A historical study of Japan's religious movements in relation to the post-war era

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Content A HISTORICAL STUDY OF JAPAN'S RELIGIOUS
MGVEœUTS IN' RELATION TO THE POST-WAR ERA
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
John Kenneth Wishart
June 19^1).
UMI Number: EP65234
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
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D i s s a r t a ï i o f » F \ i b l sNng
UMI EP65234
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
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This thesis, written by
John Kenneth Wishart
..............; fk4 i #
under the guidance o f h%s....Faculty G om m itteej _
and approved hy a ll its members, has been 1 u C
presented to and accepted by the C oun cil on
G raduate Study and Research in p a rtia l fu llf ill-
ment o f the requirem ents fo r the degree of
Master of Arts
Date.
Faculty Committee
. ^ È À æ I U c . c{. ..
(f Chairman
TABLE OP CONTENTS j
CHAPTER PAGE
!
L. INTRODUCTION.......................... .. 1
The problem......................... 1
II. SHINTO................ 5
I
The teachings of Shinto............. 18
Modern Shinto ............................ 28
III. BUDDHISM................................ 37
Its beginning and history to World War I . . 3 7
Asuka Period .......................... 38
Nara Period ..... ........ ..... 39
Heian Period..................... liL
Kamakura Period................... k5
Ashikaga Period ........................ 51
Tokugawa Period ........... 51
Meiji Period . . ........ 52
Mahayana Buddhism ........... 5U
IV. CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN TO WORLD WAR II ... . 66
Catholic Christianity..................... 66
Protestant Christianity through I9k5 .... 85
V. PROM AUGUST, 19ii5 TO 19 53 120
I
VI. CONCLUSION.................................... 16 2 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................... 189
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
While the investigator was teaching the Bible to war
criminals in the War-crimes stockade at Manila, he became
increasingly aware of his glaring ignorance of the philoso
phy and cultucal background of these men. How could they
be reached with the Gospel of Christ? Some were reached,
but perhaps more through the efforts of the Christian Japa
nese interpreter than any Occidental interpretation of the
Scriptures.
Association with this interpreter made the investi
gator aware that there were still Christian Japanese. As a
result of this discovery, a determination to endeavor to
reach Japan was formulated and achieved in 19U6. It was his
privilege to serve in Tokyo all of 19U7 after which he re
turned to the United States purposing to go back to Japan as
a missionary. To this end he enrolled at the University of
Southern California to do graduate work in Religion and to
gain a knowledge of the religions of Asia. He returned to
Japan as an Army Chaplain in 1951 for a nine month tour of
duty.
In his opinion, if Christianity is to succeed in
Japan, it must understand the philosophy of these people,
and their culture. In their thinking, they are a people of
I 2
Idestiny, and they still feel the compulsion of their "call."
jEven though they have suffered overwhelming defeat, their
jvery attitude in rising above the rubble of an Hiroshima, or
ja nearly-level Tokyo indicates a will which, although it may
not be denied, might accept direction* As has been pointed
put, "The probabilities are that the victory will go to the
Western ideology (Marxism or democracy) with the deepest and
most sympathetic understanding of the mentalities of . . .
Far Eastern Asia.To christianize these people in the
fullest sense of the"word implies an understanding and some
degree of appreciation of their history, culture, economy,
and social conditions.
The success or failure of the Christian movement in
Japan can hinge upon its leaders remembering that these
people are Japanese and they must be approached from such a
point of objective observation. As the better missionary
identifies himself with the people to whom he ministers, so
the better type of Christianity will take into consideration
the factors which give meaning to the individual living
within the frame work of his particular environment. Such
an approach precludes any effort to foist upon him an occi
dental Christian concept so crystallized as to be determin
istic and hence devoid of an adaptability demanded by the
t ^ F. S. C. Northrup, "The Mind of Asia," Life,
iVql.v 31 #27, December 31> 1951. P. l ) - 0 . __
cultural setting of the Japanese mind.
The Christian missionary movement needs a statesman
or an organization with the insight to realize what is to
be accomplished, and the influence to unite divergent ef
forts now going on under the guidon of missionary zeal.
If it is true that individuals are today the sum
total of their yesterdays, it is very likely true of
nations. If we are to assist in Japan establishing herself
as a democracy, a study of her religious background should
[help us understand how we may give direction toward the
achievement of a wholesome tomorrow for this potentially
great nation.
I. THE PROBLEM
To appraise the situation in modern Japan, one needs
some understanding of her past. Confucius is reported to
have said, "to understand the present, we must study the
past’ ;" Nations, like individuals, seem to possess a libid
inal factor which directs them toward their destiny.
Occasionally traumatic experiences occur such as wars,
social, or economic crises which may deflect them from their
apparent course. In Japan such factors have prevailed to
change her course in history.
Two strongly influential factors which must also be
dealt with have been Shintoism, and Buddhism. In its two
■fold development as a state religion, and as a sect reli-
Igion, Shinto will be traced briefly. Buddhism's influence,
■which has been recognized as profound, is to be dealt with
and recognized as a factor in the anticipated success of
Christianity.
Statement of the problem. It is the purpose of this
study to estimate the extent of these factors, and evaluate
their contributions toward the potential impact which
Christianity has made since August 19U5> and may yet be
expected to make.
CHAPTER II
SHINTO
Much that is written about the Japan of the pre-
Christian era is but speculation rooted in archaeological
discoveries, the racial characteristics of the people, and
a multitude of legends. There is very little that is act
ually known, but it appears quite certain that prior to the
first century A.D. a mongoloid invasion of southern and
central Japan did occur. Beginning in Kyushu and moving to
Honshu, these invaders became what is known in the nation's
history as the Yamato Clan. How long the clan took to reach
the central section of the island of Honshu is not known,
but perhaps after "generations of strenuous fighting it was
supreme;
At the door of this Yamato Clan lies the honor of
formulating the beginnings of Japan as a nation, and of
Shinto as a religion. As the Clans developed, the Chieftain
or head man was the logical choice to lead his people in
their social and religious living until, with the passing of
centuries, the chieftain-prlest emerged as the actual ruler
of the lands. Since he emerged as a superior being, he wa.s
respected even after his death.
l“ ” Ci'5rge W. Knox, The Development of Religion in
iJapan (New York: Putnam's Sons, 19^?T, p. 567
6
Taking the generally practised "polytheistic nature
worship"^ which it is safe to say "was the primitive faith
of the J a p a n e s e , and combining it with the idea of a
central government, the clan leaders succeeded in achieving
an amalgamation of church and state which has given the
nation a direct line of emperors out of antiquity, and a
religion of state virile enough to survive all the major
assaults of time.
Harada points out that Shinto seems to have had
neither a founder, a dogma, creed nor system, yet it has
remained Japan's only indigenous religion.
The Yamato Gian seems to have promoted Shinto as a
political move organized about the sun-goddess, from whom
the ruling family was discovered to be directly descended.
The propaganda was so well instilled in the minds of the
people that by the sixth century it was readily accepted by
them.
Jimmu-Tenno (660 B.C.) was the first Emperor proposed
as the direct descendent of this sun-goddess Amaterasu-
Omikami. In this relation he was also the high-priest for
his people.
2*"SCAP7~Roliglons in Japan (Tokyo: C. I. and E.
Section, l9l |8 ) ,”p7"37
3 Tasuka Harada, The Faith of Japan (New York:
'Macmillan Company y 191U), p. 30.
At its beginning it is quite likely that before any
crystallization of dogma occurred, Shinto was comprised of
simple ceremonies and festivals. The sense of a need for
purification which implies a feeling of guilt which would in
turn stem from a sense of sin was an early development in
the embryonic religion of these simple people.
Gradually ideqs came into expression explaining to
the people the system of a state-religion combination. It
was advocated that Japan began "when heaven and earth became
separated and when the trees and herbs had speech.The
founder of Japan is the god who meditated while descending
from heaven to the land of the central reeds plain.
To the faithful Japanese citizen Shinto began with
the history of Japan. The word Shinto means "the way of the
gods." The word comes from two Chinese words "Shen" meaning
"good spirits; and "to" or "tao" meaning "the way ; Y The
combination gives us "the way of the good spirits," or "the
way of the gods.’" The actual Japanese term is "Kami
nomichi" or the "way" or "road of the deities" (or gods).
"Its name was applied to a group of certain, undefined
beliefs.
i i W. G. Aston, Chronicles of Janan (London; 1896),
Vol. I., p. 6U.
5 Ibid., p. 3.
8
"There is no definite theogony in Shinto."Three
deities are said to have sprung out of the primeval chaos
which was like an ocean of mud veiled in darkness."? These
original deities left no trace. They seem to be so entirely
separate from those that follow that some authorities sug
gest that they were possibly later additions, and not known
to the Yamato8 at all. The last couple in the series of
seven generations are Izanagi (the male who invites), and
Izanami (the female who invites). As a result of the union
of these two, many gods and other things came into exist
ence. The first of these things were the Japanese islands.
They al so
Gave birth to wind, water, mists, food, mountains,
and other natural phenomena which also became deities.
The final off-spring of this divine couple were the
Heavenly-Shining-Goddess (Amaterasu-Omikami), the Moon-
ruler (Tsuki-Yomi) and the Valiant-Swift-Impetuous-Hero
(Takehaya-susanowa).^
The female deity Izanami is credited with the origin
of evil and death. In the course of the story Izanagi
escaped the effort of Izanami to confine him to the abode of
death where she then was dwelling. Izanagi felt under
compulsion to bathe himself to free himself of pollution,
and during this act more gods were produced.
5~'MasâEura Anesaki, History of Japanese Religion
(London:Kegan Paul, Ltd., 193077 P-” U7-----------
7 Loc. cit.
H_SCAP,,_op.__ci. t. . _ , _ p . . _ _ 7 . 5 - . _____________________________
^
The Valiant-Swift-Impetuous-Hero is the storm; he is
the brother of Amaterasu Omikami (Sun Goddess). He ravaged
the rice fields and polluted the sacred ritual instituted by
Amaterasu Omikami which is today observed as the great feast
of harvest. In final desperation the Sun Goddess retired to
a cave. As a result eight hundred myriads of Kami assembled
in the bed of the Tranquil River of Heaven and held a
council, after which one of the gods forged the Yata Mirror
and another made the Yasaka Bright Curved Jewels which with
other gifts were hung upon branches of a Sakaki tree.
Finally the Great Deity was enticed forth. Quickly a rope
of hair was thrown across the entrance so she could not
return. After being punished Suna-no-Wo-no-Mikoto went down
to Izumo and subdued the district. Here he gained posses
sion of the Clustering-clouds Sword of Heaven. This he
presented to the Sun Goddess.
Later the Sun Goddess sent down her grandson Ninigi-
no-Mikoto, and established him to rule over the country.
The great grandchild of this prince was Jimmu Tenno, the
first ruler of Japan. He is supposed to have lived in 660
B.C. The first memorial services for the Heavenly Ancestor
were held by Jimmu Tenno at Tomimi Yamato. This date is
celebrated now with Shunki-Korei-Sai (Spring Equinox
Festival) which is a National Holiday observed on March 20
or 21 of each year. On this day "the Emperor at the
Korelden (an Imperial Sanctuary) of the Imperial Palace pays
his respects to the Imperial Ancestors; The ceremony has
become one of the most important of the court fune tions.
Another important observance is held November 23
jannually. It is the Autumn Thanksgiving Festival, when "the
Emperor worships the deities who have given the harvest, and
partakes of the new rice c r o p ; "10
It is thought the Sun Goddess served as the Chièf
'Priestess at the original festival. Since the Emperor is
her direct descendent, he now serves as the Chief Priest.
"Religion in ancient Japan was a combination of
animism and nature worship."1^ Kato points out that Shinto
ism even antedates animism, going back to animatism in which
system devotees worship not the spirit of an object, but the
object itself. "For instance they worshipped the sun, i. e.
not the spirit of the sun, but the sun itself, visible to
the naked eye."1^ The stimulus to such worship lay in their
dependence upon the powers of nature for food, shelter, and
9 H. S. K. Yamaguchi, We Japanese (Yokohama:
ïamagata Press, I9I 4 . 6), Vol. II. , p. 39.
10 D. C. Holtom, The Nationa1 Faith of Japan
(London: Keg an Paul, Trench Triebner and "Company,""Limited,
1938), p. 158.
11 SCAP, op. cit., p. 72.
12 G. Kato, A Study of Shinto (Tokyo: Meiji Japan
Society, 1926), p. 7«
; ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : ----------------------------X I
protection. In the evolution of the religion there develop
ed the idea of the spirit associated with the object of
worship. This spirit then became the object to be venerat
ed. This type of worship is prevalent today with sacred
spirits numbering over eight million and including such
things as a tree, a mountain, a waterfall, a hare, a wolf, a
louse and even the silk worm, to say nothing of such awe
inspiring things as a storm. Many persons and things were
considered to be manifestations of the divine and were con
sidered to be spirit.
At about this time ancestor worship was introduced.
The factors of morality, spiritual blessings, and happiness
in an after life were not considered. When such a concept
evolved, it was designated "Yomi-no kuni" (the land of
darkness). This place was gloomy, filthy and polluted, and
located at the remotest corner beneath the earth. To it
went the ordinary, common mortals. Aston thinks Yomi was
only a "transparent metaphor for the grave. 1*^3 The Nihongi
implies the question was open to debate. Some feel the
Japanese thought of the dead as having consciousness because
buried with them were weapons, horses, and even servants in
the graves of aristocrats.
In Shinto we discover that "the old communal form of
religion that was normal in the west two thousand years ago
.I3 _W..—S s - t on,—op-.—ci-t. p. —
12
exists in Japan today as a powerful social and religious
force;"3U It is;
A carefully organized cultus with its pantheon of
deities, its thousands of priests, its tens of thousands
of sacred places, its elaborate ceremonies, its dogmas
and sacred texts . . . and its sense of divinely
ordained mission.35
At its beginning, however, "Shinto as a religion was
an unorganized worship of spirits,"36 which were approached
ritualistically at primitive sanctuaries in such places as
groves, fields, waterfalls, or mountains. Where ever the
shrine was set up was considered the alternate dwelling
place of the "kami." It has been affirmed that before a
shrine was ever built, the kami was worshipped at Iwahura
(rock throne) which, as an actual rock, was the place of
worship for the prehistoric people of Japan as they worship
ed their kami on the top of a high mountain.
The word "kami" means "abovei'’ . ! "superior; " or "he
who, or that which overshadows,? To the Japanese the word
conveys more of a sense of "reverence rather than of worship
in the Occidental sense;?3? The word may be Ainu in its
origin. If it does come from "Kamui" it has the latter
’ I ' Î I ' “D7"~ü7 Holtom, Modern Japan and Shinto Nationalism
(Chicago: University of Ühicago Press, 19737, p. 3.
15 Ibid., p. A.
16 Anesaki, 0£. cit., p. 22.
17 SCAP, op. cit., p. 73.
— -----------X3'
meaning mentioned above, and in this sense it has a divine
connotation, Harada suggests:
Some see in it an abbreviation of "kangami" meaning
"to look at, " "to judge.’ ? Others say it is a form of
"kimi,? "lord,? while still others propose "kabi;" "the
mysterious" as its origin.38
Just before World War II some were saying that "kami" is not
at all in the western sense a religious word. But Holtom
says, "we can state that 'kami' in its characteristic con
tent is a religious term through and through;?39 The early
Japanese thought of everything which stimula ted awe or wor
ship within him as possessing at least spirit. This spirit
gave life and.activity to substance. All such in which
[dwelt a spirit were designated "kami;? A late treatise on
Shinto which deals with the word "kami" reviews sixteen
theories offering suggestions of the origin and significance
of the word, and then classifies them in three groups : (l)
pure or bright; (2) strange, mysterious, supernatural, hid
den, fearful; (3) superior. At any rate it has been
suggested :
The word "kami" is the clue to the whole system (of
Shinto). It denotes that which is above, any power or
influence which can accomplish what man cannot prevent
and is stronger or wiser than he.
iB^Harada, op. cit., p. 26.
19 Holtom, op. cit. , p. 71.
20 Edmund D. Soper, The Religions of Mankind
(New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 195177 P* 377.
... nr
Another important factor in Shintoism is that of
ancestor worship* "Japan is a classical land of necrolatry
or worship of the spirit of the dead . . . that is worship
of the spirit of the dead ancestor."21 Tombs or shrines
become places to which the people journey to worship. The
investigator witnessed this act being performed one day
outside the gate entrance to the beautiful Meiji Art Gallery
in Tokyo. Here a mother stood facing the Gallery. Beside
her was a little child perhaps five years of age. After the
mother had folded her hands and bowed her head, she glanced
down at the child whose hands were folded but whose head was
held high. The mother took one hand and gently but firmly
pushed the child's head forward and down in a dignified bow.
The question of the origin of ancestor worship is
debatable. It is not known whether it came from China via
Korea at the time of the Empress Jingo, who led her troops
to Korea, or whether it actually existed at the time of
Jimmu Tenno. The names of authorities are ranged upon both
sides, and in between. Among those who say that China gave
Japan the idea is W. Aston; upon the opposite side is L.
Hearn; and in the middle is G. Kato.
The authorities which Kato uses are the rather
questionable volumes of history and legend known as the
21 Kato, op. cit., p. 51*
15
"Kojiki;" the "Nihongi’ ,? and others. These two were written
in the seventh or eighth centuries A.D. , or later. The
Kojiki is called "the Bible of Shinto, ?^^ At about this
time there arose the Mito school of historians who seem to
have been instrumental in preparing the Nihongi with commen
taries, and of setting it before the people. "It is
difficult to determine how much of the Nihongi was based
upon actual native mythology and how much of it was invented
to glorify the imperial family."23 A suggested date for the
Nihon-gi, the "Chronicles of Japan" is 720 A.D. The date
for the Koji-ki which is "The Record of Ancient Matters" is
suggested as 712 A.D.
To the Shinto!st, life takes on meaning only as he
becomes "of one body with our ancestors, to make the tradi
tional spirit of our ancestors our spirit;? 2k and a shrine
inscription reads, "Devotion to the memory of ancestors is
the mainspring of all virtue."
It is understandable how the people could be led from
ancestor worship to Emperor worship, and believe "the
Emperor is the divine manifestation of Amaterasu Omikami and
22 W. E. Griffis, The Religions of Japan (New York:
Scribner's Sons, 1912), pT7oT-------------
23 SCAP, op. ci^., p. 7.
2k R. Ballou, Shinto, the Unconquered Enemy (New
York: The Viking Pre8— 1975 ) ~lB5T----------
16
rules the empire according to her will. It is likewise
Lnderstandable how the third article of the Constitution of
1889 could be readily accepted: "The Emperor is sacred and
inviolable;?26
The Emperor is divine because he is the living ex
tension in time of the very bodies and souls of the
divine ancestors of the past, and in particular, of the
physical and spiritual attributes of the sun goddess
Amaterasu Omikami. ^?
Dr. Kato says, "The position occupied by Ten and
iPotei among the Chinese, or by Jehovah among the Jews has
been held in Japan from ancient days by the E m p e r o r . "28
This sense of reverence is by no means limited to the
ignorant. The educated, though not ignorant of the kind of
primitive cosmogony evidenced here, find a significance that
is beyond normal in that throughout the nation's history
religious sentiments have been fused to the land. There is
a sense of patriotic responsibility to hold even the soil of
Japan as sacred.
Another characteristic of early Shinto was phallic
worship represented by pillars set up alongside the road.
These deities became the gods of the highways.
aTMlT, p. 187.
26 Ibid., p. 168.
27 Holtom, op. c^. , p. 8.
26 Ballou, op. cit. , p. 183.
17
Phallicism is not unusual in primitive religion, but
"rarely has it been so powerful and widespread a cult as in
J a p a n ;?29 In the Kojiki are to be found stories of the
beginnings of Japanese history that "are horrible and dis
gusting, while the dominant note through-out is abundant
filthiness;?30 Aston cites from an earlier text evidence of
the practise of laying phallic shapes in the runnels of a
non-productive rice field to Improve the harvest.
Finally let us note briefly that fetishism is an
integral part of Shinto* Outstanding, of course, are the
three sacred symbols; the sword, the jewel, and the mirror.
There are many stories in the folk-lore about the magic
power of these symbols.
Rare is the Japanese farmer, laborer, mechanic, ward
man, or "hei-man" of any trade who does not wear amulet,
charm or other object which he regards with more or less
reverence as having relation to the powers that help or
harm. 31
Professor Kato points out the steps in the develop
ment of Shinto as:
(1) Nature worship or naturism, (2) Fetishism, (3)
Spiritism, (k) Ancestor worship, (5) Totemism, (6)
Primitive monotheism or belief in the deity as of a
29 Ballou, op. cit., p. 13.
30 Griffis, op. cit., p. 66
31 lbid. , p. 2k.___________
18
primitive monotheistic nature.32
I. THE TEACHINGS OF SHINTOISM
The fundamental teaching of Shinto concerns purity
and purification. Washing the hands, and rinsing out the
mouth before worshipping is almost compulsory. Bathing is
considered a religious act. This insistence upon cleanli
ness explains why a missionary in the Mukojima section of
Tokyo sent a band of dirty children to wash faces and hands
\
in a nearby water trough before she would begin an outdoor
service. After washing, they were allowed to pray to God.
Impurities to be guarded against are, among others,
contact with the dead, human blood, sickness, and wounds.
"Everything that could in any way soil the body or the
clothing was looked upon with abhorrence and detestation."33
The "idea of purity and impurity is merely physical"3U in
early Shintoism. Purity referred to a ritualistic condi
tion. There is in Shinto no idea of sin in a moral sense.
This idea of purification is carried even to the
shrines and shrine grounds. On special occasions the
IP^üT^Kato, "Shinto," The Eleven Religions (Selwyn G.
Champion, Editor, New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc.,
p. 235.
33 Griffis, op. cit., p. 85.
3h Loc. cit.
: 19
grounds are purified and the buildings, too, by the hanging
of taboo ropes on the Torii and along the eves of buildings.
Banners, flags, and branches of the sakaki tree are set up.
An object called the "Onusa" consisting of a large wand-like
device made from paper and hemp fibre mounted on a wooden
stick is waved back and forth.
Instinctive in man is the desire to be pure of heart,
and thereby to have fellowship with his god, or gods. Even
in Shinto one finds some traces of a moral standard. There
were rules against incest and beastiality.
Even though the "gods constitute the wonderful in
nature"35 and "ethical discernment does not apply to them"36
never-the-les8 man becomes aware of the "superior;? the
"wonderful;" the "awe-inspiring" with respect to the gods,
and he soon comes to realize that they might be able to help
him in his need. Out of this awakening prayer is born. He
turns to this Power for aid, and at that moment he begins to
worship. After awhile rituals become a part of his worship
experience. Then come holy places, priests, temples and
shrines, although at the first, in Japan, there was no
organized priesthood. The priests were the layment from the
nearest village or town.
35 Knox, op. cit. , p. 32
36 Loc. cit.
20
It is suggested that primitive prayers no doubt were
"for goods, for happiness, escape from evil, and . . . like
his gods, purely natural7 As the Nipponese became aware
of evil he sought a means of cleansing. Water was the
answer. An example of its use is found in the experience of
Izanagi who, after he had seen the decomposing body of
Izanami in Hades, exclaimed, "Hideousi I have come to a
hideous and polluted landI ? He then repeatedly washed him
self. In this act, many gods were born.
Prayer was a very important part of the Shintoist's
life. He began his day, after having washed, with a prayer
before the shrine of the home. Offerings and prayers were
placed before the Kami-dana (god shelf) in the home. The
occasional visits to the shi’ ine were climaxed with prayer
either evidenced by merely bowing the head, or by purchasing
prayers printed upon paper. In the Spring, the ceremonies
’ at the shrine are festivals of prayer. "We find, also, that
in many of the poems of Meiji Tenno genuine prayer to the
kami is distinctly expressed."38
There was little idea about the soul in early Shinto.
It seems to have been understood there is an abode of the
dead. Izanami became the goddess of Hades. While there,
37 I^d., p. 37.
38 Holtom, op. cit., p. 291
21
she had consciousness in spite of bodily decomposition. She
was capable of activity, too, for she chased Izanagi to the
entrance of the cave. However, only the souls of the great,
or of deities seem to live on indefinitely. It is suggested
"the souls of common mortals were believed to vanish sooner
or later.Yet we recall there was a long period of
history in which servants were buried alive with their
masters. This was so the servants could continue on in the
after life with their servitude. "Ten" (heaven) existed in
both a cosmic and a spiritual relation and every inevitable
event is humbly and resignedly recognized as a demonstration
of the power of heaven. The Shintoist believed he would be
in the after-life what he had been while here upon earth.
Even though little is said about the soul, Shinto
"explicitly declares that the spirit lives after deathv?bO
The soul seems to have two parts. One part is mild, refined
and happy. It cares for its possessor's health and prosper
ity. The other part is rough, brutal and raging. It per
forms tasks of adventure or even maliciousness. It is
worthy of note that the soul could leave the body and appear
to its possessor objectively in one or the other of its
aspects.
39 Anesaki, pp. qijb. , p. 39.
AC Yamaguchi, op. cit., p. 76.
2^
As Shintoism felt the influence of Buddhism and per
haps Christianity there came gradual changes concerning what
constituted purity and impurity. An early expression of the
emphasis of spiritual purity is made by the Imperial Prince
Kane-akira (911+-9 87) who says, "Gods or Spirits are impar
tial and just in mind, pleased only with a man's religious
piety. Approach and pray to them with sincere heart.
We find the expression "to do good is to be pure, to
commit evil is to be impure. The deities dislike evil deeds
because they are impure."
In lU02-lij.81 lived Ichijo-Kanevoshi who wrote*
There are two significations of purity in Shinto :
one is outer purity (bodily purity) and the other is
inner purity (heart). If a man is truly sincere in mind
he will be swe to succeed in realizing a communion with
the divine.^
These and many other references point out that Shinto
leaders had caught the vision of the loftiest concept of
spirituality— that inner peace can only be realized'when
there is inner purity, and fellowship with God can only be
upon this basis. Sincerity or up-rightness became a basic
principle in Shinto religious worship. There developed the
concept of the high and noble and such terms as "Tao" or
"Togos" or "Michi" meaning "the way',? which "implies the
h i Kato, op. cit., p. 163.
k2 Loc. cit.
23
essence of human life linked with a life superhuman*.
The center of Shinto worship was the community
shrine. Unless it was a state shrine, it was cared for by
the people of the area. The shrine was built according to
a set plan. At first the architecture was very plain, and
the furnishings simple. Today, due to the influence of
Buddhism, they are much more ornate.
A Shinto shrine is called the "Yashiro" (house sub
stitute), and "Omiya" (honorable house) . . . and is
according to our idea a temporary residence on earth
for a kami who lives in heaven. It is generally built
of Hi-no-ki (lit: tree of fire) or of Japanese Cypress,
but because purity is one of the most important requi
sites in Shinto, it is of plain wood with little if any
decorations.
At the festival celebrated for the shrine, its parti
cular palanquin is carried along each street of the parish
so that the devotees may receive the blessing of the deity
who is symbolically represented by a "Nigite" which is a
paper offering or some other appropriate Shinto article.
The procession is considered an important part of the obser
vation of the festival.
The area of a national shrine, including the pre
cincts and gardens is 1.728 tsubo. (A tsubo is approximate
ly 36 square feet).
I 43 Harada, 0£. cit. , p. h? •
hk H. S. K. Yamaguchi, We Japanese (Yokohama:
|Yamagata Press, 19^7), Vol• I., p. 379*_____________
Before the occupation, the ceremony at the shrine
itself followed an outline of directions issued by the
governments
The shrine is decorated early in the morning of the
special day. (The decoration has been described earlier in
the special paper.) The torii, the large arched gate which
stands at the entrance to every shrine area, and is a parti
cular symbol of the Shinto religion, is hung with ropes of
straw to purge everyone who walks under them. The gate is a
guardian against evil spirits.
As the procession passes through the gate, it comes
to the worship sanctuary (Haiden), and the doors of the
inner sanctuary (Honden) are opened by the chièf priest.
