Just after New Year's Day, Japan's "Asahi Tv" announced on Twitter the preview of this spring's large-scale tv series: "Tsuda Umeko - An International Student Who Became the Head of Paper Money".
The recommendation for the TV series reads:
Become the face of the new version of 5,000 yen
Depicts the youth of Umeko Tsuda, a pioneer in girls' education
A large-scale special TV series was born
LOOK UP！
Female power transforms Japan
Pictured: The first batch of Japanese female students, from left to right: Nagai Shigeko (10 years old), Ueda Miko (14 years old), Ryoko Yoshiyoshi (14 years old), Umeko Tsuda (6 years old), Yamakawa Shematsu (11 years old)
"Women's power to change Japan" – a slogan shouted in the 21st century in the Reiwa era , has its origins dating back to the early Meiji era more than a hundred years ago. At the end of Edo and the beginning of the Meiji era, determined to "civilize" into the Meiji government of the modern country, after sending a large number of young elites to european countries to investigate, they found that the reason why European countries have a high degree of civilization is because the women of these countries have noble cultural attainments and extraordinary insights.
At that time, those who were sent abroad to study or study included Mori Mori, the first minister of education after the Meiji Restoration, Kiyotaka Kuroda, who was then a pioneer in Hokkaido and later became the second cabinet minister, Masanori Nakamura, a professor at Tokyo Imperial University who advocated the "theory of freedom and equality for all", and Kako Shimoda, a pioneer in women's education. After returning to Japan from Europe, these Japanese elites began to vigorously advocate for women's education in Japan. They believe that in order for Japan to stand in the forest of the world, it is necessary to cultivate the materials of the country, and to cultivate the materials of the country, it is necessary to cultivate excellent mothers. Education is the driving force of development. The mother's insight determines the future of a country. To make the country rich and the army strong, we must first revitalize education; to revitalize education, we must first revitalize the education of women in this country.
In December 1871, the Meiji government sent a delegation of 107 people overseas to study Western civilization and science and technology in Europe and the United States. Its number and high level of membership are unprecedented. The head of the mission was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, then Right Minister Iwakura Kushi, and nearly half of the team members were cabinet ministers of the Meiji regime at that time. In addition to Takayoshi Kido, Toshitori Okubo, Hirobumi Ito, and other figures who have had a profound impact on modern Japan, there are five first female students sent by the Japanese government. Of the five female students, the oldest is only 14 years old, and the youngest is only 6 years old – this 6-year-old international student celebrated his 7th birthday on a boat trip across the Pacific. She is the youngest female international student in Japanese history and the new face of the new edition of the 5,000 yen yen that will be released in 2024 , Tsuda Umeko.
When Meizi, who was under 7 years old, first boarded a large ocean-going ship bound for the United States, she could only say two simplest words in English: "YES" or "NO". Ten years later, when the 17-year-old Plum finished her study life in the United States and returned to her native Japan, English had become The first language of Plum. In addition to retaining a Japanese woman's face, the grown-up plum has been completely Americanized, whether it is dressed up, or how she talks and thinks.
Plums, just arrived in the United States in 1871
At this time, Umeko seems to have grown into a "stranger to the motherland" - after a ten-year absence and returning to her native Japan, Umeko has completely forgotten the Japanese language and relies on her father, who knows English, as an interpreter, in order to communicate with her mother and sister and other family members. In addition to the language problem, another big problem that plagued Meizi was that for a long time, she couldn't find a suitable job.
At that time, although The Meiji Restoration in Japan had begun to bear fruit, traditional ideas were still deeply rooted. Marriage is the only option for being a woman. Moreover, Plum, who was less than 7 years old at the beginning, and four other Japanese girls were sent by the Japanese government to study in the United States for the main purpose of "cultivating excellent mothers" for the future talents of the country, so even if they had traveled far away from home to study abroad since childhood, after returning from study, the "right" way out for them was to get married.
Nagai Andeiko and Yamakawa Shematsu were two good friends who studied in the United States with Umeko, and soon after returning to Japan from the United States, they were married one after another - Nagai Shigeko married to Admiral Yasowaiyoshi, and Yamakawa Shematsu married Marshal Army General Ōyama Yan. Both became kennels in the Japanese Navy and Army, and famous ladies of high society.
