From Dutch studies to English and overseas travel
Fukuzawa was born at the Nakatsu domain's Osaka establishment and returned to Nakatsu with his family after his father's death. He studied Chinese learning, then Dutch in Nagasaki and at Ogata Koan's Tekijuku in Osaka. Reading included medical and physical sciences. In 1858 he went to Edo under domain instructions and opened a school for Dutch studies.
A visit to Yokohama in 1859 revealed the limited practical use of Dutch in the newly opened port and prompted a turn toward English. Between 1860 and 1867 he traveled to America and Europe three times in connection with shogunate missions, observing institutions and acquiring books for later study and writing.
Keio and private education
In 1868 he moved the school to Shiba Shinsenza and named it Keio Gijuku after the current era. It moved to Mita in 1871. Language study broadened into political, economic, legal and other subjects. A university division with literature, law and political economy opened in 1890; recognition under later university legislation belonged to a subsequent stage.
Fukuzawa remained outside the Meiji central administration, concentrating on education, writing and journalism. Independence and practical learning became stated principles of Keio. Classes, reading and public-speaking activities made the school an enduring vehicle for intellectual work outside government-run education.
Books, public speaking and journalism
Conditions in the West introduced institutions and observations from his travels. An Encouragement of Learning appeared in successive parts from 1872 to 1876, while An Outline of a Theory of Civilization followed in 1875. These works addressed learning, social organization and relations between individuals and the nation.
From the early 1870s he organized speaking and discussion practice, followed by the Mita speech society and hall. He founded Jiji Shinpo in 1882, adding regular journalism to books and teaching. His death in 1901 left an institutional legacy and varied writings through which changes in his thought can be investigated.