Prayer follows this act, then food and drink offerings are
presented. In the case of a major festival, offerings are
sent from the Imperial Household Department, or from the
prefectural government, to be presented either by the chief
priest, or someone of high rank. Prayers (norito) are then
read by the officials. Then the individuals in order of
rank pass to a position directly in front of the altar,
where they make obeisance. "This private worship consists
for the most part of profound bows and the presentation of
certain ceremonial devices known as ’tamagushij’ a small
branch of the Gakaki tree. After the individuals have
U^Holtom, op. cit., p. 155? ________________________
25
•V
lEÜSiüi
a
-o / o-
SHRINE AREA
Legend
1. Torii 8.
2. Torii 9*
3. Shrine business office 10.
1 1 . . Water purification point 11.
5. Building for preparation 12.
of food and drink offeringsl3.
6. First Enclosure lU*
7. Second Enclosure
Haiden (Worship Sanctuary)
Central Portal
Inner Enclosure
Honden (Chief Sanctuary)
Well
Storehouse
Ceremonial objects
storehouse
26
worshipped, the offerings are removed, the chief priest
closes the doors of the inner sanctuary and the ceremony is
finished with the participants' recessional.
When the individual has worshipped, he has quickly
discharged his obligation.
After a symbolic cleansing accomplished by pouring
water from the sacred font alternately over the hands,
accompanied frequently by a rinsing of the mouth, the
worshipper makes his way through the main approach to
the front of the haiden.
Here he claps his hands or rings a bell, to announce his
presence to the god. He bows his head in a brief prayer or
meditation, then tosses a coin or rice offering into a large
money box or upon a cloth provided for the purpose. Very
likely before he leaves the precincts, he stops at the
office, where he purchases a charm of some kind. ^hese are
supposed to provide protection for one thing or another,
from one's own person to a home or a business establishment,
even to protect fields and crops against insects or the evil
influences of weather. Sometimes different shrines sell
different types of charms, some shrines sell a "blanket"
charm, intended to cover; every emergency.
Shinto has not advanced beyond a crude polytheism
with a personification of a vague and feeble nature. It has
no idols only because at the early period of its beginning
i;6 Ibid., p. 163» __________________________________
27
there was no art or sculpture among the people, and practi
cally no idea of the personality of divinity. What gods it
does have reside in heaven. Basically, there seem to be two
classes of deities, one personifying natural objects and
phenomena, the other deifying men. These two classes are
divided into (1) individuals, (2) classes, (3) qualities.
One sees evidences of this fact in ancestor worship demon
strated by the young Peer's School student who was in a
Bible class. He was very concerned about his spiritual
condition, even though he had prayed to his deceased uncle
who represented the best this boy knew of morality and
general goodness.
The center of the Shintoist's religious life is at
the shrine, and the center of the shrine activities is
the worship of the gods and the surrender of e very thing
in the attainment of union with them.
In this union with a transcendent god the individual identi
fies himself with the god, thereby himself becoming god.
"God is worshipped in the individual self, and god is made
to exist there-in.Tf the Shinto shrines should sudden
ly cease to be, the Empire would come to an end, because to
the people as Ballou says, "the shrines are an epitome of
the Empire, that is, they are the Empire itselfU"^9
Tl7"’ HT~7 Ballou, op. cit., p. 18ii.
1;8 Loc. clt.
i i . 9 Loc. cit.
^ ^ ^
In Shinto worship no moral or spiritual blessings are
asked for, and there is no reference to a future state.
There are two ceremonies of "Great Purification" conducted
twice each year listing offences which may be committed
against the gods and from which -the devotee needs absolving.
These are incest, beastiality, wounding, witchcraft and
certain interferences with agricultural operations.
II. MODERN SHINTO
Strictly speaking, modern Shinto covers the period
from 1889 to I9h5y yet to get the picture in perspective it
is necessary to go back into the Tokugawa Era which immedi
ately preceeds the Meiji Era. This Clan had succeeded in
establishing itself as the ruling faction since 1603. ^ts
Shoguns (medieval lords) had been the actual governors by
whose permission each emperor remained as head of the state
and "since the twelfth century (each) had reigned without
governing.'The capital was at Kyoto where lived the
emperor, but the Shogun lived in Yedo (now Tokyo).
In 1868 as a result of the revolt of the southern
feudal lords known as "daimyo," the Shogun was forced to re
sign and the emperor was placed upon the throne which was
moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. >^ith this act "Japan entered the
Vinache, A History of the Far East in Modern
Times (New York: F. S. Crofts and Company, 19113) ^ p7“B0.
29
Meiji Period and the modern phase of her his tory;' J
That the Tokugawas needed replacing was seen in the
relaxing of the reins of government and the increasing
number of minor rebellions and uprisings, while at the tem
ples the B-uddhists were increasingly the recipients of
criticisms from both Gonfucianists and the rising school of
Shintoists whose position had now become strengthened due to
the influence of the Mito School of historians. These
people had aroused new interest in the national literature
and religion. Now there was resistance to the Shogun and
sympathy toward the hitherto unimportant imperial family
which had been for some centuries merely the pawns of the
ruling factions. A revival of learning swept Japan during
the middle, of the nineteenth century which
Took the students f irst to the Chinese classics and
then to the Japanese past, and this study revealed the
inroads made upon the original Japanese culture . . .
a revival of the old religion, Shinto, was undertaken.
Scholars began to inquire why the emperor should remain in
obscurity at Kyoto. The result of the revival was a stimu
lation to the sentiments of nationality, and loyalty to the
emperor.
In 1853 Commodore Berry landed upon the shores of
Yokohama Bay under orders from President Fillmore to arrive
cit., p. 18.
52 H. Vinacke, op. cit., p. 87. ________________________
30
at some agreement that would assure hospitable treatment f o r
wrecked sailors. The Shogun was adamant until Perry return
ed in 1854 and threatened to bombard the city unless an
agreement was made which also now would include an opportu
nity for trade.
In 1867 Meiji Tenno, who was born in 1852, became
Emperor upon the death of his father. By 1868 the Shogun
was forced to resign under the pressure of a revolt of the
southern feudal lords or "daimyo" who had banded together
against him. By agreement of the victorious daimyo
Matsuhito became actual as well as nominal ruler of the
empire.
The rallying cry of the samurai (warriors) had been
the doctrine of the imperial divinity. Under the Emperor
Meiji this idea was given a s t r o n g e r impetus. "The Meiji
government lost no time in attempting to establish a theo
cratic state based upon the supra-religious cult of
Shinto."33
After trying, through various ministries either join
ed to the cabinet or separated from it, to establish Bhinto
as the state religion, and only succeeding in creating more
chaos which resulted in persecution for the Buddhists, and
destruction of life and property, the government gave up
53 SOAP, op. cit., p. 20.
' ............ 31
this effort. In I872 a Religious Ministry was established
with jurisdiction over both Buddhists and Shintoists. For a
time, it was able almost entirely to bring religious acti
vities under governmental jurisdiction, but by 1884 it was
increasingly obvious governmental control would not succeed,
so the Administrative Office of the Religious Ministry was
dissolved. This meant at least the legal separation of
church and state, but State Shinto refused to recognize such
a separation.
Shrine Shinto was protected and cultured by govern
ment regulations and laws'which were finally established in
I89O with the publication of the Imperial Rescript on
Education on October 30 which, enjoining loyalty to the
Emperor and respect for Shrine, resulted in the stimulation
of Shrine worship.
"Historically Shinto has furnished the vital reli
gious basis for the oldest reigning dynasty in the w o r l d" 34
which has continued unbroken save for a very few adaptations
to the one hundred twenty fourth Emperor who now sits upon
the throne of his ancestors.
Under the guidance of the Emperor Meiji an effort was
made to establish a theocratic state using Shinto as the
foundation. The Constitution of 1889 stated the Emperor is
“ “ '34 Robert E. Hume, The World's Living Religions,
"Shinto" (New York: Charles Scribner's~Sons, 1939T: p. 147.
" 32
"sacred and inviolable" and indeed Japanese literature gives
the prestige of tradition to such a position by affirming
him to be "Akitsu Kami,” or "manifest Kami,” which to the
Japanese mind means the emperor is on an equal plane with
Jotei of the Chinese, or Jaweh of the Jews.
This close association with the state limited Shinto
until, instead of being transcendent to the state, it exist
ed primarily for the state, and in fact had as its great
objective the promotion of the throne. It became a tool to
foster nationalism in the same manner in which any religion
directs the consecration of its adherents to the ideals and
concepts of its advocates, primarily by cultivating senti-
Iment and conviction. Impetus was given to this movement by
the Imperial Rescript on Education which set forth the in
tention that the worship of ..the sun goddess should be a
national cult.
In 1882 the government decreed a distinction in the
types of Shinto, declaring two divisions : Shrine Shinto
which was to be the national cult, not a religion; and Sect
Shinto, into which classification all religious groups not
associated with Christianity or Buddhism were placed. In at
least one case a sect so classified insistently maintained
it had nothing in common with Shinto, but its protests went
unheeded.
In these years of controversy (1869-1884) these two
-------- 33
distinct types of Shinto definitely crystallized. Shrine
Shinto
Claimed to perpetuate the authentic and traditional
beliefs and rituals of the Japanese race and declared
that it had developed spontaneously in the national life
without the aid of individual historical founders.
Sect Shinto is rooted in the faith and practices of those
who were the founders of the particular sects. '
Shrine Shinto was administered until 1945 through a
Bureau of Shrines in the Department of Home Affairs. This
Bureau was responsible for the ceremonies, festivals, pro
perty, priests and their support, shrine regulations, and
the study of the parishioners. The Sectarian Shinto was
directed through the Bureau of Religions under the Depart
ment of Education which same Bureau was responsible for
control of all Buddhist and Christian groups.
Shrine Shinto was protected by government regulations
and laws based upon the Imperial Rescript on Education which
so strongly enjoined loyalty to the Emperor and respect for
"the way of the gods" as to give a strong impetus to shrine
worship.
Long before 19 40 religious bodies were being utilized
to enhance nationalism and militarism and both national
and local shrines took on added prestige so that worship
was not merely an indication of enthusiasm for the mili
tary, it was a test ofbeing a true Japanese subject.38
33-BGIP7 op. pit., p. 22.
56 Ibid., p. 27. __ ________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------34
Sectarian Shinto comprises a number of heterogeneous
sects which the government brought together in one classi
fication by an ordinance established in 1882. Seven sects
came into existence in the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868), and
six originated in the Meiji Period (1868-1912) making a
total of thirteen which the government recognized. Since
1945, however, so many have sprung into existence we cannot
give time or place to them in this research, at least one
[hundred having registered.
It has been suggested these Sects may be divided into
five basic divisions whose dominant characteristics empha
size (l) Shinto, (2) Confucian doctrines, (3) Mountain
worship, (4) Faith healing, (5) Ancient purification
ceremonies. A characteristic of these groups which
distinguishes them from Shrine Shinto is that these have
regular religious services in which sermons are preached and
elaborate rituals are performed.
I
In 1943 the government acknowledged ten million
members in these sects. However, other figures reveal
17,608,000 adherents; 124,800 priests and teachers, and
16,200 churches.
Three sects are designated "pure Shinto'. 3 These are
the Tai-kyo (kyo-sect), Shenri-Kyo, and Taisha-kyo. These
do not have "authentic historical founders', "37 but perpetu-
------37~lMdT, p. 91.________________________________________
35
at© ancient historical beliefs and practices which were re
vived in the latter part of the Tokugawa Era. These sects
are conservative, but imbued with an imperialistic loyalty.
Their scriptures are the Kojiki, the Nihongi, and other old
texts. Their doctrines are chiefly concerned with the duty
of sinful man to lead a righteous life.
There are two Confucian sects known as Shusei-ha, and
Taisei-kyo which combine Confucian and Shinto doctrines.
The three modern mountain sects are built around the
doctrines taught by one Hasegawa, a devout worshipper of
Mt. Pujiama. He established the first of these cults in the
latter half of the sixteenth century. These people believe
that the creator-spirits reside especially in the two
mountains Fujiama and Ontake, the latter located in the
Japan Alps.
Sect Shinto offered as agents of salvation such ex
ercises as prayer in which the devotee acknowledges depend-
; '
ence. There were offerings to be given and c eh ©monies to be
»
performed* The essential need for all Shintoists is purity.
There are two significations of purity in Shinto :
one is outer, bodily; and the other is inner or heart.
If a man is truly sincere in mind, he will be sure to
succeed in realizing a communion with the divine.38
Sêct Shinto holds at least a meagre concept of a
universal god which goes beyond the teachings of Shrine
33""GT'%ato, op. cit. , p. 163.
36
Shihito, for the Konko Sect entitled its god "Tenchi-kane-no-
Kami" which means "Heaven-and-earth-including-Deity" or more
simply "Absolute Divinity;" "Such a god transcends the
boundaries of any particular nation or country."39
Two sects were classed as purification sects. These
are Shinshu-kyo and Misogi-kyo. These sects give precedence
over every other consideration to purification rites. They
worship the deities of ancient Shinto. Their main precepts
are loyalty to the Emperor, filial piety, diligence in the
performance of duties, and practise of the "way of the
gods."
The faith-healing sects are three in number having
their strongest support among the peasant folk, and are
sometimes designated peasant sects. Their doctrines include
popular theism emphasizing a divine power as the source of
all life. If all selfish motives and passions are conquer
ed, the great power of this god can be realized in life by
faith.
These are "the most active and influential of the
Shinto s e c t s ;"80
39 GT Kato, "Shinto'; V The Eleven Religions, op. cit.,
p. 233.
60 SOAP, op. cit., p. 100.
CHAPTER III
BUDDHISM
I. ITS BEGINNING AND HISTORY TO WORLD WAR I
There are a number of dates suggested as the year in
which Buddhism came from Korea to Japan. These vary over a
span of sixty-one years from 322 A.D, to 383 A.D, Upon the
basis of research, and the statement of the "Nihon-giy" the
most trustworthy date seems to be 332 A.D.
There is some evidence which reveals abortive efforts
by Buddhist missionaries to establish their doctrines in
Japan about 322 A.D., but these failed and it was not until
an emissary from the King of Kudara in Korea brought to the
Court of Kimmei Tenno an image in gold and bronze of Sakya-
muni along with several Buddhist Sutras, that this invading
philosophy was able to secure its position in 332 A.D,
Kimmei, upon the advice of certain administrative
leaders in his government finally consented to the worship
of Buddha. The priests and military leaders, however,
stirred up a revolt which resulted in the destruction of the
image and the temple, and dispersion of the priests.
Twenty years later as Kimmei’s son, Bidatsu was on
the throne, there came a third mission from Ko^ea. whose
members were quartered in a temple near Osaka. This mission
38
included priests, nuns, carpenters, image-makers and
diviners.
In spite of opposition in varying degrees through
these years. Buddhism was able to establish itself securely
enough that even warfare could not destroy it. By 388 A.D.
the new religion dominated the Japanese Gourt and was cham
pioned by such Emperors as Yomei, and Shu j un, and the
Empress Suiko.
A. ASUKA PERIOD (392-628 A.D.)
This period in Japanese history is significant as
that in which Buddhism began its conquest of "The Country in
the Midst of Luxuriant Reed Plains" later to be called
"Hi-no-moto" (The Source of the Sun). The Chinese charac
ters for the latter appellation were pronounced "Nippon;
and Ballou says Marco Polo spelled the word "Jipangu" from
which has come the word "Japan.7^
Gradually this new religion exerted a stronger in
fluence at Court until Buddhist practices replaced those
Shinto customs of long practice, and burial instead of cre
mation was the order while floral and vegetable offerings
superseded animal offerings. The amalgamation process
carried on into the next Period.
»
T7î7"~L7*"Gring, Religions of the Mission Fields
jgüddhism, (Student Volunteer Movement, 19037j p. 133._______
3 9
The new religion found an open heart in the Japanese
nation for it gave the people a moral code which served as a
foundation for an eschatology previously unthought of. At
first it was a religion of the aristocrats, and there were
many ideas and techniques of government administration in
corporated by the rulers who espoused the cause. There were
some rulers who abdicated to become priests and it became
fasionable to read and study the Sutras in the Court. This
pursuit brought a new approach to philosophy, logic, art,
science, agriculture, and even to the techniques of engi
neering as an increasingly large number of missionaries and
scholars came to the new mission field with their superior
civilization.
B. NARA PERIOD (710-800)
It was 200 years before Buddhism swept its way
uniquivocally into the life-stream of Japan and ushered in
the two centuries of the nations greatest religious fervor,
to wit, the seventh and eighth which belong to the Nara
Period (710-800 A.D.). They have been called "the period
of greatest religious fervor in the history of Japan.
Under the sponsorship of the ruling emperor, two out
standing men were sent to study in China. Having completed
2 Ballou, op. cit., p. 7
40
their studies. Kobo Daishi (774-835) and Dengyo Daishi (767-
822) returned to Japan in the early part of the ninth
century and became founders respectively of the Shingon and
Tendai sects. Their temples were located near Kara.
The great contribution which Kobo made through his
Shingon or "True Word" sect was a reconciliation of Shinto
and Buddhism by declaring all the gods of the Shinto
pantheon were but manifestations of the Buddha. The success
of his annunciation is evidenced by the kami-dana (god--
shelf) found in nearly every Japanese home today where gods,
or representatives, of both systems are found, and although
it is usually recognized there are differences between a
Buddhist Temple and a Shinto Ehpine, there are many places
of worship where no such demarcation is made today.
Outstanding rival to Kobo's Shingon sect was the
Tendai Sect founded by Dengyo Daishi a few years earlier
(805) and which also had a tremendous and rapid growth.
In this period many magnificent temples were built at
enormous( expense for large quantities of gold, silver, and
bronze were used for decoration and for making the images.
As a memorial to the reconciliation of Buddhism and Shinto,
'Emperor Shomu ordered the construction, in bronze, of the
great Dia-butsu (Great Buddha) at Kamakura. The segments of
this colossus are welded together, a significant achievement
for this early civilization.________________________________
41
During both, the Asuka and the Nara Periods Buddhism
was torn by internal dissension and strife, the extent of
which may be evidenced by the militant spirit of the Tendai
sect which actually had armies at its command. In a seem
ingly paradoxical manner, the Buddhism of this period con
tributed out of its exclusive faith to the spiritual and
cultural life of the people to a considerable degree. Both
Shinto and Buddhism established themselves in certain areas
of social living to the point that Shinto entered the sphere
of births, marriages, festivals, and victories in battles
while Buddhism affected preaching of doctrines, ecclesias
tical organization, and funerals. Ancestor worship which
was a step-child of Confucianism became the affair of both
Shinto and Buddhism.
Both Saicho (Dengyo Daishi) and Kukai (Kobo Daishi)
moved toward a syncretism of Buddhist and Shinto doctrines.
Kukai achieved this in a marked degree in his teaching of
"Ryobu Shinto" which presents a dualistic idea. The word
Ryobu actually means "double aspect;” The achievement was
the method of accepting Shinto deities in a Buddhist frame
of reference.
This amalgamation was bound to have been achieved
eventually for Buddhism as the invader had constantly been
seeking methods whereby it could adjust itself to Japanese
tradition colored by Shinto concepts. Since Buddhism held
42
its gods to be in cosmic relationship, and eternal, the
Shinto gods must take a subordinate position which was as-
bribed to the area of their manifestation in relation to the
Buddhist deities.
Shinto too, was structured to lend itself to compro-
pise by its concern with the factors of daily living, and
such occult matters as its mythology sponsored.
Kukai*s Shingon teachings qualified this sect as a
vehicle to accomodate the syncretization for it too was
occult in emphasis and readily utilized the concept of the
cycle of the two mandaias to achieve its end.
Kukai took the mandala concept from the Asiatic main
land. It portrays the dual aspect of the universe in
graphic form as constituting "the ideal" and "the dynamic;"
Each picure shows "the great illuminator" surrounded by
figures and symbols in the one case, and by deities in the
other. The mandalas show all the bodily postures, and those
[nagic movements of hands and fingers employed in the Bhingon
ritual.
This dualism was very readily transferred into every
area of the life of that day. One was confronted, for in
stance, with the concepts of the spiritual and secular, the
sentimental and intellectual. Religion became intensely
functional as it was carried into every area of living, and
lahayana Buddhism moved toward its goal as an ethical
43
influence.
With time the religious aspect of this doctrine be
came engulfed in the temporal, and priests and monks were
only soldiers in a physical army used to defend a somewhat
decadent ideal.
This new religion found an eager hearing everywhere.
It brought to Japan a splendid, organization, a new civiliza
tion, literature and arts, and a philosophy far superior to
the existent one. Now the people had a religion definitive
of moral sanctions and vetoes, and promise of a futurb happy
life, and the assurance of a divine tolerance which offered
them spiritual liberation since it opened the way for every
person, irrespective of rank or position, to achieve the
highest state of spiritual development. Here was a religion
which invited all to the society of the gods, for everyone
or anyone might become a Buddha. Here was offered, as in
Christianity, an unlimited tolerance and unmeasured sympathy
for all the little people, of whom there were millions,
whereas in Shinto there was taught distinction in this life
and in the life after death.
In the realms of righteousness one would be on an
equal footing with the kings, priests and common people.
Here in an atmosphere of beautiful architecture, high ceil
ings, low lights, tinkling bells, chanting priests, and
singing altar boys; here, with burning candles, bright
- uu
colored vestments and impressive demeanor, men and women
found inspiration for new hope of a future life, and so
courage was also found to face and endure poverty, toil and
sorrows, ^ere men .learned the art of standing in the
presence of grief, and behind the curtain of a smile, hiding
the breaking of a heart as they told of the passing of "my
stupid wife;” or "my good-for-nothing boy. '”3
C. EEIAN PERIOD (8OO-II7O)
As the Buddhist priests became more involved in poli
tical struggles among themselves, they reached out into the
courts and among the ruling houses (Taira, Minamoto, and
Fujiwara) for support until political intrigue, assassina
tions, occupation, and ambition ran riot. Finally some
factions at the Court grew so weary with it that when the
Fujiwara family came to power, they moved to a new capital
in order to escape from "the priest-ridden political ex
travagances of Nara; ”4 This new capital was Kyoto.
During this period there were over thirty emperors
because so many abdicated in favor of the monastic life of
the Buddhist priests. ^here these over-laps occurred, there
was often dissension due to the priest-monarch speaking
3 Yamaguchi, o£. cit., p. 51*
: 4-S.GAP_3_ap..__c.l-t..-,—p-._8..______________________________
45
against the ruling but younger Son-of-heaven. Then the
large families stepped in and gradually- usurped the authori
ty of the ruling emperor. In this morass of political de
cay, it is interesting that both Saicho*s and Kobo's
teachings brought Buddhism within reach of the understanding
of the uneducated, and salvation might be attained by the
humblest of men. The universality of this salvation became
one of the important steps in the popularizing of the
religion.
Yet
Although it was the dominant religion of the day, and
had driven Shinto into the background, it failed to ex
ercise any direct or enduring influence on the everyday
spiritual life of the people.3
Eventually the rivalry between the Tairas and
Minamoto8 flamed into pitched battles across thirty years
which in 1185 resulted in the complete defeat of the Tairas
and the new period began.
D. KAMAKURA PERIOD (1170-1350)
This period brought a contribution in cultural re
forms and benefits which included strong religious movements
which found encouragement from the two centuries of peace,
the ninth and the twelfth, and gave expression in a greatly
increased interest in art, literature, and architecture.
3~~^Uid77 p. 10.______________________________ ______ _
Ï Ï 5
However, the early part of the twelfth century had experi
enced a spiritual decay which carried through the clan wars
until the Hojo family victories ushered in the Kamakura
Period.
A significant trend in this period was the tendency
to give expression to local ideals and ideologies rather
than the importation of foreign ideas. These ideals were
crystallized by outstanding thinkers of the era who accom
plished the transition of Buddhism from the metaphysical
aura, with which it had previously quite successfully be
decked itself, to the level of the common man.
Buddhism offered two methods of gaining salvation;
(1) The Holy Path, (2) The Pure Land. The first method is
by means of self-power by which we mean salvation is the re
sult of actions or works of one's own doing. Pure land
teaches salvation through the power of another--for the
Buddhist, Amida. Ami da ism came into its own under the dir-c,
rection of a Tendai priest named Honen who, in 1175^ founded
the Jodo Sect. This was the first great religious movement
of this period.
"The fundamental tenet of Honen*s religion consisted
of faith in the power of a11-compassionate and almighty
Amida, the Lord of the Pure Land."6 Amidaism quickly won
6 SOAP, op. cit. , p. 95"_____________________ __
U7
favor ¥/ith the people because it offered salvation upon such
easy terms, whereas former schools of Buddhist thought had
offered salvation upon the basis of quite rigid disciplines,
and spiritual enlightenment. The new idea of faith with a
rewarding re-birth in the western paradise simplified the
whole frame work of religious expression.
To Honen Amida is
The greatest of all Buddhas, the Supreme Being in the
universe, the unoriginate, the Boundless in Power, and
in God. Amida is without beginning and without end, all
love, wisdom, benevolence and power.?
Nichiren, an outstanding reformer, came over the
horizon of religious thinking at this time. %chiren had
been an outstanding disciple of Honen. In 1253 Nichiren
founded the Nichiren Sect whose doctrines were much more
easily understood and more readily acceptable to the unedu
cated masses. He opposed the teachings of both Amidaism
and Zen (see below); and using the teachings of the Lotus
Sutra as his authority, he proclaimed the doctrine of Sukui
or salvation by faith which was evidenced in the recitation
of the sacred formula "Adoration to the Sutra of the Lotus
of the true law.^ Such faith achieved both a measure of
moral virtue and paradise on earth for the believer.
It is claimed that nearly three-quarters of the Jap
anese Buddhists belong to the Jodo and Shin sects, and both
7~T5I57T p. 101.____________________ ______________________
ii.8
of these, today, use western methods of evangelism; Sunday
Schools, summer camps, youth associations, women's societies,
and even street preaching. There are "foreign" missionaries
from Japan to America sent by these sects.
The late Professor Lloyd has tried to point out that
:here is a Christian influence in the doctrine of Amida
which perhaps crept in because of the Gnostic teachers, the
Nestorians, who worked side by side for some centuries in
China. Other authorities advocate that rather than some
sorrowing, there was a development along parallel lines of
thought.
The investigator is of the opinion that since
Mahayana Buddhism professes to be a boundless ocean in which
All forms of faith and thought find a welcome home, it is
much more likely that Professor Lloyd's hypothesis is
correct.
M. Kiyozawa, a graduate of Tokyo University (former
ly Imperial) expressed his faith in Amida by S5y ing,
"What is meant by my believing? Why should I believe?
Because it is the saving power of faith which takes
away my trouble and suffering. When I believe instantly
I find happiness and peace, no matter how much I am
suffering from various trials, or troubled by
circumstances."^
In 1191 Zen Buddhism came to Japan from India by way
of China. Doctrines of this sect made a great contribution
uo the spiritual awaking of the period, and by the
. -g—2ârâdâ, op. cit. , p. 103.
ÏÏ9
fourteenth, century, it had become "the most influential
religion in Japan;”9
It had begun about 525 A.D. under the instruction of
Bodhi Dharma who is considered the twenty-eighth patriarch
from Gautama, and was a migrant from India to China.
The special scripture of the Zen movement is the
Lankavatara Sutra.
"Satori‘ , ? which is commonly associated with Buddhism
in the minds of the Japanese, is the law of enlightenment
which may or may not be a religious experience. The concept
expressed the state of being fully conscious of the real
condition of things, and is a subjective experience express
ed either as "Tongo" which is an instantaneous enlighten
ment, as if one saw a great light; or "Kwai-go" which means
a form of repentance due to a strickened conscience; or
"Kakugo" which expresses resolution, or "Goniu" that degree
of insight making possible a spiritual understanding of the
unknown. Satori symbolizes that inward illumination which
is experienced upon transcending all the teachings of all
teachers, and is consequently the culmination of all study
and research. It is self-authenticating and has been com
pared to the conversion experience in the Christian frame of
reference.
9 SGAP, op. cit., p. 12
Since the Buddha nature is everywhere, man need not
go outside himself to find the realization of his true
nature, but he needs only to clear away the film over his
eyes, which film isn't actually real, but is a figment of
the mind. Salvation is acquired by inner realization, which
nullified prayer. Prayer is a type of vanity and asceticism
is as vain as prayer.
