12 People would see me in a sedge hat and straw raincoat, wearing a shabby kimono, passing by with books on my back morning and night, and they would ask, what on earth is he doing all day? I would answer, I’m standing in the lecture hall, reciting my “wisdoms” and “smidgens.” As he was going to the school right in the time of the spring rainy season, he needed a sedge hat and straw coat. The villagers wondered where the “young man” of Jikōji was going all day long. “Lecture hall” referred to the classroom. “Wisdoms (恵) and smidgens (微)” were Chinese characters that phonetically represented the roman let-ters A and B, and hence referred to the alphabet. Thus, the poem is saying, “I was studying English.” His study log mentions the textbooks Spelling, Reader, CORNELL’s Small Geography Book, and SARGENT’s First Reader and Second Reader. The first steps for someone learning English are not all that different today. From November onward Enryō kept a vocabulary notebook. It lists words such as “few (僅)” and “only (唯).” It’s unclear how he went about making this notebook, but it’s fascinating to think about. It appears that whenever he had time he was reading books. He writes a poem on his impressions after reading An Encouragement of Learning by the famous FUKUZAWA Yukichi. book I am reading now is An Encouragement of Learning. It teaches that all human beings are equal and that the difference between noble and lowly or wise and foolish lies only in When I am sitting in my study the spring days feel longer. The whether one applies oneself to education or neglects it.
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