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An Encouragement of Learning — 'Heaven Creates No Person Above Another' and Fukuzawa Yukichi's Modern Thought

The opening line of Fukuzawa Yukichi's An Encouragement of Learning (1872): 'Heaven does not create one person above another, nor one person below another' — can be called modern Japan's first enlightenment declaration, denying the feudal class system. It became a bestseller of over 3.4 million copies. This article explains the thought of the scholar who, alongside founding Keio University, symbolized the spirit of independence in modern Japan.

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Fukuzawa Yukichi’s famous opening line from An Encouragement of Learning (1872) — ‘Heaven does not create one person above another, nor one person below another’ — was a revolutionary declaration in early Meiji Japan, where the feudal class system still cast a long shadow. Born in 1835 in Nakatsu (present-day Oita Prefecture), Fukuzawa studied Dutch learning at Ogata Koan’s Tekijuku in Osaka before traveling to the United States and Europe three times, observing Western institutions firsthand. He founded Keio Gijuku (later Keio University) in 1858 — the site is commemorated at the Keio Gijuku Founding Site memorial in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. An Encouragement of Learning (17 volumes, 1872–1876) sold over 3.4 million copies — roughly one per ten Japanese at the time — championing ‘practical learning’ (jitsugaku) and the spirit of independence (dokuritsu jison) over mere Western imitation. His portrait appeared on the 10,000-yen banknote until 2024.

Portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1891) — author of An Encouragement of Learning and founder of Keio Gijuku, who led the enlightenment movement of modern Japan

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Tekijuku (Osaka City) — Ogata Koan's school where Fukuzawa Yukichi studied Dutch learning; the spirit of 'practical learning' was cultivated here and became the intellectual source of An Encouragement of Learning

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Osaka Castle — Osaka, where Tekijuku was located, served as a center of Dutch and Western learning in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods, nurturing Fukuzawa Yukichi and many other intellectuals

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Portrait of Iwakura Tomomi — the Iwakura Mission (1871–73) conducted Western observations similar to Fukuzawa's own travels, determining the course of Meiji modernization

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Portrait of Katsu Kaishu — a Bakumatsu advocate of opening Japan and naval founder who lived in the same era as Fukuzawa Yukichi, one of the key figures of the Meiji Restoration

Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

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Fukuzawa Yukichi

Encouragement of Learning – Enlightenment Thinker of Modern Japan

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