Vigorous physical training and privation were stress
ed and honest poverty was a mark of distinction. The
sect has no fixed doctrines, but emphasizes the place of
inner convictions which are strengthened by silence
which is encouraged. Basic truth is taught in nature,
and as a priest once said, "The singing bird preaches
the essential doctrine'^
It renounces the concept of fixed categories either reli
gious, or non-religious, and interprets the doctrine of
Sunyata (Emptiness, the Void) to mean that this emptiness
refers only to the ability to empty the mind of those hooks
which circumscribe the individual within a particular frame
work, or under defined labels. "Zen is the Japanese equiva
lent for the Dhyana which 'represents human effort to reach
through meditation zones of thought beyond the range of
verbal expression, J [
The beautiful and impressive Tea Ceremony is^-one of
the gifts of Zen to the culture of the country.
11.
1Ü BaXIou, op. pit., p. 38.
11 Inazo Nitobe, Bushido (Tokyo: Kenkyusha, I737),
~ ^
As a result of the teachings of this sect, its fol- '
lowers were strengthened by a sense of self-confidence both
in time of battle and for administrative functions necessary
to be discharged.
Even as the Kamakura Period brought a great awaken
ing, like all such events, it was followed by lethargy and
ineffectiveness until by the next period (Ashikaga) secular
ism again was ascendant.
E. ASEIKAGA PERIOD (1350-1570)
In this period there were few great religious think
ers because there was no great vitality within the religious
world, and as a result, wars and anarchy became more preva
lent until this period has been called by some the "dark
ages" of Japanese history.
During these "dark ages" it was largely the Zen monks
who, from within their monastery cells, preserved the lit
erature and art of the nation, and who contributed what
thinking was done while the monks of the other sects waged
war against each other. In the fourteenth century "the
nonks became mere militia.
P. TOKUGAWA PERIOD (I63O-I87O)
12 E, W. Hopkins, The Hi story of Religions (New York:
\îacmillan Go., 1918), p. 303. ~ “
.......... 52
In spite of two hundred and fifty years of peace
which followed the military victories of Hideyoshi, an
Emperor who came to power in 1582 and who was able to over
come the clan warfare and keep the various chieftains under
his domination, there was a steady deterioration in the
religious field. This did not prohibit the building of a
great number of very beautiful temples, which were state
supported. But those who were in authority in the temples
sold their souls for the pottage of the favor of the Shogun
who exercised control over both priests and temples, and who
had no scruples in using them to control the people of the
vicinity, all of whom were now required to register as
Buddhists at the temple.
By the end of this period there was an increasing
number of evidences of decay both in government and religion
Ifor the Shogunate was bankrupt and the temple no longer
jevangelized. With the fall of the Shogunate, Buddhism
reached its lowest place for many of her temples were clos
ed, some destroyed, the priests forced to resign their posts
land anti-Buddhist feeling ran high. It was time for a new
Period.
G. MEIJI PERIOD (I87O-I9II)
This period is not particularly significant to Bud
dhist development for during this time there occurred a
53
resurgence of Shinto worship. Buddhism lost out so com
pletely that in 1909 Count Okuma, at the Jubilee of
Protestant Missions said, "To be sure Japan had her reli
gions, and Buddhism prospered greatly; but this prosperity
was largely through political means. Now this creed has
been practically rejected."13 An editorial from the Seoul
Press (1910) quoted by Speer remarks, "We believe few will
contradict us when we say that Buddhism is on the wane . • .
In fact the nation as a whole regards Buddhism with cold
indifference."1^
Buddhism does sustain an heirarchical system which
should be noted.
Primitive Buddhism sustained four ecclesiastical
orders: Monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women. The monks and
nuns devoted themselves to religious practices; the laymen:
and women were usually those who could not, for various
reasons, segregate themselves from the world, so they served
as best they could within the limits of the restraints with
which they had to contend.
In Mahayana Buddhism, the place of the lay people be-
T3”~R0bert E. Speer, The Light of the World (West
Medford: Woods, 1911), p. 109.
lU Ibid., p. 108.
: 5il
came increasingly important, so much so, that most of the
Bodhisattvas were represented as being lay people.
In Japan three titles were available to priests, and
within the rank of "priest" were three stages. Each priest
became such only by governmental decree until in 18?3 when
the governmental control of church authority was transferred
to the particular sect.
Most sects in Japan have monks, too, who are consid
ered lowest in the Buddhist heirarchy*
The study made by SCAP presents a sample list of
titles which are presented with the warning that comparisons
to an English heirarchy would not be wise because of trans
lation difficulties. The example is from the Shingon Sect:
Archbishop (Daisojo) ............ Six grades
Bi shop (So j o)....................
Ranking priest (Sozu)............Six grades
Priests (Risshi) ................ Two grades
onks ( Soryo )........, ...........Without rank
Seminarians (Kyoshi Slilo) .... Candidates for priesthood
The practise of hereditary priesthood is now observed
quite generally. Countess Otani, sister of the Emperor,
wife of one of two Otani Archbishops who are heads of the
Jodo Shinshu sect, is reported to have said, "Hereditary
leadership in the temples . . . was a cancer of Buddhism.
lTTTT l'57Lûcÿ’ "H. Crocket, Popcorn on. the Ginza (New York:
William Sloane Associates, ) — p.
_____---------- g';
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
"It is clear that the rise of Mahayana was rapid in
the first and second centuries A.D."^^ However, nothing is
known for certain as to its origin and its rise. Its earli
est indicated existence is found in the Gandhara sculptures
of the first century B.C. where the Bodhisattva ideal is
emphasized.
The word "yana" means career, but "mahayana" means
"Great Vehicle" because it seems to have been compared to
a great bullock chariot.
Mahayana Buddhism introduces the idea of a deity with
at least an implication of a trinity of sorts composed of
that Cosmic Source which manifests itself as Bodhi, a cosmic
principle revealing itself in three ways:
(1) Dharmakaya which is the indestructible element
or essence, an eternal principle.
(2) Nirmanakaya which is the embodied form of
Dharma kay a, and is considered the form through which Buddha
revealed himself, and
(3) Sambhogyakaya which is the body of bliss, or
the form Buddha takes before the eyes of the blessed.
It is not possible to say this is the crystallization
16 A. B. Keith, Buddhist Philosophy (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 19235 ,“ 7"2177------
5 6
of the concept of a Trinity for Lin Yutang says, "Buddhism
is a philosophy. It is a form of religious enlightenment
built upon a metaphysical basis."1? "Pure Buddhism has
practically no theology; it is basically a philosophy and
must be so studiedi’ ^^
Mahayana was first used to designate the highest
principle, being, or knowledge of which the universe as a
whole is a manifestation and through which only salvation
may be attained. It is the progressive or liberal school in
which.metaphysical outreach becomes dazzling and speculation
may run to extremes. It professes to be a boundless ocean
in which all forms of'faith and thought find a welcome home.
The system did shift the emphasis from the purely in
tellectual or empirical point of reference from which to
search out the answer to a man's need to that of a promise
of a Pure Land Heaven and of salvation through the merits of
a Bodhi sat tva rather than of self which gave birth to the
present system of rituals, priests and temples. The Chinese
Canon is foundational to the doctrines taught; however, no
sect uses the canon in its entirety, although all do respect
it. Usually the sect will limit itself to particular sutras
or portions of a sutra, and every temple preserves its par-
l7”Lin”Yutang, The Wisdom of China and India (New
York: Random House, 19H27> p. Wl#
______ 16 SCAP, op. cit., p. 37.______________________ _____
5 7
ticular sutra in some special place within the building.
The Buddiiism of Japan is of the Mahayana system hold
ing to the Bhakti Yoga and is colored with legendary and
spiritual interpretations of the meaning of life. It is an
heterogeneity of ideas and sometimes conflicting systems,
but rooted in such ideas as a particular founder, S'akyamuni
Gautama; the idea that salvation is the moment of attainment
of Buddhahood; the acceptance of the doctrine of "three
precious things" which are Buddha, the law, and the church;
and belief in the three basic elements to wit: morality,
intuition, and meditation wtiich are proclaimed as the correct
approach to truth. Its doctrines incorporate the teaching
that each individual is potentially a Buddha, and that he
should have a two-fold aim: (l) To attain Nirvana for him
self, (2) To become a Bodhisattva in order that he might
serve all mankind in an entirely unselfish way. "The
Bodhisattva is indeed the characteristic feature of the
Mahayana, the ideal which distinguishes it from the
Hinayana"!^ system. It may even be said that the only true
way'of salvation would appear to be along the path of
Bodhisattva whose aim in life is somewhat expressed in this
quotation from "The Lotus of the True Law," "When I perceive
19 A . B . . K e i t h , p p . c i t . p . 2 8 8 .
---------- 58
creatures vexed with, mishap I make them see Nirvana.
Mahayana Buddhism brought a richness to the social
life of Japan, and in turn was so widely received that some
one has called Japan its "homeI' It provided "for monks and
laity alike a vista of helpfulness and cheerful activity,
imbued with the desire to aid others as the only possible
means indirectly of aiding ones self;7^1 it gave birth to
the six sects (l) Tendai; (2) Shingon; (3) Jodo; (U) Shin;
(5) Aen; (6) Nichiren to which reference has already been
made.
In the minds of a few there may have been a lofty
seeking after truth so that it could be said, "Intellectual
ly the Law of Buddha is a mysterious idealism; practically
it is a mass of idolatry."22 As for a plan of salvation,
"It is deliverance from the miserable world, or in other
words, escape from the miserable stages of transmigration."23
Mahayana, by injecting the concept of Bodhisattva, avoided
these numberless transmigrations for the man-of-the-streets.
The Bodhisattva chose, by a vow, to become a Buddha who
alone can save beings, and to accumulate for salvation the
20 R. 0. Ballou, The Bible of the World (New York:
Viking Press, 1939), p. 319.-----------------
21 Keith, op. cit., p. 295.
22 Harada, op. cit., p. 76.
_____ 23 Ibid. , p. 105. _________________ _____________
59
great store of merits of the career of a Buddha yet to be,
and carried with him the willingness to renounce the tempta
tion to enter Nirvana, but would rather be suspended in
transmigrations for untold ages in order to be a sacrifice
on behalf of men.
The ultimate goal of every Buddhist is quite natural
ly Nirvana. Such an attainment "must be in and through lif^
not in annihilation or abstention from its activities,
To reach such a goal is quite an involved process
which it might be well to briefly point’out.
Karma is simply the law of cause and effect which was
borrowed as a doctrine from Hindu philosophy. Guatama "made
it the foundation for his pessimistic tcachingsL It
determines the course of e vents and our destiny, but nothing
in this world has its source in a single cause, rather
everything is the result of a combination of many causes and
conditions. In its final analysis, it has been called "the
formative principle of the universe.
Karma causes all men to be born in one of six paths:
(l) The path or world of hell.
2k Keith, op. cit., p. 258.
25 D. S. Robinson, The Principles of Conduct (New
York: Appelton-Century-CroTts, 19T['87, p. 72.
26 D. T. Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism
(Chicago : Open Court Publishing Company, 190877 p7 33.
6 0
(2) The path or world of torment,
(3) The path of beasts,
(4) The path of disembodied spirits (this world is
filled with fighting and slaughter),
(5) The path of men,
(6) The path of heaven.
To pass through these six worlds, one must keep in
mind the following three factors: (1) Buddha; (2) The Law;
(3) the Church. The traveller must put away the things of
the flesh and of the world. He must keep with him the
spirit of wisdom, love of truth, patience and firmness, and
live a retired life. The practise of such attitudes pro
duces the following desires* (1) the salvation of others as
well as himself, (2) the conquest of endless passions and 1 .
lusts, (3) the knowledge of Buddhist doctrines, ' ( it) the
attainment of final salvation through faithfulness.
As soon as the individual tries to change the stream
of cause and effect, he projects himself into a different
relationship. This difference is discovered through the
medium of the Intellect. Buddha means "enlightenment" so
the enlightened person begins to lead a right life wMch
changes his Karma by which means it becomes necessary to
endure fewer evil migrations.
Suffering originates in desire and attachment. Once
these are denied, the pilgrim becomes free. This freedom is
6 1
due to his understanding of the true value of things, and
the conquest of ignorance and desire eventually produces the
desirable state of Nirvana, which "is a consequence of
understanding that all laws (things) are equal ;
The famous ten ox herding pictures are an example of
this progression. The ox symbolizes the self, or soul,
which should be subject to discipline (zen). The gradual
whitening of the ox until he disappears from the man's con
sciousness, is representative of the advancing purification.
Nirvana does not imply an annihilation of conscious
ness, but rather an annihilation of the ego substance and of
all desires arising from it. "Negatively, it is the de
struction of all evil passions. Positively, it is the
practise of sympathy."28 The ego must be eliminated because
it "is not genuine, not a true reality, but only a degrading
composite of temporary, obstructive delusions-. "29
The problem of non-ego is cared for in the doctrine
of non-atman. Atman as a doctrine "was developed by a
Brahman cult,,"30 ‘ They used the term to represent a materi
alistically fine substance located in the heart and compared
27~H7~"Ü7 Ballou, op. cit. , p. 328.
28 D. T. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 50.
29 R. 0. Ballou, op. cit., p. 1351*
30 J, Hastings, "Life of the Buddha," Encyclopedia
of Religion and Ethics, Vol. II, p. 861._________________
: 62
in shape and size to a variety of small objects. They main
tained it held an essential quality of permanence* Basical
ly the word "atman" means "to breathe" and is comparable to
the Greek word "pneuma" meaning "spirit" and which carries
the idea of "breath'." Taken on the whole, it means "self"
or "existent substance or element;"31
Mahayana took the word from the Hinayanist and re
fined its meaning by giving it a moral implication and made
atman mean selfishness, but non-atman carries the banner of
unselfishness. Non-atman denies the existence of the soul
in the sense so often accepted. It does not recognize a
metaphysical ego or unity underlying consciousness evidenced
by a coordination or unification of various mental opera
tions. "Neither the self nor the physical world is sheer
illusion, but neither is absolute reality."32
Being is recognized, however, in the category of
"Dharmahaya" which means "a body or system of b e i n g ;"33 it
is the ultimate reality underlying all particular phenomena.
Since it is capable of reflecting and of willing it is
possessed of Karuna (love) and Bodhi (intelligence), but it
31 Tomomatsu, Fundamental Ideas of Buddhism (Tokyo:
Koshisha Shobo 21st 73 27------
32 J. B. Pratt, The Pilgrimage of Buddhism (New York:
Macmillan Company, 19 2 877"p7"397:---------------
33 D. T. Suzuki, op. cit., p. i|6. ____________________
63
is not separate from the universe which is a manifestation
of Dharmakaya. All beings are but self-manifestations of
Dharma kaya which means that any particular existence is not
particular for they would be without that essential oneness
with Dharmakaya which would immediately give them an im
portance comparable to a soap bubble.
Gautama considered it a mistake to hold to particu
lars as the instrument of final existence, but fail to re
cognize the one pervading reality (Dharmakaya) which under
lies all. So, taken in its final sense, ignorance is the
basic hindrance. To gain Nirvana, to appreciate Dharmakaya,
we must rid ourselves of ignorance. To achieve this, there
are twelve Nedanas (chains of ascendance) given. Ignorance
is first, and from it comes ACTION, from it comes CONSCIOUS
NESS, from it comes NAME and FORM, from it comes SIX ORGANS,
from it comes TOUCH, from it comes SENSATION, from it comes
DESIRE, from it comes CLINGING, from it comes BEING, from
it comes BIRTH, from it comes PAIN.
Each of these steps becomes a Karma to the following
one and through all these transmigrations, there is a con
tinuing existence of the soul which is always changing,
growing out from the ever sure result of the selves that
had been.
Here is a religion which invites all to the society
of the gods. Everyone or anyone might become a Buddha.
■ .................. 6h
(Here was offered unlimited tolerance and unmeasured sympathy
for all the little people of whom there were millions. In
the realms of righteousness, one would be on an equal foot
ing with the kings, priests and all other common people.
Because all men may become Buddhas, the temples be
came pantheons. Your investigator stood in a temple in
Kyoto where 1000 Buddhas stood in dust-covered,‘ gold-gilted
stoic array.
Mahayana Buddhism "encouraged a loyalty to kind, and
c o u n t r y " 3 U which served to lead Japan to a position of power,
authority and prestige which for many years held the respect
of the nations of the world.
Before leaving this Chapter it would seem wise to
'emphasize the development of the synthesism accomplished be
tween Buddhism and Shinto.
As has been pointed out Shinto was without clearly
defined ritual or theology when Buddhism first came to Japan
(552 A.D.). It had nothing to say of encouragement to any-
bne except the aristocracy. Its worship was mystical and
Levoid of material objects except empty, drab shrines. Its
priests were laymen from the nearby community. There was no
aggressive development to its philosophy. Rather it seems
negative in that its main reason for existence seems to have
I 3Ï"ÂT""Eîoyd, The Creed of Half Japan (New York:
E. P. Dutton Company7"T9l777“p“ lTB7--- -------------------
65
been to placate, appease or bribe the gods in relation 'to
crises at hand or anticipated.
Buddiiism was inquisitive. It possessed what Shinto
lacked, and its schemes of salvation offered eschatological
hope easy of realization.
Ryobu achieved a syncretism which contributed greatly
to the destiny of Japan. A chauvinistic nationalism was one
development evidenced in the hyper-nationalism seen in
emperor worship and Japanism which sees the very ground as
sacred. This was achieved by flattering Shinto deities
through elevating them to near equality with the Buddhist
gods. The tag-end ideas of Shinto were carried along until
willingly discarded, or dressed up in new interpretations,
they were woven more securely into the Buddhist pattern.
Ethics and manners as codes of deportment grew from
the new companionship as Buddhist ethics felt the impact of
Shinto paternalism colored throughout by reverence for the
Son-of-heaven, the father of Japan, the land of the divinely
chosen race.
CHAPTER IV
CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN TO WORLD WAR II
I. CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY
It was in the period of the "Dark Ages" (Ashikaga
Period) that the Portuguese traders first came to Japan.
In Mendez Pinto, driven north by a storm, landed on one
of the Loa Ghoo Islands. Upon his return to Europe, it was
not too long before the report of new lands with the possi
bility of increased commerce and new converts sent merchant
men and priests upon new voyages of "discovery/" Francis
Xavier landed at Kagoshima, a port in the territory of
Daimyo Shimazu Takahisa, one of the two most powerful
Daimyos, on the Island of Kyushu, the southernmost of
Japan's four main islands, in the year l $ k 9 •
Xavier, a Jesuit, was one of the six men who formed
the Order of "The Society of Jesus. I ' This was one of the
Roman Catholic Orders which had missions as a major objec
tive, and which was so constituted as to be able to promote
its aims in an aggressive manner. "Most of the Roman
Catholic missions . . . were through Orders which . . . came
out of the Catholic Reformation such as the Jesuits."J
1 K. S. Latourette, A History of Christianity (New
[York: Harper and Brothers , 19 537, p. 9 25. ________________
T ï
Xavier's father, Jasso, was of a noble and ancient
family high in the employ of the king of Aragon, but Xavier
took his name from his mother's family. Coleridge says,
"He was the youngest son of a large and'very noble family."^
His sister Maddalena later became the famous Abbess of the
Poor Clares at Gandia. Xavier chose the way of books and
knowledge rather than that of the sword toward which others
in his family inclined, and by 1530 he had earned the degree
of Masters of Arts.
While in Rome with Loyola, a request for four mis
sionaries for the Portuguese possessions of India came from
King John III. Instead of four, at the last moment Xavier
was the only one commanded by Loyola to proceed to India,
which he did. He left Lisbon on April 7, 15)4-1 and arrived
in India on May 6, 15^ 42, having wintered six months e nr ou te
at Mozambique on the southeast coast of Africa.'
The six months spent upon a Spanish Galleon served to
introduce the missionary to a manner of living with which he
was not too familiar, for nine hundred people cooped up in a
lumbering, slow moving ship offered much possibility of de
generation. Xavier was not used to such close "fellowship"
with men who abandoned even the restraints of normal society
in those wild days, but he developed the practise of
2 H. J~Coleridge, Life and Letters of St. Francis
Xav^r (London: Burns and Üili,~~l912T7'~T7"p7"‘ 9 ------
— 7 7
"Apostolic conversation" which he sustained through‘out life.
To do this, he mingled with the travelers freely and used
this technique "as one of the most successful instruments
of the salvation and improvement of others;"3
Goa, a city on the west coast of India, was the
ship’s port and seat of Portuguese government. Here, the
flaming Jesuit established a college to which eventually
came some Japanese youth for study. Instruction was given
to the Jesuit teachers concerning the students.
Let thanlearn to read, write and speak Portuguese
so that they may be interpreters for the Fathers who,
if it so please God, shall before many/years come to
Japan and China.^
In spite of a great amount of work and success,
Francis was led to go to Japan by his feeling of failure in
India. He says in a letter to King John III,
I am very much without hope that here in India I
shall find that true and efficient support from our
officials which is necessary in order to increase their
holy faith and to preserve the Christians already made.^
In a letter to Loyola written January lit, 15U9> he
states his purpose of going to Japan in order that the in
habitants who were all heathen might be able to "learn what
3 Jhid., p. 111.
0. Gary, History of Christianity in Japan (Hew
ÿork: Fleming H. RevelX Company, I9O9T, p. 3U.
5 H . J , C o l e r i d g e , o p . c i t . , I I , p . 1 2 .
6 9
they do not know both in things divine and things natural;"6
When Xavier and his party of three Japanese and three
Jesuits landed in Japan, they found an already strongly es
tablished Buddhism which was maintained by the greatest
political power wielded in the empire, that of the Buddhist
priests.
Upon the occasion of his arrival, the officials and
the people openly received the party and gave it a hearty
welcome. From the Daimyo (lord) of Yamaguchi, Xavier at
last received permission to.preach and for the people to be
lieve, and he was given a piece of land formerly belonging
to a Buddhist monastery. At the Daimyo*s residence, he met
several Shingon priests who invited him to their temple and
showed themselves friendly. At Yamaguchi the success was
so complete that the Missionary wrote "after two months at
least five hundred have become Christian,"?
The first conversion occurred as a result of a street
incident* Fernandez was speaking to a large crowd when a
man came forward and as he pretended he was about to whisper
in the preacher's ear, he spat in his face. The crowd
laughed, then watched to see what the foreigner would do in
response to this insult. Without pausing in his message, he
6 Ibid., p. 71
7 Ibid.., p. 71.
7 0
wiped ills face with his handkerchief and went quietly on
with his speaking. The crowd was greatly impressed, and one
man who was an enemy of Christianity reasoned, ”a religion
which enables its followers to practise such virtue must
surely be divine;!' He was the first to be baptized in the
city.
Brother Juan Fernandez reports his preaching upon
the street corners of Yamaguchi. Hi g procedure was to read
from Genesis which was translated into Japanese, then to
preach in Japanese against three great sins of the people
which were idolatry, sodomy, and the practise of mothers to
kill their babies on whimseys of their own.
In a letter written by Xavier to Europe in January,
1552, he states that at Yamaguchi
We preached the Gospel to the people in the public
streets, to the princes and nobles in their own resi
dences. Many heard us eagerly, others with reluctance.
We did not always escape unhurt, having many insults
offered us by the boys and the crowds in the streets. °
Xavier's technique was different from Fernandez'.
The former, of whom it has been written, he was "a flaming
spirit; few missionaries of any religion have made so nota
ble a record"9 could not be bothered to learn the language.
He carried some bells with him as he walked the street.
8 Ibid., p. 335.
9 Kenneth S. Latourette, op. cit., p. 928.___________
7 1
These he rang to gain a crowd, then by crude methods and
through an interpreter he spoke. Two of these interpreters
were Japanese whom he had found at Malacca. One he baptized
"Paul"; the other from a fisherman's family, he baptized
"Barnabas'; ! ' To baptize, he would walk into a^ stream, bless
it, then enjoin the people to walk into the water. Nor were
these envoys without purse, for later he wrote in a letter
to Europe that during their residence in Japan of over two
years, they lived at the expense of the generous King of
Portugal who provided them with over a thousand gold crowns
as an alms for expenses.
It cannot be denied that this man was motivated by an
earnest Christian ^eal which sent him into danger unafraid
whether from oceans, rulers, travellers, or the heathen. He
knew what he wanted to accomplish for he had outlined a plan
of action before he left Malacca where he had written!
Fathers and Brothers of the College of Coimbra, I
have already made up my mind, as soon as ever I disem
bark, to go to the king of all Japan himself, wherever
he may be and lay before him the message which I have
for him from the Supreme Emperor of all nations, our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Within two years Xavier managed to travel from
Kagoshima, where he had first landed, to Kyoto, then back to
Yamaguchi and to Bungo from where he returned to Malacca,
le left Japan November 20, 1551# Word had come to him in
1 0 H . J . C o l e r i d g e , o p . c i t . , p . 179.
72
September, 1551 that a ship was at Bungo, which was on the
east coast of Kyushu, He sent word to the captain of the
Lhip, and then received an invitation from Otomo Yoshishige
the Daimyo of Bungo to come to Punai, his capital. This
Daimyo was very influential in helping Christianity grow.
Xavier's reports reveal his observation of the people
of whom he wrote, "The Japanese are very ambitious of honors
and distinctions, and think themselves superior to all
nations in military glory and valour,
He also had experienced something which has not
changed with time, which he wrote in anticipation of the
ooming of more missionaries.
They will be annoyed more than can be imagined. At
all hours of the day and into the night they will be
beset with visits and questions. They will have no time
for prayer, or thought or meditation , , , they will not
be able to say daily mass , , , they wi111.hardlyffind
time for eating, or for sleeping.
Among the disappointments which he found‘even in
Japan was the action of such as Anjiro who, not being able
to stand the insults and persecutions, fled to China where
be became, and died a pirate.
Upon leaving Japan and returning to Malacca, he laid
plans to go to China. He died in the Sanchian Islands Nov
ember 2 7, 1552 on his way to China.
TTIBIdTT p. 331-
12 0. Cary, 0£. cit., p. ii6.
7 3
It is said that Francis Xavier did "more perhaps than
any other man of modern times to arouse the missionary zeal
of Roman Catholics,
It is quite evident that the Japanese were eager for
the tangible elements of religion as shown by their many
questions put to Xavier. They were tired of Buddhist ambi
guities and this missionary was able to accomplish his pur
pose so well as to make Christianity able to enjoy a marked
growth and development for nearly a generation.
In December, 1552, after the arrival of Fr. Gago,
Brothers de Sylva and d’AIcaceva, a decision was made to en
gage in works of charity in order to disprove the charges of
some of the Buddhist priests that some became Christians in
order to escape the necessity of giving to the temples.
Among the most successful of the Jesuit laborers in
Japan was Louis Almeida who, because of his knowledge of
medicine, gained a great reputation, and by his'indefatiga
ble efforts on behalf of the Gospel, gained many converts
for the church. As a Portuguese gentleman, he had resources
at his control to the point that at thirty years of age, he
could donate 5000 crowns to establish a hospital for lepers,
and an asylum for children of very, very poor parents living
at Punai,
1 3 I b i d . , p . U 9 . __________
Ih
Because Nagasaki became the major port-of-call to
Portuguese ships, it was not too long before it became the
center of Christian activity. It was designated officially
as the Jesuit center by Omura Sumitada, the Daimyo.
In 1557 Vilela, in company with a group of others,
went to Kyoto where, after ten days of fasting, prayer and
penance, he went into the streets to preach. At first he
was ridiculed, but was later able to secure an interview
with the Shogun who received him very well, even to the
point of drinking out of the same cup with him.
Early in 1557 there were so many converts that within
two months there were said to be li^OO Christians upon the
estates of Prince Koteda Saemonnojo who, upon accepting the
Faith, was baptized Prince Anthony. He was the brother of
the Daimyo.
By 1564 in spite of, or perhaps because of the re
volts against Sumitada, the Christian Daimyo of Omura, many
became Christian to the degree that the state "became out
wardly almost entirely Chri stian.
The period from 1571-1582 A.D. marked a very rapid
growth of the church. This was but a segment of the larger
Sengoku Period (1568-1615) during which there was accomplish
ed a measure of unification in Japan through the rise of
.14 Ibid. , p. 70.
three outstanding Shoguns. One already alluded to is
Nobunaga (1568-1582), Hideyoshi (1582-159 8), lyeyasu (1598-
1615).
