Chiba Takusaburō
Chiba is emblematic of how the revolutionary spirit, more frequently attributed to men like Itagaki Taisuke, Ōkuma Shigenobu and Fukuzawa Yukichi, was existent in even low ranking samurai during the Freedom and People's Rights Movement or Jiyū Minken Undō.
In Nabeshima, an eccentric teacher educating students in both arithmetic and classical Japanese literature, Takusaburō hoped to discover the ideology of the Meiji government.
Kokugaku studies encapsulated the philosophy behind the sonnō jōi movement "Revere the Emperor," and contributed to the dissent against the Tokugawa shogunate.
Unlike Takusaburō's previous teachers, Nabeshima emphasized the importance of the return of the Emperor's rule and the divine spirit of the imperial ancestors.
However, as Christian thought reached northeastern Japan, Takusaburō left his Buddhist studies after five months and turned to the tutelage of Father Nikolai.
Because Father Nikolai's new spiritual ideals assimilated traditional conservative beliefs, Russian Orthodoxy became increasingly popular among the "ruined samurai" class which included Takusaburō.
[1] However, researchers Richard Devine and Otis Cary state that Takusaburō left for Tokyo to study directly under Father Nikolai, and was baptized as Peter Chiba in 1872.
[5] When returning to Sendai, the newly Peter Chiba (Takusaburō) was arrested because of his religious preaching and disputes with the Buddhists and Shintoists in his community.
Unlike the teachings of Father Nikolai, Sokken was notorious for his denunciation of Christian intellectuals in early Meiji Japan, most notably in his controversial text Benmō meaning vindication.
[1] After many years on his spiritual quest for truth, Takusaburō found a home in Itsukaichi, where the plans for the Freedom and People's Rights movement were already unraveling.
Though the new government had seemingly maintained order behind their reformist policies, Takusaburō believed that unbeknownst to the Japanese, it came at an enormous cost of "our brothers' blood, sweat, and toil".
In response to the widespread petitions calling for the establishment of a constitution, the Council of State declared that the Japanese citizens possess no rights.
In a letter to his companion and fellow teacher at the Kannō School in December 1880, Fukasawa Naomaru, Takusaburō shared the communal nature of the Learning and Debate Society.
[10] In that same month, Takusaburō was approached by a regional Freedom and People's Rights meeting known as the Musashi Friendship Society or Bushū konshin kai convening the directors of the organization.
[1] During his meetings at the 'Learning and Debating Society,' Takusaburō relentlessly worked out the fine details of the articles which delegated the rights of the people, and the powers that would be left to the national assembly.
While Takusaburō's initial draft lacked legal sophistication and continuity, his constitution remained unique from both the Ōmei Society's and Western models.
Takusaburō's constitution also clearly stated that any convicted person will not be subject to capital punishment, and that the terms "guilty" or "innocence" must be determined through a trial by jury.
[11] On 6 July 1881, an edict passed by the Kanagawa prefectural governor prohibited elementary school teachers from personally engaging in any political activity.
[1] October 1881 marked a major crisis within the oligarchy of the Meiji government as the Freedom and People's Right movement was simultaneously reaching the pinnacle of their success.
In 1882, the mayor of Itsukaichi, Baba Kanzaemon, and the Kannō School overseers Fukasawa Gompachi and Uchino Shōbei joined the Liberal Party, or Jiyūtō established by Itagaki Taisuke.
While royalists called for unlimited imperial rule, extreme activists believed that people's rights should be extended if necessary by armed force and resistance.
Takusaburō argued that by unifying the limited rights of both the people and the imperial force in a freely accepted contract, it will serve as a model for an ideal society.
Using his own experiences as a guide, Takusaburō emphasized the world as a great book of learning, where real knowledge could only be attained by reading everyday life and searching for the truth.
In one of his last poems, Takusaburō wrote: Mountain barrier in snow and river rain// Ten years of search, with all gone wrong,// Half a life spent traveling in vain, a dream reflected in a window,// The cuckoo from the grove, calls//
[13] Western philosophers such as John Stuart Mills aroused "the spirit of enterprise" among the public with doctrines on the natural and inherent rights of man.
Chiba's vision of a free Japan deconstructed the traditions of the lower class, and became the driving force of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement.
