The following is from Yoshiko Sakurai's serial column, which will be the last issue of Weekly Shincho, released on December 23, 2021.
This paper also proves that she is a national treasure, the supreme national treasure, as defined by Saicho.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese people but also for people worldwide.
It is about the creation of this column.
First, scan the original text to publish a genuine paper that not only Japanese people but people worldwide should know about.
Proofread any scanning errors.
Change vertical numbers to horizontal writing. Change paragraphs, etc., to horizontal writing.
After going through such work, I found it published in Japan and the world.
I felt a tearful heart when I was working on changing the paragraphs in this chapter.
It is because I realized that the soul of Shoin is inside me.
Shoin was genuinely raised in an enviable family.
In his time, he was executed and died young, but he lived a happy life.
I grew up in an unhappy family but am no different from Shoin.
Those around me must have heard me say, "I am forever 19 years old" many times.
All my close friends agreed, saying, "That is certainly true for you..."
I ran away from home when I was 19 years old.
Since then, I have been listed as "missing" in the alumni register of my alma mater.
In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that my life has stopped at 19 years old.
A man strictly commanded to carry Kyoto University on his shoulders has lived a completely different life.
In some ways, it was a dazzling life like heaven and earth.
The sentence in which Mr. Nobuyuki Kaji sounded the alarm about the labor shortage is commonly spoken of as "No, we have the manpower" and is one of the most significant papers of the 21st century.
My family was unfortunate enough to send me to Kyoto University and have me stand there carrying the university on my shoulders.
But I do not regret it at all.
On the contrary, I am proving the correctness of Mr. Kaji Nobuyuki's argument.
A university education is not essential in life at all.
He pointed out the stupidity and absurdity of the current education system, which forces people with a 5-point deviation score to go to high school and university.
He pointed out the stupidity of the educational administration, which spoils people born to live on the soil, cultivate fields, and grow crops.
He pointed out the stupidity of the educational administration, which makes people born to live in the sea and love fish and the sea spend their whole lives doing nothing.
He pointed out the stupidity of the educational administration, which makes people born to live in the forest and live with trees spend their whole lives doing nothing.
The educational administration makes people who live in the world of crafts created by the Japanese tend to seek perfection and spend their whole lives doing nothing.
He pointed out the stupidity of the educational administration that makes people who inherit the lathe technique that no one else in the world can imitate spend their time in vain.
He pointed this out from his own experience. That's because he is a real intellectual.
I will continue this article later.
What about American society, where college graduation is everything?
That's because America, which has a short history, actually has only a thug-like philosophy.
As proof of this, they are easily divided in their domestic public opinion by the manipulations of countries like China.
This column proves that Japanese intelligence is far superior to the United States.
The Asahi Shimbun and the so-called intellectuals who agree with it prove the shallowness of American intelligence.
Around that time, I started to face difficulties as a manager due to the mismanagement that brought about deflation in Japan.
A friend of mine who was an employee of a large company and who I was close to through work asked me to entertain his boss.
I responded with a delicious meal and then headed off to the after-party.
At the after-party, his boss said, "It's a life-like walking a tightrope..."
That may have been true, but I was momentarily speechless as the host.
I couldn't have a family like Shoin's, but I still love my parents.
I am infinitely grateful that they gave birth to me and raised me.
I am unconditionally grateful that they raised one of the greatest intellectuals of the post-war era to be strong.
I am genuinely grateful that I was born and raised in Yuriage, a place I will always love.
I am genuinely grateful to all my elementary and junior high school classmates who still show me unconditional love.
That's why I have been praised as the best small business owner in Japan, even though I am the only one.
Since July 2010, I have been working every day, free of charge, to investigate Japan and the world, even though I am the only one.
The "turntable of civilization" is my life, and my life is the "turntable of civilization" because the soul of Shoin resides within me.
The family and father who raised the great man, Shoin
When I recently visited Yamaguchi Prefecture, I received a book called "The Thoughts and Life of Yoshida Shoin" from a philosophical local.
The book is a compilation of six lectures given by the late Kumura Toshio, a well-known researcher of Shoin at Yamaguchi Bank.
The bank published the lectures to teach its employees.
It was a profoundly moving book.
As is well known, Shoin taught at Shoka Sonjuku for only two years and three months.
About 60 people gathered during this time, regardless of their social status.
Notable figures of samurai origin who studied under Shoin include Takasugi Shinsaku, Kusaka Genzui, Maebara Issei, who was beheaded in the Hagi Rebellion, Yamada Akiyoshi, who became the Minister of Justice (Minister), and Nakatani Masaaki.
Among the former foot soldiers were Yoshida Eitaro, who was seriously injured in the Ikedaya Incident and returned to the gate of the Choshu clan's residence before committing suicide; Irie Sugizo, who was killed in battle during the Kinmon Incident; Ito Hirobumi, who became the first Prime Minister, Yamagata Aritomo, who was Chief of Staff during the Russo-Japanese War, as well as Shinagawa Yajiro and Nomura Yasushi, who all contributed to the great cause of the Meiji Restoration.
Matsuura Shodo, the son of a fishmonger and a painter, was a student who was neither a samurai nor an ashigaru.
There is a portrait of Shoin sitting, which is said to have been painted by Shodo.
Incidentally, the first student at the Shoka Sonjuku was Mashino Tokumin, the son of a doctor.
The next student was Yoshida Eitaro, who lived next door to the Sugi family (Shoin was adopted into the Yoshida family but continued to live in his birth family's Sugi family).