Because of Nobunaga's great dislike of the Buddhists,
he fought the Tendai on Mt. Hiei in September, 1571, then
against the Shin sect at Osaka and also the Nichiren and
Jodo sects. To him the Tendai Sect was so subversive :thàt
he destroyed their monasteries on Mt. Hiei. "These monas
teries were in many cases strong fortresses whose inmates
were better trained in the use of the sword than in cere
monies of worship."15 These civil conflicts were the only
impediment to the advance of Christianity during this
period. Under the Shogun's favoÿ within a ten-year period,
the "Kirishitan" church had eighty missionaries in twenty
stations with two hundred churches and a reported 150,000
converts. However, other reports state that by 1571 there
were thirty thousand Christians in Japan. If the former
figures are given for the year of Nogunaga's death (1582),
J:hey would indicate 1% of the total population as being
Christian.
In 1577, in. Kyoto, a large church was completed which
was built with funds collected from many people of different
provinces.
1 5 I b i d . , p . 3 1 . _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 6
Upon the death of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi was made Shogun
by action of the Mikado. Christianity did not long retain
its special-favor status because the Shogun discovered the
existence of strong animosities between the Portuguese and
Dutch traders who were by then visiting Japanese ports, too.
As Hideyoshi gained strength, the nation became more unified
and more nationalistic and Shinto became increasingly
virile. It is suggested the Shogun suppressed the new re
ligion because he did not "wish to harbor foreign controver
sies which could threaten the unification program;
Discovering within Christianity the strong seeds of dis
ruption as agile as those in Buddhism, the Shogun, in I587,
proclaimed an edict against Christianity which was a severe
blow to the work, although it did not completely destroy it.
One of the first martyrs was a maid servant who was
threatened with death if she continued to worship at the
Cross. One day her master caught her returning from wor
ship. Drawing his sword, he severed her head from her
shoulders and left her body to be taken up and buried sol
emnly by others. In spite of persecution after'1587,
Christianity continued growing.
In 1593 Franciscans came from the Philippines and
were soon established, along with some other "intruders" from
__________________1 6 S C A P , o p . c i t . , p . 1 6 . __________________________________________________________________________________
77
the Dominican and Augustinian Orders. Because the Pope had
specifically reserved Japan for the Jesuits in 1585, there
was a strong feeling of resentment by the Society of Jesus
against these others which ultimately became so severe as to
result in a decree by the latter against the other Orders
which forbade the Japanese to hear preaching or mass by
these usurpers.
In 1588 a Bishopric for Japan had been created in
Rome, and in 1596 the first Bishop arrived.
In the same year the new Bishop arrived, Hideyoshi
began an active persecution by following up on his former
decree. The reason for this action is only conjectural, but
it is known he ordered twenty-six Christians, which included
some Spanish and some Japanese, brought to Nagasaki where
they were killed by crucifixion.
It is suggested that the antagonism may have rooted
in the Shogun's feeling that the Christians were a threat
to the policy of unifying the country which was'an impera
tive at that time because of the Shogun's efforts to conquer
Korea and the Chinese empire. At this time Hideyoshi'died
leaving a reputation which ranks him as one of the great
military leaders of Japan. With his death the military
campaigns ended, and persecution of the Christians lagged!,
then ceased.
_____lyeyasu, a supporter of Hideyoshi, picked up the
7 8
reins of government as they fell from the latters dying
fingers, and in 1603 was appointed Shogun by the Mikado.
The Catholic missionaries continued quite successful
in the southern area of the island of Kyushu, and by 1607
the population of Nagasaki seems to have been largely
Christian. Estimates of the number of converts run as high
as 750,000 or about of the whole population. In contrast
today (1953) there is less than 1/2 of 1%,
However, smooth sailing was not long to be experienc
ed, and after this first rapid growth a vicious situation
developed as an outgrowth of the already alluded to intru
sion of the other Catholic Missionary Orders. Some of the
Franciscans meddled in politics and aroused suspicions
which were given impetus by the boastings of a Spanish sail
or of the "San Felipe" that the Spanish would some day oc
cupy territory even in Japan. This unfortunate incident
'along with the feelings of rivalry passed on to the converts
by the priests of the various Orders crystallized into a re
bellion against Christianity. It was not lost upon the
rulers that the Christians had a prior loyalty to the Pope
and God which transcended loyalties to Shogun, Daimyo, or
iMikado. The foreign religion made for internal trouble and
weakness by dividing the people so that wnen restrictive
laws were made, they disregarded such. Moreover, when it
was advantageous to the Christians, they threw their influ
19
ence to a particular leader or power. The only recourse
seemed to be to rid the land of the advocates of such trea
sonable heresy. Because of the strong patriotism of the
Japanese, they deeply resented any seeming encroachment upon
their independence. It had become evident to them that
where Christianity went, political conquest would be a
travelling companion.
In 1612 persecution began under lyeyasu which expell
ed all missionaries, cut off trade with all Roman Catholic
lands, instituted the death penalty for all Christians and
drove them underground. In 1640 under lyemitsu came the
"great banishment which reduced the young church to an
orphan, and put a check upon any support from the outside.*^*?
The only contact Japan itself had with the world was through
the Dutch merchants who were allowed a trading post on
Deshima, an island in the port of Nagasaki.
Edict boards were posted across the empire in 1640
which stated:
So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no
Christian be so bold as to come to Japan, and let all
know that the King of Spain himself, or the Christian's
Cod, or the great God of all, if he violates this com
mand, shall pay the forfeit with his head.
17 ~MT"”Snesaki, History of Japanese Religion (London:
Kegan Paul, French, TruEner and Company, LEd., l9 30),
p. 250.
18 V/illiam 0. Carver, The Course of Christian Mis-
sions (New York: Fleming H. RevelY Company, 19327, p. l04.
80
In spite of persecution many Christians persevered.
"In the hills of Kyushu and on the Goto Islands survivors
of the persecutions secretly handed down their beliefs to
their children" 19 which included such teachings as 'The Ten
Commandments, Catechism, and the Lord’s Prayer.
By 1639 the distrust had become so deep-seated that
a decree was issued that any Portuguese ship which reached
Japan under any circumstances would be destroyed along with
its crew.
This attitude continued in force for the whole of the
Tokugawa Period and until 1867.
The growing crescendo of trouble reached a climax in
1637-38 with the Shimabara Rebellion "when several thousand
Christians on the Island of Amakusa and on the Shimabara
Peninsula near Nagasaki rose up in a r m s ."20 por months they
held out in siege against all who came against them until in
early 1638 when they were forced to yield. Then was written
one of the black pages of Japanese history "when over 30,000
Christians including women and children were massacred.
Some apostasized, but more clung to their faith."21
In this period of persecution thousands of people
19 ET S. Latourette, The Great Century (New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1944), p. 33"4.
20 SCAP, 0£. cit., p. 108.
_____ ^Ibid. , p. 108. _____
8 1
Idled as martyrs. "The cruelty of torture and the rigour of
persecution was unparalleled in Japan."22 Under the capri
cious lyemitsu, who was the son of lyeyasu, the persecutions
were, however, largely brought to an end with the extinction
of the "Kirishitans" and the expulsion of the foreigners ex
cept the few Dutch merchants. But it is to be pointed out
that "in no other country in these two centuries were such
jthorough-going and persistent efforts made to stamp out the
Christian faith."23
In 1844 a Frenchman named Theodore A. Forcade made
jan effort to get into the Ryukus Islands but was unsuccess
ful, and for the next fourteen years various other^umTruît-
Iful efforts were made.
In 1858 a treaty of Commerce was signed between
Japan and France which opened the ports of Hakodate,
Nagasaki, and Kanagawa to French residence, and permitted
the French to exercise their own religious ceremonies‘even
bo building chapels and churches.
At Nagasaki in the early 1860's there was erected the
’Church of the Twenty-six Martyrs/’ and in 1865 several
Japanese came declaring themselves Christians and the de
scendent s of the converts of the early sixteenth century
22 M. Anesaki, 0£. cit., p. 251.
23 K. S. Latourette, op. cit., p. 330
8 2
movement, after questioning the priest about the doctrine he
preached and having observed the statue of the BUe ssed
Virgin. These also affirmed "that in and around Nagasaki
thousands of them had kept alive the faith that their ances
tors had handed down to them;
By the period 186 7-1873 persecution again broke out
against the Christians which included arrest, imprisonment,
and torture although the total impact was not as severe as
in the earlier period.
The government, having learned of the existence of
the large number of Catholics, ordered the arrest of
four thousand on the grounds that it would be dangerous
to allow them to congregate in one area,25
and banished them to the feudal domains of some of the
western daimyos until they should renounce their faith.
This persecution may have had political implications
by which the Western Daimyos sought to embarrass the
Tokugawa before the Occidental Powers who were strongly pro
testing the persecutions. And again, in spite of the perse
cution, the church grew for many were impressed with the
fortitude of the persecuted.
"Prior to 1873 the Foreign Missions Society of Paris
was in charge of Roman Catholic evangelistic work in
24 SCAP, o£. cit., p. 109.
25 Ibid., p. 109.
' 83
J a p a n . " 2 6
By the end of 1879 there were Catholic churches lo
cated in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki and Yokohama. By 1884
the Northern Vicarate had 5,574 Christians and the Southern
Vicarate 24,656, and by the next year there were said to be
50,302 Roman Catholics in Japan.
In I89O a Catholic Council meeting at Nagasaki decid
ed to permit Christians to participate in those patriotic
rites at the Shinto shrines maintained by the government.
At Nagasaki not all those who had maintained their
faith were willing to come back into the Roman Church. It
is reported that about ten thousand did identify themselves
with Roman Catholicism, but perhaps "ten or eleven times as
many, while preserving some Christian practises, including
Latin and Japanese prayers, remained aloof from the European
agents of the C h u r c h ;"27 In several of the villages among
the mountains there were services carried on by two leaders.
One presided at the Service, the other administered Baptism,
the essential formula of which was largely unchanged across
the Intervening years. There were even books and religious
objects of worship found among these people.
The influx of Catholics, after the reopening of
2E"*lÂmT Kerr, Japan Begins Again (New York: Eriend-
ship Press, 1949), p. 3^.---- ---------
______________________27 K . S . L a t o u r e t t e , o p . c i t . , p . 3 7 6 . ___________________________ __
^ 84
Japan through the threat of Admiral Perry’s gunboats, for
"It must not be forgotten that his undertaking was supported
by force/’ 28 which steamed into Yokohama Bay July 8, 1853
and which were, in 1854, the means of the first commercial
Treaty with Japan in over two centuries, included the French
Marists who.set up schools at Tokyo, Nagasaki and Osaka.
These enjoyed state recognition. In 1912 the Jesuits pur
chased a site in Tokyo for their university (Sophia). Later
schools for girls were established, and orphanages, and at
least two leper asylums.
Christianity came to Japan in ’ ’the fulness of
time"29 for Buddhism was both ’ ’corrupt and almost entirely
secular; "3G It has been pointed out that there are several
factors which made it easier for Christianity to gain a
foothold in the Japan of the Sixteenth Century. They were:
(1) The decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate which made
turbulence and civil war possible, (2) The Japanese ad
venturers over seas, (3) A growing dissatisfaction with
Buddhism, then the leading religion, (4) The desires of
the Daimyo for the revenues from foreign trade, (5) Hav
ing seen the value of learning from the Chinese, they
reasoned of the possibility of learning from other alien
nations.
28 H. M. Vinacke, History of the Far East in Modern
Times (New York: F. S, Crofts and Company, 19437, P« 797
29 St. Paul, The New Testament, Galatians 4:4.
30 SCAP, o£. cit., p. 16.
___________________3 1 K . S. L a t o u r e t t e , o p . c i t . , p . 3 2 2 . ____________________________________________
-------------- 831
It has been thought that at first the authorities of
Japan were favorable to the new religion because it was not
clearly understood as being a rival movement, but was rather
looked upon as a new Buddhist sect. That this is likewise
true of the priests is seen in their attitude of tolerance
toward it in which they urged the people to see how Christi
anity and Buddhism differed in but a few minor external
matters. This was, of course, stoutly denied by the mis
sionaries. Never-the-less, the two groups have much in
common. Both have images, both celebrate a mass, both have
rich costuming, processionals, candles, altar activities,
and priests in vestments. These would tend to camouflage
the differences. Your investigator knows personally of an
incident in which a Catholic priest told a Japanese Buddhist
it would be "better to remain a Buddhist than to become a
Protestant;?
Jealousies of those with less power may have served
to give the new missionaries a more cordial reception for
they offered a potential threat to Buddhist power, and the
feudal lords (Daimyos) were not above using them to gain an
advantage.
II. PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY THROUGH 19 45
Long before any Protestant missionaries actually ar
rived in Japan, the church in the United States was stirred
86
about the country* Two abortive efforts were made in the
first third of the Nineteenth Century. The first was by
Captain Gordon who, on the brig "Brothers;" went to Yedo
(Tokyo) in 1818, but could only succeed in giving two New
Testaments away both being printed in Chinese. In 1828
Dr. Medhurst asked permission of the Dutch to go to
Nagasaki, but he was refused.
In the meantime, in March, 1828, the sum of #2?.8?
was sent to the editor of the "Missionary Herald" which was
the publication of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions. This money had been received at a prayer
meeting held the previous year at Brookline, Massachusetts.
In 1831 a Japanese fishing junk with three sailors
aboard drifted onto the sands along the mouth of the
Columbia River in the Oregon Territory. They were eventual
ly returned to Macao by way of England. At Macao they were
ikindly treated by both English and American residents. One
of the latter was Samuel Wells Williams who had gone to
Canton and then to Macao as a worker at the Canton Press
■representing the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions.
When the Japanese arrived it was determined to take
them with four others on a ship to Japan. The brig
"Morrison" was disarmed and outfitted for the voyage by the
American house of King. One of those on board was S. Wells
87
Williams.
The ship sailed into Yedo Bay (Tokyo Bay) where it
was immediately surrounded by guard boats. As soon as the
Japanese learned it was unarmed they fired upon 'it. The
ship was then sailed to Kyushu where as it lay at anchor it
was again fired upon. The ship then returned to Macao, its
trip a failure for no one hadllanded, not even the sailors.
One Japanese in complete despair shaved his head to demon
strate his renunciation of his home land.
From one of these men Williams learned enough Japa
nese to translate the Gospel of Matthew. He later accompa
nied Commodore Perry on his trip to Yedo.
By 1843 an edict was issued by the Japanese through
the Dutch at Nagasaki which announced no Japanese could hope
to return to Japan on other than Dutch or Chinese ships.
Nevertheless, efforts were made by Americans to e stablish
trade with Nippon. In 1848 the American Commodore Biddle,
and in 1849 Commander Glynn made unsuccessful, attempts to
gain an entry.
Into the sultry heat of Yokohama Bay on July 8, 1853
steamed the ships of Commodore Perry. Indifferent to all
signals to stop, the fleet came to anchorage off the little
jfishing village of Draga at the command of the Commodore.
The news in Yedo of an impending invasion created in that
city of more than a million people "confusion worse con-
88
f o u n d e d "^2 by the tramp of horses of the military and the
foot soldiers.
Part of Perry's instruction from the Government of
the United States included the point to be made to the Jap
anese Government that there exists in the United States a
separation of church and state which inferred there would be
no pressure from national forces to impose Christianity upon
the people of Japan.
After presenting the letter from the President to the
Emperor into the hands of ranking officials. Perry, at the
request of the Japanese, withdrew his fleet, having assured
the Japanese he would give them until the next spring to
answer.
In February, 1854, his fleet returned even farther up
the bay to receive his answer. He was well received and,
after negotiations were complete, a treaty was signed and
the door to Japan was opened.
With the fleet had come Jonathan Goble, a marine,
who was allowed to go ashore whenever a ship's boat put in
to the coast. Later he returned as a missionary. There was
real prejudice against Christianity, however. An evidence
is seen in the form of the treaty. The English version
bears the date, "This thirty-first day of March in the year
32 H. M. V in a k e , op. c i t . , p. 90.
89
of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four, and of Kayei the seventh year, third month and
third day/’ But the Japanese version omits the English
method of designating time.
Relations were established upon a firm foundation
when in 1856 Townsend Harris came to Japan as the first
American consul.
Acccr ding to the statement of Chaplain Wood of the
"Powhatan';" Mr. Harris received Instructions from the Secre
tary of State, Mr. Marcy, to
Do his best by all judicious measures and kind in
fluences to obtain the full toleration of the Christian
religion in Japan, and protection for all missionaries
and others who should go there to promulgate it.33
By this time three hundred years had passed since
Japan had first been visited by Europeans. Now a new effort
was begun which would avoid the mistakes of the earlier
trial.
The success of Harris is attributed by Dr. S. W.
Williams to the fact "that it was in answer to prayer; "34
Harris was a devout Episcopalian who, according to his jour
nal, often read the Service, and no doubt the Episcopal
Service was read on Sunday, December 6, 1857 for the first
time in Yedo.
3T~^7““Üâry, op. cit., p. 39.
34 Ibid., p. 36. _______________________________
By 1859 the first missionaries under appointment from
American denominational Boards arrived in the empire. On
May 1, of this year, John Liggins, an Episcopalian, arrived
as the first Protestant missionary to Japan; later on, a
Inumber more came including Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Hepburn, M.D.
and Rev. Guido F. Verbeck. Within four months after it was
possible for foreigners to reside in Nippon, seven American
Christians were there ready to work for Christ. But it was
not until 1864 that for the first time a baptism was record
ed. The first person baptized was a shaven-headed Buddhist
who was designated by some as a "quack" doctor. ' His name
was Yano Riuzan. This was accomplished in spite of re
strictions against Christianity still in force from the
early days of persecution of the Catholics. The first
church was established at Yokohama in 18?2 as an outgrowth
of a prayer meeting attended by some young Japanese and the
'missionaries. This resulted in baptizing eleven people.
The church was called "The Church of Christ in Japan,’ ! and
the name was continued because of the support given it by
both the Presbyterians and the Reformed Church missionaries,
along with those other churches associated with-them. It is
significant that tbe first article in the creed of this
church reveals the purpose to avoid Occidental sectarianism.
The statement is:
Our church does not belong to any sect whatsoever; it
--------------------------------------------------- yl
believes in the name of Christ, in whom all are one; it
believes that all who take the Bible as their guide and
diligently study it are the servants of Christ, and our
brethren. For this reason all believers on earth belong
to the family of Christ in the bonds of brotherly
love.35
It is clearly evident that at the beginning of the
missionary movement the Japanese discerned the folly of de-
nominationalism. This is a matter which has been recognized
across the century of missionary activity and is guarded a-
gainst, at least in a measure, even today. '
The Russian Orthodox Church came early upon the mis
sionary scene and because of having a strong champion in
Ivan Kasatkin, Chaplain to the Consul at Hakodate, was
quite successful until the period of. the Russo-Japanese war.
By 1868 Kasatkin had won three converts who were baptized.
One was an ex-sumurai, Sawabe, who was instrumental in es
tablishing at Sendai a Christian community. In 1912 i:there
were 2 2,000 members and by 1940 there were 41,000. The
church developed until it covered Japan from the Hokkaido
to Formosa.
The church in general grew very slowly for the first
thirteen years so that by 18?2 there were actually only ten
who had been baptized.
It was in 1872 that the government established the
35 A. D. Mason, Outlines of Missionary Hi story (New
York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 19297, p. 114.
9 2
Religious Ministry, but it failed in its objective. In 1873
the edict banning Christianity was rescinded, and by I877
the attempt to make the Shinto-Buddhist dualism effective
was written off as a failure and the Religious Ministry was
disbanded. This did not deter the government from trying
various and sundry ideas to influence the religious thinking
of the people, but all seemed doomed to failure. 1873 also
saw removal of the ban against public preaching and the
acceptance of the Christian calendar.
In the period 1873-1889 the church enjoyed a remark
able growth which was made possible by the new freedoms
enjoyed by the people under Meiji. The Tokogawa had been
overthrown and a developing interest in western'culture
stimulated a growing tolerance. Political upheavals pres
sured the government toward a more constitutional form so
that in 1881 an embassy led by Mr. (later Prince) Ito visit
ed the West to make investigations of types of constitution
al governments. Everywhere Ito went he discovered strong
antagonism to the policies in Japan rooted in intolerance
and religious inequalities. Before returning to Japan the
committee and others set in motion a program to overthrow
the unsatisfactory conditions. The removal of the edict
boards was the evidence of victory.
In response to the new freedom, more missionaries and
more mission boards began work in Nippon. By 1882 there
93
were twenty-eight thousand Protestants. Ninety-two of the
churches were entirely self-supporting. One hundred forty-
two ordained Japanese preachers and seventy Bible-women
served the churches. Fourteen theological seminaries had
two hundred and eighty-seven students, and in three schools
ninety-two Bible women were in training. Educational
institutions contributed greatly to Christianity's advance
and many state and government leaders came from these
schools. Fifteen boarding schools enrolled two thousand
seven hundred and nine boys, and three thousand six hundred
■and sixty-three girls were in training in thirty-nine girls'
schools at the same time that forty-seven day schools enroll
ed three thousand two hundred and ninety-nine students.
The outstanding school of this period was Doshisha
University which, in 1875, had been founded in a small shed
with six pupils, in the seat of Buddhism--Kyoto. Here had
come Joseph Hardy Neesima (Niishima) whose story is an
odyssey which is thrilling to read. After escaping from
Japan, being educated at Phillip's Academy, Amherst College
and Andover Seminary, he was retained by the newly arrived
Embassy (I87I) under Iwakura to serve as interpreter. With
a full pardon for having escaped Japan, he returned to
pstablish his school. By 1885 there were two hundred and
thirty pupils and a spacious campus. For as long as Neesima
lived, there was a wholesome Christian character to the
9 h
school's teachings and doctrinal position.
Upon Mr. Ito's retiirn to Japan, he began to prepare
a constitution which had been promised by the Mikado in the
rescript of 1881. By 1889 it was ready for use, but did not
actually begin to function until 1890 when the first Diet
was convened. The Diet was made up of two houses: The
Upper House membership was made up of Peers; the Lower House
membership was elected by qualified voters. The Mikado had
full control over the meetings of the Diet. It 'was vested
with enough power "to obstruct, but not to control!J’ 36
The Iwakura Mission of 18?1 .had not succeeded in
achieving treaty revisions, but only of learning of dissat
isfaction among the Western Peers as has already been noted.
Now Japan was even more desirous for "favored nation" status
among the Powers. So to gain her ends, she made social and
religious concessions. By 1894 England agreed to revise
her treaty and other nations followed. Indications that
Japan was growing rapidly are found in such actions as com
pulsory education for elementary grades (I872).’ Journalism
was developed, military reorganization was achieved when
universal service was introduced in I872 and the army na
tionalized in 1873, and a Navy established under British
tutelage. There was soon a postal system, and in 1868 the
36 H. M. Vinacke, op. cit., p. 113. __
first telegraph was installed. By 18?2 the first railroad
was opened to traffic (1? miles). In 186 8 currency reform
was undertaken. By 1879 there were 151 National Banks, and
in 1896 Japan was on the gold standard. In 1872 the govern
ment issued to those peasants cultivating land a certificate
of ownership. In 1873 a land tax was inaugurated to be paid
not in kind, but in money, and no longer to the feudal lord,
but to the government. This amount reached from twenty-five
to thirty percent of the value of the crop. Soon these
peasants were forced to sell and between 1883-1890 367,744
farmers were forced to sell for tax arrears, and by 189 2
forty percent of the cultivated land was cultivated by
tenants. But by 1894 the transition from the feudal to the
capitalistic system was assured, and the crisis was passed.
In the decade from 1880-1890 the church, too, was
feeling the impact of the searching minds of the Japanese.
The roots of this vitality are found in the increased number
of missions which grew from nine (1873) to eighteen (1883),
and in establishment of three Bible Societies. By 1883
there were one hundred twenty preaching points, sixty-three
congregations and four thousand nine hundred and eighty-
seven members.
Chiefly under the impulse given by missionaries from
the United States, Protestantism became more important
numerically and more influential in the life of Japan
than did either Roman Catholicism or the Russian
...............................-JS
Orthodox. 3 7
‘ In this decade Protestant religion experienced a startling
growth which was due to a two-fold factor of good planning
and the acceptance of Occidental ways by the people. By
1884-5 some were advocating that for the sake of inter
national political reasons, the nation should adopt Chris
tianity as the national religion. In 1883 there had been
a new surge of spiritual vitality which evidenced itself in
Lany revivals attended by vast crowds so that the largest
aalls were needed. The opposition wa.s largely dissipated
and Christianity once again put its foot in the partially
opened door, only this time it was Protestant Christianity.
As one reads the accounts of these days, he wonders
if he is reading post War II history of the Christian move
ment in Japan.
One of the greatest contributions to Christian growth
was the schools set up by the churches. Soon English was
being taught in the public schools; Christian literature was
sold openly and church meetings were held openly in public
places. "After the first foundations had been laid, the
upbuilding of the Christian Church was chiefly accomplished
by the earnest efforts of the Japanese workers.
37 K. S. Latourette, op. cit. , p. 373.
38 0. Cary, op. cit. , p. 5*________________________ ;
97
Japan’s interest in western culture increasingly
strengthened the hand of Christianity and the measure of its
acceptability is seen in such incidents as that of the
election of the first speaker of the Lower House of the Diet
being a Christian, and other posts of significance likewise
being held by Gj^ristians. By 1888 there were two hundred
and forty-nine churches with members. There were
four hundred fifty-one missionaries and one hundred forty-
two ordained ministers.
About 1888 Japan was all aglow with the exhilaration
of the spirit of progress. Political parties were pro
claiming liberty and popular rights ... Occidental
ideas, good and bad alike were welcomed with open arms.
But from 1890 when the Constitution was proclaimed, a
marked change occurred.
An analysis of the period just ended should have re
vealed that even while ’ ’outwardly taking over much from the
West, the main fabric of Japan’s political and social insti
tutions and of her ideals remained substantially intact.7^^
In a superficial way there was an acceptance of things
Christian, but rooted in the principal of filial piety was
a veneration of the Emperor which could not be easily 'dis
placed. The increasing nationalism, and the sense of indi
vidual worth stimulated a reaction against things Western
which carried Christianity along with it and resulted in an
39“Harada, og. cit., p. 163.
_____ UQ—K .__S .__Lat O-ur-et-t e-,_op.._c i . t . . - , _ p . . — 3 - 7 - 1 . ---------------
unfavorable reaction to it also. Christianity became
"naturalized" during this time as its adherents and apolo
gists shifted their position to a point of recognizing the
place of nationalistic ideas in or beside religion. Many
dubious converts abandoned the church entirely. The effect
of the times is seen in statistics which reveal that in the
period from 188^-1889 church membership increased almost
five hundred percent, yet from 1890-189 5 it grew less than
fifty percent.
At the same time there was pressure from without,
there developed "sickness" within the church which evidenced
itself in novel theological trends; pastors abandoned their
faith; uneertain notes were sounded by others; some announc
ed themselves as prophets and saviors; and there even arose
talk of another Christ toccome. Christianity was associated
with things foreign.
Outside influences were also at work for a more
critical appraisal of things Western was developing; Jap
anese nationalism drove opinion away from Christianity; the
Imperial Rescript on Education was promo ted as anti-Chris
tian; recurring veneration of the Mikado and the expansion
of commerce and industry fostered the new materialism
stimulated by the basic conflict between science and
religion.
_______This new materialism from the West so influenced the
youth that "it became expected that students in most schools
would give up religious faith by the middle of their high
school course;"
From about 1890 when the constitution was inaugurated
it became evident here was a bulwark for the conservatives.
One heard the cry to preserve the National spirit and the
rally cry was Nationalism, authority and national rights
instead of constitutionalism, liberty and personal rights,
and the church leaders became aware "that the rapid growth
of the past few years was not to continue, at least not at
so breath-taking a pace'.In fact this last decade of
the century was to be a period of stress and strain as a
strong tide of reaction ran against the Occident. Some have
called it the "decade of tragedy;?
Perhaps of more importance to the Christian church
than the inauguration of the Constitution was the publica
tion of the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890. This
Rescript precipitated a fierce controversy between those
who interpreted it in a nationalistic way, and the extreme
element of the church which refused to recognize any author
ity above the Bible. Eventually it became an issue of which
was superior. Rescript or Bible. The Rescript is quoted in
h i W. C. Kerr, op. cit., p.
