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 Gordon, M. L. 1843-1900. | 
 An American missionary in 
 Japan 
 
AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY 
 IN JAPAN 
 
 m(^.. 
 
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 BY 
 
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 Rev. M. L. GORDON, M.D. 
 
 IUbfTlii3trg\t>e|)ttasj 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 (Srte 0iber?iDe l^res?, Cambridge 
 
 1892 
 
Copyright, 1892, 
 By M. L. GORDON. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 3fass., U. S. A. 
 Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co. 
 
TO ALL " MY FELLOW-WORKERS UNTO THE KINGDOM 
 
 OF god" in japan. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 In the spring of 1891, just before leaving 
 Japan, I made an evangelistic tour of sev- 
 eral weeks' duration, accompanied for much 
 of the time by two Japanese preachers. 
 The younger of these had but recently 
 begun work there ; the older had done more 
 than any other man to create the Christian 
 communities which had sprung up here and 
 there in that region during the preceding 
 ten years, and was therefore familiar with 
 the religious history of every individual 
 believer in them. As my own knowledge, 
 though not so minute, covered much of the 
 same ground, it was natural enough that, as 
 we walked over the mountains or sipped our 
 tea in the wayside tea-houses, there were 
 many reminiscences of earlier days ; of 
 faith, struggle, and achievement, or of un- 
 faithfulness, doubt, and failure. 
 
 One evening, after we had spoken to a fine 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 audience admitted by ticket to the parlors 
 of a hotel, an hour was again devoted to 
 reminiscences, in the midst of which the 
 younger preacher turned to the older and 
 said: "You ought to write this out and 
 publish it for the encouragement of others," 
 a remark which I was glad to second. A 
 little later came the thought, ''Would not 
 the American friends of missions be glad to 
 know something of the same story ? " 
 
 Lying down to sleep with this thought in 
 my mind I awoke before daylight — an un- 
 fortunate habit with me on such tours — to 
 find, as I lay there in my bed on the floor 
 of the hotel of Araki Kimbei in Miyadzu, 
 Tango, a book with the title " A Missionary 
 in Japan " written diagonally across the 
 cover, and many headings of its chapters as 
 clearly defined to my mind's eye as this book 
 now is to the physical eye of the reader. 
 
 This will explain both the origin and 
 nature of this volume. It is not an auto- 
 biography, — I do not suspect the public of 
 desiring a chronicle of my deeds, as the fol- 
 lowing pages will bear witness. Nor is it a 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 history of missions in Japan or even of tlie 
 one mission with which it has been my for- 
 tune to be associated ; these tasks await 
 more competent hands. It is primarily an 
 attempt to record what I have seen of the 
 wonderful manner in which the religion of 
 Christ is approaching the minds, and hearts, 
 and lives of the Japanese people, and their 
 noble response to this divine and gracious 
 approach. 
 
 A secondary aim is to outline the way in 
 which missionaries prepare for, begin, and, 
 with the help of Japanese associates, carry 
 on to success the work for which they are 
 sent out. I have written of necessity from 
 the point of view of one member of one 
 mission, but the book is sent forth with the 
 belief that it is fairly illustrative of the 
 work which the representatives of the vari- 
 ous missionary societies in Japan are doing, 
 — ab uno disce omnes — and with the hope 
 that I am thus, even during my enforced 
 absence, contributing something to the up- 
 building of the Kingdom of Truth and 
 Righteousness in Japan. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Ill conclusion, it is a pleasant duty to 
 offer my thanks to the officers of the Ameri- 
 can Board and other missionary societies, 
 including the American Bible Society, for 
 various courtesies received ; and also to 
 several of my colleagues whose letters in 
 the *' Missionary Herald " and to me per- 
 sonally have given valuable information 
 which I could not always burden the text 
 by acknowledging. Special thanks are due 
 also to the Rev. G. F. Verbeck, D. D., 
 whose paper read before the Osaka Con- 
 ference on the " History of Protestant Mis- 
 sions in Japan " has been repeatedly re- 
 ferred to and in a few instances quoted. 
 
 More than to any one else outside my 
 
 own family I am indebted to Rev. Dr. 
 
 Griffis. His most valuable Introductory 
 
 Note is but one of many ways in which this 
 
 book has been enriched by his wisdom and 
 
 experience. The spirit of brotherliness in 
 
 which these favors were bestowed, I can 
 
 never forget. 
 
 M. L. G. 
 
 Andover, Mass. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 By his direct, manly, and outspoken story 
 of missionary life in Japan, Dr. Gordon has 
 made a contribution to the literature both 
 of knowledge and of power. The infor- 
 mation here furnished is copious, genuine, 
 and at first hand, while to the stimulus of 
 mind and heart which the work affords the 
 writer of this note gladly testifies. Familiar 
 with the modern library of books on Japan, 
 both of the standard and ephemeral sort, he 
 ventures the prophecy that this fruit of the 
 pen is no Jonah's gourd. Nor is it the re- 
 port of a frightened spy brought back from 
 a land of promise; it is rather the coura- 
 geous asseveration of a true soldier who, in 
 the name of the Great Captain, says of the 
 land in view, " We are well able to possess 
 it." Having seen and weighed difficulties, 
 
X INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 he summons us to the front, not to the rear ; 
 to the charge, not to the retreat. 
 
 The people want facts, not cant or fan- 
 cies. Dullness in telling the missionary 
 story should be branded as a sin. The pub- 
 lic will always give heed to the man who 
 tells what he saw, not what he went out to 
 see. Japan is not a reed shaken by the 
 wind ; not an Oriental merry-andrew, or an 
 odalisque clothed in soft raiment to amuse 
 the sensual tourist or writer ; not a false 
 prophet whose gospel is novelty and revolu- 
 tion. A nation has been born, seemingly 
 in a day, but in reality only after long 
 travail of prison-pain, civil war, and agony 
 of spirit. Struggling in newness of life to- 
 ward a lofty ideal undreamed of even by 
 the men of the Revolution of 1868, Japan is 
 yet to be, under Divine Providence, God's 
 messenger to all Asia. Amid the crowd of 
 books written by modern Pharisees, bigoted 
 and narrow-minded ; by Sadducean lovers 
 of lust, who want Japan kept pagan, aesthe- 
 tic, and morally cheap ; by hasty scribblers 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. xi 
 
 of vapid trash, — it is refreshing to meet with 
 the literary work of a liberal Christian, who 
 has been servant and fellow-worker with the 
 serious men and women of New Japan. He 
 sees the truth and tells it. 
 
