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[["Quakerism in Japan : the origins and development Edith F. Sharpless." 1944

Full text of "Quakerism in Japan : a brief account of the origins and development of the Religious Society of Friends in Japan / prepared by Edith F. Sharpless."

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QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


A brief account of the origins and development of the 
Religious Society of Friends in Japan 


I. Historical Background 

II. Religious Background 

III. Educational Period 

IV. Quaker Service and Work for Peace 

V. Church Union and After 
Appendix 


Prepared by 


Edith F. Sharpless 


The Friends World Committee for Consultation 
is publishing a series of short studies of the development 
of Quakerism in various countries in the hope that they 
will help Friends of different nations, cultures and out- 
look to know and understand one another. 

QUAKERISM IN JAPAN is the second of these pamph- 
lets to be published; it was made possible by the return 
to this country of Edith F. Sharpless, who served as a 
missionary in Japan from 1910 to 1943. 

In the future the Committee hopes to publish records 
of the life of Quakerism in India, China, Germany, 
Canada, the U. S. A., and other countries. We trust 
that these publications will show ways in which national 
groups have adapted the Quaker testimonies to their 
varied cultures and backgrounds and will also reveal the 
unique contribution each group is making to the Quaker 
movement throughout the world. 

Thomas E. Jones. 

Chairman of the American Section of the 
Friends World Committee for Consultation 
20 South Twelfth Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa. 


Foreword 


The writer has taken great pleasure in living 
again with Japan Yearly Meeting, as she has pre- 
pared the manuscript for this little book. And yet 
she knows that by every consideration it should have 
been prepared by a national of that country. She 
has tried to look at the whole subject with as 
Japanese eyes as she could, but if in places some 
American viewpoints have peeped through, she hopes 
they will be forgiven. At least she can say that her 
main source has been Japanese, — Seiju Hirakawa’s 
book, entitled “Fifty Years of Quakerism in Japan.” 
Since there was no recourse to other sources than 
those to be found in this country, it has been impos- 
sible to verify certain statements, and mistakes may 
thus have crept in. 

The work in Japan has been an instance of inter- 
national cooperation. The Mission Boards of Phila- 
delphia and of Canada Friends have been permitted 
to extend a hand in an especial way, but others from 
across the seas have given support to Quakerism in 
Japan. God grant that the days may soon come 
when we can again join hands in enterprises for a 
spiritual Kingdom. 

E. F. S. 

Haverford, Pa. 

6 - 8 - 1944 . 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2016 with funding from 
Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center 


https://archive.org/details/quakerisminjapanOOshar 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

On June 28tli, 1885, a small group of devoted women 
Friends were holding a parlor meeting in the city of Philadel- 
phia. They had been moved by the newly awakened evangel- 
istic fervor of the times, and were deeply concerned to share 
their joy and satisfaction in the new life with their “sisters” (1) 
in non-Christian lands. They had been meeting under this 
concern for some three years but as yet had not found just the 
direction they sought for their endeavors. In this June meet- 
ing, two young men “of education” (1) from Japan, met with 
them and encouraged them to believe that the door was open 
in their country for such religious teaching as that of Friends. 
These two youths, in America at that time for study, became in 
later years, each in his own way, men of very great significance 
to the Christian movement in their country. Their names were 
Inazo Mtobe and Kanzo Uchimura. It was they who first defi- 
nitely linked together the names of Friends and the Japanese. 
In the fall of the same year the first emissaries of the Womens 
Foreign Missionary Association of Friends of Philadelphia, 
Joseph and Sarah Ann Cosand, started across the Pacific. 

But before we dip into their experiences we must know 
something of the Japan which they were to find on arrival. It 
was only thirty years since it had grudgingly let down the 
bars for the life of the world to enter. For well over two 
hundred years before that, the policy of its rulers had been one 
of absolute exclusion of Western influences, based on fear of 
Western aggression. A few Dutch traders only were suffered 
to linger on under rather humiliating conditions in Nagasaki, 
but otherwise life in Japan had been an introverted one. The 
cultural gifts previously received from China were polished 
and perfected, but without new material to work on, the spirit 
of man becomes stale. Society was static, and it was the delib- 

O) Third Annual Report of the Womens Foreign Missionary Association of Friends 
of Philadelphia, 1886. 


6 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


erate policy of the military shoguns who ruled, to make it so. 
Members of the Tokugawa family had held that position since 
1603, and kept a firm hand on their feudatories, many of whom 
were strong enough to make trouble, if given an opportunity. 
In the society of that time there were knights, the Samurai 
class who fought for their overlord, and were fed by him ; 
farmers who held their land in fief from the knights, and raised 
rice for the whole nation ; and merchants who were almost out 
of the picture. The pattern of life was surprisingly like that 
of Europe in Feudal times. 

Although the organization of society was essentially a 
military one, and the law, martial law, yet the strong rule of 
the shogun at its center insured long years of enforced peace, 
and the result was effeminacy among the fighting class. In the 
felt need for new stimulus, and in curiosity about the West, 
coupled with the decay of military strength, the stage was set 
for Perry when he came in 1853, representing the government 
of the United States. 

The unilateral character of the treaties that were signed 
at that time, entered deeply into the consciousness of the 
Japanese nation. The whole force of the people was directed to 
a self-discipline, that would make them able to meet the West 
on its own plane and to deal with it on the level. Hence there 
followed two decades of intense and deliberate European- 
ization. 

Changes followed each other rapidly. In 1868 the Shogun 
resigned, and the Emperor whose functions had been purely 
ceremonial, was now restored to the center of the picture. 
The oath that he took at the beginning of this era was demo- 
cratic in outlook. The next year feudalism was abolished, and 
a parliamentary system was later inaugurated. The capital 
was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, (2) to symbolize a new policy. 
A public school system was set up in 1872. Science and 


(2) Called “Yedo” at that time. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


< 

Western learning were encouraged, and all old usages and 
policies were reexamined. Japan intended to keep abreast of 
the nations of the modern world. And with it all, as Or. 
Anesaki says, there was a sense of exhilaration like that after 
a thunder storm. 

There is no doubt that this movement was carried to an 
extreme. Young men came almost to idolize those who could 
give them this “new knowledge”. The study of English or 
“horizontal writing” as it was called, became the rage, and the 
ways of the West were thought of as almost equivalent to 
civilization. 

As a dynamic force in Western life, Christianity also 
came in for its share of popularity, and its missionaries were 
given a ready hearing. It had been forbidden under pain of 



A COMMITTEE ROOM IN THE HIJIRIZAKA MEETING HOUSE 


8 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


death until 1873 but in the new treaties signed with foreign 
powers, it was expressly allowed. That stream of Christian 
influence with which our story is concerned, began in Yoko- 
hama under the teaching of American missionaries. Having 
once obtained a foothold there it spread like wild fire to other 
parts of Japan. Statistics of those years tell us that in 1878 
there were 44 churches and 1617 believers ; in 1885 168 churches 
and 11,000 believers. There were even some who said that 
Japan would be Christianized within ten years. 

This reception of their message must have been very heart- 
ening to the missionaries, but looking at it from later times, 
we know that it was not altogether healthy. Reaction had to 
come, and then those who had joined from political or social 
motives fell away. 

The Problem Faced by Quaker Missionaries 

The Christian movement was at the crest of the wave 
when the Cosands landed in Japan. It was a recognized force 
in the life of the capital. The New Testament had been trans- 
lated five years previously ; Christian schools had been started, 
foremost among which was the Doshisha in Kyoto, recognized 
as a university in 1884. And now Quakerism had come to seek 
roothold in the soil of Japan. It was a necessarily different 
procedure from that by which it got its start in European 
centers. There the soil had been prepared by centuries of 
Christian thought and life, and growth was a natural result 
of juxtaposition. As Howard Brinton has said, “Quaker 
missionaries in Japan face a peculiarly difficult problem. Be- 
ginners in the faith must be sought and taught through a 
teaching ministry largely confined to the historical and ethical 
basis of Christianity. To get beyond this introductory stage 
to the establishment of conditions in which a transforming 
experience of the Quaker type can be attained, is by no means 
easy”. ***** “After the World War when our service work 
in war-stricken areas developed finally into the establishment 


QUAKERISM IN JArAN 


9 


of Quaker embassies in a number of European cities, a pro- 
cedure more congenial to our essential doctrines, ***** some- 
thing peculiarly our own, suited to the genius of our Society, 
was developed”.* 1 * 

Difficult it was, and in some sense uncongenial to Quaker- 
ism, but no other way has yet been devised for “the publishing 
of truth” under such circumstances, except this beginning from 
the ground up. With the religious background which Quaker- 
ism found in Japan, there was nothing for it but to confront 
the ideas and the faith established there with those which it 
believed were of more eternal value. Time would be the judge. 

RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND 

In a short study of this kind, there is not time to analyze 
the soil of the religious world of Japan, in the eighties of the 
Nineteenth Century. But some understanding of it is neces- 
sary before we can go on with our story. Over against the 
Quaker emphasis on the value of the individual, and his privi- 
lege and obligation of finding guidance for himself from an 
inward Monitor, comes Confucian teaching with its emphasis 
on obedience and loyalty to one’s superior, — the vassal to his 
lord, the wife to her husband, etc. Shinto which stood in the 
highest place among the Japanese religious systems at that 
time, emphasized the exaltation of the theocratic state above 
the individuals who composed it. Buddhism was to get fresh 
life later on, partly at least through the impact of Christianity 
upon it, but at this time it seems to have “collapsed”, to use 
Sir George Sansom’s word. Confucian scholars had more in- 
fluence with thinking people than Buddhist priests, although 
Buddhist observances had become the habits of everyday life 
among the common people. In any case the popular manifes- 
tation of Buddhism was a mass of superstition and mate- 
rialism. 


<i> The Friend (Philadelphia) 9th Month 10, 1936. 


10 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


It is true that certain resemblances are often traced 
between the philosophical thought of the Zen Sect of Buddhism 
and that of Quakerism. Both are religions of experience. Both 
seek an inner transformation through silent and expectant 
waiting. But while the Quaker sees as his objective, a person- 
al^ which is the Father God as revealed by Jesus Christ, 
the Zennist conception is extremely vague. He looks forward 
to a kind of Cosmic Ego of which he is a part, as are the waves 
a part of the ocean into which they sink and are lost. The 
meditation of the Zennist is directed by a teacher who gives 
him subjects on which to meditate, and to whom he must report 
later; that of the Quaker like “the wind which bloweth where 
it listeth”, is directed by the Spirit of God within him. Noble 
as are some of the philosophic conceptions of Buddhism, yet it 
seems obvious that much effort would be required to prepare 
such soil to receive Quaker roots. 

There was another element in the religious soil of Japan, 
that had its influence on the situation. The Nineteenth Century 
brand of Christianity was not the first to reach Japan. In 
1549 Francis Xavier had landed at the southernmost point of 
the island of Kyushu, and after a stay of slightly over two 
years, left with an amazing record of success, as judged numer- 
ically. Other priests from other orders continued the work 
begun by Xavier, and by 1605 there were estimated to be 
750,000 converts or 4% of the whole population. Perhaps its 
very success was its undoing. At any rate the rulers of Japan 
came to fear it as an advance agent of European powers with 
aggressive designs against Japan, and a period of terrible per- 
secution followed, which came to an end in 1637 with the cap- 
ture of Hara Castle, where the remaining Christians had 
intrenched themselves. It was believed at the time that they 
had been exterminated, but twenty-five years before the arrival 
of the Quaker emissaries in Yokohama, communities of these 
Catholic Christians were found, who had kept alive their faith 
and practice through two centuries without being discovered 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


11 


by the authorities. This highly dramatic episode in Japanese 
history influenced our story in at least two ways. One was 
that the Christian faith had come to be associated with foreign 
aggression, — how justly can not now be known. The other 
was the creation of a sense of pride, not altogether limited to 
Christian people in Japan, at the extraordinary steadfastness 
and heroism with which these people had held on to their 
ideals and their faith, in the face of devastating persecution. 
Even today, I think, the thought of it gives the Christian 
Church in Japan confidence in the national character. 

Quaker Beginnings 

There are many localities in Tokyo today, where we might 
almost fancy ourselves in New York, or in some other modern 
city, but it was not so when Joseph and Sarah Cosand walked 
down the gang plank to terra firma in Yokohama, and climbed 
into jinrikishas. They would doubtless have felt themselves 
considerably at a loss as to how to proceed, had it not been 
for the cooperation of one from their own country, who had 
preceded them by some years. Dr. Willis N. Whitney took 
them into his home in Azabu, a ward of Tokyo, and later intro- 
duced them to Sen Tsuda, (1) with whom they lived, and made 
a temporary center for their work. A piece of land was soon 
procured however, in the ward of Shiba, on high ground in the 
southern part of the city, looking out over Tokyo Bay on the 
east, and with a fine view of Mt. Fuji on the west. There the 
Girls School was built in 1887, and a meeting house in 1890. 
The Cosands meanwhile had been joined by other friends, Wil- 
liam V. and Isabel Wright, sent by the Mission Board of 
Canada Yearly Meeting. English Friends also had associated 
themselves with Dr. Whitney in Azabu, and the two groups 
consulted together about the prosecution of the work in Shiba. 
As mentioned before, it was a period of eager assimilation of 
European culture, and we may imagine the compound buzzing 

(D To the modern reader, Sen Tsuda is best known through his daughter, Ume 
Tsuda. 


12 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


with activity. Young men came in considerable numbers to 
learn English, and to inquire about Western ways and the 
Western religion. They were from good families for the most 
part, — modern people, students and officials. Their sisters 
came to learn knitting and English. The school girls, although 
still few in number, were made part of the family life of the 
compound. Those who attended the meetings on Sunday, 
organized and called themselves the “Shiba Friends Church”. 
They began to look for avenues to carry the message into other 
centers. A school for training Christian workers was estab- 
lished in 1890, and although it was not long-lived, yet at one 
time in these early days, it enrolled as many as 25 students. 
One of them, C. Suzuki, is still active in Friends’ work. An- 
other was Chuzo Kaifu who continued to serve with Friends 
through a long life, which ended two years ago. 

But it was not granted Friends to attain Christian stature 
with such ease. A day of testing came. In 1894 the Sino- 
Japanese War broke out, accompanied as always by strong 
national feeling, and much civilian activity in the expression 
of that feeling. Hot arguments arose among the young people 
who had been gathering in the Shiba Meeting House, and at 
last they began to use their organization there as an agent for 
supporting the war effort. This presented a grave problem to 
the mission personnel. After milder means had been tried 
without success, they decided they could no longer cooperate, 
and withdrew all support, and the group scattered. Thus came 
to an end the first period of Quakerism in Japan (1885-1894). 
It is not surprising that the little group was not yet ready 
for the severe testing that came. The advent of war has led 
to similar rending asunder of the Christian body in other 
lands, and at other times. But perhaps also its growth had 
been too mushroom-like. The oak tree grows slowly, but its 
fiber is strong to resist the winds that blow upon it. By this 
time the eager acquisition of Western learning had in great 
degree subsided, and all gains must now be made through 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


13 


patient work. Men do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven 
except through much tribulation. 

Joseph Cosand and his wife stayed on in Japan until the 
end of the century. They and the other missionaries and the 
Japanese Friends who remained with the work had to make a 
new beginning, and with the difficult experience they had just 
been through in mind, a more centralized organization was 
effected. Matters were now decided in a central committee of 
responsible people made up of both Japanese and American 
workers, rather than in the open meetings as previously. During 
this time four meetings were recognized, — that in Shiba, Tokyo 
( The local name is Saints Hill, (1) and the Tokyo meeting is still 
known as Saints Hill Monthly Meeting) ; in Yokohama which 
was later given up; in Mito and in Tsucliiura, two country 
meetings to which we will now turn our thoughts. 