_________ L2_%.__^._Eatouret±e^,_pp_._cit_._,_p_._3. 9_5. . __________________
100|
I
full :
Know ye Our Subjects:
Our Imperial Ancestors have founded our Empire on a
basis broad and everlasting, and have deeply and firmly
implanted virtue; Our subjects, ever united in loyalty
and filial piety, have from generation to generation
illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of
the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also
lies the source of our education. Ye, Our subjects, be
filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers
and sisters; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation;
extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and
cultivate arts, and thereby cultivate intellectual
faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore advance
public good and promote common interests; always respect
the Gonstitution and observe the laws; should emergency
arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and
thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial
Throne coeval with heaven and earth. So shall ye be not
only Our good and faithful subjects but render illus
trious the best tradition of your forefathers.
The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching be
queathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed by
Their Descendants and the subjects, infallible in all
ages and true in all places. It is Our wish to lay it
to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our
subjects, that we may attain to the same virtue.
It has been observed by some that this document in
content is largely Confucian, and has served as a fulcrum to
overthrow the influence of foreign religions, and at the
same time has been held in almost "holy" veneration by the
exponents of State Shinto.
Factors which contributed to the retarding of growth
in the last decade of the nineteenth century were (1) oppo
sition from the government which was realized in restraints
placed upon religious instruction in the schools. This was
cryst a 111 z.e d_b y_me.an.s_o f__!lOr.de r_Humb.er_Twel v_eiL_pub 1 i.she.d_on
101
August 12, 1899; (2) friction between missionaries and
native workers; (3) theological differences between the
missionaries themselves; ( k ) the inroads of materialism,
humanism, and modernism; (5) and economic and social reforms
within the nation.
The fai lure of the Church to be bigger than its petty
doctrines and prejudices resulted in so diversified an
approach to the problems at hand that the common enemies
could not be overcome.
In 1881j l Japan went to war with China over Korea for
Î
Internationally political and economic reasons. They con
trolled forty percent of Korea's imports in 189U*
Japan felt the influence of Yoshidashoin, who was an
active devotee of continental expansion having taken a page
from history and the campaigns of Hideyoshi; Two important
State officials who learned in Yoshidashoin*s "school" were
Prince Yamagata and Count I to. The former was instrumental
in modernizing the Army. The latter was a constitutionalist.
These factors, plus a clamor for war by the populace,
plunged the nation into conflict, which saved the Constitu
tion of Count Ito by deflecting attention of the parties
toward a common enemy. With the end of the war in 1895^
Japan's rising sun was casting a new shadow in the family of
nations, and the people felt a new sense of importance and
experienced the rise of a new tide of nationalism.__________
In the meantime, the growing "Yellow Peril" concept
in the west stimulated the new nationalistic feeling toward
a reactionary "l%iite Peril" idea which also strongly affect
ed Christianity. As this anti-western feeling grew, it
embraced a larger coterie which included Buddhists, Shinto-
ists, Confucianists, agnostics, priests, lawyers, pro
fessors, and those students who also were willing to
include Christianity within the framework of their opposi
tion. It is to be easily seen these "represented a combina
tion of ethical, political and social ideas, aiming at the
exclusion of foreign influence and the exaltation of nation
al tradition.Christianity, having championed social and
political reform, became a target, for its enemies had fail
ed to realize that even though it urged these reforms, it
was not anti-national, nor did it undermine such virtues as
loyalty and filial piety which factor also was included in
the accusation.
Although the gains were not spectacular, they did
exist for the church as one finds in a comparison between
I89I and 1900. In the former year there were reported five
hundred eighty-three missionaries; in 1900 seven hundred
twenty-three. There were two hundred ninety-seven organized
churches with 32,33k members in 1891> and in 1900 four
A3 Anesaki_,__Qp^.__c4k.,,_p_.„36h
1 0 3 |
hundred sixteen congregations with A3^273 members. Many of
the converts of this century had come from the Samurai who,
because of the disintegration of their class due to social
upheaval, found themselves adrift and in need of a sustain
ing influence. As the century closed, it was clear to the
Christian leaders that a strong and virile culture would
continue to offer resistance to the culture of the new
religion. The resistance also served to benefit j)he young
church by serving to clarify its theological position.
For every action there is a corresponding reaction,
states a law of Physics, and this became evident with the
turn of the century for once again there was change; this
time a more sympathetic attitude developed toward Christian
ity. This may have been due to the victory won in the war
with Russia (190A-5) from which Japan emerged to a par with
the other "Great Powersy? Upon hearing the terms of the
treaty of Portsmouth, there was again violent reaction to
the West, and especially the United States. It could not be
told that intervention by President T. Roosevelt had saved
Japan from catastrophe. Missions suffered again. National
ism combined with Shintoism and Militarism to move toward a
position of ultra-nationalism. During these years to I9IO
there was an alternating movement between moral and spirit
ual mountain peaks and valleys. Some saw in the movements
of such _yputh organizations_as_jbhe,_Y.,M..C.A. and G.E. a great
lou
hope. Great evangelistic efforts, such as that in Osaka's
"Christian Union Evangelistic Hall" where in five months it
is estimated 2A6,000 people attended, offered encouragement
along with the move toward an indigenous church. While
others noted the growing school of naturalism which mani
fested itself after the war (190A-5) whose advocates pro
claimed the necessity for "naked reality" which actually
meant to them the need to strip all conventionalities, some
of which were held up as being in the guise of compromise
and hypocrisy. The emphasis became increasingly the need
to recognize the worth of the individual. Unrest was
general, and this unrest stimulated seekers to search for
what would be substantial so men turned again to religion,
some to Buddhism, others to Shintoism, and a few to Christ
ianity. Education and materialism had failed to satisfy the
people. "The neglect of the individual was the fundamental
defect of the educational systern"AA which, as a tool in the
hands of the masterful leaders of the new Japan, had been
intended to impose a new ethical system, but had only suc
ceeded in creating strong dissatisfactions to the point of
arousing a "spirit of revolt on the part of the sensitive
youth;
AA Ibid., p. 3 75*
_A5-Loc.. cif. . _____
105
1912 was for Christianity a mile-stone in its
historic progress in Nippon. The reactions of materialism
toward all religions were so severe that a conference v/as
convened with representatives of Buddhism, Shinto, and the
Christian denominations in attendance at the Three
Religions* Conference. At this conference Ctiristianity was
"on an equal footingwith the other two.
In 1913 there were 89 ^3A? members in the churches of
Japan. In 19lA there were one thousand one hundred twenty-
three missionaries and eight hundred seventy-seven congre
gations. The membership was drawn largely from the educated
classes, but few came from the laboring, farming, and fish
ing classes of people. The reason for this condition is
found in the locations of the missions and missionaries, who
for the most part were content to live in the cities. '
Following World War I the churches, led by such men
as Kagawa, emphasized social service for which there was a
great need. In 19 20 Kagawa had gone into the ruhal areas
with his Farmer's Gospel School. Stimulation was given to
such undertakings as hospitals, women's universities,
freedom of the press, and the Red Cross. By 1923 the
"evangelical churches numbered one thousand three hundred
■A6—SCAP_,_op.._cit.._,_p.._110,,
1 0 6
forty-one members;?^7 There were one thousand'five hundred
ninety-four missionaries. Literature flowing from the
presses included religious essays, books of devotion, and
assorted pamphlets. The techniques used were such methods
as (l) Mass meetings, (2) Country-wide campaigns of preach
ing, (3) Schools, (A) Kindergartens, (5) Middle schools,
and (6) Universities, (7) Literature, (8) Newspaper evan
gelism by ads and inserts, (9) Social work including
orphanages, . leprosariums, rescue homes, deaf oral schools,
and schools for the blind.
In the third decade of the new century there was a
shift in emphasis, and something of a lethargy which again
crept into the mission work, yet this retardation should
not be judged by an American measurement, but only a Jap
anese one. "Of the three main branches, it was Protestant
ism that had the most extensive growth in Japan and v^hich
exerted the greatest influence."^8
Japan also felt the impact of the Great Depression
and the work of the Chur ch slowed because of a lack of
finances.
This third decade witnessed the rise of an intense
nationalism that became increasingly irresistable and under-
A7 W. 0. Carver, op. cit., p. 219.
. , A8 K. 3, Latour.e_tte_,_op.._c.it,,_,__p..__2U9_--------------
107,
cut the foundations of religion so completely as in some
cases to be substituted for it. The London Naval Treaty
(19 30) served as a final straw to explode the indignation
of the people who were suffering from depression. The
Manchurian Incident of 1931 thrust the military back into
leadership which was welcomed by the people as at least a
change for its own sake. These leaders, using the zeal of
young military enthusiasts, directed the policies of the
government to their own ends and
Commensurate with the absolute position of the
militarists with reference to domestic politics of the
period, nationalist ideas were deeply engrained among
the general masses throughout the whole of Japan.
As the Japanese withdrew from the society of nations,
(withdrawal from the League of Nations, 19 33) and the star
of war ascended their nationalistic heaven, Christianity
felt a heavier pressure and was slowed proportionately in
its advance. Evangelism faced the handicaps of machinery,
and a relatively narrow city-centered effort when it is
estimated that in 19 30 one half of the population was in the
twelve thousand villages of the nation. In Japan, as else
where , Christianity found its worst foes to be the children
of its own household as out of it came secularism, material
ism, rationalism, the modern industrial system producing
k9 Y. Kodama, I Was Defeated (Japan: Asian Publica-
tlon, 19gl) . p. gl.______________________________ _________
108
in turn the rapid growth of cities, and a changing urban
life. Prom 1919 to 19 29 Japan had experienced a’phase of
rapid industrialization in which labor, as it became organ
ized, suffered from unrest and contention.
Among the student population Christian philosophy
suffered because many teachers hired by the church-related
schools were not themselves Christian and not sympathetic to
the Christian viewpoint so hindered the opportunity for
freedom of procedure in calling for Christian decisions
among the student s•
The militarists, to encourage unity at home, sought
escape from a delicate situation resulting from the coup of
February, 1936 and found a scape-goat in China again by us
ing force in a penetration into Chahar. A foreign trade
boom was engineered by depreciating the yen so that "between
1931 and 1935 Japan’s exports increased Jl% in volume and
118% in yen value; Although this was a boom, ' it did not
greatly help the farmers, the landlords, or even' the mili
tarists so a new victim was needed. It was determined to
attack the U.S.S.R., but the skirmishes along the Amur, and
later at Changkufeng, only resulted in further defeats.
Skirmishes and heavier attacks always seemed to end in Jap-
50 Frederick L. Schuman, International Politics
(New York: Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Uompany, Inc.
I9_L^)_,_P_._62%.________________________________________________________
109
anese defeat which, by the end of the decade, led the
strategists to conclude to leave the U.S.S.R. alone.
But in China things were different. On the night of
July 7-8, 1937^ & Japanese battalion clashed with Chinese
troops of the twenty-ninth Route Army at the Marco Polo
Bridge near Peiping, and Japan had found her victim. As
the victorious army pushed south, its indescribable atroc
ities stimulated Chinese resistence until there was no hope
of victory in a final sense. At the same time a spirit of
insubordination among all ranks, which grew out of the '
examples set by the militarists in the home-land who had
been indisposed to use violence to overthrow authority; re
duced the army to indulging in "a mad carnival of debauchery
carried out by a rabble of arrogant bullies;?51 ' The Konoye
Cabinet had made an effort to hold the China Incident in
bounds, but the nation was in the grip of the Army and'in
January, 1939 the Konoye Cabinet fell.
Internal problems and a growing apathy by the people
toward the war focused attention once again upon the man-
in-the-streets who by now had ceased to be able to think
for himself, but rather thought as the Government directed
him to do. The capitulation of the populace was rather
complete.
From the inception of the "China Incident" the
_______5] Y.._Kodama., op..— cit.-,—p.—66-.----------------------
1101
government exerted a steadily increasing pressure upon the
church v/hich yielded to the pressure and rallied behind the
government. On October 1? ^ 19 AO a meeting was held at
Aoyama Gakuin in Tokyo with representatives from thirty-five
denominations to hear a report from a commission which had
been set up to frame a constitution. This committee con
sisted of a Lutheran, Wesleyan Methodist, and a Southern
Presbyterian who based their report upon the first comAand-
ment as a point of departure, but the recommendations Were
not acceptable to the general body so the effort'failed.
On October 18, 19AO it was decided to unite and thirty-two
denominations combined into the Kyodan which formally organ
ized June 2A^ 25^ 19Al and was recognized by the Government
on June 26, 19Al as the Nihon Kirisute Kyodan (Church of
Christ in Japan). At its inception it was organized into
eleven blocks. In November, 19Al these "blocks" were fed
erated and the "united organization was made up of all'the
Protestant denominations1*52
One must not overlook the fact that church union in
Japan had been strongly considered since the beginning‘of
the National Christian Council's organization in 19 23,
which had submitted a basis of union in 19 29 . In the early
part of this third decade there had been a renewal of the
52 SCAP, op. c i t . . p. 1 1 1 .
Ill
»
attempt to unify the churches because of pressure in the
Diet to bring all religious bodies under closer supervision.
The Kyodan was the result of passage by the Diet of
"The Religious Bodies Law" which gave recognition only*to
those religious groups having at least fifty-meeting places
and at least five thousand members. This bill ihcluded all
religions of the nation and at least served to give Christ
ianity a standing as one of the religions of Japan. It was
aimed at eliminating the many sects of Buddhism, and Shinto,
and the denominations of Christianity. It made control
easier. The law was administered through the Religiouà
Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Education. The actiôn
was based upon an interpretation of the Constitution of
1889, Article 28, which stated, "Japanese subjects shall,
witliin, limits not prejudical to peace and order; and hot
antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of
religious belief;? By 19AO the law was interpreted to'mean
Organizations that cooperated . . . and modified
their teachings and activities according to official
desires had no cause for anxiety. Ag long as they
accepted official dictation their activities were free
from government interference. This was pre-war Japan's
interpretation of religious f r e e d o m .53
By October, 19 AO, it was felt by many Christians
leaders that the very existence of Christianity in Japan
was at stake for, under pressure from the government, all
_______________________________________________
112
severence with "home" churches had been accomplished and
the question was whether the indigenous church was strong
enough to survive the pressures. A great feeling of in
security was .felt among the church leaders of all the re
ligions represented in Japan.
Upon the basis of the ruling of the Minister of'
Education, whose extra-legal interpretation was hot based
upon an actual wording of the law, each group must unite
with a larger group acceptable to the Bureau or come under
the jurisdiction of the Prefectural Government in which it
was located. This, in the final analysis, meant super
vision by the local police. A few of the Episcopalian
churches, some of the Holiness group, and the Seventh Day
Adventists did not join the Kyodan so had to submit to the
police. Later the Episcopalians, as individual churches,
did join.
The Catholic Church was accepted by the Government
first under the new law and the Protestants had a measure
of difficulty being accepted as a separate unit. In 19AO
there were a total of 119 ^ 22A Roman Catholics. This church,
being more totalitarian, was much more acceptable to the
Japanese than were the Protestants. In the spring of 19Al
an official juristic council was organized and reorganized.
At this time they had eight hundred and forty-five priests,
.nuns_and_br_o.ther_s_lef_t_in_J.apan. B.ec aus e_many_o f_t he s e_w ene
1 1 3
from nations neutral or friendly to Japan, the work in their
schools, publishing houses, hospitals, sanitaria and settle
ments were carried on at least to some degree.
Prior to the war the issue of shrine worship had
been quite strong and by 19hO many Christians were partici
pating in shrine worship although at the turn of the century
such an act had been considered repugnant by Christians.
This worship was carried to the extent of delegates report
ing on ecclesiastical activities at the Ise Shrine and'
Bishop Abe of the Methodist Church journeyed to Ise to
report. This action was very repugnant to many of the con
servatives and created a repercussion vifhich was not
forgotten after the war ended.
The Kyodan was not able to formulate a creed until
the war ended because of resistence. under the Religious
Bodies Law which the Mombusho (Ministry of Education) offer
ed. The Ministry was within its rights according to the law
which granted the Ministry the prerogative to say (l) what
religious bodies held doctrines dangerous to the state; (2)
which churches', shrines', and temples' registrations, ap
pointments, and organizations should be subject to approval;
(3) what extra-legal discretionary powers resided in the
Minister of Education, on the basis of the law, and could be
used to bring the organization into harmony with what was
■f Qr-_them_the__S.tat e . s i _ . _ d e s ir.e._This... 1 a ck_pf_g uidançe _mayjaa^
TÎÏ3
I
been contributed to by the great diversity of action on the
part of the Christians concerning Shrine worship. On the
other hand the inability of many Christians to resolve the
problem of their relation to State Shinto kept them from
conforming to the directives of the government, and resulted
in much suffering. There were a number of pastors who
staunchly refused to participate in or sanction shrine wor
ship. "Probably a few hundred . . . were imprisoned because
of their faith and non-cooperation."5A
Said Mr. Suzuki at an Army Character Guidance Council
at Camp Haugen, Japan in 19 51^ "The people are not
particular about their religious faith." This indifference
made for careless attitudes on the part of some in reference
to the importance of shrine worship. For to become the
State religion and yet keep within the framework*of the
Meiji Constitution of 1889 had posed a problem to the lead
ers until it was decided to classify Shinto into'two
categories : (1) State or Shrine Shinto, and (2). Sect '
Shinto. The latter maintained its own properties whereas
the former was supported by the local, prefectural, or
Î
national government depending upon the grade of the shrine.
The Shrine system found its support in the Imperial Rescript
on Education issued in 1890. It was this document which
Ibx.d p.. 3.0 •
115
strengthened the duties of shrine attendance and obeisance
before the imperial portrait. Shrine Shinto was declared
not to be a religion and placed under the supervision of the
Home Ministry in 1913, while Sect Shinto along with Clxcis-
tianity and Buddhism was left in the Education Ministry.
The question in the minds of many Christiàns was
whether the Government's statement of classification of
State Shinto as non-religious could be accepted especially
when the ancient rituals were still used which contained a
good deal of the vocabulary which had always been accepted
as having religious connotations. The
Distinction in control (referred to above) furnished
the Government with a legal basis for its recurrent
assertions that State Shinto was not a religion. The
shrines were not classified by law as religious
institutions.55
Christianity and Shinto have mutually exclusive ob
jectives which are incompatible in essence, for Shinto advo-
I
cated a loyalty to the emperor-state which could not be
abrogated; whereas Christianity teaches a loyalty to the
Eather-God which transcends all or any other loyalty, in
cluding state loyalty. "Shinto is no less a religion for
ceing this worldly."5^ It has been pointed out that
There is no little resemblance between the obligation
Hoi tom, (Treat Religions of the Modern World
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 19A57, p. I H . I Î .
______56 Ibid. , p. 163. _____________
ïïél
to acknowledge the divinity of the Emperor of Japan
today and that of acknowledging the divinity of the
Emperor of Rome nineteen hundred years ago.57
Said a former instructor of Tokyo University (former
ly Imperial),
Sovereignty in Japan is vested in a single race-
father ... our national structure makes it impossible
to permit the acceptance of a "one true God" above the
Emperor.58
Never-the-less "local efforts to install family altars or
Kami dana (god shelves) were successfully resisted by most
Christians;?59
The blunder of translating the word "Kami" for "God"
has long served to confuse many Japanese, and is not entire
ly satisfactory.
But in spite of the polytheistic ideas long associat
ed with the term, it has been in a remarkable degree
filled with the content of the English word as limited
in Western religious and philosophical thought.
This emphasis is even more clearly defined since"the war.
The Catholic Church had further complicated the
position of the conscientious Christians by taking the‘ posi
tion that shrine worship was not idolatry. This compromise
had enhanced its position with the official govermment.
'57~’ KT~’ MT Young, The Ri^e of A Pagan State (New York:
Wm. Morrow and Company, I939T, p. 19 7 *
58 H. C. Holtom, op. cit. , p. 175*
59 SCAP, op. cit.,p. 30.
. 60 Harada,. op*., cit*p. UU# _________________
117
The tempo of state-craft indicates a tendency to take
to itself an increasingly greater number of functions which
tends to thrust Christianity into a steadily decreasing area
available for adjustment, all of which indicates a trend
toward ultimate conflict between church and state unless
there is compromise. In Japan, during the war years, there
was both compromise and conflict.
In the era after the Kyodan was established there
were many who did not stand by because of persecution or be
cause of nationalism run to extreme. Patriotism carried
some to the extreme of murder which went unpunished because
it was sanctified by the proper motive so acceptable that a
Minister of Justice "confessed that he found great diffi
culty in regarding as punishable a crime in extenuation of
which the culprit pleaded a patriotic m o t i v e ; ?51
Conflict resulted from such techniques as the preach
ing of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. This
idea strongly clashed with the aims of the government which
was heralding that the Imperial House would rule the world.
Those who preached this Christian doctrine were dissolved
as groups and/or arrested and imprisoned.
The Christian Church in Japan was never a warmonger
ing church. But it was a patriotic church and a proud
church . . . which felt its obligations to the State
IIS'
and tried to perform them.62
During the war with China, Bibles were distributed to the
troops, and Christian Chaplains were given a place among
them, too. In 19AA the Kyodan and the Roman Catholic
Church joined the "Japan Wartime Patriotic Religious Asso
ciation" along with Shinto and Buddhist groups. General war
activity forced many of the pastors into the munitions
factories, school teaching, and other occupations. Sunday
became but another work day so that Sunday Schools were
dissolved and attendance at services greatly declined.
It has been pointed out that
National patriotism enlists a type of idealism which
is independent of any religion; yet having a religious
quality, it reaches out for the alliance and sanction
of such religious groups as exist.63
In some instances, churches were rented to the government
for war activity, and in a few instances, under the pro
tection of the Religious Bodies Law, churches were saved
from such use as in the case of one church where two elderly
ladies met every day for prayer, so meeting the requirement
of the law. At Kuji, a pastor held daily prayer meetings
and threatened to burn the building rather than give it over
to the Army.
62 R. T. Baker, Darkness of the Sun (New York:
Abingdon-Coke*sbury Press, iFEvJ; P* 2Î.
63 W. E. Hocking, Living Religions and A World Faith
(New York; The Macmillan üompany_,_.l9jQj_,_,p.._12Y.___________
119
Again, in contrast, there was no such thing in fact
as Christians having authority over creed and polity.
The law forced them to submit to the capriciousness of the
government which did not hesitate to take advantage of its
opportunity. All the religious groups were required to
pledge allegiance to the national cause. Japan was on
crusade.
In the Imperial Rescript given on the occasion of the
signing of the Tripartite Pact in 19AO is the statement:
To enhance our great righteousness in all the earth
and to make of the world one household is the great '
injunction bequeathed by our Imperial Ancestors and we
lay this to heart day and night • • . The task of
enabling each nation to find its proper place and all
individuals to live in peace and security is of the
greatest magnitude.
Japan's armies, navies and air force were but a
visible manifestation of her undying spirit, just as the
sword of the young Samurai warrior was to all the symbol
of his integrity.
So in these bitter years the church struggled to be
faithful to its earthly king and its heavenly King and
retain its integrity while it accomplished its mission.
CHAPTER V
PROM AUGUST,.19A5 TO 1953
Troops of the 11th Airborne Division landed at Atsugi
Air Base near Yokohama on August 28, 19A5 and "for the first
time in history Japan was occupied by foreign armies;
The first three weeks of the Occupation which found
General MacArthur and his Staff still in Yokohama were a
decisive period, for at this time most of the outline for
the policy to follow was crystallized. It was during this
period that each side took the measure of the other and, at
least on the Allied side, was surprised to find considera
tion and cooperation in evidence beyond what they had
imagined possible. The Japanese, too, were surprised at the
lack of a spirit of revenge or reprisal from the Allies.
"The trust of the nation in Christianity was enhanced by the
Occupation policy, chiefly by aid offered by the'United
States to a former enemy nation in need."^ To the defdated
nation this was interpreted as a gesture rooted in the
Christian philosophy. So the doors opened wide for the
religion of the conqueror. At first the Japanese were in
clined to think every American soldier was a Christian.
1 W. C. Kerr, Japan Begins Again (New York: Friend
ship Press, I9A9), p. E*
2 B. L. Hinchman, Japan Christian Year Book 19 51
( Tokyo.: _ Tokyo__Chri s tian^Iteratur_e_Bo.cie_ty,7—l9J^.IX,-^p.J6-.-
121
One of the Four Freedoms of which the late President
Roosevelt had spoken was that of Religious Freedom* In the
Potsdam Declaration this freedom was listed as a primary
objective in the anticipated occupation of Japan and the
initial post-surrender policy embraced the position that
these people should be encouraged to develop both respect
and desire for such a freedom.
General MacArthur's policy was not one of his own
choosing, but it grew out of the directives sent by radio on
August 29, I 9k ^ , which were in turn based upon the Potsdam
Proclamation which declared, "points in Japanese territory
to be designated by the Allies shall be occupied to secure
the basic objectives we are here setting forth;it was
further stated, "There must be eliminated for all time the
authority and influence of those who have deceived and mis
led the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest."E
SCAP established the Civil Information and Education
Section as a Special Staff Section on October 2, I9A5^ with
the issuance of General Order #2 7, "and gave to it the
primary responsibility for advising the Supreme Commander
on policies relating to religion as well as . . . other
3 R. Benedict, The Crysanthemum and the Sword
(Boston: Houghton MiffTin Company, I9E6T, p. 29ÏÏ.
.k_Bo_c.._c.it.*_
122
sociological problems'. It specifically directed the
Section to
Make recommendations to . . . expedite the establish
ment of freedom of religious worship ... to maintain
liaison with • . ' . religious . . . organizations to
Insure their understanding of and cooperation with the
Information and education objectives of the 8GAP, to
make recommendations to the Supreme Commander on matters
pertaining to . . . religious articles (and) religious
buildings*^
The Religions Division of the C. I. and E. Section
has functioned:
1. To expedite the establishment and preservation of
religious freedom and to encourage the Japanese people to
develop a desire for religious freedom
2. To prohibit Japanese Governmental sponsorship,
support, perpetuation, control and dissemination of Shinto
3. To maintain vigilance to see that militaristic
and ultranatlonallstlc organizations and movements do not
hide behind the cloak of religion
U. To maintain liaison with organized religious
movements to assure an understanding and cooperation with
the objectives of SOAP In this field
5. To assist with recommendations for disposition
of religious articles and buildings
6. To help formulate policies relative to Christian
------ 5“SÜAP7“o£. cit., p. 123.
_______ 6_Lo.c..__cût..____________________________________________
123
missionaries
7. To govern Issuance of designs for new postage
stamps and currency*
It was on October h» 19h5 that a Directive was given
the Japanese Government to cease from complying with any
"provisions of all laws, decrees, orders, ordinances and
regulations which establish or maintain restrictions on
freedom of religion," and specific reference was made to the
Peace Preservation Law which had been the means of opening
prison doors to many who had been detained for alleged in
fractions involving the principle of religious freedom. In
line with this procedure, SCAP directed on this same date
that the Religious Bodies Law of 1939 was repealed. It was
not until October 15^ 19U5 that the last of those Imprisoned
for religious beliefs were freed by police officials*
Although freedom of religion was a Constitutional
guarantee. It v^as a freedom restricted to very narrow limi
tations and strlctured by the doctrines which embraced a
unity of government and religion. The Meljl Constitution
In Article 26 states, "Japanese subjects shall, within'
limits not prejudical to peace and order, and not antagonis
tic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious
belief.” 7 A test of a person’s loyalty to the State was the
_______^ 7 _Ihid.._,_p-._1. 2. 8. . ____________________________________
measure of his acceptance of official Shinto, and It was
maintained religious liberty was practised by asserting that
Shrine Shinto was not a religion.
There were two factors restraining religious freedom
which were set aside by the k October Directive. These
were :
1. The use of public cemeteries was defined In favor
of non-Buddhlst sects being allowed to use them.
2. No longer must religious groups desiring to
borrow money secure permission from Pre-feetural Governors.
With the withdrawal of restrictions upon religious
liberty, there was an immediate re-alignment of sects,‘
temples and churches from parent or guardian organizations,
which has resulted In a more wholesome position for all.
On December 1 $ , 1 9 h ^ f SCAP Issued a Directive which
drew a line of demarcation between Church and Stâte.
