Timeline

1864 – born as a second daughter between Sen TSUDA and Hatsuko TSUDA in Edo. 3

1869 – After the shogunate collapsed, the family moved to Mukojima as her father worked at a hotel in Tsukiji. (Umeko practiced writing and dancing in her childhood period.) 3

1871 – The family moved to Azabu as her father became a Hokkaido Development Commissioner under the Meiji Government. The colleague of her father, Kiyotaka KURODA was highly interested in female education, so his plan to send female students overseas with Iwakura mission pushed Umeko to go to Washington D.C., the US at the age of six (which was the youngest among the five members). 4

 

Umeko spent more than 10 years with a family of the secretary of Japanese legation, enrolling in a private school for girls. She learned languages including Latin, French, English, sciences, psychology and art at school as well as grew her faith in Christianity and was baptized. 

 

1882 – After receiving the returning order from the commissioner, Umeko returned to Japan in November.

After the return, Umeko had a challenging time with adjusting to the Japanese customs, since she was barely able to speak Japanese and had almost no possibility to be employed due to the strong culture of Confucianism. 

 

1883 – Umeko met Hirobumi ITO at an evening party and was introduced Utako SHIMODA who had established a private school, Tokyo Girl’s School. Under the influence of Ito and Utako, Umeko began teaching English at Tokyo Girl’s School while working as an interpreter and teacher of English for Ito. 

Moreover, Umeko taught English at Kazoku Girl’s School for about three years, but she found it difficult to be a part of upper-class society in Japan and rejected some marriage offers by then. 5
 

1889 – Umeko decided to move to the United States for the second time with a help by Alice BACON, a friend of her, and other acquaintances. 
 

During her second stay, she initially majored in biology at a college in Philadelphia, writing a thesis at an earlier year than normal, while moving on to studying teaching methods at Oswego Teachers College. By the influence of Alice BACON, who nurtured an interest in Japanese culture and women, Umeko became keen to educate Japanese female students and raise funds for establishing scholarships that can allow Japanese women to study abroad. 
 

1892 – After coming back to Japan, she began teaching at some Girl’s Schools, while fostering students by herself at her own house. 
 

1900 – With the tide of strengthening Japanese women’s education, Umeko resigned from the public post as a governmental worker. In July, she went on to attain the approval from the Tokyo governor on establishing a Women's Institute for English Studies, which is the current Tsuda University, and opened her school in Kojimachi.6

 

After the foundation of the school, she aimed to provide equal educational opportunities for women regardless of their parental backgrounds. The reputation was prominent especially for its liberal and progressive education back in time when women were only taught about manners and etiquettes at normal girl’s school. 7

 

1915 – Umeko received the Sixth Order of the Precious Crown as a prominent educator of women in Japan.  
 

1919 – After reforming the college into a corporate juridical unit to stabilize it financially, Umeko retired from the position of school president because of the health issue. She did not marry all her life. 

 

1929 – Having fight with her disease for a long time, she passed away at the age of 64. 3

 

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