Quakerism in Ibaraki Province 

Northeast of Tokyo is a province largely devoted to agri- 
culture, the name of which is Ibaraki. The meaning of the 
first of the two characters which make up the word is “thorn”, 
and one is reminded of Scotland’s thistle, with its “Nole Me 
Tangere”. Ibaraki people in somewhat the same way have 
been jealous of the entrance of influences from the outside. 
Mito is its capital city, and being on the trunk line of the rail- 
road going north, is at present reached from Tokyo in two 
or three hours. But in the days of which we are thinking, the 
railroad had not yet been built, and one had to take a tiring 
journey of two or three days by boat and jinrikisha to get 
there. It was through pleasant country however. The two- 
peaked mountain of Tsukuba <2) rose from the low plain around 
it, and was visible for a large part of the journey. Little 
thatch-roofed homes nestled in among the trees, and looked 
almost like islands, surrounded by a broad expanse of rice 


O) Hijirizaka. 
( 2 ) cf. Cover. 


14 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


fields, where men and women worked bent over, protected from 
the sun by their umbrella-shaped straw hats. The intervals of 
woodland were probably more frequent then than they are 
now. Occasional tea-houses along the way gave opportunity 
for refreshment to both jinrikisha man and rider. But having 
arrived at Mito, one was not at all sure of a welcome. The 
Jesuit movement had come to Ibaraki also, and the traditions 
that followed it meant sometimes a shower of stones for the 
intruding foreigner. 

Mito was not just one of many towns in Japan. It had had 
a very special history and a very special character of its own. 
It had been the seat of one of the most powerful feudal lords 
or “daimyo”, and parts of their castle still remain surrounded 
by a deep moat. They were a branch of the Tokugawa family, 
and at times when there was no direct heir in the shogunate 
branch of that family, a scion of the Mito family might be 
grafted into it. Moreover the Mito Tokugawas had been rather 
remarkable men, cultivating Confucian learning in their lands, 
and endowing an institute which wrote a manv-volumed and 
authoritative history of Japan. At the time of Perry’s arrival, 
the Lord of Mito was very active in opposing the signing of 
treaties with foreign powers, and fortified the coastline of his 
own domain to be ready for possible invasion. It was the 
thought of this Mito school which more than any other, was 
responsible for the final restoration of the Emperor to power 
in 1868. 

George Braithwaite, an English Friend from the Azabu 
group made the trip to this province in 1889. The glories of 
the feudal period had passed by that time, and the best blood 
of the surrounding country had been spilled in the civil war 
that accompanied the Restoration. But the pride in its past 
remained, and has made Mito people conservative in religion 
as well as politics. 

A Friend named Kansen Yoshioka had been there since 
the previous year and it was his influence that secured an invi- 


QUAKERISM IN JAI*AN 


15 


tation to George Braithwaite soon after his arrival, to visit 
a village about twelve miles from Mito. Some fifty people 
gathered to hear him and Yoshioka San. They began their 
meeting at eleven in the morning and continued until mid- 
night, without food, the speakers spelling each other. That is 
one of the early memories of the Mito work. 

The committee in Tokyo felt that a certain standard of 
intellectual attainment was necessary for anyone trying to 
work in Mito, with its scholarly traditions, and finally chose 
Manji Kato who went there in 1894, and continued there as one 
of the main workers, until his death in 1932. His figure, with 
benign face and long white beard, was a well known one in the 
streets of Mito. He was much interested in work for peace, 
and published a little periodical, called “Peace”. (1) 

Gurney and Elizabeth Binford from the Mission Committee 
joined the Mito staff in 1899 and the work went on actively. 
One of the early members was Mika Katogi, a bank president, 
who interpreted for Gurney Binford, and did much to break 
down the prejudice to the new-old teaching. His spirit has 
come down to modern days through his daughter and her hus- 
band, Seiju Hirakawa. Others came and added their strength 
to the work. Edith F. Sharpless, Senjiro and Yasuno Kame- 
yama, Herbert and Madeline Nicholson, — the names of all are 
linked to the Meeting here. These people were not simply 
preaching the Gospel. They tried to include all the normal 
interests of life. There have been cooking classes, English 
classes, an old people’s home, a kindergarten, two student dorm- 
itories, a night school, groups of women for relief sewing, and 
many other forms of activity, as well as Bible classes and meet- 
ings for worship. A brick meeting house was built in 1912, 
and the Monthly Meeting was recognized in 1917. The group 
has always been a small one, but Christian character has come 
out of it. Mito Meeting as well as other country meetings, has 


O) “Heiwa”. 


16 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 



QUARTERLY MEETING IN MITO 


fed the meeting in Tokyo, as many of its young people moved 
to the capital. 

Work was started at other centers within the province, — 
in 1891 at Tsuchiura, a prosperous town between Mito and 
Tokyo; in 1899 at Ishioka; in 1902 at Minato, on the seacoast; 
in 1906 at Shimodate; in 1909 at Takahagi; and in 1922 at 
Shimotsuma. In this list as given above, only those groups 
which attained the status of Monthly Meetings are included. 
Openings generally came through some personal or chance 
connection, which gave foothold in new territory. Perhaps 
someone’s friend lived there and opened his home for an evening 
meeting, to learn more of the new teaching which had come 
from abroad, and there were some among those who listened 
who desired to know more particularly, and so an invitation 
to come and start work there would be received. Or perhaps 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


17 


business would take a family from one town to another, and 
the new faith would go with them. Minato was a hotbed for 
such publishers of the truth. A printer, named Tokuzo Osaki 
moved from there to Takahagi, and opened his house for gath- 
erings of children and adults. When for some reason it be- 
came inconvenient to use the house, the children met outdoors, 
holding up umbrellas when climatic conditions made it neces- 
sary. That continued for four years, but finally in 1924 they 
succeeded in building a meeting house, and the next year were 
recognized as a Monthly Meeting. There has never been any 
resident worker there, but the proved integrity and Christian 
grace of the printer has made its way for the Word in the town. 

One of the reasons for local acceptance of the Christian 
group in Tsuchiura was the fact that the town, being very low- 
lying was subject to floods. The meeting house has a second 
story, and has been able to harbor many flood refugees on 
several occasions. Mansaku Nakamura who has been in charge 
of the work in Tsuchiura for over thirty years, and his wife 
and daughters, did valiant service for refugees, feeding and 
clothing them for days at a time. Indeed his daughter gave 
her life to the work during an especially severe flood in 1938. 
Overwork at that time led to her early death. Two of the lead- 
ing merchants of the town joined the meeting, and the confi- 
dence that their townsmen felt in them, did much to dispel 
prejudice. One of them, Tasuke Nomura, a wholesale sugar 
merchant, became the first clerk of the Yearly Meeting. 

Getting a meeting house was a struggle for all the groups. 
In one locality outside Ishioka, the principal gift of money for 
that purpose came from a young man who had grown up in the 
Sunday School. From the time when lie decided to join the 
Christian group, he stopped smoking and also eating between 
meals, depositing an equivalent amount of money in the postals 
savings. From this fund, he made a contribution which made a 
little building possible. 


18 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 



-S-HIMOTSUMA KINDERGARTEN 

Kindergartens have given a start to the work in other 
places. In Ishioka, which was a very conservative center and 
absorbed in the manufacture of soy sauce and sake, the work 
was uphill for a long time. But the opening of a center where 
their little children were lovingly and intelligently cared for, 
proved a sesame to the townspeople’s hearts. Chiyomatsu 
Suzuki who carries on the work at Ishioka, has been with 
Friends practically from the beginning of their history in 
Japan. His wife, Katsu Suzuki, also gave devoted service 
until her death. 

The meetings were grouped into Quarters, depending on 
their location relative to Mt. Tsukuba. Its form is the dom- 
inant feature on the eastern horizon of Shimodate and Shimo- 
tsuma, which are therefore known as the Western Quarter. 
They are off the main line of the railroad, and are centers of an 
agricultural district. Juen Ouchi and his wife gave long 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


19 


years of service to the meeting at Shimodate, and both died 
while in active work some three or four years ago. 