 The writer of this note was not a " mis- 
 sionary," in the technical sense, but was in 
 the educational service of the Japanese 
 g'overnment. All the more, from his close 
 personal acquaintance with native princes, 
 statesmen, and the young men who are now 
 prominent in political life, had he opportu- 
 nity to know of the noble work done by the 
 American missionaries in the development of 
 the nation. Such names as those of Brown, 
 Hepburn, Verbeck, and Greene, are not only 
 household words in New Japan, but, were it 
 not the violation of private confidence, the 
 writer could show how, in grave crises of 
 state, their advice was sought and followed. 
 Dr. S. R. Brown trained some of the very 
 first of the young statesmen of New Japan. 
 Dr. J. C. Hepburn has healed tens of 
 thousands of her people. Of the Imperial 
 
xii INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 Embassy that made tlie circuit of the globe 
 and of Christendom in 1872, one half had 
 been Dr. Verbeck's pupils. It seems more 
 like miracle than history to tell that, in 
 Kyoto, where Yokoi H^ishiro was in 1868 
 assassinated for entertaining Christian con- 
 victions, there now stand Neesima's Do- 
 shisha University and many Christian 
 churches ; while in Tokyo, the son of Yokoi 
 preaches the gospel, both as pastor and edi- 
 tor. To find in the first Imperial Diet of 
 constitutional Japan no fewer than fifteen 
 pronounced Christian men, is but to tell, 
 in another way, what God hath wrought 
 through the American missionaries. 
 
 For these men have, apart from their 
 holy calling, done a mighty work in the 
 making of New Japan. Not less than Mat- 
 thew Perry and Townsend Harris, have they 
 incarnated the United States as the Great 
 Pacific Power. They have, by the educa- 
 tion of their Japanese fellow-believers in 
 self-support, in parliamentary training, at 
 church-meetings and in ecclesiastical conven- 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. xiii 
 
 tions, tanglit them the arts of self-govern- 
 ment. They have helped mightily to prepare 
 the nation for the responsibilities of free- 
 dom and the duties of constitutional politics. 
 They have aided Sovereign and Government 
 to maintain social order in a trying epoch, 
 when the old moulds of traditions had been 
 broken, and the ideals and sanctions of ages 
 of feudalism were passing away. When 
 the need was sorest, they brought the price- 
 less boon of Christian ethics. They taught 
 and illustrated Christian civilization while 
 preaching Christ's salvation. 
 
 Yes, grateful must all be, who love Christ 
 more than tradition, that true servants 
 of His, like the author, have so faithfully 
 preached the good news of God. It is 
 Christ's salvation, rather than the particular 
 Yankee, or British, or other temporary form 
 of it, which they have declared. " And to 
 each seed a body of its own," has been their 
 rule, after the apostolical model. They 
 have let the Japanese shape their own the- 
 ology. When most the servants, they have 
 
xiv INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 been consummate masters. Largely through 
 them, it may be, that, under Divine Provi- 
 dence, Christian Japan has yet much to 
 teach us of "the simplicity that is in 
 Christ." 
 
 As now the author's enforced absence ends, 
 and he turns his face towards the sunset 
 (yet also towards Rising Sun Land), to take 
 up his work in Kyoto, we wish him God- 
 speed. May he and all the American mis- 
 sionaries in Japan so turn many to righteous- 
 ness that when they rest from their labors 
 their works may follow them. 
 
 WM. ELLIOT GRIFFIS. 
 Boston : Shawmut Chukch, September 22, 1892. 
 
AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY IN 
 JAPAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 " Is this ' Japan ' on your trunk the Chi- 
 nese Japan ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Are you going there ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 A pause. 
 
 " Going out in government employ ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 Another pause. 
 
 " Are you a tea- merchant ? " 
 
 " I am not a tea-merchant." 
 
 A still longer pause. 
 
 " Going out in a missionary capacity, per- 
 haps?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Oh, then you don't care for money." 
 
2 3riSSI0NARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 This conversation between a stranger and 
 the writer, while waiting for the train at 
 Council Bluffs twenty years ago, well illus- 
 trates the vagueness which prevails in the 
 average American mind in regard to the 
 missionary's life and field of labor. Even a 
 religious journal has gravely announced that 
 
 '' Rev. Mr. has gone to labor in China 
 
 and Japan," as though one Oriental nation 
 were not a sufficient parish for an able-bodied 
 American. And my interlocutor's unhesi- 
 tating belief in his conclusion, "then you 
 don't care for money," — is it not expressive 
 of a general feeling that missionary life is no 
 more nor less than a refuge for those whose 
 supreme other-worldliness would else neces- 
 sitate their immediate translation ? 
 
 This ideal, which is so common among 
 those who have not thoroughly acquainted 
 themselves with the subject, is a natural re- 
 sult of the early history of modern missions. 
 Communication with unchristian lands was 
 slow, uncertain, and uncomfortable. We 
 knew almost nothing about Oriental peoples, 
 save that their doors were shut against our 
 religion, and that they murdered, imprisoned, 
 or otherwise maltreated those who had gone 
 to teach it to them. Men who cared little 
 
HAPPIER CONDITIONS. 3 
 
 about Christianity and nothing about " the 
 heathen," and had no faith whatever in mis- 
 sions, were often ready to give for the relief 
 of their suffering countrymen, even while 
 railing at the folly of their undertaking. 
 And for many years the ground of the most 
 moving appeals, even to Christians, was not 
 the condition of the unchristian ^ world, the 
 wide-open doors, or the successes already at- 
 tained : it was the hardships of the mission- 
 aries. 
 
 This period has long since passed away, 
 but it is doubtless still as a rule true that 
 the young missionary goes to his field with 
 the thought of similar trials for himself and 
 family as at least a possibility. If destined 
 for Japan, however, he finds himself in his 
 outward journey traveling under very dif- 
 ferent circumstances from those of Henry 
 Martyn or William Carey. Instead of the 
 former's tedious voyage of more than nine 
 months on a small, imcomfortable sailing 
 
 ^ As is well known, the word " heathen " is practically 
 dropped from the revised version of the New Testament. 
 Unchristian peoples justly object to it as a degrading 
 term, and the writer joins with nearly all his colleagues 
 in studiously avoiding its use. There is a similar dislike 
 — less justifiable, it is true — to the word " native," and 
 in this volume that word also is avoided. 
 
4 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 vessel, lie goes on a swift and palatially ap- 
 pointed steamship, reaching his destination 
 perhaps within a fortnight of his departure 
 from his native land. The figure used since 
 Carey's time, of the missionary's going down 
 like a miner to the centre of the earth, is no 
 longer appropriate, for steam and electricity 
 fairly annihilate the time and distance 
 which would otherwise separate him from 
 Christendom. Japan, as a member of the 
 Universal Postal Union, takes his letters 
 almost from his door, and brings their an- 
 swers, as speedily as steamships, steam-cars, 
 and human muscle can carry them, quite to 
 his threshold: and the telegraph, with the 
 indispensable Renter's Agency, keeps him 
 in almost hourly contact with the Western 
 World. 
 
 And so it comes about that, although go- 
 ing out prepared for hardship, he finds that 
 the lines have fallen to him in exceedingly 
 pleasant places. He is not without his 
 trials and difficulties, and often they seem 
 so new, and numerous, and varied, that they 
 fairly overwhelm him. But even in these 
 he is fortunate, for, as we shall see, they do 
 not arise from a lack of the necessaries and 
 comforts of life, or mainly from opposition, 
 
NO PHYSICAL HARDSHIPS. 5 
 
 or from mental and moral inertia on the 
 part of the people, but are rather the signs 
 and results of the success given himself 
 and his associates. They are fruits of the 
 very life which he came to implant and 
 nourish. The nature and extent of these 
 difficulties will appear as we go on ; they 
 are referred to here only for the purpose of 
 saying that, however great and varied they 
 may be, they are unworthy to be compared 
 with the privileges which his life brings 
 him. 
 
