Fukuzawa Yukichi's personality: Being yourself

Abstract

Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835—1901) is considered a “great enlightener.” This means that, after the opening of Japan in the mid19th century, he did a lot to introduce Western culture and civilization to the Japanese. Many studies have been devoted to analyzing Fukuzawa's achievements in the field of enlightenment. At the same time, Fukuzawa's personality has not attracted much attention, which seems a great omission to us. The Meiji Revolution was not only an era of great reforms, but also a time of formation of a new type of Japanese, who broke with the past and aspired to other horizons. In this regard, Fukuzawa's personality is of great interest, because it was he who set an example of what a “new” Japanese should be.

Fukuzawa's personality is poorly reflected in memoir literature. People who knew Fukuzawa in childhood and youth did not leave memoirs. The memoir genre was not widespread in Japan at that time. As for the second half of Fukuzawa's life, when he had already entered the public arena, his close circle consisted of his students and people who were much younger than him. The genre of memoirs gradually took root in Japan, and Fukuzawa's students left us some information useful for understanding his personality. But the students' recollections of their teacher are mostly laudatory, which does not contribute to an adequate understanding of Fukuzawa's character. However, he “took care” of himself — in his declining years, in 1898, he published his autobiography under the title Fukuo Jiden, or Autobiography of the Elder Fukuzawa. It gives a vivid idea not only of the spiritual atmosphere of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan but also depicts the human type who was the overthrower of old foundations and the creator of new ones. It was Fukuzawa's autobiography that served as the main source for writing this work.