Gurney and Elizabeth Binford came to Shimotsuma to 
live in 1922. There were connections in the town which they 
had formed in Mito many years before, and no other Christian 
work was being done in that vicinity, at the time. Young 
farmers came into the meetings from the surrounding country ; 
shopkeepers took time off from their counters; children gath- 
ered in Sunday Schools and kindergarten ; mothers gladly 
listened to modern theories of child training, and a real Chris- 
tian fellowship was formed, which was singularly like a family 
group. They are still worshipping there in their little thatch- 
roofed meeting house, of a Sunday morning, sitting in a circle 
on the straw mats on the floor. Saburo Kakuya whose Chris- 
tian. life began, in their midst,, and who felt the call to work 
among them, graduated from his Christian training school just 
as the war began, and was soon thereafter called to the army. 
So the group has had to carry on with little trained leadership. 

Work in Rural Communities 

From the beginning Friends felt an interest in the farm- 
ing villages which hold such a large proportion of the inhabi- 
tants of Ibaraki Province. In the very early days in Mito, 
Manji Kato tried experiments with tomato and strawberry 
plants, hoping thereby to increase the farmers’ resources. 
From all the established meetings, trips were made into the 
surrounding villages to take the message to them. One could 
always begin with the children, who were eager listeners. 
From them it was not hard to move to the adults in whose 
lives in those early days there was little that could be called 
recreation. With a set of stereopticon views one could call 
together most of the village. Gradually the work came to be 
done on a larger scale. Beginning with 1914 a large tent was 
carried to some country district, and set up in a vacant lot 
loaned by some of the villagers. With a portable organ, hymns 


20 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


were taught to the people who gathered. A very simple expo- 
sition of the Gospel was made. With faces tanned and wrinkled 
by exposure to all weathers, and backs bent by long hours of 
work in the fields, these men and women had now come into a 
very different realm of thought, and were struggling to under- 
stand it. The method was one of sowing seed broadcast. Some 
little of it would return to the sower, but there was slight 
opportunity fot following up the work thus begun. A better 
way was found as the result of a concern felt by Kyuhei 
Kikuchi for the rural community in which he had grown up. 
As principal of its primary school, he knew its life intimately, 
and was depressed by its meagerness. He had known Gurney 
Binford during his Normal School days in Mito, and now sought 
him out in Shimotsuma. The two cooperated in forming what 
were known as “New Life Societies”. Their aim was to train 
and inspire young men who could go back to their own villages 
and work there for a more abundant life in the agricultural, 



a farmer’s institute 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


21 


economic, social, and spiritual fields. They held ten-day con- 
ferences, in the farmers’ off-seasons, in different centers, wher- 
ever they could find an opening. They chose a limited number 
of young men to train intensively. Agricultural specialists 
and experts in cooperative buying and selling were called to 
come and talk to them. While they tried to regulate com- 
munity life during those ten days as nearly as possible on 
Christian lines they did not begin with a religious appeal. But 
before the conference was over the young men themselves 
would realize that back of all the new methods, there must be a 
basic insight into a higher spiritual Power, which they 
glimpsed, but could not clearly see. This opened the way for 
definite teaching. After the conference was over, most of its 
young men desired to continue as members of a permanent or- 
ganization. They met at regular times and Ryuhei Kikuchi 
circulated around among the different branches, interesting 
himself in their personal and local problems. An annual 
meeting when all the branches met together, was held for ex- 
change of experiences, and for fresh inspiration. This work of 
course has to a great degree been interrupted by the war, 
but the “new life” has had a real leavening power in more than 
one community. Kikuchi San often consulted with Toyohiko 
Kagawa in this work, and sent some of his choicest young 
men to attend Kagawa San’s short term institutes. 

Itinerant Friends 

As in the early days of Quakerism, there have been itin- 
erant Friends in Japan, but their pattern is Japanese rather 
than Occidental. I am thinking of Ikichi Ishizuka, a Friend 
in his eighties now, (if he is still living) who has spent most 
of his life on the road. At first it was Bibles that filled the 
heavy pack on his back, or the cart which he pulled after him, 
and found buyers in all parts of the empire. But as he grew 
older, he came to have a more specialized concern for spreading 
the Word. He wanted to be able to write so skillfully that men 
of taste would buy his Bible texts for the sake of the writing, 


22 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


even if they had no interest in the Bible itself. Calligraphy is 
a fine art in Japan, and two or three Chinese characters, writ- 
ten large by some well-known hand with brush and India ink, 
are often the sole decoration of a room. With this idea he spent 
long hours day and night practicing at his desk. His magnum 
opus is the entire Bible written on a scroll about six feet long 
and two and a half feet wide, which can be hung up on the wall. 
A magnifying glass is necessary to decipher it. He has refused 
offers of thousands of yen for it, because he could not bear to 
part with it, but this last year, owing to the exigencies of old 
age and wartime, he at last sold it. 

Then there is Unpei Tozuka, a Friend who started the 
itinerating habit when, as a young man, he worked on the 
Imperial Railroads. Now an old man, but full of youthful 
zeal, he continues on the road. With friends in every town, he 
leads a busy life, visiting and bringing them cheer, and build- 
ing them up in the faith. His specialty is lepers, and truly 
there are none who need the consolation that he can bring 
them more than they do. Another Friend is an agent of a drug 
manufacturing company and as he goes about the country, 
dispenses medicine for the spirit of man as well as for his body. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


23 


EDUCATIONAL PERIOD 

Later Developments in Tokyo Quakerism 

Our excursion into Ibaraki Province has taken some time, 
and we must now return to the capital. The period of rapid 
expansion, of easy gains, was over, and progress came now 
only through patient effort. The years from 1900 to 1917 when 
the Yearly Meeting was finally set up were years of emphasis 
on stabilizing work at its center, more than in reaching out 
into new fields. Perhaps the break up at the time of the Sino- 
Japanese War had taught its lesson. Change in personnel too 
may have had its influence. Gilbert and Minnie Bowles had 
now come to fill the places left vacant by the withdrawal of 
the Cosands. The years that followed might be called an edu- 
cational period. The meetings of the Executive Committee 
were times of thorough and free discussion, where everyone ex- 
pressed his opinion, and received a thoughtful hearing. Laymen 
as well as the recognized workers were appointed to represent 
their meetings in this committee. Perhaps more than any other 
one influence these meetings were the occasion for seeing how 
Quakerism works, and for the development of the Quaker type 
of character. 

Besides these business meetings, summer conferences were 
held regularly, sometimes at Minato on the seashore, some- 
times at the foot of Mt. Tsukuba, where Friends worshipped 
together, held Bible study courses, and listened to inspira- 
tional addresses. Women Friends also frequently held similar 
conferences for themselves at different times, as it was hard for 
them and their husbands to be away from home together. The 
sense of fellowship was strong at such times. Much emphasis 
was put on work for young men. Horace E. and Elizabeth 
Coleman opened their home to them and summer camps were 
regularly held. After the Coleman’s retirement, Thomas E. and 
Esther B. Jones continued this work. 


24 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


Japan Yearly Meeting was finally set np in 1917. Its 
formation had been urged by the Mission Committee as a 
symbol of independence from any authority emanating from 
abroad. Japanese Friends were now to take the weight on 
their own shoulders. Financial support from abroad too was 
to be considered subsidiary to self-support, and was to be on 
a decreasing scale. This critical moment in the history of a 
“mission-propagated” Quaker group is one that Quaker em- 
bassies in Europe have perhaps escaped to great degree. That 
Japanese Friends weathered the danger with a growing sense 
of common purpose and harmony between the two national 
groups, speaks well for the forebearance and patience of both 
sides. 

For the first few years after the establishment of Yearly 
Meeting, in pursuance of the independence aim, no missionaries 
were appointed to committees, but gradually the need of more 
cooperation was felt, and the pendulum swung back to a more 
normal relationship. At last in 1923 the great earthquake 
made all work together to relieve the suffering of that time, 
without any consciousness of difference in nationality. This 
matter will be treated later under the head of Quaker Service. 

In 1925 Seiju Hirakawa became clerk of the Yearly Meet- 
ing, and two years later in answer to a felt need, he resigned 
his principalship of the Friends Girls School, and was ap- 
pointed to the position of General Secretary of the Yearly 
Meeting. From then on he gave the greater part of his time to 
the coordination of work within the Society, and when oppor- 
tunity offered, to the furtherance of its leavening power in the 
outside world. 