 The society which sends him out provides 
 him with a comfortable house, and gives 
 him a salary which, though not large, is suffi- 
 cient for his modest wants. He lives in " a 
 good land, a land of brooks of water, of 
 fountains and depths that spring out of val- 
 leys and hills." Though its wealth is in- 
 significant as compared with that of Eng- 
 land or America, and though it is not lit- 
 erally a land of either milk or honey, Japan 
 may still be called a land of plenty. The 
 wants of the people are few and simple, and 
 while, in the rural districts especially, the 
 grade of living is low, the number who suf- 
 fer for lack of food is comparatively small. 
 Rains are almost sure to come abundantly 
 
6 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 in their seasons ; the soil is rich and under 
 a high state of cultivation ; its waters teem 
 with excellent fish ; fruits of a not very su- 
 perior quality are found in the market every 
 month in the year ; except in the north and 
 west, the climate is not rigorous ; and so 
 famines have been few in the past, and, 
 with increased facilities for intercourse both 
 between its own provinces and with foreign 
 lands, will be fewer still in the future. 
 There are multitudes of Japanese whom 
 Americans would call poor ; there are re- 
 markably few paupers. 
 
 The missionary also lives in a land of 
 unique beauty, a beauty which has stamped 
 itself upon the art, literature, and manners 
 of the people. It has begotten in even the 
 unlettered rustic a love for flowers, a love 
 for natural scenery, a poetic and artistic 
 sense unequaled perhaps in any other peo- 
 ple. The frequent exhibition in unexpected 
 ways of this love of the beautiful is a source 
 of no small pleasure to those whose lot is 
 cast among the Japanese. 
 
 The climate of Japan is the object of al- 
 most constant execration by many residents. 
 It does rain occasionally, especially in the 
 rainy season, which some malicious tongues 
 
CLIMATE AND CIVILIZATION. 7 
 
 say may come at any time from January to 
 December. And for a considerable part of 
 the summer it is mushi-mushi-atsui, steam- 
 ing hot, day and night, in a way difficult 
 for an American to imagine. But after all, 
 unless he be a Calif ornian, the missionary is 
 pretty sure to find more days in the year in 
 which out-door life is both possible and 
 pleasant than he has ever before known. 
 
 In the winter, on the eastern coast, where 
 most missionaries reside, there is very little 
 snow, and it is a rare day that the mercury 
 falls below 18° Fahrenheit. In the spring 
 the U7ne (plum), momo (peach), the tsu- 
 tsiiji (azalea), the unequaled sakura (cherry) 
 and a host of other flowers, successively lend 
 their hues to the mountain sides ; and the 
 valleys which nestle between them — green 
 seas of growing wheat dotted with islands of 
 the brilliant, golden rape — make a picture 
 which, once seen, is never forgotten. And 
 then the autumn ! where are there brighter 
 days, or balmier skies, or more bewitching 
 sunsets ! 
 
 The missionary in Japan is fortunate also 
 in that he lives not among a rude, barbarous, 
 or half-civilized race, but in the midst of a 
 people with a high degree of civilization, 
 
8 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 a people possessing in fact two civilizations. 
 One of these is far older and more formal 
 than his own; the other is an attempt to 
 appropriate, under the advice of experts, all 
 that is best in his own. The older, charac- 
 terized by marked defects which the Jap- 
 anese themselves are very ready to recog- 
 nize, also possesses excellencies which each 
 succeeding year of residence enables the 
 foreigner the more clearly to see and appre- 
 ciate. Carpenters, cabinet-makers, coopers, 
 blacksmiths, masons, all skillful after their 
 manner, wait to minister to his comfort and 
 convenience. The weaver, the painter, the 
 wood-carver, and the brasier, delight his eye 
 and tempt his purse by their inimitable pro- 
 ductions. There are dexterous penmen to 
 write down his thoughts ; even before the 
 recent introduction of movable type, there 
 were printers to print them, and booksellers 
 who, after the edicts against Christianity 
 were abrogated, were ready to scatter them 
 throughout the land. When he travels he 
 finds hotels everywhere ; and while they can- 
 not compete with American hotels either in 
 comforts or prices, to the weary and hungry 
 traveler who is ready when in Kome to do 
 as the Romans do, they are often both invit- 
 ing and refreshing. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 9 
 
 The newly adopted civilization greatly in- 
 creases these comforts and conveniences. 
 The railway, the steamship, and the tele- 
 graph are in many places all at his service. 
 The letter-carrier passes his door a half- 
 dozen times a day. At night the streets 
 are lighted by kerosene, gas, or it may be 
 by electricity. The incomparable Ji^zriX'isAa 
 waits at his gate to carry him swiftly and 
 comfortably to any part of city or country. 
 Such rides as that from Miyadzu along the 
 seashore towards Kyoto, and that over the 
 road which skirts the Bay of Tsuruga, on 
 the way to Fukui, as one recalls them, seem 
 like a dream of beauty. 
 
 But, after all, the greatest attraction in 
 Japan is its people. They are, many of 
 them, attractive for what they are, attrac- 
 tive for what they need and for their will- 
 ingness to receive, and attractive for their 
 possibilities as a people. Their patriotism, 
 their politeness, their refinement, their im- 
 pidsiveness, their sunny temper, their simpli- 
 city, their friendliness, so charm the visitor 
 or sojourner among them, that he finds him- 
 self unwilling to become their critic, or to 
 write freely of the darker side of the picture. 
 
 The missionary sees, both in these excel- 
 
10 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 lencies and defects, their need of Christ, and 
 the opportunity of His Church; and while 
 recognizing the fact that Christianity has 
 not yet borne perfect fruit in America, 
 Europe, or anywhere, he leaves the work of 
 the more complete Christianization of his 
 native land to the thousands able and will- 
 ing to engage in it, and joyfully and hope- 
 fully casts in his lot with the comparatively 
 few laborers in Japan. He is joyful be- 
 cause of his favorable surroundings, the 
 glorious message which he bears, and the 
 immediate success which is given him ; hope- 
 ful because of his faith in the power of the 
 gospel and the possibilities of the people, 
 the evidences of whose quickened and vig- 
 orous life he sees on every hand. 
 
