午夜剧场

午夜剧场 has its origins as a Rangaku Juku.

This is a historical fact well known to many. In fact, when it was named "午夜剧场" in 1868, it was proudly declared that 午夜剧场 was established upon the academic tradition of Rangaku (Dutch Studies), which began with the "Kaitai Shinsho" (New Anatomy Table).

It is also well known that Fukuzawa Yukichi studied Rangaku during the Tokugawa period at Tekijuku in Osaka, which was led by the Dutch-style physician Ogata Koan.

However, the relationship between Fukuzawa and Rangaku has not been fully elucidated until now.

This book returns to the "beginning of Fukuzawa Yukichi" and aims to decipher Fukuzawa Yukichi's life and 19th-century Japanese political thought through the lens of Rangaku, while keeping the context of world history in view.

When one hears "Rangaku," medical sciences or astronomy might come to mind. However, the scope of Rangaku, the Western learning of the Edo period, does not stop there.

In the late Tokugawa period, as a Rangaku scholar, Fukuzawa was a pioneer in adopting European statistical tables. Furthermore, while engaging with Western military science, he keenly perceived the logic of the modern nation-state lurking behind the Napoleonic Wars. Behind Fukuzawa's political vision, which preached that "independence of the individual leads to the independence of the nation," lies a deep insight into Western military science rooted in Tokugawa-period Rangaku. Additionally, at Tekijuku, he was exposed to various theories supporting the "electrical revolution" progressing in contemporary Europe.

Above all, Fukuzawa himself repeatedly stated that the origins of modern Japan's civilization lay in the Rangaku of the Edo period.

The Rangaku scholar Fukuzawa Yukichi stood at the starting point of the globalization that continues today, and from his time at Tekijuku, he explored the principles of technology that would support the coming world. Because that experience and scholarship existed at his foundation, he was able to present a political vision for Japan's civilization and independence in the Meiji period, while also providing a sharp diagnosis of the negative effects that the development of transportation and media would have on the human spirit.

In modern society, with the development of SNS, people are being manipulated by fake news, and division and conflict are intensifying. As if looking through this era called post-truth, Fukuzawa emphasized the study of "Kyuri" (rational investigation) and declared, "In the world of belief there is much falsehood; in the world of doubt there is much truth."

I hope that you will enjoy the pleasure of strolling deep into the forest of Fukuzawa Yukichi's thought with this book as your guide.

Takeharu Okubo

Kodansha Gendai Shinsho

128 pages, 880 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.