HiraRawa San’s first contact with Friends in Mito has 
already been mentioned. He came into Quakerism from a 
Buddhist background, and had been accustomed to the practice 
of silent meditation in the Zen manner before he joined 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


25 


Friends.' (1) But he himself feels that although the outward 
form has certain similarities to a Friends meeting for worship, 
the meaning of the whole process is so different that it can 
hardly be considered a stepping stone to the silent worship of 
Friends. He had come during his years at the school to feel 
a real concern for the Yearly Meeting, and it was through it 
that he felt he could give his best service. The years that fol- 
lowed his appointment as secretary, were a time of real prog- 
ress in the functioning of that body. Its life ran more and 
more through distinctively Quaker channels. 

Before then however, there had been an earnest and in- 
creasing desire to know what Quakerism was. In 1924 special 
gatherings were held in all the Meetings in commemoration of 
the Tercentenary of George Fox’s birth. A visit to Japan by 
Rufus M. Jones in 1926 was utilized for a four-day conference, 
and Friends from all parts gathered in Tokyo. Some of them 
knew his books already, and were eager for this opportunity 
to meet him and hear his interpretation from his own lips. 
Four years later, Takeo Iwahashi, a member of London Yearly 
Meeting, living in Osaka, came north and spoke to Friends in 
their local meetings, on Quakerism. The fact that he had been 
denied the outer, physical light made all the more impressive 
his emphasis on the Inner Light. Japan Yearly Meeting sent 
representatives to the two World Conferences of Friends that 
were held in London, England, in 1920, and at Swarthmore, 
Pennsylvania, U. S. A., in 1937. 

The adoption of a Statement of Faith in 1928 may not 
sound like a distinctively Quaker step, but when the circum- 
stances are considered, it should be granted that there was 
more reason for defining their position in the face of the vague 
conceptions commonly held of Christianity, and the almost 
absolute ignorance in regard to Quakerism, than there would 
be in some other quarters. It was drawn up by a committee 


< x > Cf. p. 10 for Zen and Quaker resemblances and differences. 


26 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 



THE COMMITTEE THAT FORMULATED THE STATEMENT OF FAITH 

of the Yearly Meeting, after long and prayerful thought. An 
entirely unofficial translation of its five clauses follows : — 

1. We believe that God is our Father, and that his Spirit 
is within us. 

2. We believe that the spiritual nature of man is of infi- 
nite and absolute value, and we look for its highest 
realization in the experiences of daily life. 

3. We acknowledge our tendency to fall into evil, but we 
believe that through sincere repentance, we may obtain 
saving purification and new life. 

4. By the coming together of personalities so purified by 
faith, we confidently expect the establishment of the 
Kingdom of God. 

5. Relying upon our Lord Jesus Christ, the teachings of 
the Holy Bible, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit,, 
we believe this faith may be realized. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


27 


Quaker Literature in Japan 

The monthly publication of “The Japanese Friend”, (1) an 
eight-page periodical, began in 1906, and through the succeed- 
ing years has helped to give solidarity and an understanding of 
Quakerism to the groups. The publication of other Quaker 
literature has perhaps not had the emphasis it should have had. 
Just at the beginning, the lives of George Fox, Elizabeth Fry, 
Stephen Grellet, and William Penn had been translated into 
Japanese. Daniel Wheeler and John Woolman came later, but 
all were done under mission auspices, and perhaps it was too 
early. The foundations which made possible a true evaluation, 
were not yet well established. Later Rufus Jones’ tercentenary 
“Life and Message of George Fox” was translated and pub- 
lished by “The Japanese Friend”. Two other manuscripts have 
been prepared, — one a translation of George Fox’s Journal 
(abridged), and one a historical account of Mysticism and 
Quakerism, but wartime rationing of paper, and censorship 
have not permitted their publication. Following the example, 
set by London Yearly Meeting with its “Swarthmore Lecture”, 
and by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting with its “William Penn 
Lecture”, Japan Yearly Meeting has of late years established 
an “Inazo Nitobe Memorial Lectureship”. It is the intention 
of the committee to publish these lectures in book form at a 
more convenient season. We must look to a later generation, 
however, for a distinctively Japanese interpretation of Quaker 
thought. 

The Friends Girls’ School 

Our story really began with the Girls’ School, but after 
seeing it built on Saints Hill in 1887, we turned from it to other 
matters. We must now take up again the thread of its develop- 
ment. Since that beginning more than fifty years ago, it has 
been sending out its young women into society, in gradually 
increasing numbers. At present these amount to about one 

“Tomo”, i.e. “The Friend”, since 1921. Before that “Ai no Tomo”, meaning the 

“Friend of Love”. 


28 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 



BUILDINGS OF FRIENDS GIRLS’ SCHOOL 

hundred every year, each one going out equipped with the regu- 
lar five years’ course of High School education, given by con- 
cerned and well trained teachers; a knowledge of English 
considerably above that given by the government schools ; prac- 
tice in governing themselves through a self-government associa- 
tion^ 1 ’ and health of body and mind, gained from properly 
directed sports and exercises. But they have more than this. 
The windows of the spirit world have been at least partly 
opened for them by weekly, systematic study of the Bible. Some 
attempts at applying its truths to the problems of life have 
been made. Something of the joy of fellowship on Christian 
lines, therein set forth, has been experienced. Beyond that 
some of them have come into direct contact with the Father 


O) It was Edith Newlin, a teacher in the Friends Girls School from 1918 to 1927 
who first realized the importance of the principle of self-government for Jap- 
anese girls, and who, with the cooperation of Japanese teachers and pupils* 
worked out the details of the present system. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


29 


of their spirits, in a way that will go through life with them. 
They go out, some to enter higher schools, some to prepare for 
married life, to business positions and to school rooms. Many 
of them become parts of the organized Christian movement. 
Some have served loyally in the Friends meetings, and become 
integral parts of them. But whether they do make such con- 
nections or not there is a serious purpose among most of them 
to live worthily of the light received. 

During its fifty years the school has had three principals : 
— Chuzo Kaifu, 1887-1912 ; Seiju Hirakawa, 1912-1927 ; and Toki 
Tomiyama who is still in office. It is one of the few “mission- 
schools”, so-called, which has never had a foreign principal. 
There has been great harmony between the Japanese and the 
Americans working together for the school. Whether it was 
in the time of Chuzo Kaifu when Mary Ann Gundry and Minnie 
Pickett and Sarah Ellis and others were associated, or in the 
time of Seiju Hirakawa when Alice Lewis was teaching there, 
or of late when Esther B. Khoads worked with Toki Tomiyama, 
there has always been a spirit of cooperation. Indeed one of 
the glories of the school is that, in this way, it has been a kind 
of international experiment, and has born international fruit 
in the plastic hearts of the young people who attend it. Toki 
Tomiyama was one of its graduates, and later attended a 
Quaker School in America. She lias had other opportunities 
to travel and to observe Quaker education in the West. Surely 
now if ever she has need of all the wisdom that comes to heart 
and mind, for she holds the principalship at a very difficult 
time. 

The school received government recognition in 1912, so 
that its graduates have the privilege of going up to higher 
schools. It is well thought of by the public and has loyal 
patrons and teachers. Dr. Mtobe lent his name to it as chair- 
man of its Supporters Association, while he was living. It 
was during this time that the Princess Chichibu who had her- 
self once been a pupil at the Friends School in Washington, 
visited the school, a red-letter day for all connected with it. 
Setsuzo Sawada is now chairman of the Board of Trustees. 


30 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


QUAKER SERVICE AND WORK FOR PEACE 

Quaker Service 

Friends have ever been mindful of suffering bodies, as well 
as darkened souls, and have labored to bring relief to both. In 
Japan so many sudden catastrophes occur. A bit of thought- 
lessness in the manipulation of the charcoal fire, and a high 
wind, may wipe out half a town in a few hours. And one 
never knows where the tremors of earthquakes that are of such 
frequent occurrence will end. Under such circumstances the 
habit of sharing is well developed. Bureau drawers are made 
to disgorge out-grown clothes; an accumulation of tea pots 
comes out of the corners of closets ; a cup full of rice from the 
family supply, combined with those of the neighbors’ makes a 
filling meal for people who have just lost everything. Already 
we have spoken of relief to flood sufferers. In some degree 
relief has been administered to victims of such natural catas- 
trophes by all the Friends’ groups, as occasion has demanded. 

