Beyond the Nation

The Meaning of Departure from the Country

It would be more accurate to say that Neesima’s departure from Japan was a coincidence rather than an intentional act. In March 1864, Neesima had the opportunity to sail to Hakodate. “After arriving in Hakodate, I looked for a suitable English teacher but could not find one, even though I tried in every direction. This changed my mind, and I began to think about leaving the country” (“The Reason for Leaving the Nation,” CWJN, Vol.10, p. 16). Neesima states that he came up with the idea of fleeing the country after arriving in Hakodate. At the time, Hakodate, far from Edo, was a window to the West, where one could meet Westerners and come into direct contact with Western civilization.
　At midnight on June 14, two months after arriving in Hakodate, he boarded the American ship Berlin through the arrangement of his friend Unokichi Fukushi. The ship set sail for Shanghai the next day. He transferred to the Wild Rover in Shanghai and headed for the U.S. via Hong Kong and Manila.
　The emergence of the West as a threat to Japan and creating a nation capable of dealing with it was at the core of the sense of change among the young samurai called patriots at the end of the Edo period. For Neesima, however, the emergence of the West was nothing more than the basis for denying the times and the system that had confined him. In “The Reason for Leaving the Nation,” Neesima begins with a denial of the system that had bound him, then discusses the significance of learning about the superior Western knowledge, and finally mentions learning about Christianity.
　In his diary, written only ten days after he departed from Japan, Neesima wrote, “Today I read a little from the Bible that I borrowed from a sailor. I felt as if I had returned home and met my parents again. (“Diary of a Voyage,” CWJN, Vol. 5, p. 40). Christianity as a “secret affair” relativizes the “public” concept of loyalty to the clan and its lord and finally emerges as the object of Neesima’s new allegiance and begins to form his identity. Neesima’s understanding of Christianity, mentioned in “The Reasons for Leaving the Nation,” was highly rudimentary. However, reaffirming his existence in the world created by God, the Creator of all things, meant a break from the old world that had ordered and maintained Neesima’s daily life for 20 years.
　In the “Heavenly Father,” relative to the clan, the feudal lord, and secular powers such as the Tokugawa shogunate, Neesima discovers a new object of loyalty. For Neesima, however, the Christian faith was not the main factor that prompted his departure from the country but rather emerged after his departure as a rejection of the old world and a break with the notion of loyalty from his grandfather and father to the domain lord.
　There are several opinions as to why Neesima decided to travel abroad, which was forbidden, to escape Japan. In the age of nationalism, it has been understood as a patriotic act for the nation. However, carefully reading Neesima’s writings in his youth reveals a young man’s adventurous spirit and hope to seek freedom and see a new world in a closed feudal age. What Neesima later emphasized most in establishing Doshisha was an education that did not constrain the youth but enabled them to realize their dreams and hopes.
　On July 20, 1865, after a voyage of over a year, Neesima arrived in Boston. He began his life in the U.S. with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Alfius Hardy, the owners of the Wild Rover, on which Neesima had come aboard and devout Puritans. The Hardys enrolled Neesima in Phillips Academy, of which they were the directors, and after giving him a primary education, sent him to Amherst College and provided him with all the necessary financial support for his stay in America and living expenses for nine years until he graduated from Andover Theological Seminary. Neesima sent quite a few letters to the Hardys. What most of them have in common is that they mention the Christian faith. Shortly after landing in Boston, Neesima sent the following update to a friend in Hakodate who had helped him leave the country. “I study the Bible every Sunday. All the teachers and students, and many who know me, are interested in and love me. Some give me things to make me happy. But they do this not for my sake but for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ” (“A Letter to Unokichi Fukushi,” February 23, 1866, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 63). In other words, the Christian faith was essential for Neesima to be accepted by the Americans and build relationships with them.
　When Neesima received a letter from his sister informing him of the turmoil in Japan and begging him to return home, he told the Hardys, “If I return home now, I will have to join the war. I have no intention of being killed in such a barbaric war. Instead, I am prepared to put on the helmet of salvation, take the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God, and devote myself to the war against Satan” (“A Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Hardy,” April 27, 1868, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 94). However, since that time, in letters to his parents and younger brother in Japan, he wrote, “Although I am incompetent, I am concerned about the nation’s slump, and out of a desire to help in any way I can, I broke the law that my country forbids, parted with the monarch and father who are difficult to part with and took the courage to escape the country” (“A Letter to Soroku Neesima,” 1865, CWJN, Vol. 3, p. 21) and “This attempt was not to abandon the sovereign or my father, nor was it for my interest. I thought that I would do my small part for the nation. I came to the act of escaping from the country prompted by my sincere passion” (“A Letter to Tamiji Neesima,” February 21, 1866, CWJN, p. 27). He repeatedly stated that he decided to leave the country “for the sake of the nation.”

