FY2020
Vol.014 Before Being a Woman, Be a Human Being ~ Writer Yayoko Nogami and the Dawn of Women's Education
FY2020April 2020 marks 70 years since writer Yaoko Nogami, known for her masterpieces "The Maze" and "Hideyoshi and Rikyu," was appointed honorary principal of Hosei University Junko Girls' Junior and Senior High School (now International Senior High School).
Born in 1885 in Usuki-machi, Hokkaibe-gun (now Usuki City), Oita Prefecture, Yaoko moved to Tokyo to attend Meiji Girl's School, and after graduation married Toyoichiro Nogami, a student at Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in the same town. Toyoichiro's mentor, Soseki Natsume, taught Yayoi how to write, and at the age of 23, Yayoi published "En" in the magazine "Hototogisu" and began her career as a writer.
In 1920, Toyoichiro was appointed as the dean of the preparatory department of the university and devoted himself to the management of the school by attracting excellent teachers, but he was forced to leave the university for a time due to the Hosei Uprising, an anti-Japanese movement triggered by the university's personnel policy.
Yayoko's novel about her family, "The Song of the Little Demon," depicts the Hosei Riot from the perspective of the wife of one of the parties involved. In addition, "Diary of Yayoko Nogami," which records the daily life of Toyoichiro and his friends, is a valuable historical document not only for the history of literature but also for the University.
Yaiko Nogami at a roundtable discussion on the occasion of the compilation of Hosei University's Centennial History (May 1978).
Immediately after the war, Toyoichiro worked on the reconstruction of the university as President and President, but died suddenly in February 1950. He passed away suddenly in February 1950, a few months after Junkogakuen, which was on the verge of extinction, made a new start as Hosei University Senior High School for Girls. It is said that behind the acceptance of the transfer of the school was an interest in "girls' education," in anticipation of the increasingly extensive social advancement of women in postwar Japan.
In her diary, Yayoko wrote about how she became the honorary principal of the school at the recommendation of her colleagues and students who admired the late Toyoichiro.
In June 1951, the year after her appointment, Yaoko gave her first lecture to the students, in which she said, "Before being a woman, you must first be a human being," based on the idea of women's liberation and independence, which became a benchmark for the school's education for women even after it was renamed "Hosei University Girls' Junior and Senior High School" in 1953.
Yayoko was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in 1971, and at the age of 87, began serializing her long story "Mori" (The Forest), which was set at her own alma mater, Meiji Girls' School. Until her death at the age of 99, just before the completion of her novel, she continued her energetic creative activities as an active writer and lived a life of "living better today than yesterday, tomorrow better than today, and growing better than today.
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This letter was written by Hyouei Ouchi, who became President of the University after the death of Toyoichiro Nogami, to Yaoko Nogami, the honorary principal of the affiliated school. It describes the recent situation of the school as well as the state of the university under the Red Purge (December 1951).
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Toward the Construction of Women's Education: Hosei Women's 20 Years of Progress" was compiled on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the transfer of the school to the University. The title was written by then President Tetsu Nakamura (edited and published by Hosei University Senior High School for Girls, 1969).
Interview supported by HOSEI Museum Office
(First published in the November/December 2020 issue of the public relations magazine "Hosei")
Articles published in the past are available on our website