Friends have done yeoman’s service too in the cause of 
temperance. From the very beginning Temperance Societies 
were formed in all the localities where Friends were working, 
and great earnestness for the cause was displayed. Friends co- 
operated too with the national Temperance Society and the 
W.C.T.U. One result was a village not far from Tsuchiura 
whose village organization absolutely banned the use of sake, 
and kept it up for years. Many personal efforts to help friends 
escape from the habit were also made. 

One member of the Mito Meeting tells of walking to his 
home outside the city, after dark at night, when only a young 
boy, and soon after he had joined the Meeting. On the way 
he saw a man intoxicated, lying in the ditch by the side of the 
road. He trembled with what seemed to him the enormity of 
his responsibility under these circumstances. At first he 
started to walk on and leave the man there, but he heard a 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


31 


voice say to him very clearly, “If your Christian faith has any 
meaning, you will go back and help him”. He did, and the 
incident stays in his memory as one of the turning points in 
his spiritual life. 

But some moments are too tremendous to be handled by 
any small group, and one of them was the noon hour on Sep- 
tember 1st, 1923, when the great Tokyo earthquake occurred. 
This is not the place to go into detail on the sufferings, or the 
activities to relieve them, in the days that followed. But 
Friends did rise to the emergency, and gave organized and 
effective relief. They began almost immediately giving personal 
help to their own members, but when money was cabled them 
from the American Friends Service Committee, they set to 
work in earnest on a larger scale. A Service Committee (1) was 
formed on September 10. 

This committee weighed the possibilities carefully, and 
eventually received permission from the city to build 28 small 
dwelling houses and an assembly hall, in one corner of a city 
park. These houses were rented to families who had lost their 
homes, and a democratic organization was effected. Meetings 
for entertainment and uplift were held in the assembly hall. 
Two years later they were moved further out of the city, and 
set up again in a group that was called “Friends Village”. 
Gradually the householders bought their homes and the group 
was liquidated. 

Another project was for more distressed people in one of 
the slum sections of the city. Here barracks were erected and 
food and clothing distributed. A program of music, movies, 
talks on hygiene, a medical clinic, Christian talks and hymn 
singing, attempted to minister to the whole man. This was 
carried on for four years after the earthquake. 


m its members were Tetsuro Sawano, Setsuzo Sawada, Thomas E. Jones, Alice G. 
Lewis, Esther B. Rhoads, Tatsunosuke Ueda, Seiju Hirakawa, Minoru Maeda, 
and Mansaku Nakamura. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


In addition to the assistance given at the time of the 
earthquake the A.F.S.C. sent Hugh and Elizabeth Borton to 
Japan for a three years’ period, to work with the mission and 
to give especial attention to Japan- American relations. 

Work for Peace 

As early as the autumn of 1889 a Japan Peace Society had 
been formed, Akasaka Friends taking the initiative. Its pur- 
pose was to study the problems of war and peace. A little 
later the magazine “Peace” was issued, under the editorship 
of Manji Kato. But this beginning was cut short by govern- 
ment order, at the time of the Sino- Japanese War in 1894, as 
was also another beginning made in Yokohama, just at the 
eve of the war. Both of these attempts were made not by or- 
ganized Friends Meetings, but by individual Friends. Non- 
Friends were admitted, and the activities of these societies, 
however short their duration, represent the beginning of the 
Christian Peace Movement in Japan. By the time of the 
Russo-Japan War in 1904, although there was no organization, 
the pacifist position was widely recognized, and many promi- 
nent people were associated with it. Among them was Kanzo 
Uchimura, with whom our story began. Friends seem to have 
lost their lead to some extent, during this time. 

An interest in the movement had reached many public 
spirited men, outside of the Christian church, and was fanned 
by Hilbert Bowles. He was assisted by a young man, named 
Setzuzo Sawada, (1) who later became prominent in the diplo- 
matic world. As a result of their efforts an organization called 
the Japan Peace Society was again formed in 1906. At first 
its leadership was prevailingly Christian, but later under the 
presidency of Count (later Marquis) Okuma, its scope and 
influence became broader. Anti- Japanese agitation on the 
Pacific coast made their work difficult, and after a quarter of 


U) Cf. also last paragraph of section entitled Friends Girls School, p. 29. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


a century of effective service, war, this time in Manchuria 
(1931), again nipped the promising bud. The two Christian 
organizations, — World Alliance for International Friendship 
through the Churches and the Fellowship of Reconciliation 
were hardier plants, with which Japanese Friends continued 
to cooperate. Seiju Hirakawa served as secretary of the latter 
for a long period of years. 

The Yearly Meeting had from the beginning a Peace Com- 
mittee, and it was by its recommendation that representatives 
were appointed to the London All-Friends Conference of 1920. 
They brought back a report that very much stirred up enthusi- 
asm for peace in the Yearly Meeting, when it was made at its 
1921 sessions. A minute was adopted, giving expression to 
their renewed sense of loyalty to the cause. In 1924 when feel- 
ing was very strong about the Immigration Law which the 
American government had enacted, the Yearly Meeting Peace 
Committee issued a declaration, challenging the attention of 
the Home and Foreign Ministers of the government. Again in 
1931 after the beginning of the Manchurian Incident, Friends 
cooperated with other Christian sects of peace principles, in 
the following declaration to the Prime Minister and other mem- 
bers of the Cabinet : “We deeply deplore the international strife 
with our neighbor, China. Desirous of attaining lasting peace, 
based on the broad way of love for humanity, not only between 
our two countries, but among all the nations of the world, we 
confidently look to you for efforts to that end.” 

On several occasions Peace Retreats were planned by the 
Standing Committee of the Yearly Meeting, when for two or 
three days, those especialty interested, would withdraw to some 
place where they could be uninterrupted, and there discuss 
quietly the implications of peace and war. It was mental and 
spiritual gymnastics such as this that helped to produce the 
internationalism of such men as Seiju Hirakawa and Yasukuni 
Suzuki, head resident of the young men’s dormitory in Tokyo. 
Opportunities for its expression come to them often in per- 


34 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


sonal relations with Chinese and Korean students in the 
capital; in service rendered to European Jews who drifted to 
Japan without any economical support for the present, or hope 
for the future; and in propagating the spirit of international- 
ism among the students of the universities in Tokyo. A trip to 
Shanghai after 1932 helped Suzuki San further to realize the 
true results of war and an imperialistic policy. 

Friendly personal relationships between the nationals of 
the two countries may be of more significance than any number 
of declarations made by organizations. One example was the 
visit of S. H. Fong of West China Yearly Meeting, to Japan. 
He was on his way home after a year or two spent in England, 
and was urged to see Japan. He was very much averse to doing 
so, having received most unfavorable impressions of Japanese 
character. With the feeling of taking his life in his hands, 
he finally introduced himself to Japanese Friends. Some of 
their leading spirits spent two or three days with him in inti- 
mate and frank exchange of views, and in worship together, in 
a quiet hotel on the seashore of Ibaraki Province. He was 
entirely disarmed in the course of it, and the whole group 
entered into deep fellowship together. One Friend remarked 
that to see Mr. Fong wearing a Japanese kimono about the 
hotel, had given her quite a new feeling for China, and before 
he left, he bought Japanese trinkets to take home to his 
family, although he had previously advocated the boycott 
against Japanese goods. Later his home in Chengtu was de- 
stroyed in a Japanese air-raid. When the news of it came to 
Hijirizaka Meeting, a collection was made, and a gift of money 
was sent through safe hands, as a mark of penitential brother- 
hood. 

Other visits back and forth have been made in the inter- 
ests of mutual understanding. Gilbert Bowles, Mansaku Naka- 
mura and Seiju Hirakawa were such emissaries, at one time 
going as far as West China. Letters of Christian good will 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


35 


were exchanged between the two Yearly Meetings, even after 
feelings in both countries were running high. 