On December 28, 1.9 hS 3 new Religious Corporations
Ordinances were established which succeeded In: "
1. Liberalizing and simplifying the procédure where
by religious groups might Incorporate ' '
2. "Recognition" was no longer necessary'before
Incorporation.
3. The government could no longer exercise control
over the Internal organization and activités of the
_ln shijbut 1 An. _______________________________________________
12g
Before a clarification of the actual meaning of
religious freedom could be made known, it was interpreted
as license to teach religion everywhere possible. There
were Bible Classes in the Translator’s School where English
was being taught the police and firemen. Many Bible
Classes were taught in public schools after school hours,
and in hospitals and colleges. This did not continue too
long, however, for there were forces at work which were in
opposition to anything biblical. Pressure was brought, and
Army personnel, especially, were quietly ordered to discon
tinue such activities.
By May 3, I9ii7 the new Constitution was adopted which
included such provisions as respect for individuals, equal
ity of all men, academic freedom, habeas corpus, freedom of
religion, of speech, and the right of collective bargaining
all of which were a source of bewilderment to the vast '
majority of the people.
SCAP said.
Religious freedom involves the right on the part of
the individual to choose for himself, and his right to
be safe-guarded against evident or potential * coercion.
It must embrace two factors : (1) A maximum of freedom
on the part of individuals and groups to believe in and
practise a creed of their choice and (2) a minimum of
propagation, restraint, and interference on the part of
the government. Legal equality of all religious groups
before the State is fundamental.8
. .... 8 1 " b 1 d . , , „ ^p,, # 12 --— I I ................ .
1 2 6
Article 20 of the new Constitution states :
Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all.‘ No
religious organization shall receive any privileges from'
the State, nor exercise any political authority. No
person shall be compelled to take part in any religious
act, celebration, rite or practise.^
Upon the occasion of the processional through Tokyo
streets of the funeral cortege of the Dowager Empress, there
was grave concern in some missionary circles that the gen
erally practised act of bowing on thé part of the crowds
while the hearse passed indicated a resurgence of Shinto
practise and emperor worship. The discussion hinged upon
the question of whether there had been a directive froit the
minister of Education which infringed upon constitutiohal
rights. The Education ministry had suggested "prayer"'as
the procession passed. The word used was "Mokuto" which is
Christian in its origin, and in no sense colored"'by either
Buddhist or Shinto meanings. The word means "silent prayer."
There was no request for "prayer for^" or "prayer to" the
Dowager Empress. Many felt the word was properly used and
indicated nothing beyond paying respect, or simply the
matter of bowing the head in silent prayer.
This fear In the Occidental mind was gendered by the
inability of the westerner to comprehend the utter submis
siveness of the Japanese to the Occupation.
______ 9— I.bid .._,_p..__1. 2_ 6. . ________________ _
127
Perhaps there needed to have been no worry for the
voice of Hirohito had already been heard pointing the desti
ny of the nation and the idea of order and hierarchy as an
explanation of the Japanese attitude seems to your investi
gator to throw light upon the deportment of these people
whose actions were witnessed as prisoners of war in the
Philippines, and as civilians the length and breadth of
Japan.
The family system is of paramount importance to‘the
Japanese, among whom filial piety is held in such high're
gard as to have become an issue with some, who felt that
Christianity does not teach respect toward parents. It has
been stated, "Ancestor worship is a symbol of our spiritual
devotion to (the family system) as an ideal of practical
life;There was a concern among Japanese Christians for
the soul of the Dowager Empress, that she might know sal
vation in the world to come. This attitude' would seem to
indicate an ignorance of Protestant doctrines; at least
there certainly is a Buddhist idea in such a position.
Both Buddhism and Shintoism are quite securely inter
twined in the family structure. Mr. Suzuki at an Army
Character Guidance Lecture pointed out that the first com
munion of the Japanese child is sponsored by Shinto as is
TD“W7”'B7 Courtney, Dictators and Democrats (New York:
-R,._M._McBr_ide_and_0Ampany_,_19.1IlT7__P-._26.8..__________________
128
the wedding; the funeral is Buddhist, and the moral code is
Confucian. There is strong resistance and opposition from
the conservative families toward any member who wishes'to
break away from the established religious faith. This fre
quently includes dis-inheritance, and/or dismissal from the
family circle. It may restrict the opportunity for mar
riage, and for earning a livelihood or entering some
college.
The mixed up situation in Japan today is revealed in
the dress of the people. A gentleman on his way to a wed
ding may be dressed in his black kimono, a derby hat, and
getta (sandal-like shoes), or one girl walking the street
will be in typical costume of the nation while her companion:
would be in western dress. The latter may have gone so far
as to have said she would never again wear the native dress
which is to her the symbol of feudalistic slavery. The
Japanese woman has had to play a three-fold role‘as daughter
wife, and mother. In each relation she must render an
obedience. As daughter, she must obey her parents; as a
wife, she must obey her husband and her mother-in-law. As
a mother, she must also obey her sons.
The husband was under an obligation to worship his
ancestors and keep his line intact. This could be done
either by having children of his own or by adopting a child
Lor—by—concubinage.---------- : _____________ ________________ _
129
Since the war, morals are in decay, begging and
thievery are largely practised. The black market has given
rise to racketeering on an unparalleled scale. Two men who
tried soon after the war ended, to live on rationed goods
alone did not survive. Religion has been in eclipse when
considered from a national viewpoint. A missionary visited
a mountain from which people leaped to a suicide'death’
either from a sense of despair or of religious devotion.
At the base of the cliff is a jail in which are kept those
caught before they leap. To these the missionary said, "1
have come to tell you about a new religion." They answered,
"We do not want religion. We have too much religion now."
A recent survey of public opinion sbowed that re
ligion’s effect on students seems to be decreasing:
Question #1. Do you believe in a particular religion
or not: 705 University and college students answered:
Christianity, 21%; Buddhism, 10%; Shinto, 2%; no'religion,
6^%.
Question #2. Do you think religion is necessary?
‘ There were 9 71 answers. Necessary 82%; unnecessary 9 %;
indifferent 9%*
Question #3. In which religion are you most inter
ested? 2U8 answered. Christianity 76%; Buddhism I9 %;
Shinto I | . % .
_______In Manila in 19 at the War Crimes_.3tockade_ where I
130
tills investigator was conducting a Bible Class, a Japanese
soldier said, "We cannot understand about love, "but a ‘ Jap
anese student said to a missionary, "You have told me
tonight Jesus died for me. This reverses all my'thinking.
This should change my entire country."
Japan is in the throes of revolution which is occur-
ing in other oriental countries too, and is Occidental in
origin. It is "indebted to Christianity; 'IPrince J^onoye
was largely right in saying "Today most trouble in Asia can
be traced to European Powers that have bribed, uÊurped^
swindled and fought their way to control of the weaker
nations here;"T2
At the turn of the Twentieth Century John'R. Mott is
reported to have said, "Send ten thousand missionaries to
Japan immediately, or you shall send one hundred'thousand
bayonets later on." We did not send the missionaries,'but
we sent many times more than one hundred thousand bayonets.
The origins of the Pacific phase of World War II roolj
in a short-sighted program of American-Asiatic diplomacy
which began in 1906 when American diplomacy began to
play Japan off against Russia, and later on after 1922
when Japan was coerced into subscribing to the paper
peace system of the Washington treaties plus the cap
stone of the unsocial immigration exclusive policy of
the United States. All of these gave birth to a sense
of frustration in the Japanese mind which drove tliem to
Qy— ^ ^ History of Christianity in Japan
(New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 19097, Vol. II, p. ll^l
-------12_W..__B..—C.Qur.tney_,_op,._c.i.t.._,_p.*_26.8,.^________________
1 3 1
desperation.11
Since the war a great many "bayonets" have become
missionaries in fact, so that it may be that another war
will be an impossibility since we as two nations have been
able to "look into one another’s hearts and heads and
homes-. "1^
It is certain that the homes of the Japanese took a
terrible beating both during and after the war. A root of
the trouble is found in their misconception of national
destiny. The whole mental attitude of the people has been
influenced by the teaching of the mythical origin of the
nation. . They believed they were destined of the gods to
lead the world’s civilization.
Japan's war from 1938 to 19U5 was not so much an
aggression as a religious crusade based upon her'god-given
call to bring peace to the world as she was able'to acdom-
plish it. To these people the war was something of a re
ligious experience. It has been pointed out that
Men always act together, not in terms of what is
rationally best in the end, but in terms of what is
emotionally most satisfying at the moment in o. context
of immediate economic and political expectations.15
l3“F7”E7 Cramer, "The Pacific: Sea of Decision,"
Current History, 20 : Ilk February, 1951^ P* 76.
I k W. B. Courtney, op. cit., p. 269.
IS F. L. Schuman, International Politics (New York:
_Mcaraw^Hill_B„opk_Go_mi^y_,_Inc.._,_J,9_EEI7-P-«—2,55.________, ____
132
Certainly this expresses the Japanese approach to
their problem, and the results were catastrophic. For
eighteen miles, the distance from the heart of Yokohama to
the heart of Tokyo, one could see with sickening monotony
the ruins of the flames of war. Only twisted girders, the
sightless "eyes" of factories, the naked fingers which were
high chimneys pointed toward those heavens out of which had
come these devastating fire bombs. From late 191^6, wich
increasing rhythm, little wooden frame homes of one, two,
or three rooms sprang up on the ashes. Forty pehcent of the
area of sixty-six major cities was destroyed in the aif
raids; only two cities above 100,000 population Were ndt at
least partially destroyed in the raids. It is reported that
over two million buildings were totally destroyed. Medrly
1,850,000 people lost their lives, of whom 666,000 were
/
killed in Japan proper and over 250,000 perished "in thé’ air
attacks alone. For a nation that was not invaded by aii
army, Japan received terrible punishment.
With the end of the war, life had reached'an absolute
minimum. In such cities as Tokyo the people worked by day
and were sleepless under the attacks at night. When the
surrender came, many lay down where they were--on trains, on
the streets, in the vacant lots and went to sleep.
Everything since August, 1 9 i i - 5 » Las been an improve
ment.. T'he.ir come-back was quite rapid because such catas-
1 3 3
trophes as earthquake, typhoon, and fire have inured them to
hard living. The flood waters of 19^7 had not fully reced
ed before a man was observed with a mattock preparing the
sandy soil of the river bottom near Odawara for a new
planting.
It is now recognized that retention of the Emperor
system was good judgement on General MacArthur * s part, for
at the time of the surrender the people were concerned as to
the extent of abandonment of the Imperial System. Mr.
Suzuki said, "We rightly feared that . . . there would be
created a moral vacuum if this pivotal system of our nation
al structure were touched too deeply." It has been pointed
out that
The retention of Hirohito was viewed with alarm by
many critics of U. S. policy, by Japanese communists (at
first) and by a few Japanese liberals. That it facili
tated the tasks of administration is u n q u estionablé.16
Dozier has stated the emperor "is endeared to the
hearts of his people as never b e f o r e . He is à hero'be
cause he took it upon himself to end the war, thus showing
compassion and courage, and actuating the concept of "Michi"
(the way of humanity) which is the way to nbble and altruis
tic living.
16 Ibid. , p. 6 1 i . l i . .
17 Edwin B. Dozier, Japan’s New Day (Nashville :
Broadman Press, 19U9). p. U. ---------------------------
13h
Mr. Suzuki seemed to imply the simplication of admin
istration of the Occupation when he stated, "I personally
think that when you decided not to touch our Emperor System
too much, the success of the Occupation was virtually .
assured." Without any desire to:mitigate the manner of
General MacArthur’s conduct of the Occupation, and the
splendid help of his staff, we must recognize as a factor
"the characteristic of the Japanese people of blindly obey
ing vested authori ty; '3 18
Since 1915 Christianity has greatly influenced Japan
far beyond the small number of followers, for its fruitage
is seen in political, economic, and social circles. Immed
iately after the war, there was an increasing number of
Christians taking part in government. By February, 1918
there were twenty-seven Christians elected to thé Diet,
and five members of the Cabinet were Christian. Politically
speaking, the conservative Minshuto (Democratic Party) was
the largest, and in 1917 elected Premier Katayama, who is a
Christian and member of the Presbyterian Church. Although
the communists were vocal, they were not strong in carded
membership. In the first post-war election, twenty-three
women were elected to the Lower House; two Christian gover
nors were elected out of fifty, and several Christian mayors]
---------------------------------------
135
also won office* Yet today "democracy" is a word spoken by
almost everyone, but understood by almost no one. To many
it means license. This year of 19l7 did give SCAP some un
easy moments as the political pendulum swung slightly left
ward. The economic situation was reflected in politics.
In 1916, due to a power shortage, families were rationed at
the rate of 25 kilowatts per month for nine or less people;
and while in 19l7 labor earned ¥ 1000 per month at an ex
change rate of ¥50 for $1.00, six peaches sold for ¥250 and
it cost one month’s salary to have one's shoes resoled. It
was in this year that the American Occupation spent one half
billion dollars. Certainly this was a major contribution to
Japanese economy and made many ponder the question as to
what would happen to the economy if the Occupationaires were
withdrawn.
At the present time (1953) Japanese economy is in a
rather static state even though production increased twenty-
seven percent in 1952 over the norm (19 31-19 36). American
economy increased above cthe norm (19 35-1939) by one hundred
nineteen percent. It is significant that the population of
Japan had increased by nearly the same percentage, which
would indicate the per capita productivity has not developed
at all. This thrusts to the fore the great prewar problem
of over-population, a major factor in the build-up of pres-
sure for war, by which Japan hoped to gain more territory_
1 3 6
into which, the population could move.
The United States has succeeded in imposing more re
strictions upon the trade between Japan and Commiinist China
than she imposes upon her own trade with the U.S.'S.R.
Economic unrest is a grave problem for Japan. An indication
of the extent of this may be seen in the coal strike of
mid-October, 1952, which continued until mid-December and
resulted in real hardship as a result of transportation cur
tailment and restrictions on gas heat. The tensions in
creased until on December 11 Frirae Minister Yoshida invoked
the Emergency Adjustment injunction which by action of the
Union leaders ended the strike on December 16. Although the
crisis was passed, the measure of strain between Capitol and
Labor was clearly revealed and was carried on into 1953.
There must be an adjustment of tariff laws more favor
able to Japan unless America wishes to thrust Japan into the
Communist orbit by "bread-pressure7 There should be at
least a balance of trade instead of fourteen percent exports
from Japan and thirty-four percent import to Japan as over
against a 19 36 figure of twenty-two and thirty-one percent,
respectively. Christianity is being affected by the bar
riers set up against eighty millions of people who must
live in a world of trade, but who, tnving lost the ability
to sustain themselves, are denied more than a bare right to
work toward the goal. ________ ______________________
137;
On April 28, 1952, the Yoshida Government concluded a
peace treaty with Nationalist China which became effective
on August 5f 1952. Actually the treaty did little to solve
Japan's problems with the mainland with which she was
actually still at war and will continue to be unless the
Nationalists retake China, or a treaty is signed with the
Communists. This condition of uncertainty will continue to
influence Japan's political history because of the economic
factor in relation to trade between Japan and the mainland.
In the election of October 1, 19 52, the following
results prevailed in the House of Representatives:
Present Previous
Yoshida's Liberal Party
Seats Seats
“ 2B5---
Progressives (Conservative)
85 ■ 67
Right-Wing Socialists
57 30
Left-Wing Socialists Bh 16
Communists 0 22
Others
30 17
Vacancie s _0 __20
Totals h66 ii66
After the war, over six million soldiers and civil
ians were returned to Japan from overseas. Those returning
from Communist areas arrived destitute, but many were in
clined for at least a period of time to be favorable to the
Reds as they beheld their own country with material re-___
138!
i
sources depleted, transportation facilities either destroyed’
or worn out, inflation almost out of control, reparation
threats stifling investment, taxes mounting, families gone,
and hardship the only common denominator•
In 19E8 there were four million laborers who held
memberships in Communist-controlled labor unions. In 1950
there were 109,000 registered Communists in the Tarty in
J%pan. The Tarty headquarters was a dirty little building
in Shibuya near the Meiji Stadium in Tokyo. In April, 1951,
the number of registered Communists had shrunk to 59,033
with an estimated 30,000 unregistered and about 150,000
fellow travelers but by November, 1951, the number of Com
munist-controlled unions in Japan was practically nil.
Today Christianity is locked in a struggle with Oom-
munism and nationalism, and it must win or be driven from
the country. "Communism is considered by some to be an even!
more formidable foe"^9 to Christianity than Buddhism. Many
are watching to see whether Christianity is virile enough to
come through the test. Following is a report on how votes
were cast for Communism.
1916 - 2,139,000 1951 - 320,000
191:7 - 1,600,000 1952 - 890,000
I9 k 9 - 3,000,000
.19 SCAP, 22* bit,, p,. 159
13?!
i
It is to be noted that 1952 showed a decided increase over i
I
1951* The October 1, 1952, General Election saw the Liberal!
Party maintain its majority within the Diet under diff- ]
culty, but also registered the defeat of the Communist !
Party. It is significant that the Left-Wing Socialists who |
had insisted upon independent neutrality and opposition to
rearmament tripled its seats, and it has the possibility of
becoming the nucleus for the so called "progressive forces.7
Communists have found material for charges that
"Japan is an American colony" in the United States-Japan
Administrative Agreement of February 28, 19 52. Tensions
which are being reflected in the "Christian community" of
the nation are already being discovered in embryo with the
charge of tie erection of the barriers of extra-territori
ality. Article Seventeen provides that criminal cases
shall be under the jurisdiction of the nation whose citizen
is involved in instances related to the military, attached
civilians, and their dependent s.
The evidences of existence of tension is found in the
May day, 1952 riots when authority did not exist in all
Japan of sufficient calibre to hold the Communist-inspired
mobs in check. Had it not been for the presence of the
Security forces and the Police Reserves, Communism would
have swept to power in Japan.
_______Christianity has strongly influenced the direction of
lAO
Japanese history since the end of the war, and "with the
defeat and occupation of Japan the door of opportunity once
more opened for Christianity; I’ General Mac Arthur ' s
statesmanship was not limited only to military matters. He
recognized the need for missionaries to help establish a
type of Christianity which would encourage democracy, but
certainly a strong factor in a post-war resurgence of
Christianity has been the part played by the unobtrusive
Christian Occupationaire who came with an openness 'and a
wholesomness which won friends and influenced people. When
MacArthur asked for ten thousand missionaries, he mi^t have
looked about him at the many more than ten thousand who were
teaching Sunday Schools, Bible Classes, leading choirsy,
conducting street meetings, leading study groups, doing
social service work, supporting orphanages, and indoctrinat
ing the Japanese soul with a healthy Christian ideology
which gave real impetus to the Christian message as brought
again by the returning missionaries.
American military personnel contributed large sums
toward rehabilitating Japanese Christianity. In 1953 during
a one month period, figures released by the Office of the
Chief Chaplains, U.S.A. showed almost nine thousand dollars
given to charity which embraced building new churches to
2Ü'“E;7'~B7 Latourette, A History of Christianity
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 19*537. P. 17.50._______________
lUl
replace some of the one fourth of the total number which
were destroyed during the war, support of orphanages,
schools and civilian missionaries. Instances reported in
clude four thousand dollars from men at Camp Hakata on
Kyushu for a church in Saitozaki; at Camp McGill near
Yokosuka, two thousand dollars was given for a church at
Takeyama, and at Misaki; Yokohama Engineer Depot personnel
pooled over five thousand dollars to build a Kyodan church
in Sagamihara. This type of financial help was given con
stantly from the early beginnings of the Occupation.
With the end of the War in 19U5, and the establish
ment of SCAP (Supreme Commander Allied Powers), the Reli
ions Organizations Law was abolished. In October delega
tions of churchmen from the United States arrived and
immediately entered into conferences with Japanese church
leaders pointed toward a rejuvenation of Trotestant
Christianity* These four men were Dr. Douglas Horton,
Chairman of the American Committee for the World Council of
Churches, Dr. Walter Van Kirk, executive secretary of the
Department of International Justice and Goodwill of the
Federal Council of Churches, Bishop James C. Baker, Chair
man of the International Missionary Council, and Dr. Luman
J. Shafer, secretary of the Board of Missions of the Reform
ed Church in America.
_______On June 7,8, 191:6, was held the third general meeting
li|2
of the Kyodan, and its first under terms of the newly grant
ed religious freedom. At this meeting some of the Episcopal
churches left the organization but ten Protestant Church
Boards formed the "Nihon Kirisute Kyodan" (The Church of
Christ in Japan) with a total membership of 125,000; 1,1:80
churches; 2,335 ministers and evangelists, five hundred
missionaries returned since August, 191:5.
At first there had been a rumor among many churches
in the United States that SCAP was not interested in having
missionaries return to Japan, indeed that he was opposed to
such a program. This rumor was rooted largely in misinfor
mation. Rev. Paul S. Mayer, D.D. of the Evangelical United
Brethren Church and Dr. G. E. Bott of the United Church of
Canada had been s ent by the Foreign Missions Conference of
North America to serve in liaison with SCAP to process the
preparations necessary for missionaries to return. In order
that these might not become a burden to the Occupation,
certain regulations were established which included
assurance of housing and adequate financial support for each!
missionary coming. Only those were allowed to enter at
first who had pre-war service. T^is also implied that only
such societies as had had work in Japan in prewar days
could send missionaries. Only in one instance was it
possible to get a post-war organization into the country
under_tliis_r_egulation.,_^and_thi.s_was_only_done_because_two_ofj
i s
its missionaries. Miss Mabel Francis and Mrs. H. Dievendorf,
had been in Japan during the whole period of the war. The
Par Eastern Gospel Crusade was early at work as a result.
After the war two hundred and six churches withdrew
from the Kyodan but five hundred and forty were added. Who
can gainsay but that the combination of forces into the
United Church prior to the war was a Providential step to
preserve as much as could be held during the days of terrif
ic pressure from the government in thé war years. Certainly
the relatively insignificant movement had needed the utmost
of ramification else it would have deteriorated until swal
lowed completely in the onrushing nationalism of that
period.
Release from governmental pressure made it possible
within the first couple of postwar years for not only the
Episcopal Church to withdraw, but also the Lutherans, Free
Methodist, Nazarenes, Southern Baptists, Salvation Army,
and some Holiness groups, but eighty-five percent of Prot
estant Christianity remained in the organization. This
united church includes the largest number of formerly sep
arated denominations of any united church in the world.
As to organization, the Church elects a Moderator
every two years at its General Assembly, to which come three]
hundred delegates of whom one half are laymen;,. Japan is
diVided now into thirteen dis tricts each of which has its
“ l ü ï
own Assembly which may ordain candidates for the ministry
and control apportionments to the churches.
One outstanding program carried out by the Kyodan has
been the rehabilitation of churches. forking with the
Interboard Committee of New York, by 1951 two hundred and
fourteen buildings had been replaced through gifts totalling
$700,000.00 Each congregation in Japan which desired a
building raised 100,000 yen as their share in the expense
for the new church. These were at first Quonset huts, but
as Japanese materials became available they took the place
of the Quonsets, or prefabricated houses which also were
used. The Japanese raised 6'8,OOOyOOO yen.
Another phase of the Kyodan's program was the Five
Year Evangelism Program which was begun in I9I 1 . 9. Its aims
were (1) a positive penetration of the Gospel into the rural
areas ; (2) lay visitation evangelism; (3) vocational evange
lism slanted toward industrial workers and miners.
To facilitate the work in Japan the representatives
of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America began,
soon after the organization of the Kyodan in I9I 4 .I, to con
sider in what ways the respective Mission Boards could
function. E-Qpi^g the w ar a policy was set down, and after
the war ten boards associated themselves in the Interboard
Committee with headquarters in New York. This board has an
on-the-field commit tee called the "Interboard Committee for
1 1 : 5 ;
Christian Work in Japan" which in turn worked through the
"Council of Cooperation;'? The Council has determined the
location of all missionaries sent by the Interboa'rd Commit
tee Boards, allotted their work funds, determined what
grants should be given for work, and for relief, and made
recommendations to the Interboard Committee in New York.
The reported budget of the Kyodan is as follows*
19Ll - 1:0,000 yen 191:9 - 111:,501:,600 yen
191:5 - 85U,1:95 yen 1950 - 139,560,000 yen
In 1951 the rate of exchange was $1.00 to 360 yen. In 1950
the Interboard Committee had a budget for extra activities
in yen: Evangelistic - 9,165,000
Deputation - 2,300,000
Publications - 1,100,000
Rural Center Work - 3,860,000
Aids to Clergy - 1 1 | . , 209 ,000
Church Buildings - 16,700,000
By 1950 there were more missionaries in Japan than
before the war. Prior to 1 9 h i there had been about nine
hundred, but by 1951 Civil Information and Education Section
of SCAP reported between twelve hundred and fifteen hundred
Roman Catholics and the same number of Protestants. Yet in
Tokyo there were still seven wards without a single church.
By 1951 enough time had elapsed to make it possible for
former military personnel to have completed_their_int.err_up-t-
11:6
ed educations and return to Japan as bona fide missionaries.
By this time, too, there were at least one hundred and
twenty-one Mission Boards and societies in Japan.
19 51 was the Kyodan*s tenth anniversary, and during
this year seceding Presbyterians organized a "Nihon Kirisuto
KyokaiL? They met on May 23rd at the Omori church in Tokyo
where thirty-three congregations with fifty representatives
accomplished this task.
In pre-war days a rather serious blunder in mission
ary statesmanship had been the disregard of the rural areas.
Since the war more has been done "to develop rural work
than during the entire pre-war period," says Rev. S. G.
Ziegler of the Evangelical United Brethren Board of
Missions. There is a real program to reach the rural areas
where the conservative element of the population of any
nation usually lives. It is here the foreign religion meets
strong opposition, but the program is being organized about
(1) church related farms; (2) dairy projects; (3) rural
centers to which go evangelists trained at the Rural Train
ing Center, Tokyo. These centers include clinicd, lectures
on women's diseases, child care, family life and cooking
schools, sanitation and first aid.
It has been pointed out that it was from the rural
areas that there came those soldiers of the Japanese Army
who_j^er_e_most_co.nseryativ_e_and_fanatical,_ye_t_i.t_is_thi.s _
1U7
phase of the program that is at present faced with the
greatest obstacles. Insufficient funds and lack of trained
personnel equipped to cope with problems unique to this
strata of society combine to hinder rural missionary
I
expansion.
An effort is being successfully engineered to allevi
ate this condition, however. Just outside Hino, twenty-five
miles from International Christian University, and only
fifteen miles from Tokyo Union Seminary, is a twenty-five
acre area of ground owned by the Chris^tian Rural Service and
Training Center, which is under the auspices of the Rural
Committee of the United Board of Evangelism of the hyodan.
The Center has its own budget which is one half of the
annual appropriation of the International Committee for
Christian Work in Japan, plus the income from produce sold
by the Center. At this Center are trained the people who
will carry the Christian message from the Kyodan to the
rural areas of the nation. It has been reported that
Before the war there were less than two hundred
grass-roots churches in a nation of over nine thousand
rural townships. Today there are churches in ninety-
eight percent of the cities, thirty percent of the
towns, and one percent of the villages.21
This gives evidence of the great need for such a
school, which besides teaching people how to worship, oper-
2T~A7~RT Stone, ”Rural Missions,** Telescope Messenger ,
Vpl.._ll_ 8,_Feb., 15%,_P_._10.____________________________ J
118
ates one hundred day-nurseries, has a program of seed
distribution, introduces new crops and types of agriculture,
offers leadership in agricultural reform both by precept and
example, and works to change people in the changed homes of
the changed villages by means of leadership.
The resident staff at the Center includes three suc
cessful rural pastors, an agriculturist, a farm manager,
and eight part-time lecturers. All the students are baptiz
ed Christians of at least one year duration, and can only
come upon the recommendation of their church. Part of the
entrance requirement is a paper stating "his or her sense
of mission" in rural evangelism and a vision of Christian
rural reconstruction.
#
Training for the student includes class room study,
farm work, and field work. Class work includes religious
training and rural life courses. All students live in re
sidence and work on the land. The second and third year
students go over weekends to rural communities to assist in
community and church work. So far there has been a total of
about $2^,000,000 expended. The school can train between
forty and fifty students at a time. There are from ten to
fifteen graduates each year.
