yukichi opened his own Dutch language school in Teppozu in downtown Edo and later learned English by himself. In 1868, he moved his school to Shinsenza and renamed it Keio Gijuku, Keio being the name of the era. The school was later moved again to the present site of Keio University in Mita.
He advocated parliamentary government and started the Jiji Shimpo newspaper (1882). Through that journal, he popularized advanced ideas, writing in easy terms.
He died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1901. Shortly before his death, the Imperial Household wanted to make him a peer but dropped the plan in view of his wish to remain a plain citizen.
Fukuzawa was an early Japanese civil rights activist and liberal ideologist. Fukuzawa's ideas about the government work,[clarification needed] and the structure of social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji period.
Besides educating young men, Fukuzawa Yukichi endeavored hard to introduce Western civilization and ideas, especially British utilitarianism and individualism. He emphasized independence, self-respect and social interests. He followed Tomogoro Ono, the Shogunate’s envoy to the United States (1860) and to Europe (1867). In 1866-69, his book, ‘‘Western Affairs‘‘, sold
250,0 copies and, in 1872-1876, his ‘‘Encouragement of Learning” 700,000 copies, attesting to his great contribution to the elimination of feudalistic ideas. His “Outline of Civilization” was a new interpretation of history.