One very good place to see the peace movement in Japan 
in its practical workings, was at the Bowles’ dinner table, at 
which Minnie P. Bowles presided with her inexhaustible spirit 
of hospitality. Gilbert Bowles at the other end of the table, 
would be directing the conversation into channels that made all 
the guests assembled there from many quarters, feel at home 
and enlightened. 

Westerners often ask about the conscientious objector 
movement in Japan. If there is such a movement, it is not 
allowed to become public. It will not become a widespread 
movement, I think, because Japanese ways of thinking are 
different from those of the West in so many respects. In the 
first place they have been taught in the feudal days of the past, 
as well as in imperialistic times in the present, the duty of 
absolute obedience on the part of the subject to his overlord. 
Because tlie whole is more important than any of its parts, 
there is nothing to do but to sacrifice the individual judgment, 
even at such times as it repudiates the demands made on it by 
that whole. In such cases they feel that this is not sin for 
them, because it has been taken out of their hands and is there- 
fore no longer their moral responsibility. 

Then again the family organization is so much stronger 
with them than with Anglo-Saxon people. A family conclave, 
including parents and uncles, is held to determine the young 
man’s future steps in life. Of course he has a chance to express 
his own desires, but he certainly does not have the freedom to 
choose his own way that the young men of the West have. 
Besides, the consequences of his deeds come back not only to 
himself, but to his whole family. The conscientious objector 
stand comes out of a more individualistic society than obtains 
in Japan, I believe. 


36 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


Quaker Strains from Other Sources 

Lest it be thought that Japanese Quakerism is one of 
which the Philadelphia Mission was the sole purveyor, an 
account should be given without more delay, of the many con- 
tributions that have been made from other sources, and which 
have helped to preserve its cosmopolitan quality. 

From the very beginning there was Dr. Whitney whose 
name has already been mentioned. He was the first American 
student at the medical school of the Tokyo University, and 
after he had taken his degree, he founded a hospital in Akasaka 
Ward of Tokyo, neighboring Shiba. That was in 1886. Dr. 
Henry Hartshorne was another who came to Japan on a pro- 
fessional medical errand, but who gave concerned counsel to 
the little group of Friends in its beginning days. His daughter, 
Anna C. Hartshorne, remained its friend through her long 
years of educational service in Tokyo. Meanwhile George 
Braithwaite had come from England, and Dr. Whitney had 
married his sister, Mary, and brought her to Japan. Thus a 
new center of Friends was formed. A little gathering of very 
zealous believers grew up around the hospital. At first they 
did not call themselves Friends, but as time went on the need 
for some connection with a Christian group was felt, and 
gradually its members and those at Hijirizaka came to know 
each other. Individuals from the older group took responsi- 
bilities from time to time for the Akasaka group, and finally 
in 1939, after much conference on the subject, the Akasaka 
Meeting was recognized as a Monthly Meeting of the Japan 
Yearly Meeting, — the ninth and last to be set up. Teiko Kudo 
a very earnest and consecrated woman, ministers to it. 

The group of English Friends was represented in the Mis- 
sion Committee by the son of George and Lettice Braithwaite, 
G. Burnham Braithwaite, and his wife, Edith Lamb Braith- 
waite. Burnham’s knowledge of the language, learned as a 
child learns it, was of great value to the work. Canadian 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


37 


Friends have also served on the Mission Committee, and their 
Board has shared in the financial as well as the spiritual sup- 
port of the work. 

Among the Japanese Friends are some who have had 
broad international experience, and who have brought back 
to the little Quaker group in their own country some of the 
air of that bigger world. Foremost among these was Dr. Inazo 
Nitobe, a member of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, which he 
joined when a student at Johns Hopkins University. His 
marriage to a member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting made 
the tie with America stronger. Later, seven years in the 
Secretariat of the League of Nations, taking an active and 
highly valued part in the solving of world problems, confirmed 
his international viewpoint. At such times as he could be in 
Japan, he was in demand on all sides and led an almost un- 
believably busy life. Friends will therefore never forget the 
occasions when he took time for them, — attending and address- 
ing their Yearly Meetings, conducting a conference group 
one winter on Sunday mornings for the members of Hijirizaka 
Meeting, or occasionally dropping in unannounced to their 
meetings for worship. His weightiness, his simplicity, his 
lovable qualities, left a deep impress on all he met. Portions 
of his view of Quakerism are appended to this account. 

Then there is Iwao Ayusawa, a one-time student of Haver- 
ford College, whose years in America were followed by a long 
residence in Geneva, and work in connection with the Interna- 
tional Labour Office. His Quaker home in America, together 
with friendship with Dr. Nitobe, and connection with the 
Friends’ group in Geneva, were the formative influences in his 
Quaker faith. He joined Japan Yearly Meeting on his return, 
and has been a most concerned member. His work as execu- 
tive secretary of the World Economic Research Institute in 
Tokyo, still takes him into international fields. Like so many 
people in the West of late, he has been especially interested in 
encouraging the study of post war economic organization. 


38 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


Takeo Iwahaslii and his wife came to us from London 
Yearly Meeting, joined during years of study in Edinburgh. 
Pendle Hill, a school near Philadelphia, has done great service 
for Japanese students, who have come back to their country 
to share the catholicity of view, and the sense of responsibility 
for service, acquired there. Among these are Kikue Kurama, 
Ryurnei Yamano, Masa Uraguchi, and Tane Takahashi. 

CHURCH UNION AND AFTER 

In 1936 Japan Yearly Meeting celebrated the Fiftieth 
Anniversary of Quaker work in Japan. Fraternal delegates 
came from Philadelphia to share in the occasion, and it was a 
feast of good-will and hope. Whatever the subsequent devel- 
opments, it was a bright spot in the memories of all concerned. 
But the international sky was already dark, and the storm 
broke the next year, — in north China. With war came a height- 
ening of nationalistic feeling. What had begun as a struggle 
between China and Japan, soon became a whirlwind that drew 
the whole Pacific area into its vortex. To drive Western im- 
perialism from the Orient was the Japanese slogan. There fol- 
lowed a time which was especially lacerating to the feelings of 
Japanese Christians, as well as to those of the West. Its 
connections with Western churches did Japanese Christianity 
no good in the eyes of the public. Missionaries found them- 
selves in an embarrassing position, and by 1940 a large propor- 
tion of them had returned to their home countries. The year 
before that the Religious Organizations Bill passed the Diet, 
and became law. By it Christianity was recognized as one of 
the three religions of Japan, but it had to pay its price for 
recognition, which was, — union of all the denominations into 
one organization; severance of financial and other relations 
with missions from abroad; and an acceptance of a degree of 
government supervision. The union clause was not unpopular 
among many Japanese Christians. There had been a more or 
less well-developed agitation for it before that time anyhow. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


39 


It was harder however for some churches than for others. The 
Episcopal Church held out against it until the fall of 1943, 
and then yielded because continued existence as a separate 
entity had practical difficulties that seemed insuperable. If 
that were true for such a strong organization, we may believe 
there would have been no hope for the little group of Friends. 
But is was a wrench to give up its independent existence. It 
meant accepting the whole ecclesiastical program, — ordained 
ministers, sacraments, creeds, etc. At its last Yearly Meeting 
in 1941 the decision was made, however, and the Japan Yearly 
Meetings of Friends ceased to exist soon thereafter. 

It is not true that the government of Japan has adopted an 
attitude of persecution toward Christianity. It has recognized 
the service to J apanese society that Christianity has made, and 
it desires its help in the present crisis. But it wants the kind 
of Christianity that it can manipulate and make useful in its 
own way. In this sense it is a time of grave danger to the 
“Church of Christ in Japan.” 

What is left of Japanese Quakerism? Let us recognize 
first of all that spiritual values exist in the hearts of men, not 
in organizations. To the extent that members of Friends have 
been able to carry over into the new organization, the spiritual 
values received from their Quaker faith, let us give thanks. 
They will not die. There is a type of character which is of more 
importance than any organization, and it will go echoing down 
the ages. It needs no denominational tag. 