Closely allied with rural evangelism is the program
of welfare work which has been a large factor in strength-
!
I ening the hand of the church. This_program._ha.s_enco.mpas,sed
Ik9
medicine, penal reform, temperance, nursing, cooperatives,
nursery and kindergarten schools, and deaf oral schools.
Food and clothing valued at nearly five million
.dollars was sent to Japan by the churches of the United
States. As an Army Chaplain, your investigator had a share
in releasing food and clothing parcels by the jeep load to
missionaries in the Tokyo area. Total relief distribution
in the period from 19T? to 1951 through Church World Service
and C.R.O.P. was IU,659,T02.00.
L.A.R.A. was supposed to have been an agency whose
facilities for distribution of relief were to have been
impartial. This organization ended its work in August,
1952 after importing about eleven million dollars worth of
supplies.
The Protestant Churches alone supported more than
three hundred and fifty v/elfare projects which included
Settlement houses - 15
Childcare clinics - 201
Mother and child hostels - 2 2
Reform schools - lit
General clinics - 3I
Sanatoria - I5
Schools for handicapped - 21
An outstanding contribution to Japanese Protestant
CJn?AstâanlJ:y_hasJbeen^ade. by _the__Japanese Bihle_So.cie.ty_, _
150
which is the successor to the American Bible Society and the
British and Foreign Bible Society, which organizations com
bined their assets in 19 38. Financially this organization
must still look to the United States and Britain for help
in underwriting the great program which sees one half of its
support come from sales of Scriptures in Japan and the other
half from contributions. Its Board is made up of represent
atives from all the larger denominations in the nation.
The first Japanese New Testament was published in
I879 and the first Bible in I887. Since 1879 over thirty-
five million copies of the Scriptures have been circulated.
In spite of the fact that on May 25, 19t5 all the
fifth and sixth floors of the Bible House building were
burned out, and "an irreplaceable library perished','”^? im
portant plates for printing the Bible were saved, and in
19T7 the New Testament was being again printed. Paper had
been secured from the American Bible Society through the
help of General MacArthur.
Since 19A2 a committee on revision had been at work
to prepare an entirely new version of the New Testament
which was to be the basis for a translation in modern speech
which would take until 1952 to complete.
In 1952 Mr. Lamala, Vice General Secretary of the
22 L. E7 Holmgren, The Japan Christian Year Book
LCTokyoj_Kys Bun_Ewan.,_JL9,5AT7Zp7ZITI.— 7 7 7 7 — -- . — _ _ _
150
Bible Society, reported the following figures in a personal
interview with, your investigator :
From 19T5 to 1951, distributed 2,808,01ii. New Testaments
From 19L5 to 1951 distributed 207,813 Bibles,
From I9I 4.5 to 1951 distributed 1:, 827,056 pieces of literature
In 19L5, New Testaments distributed were 19
In 1950, New Testaments distributed were 671,009
In I9ii5, Bibles distributed i t , in 1950, 36,565
In 19U5, pieces of literature, 6, in 1950, 2,358,956.
From January to November, 1951
New Testaments distributed 358,980
Bibles distributed 53,526
Literature 2,66 7,569
Braille portions L,972
In 1952 the Society distributed Bibles totalling 1,750,000
for a grand total of 12,883,023 since August, I9ii5*
Another dimension of Protestant activity has been in
the area of Christian education.
The general program in this field has been headed up
in the "Japan Council of Christian Education" which was
established in 19U8. This organization actually grew out of
the former "Japan Sunday School Association" which in 19Tl
was merged into the United Church.
In 19ii7 Dr. Paul H, Vieth of Yale University was in
Japan_as_a_memb.er_Qf__the neligions__d 1 vis ion_of__SCAP_,_and_he
151
spent much, of his time consulting with Japanese Christian j
Education leaders. At an address in Tokyo Chapel Center to I
an assembly of chaplains and missionaries. Dr. Vieth pointed!
out there was a great lack of leaders among the Japanese
churches because the "seminaries have been so busy stirring
around in neo-orthodoxy, they have failed to provide leaders
for their children;T He further pointed out that in the
sphere of Religious Education, "The Bible women are better
trained than are the pastors." Yet at that time because of
the poverty of the churches, few Bible women were being
hired and few nurseries or day schools for children main
tained. There had been nineteen schools for training
Bible women prior to the war. All were either destroyed,
or closed by war’s end, and none were in operation by I 9 h l *
Yet there was an amazing interest in Sunday Schools which
were being led by Middle School (Junior High) and High
School students. One Tokyo pastor, Mr, Okada, conducts
Sunday School on Saturday as well as Sunday for there is not
enough room in his chui’ch on Sunday, and even neighboring
homes were used to the maximum. It was not uncommon to hear
of Sunday Schools being conducted in the homes of consecrat
ed laymen in areas where there were no churches. ' One needs
to remember that of the one hundred and sixty-nine Pro tes- |
tant churches in Tokyo before the war, only nine were left i
by_August, 19li5. There were seven Toky_o_ wards_wi_th_not .a J
152
single Protestant church. Some churches like the Ginza
Methodist Church partially destroyed in the airraids were
helped toward restoration by the financial gifts of the
Occupation Personnel who at one time conducted the "Tokyo
Gospel Hour" in this particular chur’ch.
Many Americans were inclined to feel impatient with
the Japanese Christian educational program, little realizing
how difficult it was to adapt American methods to buildings
which basically were nothing but shells without equipment,
or adequate room, or materials, yet in fifteen hundred
Kyodan churches two hundred and thirty-five kindergartens
were operated.
Many Japanese pastors were not even aware of the
opportunity at their doors in'the guise of Christian educa
tional opportunities. Children*s work was to them a matter
only for the Bible Women. At Doshisha University, a School
of Theology was established. One of the courses offered was
in Religious Education. There were nearly one hundred
students in the School, and tkiis course was an elective for
which only seven students registered.
Article twenty of the new Japanese Constitution pro
hibits religious education under state direction. This was
aimed primarily at State Shinto, but has worked against
Christianity. In many cases classes cannot be held even in
the public school building after school hours. Prior to the
153
strict interpretation of this law, many missionaries, and
chaplains too, were invited to speak to gatherings of
children and to teach Bible Glasses in the schools. Your
reporter spoke to over one thousand children at one time in
a school at Ito, and again to a large gathering of children
in Skuagawa, and yet again at a gathering of school teachers
and administrators of Chiba Prefecture. The subject was
"The Relation Between Christianity and Education;’ Î That
little was known about the working inter-relation of
Christianity and Democracy ("demo-kracie") is seen in the
question asked Dr. Vieth, "If one is to hold an office in
America does he have to be a church member?"
Into the Council of Christian Education by 1950 there
had come one hundred and ninety-three member organizations
with 5,5W teachers; 103,09 6 students in four post-graduate
schools, fifteen universities, thirty Junior Colleges,
seventy-two Senior High Schools, sixty-three Junior High
Schools, and nine Primary Schools. The aim is recited to be
"to investigate and study Christian School education in
Japan and promote international relations through Christian
Education;
Since the war the Interboard Committee has contribut-'
ed one and one half million dollars to restore Christian
schools in Japan, and has given nearly one half million
dollars for maintaining the schools. ___ ___ ____
T 5 Ü |
i
Christian educational circles can be proud of their
leadership in Japan across the years. The church was the
Instrument in establishing many of the original girls’
schools. In 1905 Christian High Schools for girls repre
sented seventy percent of the total number of such schools.
By 1930 the government had become enough impressed t h a t the
number of Christian girls’ schools represented less than
five percent of the total.
The church educational program includes Sunday
Schools, Youth activities, Bible classes, preparation of
religious literature and preaching. The program has been
handicapped by, the inflationary conditions which require
greatly increased budgets, regulations which now require a
college to provide a full four-year course, and the disre
pair of usable properties due to inadequate finances.
Prior to the war, and to a carry-over degree since,
Christian education was strongly handicapped by the tendency
of the government and business agencies to give preference
to those educated in the secular schools. In spite of this,
the influence of the Christian schools is in a rather para
doxical way borne out in the way in which such large numbers
of Christian men and women are found in places of leade!rship
in the nation today.
It is to be hoped that one of the truly outstanding
contributions of Christianity to Japan in the field of____
155!
I
education is that of the International Christian University ,
J
of Japan. 1
On Dedication Day President Hachiro Yuasa said to a
large group of us assembled in University Hall,
International Christian University is fundamentally
a university of tomorrow. Conceived in the spirit of
Christian brotherhood, born out of the tragedies of war,
and dedicated to the proposition that truth and truth
alone shall make men and nations free, it aspires to
make its due contributions for the realization of Chris
tian and democratic ways of life in a new Japan and a
new Asia by training new leaders.
Said Dr. Hisato Ichimada, the Governor of the Bank of Japan,
and himself a Buddhist, "Japan must have a new spiritual
foundation, and I.C.U. is the hope of that." Her Imperial
Highness Princess Chichibu expressed the thought, "I cannot
help feeling there is a special trust to be fulfilled by
this University to train young men and women in preparation
for the interchange of ideas." IVIrs. R. E. Diffeiidorfer
commented in the same view,.. "May here be sown the seeds of
individual character, racial understanding and world peace."
But not, all the thoughts expressed on this twenty-
ninth day of April, 19 52 were for the future. Some gave
expression concerning an appraisal of Japan’s defeat. One
such' was Dr. S. Nambara, President of the University of
Tokyo,
The war Japan fought and lost was, in the last |
analysis one of spirit against spirit . • . Japan came
to grief because her spirit, her humanity was._:grievouslyi
^at_fault,,_and_the_r.e,aliza.t.i.on_of_thi.s_.fdndamental_fac_t i
; “ 156
mast be . . . the starting point of her reconstruction.
It was Dr. Franklin C, Fry, the official representa
tive of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in
America who thrilled all who heard him, and who pointed out
that **the issue of this century is one of minds. The aim of
this challenge is to make God visible behind the facts of
mathematics, the facts of life."
It was Mr. H. W, Hackett who pointed out that "we
built a home for a great idea." This idea had been in the
minds of a few people for over fifty years, some of whom
were Japanese and some were missionaries. After the war
Dr. John McClean of Richmond, Virginia, expressed in a
Sunday morning sermon the wish that atonement might be made
by the United States for dropping the atom bomb upon Japan
in the form of some united good. From this thought was
projected the idea of I.C.U.
In the crystkllization of the project, goals were set
which aimed at United States Protestants raising ten million
dollars. This program was placed in the hands of a nation
wide advertising agency, but just as the program was being
launched, the Korean War broke out and the whole effort
failed to a very large degree. However, the Japanese phase
of the program progressed beyond expectations and an amount
of Yen 160 million ($if50#000.00) was raised. In the United
States two jmill ion doll a rs_were_raise d.— N inety-five—per—c en-
of the money in Japan was raised from Buddhist sources.
After an intensive search for a suitable campus,
three hundred and seventy acres of available land were lo
cated twenty-five miles from the city’s center. The main
building, now remodelled and known as University Hall, was
originally constructed as an aeronautical research building
for the Japanese air force. $380,000.00 were spent to pre
pare it for its part in the school program. An American
engineer valued it at two million dollars if it were in the
United States. It has two and one-third acres of floor
space. It is here the first classes were held on April 28,
1952, at which time classes were begun for language
students. The maximum number of students could be one
hundred and fifty. The school day was from 8:30 A.M. to
3:30 P.M. and seventy students were in attendance. The Ad-
jministration had felt it would be wise to begin the school
even though the charter had not yet been granted. The
charter was granted on December 26, 1952, and the school had
standing as a College of Liberal Arts.
It is anticipated that fifty per cent of the faculty
will be Japanese, the others will be from other nations. On
Dedication Day there was a strong plea from the representa
tive from India that some conpatriot be chosen to serve on
the faculty.
_______The_a tmo s p he re _of_the_s chool—s eems_t o_be -quite -whol e^
158|
I
somely Christian. The standard for its professors is (l)
be a Ph.D. or its equivalent; (2) be of known reputation;
(3) be Christian, and his family also Christian.
As expressed at dedication, the mission of the uni
versity is three-fold: (l) to give facts; (2) to' do
research; (3) to serve the community (Japan).
It is to be expected that the school will emphasize
Christian culture as long as Dr. Yuasa continues as presi
dent. He was formerly president of Doshisha University and
is a third generation Christian himself.
That there is dire need for such a school as I.C.U.
is pointed out in the statement of Miss Teruko Komyo of the
faculty of Tokyo Women’s College. She stated,
Japan must find a newway of life. Christianity
offers salvation to Japan, but at present (1952) there
are comparatively few facilities for bringing Christi
anity to the majority of her people.
At present there are not enough Christian teachers in
Japan to staff even the Christian schools. We must have'
a fine Christian institution to train teachers.
The response of the Japanese people to the appeal for
funds to build the university, and it is significant that
every Prefecture over-subscribed its quota, is an evidence
that the people of Japan are presuming that Christianity has
something worthwhile to offer them. ^ If it is true that
former opposition of the Japanese to Christianity was based
upon the position that Japan, having her own religion, did
159j
not need a religion from the West, that position has now
been largely vacated. The faith of many of the people in
their own religions was strongly shaken after World War II.
Japan's defeat was so utterly complete because it was
a spiritual defeat and not merely material for she had never
believed in the superiority of her armaments, but in the
supremacy of her spirit and her victory was to come upon
the wings of another "divine wind" (kamikazi) like that
which had destroyed the fleet of Kublai Khan in the 13th
Century. The degree of her spiritual defeat is to be seen
in the manner in which she abandoned her altars in the
shrines and in the temples, and the way she turned to hear
the new (?) religion expounded. They would listen because
they were spiritually adrift, meanwhile seeking an explana
tion for their defeat and scrutinizing all their ideologies.
In contrast Robert R. Hall has said.
Educated Japan still thought of defeat in terms of
technological and material inferiority, rather than as
the inevitable outcome of a spiritual deterioration
which made Japan unfit to be a member of the community
of nations.23
In the light of such conditions, I.C.U. will have a
real opportunity to prove its worth, and in terms of the
future to cast an ever-lengthening beam of light in the
social and religious life of the nation, for it is not
1 23 R* Hall, Education for a New Japan (New Haven,
lYale UniversltY Press.-l9Tl9T— ---------- ------------
160l
I
correct to think Christianity is growing by leaps and
bounds, nor that there is no opposition. It has been report
ed that the :
Christianization of Japan is proceeding at a much
slower rate than most Americans realize. Dr. Toyohiko
Kagawa declared ... At the present time there are
only 500,000 Christians in a population of 83,000,000.
Statistics reveal that in 1950 there were only
3l j . 2,225 recorded members in 2,9 32 churches pastored by
3,681 ministers. In 1951 SCÂP reported about I50O Protes
tant, and 1500 Catholic missionaries in thirty-six Protes
tant denominations and eighty Catholic societies.
Yet one cannot help be impressed by such reports as
those following the tour of Dr. E. Stanley Jones who in
February of 19U9 preached in seventeen cities at fifty-six
meetings to an aggregate of LO,000 people with 7,500 de
cisions of non-christians expressing an interest in knowing
more about Christianity.
In 19U7 your investigator, in one day, held three
different services in which there was a total of one hun
dred and forty-three decisions. As a result of Bible
Glasses held at the Police and Interpreter’s School in
Tokyo, a police inspector accepted Christ as Savior. He was
only one of many who attended these classes. Interest is
2h R. N. S. Telescope Messenger, Vol. 116, #Ii.8,
Dec. 2, 19 50. EvangeTical Press."Harrisburg, Pa. _____
— ^
indicated by a consistent attendance of as many as two
hundred and fifty men per month in a Bible class sponsored
by the men themselves and held in the Metropolitan Police
School in Tokyo,
In 1953 a Youth for Christ Team, conducting a service
in a Yokohama warehouse, had three hundred decisions in one
afternoon. Names and addresses of these people were secur
ed, and the converts were placed in pastor's instruction
classes. The genuineness of these decisions is attested by
the numbers attending these classes,
Mitsuo Puchida, leader of the air raid on Pearl
Harbor, remarked that prior to his conversion, "I came to
feel ashamed of my former godless idea that man’s own power
and ability was his only trustworthy resource."
It would seem that it is as Latourette says, “Chris
tianity is going on . . . It will survive . . . each crisis
(and) emerge with renewed and enhanced influence."25
The secret of success may have been understood by
Suzuki who said, ’ ’The Cross is symbolic of Christianity.
It always stands vertically against its surroundings and
seeks to exercise its own ideology over them. Christianity
is self-assertive. ’ ’^6
1' 5"” K7"” S7 Latourette, The Christian Outlook (New York:
Harper Brothers, 1918), p. 89l^-------------------
26 Daisetz T. Suzuki, Far East Stars and Stripes
JiC hr.i .81 i an i t y-,iL_No vemb e r_9 - , — 19-ÎJŸ. ---------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
To succeed, Christianity in Japan must concern itself
with, the basic needs of the people. Communism goes to the
roots of man’s dissatisfactions and so gains a hearing, and
often a following.
Christianity has a tendency to deal rather super
ficially with Japan’s problems at present. The Christian
leaders must face the economic, social, and political prob
lems as well as the religious ones. There are some Japanese
who have charged that Christianity only offers another god
who may be no better than those who failed during the war.
The issue was recognized by General MacArthur when he
affirmed that the world faces a "problem that is theologi
cal". In the Orient the whole course of Christianity hinges
upon its victory or defeat in Japan. "This is the day in
Japan for Christianity."^ Your reporter attended a
Chaplain’s Conference in Korea in 1952 at which Mayor
General W. G. Wyman of IX Corps with headquarters at
Chunchon said, "It is the Christian religion which will hold
the world together."
But Pulton Sheen pointed out at Sophia University, j
■1—SOAP-,_o.p..— c i - t . . - , _ _ p . . _ 1 . 2 . 2 . ^
163
Tokyo, "There is through-out the world today the end of an
era--in the East it seems to be the transformation of a cul
ture. As soon as a culture is abandoned a vacuum is
created."
It is certainly true that there is a great spiritual
vacuum in Japan. Into this vacuum something will be placed.
It can be materialism. Communism, or Christianity. It is
disquieting to realize that the tides of the new social and
religious life are not waiting for men to move. While they
roll in the Church must be about its work. General Wyman
said, "We are the seed to establish the freedoms which
Christianity has advocated since its inception." "Since the|
time when Christianity assimilated Greek thought, and con
quered Roman civilization, it has never faced a task so
stupendous as that of the conquest of the Orient."^
Perhaps one of the greatest needs in Japan today is a
Christian Apologetic based upon a better understanding of
the religious and social backgrounds of the people.
The God of Christianity manifested through Jesus
Christ is what the Japanese need--but not clothed in Occi
dentalisms. Japanese psychology, and their general approach^
to life would seem to demand that they be allowed to think
their way through for themselves in formulating polity,
_______ 2 Harada , op. cit., p. 18U*__________________________
16 u
theology, and creed. Dr. Paul S. Mayer, for forty years a
missionary in Japan, and Superintendent of the Evangelical
United Brethren Mission after the war would insist on those
pastors who came for help, "You are on your own now.- I have
no authority or right to tell you what to do."
This is surely the day for the Indigenous Church.
Your investigator in 19 51 spoke to over two hundred mission
aries of the Evangelical Missionary Association Of Japan at
Karuizawa urging promotion of such a program.
Since before the turn of the century there have been
some missionaries, and "Many Japanese Christians who early
wished their churches to be independent financially and
administratively of the foreigners; It liiust not be over
looked that Christianity is a foreign religion and stands
in dire need of a new citizenship. It was only in I87I that
the anti-Christian bans were repealed.
In too many instances churches have been merely im
portations "including the titles, organizations, methods
and teachings which in many cases have nothing to do with
the interests or needs of the Japanese.’ ?^ This is true of
the individual missionaries too who have been too much
representative of their nationality with manners, habits and
3 K. S. Latourette, op* cit. , p. 1330,
i t , An e s.ak i. , _op_.__cit_,_,_p._
165
prejudices coloring their interpretations.
Many missionary leaders have noted the success of
some of the churches which have been under Japanese leader
ship entirely. This has encouraged them in their position.
On the other hand we should ask the questions (1)
What influence is the indigenous church having upon the
Japanese? (2) Is it greater or less effective than the
American churches which are putting an Occidental program to
work in Japan? Gases can be cited to support both posi
tions, but increasingly Japanese are at work before the
people. More and more Occidentals are taking up command
positions behind the scenes. It is evident that the future
of Christianity in Japan depends upon the vitality inherent
within itself as it is given direction by the indigenous
church. (1) Japan’s four islands should be divided among
the Christian groups. There is stark tragedy in the over
lapping now going on in some areas while vast regions have
no work being done at all. In the Sekini area of northern
Honshu in 1951 there was no single missionary, and but a
very few Protestant churches for about one million people.
(2) There should be a co-operative enterprise which would
recognize "fields of endeavor" where denominations, or
"missions" make a major contribution, then let such groups
serve in such a capacity. For instance some are strong in j
evangelism, some—in_education.,_some_in_social_s.er_vic.e.. (-3.)J
166
Pastors must abandon the tendency toward theological in
volvements which absorb time, and the mechanics of adminis
tration for an enthusiasm which will turn Japan upside down.
E. Brunner took the Japanese pastors to task for their ad
hesion to books and theological questions as over against
practical Christianity. (ii) There should be an enlarged
governing body to formulate policy, and direct endeavor for
all groups. Each should be Christian enough to recognize
the contributions of the others, then cover Japan, or lose
the venture. (5) There should be a Spirit-filled enthusiasm.
In an indigenous church it may be possible for
Protestantism and Catholicism to unite to that degree in
which they can sustain themselves against the pressure of
Communism which is very quick to utilize the principles of
Glauswitz to wit: divide, and conquer. One significant
trend in Christian activity has been the establishing of a
"Christian Federation" comprised of the Kyodan, Greek
Orthodox, Episcopalian and Roman Catholic bodies.
As much as the indigenous church is needed, most
Japanese pastors seem far from capable of local church
promotion. There are some factors here which need to be
pointed out. One is the great inflation which ha's continued
to spiral since the war ended. At that time improper diets
made much physical labor difficult. One pastor reported
being able to walk only a blo.ck_at_a_time_then_having__to_sit
16 7
and rest. In 19 U6 the average income of a Kyodan pastor per
month was two hundred and fifty yen or five dollars. At
that time it cost one thousand yen per month to live. Be
cause of a lack of finance many pastors have been forced to
continue part time employment to supplement their income.
One pastor said,
I do not like to work in an avocation in order to
maintain myself in my vocation, for this is the best
time to preach. In thirty-five years as a pastor I’ve
never had such an experience as this in which I strive
to maintain a family of five on a salary of one thousand
yen ($20.00) per month while I preach at five different
appointment s.
Lack of funds has hindered any great degree of adver
tising even though there are now great benefits from such a
technique. It has been pointed out that a single days ad
vertising in three leading newspapers of western Japan elic
ited 2,200 inquiries concerning Christianity. Before the
war it took a year’s advertising to gain the same results.
Today Japan is flooded with missionaries whose in
tentions may be good; but whose approach to the problems of
the nation is hindered by lack of funds or lack of knowledge
and lack of adequate preparation or combinations of these
three. "One cause of the failure of mission work is that
most of the missionaries are entirely ignorant of our
h i s t o r y ."5 It must not be overlooked that to understand the
_ ^""Inaze"Nitobe, Bushido (Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1939 ),
p. 186^---------------- I____ '
Ï68l
i
Japanese mind one must know something of how it roots into
the soil of the nation’s history. Certainly it must be
recognized that Japanese mentality is strictured within the
limits of their religious and ethio-moral teachings. The
restrictions imposed upon the intellectual integrity of the
people prior to 19U5 so warped them that there is grave
danger they will not know how to utilize the strengths
available in their new found freedoms. Japan is changing
for she has no alternative after seven years of Occupation.
The nation is resentful of any imposing of western culture
for they believe enough in themselves to think they are
capable of choosing what they want from the West.' These
changes are not entirely the result of impositions from
without, but are motivated from within in spite of General
MacArthur’s report to his first formal press conference on
March 17, 19i;7 when, after one and one-half years of
Occupation he said.
Our occupation job here can be defined as falling
roughly.:! into three phases--military, political and
economic. The political phase is approaching such
completion as is possible under Occupation. We have
changed the • . . ideals of this country from the
f eu,da lis tic ideals of the past into the concept of
what is the greatest thing in life, next to spiritual
beauty, the dignity of man.
Because of the approach of both Buddhism and Shinto
to the matter of the worth, or lack of worth, of the indi
vidual, it has been very difficult for the nation suddenly
169
to reverse itself in accepting the Christian view which
places so high a value upon the person as an individual.
Instrumental in stabilizing the nation against ex
treme unrest is the concept of national ethics expressed in
"Chugi" which is the spirit of loyalty colored with elements'
of reverence and devotion toward some individual accepted as,
superior such as an ancestor, or the emperor. This spirit
has its greatest exponent in the Bu shi do - - the way of the
samurai. The word when literally translated means "Military
knight - way 8 Its emphasis was upon the moral conduct of
I
rulers, public men, and even nations. Bushido, like Blato,
conceived the state to ante-date the individual, and taught
that the individual must serve the state even to the death.
Under Occupation this doctrine was outlawed, and
nothing was put in its place although Christianity has a
more powerful inner energy potentially which could have
served to give direction to the new Japan. Because of Chugi
the Cross, as the measure of self-sacrifice on the part of
Christ becomes very rich with meaning, and might have been
used in a Christian frame of reference to reach many of the
people.
Bushido does promote a degree of honour which cannot
brook being looked down upon as inferior. Many of the
people found it difficult to accept defeat, but sought
e. 8cape by rationalizing as did pne_ggy.ernment_offi.clal_who--
170
publicly stated, "Japan was not defeated; we only stopped
fighting." Christianity faces a difficult hurdle in the
matter of authority and discipline ingrained in the Japanese
mind which abjures resistence to parental wishes whether on
a family or national level. It behooves the Chufch to make
clear the fact that Christianity does not undermine the
authority of the parent-father, but supports it.
The new-found freedom has had devastating effects
upon the homes of many Japanese for neither the parents nor
the children understood how to adjust to the concept of
democracy. In many instances young people have understood
it to mean "license; " They have not learned how to handle
the problems of daily living.
One great door of opportunity for the church is the
youth who are possessed of an insatiable desire to learn,
and an inexhaustable reservoir of questions. They have not
lived a life time in cultural pattern damaging to the idea
of personal worth. But in this area too time is slipping
away. Rev. L. H. Tibesar, secretary to the Secretary-
General of the Catholic Church in Japan, remarked during a
personal interview with this reported, "In I9 k 6 youth asked,
’What is the meaning of life?’ but by 1952 this question was
no longer being asked.“
Previously the church has had a very limited program
.for__youth. Today_Ls_pr-ogram_is_still_hinder.ed_by_tw.o_ma j.or-
1 7 l !
lacks (1) Trained adult leaders for youth; (2) Adequate j
materials to be used in education. "éducation is the bridge
between God and the world.To become and remain a
Christian in Japan a person must possess something of the
qualities and temperament of a rebel who can stan'd against
the cultural currents of the nation. He must be an indivi
dualist and a thinker. It is realized that education is for
the purpose of fully developing the individual; it should
serve the purpose of complementing a full Christian faith
begun in the matrix of evangelism. The goal of education
needs to be to bring individuals to a saving knowledge of
God in Christ that these people may be able to ”ghve ...
a. reason for the hope that is in”7 them. This implies a
vitality in education which will strengthen youth for the
adjustments which are and will continue to be necessary.
Again to quote Rev. Tibesar, "If we have five years left it
is my opinion we might be able to lick this thing if the
people will stand up to Communism^ and absorb Christian
ideals and principles."
The question of whether the people "will stand up"
under the pressures to come depends upon the degree of their
motivation in things Christian. Education is important, but
' 5”’ J7”’ W~C. Dougall, "Education and Evangelism,"
International Review of Missions, 36:1^3, July, 19'ii7.
