Tsuda Sen
| Tsuda Sen | |
|---|---|
Tsuda Sen
|
|
| Born |
August 6, 1837 Sakura, Chiba, Japan |
| Died | April 24, 1908 (aged 70) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japan |
| Occupation | Educator, Agriculturalist, Entrepreneur |
Tsuda Sen (津田 仙, August 6, 1837 – April 24, 1908) was a politician, educator and writer in Meiji period Japan. He was one of the founders of Aoyama Gakuin university, and the father of noted author Tsuda Umeko.
Tsuda was born as the fourth son of a low ranking samurai of Sakura domain in Shimōsa (present day Sakura city, Chiba Prefecture). At the age of 15, he was sent to the domain's school, where he learned English and Dutch, and afterwards was sent to Edo, where he studied rangaku. He was hired by the Tokugawa bakufu as an interpreter, and accompanied Fukuzawa Yukichi on the Kanrin-maru to the United States in 1860.
After the Meiji Restoration, Tsuda joined the new Meiji government, and enthusiastically embraced the rapid westernization drive. He opened the first western style hotel in Tsukiji in 1867, near the foreign settlement. He also spent time with the Hokkaido Colonization Office, where he made close contacts with future Prime Minister Kuroda Kiyotaka. Around this time he developed a strong interest in women's education, and when the revolutionary idea of sending women overseas as exchange students with the Iwakura Mission, he quickly volunteered his daughter Umeko. Tsuda also influenced the creation of the Friends School, a women's junior and senior high school established in 1887 in Tokyo.
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