 As has already been intimated, besides 
 the "detested exile from his native land," — 
 to use the expressive words of a Yokohama 
 editor, — which one who spends his life in a 
 foreign land necessarily undergoes, and the 
 pain of family separation, which words can- 
 not exaggerate, the missionary has no hard- 
 ships or privations which call for the con- 
 secration usually associated with his work. 
 If these hardships be made an essential ele- 
 ment of the missionary life, then we in Japan 
 
SUPERFICIAL CRITICISM. 11 
 
 are, as we often say, unworthy of the name. 
 Herein is an unrecognized cause of much 
 of the unfavorable criticism of missionaries 
 with which sea captains and others who visit 
 Eastern lands periodically regale the public.^ 
 They assume the identity of the missionary 
 life with physical discomfort, and that iins- 
 sionary funds are raised to relieve the suf- 
 fering missionaries ; and so, if they find them 
 living in comfortable houses and decently 
 clothed, they rate them all hypocrites, as 
 they certainly would be were the above as- 
 sumptions true. Such people never look 
 into the missionary's work. They do not 
 take time to examine whether he is fairly 
 well qualified for it, and is zealously engaged 
 in it, or not ; the mere fact that he is not 
 living uncomfortably is enough to set 
 
 " The little dogs and all, 
 Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart," 
 
 barking. 
 
 It is not here contended that there are no 
 individuals who are fair subjects of criticism, 
 
 ' 1 A large part of the critieisni o£ missionaries and their 
 work is really based upon an utter disbelief in the religion 
 of Christ itself, an antagonism to it both in spirit and in 
 life, and can therefore have no validity in the eyes of 
 Christians. There is no occasion to meet such criticism 
 in a book like this. 
 
12 MISSIONARY LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 but it is maintained that missionaries as a 
 body are living in unselfish devotion to the 
 cause for which they were sent out, and that 
 they are meeting with corresponding success. 
 Whenever visitors examine the work done 
 and doing, the favorable verdict is practi- 
 cally unanimous. It is substantially that of 
 Canon Tristram, which I find in a news- 
 paper as I write : " Of all I have seen I can 
 only say the half was not told me. The 
 solid reality of the work far surpassed my 
 expectations." 
 
 But because the missionary in Japan has 
 few or no physical privations to endure, it 
 must not be concluded that consecration is 
 not required for his work. He will find 
 need for all he possesses, and more, too ; but 
 it will be to meet intellectual and spiritual 
 difficulties. These difficulties are incident 
 to the bringing of the gospel close to the 
 hearts and lives of those who are so different 
 from himself in language, thought, and tra- 
 ditions, and the planting of the church of 
 Christ among an independent and highly 
 sensitive people. 
 
 The wise missionary is content to be, as 
 he has been called by them, the " guest " of 
 the Japanese, their "helper," the "John 
 
ONLY A HELPER. 13 
 
 Baptist who decreases while they increase," 
 in no wise seeking to have dominion over 
 their faith, but always ready to be simply 
 a helper of their faith, knowledge, and joy. 
 Pie who takes this subordinate position will- 
 ingly and gracefully on all occasions, ever 
 believing, hoping, and enduring all things, 
 is not likely to be troubled by any surplus 
 consecration. If, however, he can stand this 
 severest of tests, he will find his work and 
 life such a continual joy that he will be 
 able to say of it what Bishop Phillips Brooks 
 has said of the work of the ministry in gen- 
 eral : " In a world where there are a great 
 many good and happy things to do, God has 
 given us the best and happiest." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 "MASTERING THE LANGUAGE." 
 
 The young missionary starts to liis field 
 filled with enthusiasm, and elated by the 
 thought of preaching Christ's salvation to 
 those who have never heard the good news 
 of God. He may not actually entertain the 
 idea so commonly held at home, that his 
 first work on landing will be to repeat the 
 " old, old story " to the astonished but re- 
 ceptive natives as they kneel in homage at 
 his feet. He may think of his lack of know- 
 ledge of the language as an obstacle to im- 
 mediate preaching. But he has doubtless 
 been encouraged to regard this obstacle as 
 of a very temporary character, and he in- 
 dulges the pleasing hope that a few weeks, 
 or a few months at the farthest, will find him 
 " speaking like a native." 
 
 When he reaches his destination, however, 
 his complacency receives a terrible shock. 
 Geographically speaking, he is now near the 
 people whom he hopes to teach ; but, as far 
 
AN ALPINE BARRIER. 15 
 
 as actual teaching is concerned, a broader 
 ocean than the Pacific still rolls between him 
 and them. As he listens to the shouts of 
 the boatmen who crowd around his ship, or 
 the chattering of the jinrikisha men while 
 they draw lots for the privilege of carrying 
 him to his hotel, he understands, as never 
 before, why the Russians call foreigners 
 " the dumb," " the speechless," and say even 
 of modern English travelers, " Look at 
 these people ! they make a noise but cannot 
 speak ; " and he is ready, without further 
 investigation, to call the Japanese " bar- 
 barians," in the sense that the Greeks used 
 the word harbaros, that is, as designating 
 all who spoke a language unintelligible to 
 themselves. The language, the language, 
 — what an Alpine barrier to all communi- 
 cation with the people he would teach ! 
 
 There are, it is true, a few — a gradually 
 increasing number — who understand Eng- 
 lish, and, eager for immediate results, he 
 may confine himself to these ; or he may use 
 one of these English-speaking Japanese as 
 an " interrnpter " in preaching to others. 
 With the American theological student who 
 felt that he had " a special call to labor 
 among educated young ladies " as a prece- 
 
16 ''MASTERING THE LANGUAGE:' 
 
 dent, why should he not choose some such 
 restricted work? Or he may imitate the 
 example of Scotland's most famous mission- 
 ary to the Chinese, who, even before he 
 reached his destination, attempted to teach 
 the doctrine of the atonement to the boat- 
 men who came alongside the ship, by going 
 through the motions of washing a garment. 
 But, if he be too wise to depend upon such 
 imperfect methods, he will — unless he has 
 gone there for some special work, such as the 
 teaching of English — determine that even 
 the Alps shall not keep him out of Italy ; 
 and so, procuring the best books on the sub- 
 ject, and engaging the best available living 
 teacher, he will tackle the language in real 
 earnest. 
 
 And this will seem but the beginning of 
 his troubles. If he secure a teacher who 
 understands English, he will find himself 
 talking in English about the Japanese lan- 
 guage ; learning something of the science of 
 the language perhaps, but making little or 
 no progress in the art of speaking it. Most 
 probably he will be teaching ten times as 
 much English to his " teacher " as he learns 
 Japanese from him. On the other hand, if 
 he employ a teacher who knows no English, 
 
LEARNING TO TALK. 17 
 
 the result will be two persons together in a 
 room with no knowledge of each other's 
 language, and no means of communication 
 except signs and a Japanese-English dic- 
 tionary, striving to see which can the sooner 
 tire out and disgust the other. 
 
 Our friend begins in a concrete way by 
 inquiring the names of the most familiar 
 things about the house, using the one sen- 
 tence given him by an older missionary, 
 Koi^e wa nani to moshimasu ka (" What is 
 this?") In answer to this question he is 
 told that the rice on the table is called 
 mesJiL (All vowels, it should be remarked, 
 have the Continental pronunciation.) Rejoi- 
 cing in this knowledge, he begins making 
 sentences : " I eat mesUy " The little child 
 likes meshV "No," says his mentor ; "in 
 speaking of a child's rice, it is better to use 
 the word mama ; ' the child likes mama' '* 
 Undiscouraged, the student tries again: 
 " Do you eat meski f " when his teacher 
 stops him, and tells him that it is polite, 
 in speaking to another of his having or eat- 
 ing rice, to call it gozen. Having taken 
 this in, he goes on with his sentence-build- 
 ing : " The merchant sells gozen,'" when 
 the teacher again calls a halt, and tells him 
 
18 "MASTERING THE LANGUAGE.'' 
 
 that mesJii and gozen are used for cooked 
 rice only, and that for unboiled rice kome is 
 the proper word. Feeling that he is now 
 getting into the secrets of the language, he 
 says, " Kome grows in the fields," when he 
 is again stopped with the information that 
 growing rice is called ine ! 
 
