Kyoritsu School – Tokyo University Preparatory School days

In 1883, Kumagusu left for Tokyo. The following year, after attending Kyoritsu School for one term, he enrolled in Tokyo University Preparatory School (which later became the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo). As classmates, Kumagusu met Natsume Soseki (novelist), Masaoka Shiki (poet), and many other young talents who were to help create the culture of Meiji Era.

However, he did not go to class diligently and instead went to the Library of Ueno where he read books in Japanese, Chinese, and English one after another as he copied them down into notebooks.

He also spent great effort collecting buried pottery, shells, plants, animals, and stones from all over, including Omori and Kamakura.

As a result he failed his examinations, and after this setback he returned to Wakayama in 1886.

That same year, he decided to move to the U.S.A, so he got on a boat from Yokohama and departed, at the age of 19.

<strong>Kayo Zuihitsu, or Miscellaneous Notes out of Regular Assignments</strong><br> These are Kumagusu’s research notebooks where he would write down things he had seen and heard as well as excerpts from Japanese, Chinese, and Western books in case they might later be useful.<br> He began writing in notebooks in Tokyo in 1884 and continued to do so for a long time, up to his time abroad. Currently, 11 notebooks are known to exist.
Kayo Zuihitsu, or Miscellaneous Notes out of Regular Assignments

<strong>Grades at Tokyo University Preparatory School</strong><br> Kumagusu narrowly passed the second term exams his first year, but he missed the exams in the third term due to illness.<br> In the end, he failed the exams in December of this year. His score in Algebra was 29.4, so he was caught by the rigid regulations that required students to drop out if they scored below a 40 in any single subject.<br> In a notebook of that time, Kumagusu scribbled that Algebra was “absurd.”
Grades at Tokyo University Preparatory School

<strong>Collections During Preparatory School Day</strong><br> While studying at Tokyo University Preparatory School, Kumagusu collected a wide variety of things such as pottery, shells, plants, animals, and minerals, and he went as far as Nishigahara, Omori, Enoshima, and Nikko to find them.<br> During his collecting trips, Kumagusu kept detailed records of the names of the animals he saw, the insects that lived there, and other items of interest.
Collections During Preparatory School Day