Reunion with Japan

When a shogunate delegation visited the U.S. in January 1867 to receive a warship, Neesima, who had received this information, expressed interest but did not meet with them. However, shortly after this, Neesima met two international students from the Satsuma Clan (Kagoshima) who had come to the U.S., violating the national prohibition. Informed of the weakening of the old regime that once suppressed Neesima’s “freedom,” he may have seen the possibility of returning home to the “nation” that would come after the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate system. He sent the following letter to Itsunosuke Iida, a senior bureaucrat in the Annaka domain (Neesima’s birthplace).

　In other words, although he is not much of a man, he is willing to give his all for the nation. However, he is now a “god-fearing person” who is not bound by anything, and he will not be satisfied with a small salary by returning home and serving his clan. However, he is not seeking “wealth and fame” like the fleeting dew that moistens flowers and grass but is aware of the urgent need to serve Japan as a “vassal of God” and a “citizen of Japan.” He also sent a letter to the Annaka government urging them to make him return to Japan, stating that Christianity, the religion of civilization, is essential to the nation’s wealth and strength and that his “concern for the nation and love for the people” is growing stronger daily. The self- contradiction between his desire to “run a small cooperation for the nation” and his resistance and aversion to serving his clan and the shogunate was an invisible barrier to Neesima’s return to Japan. However, the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the establishment of a new nation gave Neesima the prospect of returning to Japan.
　In 1871, a delegation headed by Tomomi Iwakura (1825–83) was sent to Europe and the United States as ambassador plenipotentiary. The purpose of the mission was to conduct research for the modernization of Japan and to conduct preliminary negotiations for the revision of unequal treaties concluded at the end of the Edo period. Before the Iwakura delegation, Arinori Mori (1847–89), who was then stationed in the U.S. (later ambassador to the U.S.), called together Japanese students and requested their cooperation in receiving the delegation. Neesima was often invited by Mori and told to submit a list of Hardy’s expenditures for Neesima, but he expressed concern that “if the payment is made by Mori, I will be bound to the Japanese government by that money” and stated that he wanted to remain a “free Japanese citizen.” (“A Letter to Mrs. Flint,” March 21, 1871, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 116). Thus, he categorically refused any offer of financial support for his study in the United States from the Japanese government. When Mori advised him to apply for an exemption and a passport to study in the U.S., he stated that he did not wish to return to Japan with his Christian faith hidden but rather to return home as a Christian who walks in the love of Christ and acts in the light of his conscience (“A Letter to Mrs. Hardy,” June 13, 1871, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 118).
　When Ambassador Iwakura and his delegation arrived and met with Fujimaro Tanaka (1845–1909), the director of the Ministry of Education in charge of educational research in Europe and the United States, most international students from Japan greeted Tanaka, a high-ranking official of the Japanese state, sitting upright, but only Neesima bowed standing. Neesima told Mori, “I have been educated by the support of my friends in Boston, and I have never received a cent from the Japanese government. Therefore, the Director has no right to treat me as a subject of the Japanese government” (“A Letter to Mrs. Hardy,” March 8, 1872, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 134), explaining his position and offering to cooperate with the Japanese government not as an order or obligation of the Japanese government but by signing a “contract” with a stipulated reward. In a foreign land, Neesima adhered to his position as a “free Japanese citizen” to the “Japanese nation” symbolized by the Iwakura Mission. In his letters to his friends and father in Japan, there is a large discrepancy between Neesima’s awareness of the need to be “run down for the sake of the nation” and his attitude toward the Japanese nation. Neesima’s attitude toward Tanaka Fujimaro reveals the image of Neesima as a modern man who, as a free man, was responsible for and willing to engage with the nation. Neesima reported a series of such assertions against the Japanese government as follows: “I defended my rights, and those rights were granted to me” (“A Letter to Mrs. Hardy,” March 8, 1872, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 136). Neesima often wrote to Mrs. Hardy about his interactions with Tanaka. Neesima explained that the “intelligence” of civilization would have a better meaning for human beings only when accompanied by “moral principles” and recommended Christian “morality.” Tanaka, while agreeing with Neesima, stated that “the government has no right to interfere with religion in any form” (“A Letter to Mrs. Hardy,” March 19, 1872, CWJN, Vol. 10, pp. 143–144).
　While accompanying Tanaka to inspect the educational situation in European countries, Neesima once again recognized the role of education in a modern nation. He clearly expressed his intention to return to Japan: “If I return to Japan with Mr. Tanaka and help him to establish a new school system in Japan, I will probably be able to do some good for my countrymen” (“A Letter to Mr. and Mrs. Hardy,” October 20, 1872, CWJN, Vol. 10, p. 172). However, two months after writing this letter, Neesima decided against accompanying Tanaka back to Japan. He reported the reason to Mrs. Hardy as follows:

　He explains that conditions related to the preservation of Neesima’s status were the reason for his refusal to accompany Tanaka back to Japan. However, whether this is seen as Neesima’s calculating nature or a pragmatic decision is a matter of opinion.