{"id":7352,"date":"2026-04-27T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T06:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/?p=7352"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:28:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T06:28:59","slug":"the-country-samurai-in-full-court-dress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/other-en\/2026\/04\/27\/7352\/","title":{"rendered":"The Country Samurai in Full Court Dress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

The statue of \u014ckuma Shigenobu stands within the cloister. Before its gaze stretches \u014ckuma Garden \u2014 where once the \u014ckuma residence stood.<\/p><\/div>\n

The walls gleam, dazzling in the sunlight;
\nby night, a warm glow lights the arches of the auditorium\u2019s fa\u00e7ade.
\nAs though in gentle contrast to that imposing front,
\nthe Romanesque cloister on the northern side
\nhas always softly received
\nthe greenery of \u014ckuma Garden,
\nits colours changing with the seasons.<\/p>\n

From the cloister, the statue of \u014ckuma Shigenobu,
\nthe university\u2019s first President,
\ngazes out upon the garden in full court dress.
\nIt was unveiled in 1907,
\nto mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the university\u2019s founding
\nand \u014ckuma\u2019s seventieth year.<\/p>\n

That same year, \u014ckuma resigned as head of the Kensei Hont\u014d Party,
\nwithdrawing for a time from the brilliant, bitter world of politics,
\nand took up the presidency of Waseda University.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mere student;
\nfor half my life, a samurai\u2026
\nor, to put it plainly, a country samurai.\u201d<\/p>\n

For \u014ckuma, who so described himself,
\nto be cast in bronze
\nin the formal attire of a count decorated with the First Order of Merit
\nhad already, even then, drawn a variety of opinions.<\/p>\n

Perhaps mindful of such murmurs beforehand,
\nhe spoke as follows at the unveiling ceremony:<\/p>\n

Life is, in truth, a very brief thing.
\nThere is no house in this world that lasts a thousand years.
\nNo hero, no great man, no man of wealth
\nhas a house that lasts a thousand years.
\nMankind is ever renewed, one generation giving way to the next.
\n* * *
\nAnd yet an institution such as a school
\nis something enduring.
\nIt is an organisation possessed of a lasting life.
\nThat my bronze statue should be erected
\nin such a place of learning,
\na place filled with hope for the future,
\nis to me a matter of considerable embarrassment.
\n* * *
\nThough a school may be called semi-permanent,
\nif its methods are ill chosen,
\nthere is no assurance that it will not fall into decline.
\nYet perhaps, when the school enters difficult times,
\nthis bronze statue may bring to mind
\nthose earlier days of hardship,
\nand may serve some purpose
\nin helping people endure.
\nWith no thought beyond this,
\nI can only allow myself a modest satisfaction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The finite life of man;
\nthe enduring life of a university.<\/p>\n

And yet, when that university should one day face a crisis,
\nthis bronze figure of the country samurai in full court dress
\nmay perhaps become a source of encouragement
\nto those cast down by disappointment.<\/p>\n

Before the solemn bronze likeness,
\narrayed in courtly attire,
\none can almost see \u014ckuma himself \u2014
\nwith a faint, self-conscious smile.<\/p>\n

\n

Translated from the article \u5927\u793c\u670d\u59ff\u306e\u7530\u820e\u6b66\u58eb<\/a> published on 2017-02-24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA mere student; for half my life, a samurai\u2026 or, to put it plainly, a country samurai.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[124,94],"class_list":["post-7352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-en","tag-campus_scenes_en","tag-general-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7356,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7352\/revisions\/7356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/culture\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}