Umeko Tsuda (left) Shigeko Yonagai (right 2) Andamatsu Wayamagawa (right 1)
Plums have also been arranged to go on blind dates several times, but although the blind dates are also prominent, it is difficult to have anyone who makes plums move. Compared to getting married, Plum is more eager to find a job that suits her. In the autumn of the second year after returning to China, Umeko finally found her first job: becoming a family English teacher for Hirofumi Ito. Later, at the recommendation of Ito Hirobumi, he became an English teacher at the Noble Girls' School.
At that time, although Japan had paid great attention to women's education, as mentioned earlier: the main purpose of women's education was to cultivate excellent mothers. The sentiments of the Heian period, the chastity of the samurai era, and the women's way of the Tokugawa era — these three systems constitute the education of Japanese women in modern times, and also form the moral values of Japanese women, especially the upper class celebrities, and affect their etiquette in dealing with people and things: polite, cautious in words and deeds, humble to each other, always maintain a restrained smile at all times, always use honorifics, concentrate on listening, never easily express their opinions, and never say "no".
All this makes Plum, who grew up in the United States, very unaccustomed. In Meizi's eyes, the famous students of the aristocratic girls' school are like the flowers in the greenhouse, and they are easily injured when they are hit by wind and rain. Graceful and resilient, she must learn to be careful with them so that she doesn't frighten them by being considered a terrible teacher. Prudence, restraint, and self-assertion are traditional Japanese virtues that Plum sees as a sign of lack of aggressiveness. Meizi believes that freedom and curiosity are the abilities and characters that a modern woman must have.
Whether it was her lifestyle or way of thinking, Umeko felt that she was incompatible with the Japanese society at that time. It made her feel lonely. When she was 7 years old and did not go to the United States to study, before leaving, the empress once instructed in the "send-off letter" to the five primary school students: "I hope to return to the DPRK in the future and be a model for women" - Mei Zi asked herself: What is this "model woman"? Is it just to get married and have children, and to be a mother who raises "talents" for the country? Being an English teacher or being a mother does not seem to be your ideal in life. She couldn't convince herself to just follow the word of the matchmaker to start a family and spend her life like most Japanese women. It wasn't the life she wanted. Plum desperately needs to find an exit to a breakthrough and find a path to the ideal self of the future.
In 1889 (Meiji 22), with the help of American friends, Plum went to the United States to study for the second time. Became the first Japanese international student at BrynMore College. Bryn Mawr College, located in eastern Pennsylvania, was the first female higher education institution in U.S. history to award a doctorate to a woman. Its faculty and students are basically from the elite of the upper middle class in the United States. Even in the United States, Bryn Mawr College is a pioneer in women's higher education.
Plums during study abroad at BrynMore College
Attending Bryn Mawr College was a turning point in Plum's entire life. It was a "turning point in happiness". The person who had the greatest influence on plums during his studies at Brynmore College was Martha Carey Thomas (1857-1935). Thomas was one of the founders of BrynMore College, the first female college student in 19th-century America, a typical female elitist. She supported peace and advocated that women did not have to marry, and even if they were married, they should not give up their social positions after marriage. Thomas herself never married, and her most famous Japanese student, Umeko Tsuda, who later devoted all her energies to the higher education of Japanese women, was also unmarried for life.
While studying at Brynmore College, Meizi also visited the famous Oswego Normal School in New York State for half a year. Oswego Normal School was the only normal school in the United States at that time to implement the "Pesterozi Education Act". Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (born in 1746 in Zurich, Switzerland) was a famous 19th-century Swiss educator, the main representative of elemental education ideas, and the first educator in the history of world education to explicitly propose "educational psychology". Modern society advocates "all-round development of morality, intellect and body" for children's education, which originates from the core concept of harmonious development of Pestalozzi.
Pestalozzi's educational ideas first had a huge impact on 19th-century Europe, and also opened a new door for Plum studying in the United States, allowing her to see the way forward she wanted to go in the future. Umeko realized that if she was alone in benefiting from such a good higher education, it would not change the phenomenon of male superiority over female in Japanese society. The only way to change the fate of Japanese women is to make higher education accessible to as many women as possible.
