CHICHI WEB

The monthly “Chichi” is available only in Japanese.For further details regarding the contents of the magazine, please refer to Chichi WEB (Japanese version). 

The monthly “Chichi” is available only in Japanese.For further details regarding the contents of the magazine, please refer to Chichi WEB (Japanese version). 

Make Your Intrinsic Qualities Bloom

There is a book entitled “Human Studies in Prison”, which puts together the conversations between Mr. Tadayuki Furumi, who was the deputy chief of General Affairs Board of Manchuria (, which was said to be the de facto Prime Minister) until Japan’s defeat in the World War ­¶, and Mr. Hiroshi Jono, who fought with the People’s Liberation Army even after Japan’s defeat.

¡¡Mr. Furumi was detained in Siberia after Japan’s defeat. He was further transported to China, sentenced to 18 years in prison in a military trial, and was taken into custody to the Fushun Prison. It was the year Showa 38 (1963) that he retuned to Japan. He spent the prime time of life from 45 years of age to 63 years of age in prison. He told that he was surprised to find out that his son, who was in the 6^th grade of elementary school when he last saw him, was already married and had kids.

¡¡Mr. Jono fought with Mao Zedong by organizing Chinese people as a field army in Shanxi Province, even after Japan’s surrender. However, he became a captive in the year of Showa 24 (1949), and spent 7 years in the Taiyuan Prison. Then he was transferred to the Fushun Prison, where he met Mr. Furumi.

¡¡The two, who spent their life in prison together, openly talk about “the epitome of human society” in this book, which is the very cornucopia of human studies.

¡¡Let me share one of the stories with you.

¡¡Many people suffered from nervous breakdown in prison. What these people had in common was that they suck up to people with authority. They paid their entire attention to gain the favor of the administrator of the prison, tried to play along with him, and ended up suffering from nervous breakdown after being swayed by him.

¡¡Also, the same thing can be said about those who miss their family and spend time solely on looking at the pictures of their wife, children, or mother. Their mind is dominated by the desire alone, and stops to react to the other things. Mr. Furumi says,

“I thought that human brain is finished when it stops to react to external stimulations. It is the same for everyone to miss the family, but the issue is how to deal with the feeling consciously. There is no point in missing the family, as you are in prison and there is no way to see them in Japan, across the sea.”

¡¡What is more important than that is to focus on what you should do now under the environment to bring out the best, and how you can obtain the mindset. The two were fretted about these issues.

¡¡Although it has been a long time since the two predecessors passed away, the precious wisdom obtained in their 18 years of prison life is still fresh, showing us what is important to “cultivate your destiny.”

“Daily Word from Sontoku Ninomiya*” was edited by Mr. Issei Terada and has been published recently.

¡¡What bears special mentioning about Sontoku is that although he experienced hardships in life, he never criticized or complained about the system or authority, accepted the reality given to him, and made utmost efforts to improve the reality as much as possible.

¡¡When I reflect on that fact, his words, “My way is all about sincerity and execution”, resounded in me.

* Sontoku Ninomiya (1787-1856) was a prominent 19th century Japanese agricultural leader and philosopher. He was born to a poor peasant family but became a great landowner through a hard working. Even to this day, he tends to be regarded as a symbol of hard work and perseverance.

¡¡The Chinese classic, “Zhongyong “, or "The Doctrine of the Golden Mean” teaches us: Every person has a given position. Never be envious or jealous of others, and instead, do your best wholeheartedly.

¡¡Under the given conditions, never curse your destiny, never complain, and make the utmost efforts you can make now¨¡The key to cultivate your destiny lies in this attitude.

The monthly “Chichi” is available only in Japanese.For further details regarding the contents of the magazine, please refer to Chichi WEB (Japanese version).

Recent news from Cambodia reported that a girl, who had gone missing at the age of 9 while taking care of buffalos, was discovered and rescued after 18 years. According to the news report, she had become 27 years old, and seems to have lived in a jungle. Therefore she doesn’t understand any language, tears off her clothes, walks on all fours, and has completely become wild.

