Carmen Blacker氏によるThe Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writing of Fukuzawa Yukichiのレビュー。Blacker氏はイギリスの日本研究の第一人者で、ケンブリッジ大学の教授でもあった。Blacker氏は1952年に日本に訪れ、慶應義塾大学に留学していた。
このThe Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writing of Fukuzawa YukichiはそんなBlacker氏の福沢諭吉の啓蒙主義に関する研究であり、本文にも書いている通り、福沢諭吉と銘打っているが、実際は江戸時代から明治時代にかけての日本の西洋化をまとめた内容である。
そのため様々な一次資料が使われており、その当時の日本人学者の啓蒙主義だけではなく、それまで日本に広く浸透していた儒教の考えも知ることができる。
しかし一方で福沢諭吉の天皇に関する考えなどは書かれていないため、本書の第六章にある家族についての考えは矛盾も見られる。
In The Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writing of Fukuzawa Yukichi, Carmen Blacker, a British Japanologist and a Japanese lecturer at the University of Cambridge, investigates 福沢諭吉/Hukuzawa Yukichi, who learned modern Western technology called Enlightenment, especially education, and later established 慶応義塾/Keio Gijyuku which is still famous now as a good university and series of school in Japan.
However, Blacker not only described Fukuzawa Yukichi. Blacker mentioned other scholars, the historical situation of Japan, and how the Enlightenment changed the Japanese situation with the Meiji Restoration. Even though this book is titled Fukuzawa Yukichi, it is a very detailed summary of the history of Japan before and after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, describing how Confucious dominated Japanese society and how Enlightenment influenced and changed it.
Blacker’s thesis is “Fukuzawa was undoubtedly the most comprehensive exponent of the doctrine of Enlightenment…a new view of the past and its influence on the specious present, and a new theory of political obligation.” Blacker mentioned how Fukuzawa Yukichi changed old traditional Confucian views to New Westernized Enlightened ones in Japan. The thesis also highlights Fukuzawa’s uniqueness, even though he was not the only person in Japan at the time who claimed to be an Enlightened thinker.
Blacker made her argument by focusing on the transition of thinking from the Edo period to the Meiji period in Japan. The book discusses Japanese Confucious and Enlightenment thinking, how Fukuzawa differed from these ideas, and how the Japanese embraced Fukuzwa’s unique and advanced Enlightenment beliefs.
Thus, each subject has an independent sub-thesis that emphasizes her points, the change from the Confucious to the Western system that Fukuzawa focused on in the Meiji Era. For example, in Chapter II: Eastern Ethics and Western Techniques, Blacker contends, “With a government committed to Confucian ethics, the West would always remain dreamlike fantastical…the eta or outcasts were used for lowly and disgusting tasks.”
On the other hand, Blacker mentioned that some changes did not have a good influence on the Japanese situation. In Chapter VI: The New History, she notes, “Voltaire remarked that history is no more than a pack of tricks we play on the dead…The Keimo men did no more than give the kaleidoscope a shake and see the pieces settle down in the pattern which best confirmed their own particular persuasion.”
Through the sub-thesis in each chapter, she reinforces that revolution or significant change does not change the whole country; instead, changes within each system by Enlightenment opinions resulted in an entire country’s system, and not everything was better with the Enlightenment. She also points out that Fukuzawa’s ideas were not all progressive.
Blacker’s argument centers on the change in Japan by the Enlightenment. Before the Meiji Restoration, Confucious thinking dominated Japan. Confucius developed little through the centuries, especially in science and common sense. However, since the Enlightenment controlled the country, it significantly impacted development.
She also emphasizes that Fukuzawa’s ideas were unique among Enlightenment scholars. His uniqueness attracted many Japanese, and some of them entered Keio Gijuku. His opinions ultimately influenced the Meiji government with his students.
For these reasons, Blacker bases her argument on Fukuzawa’s papers and various primary sources from Japan’s Confucious and Enlightenment scholars in the Edo to Meiji period.
The Japanese Enlightenment not only allowed readers to learn about Fukuzawa’s ideas and their influence but also the basic views of other Japanese Enlightenment thinkers of the time, as well as the opinions of the Confucious, which were basement in Bakufu. Therefore, I think it is an excellent book to learn more about the history of the Meiji Restoration, when Japan, unlike other Asian countries, abandoned its old traditions and joined the ranks of developed Western nations by the Enlightenment. In particular, the Japanese knew Fukuzawa’s ideas and often influenced the government’s thinking.
However, Blacker does not mention Fukuzawa’s problems quite a bit. Fukuzawa was undoubtedly a progressive man who changed Japan through the Enlightenment but he was also a patriot. These facts should be essential to discussing him, but I felt Blacker omitted it in this book.
Fukuzawa was very much in favor of opening up China’s border and annexing Korea to pursue Japan’s interests. At first glance, patriotism does not seem related to the Enlightenment. However, Fukuzawa supported the annexation because he understood the strength of the West through the Enlightenment. He thought that if China and Korea fell under the control of the West, they would be a significant threat to Japan. Fukuzawa believed Japan should lead Asia and maintain its independence as one strong country.
Most importantly, Blacker merely mentioned the Emperor. In particular, even though Blacker mentions Fukuzawa’s new family system in chapter 6: The New Family, contending, “Hence the new civilized family circle which Fukuzawa recommended…would be entirely out of place.” However, she does not mention the subsequent Japanese policy of a robust patriarchal system with the Emperor as the father of Japan.
Blacker also said that Fukuzawa’s ideas were that the Japanese government should be modeled on the British Diet and that the Emperor should be above all other rights. Japan implemented this system. The Emperor had supreme command and was above the constitution. However, this was merely a decoration, and the Emperor could not use his power well. The government continued to hold power until World War II, and the Emperor’s opinions were not reflected very much.
In this way, Blacker focuses too much on the Meiji Restoration and Fukuzawa Yukichi and does not discuss the results of their influence. So, even though she wrote that Fukuzawa influenced the Japanese government, it is unclear how Fukuzawa did so after decades. However, we must not forget that Fukuzawa’s ideas were unique and based on the Enlightenment. His opinions were more advanced than the values of the Meiji period, Japan, in the 1960s when the book was published, and even more advanced than those of Japan today.
Bibliography
Aoki, Koichi. 福沢諭吉の朝鮮論[Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Korea Theory]. The Bulletin of the Yokohama City University: Humanities. 32. no 1. (1981), https://ycu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2001543/files/%E4%BA%BA%E6%96%8732-1%EF%BC%88%E9%9D%92%E6%9C%A8%EF%BC%89.pdf.
Blacker, Carmen. The Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writings of Fukuzawa Yukichi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
