Despite the fact that Enryō’s lecture tour in 1896 lasted only forty-nine days, Kaishū’s devoted support as a shadow calligrapher led to the collection of 1,375 yen in donations for the new buildings in that year alone. The prospect of establishing a university was starting to become a reality. In June Enryō was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature for his dissertation entitled “Genealogy of Buddhist Philosophy” af-ter an examination by the Imperial University, and a grand celebra-tion was held. In December Enryō finally announced his intention to establish a special course in Chinese classics studies, taking a step forward toward the founding of a university, but the Philosophy Academy then suffered an unforeseeable misfortune. The entire school was burned to the ground by a “fire disaster,” as Enryō named it, that had spread from a neighboring structure. December thirteenth was a Sunday, but Ikubunkan, which had been renting the schoolhouse of the Philosophy Academy, had hired a carpenter who was repairing desks and chairs in a shed. The fire started in this shed, so it is believed that the cause was a spark from a cigarette the carpenter had been smoking or from a room heater. The fire broke out at around ten thirty at night. When the students who had been sleeping soundly in the dormitory were roughly woken, the surrounding area was already as bright as daytime. Since there was no police box nearby, word was late getting to the fire department, but a bell for emergencies was rung at Terada Fu-kuju’s neighboring temple of Shinjōji. When neighbors rushed to the scene fire had just begun billowing out from the shed so they drew water from the well at Enryō’s house to try and extinguish it. The fire, 113
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