 He next picks up a carpenter's rule, and 
 is told that the foot measure is called sJiaku, 
 He is glad to find that it is just about twelve 
 inches in length, but is nonplussed when he 
 learns that the tailor's shaku measures fif- 
 teen inches. His perplexity increases on 
 finding that when he sends for akin (pound) 
 of beef he gets five sixths of an avoirdupois 
 pound ;f if he send for a ki7i of flour, he 
 gets one and one third pounds ; while, if he 
 purchase a ki?i of sugar, it is within a small 
 fraction of two pounds. In starting on a 
 journey he is told that one ri is equal to two 
 and one half English miles ; but if, in pass- 
 ing through certain districts, he be puzzled 
 because of the unexpectedly long distances, 
 he may be told that there it takes three and 
 a half miles to make a ri. On the other 
 hand, in ascending Fuji and other mountains 
 the traveler often finds that the real dis- 
 tance is only about one half of that marked 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE. 19 
 
 on the milestones, because, as he is gravely 
 told, the ascent requires a double amount of 
 exertion. He finds all of the provinces and 
 some cities with two names each, and the 
 country now divided into prefectures, with 
 still different names ; while, till very re- 
 cently, the main island of Japan had no 
 name whatever! 
 
 Filled with dismay and despair at the 
 confusion into which his teacher has intro- 
 duced him, he turns for relief to the books 
 on the language prepared by European 
 scholars, and reads for his encouragement, 
 from the latest authority upon the subject, 
 such sentences as these : " Japanese nouns 
 have no gender or number ; Japanese adjec- 
 tives, no degrees of comparison ; Japanese 
 verbs, no persons." " Strictly speaking, there 
 are but two parts of speech." " The prepo- 
 sitions are postpositions." " Most sentences 
 are subjectless; it is not that the subjects 
 are dropped, but still, ' understood ' as in 
 other languages, they do not exist in the 
 mind of the speaker." " The Japanese lan- 
 guage abhors pronouns." " The verb is often 
 omitted." " The normal Japanese sentence 
 is a paragraph." The order of the words is 
 often the exact reverse of that in English ; 
 
20 '' MASTERING THE LANGUAGE." 
 
 thus, " to give rice to a beggar " would in 
 Japanese be hojiki ni meslii wo yaru^ " beg- 
 gar to rice give." Still further, " the Japan- 
 ese do not write as they speak, but use an 
 antiquated and partly artificial dialect when- 
 ever they put pen to paper." 
 
 This last remark does not encourage him 
 to cross the border between the spoken and 
 the written languages ; but if he would really 
 reach the Japanese people, necessity is laid 
 upon him to know how to read as well as to 
 speak. Let us follow him as he enters this 
 new field of conquest. 
 
 He finds that the Chinese ideographs were 
 introduced into Japan in one of the early 
 Christian centuries, and that previously the 
 Japanese probably had no written language. 
 The knowledge of these ideographs places all 
 Chinese literature at the service of the Jap- 
 anese scholar ; while, by various combinations 
 of these characters with forty-eight syllables 
 which are themselves abbreviations of Chi- 
 nese characters made in the ninth century, a 
 voluminous Japanese literature more or less 
 easily understood is produced. The learner 
 is encouraged by the assurance that while 
 " the number of the Chinese characters ex- 
 ceeds eighty thousand," and there are three 
 
THE CHINESE ELEMENT. 21 
 
 ways of pronouncing and an equal number 
 of modes of writing each one, "five or six 
 thousand characters is a number sufficiently 
 large to answer all the practical purposes of 
 life," and that their study, " if pursued reg- 
 ularly and methodically, will prove not the 
 least interesting and fascinating part in the 
 acquisition of the Japanese language " ! 
 
 The Chinese language has never been 
 spoken in Japan, but with the ideographs 
 were introduced a vast multitude of Chinese 
 words. These have been incorporated into 
 the Japanese language without changing its 
 structure, and now outnumber the native 
 words. These Chinese - Japanese words — 
 that is, Japanese pronunciations of Chinese 
 characters — are short, forcible, easily admit 
 of combination, and are used especially for 
 scientific, philosophical, and technical terms. 
 They form also the chief part of the conver- 
 sational vocabulary of scholars. In many 
 cases they have displaced the pure Japanese 
 words even in the mouths of the common 
 people. 
 
 One confusing result of this is that there 
 are at least two names for almost every thing 
 and place, and two ways for expressing 
 every idea. For example, the name of a 
 
22 ''MASTERING THE LANGUAGES 
 
 city which the writer recently visited is 
 written .with two Chinese characters which 
 mean " to dance," and " crane." The mean- 
 ing of these characters gives the pure Jap- 
 anese (and most widely known) name Mai- 
 dzuru ; while the pronunciation gives the 
 Chinese-Japanese name Buhaku^ which is 
 much used by people of that vicinity. The 
 double names of provinces, already referred 
 to, such as Choshu and Nagaio^ have a 
 similar explanation. It is only American 
 writers ignorant of this fact who speak of 
 the daimyo of this province as "Nagato, 
 Prince of Choshu." This doubling of words 
 extends to the commonest things. Thus 
 "parents" may be q\\\\gv futa-oya (Japa- 
 nese) or ryosJiin (Chinese). 
 
 Enough has been said concerning the Jap- 
 anese language to enable the reader to ap- 
 preciate the remark of " A Japanese Boy : " 
 " The Japanese language has not been sys- 
 tematized ; should one attempt it he would 
 find it a tremendous task: after my dabbling 
 in languages, in Japanese I prefer to be 
 taught like a babe." He will also under- 
 stand how it is that the tyro in its study 
 falls into many ludicrous and grievous blun- 
 ders. A lady friend who was trying to tell 
 
LUDICROUS BLUNDERS. 23 
 
 of a calamity in India really said that " the 
 inhabitants of heaven were suffering a sore 
 famine," having used tenkohu instead of 
 tenjiku. Another friend, intending to buy 
 a meat-broiler, asked for a cat-broiler, not 
 distinguishing between niku and neko. An- 
 other is said to have called for a bath of 
 mizu ame., a syrup made of malt, when he 
 intended to say ame mizu (more correctly 
 amamizu) that is, rain water. A lady want- 
 ing some onions was understood by the cook 
 to order " a Shinto priest served up for 
 dinner ; " the word in both cases being neg% 
 with scarcely an appreciable difference in 
 the pronunciation. 
 