In August 1892 (Meiji 25), Umeko ended her three-year study abroad in the United States and returned to the Noble Girls' School in Tokyo to continue teaching, and also served as a professor at meiji Girls' High School. In 1899 (Meiji 32), Japan passed the Decree on Higher Girls' Schools, a decree on girls' education. At that time, Umeko had been teaching at the Noble Girls' School for fifteen years, with six official positions and an annual salary of 800 yen. The current 800 yen is only enough to eat a cheap lunch box lunch, but around Meiji 30, a newly hired elementary school teacher earned only 8 or 9 yen a month, and the annual salary was less than 100 yen. With an annual salary of 800 yen, it is undoubtedly the "flower of Takaryo" that ordinary people must look up to.
Respected status, high-paying annual salary - if she continues to teach at an aristocratic girls' school, Plum can spend her life without worry. But Plum gave up this comfortable life and chose another life path that was challenging and unpredictable. In March 1900 (Meiji 33), the 37-year-old Umeko resigned from all positions, and in September of the same year, Umeko's "Girls' English Academy" was officially opened. The location is Ichibancho in Kojicho-kuro,Tokyo (now Chiyoda-ku). The school building is a common "one-family" two-storey Japanese house on rent. The smaller rooms on the first floor are used as classrooms and canteens, the larger tatami mats and rooms are also used as auditoriums and classrooms, and the second floor is used as the bedrooms of boarding students and teachers.
There are no dedicated classrooms, no auditoriums, and no offices. The first batch of ten students, Plum solemnly presided over the opening ceremony of the "Girls' English Academy", holding a speech in English in hand, and loudly announced to the new students in Japanese:
"Classes are officially starting today!"
The newly opened Girls' English School, although the school building is simple, is extremely extensive and rich in learning content. In the English learning course, in addition to grammar, reading, composition, and dictation, there are also explanations of current affairs, music and painting. This does not include logic, pedagogy, psychology, Chinese, Chinese, history, gymnastics and many other courses. As a result of rigorous training, the entire Japanese society has impressed the students of this school, and English education has become a quality guarantee. As a result, the girls who attend the "Girls' English Academy" have obtained the "Teacher's Examination Permit", and after graduation, the girls who attend the "Girls' English Academy" have the qualification of English teachers and become economically independent professional women.
Today, Tsuda Juku University
37 years old, unmarried and single, giving up government positions, giving up a high-income and stable life, choosing to start a hard business, personal income is zero, and still a woman - even in the twenty-first century, it is not easy to do this, let alone in Japan more than a hundred years ago. But Plum did.
Umeko not only founded the "Women's English Academy", but also the initiator of the "Japanese Women's American Scholarship System". Many female education scholars in modern Japan have benefited from this scholarship system: for example, Michiko Matsuda, president of the famous Japanese private school "Doshisha High Girls' School", Michiko Kawai, president of "Esen Girls' Gakuen", Kazumi Suzuki, professor of "Women's Learning Academy", Aiko Hoshino, president of "Girls' English Academy", and Fumiko Kimura, professor of "Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School"... After returning to Japan after receiving scholarships from the United States, these people, without exception, have been engaged in women's education in Japan, making great contributions to promoting higher education for Japanese women. And many of the students they produce become the next generation of female educators—like a relay race passed down from generation to generation, and that's what Umeko most looks forward to seeing.
Umeko Tsuda
Umeko Tsuda was baptized at the age of 8 and was a devout Christian. In her "Plum Diary", she once wrote:
Love all people as Jesus did, and help all people to live independently in their own right. Maybe my faith is weak, but I believe that loving my countrymen is a beauty; maybe my faith is hazy, but my heart is always seeking proof of reason. I never doubt the truth, because that is my faith. My faith is so simple—that's the spirit of fraternity that Jesus taught.
"Female power to change Japan" ——- In the traditional concept, "female power" refers more to the power of mothers - high quality mothers can educate high-quality children. Therefore, some people say: "If a woman is strong, the country is strong."
But Tsuda Umeko's "female power changes Japan" makes people see that a powerful woman does not necessarily have to become a mother, she just needs to be herself, find the goal she wants to achieve in life, and pursue it all the way. Moreover, when the power possessed by one person can please others, the beauty of power will be revealed.
Tang Xinzi column
Tang Xinzi | Chinese writer in Japan| and has written "Japanese Women's Love Bushido" and so on
(This article is the author's original manuscript, the original title is "Tsuda Umeko: Women's Power Changes Japan", please leave a message to get permission.) The images in this article are from Wikipedia. ）