Fukuzawa Yukichi, a thinker and educator in Meiji era, is probably one of the most prominent figures of modern Japan. The portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi on 10,000 yen note explains his undisputed image of “Father of Modern Japan” in the Japanese society. He is widely considered to be one of the few thinkers of Meiji Japan who advocated the rights of women.

This paper, however, attempts to reinvestigate the ideology of Fukuzawa Yukichi by engaging with a critical analysis of his works focusing on his views about women’s education and rights. Fukuzawa Yukichi was the most influential figure, through his writings and speeches, in spreading the ideology of Ryōsai Kenbo(Good Wife and Wise Mother), which came to become national prescription for Japanese womanhood in pre war period. Moreover, Fukuzawa’s opposition to polygamy and rejection of Confucian ideals wherein a woman was ill-treated by her male counterpart has been interpreted as his feminist beliefs in order to bring equality between men and women. This paper, however, argues that Fukuzawa never saw a woman as an individual and independent being as he could not see a woman beyond the role of mother and wife. Ryōsai Kenbo was, indeed, a gendered division of labor between men and women which restricted a woman’s identity as supporter of her spouse.