 I would not for a moment be understood 
 as despising or depreciating the Japanese 
 language. It has of course a philosophy of 
 its own, however much it may refuse to 
 adapt itself to alien systems. It has few 
 harsh or difficult sounds. With its abun- 
 dance of vowels it is smooth and musical, 
 and the richness of even its purely native 
 vocabulary is truly marvelous. As spoken 
 by some of our Christian preachers, or by 
 educated Japanese ladies, with all its wealth 
 of polite and refined expressions, it is a de- 
 light to hear. 
 
24 ''MASTERING THE LANGUAGE:' 
 
 "It is still doubtful to what family of 
 languages the Japanese belongs. In struc- 
 ture, though not to any appreciable extent 
 in vocabulary, it closely resembles Korean ; 
 and both it and Korean may possibly be re- 
 lated to Mongol and to Manchu, and may 
 therefore claim to be included in the Altaic 
 group. Be this as it may, Japanese is what 
 philologists term an agglutinative language ; 
 that is to say, it builds up its words and 
 grammatical forms by means of suffixes 
 loosely soldered to the root or stem, which is 
 invariable." ^ 
 
 The Chinese literature introduced into Ja- 
 pan is very voluminous, including works on 
 medicine and other sciences, history, mor- 
 als, and religion. There are Japanese works 
 extant which antedate the English king Al- 
 fred. I once asked a friend, a Buddhist 
 priest, for the names of some books with 
 which to begin the study of his religion. 
 He brought a list of about two hundred vol- 
 umes. One work on Japanese history num- 
 bers over one hundred volumes. Mr. E. 
 M. Satow classifies Japanese literature uii- 
 
 1 Professor B. H. Chamberlain of the Imperial Univer- 
 sity of Japan, an authoritative writer already quoted in 
 this chapter. 
 
TIME REQUIRED FOR MASTERY. 25 
 
 der seventeen heads. But in this he leaves 
 untouched the literature of the new life 
 which has so recently burst forth in Japan, 
 — a life which has transformed the nation's 
 ideas upon almost every subject. When 
 the writer went to Japan, there was but one 
 newspaper published in Japanese, and that 
 was edited and published by a foreigner. 
 Now there are hundreds of periodicals, aU of 
 which abound in ideas and words unknown 
 twenty years ago. This has resulted in not 
 only a new literature, but a new language 
 for the new nation. 
 
 What has been said will illustrate the 
 linguistic burden that the missionary in Ja- 
 pan has to struggle under. More than one 
 thorough scholar in the European languages 
 has declared that "the Japanese is the most 
 difficult language in the world." Another 
 has said that " one can learn to understand 
 as much of Spanish in six montlrs as he can 
 of Japanese in six years." It will not be 
 thought strange, then, that one of the most 
 experienced and scholarly of the missionaries 
 recently gave to a company of his younger 
 associates the following recipe for " master- 
 ing the language : " " Stay twenty years in 
 the country ; " or that the Protestant mis- 
 
26 "MASTERING THE LANGUAGE." 
 
 sionaries of Central Japan have unanimously 
 resolved that, " whether we regard the mis- 
 sionary's health, his efficiency as a worker, 
 or his ability to work harmoniously with the 
 Japanese brethren, it is our opinion that his 
 highest and most permanent success demands 
 that for a period of at least three years he 
 should not be expected to take any responsi- 
 ble charge, but should give his whole time 
 and strength to the work of securing a 
 knowledge of the language and people." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The last thought of the preceding chapter 
 gives us the theme of this. We saw what a 
 heavy burden the study of the language is, 
 and were perhaps wondering why the Pente- 
 costal gift of tongues is not continued so 
 long as there are peoples to disciple for 
 Christ. Many have wished and prayed that 
 it might be so ; and yet in this, also. Wisdom 
 justifies herself in the eyes of her experi- 
 enced children. A veteran of India is said 
 always to have parted from the new recruits 
 who were passing inland to their work with 
 the words, " Good-by. I pray you may do 
 no harm." Each succeeding year brings a 
 fuller appreciation of the appropriateness of 
 this remark. One reason why the mission- 
 aries in Central Japan recommend that " for 
 a period of three years the missionary should 
 not be expected to take any responsible 
 charge " is the danger, on the part of those 
 who are unacquainted with the Japanese 
 
28 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 people, of unwittingly offending them, and 
 so injuring the very cause they wish to 
 build up. 
 
 The Japanese are our antipodes. They 
 are Orientals, we Occidentals ; they are 
 Asiatics, we Europeans. They belong to 
 the Mongolian race, we are of the Aryan. 
 Living upon the opposite side of the world, 
 they see the reverse side of the shield to us, 
 and in thought and life approach almost 
 everything from the opposite direction. 
 Their carpenters pull their planes and saws 
 towards themselves, instead of pushing them 
 as do ours. They tie their horses' heads to 
 what we should call the back of the stall, 
 and mount from the right instead of the left 
 side. " They speak backwards, write back- 
 wards, read backwards." The left side is 
 more honorable than the right ; the best 
 room is in the rear of the house ; and " they 
 begin to enter a house, not by removing 
 their hats, but by taking off their shoes." 
 White garments, not black, are the symbols 
 of mourning with them, and laughter is 
 more common at a funeral than weeping. 
 We are the youngest of the nations, and the 
 most unceremonious of peoples. They have 
 one of the oldest of civilizations, one utterly 
 
SACREDNESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 29 
 
 alien to ours, and an exceedingly formal and 
 elaborate code of politeness which is an in- 
 tegral part of their national life. 
 
 The young missionary may go with well- 
 grounded confidence that in morals and re- 
 ligion he has a message for the Japanese. 
 He is justified also in thinking that in 
 regard to education, medicine, hygiene, do- 
 mestic life, and other important matters he 
 may render them a service. But if he go 
 with the idea that all wisdom is in the Occi- 
 dent he is laboring under a delusion. If he 
 expect that, without waiting to learn any- 
 thing of the manners and customs of the 
 people, he can at once mount the teacher's 
 rostrum and pour streams of wisdom down 
 the throats of an admiring throng, he is very 
 sure to be disappointed. 
 
 Every human soul, by the very fact of its 
 individual personality, has a sacredness which 
 it rightfully withholds from the rude gaze of 
 the world. Manners and customs are one 
 great means of guarding this sacred and 
 mysterious personality. He who disregards 
 them is like the man who forces himself 
 unbidden and unannounced into my parlor. 
 He is in the worst possible position to secure 
 » favor from me. Upon the threshold of 
 
30 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 the soul, even the hearer of truth and grace 
 must reverently pause to seek and secure its 
 goodwill if he would find a welcome for 
 himself and his message. It goes without 
 saying that the missionary must recognize in 
 every one whom he would help one equally 
 with himself a child of God, needing and 
 capable of receiving the divinely offered 
 salvation. But he must also recognize and 
 respect the sacredness of the individual. So 
 far as is possible, he must enter into sympa- 
 thy with him and adapt his message to his 
 condition. This is what Paul meant by 
 becoming " all things to all men." It is the 
 underlying principle of the Incarnation, for 
 " since the children are sharers in flesh and 
 blood. He also in like manner partook of 
 the same." "It behooved Him in all things 
 to be made like unto His brethren." We 
 know how He made himself " the friend of 
 sinners." His parables are an incontroverti- 
 ble witness to His intimate knowledge of the 
 manners and customs of the people among 
 whom He lived. How can the missionary 
 think lightly of this knowledge in the face 
 of His thirty years of preparation for His 
 work ? Adaptation is, indeed, the great law 
 of successful evangelistic work everywhere, 
 