But there is a “remnant”, a stock from which fresh growth 
may sprout when a more favorable time comes. Let us attempt 
an inventory of the more tangible results from Friends’ fifty 
years in Japan. To begin with material assets, — the meeting 
houses of course go with the meeting members to the union 
church. Besides them there is in Tokyo a furnished residence, 
a dormitory for young men, and the well-appointed buildings of 


40 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


the girls’ school ; in Mito some property on the main business 
street, and the buildings of an old peoples’ home. These are 
all held by a Japanese Holding Company, and so are not sub- 
ject to confiscation as enemy property. The girls’ school and 
the old peoples’ home are both carrying on outside the church, 
as far as organization is concerned. They have their own gov- 
erning body of trustees. The men’s dormitory in Tokyo was 
still functioning in September of 1943, but with the difficulties 
in provisioning, in getting help, and in the demands of the 
military on the young men, it may be necessary to close it down. 

Last, but not least, there are two small groups left which 
may definitely be called Friends, both in Tokyo. The first of 
these is the Friends Center Committee. It was formed some 
years before the war began, to represent Friends to those of 
various countries who come to Japan with an interest in 
Quakerism, and to serve the Jewish refugees who were coming 
in large numbers to Japan at that time. Gilbert Bowles was 
a member of the committee as long as he was in Japan. Now 
its members are Seiju Hirakawa, Iwao Ayusawa, and Yasu- 
kuni Suzuki. This committee has charge of the dormitory; it 
arranges for the Inazo Nitobe Memorial Lectures and it 
gathers other Friends, individual members who did not go with 
their meetings into the union movement, for meetings for wor- 
ship, or for the consideration of some topic of common interest, 
as opportunity arises. To these people the tenet of inward faith 
without the aid of outward form, seemed too precious to give 
up. They have an office in the dormitory, and a small Friends’ 
library is also housed there. When communication with Japan 
becomes possible again, they will be instruments with whom 
Friends from outside can hope to make connections. 

The other group of which we spoke is the group of Young 
Friends. They number perhaps ten or twelve. Many of them 
are second generation Christians, and quite a few have grown 
up with Friends. Four at least have had a year’s study at 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


41 


Pendle Hill, and all are trained to think. They are “convinced” 
Friends, whatever their forebears. They too felt that the 
Quaker heritage was too precious to be lost, and have continued 
to meet for worship and study and discussion. They and the 
Friends Center Committee plan to cooperate in holding meet- 
ings. The lives of these young Friends are before them, and 
perhaps we can not do better than leave the future of Quaker- 
ism in Japan with them, at this point, praying for them God’s 
guidance and blessing. 



QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


APPENDIX I . 

A Japanese View of Quakerism ( abridged ) by Dr. Inazo Nitobe 

The starting point of Quaker teaching is the belief in the existence 
of the Inner Light. **** Whatever the name, it means the presence of 
a Power not our own, the indwelling of a Personality, other than 
human, in each one of us. Such a doctrine is **** as old as the oldest 
form of mysticism. Buddhism is full of references to it. **** The Zen 
Sect of Buddhism makes it its aim to comprehend it. **** 

Let it be far from me to turn Quakerism into Oriental mysticism. 
Quakerism stays within the family of Christianity. **** Unlike Orient- 
als, George Fox and his followers conceived **** of light as a person; 
but by making their person eternal and existent before the world was, 
Quakerism came to much the same conclusion as the old mystics. 

Were these mystics misguided, building their houses on the sands 
of fantasy and clothing themselves in garments woven of cobwebs? **** 
Modern psychologists do not seem to deny that there can be a gradual 
development in consciousness. **** [self-consciousness] is a state of 
development not very difficult for us to attain, in fact every normal 
being attains it. But is there not a stage still higher, where we can 
merge ourselves in the great universe? **** Curiously enough the 
Cosmic sense as described by those who attain it, is very much the 
same everywhere — whether it be by a Buddhist priest, a Shinto votary, 
or an American farmer. **** 

The central doctrine of Quakerism is the belief in this Cosmic 
sense, which they call the Inner Light and all the doctrines and pre- 
cepts of Quakerism are only corollaries drawn from this premise. **** 

Is there then no superiority in the so-called revealed religion, by 
which is meant, I presume, the revelation of Godhead in the person and 
life of Jesus Christ? **** We read Laotze; we read Buddhist saints; 
we study Oriental mystics, **** we are brought very near to the idea 
of redemption, atonement, salvation. **** but we feel that we have not 
reached our finality. **** Yes, we see light, but not the one thing essen- 
tial — perfect, living Personality. 


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QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


APPENDIX II. 

From a paper read by T. Takemura at the Fiftieth Anniversary 
Meeting of Friends in Japan. ( translated ) 

Silent worship is the expression of Quakers’ attitude to life. Sim- 
plicity in the outward appearance of the meeting, which nevertheless 
produces on the communicants a deep sense of devoutness, is character- 
istic of the Quaker manner of life. Simplicity is no lack of aesthetic 
sense. In many cases of Quaker practice, simplicity is raised to the 
point of exquisite beauty, — the beauty of artless art. In this sense of 
beauty the early Quakers seemed to have much in common with Jap- 
anese. **** The beauty of the highest grade is found mostly in objects 
most simple. The “haiku” or “hokku”, a sort of sonnet, regarded as 
the most refined literature in Japan, is the simplest and shortest of all 
the world’s literary forms, comprising only 17 syllables. Again, the 
“sumie” is a picture of Chinese origin, painted in black only, and with 
the lightest touch of the brush. It ranks as the highest art. [He 
instances as further examples Friends’ meeting-houses] with bare 
beams and plain white walls, and no decoration, but exquisitely 
beautiful. 


QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


45 


APPENDIX III. 

List of those who served in the Friends Foreign Mission in Japan, 
together with the dates of their service. 

Joseph and Sarah Ann Cosand 1885-1900 

William V. and Isabel Wright 1888-1891 

Mary Ann Gundry 1889-1905 

Mary M. Haines 1892-1895 

Gurney, 1893-1936; and Elizabeth J. S. Binford 1899-1936 

Minnie P., 1893-1941; and Gilbert Bowles 1901-1941 

Edith Dillon 1896-1903 

Sara Ellis 1902-1915 

Sarah M. Longstreth 1903-1905 

Inez E. Taber 1905-1910 

Alice G. Lewis 1905-1924 

Horace E. and Elizabeth Coleman 1907-1927 

Mary H. Lewis 1908-1909 

Edith F. Sharpless 1910-1943 

Alice C. Gifford 1911-1920 

Esther B. Rhoads 1917-1918 and 1921-1940 

Esther B., 1914-1924; and Thomas E. Jones 1918-1924 

Catherine Jones -1915-1916 

Herbert V., 1915-1939; and Madeline W. Nicholson . . .1920-1939 

Edith Newlin 1918-1927 

Margaret W. Rhoads 1921-1922 

Rosamond H. Clark 1921-1923 

G. Burnham and Edith L. Braithwaite 1922-1935 

Margaret S. James 1922-1924 

Violet Hawkins 1925-1932 

Alice L. Dixon 1926-1929 

Luanna J. Bowles 1927-1928 

Hugh and Elizabeth W. Borton 1928-1931 and 1934-1936 

Edna Miller 1929-1933 

Sarah A. G. Smith 1933-1935 

Helen Thomas 1936-1937 


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QUAKERISM IN JAPAN 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Fifty Years of Quakerism in Japan, by S. Hirakawa. In Japanese. 
Kirisuto Yukai 50 Nenshi. 1937. 

Reports of the Mission Board of Friends of Philadelphia 

The Friend (Philadelphia) 

A Japanese View of Quakerism, by Inazo Nitobe, an address made at 
the University of Geneva, December 14, 1926. Published by 
Friends Service Council. London. 

History of Japanese Religion, by M. Anesaki, 409 pages. 1930. Pub- 
lished by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. 

Japan, A Short Cultural History, by G. B. Sansom. Published by the 
Century Co., New York, 1932. 

Beyond Dilemmas, Edited by S. B. Laughlin. Chapter 13, “Quakerism 
Through Oriental Eyes,” by Takeo Iwahashi. Published by J. B. 
Lippincott Co., 1937. 




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