Tsuda Umeko, photograph reproduced in Yoshikawa Toshikazu, Tsuda Umeko (Fujo Shimbunsha, 1930); image from the National Diet Library, Japan, Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures · Photograph of Tsuda Umeko captioned in print 'Tsuda Umeko joshi' (Ms Tsuda Umeko), the first portrait on the National Diet Library's Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures page for her, taken from Yoshikawa Toshikazu, 'Tsuda Umeko' (Tokyo: Fujo Shimbunsha, 1930; NDL Digital Collections item 1191056). The photographer and the date of the sitting are not given in the book. The file is the NDL's unmodified image (733 x 1117 px), including the printed caption strip; no upscaling or cropping. · Public domain (published in Japan in 1930, before 1931; the NDL item record gives permission rule 'ooc', out of copyright, and the NDL Portraits site states that all its images are public domain and may be reused, including commercially, without application)

teacher · 19th Century

Tsuda Umeko

1864–1929

Known For

educationalhistorical

Wikidata

Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.

Trait Constellation

Key Achievements

In 1900 she resigned from her teaching posts and opened Joshi Eigaku Juku, the Women's Institute for English Studies, in Tokyo with ten students; the school, funded largely by American women, became Tsuda University and is described as one of the first institutions of higher education for women in Japan.

While studying at Bryn Mawr she started the American Scholarship for Japanese Women, backed by a Philadelphia committee; the programme ran until 1976 and supported 25 women students, several of whom became leaders in women's education.

Sent to the United States in 1871 at the age of six as one of the first Japanese women to study abroad, she later returned for higher study and majored in biology at Bryn Mawr, co-authoring with her adviser Thomas Hunt Morgan a paper published in 1894.

Moments That Reveal Them

In July 1900 she resigned from both the Peeresses' School and the Higher Normal School for Women, the highest-ranking and best-paid posts then open to a woman, and opened her own school in September with ten students.

This is consistent with giving up a secure position to start the school she had been planning for years. Proactive Agency

When Bryn Mawr suggested she stay on as a researcher, she declined and went home to teach, which some faculty and the college president resented.

This is consistent with putting a goal for other women ahead of an academic career, as her biographer tells it. Impact Motivation

Turning Points

In 1889 she took a paid two-year leave from the Peeresses' School and enrolled at Bryn Mawr on a scholarship, studying biology and meeting the Philadelphia supporters who later funded her school.

This is consistent with seeking further training of her own before building a school. Mastery Orientation