IMPORTANCE OF COURTESY. 31 
 
 but it is especially important in Eastern 
 lands, where manners are often rated higher 
 than morals. I have been told of the visit 
 of an American traveler to a mission school 
 in China. The boys had been apprised be- 
 forehand of the high character, attainments, 
 and position of their visitor, and when he 
 entered they all arose and made him a most 
 profound bow. For some reason, perhaps 
 simply because such a courtesy is not cus- 
 tomary in European countries, this urbane 
 Christian gentleman took no notice of their 
 salutation, but began at once to address them 
 upon the excellencies of the Christian reli- 
 gion. " But," my informant went on to say, 
 " his words were completely robbed of their 
 power by this one act of rudeness." 
 
 Ignorance of the people, and a carelessness 
 born of ignorance, often offends in this way. 
 How my face has burned as American trav- 
 elers have come into my recitation-room in 
 the Doshisha College, and, before a class of 
 English-speaking Japanese, have asked such 
 questions as " Do you find the Japanese apt 
 to learn ? " " Are they equal intellectually 
 to the people of India?" "Do they become 
 real Christians ? " " Are they not fickle ? '* 
 etc. Even where there is unquestionably 
 
32 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE, 
 
 great kindness of heart, a careless inconsid- 
 erateness is often extremely offensive. Years 
 ago an American just out of college was 
 eni2:)loyed as a teacher by a provincial gov- 
 ernment. There were an unusual number 
 of noble families in the city in which he 
 taught, and they and the local officials 
 showed the young foreigner the most dis- 
 tinguished consideration. He, on the other 
 hand, in utter disregard of Japanese eti- 
 quette, treated these noblemen as one college 
 boy might treat another. He knew a little 
 of the language, and would use imperative 
 forms of verbs which the Japanese employ 
 only in addressing culprits and menials. 
 He used sukoshi mate, about like our 
 " Hold on, there ! " to the governor of the 
 province. Having made an appointment to 
 meet a young nobleman at a hotel one morn- 
 ing, he was told on arrival that his friend 
 was still sleeping. Without waiting to be 
 announced he rushed upstairs, pushed back 
 the sliding doors, and with a vigorous punch 
 of his umbrella called upon the sleeper to 
 " Get up ! " Years afterward, when this 
 nobleman would tell the story and recall his 
 sense of insult, his whole frame would trem- 
 ble and his veins distend with excitement as 
 
JAPANESE ETIQUETTE. 33 
 
 he declared, " Had it been five years ear- 
 lier " (before the downfall of feudalism), " I 
 must have killed him." 
 
 I presume we have all often violated Jap- 
 anese etiquette, and offended in some such 
 way, unconsciously. A failure to remove 
 the shoes at the door is one of the grossest 
 acts of impoliteness. On entering a Japan- 
 ese house, it is humble and therefore polite 
 to sit as near the door as possible; yet we 
 have often failed to do this, and have sat 
 in front of the tokonoma^ a seat originally 
 prepared for the claimyo^ and still retaining 
 its honorable nature. This blunder may be 
 compared to that of seating one's self un- 
 asked at the right of the host or hostess at 
 a dinner party. Two Japanese gentlemen 
 always lift their hats on meeting, and stand 
 uncovered even as they talk together in the 
 street. It is also the polite thing to remove 
 the scarf before bowing, and even in the 
 coldest building in the coldest weather the 
 greatcoat would be removed before begin- 
 ning an address. I do not say that we 
 ought to follow them exactly in all these 
 things, but we ought at least to seek to know 
 and practice enough of Japanese etiquette 
 to avoid giving offense. 
 
34 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 This is not always an easy task. One of 
 the most annoying experiences is that of 
 being subjected to the extortionate demands 
 of shopkeepers, Jinrikisha men, boatmen, 
 and others. It is of course not only a right 
 but a duty to resist this extortion ; yet it 
 requires a high degree of tact to be able to 
 do so without offending one's Japanese asso- 
 ciates, who are often from a class proverbi- 
 ally careless in their pecuniary transactions. 
 A close bargain, though it be a just one, may 
 give offense. 
 
 Our visitors from abroad frequently give 
 the greatest annoyance in this way. I have 
 known American gentlemen, under the con- 
 viction that they were being imposed upon 
 by shopkeepers, to lay down a far less sum 
 than the price of an article, which they then 
 unceremoniously marched off with. JinH- 
 hisha runners have been treated by them in 
 the same way, and these heroes have after- 
 ward recounted their triumphs with great 
 glee. Had they known that the slender 
 purses of the missionaries or Japanese pas- 
 tors, who accompanied them, afterward made 
 up the deficits which their heroism had ig- 
 nored, their gratulation over the success of 
 their short method with extortioners would 
 have moderated. 
 
HONORIFICS. 35 
 
 The new missionary is in special danger 
 of offending by a lack of ajjpreciation of 
 the work already done, and of the character 
 and qualifications of Japanese evangelists. 
 One pastor of a large city church, a man 
 who has read many more theological and 
 philosophical works than the average Amer- 
 ican pastor, was asked by a newly arrived 
 lady missionary — as he has told me — if he 
 could read the Bible in English ! 
 
 Perhaps the most pervading principle of 
 the Japanese language is politeness, and this 
 is why the three years' work upon the lan- 
 guage, which has been recommended, not only 
 gives time for the study of this politest of peo- 
 ples, but is in itself a study of them. It has 
 already been mentioned that " the Japanese 
 language abhors pronouns." The offices of 
 the pronoun are largely performed by hono- 
 rific and depreciatory terms, the broad prin- 
 ciple being that the speaker must depreciate 
 himself, his family, friends, and countrymen, 
 with all their thoughts, acts, ailments, pos- 
 sessions, etc., and exalt the person spoken 
 to, and everybody and everything connected 
 with him. Thus " you " is often expressed 
 by himi (prince), and, among students espe- 
 cially, hoku (servant) is the common term 
 
36 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 for the pronoun " I." My country, my 
 house, my sickness, are respectively the sim- 
 ple names kuni (country), uchi (house), 
 hiyoki (disease), with no possessive pro- 
 nouns, honorifics, or other descriptive words ; 
 while, if belonging to the person spoken to, 
 these nouns are loaded down with honorifics, 
 o kuni (august country), o uchi (august 
 house), go hiyoki (august disease), o mi 
 ashi (august and honorable legs), always 
 meaning your country, your house, your legs, 
 etc. Then there are specially depreciatory 
 terms. For example, while " your wife " is 
 go saikun (the honorable lady), "my wife" 
 is gusai (the stupid wife). Of myself I 
 say mairu (humbly go) ; concerning you it 
 must be some such phrase as o ide nasaru 
 (augustly proceed). A present made is al- 
 ways somatsu na mono (something coarsely 
 made and of little value), lifted up towards 
 the august recipient; conversely, a present 
 received, however slight its value, is always 
 kekko na okuri mono (splendid thing), con- 
 descendingly bestowed upon the bowed head 
 of the humble beneficiary. 
 
