was a Japanese educator and writer. She was the first dean of

Tokyo Woman's Christian University , often abbreviated to TWCU or , is an independent Protestant university in Tokyo, Japan. Founding TWCU was established by Nitobe Inazō (1862–1933), an author, diplomat and educator, who was appointed as the first president in 1918. The firs ...

and its second president.

Biography

Yasui was born in 1870 in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Her father was a weapons instructor to Doi Toshimoto, a ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of

Koga Domain alt=, Site of Koga Castle, administrative headquarters of Koga Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shimōsa Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Koga Castle, located in what ...

. She was largely raised by her devout Buddhist grandparents in

Hongō, Tokyo is a district of Tokyo located in Bunkyō, due north of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and west of Ueno. History Hongō was a Wards of Japan, ward of the former Tokyo City, city of Tokyo until 1947, when it merged with another ward, Koishikawa, to ...

, and attended

Tokyo Women's Normal School is a women's national university in the Ōtsuka neighborhood of Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Ochanomizu is the name of a Tokyo neighborhood where the university was founded. History The university traces its origins to 1875, when Tokyo Women ...

, graduating in 1890. Upon graduating, she taught at the Women's Normal School for several years before moving to a teaching position at Iwate Prefectural Normal School. In 1897, Yasui received a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education to attend

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to study the history of education and psychology under

Elizabeth Phillips Hughes Elizabeth Phillips Hughes MBE (12 July 1851 – 19 December 1925) was a Welsh scholar, teacher, and promoter of women's education, first principal of the Cambridge Training College for Women. Early life Hughes was born in Carmarthen, Ca ...

Hughes Hall Hughes Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The majority of students are postgraduate, although nearly one-fifth of the student population comprises individuals aged 21 and above who are studying undergraduate ...

. She returned to Japan in 1900 and soon converted to Christianity. From 1904 to 1907, she lived abroad in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand, where she served as the acting principal of the Rajini Girls School. She traveled to Britain again in 1907 to study at the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

until 1909. She then returned to Tokyo, where she taught at the

Gakushūin The , or , historically known as the Peers' School, is a Japanese educational institution in Tokyo, originally established as Gakushūjo to educate the children of Japan's nobility. The original school expanded from its original mandate of educ ...

(Peeresses' School) and

Tsuda Umeko was a Japanese educator who founded Tsuda University. She was the daughter of Tsuda Sen, an agricultural scientist, and at the age of 7, she became Japan's first female exchange student, traveling to the U.S. on the same ship as the Iwakura ...

's English School from 1909 to 1910. She taught again at Tokyo Women's Normal School from 1910 to 1918. During this time, she wrote over 100 publications, some for Christian periodicals, and started a monthly periodical called ''Shinjokai'' (''New Women's World'') with Miya Ebina on women's issues. When

was founded in 1918, Yasui was appointed as the first dean. Five years later, she succeeded

Nitobe Inazō was a Japanese agronomist, diplomat, political scientist, politician, and writer. He studied at Sapporo Agricultural College under the influence of its first president William S. Clark and later went to the United States to study agricultural ...

to become the university's second president. She was president for 17 years until her retirement in 1940. She came out of retirement briefly in 1942 to become principal of the

Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin is a Private school, private girls academy founded on November 6, 1884, in Azabu, Minato, Tokyo by Martha J. Cartmell, a Methodist missionary from Canada.SeHistory of Tōyō Eiwa Jogakuin, page 1. Accessed June 15, 2006] Toyo Eiwa Women's Univers ...

, a girls' school founded by Canadian missionaries.

Legacy

Yasui was the first Japanese female college president. The feminist activist

Yamakawa Kikue was a Japanese essayist, activist, and socialist feminist who contributed to the development of feminism in modern Japan. Born into a highly-educated family of the former samurai class, Yamakawa graduated from the private women's college Jos ...

, who was taught by Yasui at Tokyo Women's Normal School, cited Yasui as an influence and praised her for her contributions to the women's movement in Japan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yasui, Tetsu 1870 births 1945 deaths 20th-century Japanese educators Heads of schools in Japan Academic staff of Tokyo Woman's Christian University Ochanomizu University alumni Academic staff of Ochanomizu University Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge 20th-century Japanese women writers Converts to Christianity from Buddhism Japanese Christians Heads of schools in Thailand 19th-century Japanese writers 19th-century Japanese women writers 20th-century Japanese writers 20th-century Japanese women educators 19th-century Japanese women educators 19th-century Japanese educators