Waseda WeeklyWaseda Weekly

As we approach Anniversary of the University Founding, we often tend to view Shigenobu Okuma as a distant historical figure. However, recently, during the demolition of an old storehouse at my mother's family home in Shinshu, I came across a classical Japanese letter that had been dormant for 110 years, and it made me realize the mysterious connections of history.

The letter, dated March 1915 (Taisho 4), was a letter of recommendation for my great-great-grandfather, who was retiring from his position as a local county council member that same year, for the House of Representatives election. What was astonishing was that the first name listed as the sender was "Count Shigenobu Okuma," and the names of incumbent cabinet ministers of the Second Okuma Cabinet, such as Kanetake Oura, Takaaki Kato, and Yukio Ozaki, were all listed. These cabinet ministers at the time were humbly requesting votes.

A letter of recommendation for the 1915 general election. The signatures of the cabinet ministers at the time are visible, with "Count Shigenobu Okuma" at the top.

This fact is surely living proof of the founding spirit of the university, especially the "cultivation of exemplary citizens." The kind of university Okuma aimed for was not the training of bureaucratic elites. It was about nurturing "sovereigns" who would be independent of power, work hard in the provinces, and govern their local communities. The "people" of the provinces versus the "government" of Tokyo. It was because Okuma believed in and relied on the power of these people more than anyone else that he poured his heart and soul into writing a letter to a member of parliament in Nagano.

I never imagined that my roots and those of Okuma would be connected in a corner of a storehouse, 110 years later. But this encounter taught me that Waseda's history is a great river supported by countless nameless "model citizens" across the country. With Okuma's handwriting, sent to me by my great-great-grandfather, in my heart, I savor the joy and pride of standing at the podium today, before students who will one day support societies across Japan and around the world.

Head Student Affairs Division Waseda University
Tatsuya Nakazawa

1195th