Why was Inazo Nitobe so well-versed in Western classics and literature?

The background to Inazo Nitobe's deep familiarity with Western classics and literature, such as Saint Teresa, Antigone, and George Eliot, is deeply connected to his phenomenal amount of reading and the unique educational environment and overseas experiences created by the Meiji era. The reasons he acquired such extraordinary Western erudition can be summarized into the following four factors.

1. An educational environment where he studied in English from his teens
Nitobe entered Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) at the age of 15 as a second-generation student. At that time, Sapporo Agricultural College had a thorough environment where hired foreign teachers conducted all classes in English. Here, he was not only taught agriculture but was also thoroughly drilled in the foundations of reading original texts of English literature, history, and philosophy.

2. A voracious reader who read tens of thousands of books in his lifetime
Nitobe was a voracious reader from childhood.

• When he was in his early 20s and attending the University of Tokyo, he frequented the used bookstores in Kanda to buy Western books, and he even dropped out, saying, I can learn far more by reading Western books on my own than by attending university lectures..

• It is said that the books he collected and read throughout his life reached tens of thousands, and he absorbed all kinds of Western knowledge beyond his specialty of agriculture, including literature, religion, philosophy, and history.

3. Long-term study abroad in America and Germany and an international marriage
From his 20s to his 30s, he studied at Johns Hopkins University in the United States and universities in Germany, spending a total of about seven years in the West. Furthermore, because he married an American woman, Mary Elkinton, while studying abroad,
daily life within his home became a culture of the English-speaking world. As a result, literature and famous quotes that Westerners enjoy as part of their education naturally became part of his own flesh and blood, rather than just knowledge as 'study'.

4. A strong sense of purpose to become a 'bridge across the Pacific'
From a young age, Nitobe cherished the great ambition, 'I wish to become a bridge across the Pacific.' The biggest reason he wrote his masterpiece 'Bushido' was that he was stumped when a Western friend asked him, 'Since Japan has no religious education, how do you teach morality?' Nitobe knew that in order for Westerners to correctly understand Japan's unique spirit (Bushido), it was most effective to

'quote' and compare it with Christian saints (Saint Teresa), Greek tragedies (Antigone), and Shakespeare, which they were familiar with.

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