66 see what it was like and found many people in the main hall. My first impression was that there were many people like me who aspired to study philosophy, which surprised and delighted me. As mentioned above, in order to enter the Imperial University (Uni-versity of Tokyo), one had to first study languages at the prep school. Therefore, it took as long as seven years to graduate, and what’s more, there was only a small number of graduates. It would have been im-possible to develop the human resources necessary for moderniza-tion and to spread learning and knowledge if done in this manner. In contrast, private schools took a fast-track approach and con-ducted classes in Japanese. ONO Azusa, one of the founders of To-kyo Vocational College (Waseda University), made a speech at its opening ceremony in 1882, saying that the school would aim for swift results and teach in Japanese. That would lead to academic independ-ence and eventually to university status. This was the common senti-ment among the founders of private schools at the time, and it was a stance that Enryō also took. Thus, the Philosophy Academy was opened and it was the teaching staff who supported the realization of Enryō’s ideals. The lecturers and trustees at the time of opening (Figure 3) included many of the same people who had helped in the lead up to founding, but they shared two notable characteristics. On the day of the opening of the school, I went to Rinshōin to The Young Teaching Staff
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