本研究の主題は小幡篤次郎甚三郎兄弟を通して、近世から近代への移行期になされた知徳の転換を考察することである。両名はこれまで伝記や著作集が編纂されることがなく、まずは関係資料の収集が課題であった。2019および2020年は甚三郎の留学先であるニューヨークのPolytechnic Instituteで資料収集を行い、成果を得た。2020年度も海外における資料収集を予定していたが、COVID-19の感染拡大によって断念せざるを得なかった。海外のみならず、国内における移動や資料閲覧が制限されたため、本年度は、これまで収集したデータを利用した、データベースの構築作業を中心に行った。その結果、本主題に次のような見通しを得た。
明治維新という政治・社会体制の大きな変革にあたって、知徳のあり方は変容した。それは何をもって「知」「徳」と捉えるかという「知」「徳」の内容に止まらず、誰によって支えられるかという、「知」「徳」を形成する主体の変化でもあった。
篤次郎は藩校で教鞭をとるほどの儒学者になっていたが、元治元（１８６４）年に２２歳で福澤諭吉の塾に入学すると、わずか２年後の慶応２年には、幕府開成所の英学教師を務めるほどになった。その間に彼は、「知」の大きな転換を経験した。そして彼は、新たな「知」や「徳」は誰もが共有できるものでなければならないと考え、精力的に西洋文明を紹介し、受容を促す翻訳活動を行い、慶應義塾における教育活動にも尽力した。
弟甚三郎もまた翻訳活動を行い、明治４（１８７１）年になると、旧藩主とともにアメリカへ留学した。入学したPolytechnic Institute では、近代化への指導者としてアメリカ側からも期待され、文字通り寝食を忘れて勉強に励み、やがて精神を蝕まれた。そこには近代におけるジェンダーの問題も内包されていた。
篤次郎は新たな知徳を社会で共有すべく、その展開を試みたが、交詢社をはじめ彼の構想は政治的な困難を抱えることになる。
The theme of this study is to consider the transformation of knowledge and virtue from the early modern period to the modern period through thoughts and actions of Obata Tokujiro  and Jinzaburo. Works of them have never been compiled and there aren't biographies. So the first task was to collect their works and materials. In 2019, 2020 I collected materials at the Polytechnic Institute in New York, where Jinzaburo studied, and I have achieved results in collecting new materials. I was planning to collect materials overseas in 2020～2021, but I had to give up because of the spread of COVID -19 infection. I couldn't go not only overseas but also in Japan, therefore this year I focused on building a database using the data collected so far. As a result, I obtained the following prospects for this subject.
In the Meiji Restoration, a major change in the political and social system, knowledge and virtue were changed. It was not only the content of "knowledge" and "virtue", which was what was regarded as "knowledge" and "virtue", but also the change of the subject who forms "knowledge" and "virtue", which was supported by whom.
Tokujiro had become a Confucian scholar enough to teach at a domainal school, but when he entered Fukuzawa Yukichi's academy at the age of 22 in 1864, only two years later, in Keiô 2nd year, he became an English teacher at the Kaiseijo, a school by Shogunate. In the meantime, he experienced a major shift in "knowledge." He thought that new "knowledge" and "virtue" should be something that everyone could share, so he energetically introduced Western Civilization. He translated western books for common people to encourage acceptance and made an effort in educational activities at Keio University.
His younger brother Jinzaburo also translated western books, and in 1871 he studied abroad in the United States with the former domainal lord. At the Polytechnic Institute, they were expected by Americans as a leader in modernization of Japan, so Jinzaburo worked hard to study, and eventually he became mentally ill. Gender issues in modern times were also included in it.
Tokujiro tried to develop new "knowledge" and "virtue" in order to share them with society, but his ideas, including Kôjunsha, faced political difficulties.