¡¡This incident reminds us of the fact that human beings are not born as human beings, but become human beings. If this is the case, then what makes human beings, human beings?

¡¡Mr. Mitsukuni Tokugawa, the lord of the Mito domain known as an enlightened lord, was the second son of Yorifusa, the 11^th son of Ieyasu^*1. Although Mitsukuni was brilliant, he was also eccentric and impudent when he was young, a bad boy to the extent that his close aid described him as having bad morals. However, Yorifusa was determined that Mitsukuni would be his successor, seeing his potential. Having said so, Yorishige, Yorifusa’s first son, was mild and had better reputations from those around them. Compared to that, Mitsukuni was thought of as being an outrageous eccentric and that his future most likely would not amount to much. Mitsukuni, who was regarded as such, completely transformed his way of living, by reading “Hakui-den” , or “The Story of Hakui” in “Shi Chi”^*2 at the age of 18.

^*1Ieyasu Tokugawa was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868) of Japan.

^*2 “Shi Chi” is a series of Chinese classics completed around the 1st century B.C., depicting Chinese history.

Here is the story of “Hakui-den”. Hakui and Shukusei were the children of a lord of a small country. The lord designated the youngest brother, Shukusei, as his successor and passed away. However, Shukusei tried to concede the position to his elder brother, Hakui. Hakui didn’t accept that, saying, “It is against our father’s will”, and left the country. Shukusei also followed him. Hakui and Shukusei tried to look for King Wen of the country named Zhou^*3 for support. However, King Wen had already passed away, and his son, King Wu succeeded him, and was trying to topple the supreme ruler, Yin^*4. Hakui and Shukusei expostulated King Wu, saying, “It is against filial piety to topple Yin when you have not even finished your father’s funeral. Yin is the lord of Zhou, and therefore it is against benevolence for the vassal to topple the lord.” The guards tried to kill them, but they were saved by the general serving King Wu, saying, “These two are the sons of righteousness.”

¡¡Soon after that, Zhou toppled Yin and came to rule over the whole land. Although everyone else was going to Zhou, Hakui and Shukusei denied getting a salary from Zhou because the country was against righteousness. They hid themselves in a mountain, and died from hunger. They consistently adhered to their faith.

^*3 Zhou is an ancient Chinese dynasty.

^*4 Yin is the oldest Chinese dynasty whose existence was confirmed archeologically.

¡¡¨¡¨¡Mitsukuni was tremendously overwhelmed after reading this story at the age of 18. “I have taken it for granted to become the successor as I am of better caliber than my brother, Yorishige. Have I ever considered his feelings even a moment…?  Do I have even a little bit of the admirable attitude of Hakui and Shukusei to adhere to righteousness…?”

¡¡From that point, Mitsukuni has transformed. He named his study room as “Jisshinsai” and devoted himself into reading classics. Through the experience, he strongly felt that history books were required to know the trails of the ancients. This feeling triggered the idea of editing “Dainihonshi”, or “The History of Great Japan.”

¡¡Mitsukuni was determined to do one more thing, which was to adopt Tsunaeda, his brother Yorishige’s son, and make him as the successor without bearing a child of his own. Mitsukuni notified his brother of this determination at the age of 36, upon their father’s death, and executed it at the age of 63.

¡¡Mitsukuni had become a human being from the teachings of “Hakui-den” and realized his motto in life: “Human beings become human beings by having classics in their minds. Learning becomes learning by living a life with morality.” 

¡¡The Chinese character to describe “teaching” consists of two parts. One of them indicates “filial piety”. Mr. Masahiro Yasuoka^*5 said that this “filial piety” is not limited to among parents and children. Rather, it indicates succession and unification of old and young, and new and old. He preached that both individuals and peoples would advance and prosper where there was no disconnection. The other part of the character indicates pointing to something with a whip. The character exactly embodies what teachings are all about.

Human beings need to learn from teachings, and pass on the teachings.¡¡

^*5 Mr. Masahiro Yasuoka was a famous scholar of Oriental philosophy. He was a spiritual advisor to many high-ranking members of Japan's political and business elite, including a number of postwar prime ministers.