_______7—Hew_Tesbament,:_I_Pejber_3.:.l^.. --------------- —
1721
evangelism is a vital factor too, and needs continual
emphasis. Some Japanese Christians have become aware of the
unprecedented opportunity to evangelize which has been only
feebly undertaken. It has been pointed out that the failure
in this area is due to an inadequate spiritual consciousness
within the ranks of the Christians themselves. It has been
well said, "Evangelism is the life blood of the missionary
movement."8 But Christianity must not only convert the
individual; it must inject new blood into a decadent social
order. Here is a two fold emphasis which needs the combined
force of the total Christian movement. Here is the place
for joint staff work, administrative unification, an adapta
tion to the indigenous culture, religion and changing
Spiritual needs. In a limited way this has been done. But
how much mac e could be accomplished if the various groups
could become Christian enough to join a "Commonwealth*.?
Then could come a redeployment of existing forces' and how
much more effective would be such instruments as summer
conferences, caravans, work camps, institutes, clinics,
tract and leaflet distribution, radio, public address
systems, films and all the other devises used by enterpris
ing evangelists, but all of which are insufficient without
an adequate follow-up of contacts, and a sustained impact
8 J. S. G. Dougall, op. citj^,_p^ 313_
1731
upon the minds of the people. How futile an initial contact'
with an individual steeped in teachings of an impersonal god
when he is confronted with a new concept, that of a decided
ly personal God, and within the hour to be called upon to
ally himself to this true God, or perish. Such superficial
evangelism carried on by itinerant evangelists is tragic
when a co-operative work could do so much, more. The whole
future of Japan can be greatly influenced by Japanese
Christians and the missionaries if the church is equal to
its opportunity as it is found in the open-mindedness of
these eighty-millions of people. "It may safely be said
that an unparalleled opportunity does lie before Christian
churches and leaders.The Christian movement in Japan
cannot disregard nor overlook its responsibility in connec
tion with the 20,000 suicides of 1951 who were in some cases
whole families. At least some of these might have been
reached had the church been less bigoted in doctrinal issues
and more Christ-like in its program of evangelism. Chris
tian love offers an inter-personal relation which is tri
focal in motivation and includes "I, thou and weL The
Japanese are geared to such a relation by social responsi
bility within the family. This needs emphasis in Christian
9 SCAP, op. cit., p. viii.
10 Paul E. Johnson, "Gliristian Love and Self Love,"
igastoral^Psychology 2 15- r . , . J a r ------------
’ T tï|
I
circles in ^apan. Christian love seeks "to bring the whole
world into God's realm of creative, redemptive love;'
Insofar as truth is found everywhere, it is Christianity's
mission to fulfill the other religions of the empire rather
than merely to be content to destroy them.
The times call for a reappraisal of foreign missions
strategy. As a result of the war's disruptive effect,
social, economic, political, and religious factors demand
revision. Christianity needs to stop trying to adjust it
self to the socio-economic factors of the day, and instead
become strong enough to bring the socio-economic problems
into line with its teachings before it will be strong
enough to lead the nation to a solution of its problems.
The foreign policy of the United States should be
Christian as announced by Secretary of State Dulles. Such
a policy must take into consideration the inflation now
extant in Japan. Flowery affirmations favoring the healthy
state of Japan's economic condition made by General
MacArthur and Under-Secretary of the Army T. Voorhees to the
contrary notwithstanding, such newspapers as "Nippon Times"
and "Asahi Shimbun" pointed out in opinion polls,, that
conditions in 1950 were worse than in I9k9 ^ and another
paper stated that in 1950 Japan was economically worse off
1 1 h o c , c i t . _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
175!
than in 19 23 after the earthquake. Prices rose in a steady
spiral in post-war Japan until by April, 19 i + 9 the level was
200 times that of 193l i -36 which is accepted as the norm.
In 1950 the intake of calories was 1,955 compared to
2,2h5 193U. Part of the inflation spiral is revealed in
the increased notes in circulation which moved from thirty-
five billion yen on Surrender Day to three hundred and
fifty-five billion in December, 19U9 while the national debt
rose from one hundred and sixty billion yen to five hundred
and seventy-five billion yen in 19U9•
If one considers a ten million increase in population
between 1936-1950 and then takes a measurement of output on
a per capita basis, he is aware the output is only about
two-thirds of the 1932-1936 level.
In 191^9 the deficit gap between exports and imports
was three hundred and forty-five million dollars. Economi
cally the United States and Japan are right back where they
were in I9I 4 .I. "Unfortunately, the central problem of
Japan's economy remains not markets or supply, but the
malocclusion of the two."^^ The answer to Japan's need is
more trade, and that at least in balance. Outside a Chris
tian frame of reference it would be well for America to
realize the wealth of the world no longer lies in gold mines'
T2 Teru Nakano, "A Future for Japan," Current
histor.y_,_2Q.:,l 1.7_,_May_,_l 9.51 •_______________- _________________ _1
■
I
in Peru, or oil fields in Texas, but in the unexplored and
untapped resources of Asia. America's destiny will not be
determined by her relations with Europe, but rather in Asia
where also resides the bulk of the world's population.
General Wyman emphasized this by saying, "Asia is the center
of the world's population and we must turn our attention
this way in spite of the tendency to consider Europe." By
comparison, in an area the size of Montana..lives a popula
tion fifty-three percent of tiiat of the United States. We
have forty-nine people per square mile and Japan has five
hundred and seventy-seven. Japan's economic destiny rests
strongly in the hands of the United States where rests the
issue of the type of Christianity Japan will receive for as
is the church in America, so will be the missionary in
Japan, and the missionary is still strong enoughi.to deter
mine the course the Church will take.
A major issue in the Post-war era has finally been
settled since Japan has once again appeared upon the inter
national stage as a full sovereign state. History has an
embarrassing way of repeating itself and one day the United
States will once again have to face the issue of a balance
of power in the Pacific with Japan the other factor. In
pre-war days Nippon risked a war over the issue of pressure
from the United States to force Japan to withdraw from China
and_IndorJ/.hina.. Ame r.i c a_wa s_no.t__ab 1 e _ t o_ .comp rehend—tha.t_.f.or.
177
Japan to obey meant potential ruin. War offered a chance,
a gamble which might mean security.
With Japan upon her knees we must not only be gener
ous, we must be constructive. Once again we are at the
crossroad of destiny. It is to be hoped our foreign policy
will turn right instead of wrong.
Twice Tokyo has surrendered to the United States in
Tokyo Bay. Once in 1853 it was to Admiral Perry, ninety-
two years later it was to General of the Armies MacArthur.
Her first surrender removed those blinders which kept her
from seeing the great big power hungry, economically selfish
and social-conscious world. As Japan walks once more out
into the world of nations, it is to be hoped our Christian
ity will offer her the missionaries she needs instead of
the bayonets she alone had the courage to repudiate.
If one were to consult international jurists he would
discover that in line with the Hague Conventions occupation
does not give to the occupant the rights of sovereignty, yet
that is precisely the attitude General MacArthur seemed to
take for upon his own statement he set about re-orienting
such phases of Japanese life as are found in the areas of
the political, economic, religious, moral, social and
intellectual.
Under the existing treaties we are obliged to assume {
responsibility to help J an an arriv e at _ a_nlac.e jwh i ch.. of fers. J
178
her security beyond what she has had in the twentieth
century. America's foreign policy should be Christian I
enough to reach beyond a balance of power concept to a plane]
of mutual spiritual understanding between nations.
Japan must eat, and it must clothe itself. It will
do this one way or another. Communism will see to it that
the people become aware of any failure, or seeming failure
of our foreign policy to give favored consideration to her
problems. Communism's attack stems from a cultural root
rather than a nationalistic source, and from this position
is bidding for the devotion of the masses.
Democracy as a word is upon all lips, but it has no i
content as yet, and it has no focal point. There are but
few who would die for it. Mr. Suzuki said, "After six years
of the Occupation a solid foundation for our democratic
rehabilitation has been laid, but to instill real spirit in
to it will take sçme time." No new loyalties have yet been
established to take the place of that given the Emperor. He
is at least the focal point of morale in the ..nation. At
first the Communist "line" favored keeping the Emperor.
When this became the policy. Communism reversed its posi
tion. Retention of the Emperor did simplify Occupation for
still he is greatly respected. Obedience to him is deeply
engrained. As long as he favors the West, there will be
few Japanese who will accept communism until the politica 1__
179
and social mores have been changed by democratic doctrines.
Christianity needs to take the lead in arriving at a
separate maintenance status with regard to democracy. These
two are quite synonymous in many Nipponese minds. Democracy
needs to be colored with Christian hues, not Christianity
colored with democratic overtones.
The Japanese Communist party was formed in Tokyo
secretly in 19 22 upon the reception of money and advice from
Moscow, but was unable to stand the pressure of the Japanese
Government's counter measures. After the war there was no
resistance to the Party, and by 19U9, under the leadership
of Sanzo Nozaka, who returned from Moscow via Yenan, the
party registered a membership of nearly 100,000. That year
thirty-five communist Diet members had been elected; and
perhaps forty percent of all university students supported
the movement. Beyond this there may have been about three
million sympathizers.
Straws in the wind may upon occasion be found, and -
one such is the election of the Fall of 1952 in which
scarcely a single communist was elected to office even on
the Prefectural and city government levels. These came
after the May riots at which the subversives revealed their
hand, and would have taken over the government had it not
been for the preparedness of the Japanese Police.
_______The only answer to Communi.sm_i,s_f.or.ce.,_o.r_^vJ.rEilent_,
180
Christianity capable of capturing the imagination and spirit
of the nation. Christianity still has not achieved this.
In the nineteenth century many Christians were from
the Sumurai who as a social class were in the throes of
great upheaval. Today this social upheaval has erupted
among all classes, and Christianity has a fertile ground
among them, but there are mitigating factors which circum
scribe the church's effectiveness to reach into all classes.
These seem to be :
1. The "society of the churcJh*. J ' There is a
cliquishness among Christians which intended as a protective
measure has served as a barrier to all except the most per
sistent. So often nnn-members are looked upon as intruders.
2. People are in a state of flux in Japan. They
need to feel wanted; they need a feeling of "belongingness"
which the church seems unable to convey. The "spiritual
community" ought not to be violated, but certainly there
should be an "outer court" for the "Gentiles.?
3. The Japanese enjoy doing the uncomfortable. They
will readily stand in cold water on a wintry day to expiate
sins; they will unhesitatingly attend a cold church too,
There is no need to wait until things are as comfortable in
Japan as they would need to be in America.
i i . Missionaries are in a "study phase" in Japan. So
many must spend time in school learning the language so are
Ï8Ï]
t
next feviT years. i
There is a great work yet to be done, but that does
not mean that much has not already been done. "A prominent
Japanese clergyman has said that the post-war period has
brought greater changes to Christianity than to any other
Japanese religion.
The Church today, like an army, must engage in a
tactical maneuver with a two fold aspect. (1) It must pre
pare today for the counter attack which will come tomorrow,
for "we should expect a virulent nationalism to revive after
we have lefti?!^ (2) There must be an aggressive outreach
to the people which must incorporate every legitimate device
at its command. Christianity has, as it has moved in the
arena of different culture or religion, always been con
fronted with a paradox. It has had to move in the area of
the unorthodox without contaminating itself with that which
is impure as it strives to lift those who are potential
devotees to a higher realm of living, yet to reach them it
must first stoop to the meanness of their level without
becoming involved in their contaminations. It has well
been pointed out that :
A prophetic religion always occupies a nervous posi-
Î3“SCÂP7 op. cit., p. viii.
lU James A. Michener, The Voice of Asia (n.p. Bahtarn
Books, Inc., 1951), p. 37
ïsi
tion between heaven and earth* It cannot be completely
esoteric and out of this world. Nor can it be entirely
of this world. It has to walk the earth without getting
its feet muddy.15
During the war this was not too well achieved for many
Christians compromised themselves by visiting the Shrines.
The re-action since the war expressed by many Christians,
and Buddhists too, has been that those church leaders who
did so should resign their places of leadership in the
church.
If there are some to criticize the Church, there must
be also some to commend it for such conduct as that of the
two hundred and fifty Holiness pastors who went to prison
rather than compromise. Some of these died for their faith.
The most hardened resistance to the political ideol
ogy of wartime came from men whose position was primar
ily religious. The Christians who emphasized social
action and political awareness were not the men who
stood most firmly in the struggle between justice and
, injustice on the Japanese political scene. They were
able tp find moral reasons for supporting the political
aims of the state. The Christians whose emphasis had
never been upon political or social affairs, however,
the ones whose primary concern was God and pious devo
tion to his Kingdom were the men who made the strongest
political resistance within the Christian community in
' Japan. Their case proves that real political resistance
is finally religious resistance, that the revelations
of truth for men's society came to men who are first and
foremost sure of their relationship to God.
In the light of the' experience of the church in
chard T. Baker/ Darkness of the Sun (New York:
Abington-Cokesbury Press, I9HYT, p. 8.
_______ .16 Ibid. , p. Ikk. . . : ---
183
Japan, it might be better to have a small body which is
spiritually sound than a large membership which lacks
spiritual vitality capable of facing the issues which shall
ari se.
There is, to a surprising degree, a continuing inter
est in Christianity. Attendance at services has increased
steadily until already newly constructed churches have had
to remodel and expand. A newly built church in Hiroshima in
t;hree successive nights had a total of five hundred decision
cards signed. Both Dr. W.j.I. Axling and Rev. T. Kagawa are
kept busy full time in evangelistic work the length of the
nation. Upon occasion one learns of missionaries whose
work, or measure of devotion, is so great as to cal 1 forth
comment from even the secular press. Such is the case of
Miss Mae Vincent of the Par Eastern Gospel Crusade who was
written up in January, 1951 in the "lye No Hikari" (The
Light of the House). The article "Yuki Yama No Seika"
translated "Hymns from the Snowy Mountains" commented how
Miss Vincent, whose name was not mentioned, lived in a
mountain area of Yamanashi Ken in a Japanese style house,
eating native food and mingling freely with the people.
This is in wholesome contrast to the case of a District
Superintendent of a denominational mission who used the en
tire electric power ration of a Tokyo district to cook with
his electric range. _____ _
181
Rev. L. E. Sweet commented in 1950, "I feel that
Christian work in Japan still too closely resembles pre-war
efforts." He later added, "The icy hand of unbelief is
forcing the gospel ministry into a stereotyped pattern which
still fails to reach millions."
Some factors in the breakdown of the Christian
missionary enterprise have been:
(1) Party strife and denominational petulance among
missionaries. The average Japanese is not conversant with
the concept of denominations, and after becoming acquainted
with the idea, many find it difficult to accept. One
pastor remarked he could as easily be a Catholic as a
Protestant.
(2) The breakdown of opportunity to capitalize on
potential gains among interested seekers because pastors
have not been able to sustain interest among catechumens.
The failure here is due to inadequate or lopsided training
which has been deficient in educational methods. Your
reporter taught a Bible Class in the home of a Vice Âdïniral
of the Fleet who was himself a Methodist. To the class
came the pastor of the church. The Chaplain drove across
Tokyo to reach the class which should have been taught by
the pastor, but he couldn't hold the group.
(3) Compromise of the Christian message leaves it an
insipid thing on a par with Buddhism or Shinto to many_____
185
thinking Japanese. It is true there is intrinsic power
enough in the Gospel to lead Japan beyond Buddhism and
Shinto, but it is not likely such will occur because by the
time the Christianity of the missionaries is presented to
the people it is so circumscribed as to become rather in
effectual. Each missionary, or group has its own idea and
planned approach. Such diversification inclines toward
reaching after an individual and missing the whole community.
Some missionaries feel an ethical approach is the answer;
some are for an amalgamation of the tliree religions; some
are more materialistic than anything else; some are mystical;|
some are idealists; and the Japanese is confused.
Some mission groups favor a rapid sweep through the
nation leaving literature to be read, and the people to
rather shift for themselves. This technique is so super
ficial as to be shameful. The better approach is to move
more slowly and establish the converts in churches where
they can be taught and grounded in the Christian philosophy.
Something of this latter idea is already in motion at Mito
City Ibaraki Prefecture, a coastal prefecture just north of
Tokyo. Here has been established the Ibaraki Rural Center.
The program is diversified and inclusive. An intensive
evangelistic program is being carried on among the villages
surrounding Mito City which is the center of the economic,
_so.ci.al_and_p0.1 iti.c.al_affairs_fpr__the_Zr_efecture. The field.
186|
1
of service covers twenty-one towns and one hundred and |
eleven villages. There are five thousand post-war home
steaders in the area. Since 19^5 itinerant evangelists
have regularly contacted farm groups in thirteen of the
villages.
The work is being developed along the following
line8%
(1) Within the five year period from 19U9-19 5U there
will be twenty points of regular missionary contact at which
either semi-permanent structures or private homes will be
used for meeting places.
(2) There will be an educational program which will
include religious education. This program is' pointing to
ward improved home and living conditions such as health
factors and simple medical aids. Gospel schools are being
established to indoctrinate the people. U-H Club work is
being inaugurated, and training given in improved agricul
tural methods. Traveling medical service, and legal aid for
farmers is part of the service being offered. There is a
kindergarten service and child evangelism activities are
included in the program.
(3) Stop over facilities are available for young
people, housewives, and travelers attending the group
conferences, retreats and assemblies which are held period-
icLally_J^n . Mi tp City. ...............................
18 7 Î
Such a program as this is large enough and ambitious
enough to challenge all the mission groups in Japan. Here
could be the answer to the systematic evangelization of the
nation in a constructive way.
The place to begin such a program is in the council
rooms of the stronger missionary boards and organizations.
Harmony could only be reached after much prayer, and un
selfish evaluation of the contribution of each group whose
accent or emphasis maybe different. The goals or aims of
the respective boards would not be hard to determine, for
each board is required to state which activity or set of
activities is to be the emphasis of its representatives.
Of course there are always individuals and even
groups so constituted psychologically that they could not
work with others who differed somewhat on theological inter
pretations, or doctrinal issues. Such would have to be left
alone. But with the changing tide many of the older mis
sionaries of the past generation are moving off the scene.
The younger missionaries have eyes to see new aspects of
the work needing to be done. The older, successful mission
aries need instruction in the newer methods and changed
strategy and changed tactics. With some there is reluctance
to accept the new ways hence there is friction. Rev. L.
Sweet of the Par Eastern Gospel Crusade has well said, "Our
-minis t ry_i s _e v.ang e l.i.sm ,__no.t _c ompe.t i t ion. J ! __________________
188
If it is true as retired missionary G, W, Shoop has
said that, "Nothing in the universe of God's creation counts
so much as the individual person, hence the quest after
persons represented in the Gjaristian world mission,*' then
surely those who have felt the call of God to reach the
people of Japan should possess the capacity to submerge
their own prejudices or biases and cooperate in the salva
tion of a nation's soul.
Said Rev. C. W, Shoop, "Christian missions is a con
cern of God with persons--God seeking persons out of sheer
sense of need, appreciation, love, fellowship and ;
satisfaction."
The Christian mission would succeed in Japan if men
can bring themselves to get self out of the way enough to
let God realize His objective.

190
A. BOOKS
Anesaki, Masaharu, History of Japanese Religion. London:
Kegan Paul, Trench,"Truber and üompany, Ltd., 1930.
352 pp.
Baker, Richard T., Darkness of the Sun. New York: Abingdon-
Cokesbury Press,~Tl9'C7• 2L8 pp.
Ballou, Robert 0., The Bible of the World. New York: The
Viking Press, l9 39.“ l3HU'"pp7
, Shinto, the Unconquered Enemy. New York: Viking
Prëss7"Ï9L3. 207 pp.
Benedict, Ruth, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 19Lb. 316 pp.
Braden, C. S., Man's Quest for Salvation. New York: Villet,
• Clark and CBEpiHy7”Ï9Ll7“’ ‘l9l'"pp7--
Burrell, David J., The Religions of the World. Philadel
phia: Presbyterian Board of Ci^ristian Education, 1932.,
332 pp.
Cary, Otis, A History of Christianity in Japan. 2 Vols.;
New York: Fleming H. ReveTl Company, 1909.' 710 pp.
Carver, W. 0., The Course of Christian Missions. New York:
Fleming H. Reveil Company, 19 3 2. 320 pp.
Champion, Selwyn C. , The Eleven Religions and Tlieir Pro
verbial Lore. New York: E. P. Dutton and Uompany, Inc.,
19LF7— 3DB-pp.
Coleridge, Henry James, Life and Letters of Saint Francis
Xavier. 2 Vols.; LBEHBnT-BuFR— HHd 0tiB7-I385%in27
2l2, 338 pp.
Crockett, Lucy H. , Popcorn on the Ginza. New York: William
Sloane Publishing Association, 19L9. 286 pp.
Dozier, Edwin B., Japan's New Day. Nashville : Friendship
Press, 19U9. lL5 pp.
Durant, Will, The Story of Philosophy. New York: Simon and
Schuster, IE7.7~9 267“ ?T5"pp7--
Eller, Paul H., History of Evangelical Missions. Harris
burg, Pa: Thi“E?iHgeTrciT“P?ii-i7T9i;2T“ 3lF pp.
Eernsworth, Laurence, editor. Dictators and Democrats. New
York: R. N. McBride and Company, I9I 1 .I. 3%5 pp.
Goddard, Dwight, The Buddha's Golden Path. London: Lucas
and Company, 19 31. 289 pp.
Griffis, Williams, The Religions of Japan. New York:
Charles ScribneH"i BEHi, l9l2T“ IBÿ'pp.
Gring, A. D., Religions of the Mission Fields. (n.p.):
Student VoIEEt%BF-Eo, TC? .
Hall, Robert K., Education for a New Japan. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 19a9. 503 pp.
Harada, Tasuku, The Faith of Japan. New York: The Mlacmillan
Company, 191%:" lÿTTpp:------
Hocking, William E., Living Religions and a World Faith.
New York: The MacEIIIEE G3mpEEÿ7-19%Ô.- 22Ô-pp7---
, Re-thinking Missions. New York: Harper and
B?5thHFi7‘ T9327" 329“pp7"
Holtom, D. C., Modern Japan and Shinto Nationalism. London:
Kegan Paul ,“TFiHHh7“T?HbHiF iHd“ÜEmEiHÿ7“i;td~ 191:3.
302 pp.
i , The National Faith of Japan. London: Kegan Paul,
TFincH7“TFÏÏbHi?“ind“CHÎ^piHy7"i:td., 1938. 281: pp.
Hopkins, E. W., The History of Religions. New York:
Macmillan GoE]^Y7-Ï9lH.""59E-pF7--
Hume, Robert E., The World's Living Religions. New York:
Charles ScribHir'i~S35i7 I93BT 2 7B~?77”
Jurii, Edward J., The Great Religions of the Modern World.
Princeton, New-JiriiYT'PFIHEitEH'UnlviFiitÿ“PFiHi7“Ï916.
370 pp.
Kato, Genchi, A Study of Shinto, the Religion of the Jap-
I anese Nation. Tokyo : Meiji Japan Society, 19 26. 230 pp.
Keith, Berriedale A., A Buddiiist Philosophy. Oxford:
I Clarendon Press. 19 23.__3%9_PP_._______________ __________
1 9 2
Kerr, William G., Japan Begins Again. New York: Friendship
Press, 191:9 . 1%:3 pp.
Kodama, Yoshio, I Was Defeated. (n.p.): Booth and Fukuda,
1951% 209 pp.
Knox, George W., The Development of Religion in Japan.
New York: G. P. Putnam'^s Bons, 190?. 196 pp.
Latourette, Kenneth S., Three Centuries of Advance. New
York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1939. 1 : 8 . 5 pp.
, Advance Through Storm. New York: Harper and Broth-
e rs PïïBïïiEiri7“l9ÏÏU..“ '53l pp.
, The Great Century. New York: Harper and Brothers
FEbliEhFrE7-l9l:LT""];B2 pp.
, The Christian Outlook. New York: Harper and Broth-
iFi PHbliihiFi7"l9hBT“ 223 pp.
, A History of Christianity. New York: Harper and
HFB thir s“Publi shiri7“l9 53T“"1II 7 7 PP .
Lin Yutang, The Wisdom of China and India. New York: Ran
dom Housi7“‘l9i27“ lI0U”pp7----------
Lloyd, Arthur, The Creed of Half Japan. New York: E. P.
Dutton Company, 1917. 39 3 pp.
Michener, James A., The Voice of Asia. New York: Random
House, Inc., 1951. 331 pp.
Mueller, Max F., editor. The Bacred Books of the East. Vol.
1, Second Edition; London: Oxford University Press,
1926. 320 pp.
Nitobe, Inazo, Bushido. Tokyo : Kenkyusha, 19 39. 215 pp.
Pratt, J. B., The Pilgrimage of Buddhism. New York: Mac-
millan Gompi5y7-l9PB7— 75D-pp7-----
Reischauer, August K., Studies in Japanese Buddhism. New
York: Macmillan CompiHy7“l9l7.“ 35i"pp.-------
Rhys Davids, T. W., Hibbert Lectures. New York: Scribner,
1881. 196 pp. ----------------
193!
, Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 7, New York:
DEErlii-35FiEHiFTs-SoEi7 I9DÔ. 763 pp.
, Buddhism. New York: Society for Promoting Chris
tian Knowledge, 1917. 332 pp.
Ring, George C., Religions of the Par East. Milwaukee: The
Bruce Publishing Uompany, 1950. 372 pp.
Robinson, Daniel S., The Principles of Conduct. New York:
Appleton-Century-Croft, Tnc., 1978. 337 pp.
Saunders, P\ J., The Story of Buddhism. London: Oxford
University Press, 1916. 256 pp.
Schuman, Frederick L. , Interhational Politics. Fourth edi
tion; New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 191:8.
983 pp.
Soper, Edmund D., The Religions of Mankind. New York:
Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1951. 275 pp.
Speer, Robert E., The Light of the World. West Medford,
Massachusetts, Woods,"^911. 367 pp.
Suzuki, Daisetz T., Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism. Chicago :
Open Court PubliaErng-U3mpânÿ7-l9U7T "UPT^pF:
Tomomatsu, Entei, Fundamental Ideas of Buddhism. Tokyo :
Koshisha Shobo7“l9 237“ 2H2“557--------- ---
Van Dusen, Henry P., World Christianity. New York: Abing
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Yamaguchi, H. S. K., We Japanese. 2 vol.; Yokohama:
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Young, A. Morgan, The RJse of a Pagan State. New York:
William Morrow and Company, %939. 222 pp.
B. PERIODICALS
Cramer, Frederick H., "The Pacific: Sea of Decision,"
Current History, 20:273, Apri1, 19 51•
Dougall, J. W. C., "Education and Evangelism," International
R ey „i ejL-Of_Jli s s ion s , ,_ .3 .6 .l 313- 3- - July_,„l9-1:_7.____________ ____
19 U
Hoke, Donald, "Co-operation in Japan," Christian Life, 12:
19, November, 19 50.
Hutchinson, Paul, "Japan's Churches," The Christian Century,
Vol. 69) September 3, 1952.
Johnson, Paul E., "Christian Love and Self Love," Pastoral
Psychology, 2:15^ March, 1951.
Mayer, Paul S., "Three Churches Dedicated in Japan," The
Telescope-Messenger, 116:U8, December 2, 1950*
C. PUBLICATIONS OF LEARNED ORGANIZATIONS
Holmgren, Laton E., Japan Christian Year Book. Tokyo: Tokyo
Christian Literature Society,"%937T 160 pp.
Hinchman, B. L. , Japan Christian Year Book. Tokyo: Kyo Bun
Kwan, 1953. 33U“pp7------------------
Present Conditions of Japan. Division of Public Informa
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7? pp.
H^llgloEs in Japan. GHQ, SCAP. Published by the Civil In
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D. ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
"Buddhism," The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge, IT, 29 2-297.
"Buddhism," The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 7, 325-326.
Hastings, James, "The Life of the Buddha," Encyclopedia of
Religion and Ethics, II, 901.
"Japan," The Historian's History of the World, XXIV,
257-258.
"Japan," The Encyclopedia of Missions, 2nd edition. 373-375*
"Shinto," The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20, 507A.
195
E. NEWSPAPERS
Far East Stars and Btripes. November 9, 197?'
_______, November 23, 19 77.
Nippon Times, November 29 ^ 19 77.
U m v& M fty o f S o u th e rn C alffornia U ü t ^

Asset Metadata

Creator Wishart, John Kenneth (author)

Core Title A historical study of Japan's religious movements in relation to the post-war era

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Master of Arts

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Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,philosophy, religion and theology

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Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c39-363876

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