Setsuzo Furukawa (古川節蔵)
Setsuzo FURUKAWA (March 4, 1837 - April 2, 1877) was an educator of the Meiji period (childhood name was Kamegoro OKAMOTO; common name was Shukichi OKAMOTO, later changed to Setsuzo FURUKAWA and to Masao FURUKAWA; pen name was Hakukei OKAMOTO and so on). He was one of the educators who established the foundation of the modern Japanese education as a disciple of Yukichi FUKUZAWA. He was the first president of Keio Gijuku (an institution of Western learning, present Keio University and Keio Gijuku educational corporation). During the Meiji Restoration, he joined the army led by Takeaki ENOMOTO although he had been just a citizen, and he fought in the Boshin War.
Biography
He was born in Kitahiroshima-cho, Yamagata County (Hiroshima Prefecture) deep in the Western Chugoku Mountains of Hiroshima Prefecture.
He was the third son of a village headman
He pursued medical science during his adolescence and then moved to Hiroshima City to learn Sinology.
In 1856, he moved to Osaka City and entered Teki-juku, a private school established by Koan OGATA. He learned Western studies and military science there. He called himself Shukichi OKAMOTO in those years.
In 1858, the president of Teki-juku, Yukichi FUKUZAWA was ordered by the Nakatsu clan to open a school of Western studies in Edo, and recruited company from the alumni. Shukichi offered to go with him, and in the autumn of the same year went to Edo with Yukichi and Raizo HARADA who had already planned to go to Edo.
He lived with Yukichi in Teppozu, Tsukiji (present Akashi-cho, Chuo Ward, Tokyo Prefecture) and became the first member of 'a small private school' of Western studies (the predecessor of Keio Gijuku) opened by Yukichi. He then translated many books. In 1860 he translated a book "Bankoku Seihyo" under a pen name of Hakukei OKAMOTO, and this book is considered a very unique material in the history of Japanese statistical science and regarded as the first book in Japan gathering statistics of world and translated from Dutch. In December 1871, Inhyo-ka was established as central institution of statistics in Japan, however the word 'seihyo' had been already used by Furukawa. In 1868, he became the first president of Keio Gijuku.
With Fukuzawa's recommendation, he was adopted into the Furukawa family, a retainer of the Edo bakufu (the Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun), and he changed his name to Setsuzo FURUKAWA. He joined the Enomoto's army supporting the bakufu army, although a pacifist Yukichi had stopped him. During the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, he barricaded himself in Goryokaku castle of Hakodate City with Takeaki ENOMOTO and other, and resisted the army of the new government. He then joined the navy of the bakufu and became captain of 'Gunkan Takao' (a warship, later used for the second Kaiten [suicide weapon of the imperial Japanese Navy in World War Ⅱ]). In 1869, he participated in the naval battle of Miyako Bay as the captain of the warship Takao with Takeaki ENOMOTO and Toshizo HIJIKATA. However, because his warship could not gain speed due to engine damage caused by a rainstorm on the way to mission, he was unable to participate in a surprise attack, the 'Mission to regain the warship Stonewall' (Stone wall was generally called Kotetsu-kan [ironclad]); and his warship was attacked. Therefore he made the ship stranded on Raga Beach of Tanohata Village and sank it. He commanded all the crews to leave the warship Takao and was captured by the army of the new government after he surrendered on the beach.
Yukichi FUKUZAWA still cared for Setsuzo and visited him in jail many times to take care of him, even though Setsuzo had ignored his advices and gone to the war. He was later pardoned by the new government and then changed his name to Masao FURUKAWA. He served the new government of the Meiji era and worked for the navy and the ministry of industries and became instructor of Japanese Naval Academy. From 1870 to 1872, he published "Eiri Chie no Wa" (The Puzzle Ring with Illustrations) which was the first textbook in primary school in Japan. It is said that the word 'sebiro' (business suit) was used in the book for the first time in Japan.
In 1873, he was sent to Vienna where the Vienna International Exhibition was held.
In 1875, he focused on education for people with visual and hearing difficulties and established a support group called Rakuzensha, with Sen TSUDA and others
He then established Kunmoin (Training School for the Blind), the predecessor of the Tokyo School for the Blind and the Deaf (present School for the Visually Impaired of the Special Support Education, University of Tsukuba), with Masanao NAKAMURA, Ginko KISHIDA, Yozo YAMAO, Henry Faulds and others.
He spent his last years as a broken man and died from illness at the young age of 41.
His primary literary works include "Yoko Manpitsu" (The Travel Essay in the West), "Chie no Itoguchi" (The Hints for Wisdom) and "Eiri Chie no Wa."