Japanese students who study abroad have been decreasing in number in recent years. Pundits argue that young people who live in abundance of information and materials may not be much interested in studying in foreign countries with different cultures where they can face risks of terrorism and infectious diseases. Standing at the extreme opposite of them is perhaps Yoshida Shoin (1830-185), a clansman of the Choshu Domain (today’s Yamaguchi Prefecture), who is featured in this year’s serial TV drama “Hana Moyu” aired by NHK

近年、日本からの海外留学者の数が減少してきている。情報とモノがあふれる居心地の良い環境に浸り、あえてテロや感染症などの不安があり、文化の異なる外国で学ぶことに価値が見いだせなくなってきているからだそうだ。こうした若者たちの対極にあるのがＮＨＫ大河ドラマ「花燃ゆ」に登場する、元長州藩士・吉田松陰だろう。

  He was one of the lecturers at the domain’s private school, Shoka Sonjuku, which turned out many patriots in the closing days of the Tokugawa shognate (1603-1868) who went down in history, among them Takasugi Shinsaku (1839-1867) and Kusaka Genzui (1840-1864). There is a famed anecdote about Shoin. He attempted to migrate abroad as a stowaway. Looking at the fleet of black ships led by U.S. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry off Uraga, east of Tokyo, he keenly felt he must go out to learn Western civilization. When Perry revisited Japan later to conclude the Treaty of Kanagawa (1854), Shoin dared to row a small boat to one of the black ships with his comrade Kaneko Shigenosuke (1831-1855) and asked for a chance of secret passage to the United States.

吉田松陰といえば、高杉晋作や久坂玄瑞など歴史に名を残す幕末の志士たちを輩出した、長州藩の私塾、松下村塾で講義した人物だ。その松陰が持つ有名な逸話のひとつとして、密航未遂事件がある。浦賀に現れた黒船の艦隊を見て、西洋の先進文明を学ぶために外国留学を決意。ペリー提督が日米和親条約を締結するために再来航した際、友人の金子重之輔とともに小舟を漕いで黒船まで行き、留学させてもらえるように直訴した。

However, Perry turned down his request. Shoin was sent back to Choshu, where he was put into Noyamagoku Prison in Hagi. Even while locked up in jail, he devoted himself to reading books, particularly history books. During this period, he wrote a book titled “Yushuroku” (literally meaning a chronicle of imprisonment). In his book published in 1868, he made a thorough review of Japan’s contacts with foreign countries since ancient times and advocated the validity of studying abroad.

しかし、ペリーはこれを拒否したため、松陰は長州へ送り返され、野山獄に入牢することになる。獄中にあっても、松陰は読書、特に日本の歴史に関する書物に没頭した。このとき執筆した「幽囚録」では、古代からの日本と海外との交流について徹底して調べ上げ、海外へ出て学ぶことの正当性を論じている。

The way Shoin taught his students at Shoka Sonjuku was quite characteristic. His style was not to interpret classical writings such as “The Book of Mencius”, “Zizhi Tongjian” (a Chinese history book covering the period from 403 B.C. to 959 A.D.) and “Nihon Gaishi” (an unofficial history of Japan), which was the mainstream in those days, but to explicate his way of thinking and consciousness of the problems and issues presented there. He gave his students no uniform textbooks for his lesson but chose to cultivate their abilities in a comprehensive manner by combining his lectures with group discussions and homework on essays.

松陰の松下村塾での講義もまた変わったものであった。彼の教育法は、当時主流であった「孟子」や「資治通鑑」「日本外史」などの解釈を行うものではなく、これらを題材にして、松陰自身の考え方、問題意識を展開していくというスタイルだった。講義内容もテキストを画一的に指定せず、講義に加えて討論会や論文の作成が組み合わせるなど、総合的に人材を育成していくやり方だ。

Another feature of his style was the personal education he gave by writing letters to his students. Many of those letters remain today. He advised and encouraged his students and wrote more often than not about the good and strong points each of them had. This helped them find their course of life upon graduation. Throughout his contacts with his students, he encouraged them to go out of their school, learn about the outside world and turn their mind to what was going on at home and abroad.

また、授業以外でも、手紙による個人教育を行ったこともその特徴として挙げられる。現在、松陰が塾生達に送った多くの手紙が残されており、そのどれにも塾生に対する忠告や励まし、個々人の長所などが書かれており、塾生が自分の進むべき道を見いだすことができるように導いている。その他にも松陰は、松下村塾を出て、外の世界を見て学び、国内外に関心を向けることを勧めている。

Shoin obviously aimed to help his students cultivate a spirit to see things in their own eyes, think with their head and act for themselves. He seemed to have tried to achieve the purpose by giving all his knowledge and problem consciousness to his students and having daily discussions with them.

このように松陰の狙いは、自分の目で見て、自分の頭で考え、自ら行動する精神を塾生たちの中に生み出すことにあったようだ。自分の持てる知識や問題意識をすべて塾生たちに投げかけ、日常的に議論をすることでその目的を果たそうとしたようだ。 

 Ito Hirobumi (1941-1909), Japan’s first prime minister, was one of his students. He smuggled himself four years after Shoin died and studied at the University of London with some of his fellows including Inoue Kaoru (1836-1915), who held a number of Cabinet posts in later years. In those days, a secret passage was a state crime subject to capital punishment in the worst case. Ito took his action arguably under the influence of Shoin’s teaching.

松陰の教えを受けた塾生の１人に、のちに初代内閣総理大臣となる伊藤博文がいる。伊藤は松陰が死んでから４年後に密航。井上馨らとともに英国のロンドン大学へ留学している。当時、密航は国禁であり、最悪の場合死罪になる危険性があるにもかかわらず、こうした行動をとったのも松陰の教えがあったからなのかもしれない。

Nurturing young people willing to play an active role outside Japan may require an environment that will motivate them to act with no hesitation. It may be worth while to have another look at Shoin’s education method as a model case.

このように日本から海外へと飛び出し、活躍できるような人材を育てるには、躊躇なく行動を起こせる気構えを育成する環境が必要であり、ひとつのモデルとして松陰の教育法を見直すことも大切なのかもしれない。

(Written by: Takahiro Kusunoki)