He was mentioned above.
The third student was Matsuura Shodo, also mentioned above.
Kumura explains the significance of the fact that the first three students of the Shoka Sonjuku were the sons of a doctor, a foot soldier, and a fishmonger, all commoners, not samurai.
It is particularly noteworthy when you consider the actual situation in Japan and the Mori clan at that time.
In the Edo period, Japan had a class system of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants.
The children of samurai studied at domain schools, and the children of commoners studied at Terakoya.
The Mori clan also had a domain school, Meirinkan, in Hagi.
However, Shoin did not care about rank or status and saw everyone as an individual.
It brings to mind the Five Articles of the Oath, which was issued when the new Meiji government was born.
"We shall hold wide-ranging conferences and decide all matters by public discussion. We shall be of one mind, above and below, and govern vigorously."
It is the idea that permeated the Restoration.
Shoin was born about 190 years ago and was executed 10 years before the Meiji Restoration, but he was ahead of his time and put it into practice brilliantly.
Why study?
Of the approximately 60 people who studied at Shoka Sonjuku, over 20 have left their mark on history.
Did this mean that the village where Shoin lived was a place where exceptionally talented people were born?
I don't think so.
Kumura says there are talented people in every village in Japan and that gifted people can hone their talents and become people of integrity by meeting a good teacher.
In other words, Shoin was a good teacher.
So why was Shoin able to raise people?
Kumura writes that it was primarily because of the family he grew up in.
When the shogunate signed the Treaty of Peace and Amity with the United States, Shoin wished to stow away to America on Perry's ship and study there.
He waited for an opportunity near Shimoda Port, rowed out in a small boat, and finally climbed aboard Perry's ship, but his wish was not granted.
Shoin came forward, claiming he had violated the national ban by attempting to stow away.
As a result, he was sent back to his home province and handed over to his father, Sugi Yurinosuke.
It happened in October 1854 (the first year of the Ansei era), when Shoin was 25 years old according to the Shoin age reckoning system.
Incidentally, his father, Yurinosuke, was the "Chief of the 100 and Head of the Thieves' Bureau," meaning he was the police chief of Hagi.
To summarize the situation, Shoin was put in Noyama Prison.
Eleven samurai were already there.
In prison, Shoin read books.
"When he was deeply moved, he would read with tears in his eyes. When he was angry, he would lift his eyebrows and read in an excited tone. When happy, he would read loudly and slap his knees."
The police chief's young son was in prison, but he was not discouraged at all.
He was absorbed in reading and enjoyed it.
The eleven were influenced, and a roundtable discussion began in the prison.
Everyone asked,
"Why study when there is no hope of escaping prison?"
Shoin answered.
"If you hear the way in the morning, you may die in the evening," he said.
He thought it was enough if one knew how to be a human being.
If one is in this world for one day, one should do something that will make it worth living.
Even if one can never leave this world, one can either die turning against the way of humanity or follow the path of a human being, depending on one's resolve.
In the meantime, the warden of Noyama Prison was so impressed by Shoin's personality that he changed the rule that no lights were allowed to be turned on at night and let the prisoners light their own lights at night and use brushes, ink, and paper freely.
Then, one day, he asked to become Shoin's disciple.
Shoin's personality enabled him to change his prison life into a bright and positive one.
He had the independence to always stick to his original character and not be discouraged by the dull situations around him.
It is admirable.
However, we must not overlook the power that supported Shoin's way of being.
Kumura argues that the strength and tradition of his family supported Shoin.
An enviable family
As mentioned above, Shoin's father was a police chief.
But his son broke the national ban and tried to stow away to America.
He was punished and sent to Noyama Prison.
Usually, they would have been angry, but not his father, mother, brother, sister, or uncle.
Everyone was a good friend of Shoin and continued to support him.
For example, in the "Noyama Prison Reading Diary," Shoin reads about 40 books a month or about 500 books in a year.
The reading diary shows that from October 24, 1854, when Shoin was sent to Noyama Prison, to the end of the year, he read 106 books, 480 books in Ansei 2, 505 books in Ansei 3, and 346 books by September 1854.
His older brother Umetaro obtained these books by visiting book collectors in the surrounding area.
Or they would order copies from Edo.
Umetaro lived until the end of the Meiji era, and he said it was a struggle to get the books Shoin wanted and keep supplying them to him.
But that's not all.
When Shoin was returned to the Sugi family from Noyama Prison, his father, older brother, and uncle became his students.
Shoin lectured to 11 people in prison on current affairs, politics, life, education, and other topics, and he began to extend this at home.
It is how the masterpiece "Komo Yowa" was born.
In addition to Moshi's lectures, his father and older brother would set days to read Keizai Yoroku, Shinron, Nihon Gaishi, and other books together.
Shoin was unable to leave the house and must have been bored.
Out of love, everyone wanted to take care of him somehow.
His mother, sister, and other female relatives formed a "Women's Association" and held a reading group centered around Shoin.
Shoin's family was indeed enviable.
Kumura writes that this was due to his father's efforts.
It is the family that nurtures a person.
A loving family nurtured Shoin's humanity, which allowed him to focus honestly on a person's human qualities rather than judge them by their status or wealth.
This book teaches us the importance of family and family tradition from Shoin's short 30-year life.
私の撮影史上最高の龍安寺を４Kで珠玉の演奏と共に世界中の読者に贈る。