 Two or three years ago an acquaintance, 
 a prominent man in an inland city, brought 
 a son to Kyoto to put him in Doshisha 
 
ETIQUETTE IN THE LANGUAGE. 37 
 
 College. Bringing him to my study he said : 
 " Here 's my boy ; he 's a great fool, a perfect 
 idiot. You will have to beat him to make 
 him learn anything at all." In reality he 
 had no thought of my taking his words in 
 their literal meaning. It was a Japanese 
 way of asking indulgence and help. 
 
 These examples are enough to show that 
 etiquette is a vital element in the structure 
 of the language, and of course one can have 
 no free use of these polite expressions with- 
 out a knowledge of Japanese politeness it- 
 self. In Japanese it is always dangerous to 
 do what is often done in learning other 
 languages, — namely, to take words spoken 
 to us and frame them into our reply. Those 
 who attempt it may be horrified to find that 
 they have made some such mistake as did 
 the good lady who, shortly after her arrival, 
 thanked a neighbor, using his own words, 
 for the S07natsu na mono (rough and worth- 
 less thing) which he had given her. And 
 how often have we, in public and in private, 
 unwittingly disturbed our Japanese hearers 
 by similar mistakes ! A Japanese lady once 
 read to me a letter from her husband, a 
 prominent Christian worker, in which he 
 spoke of the addresses of one who could use 
 
38 THE STUDY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 the Japanese language with exceptional cor- 
 rectness and force ; but the writer of the 
 letter passed by both these qualities and 
 spoke only of the missionary's politeness to 
 his hearers. 
 
 Dr. Franklin said that " a man who is 
 good at making excuses is good for nothing 
 else." If this were true, it would prove 
 that this whole nation is worthless ; for cer- 
 tain it is that apologies are a very important 
 part of public sj^eaking in Japan, and that 
 the Japanese are great adepts in the art of 
 making them. It is often overdone, even to 
 native ears, but the absence of the apology 
 shocks a Japanese audience much as speak- 
 ing with a hat on would an American one. 
 But are these apologies sincere ? Yes, just 
 about as sincere and just about as necessary 
 as the word " dear " in the phrase " Dear 
 Sir " with which every one except a prude 
 begins business letters. 
 
 The wise missionary will not speak of Ja- 
 pan, as Bishop Heber has taught the world 
 to sing of Ceylon, as a place — 
 
 " Where every prospect pleases 
 And only man is vile." 
 
 Many seem to think that the work of the 
 missionary is justifiable only upon the ground 
 
REASON FOR MISSIONARY EFFORT. 39 
 
 that the people living in missionary fields 
 are sinners above all other members of the 
 race. Doubtless such sins as lying and li- 
 centiousness are found more commonly and 
 in more offensive forms here, and the shame 
 which should accompany them is far less 
 than with us. I could write a dark chapter 
 on this theme were I so disposed. And 
 while other sins, such as anger and quarrel- 
 ing, are less common in Japan than in 
 America, the general state of society is un- 
 questionably lower. But missionary effort 
 has its justification in the fact that men 
 everywhere are sinners and in need of a 
 Saviour, and not in any special degree of 
 corruption and degradation in sin which a 
 particular people may have. The wise mis- 
 sionary will be open-eyed to the good rather 
 than to the evil that is in the people he 
 seeks to help. He will heartily agree with 
 Bishop Potter that the most effectual re- 
 generating power is " that enkindling and 
 transforming temper which forever sees in 
 humanity, not that which is bad and bale- 
 ful, but that which is lovable and improva- 
 ble, which can both discern and effectually 
 speak to that nobler longing of the soul which 
 is the indestructible image of its Maker." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MAKING A STAKT. 
 
 The young minister who takes charge of 
 a church in the United States has but to 
 put his hand to a plow which has been 
 turning furrows for years, — it may be for 
 centuries. He becomes a member of a Chris- 
 tian community already existent and orga- 
 nized, and to a greater or less degree in- 
 structed in the things of the Kingdom. He 
 but adds the force of his personality to a 
 movement already begun. The noble work 
 of organizing churches on our frontier is no 
 exception to this rule. Although there may 
 be no church formed, and but a scanty num- 
 ber of avowed Christians, there will always 
 be some who have had Christian training, 
 and possess a definite idea of the nature 
 and object of the Christian church. And 
 then there are sure to be other Christian 
 workers and communities not too far away 
 for sympathy and help. In joining an es- 
 tablished mission on foreign soil, the experi- 
 
EXPLORATION. 41 
 
 ence is not greatly different. For example, 
 he who goes to Japan to-day finds not only 
 many other missionaries, but also several 
 hundreds of churches and scores of Japanese 
 preachers, some of whom have for years been 
 preaching the gospel with an ease and an 
 effectiveness which it may well be his high- 
 est aspiration to equal. 
 
 But with those who begin a new work in 
 a foreign land, the case is radically different. 
 They are not only builders who must lay 
 their own foundations ; they are explorers 
 in a trackless forest, and have much to do 
 in the way of removing obstacles and over- 
 coming difficulties before the first founda- 
 tion-stone can be laid. Such was the work 
 of those who went to Japan a quarter of a 
 century or more ago. The nation was be- 
 ginning to stretch out its hands for Western 
 commerce, arts, and education, but towards 
 Christianity its hands were extended only in 
 menace. A few ports were by treaty thrown 
 open to foreign residents on July 1, 1859, 
 and it is to the credit of the missionary 
 zeal of American Christians that, before the 
 close of that year, three different denomi- 
 nations had representatives on the ground. 
 They could reside there, but that was about 
 
42 MAKING A START. 
 
 all. General though not universal hatred of 
 foreigners, and abject fear of the despotic 
 government on the part of the people, for a 
 long time almost entirely shut off inter- 
 course between them and the missionaries. 
 The latter found no books to aid them in the 
 study of the language, and the only teachers 
 they could get at first were men from the 
 lowest and most ignorant classes. Some of 
 these proved to be government spies. Even 
 down to the time of the writer's arrival, the 
 enmity to Christianity was practically un- 
 broken. On almost every street corner in 
 the cities, and at the cross-roads and in 
 mountain passes in the country, were large 
 edict boards, which declared that belief in 
 Christ was a crime punishable by death. 
 As late as 1868 an edict was issued which 
 announced that — 
 
 " The wicked sect called Christian is strictly 
 prohibited. Suspected persons are to be reported 
 to the respective officials, and rewards will be 
 given." 
 
 The government was careful that the peo- 
 ple should not regard these edicts as a dead 
 letter. In the same year a Roman Catholic 
 Christian community, which had preserved 
 
EARLY OPPOSITION. 43 
 
 its existence during more than two centuries 
 and a half of suspicion and persecution, was 
 discovered in the village of Urakami, near 
 Nagasaki, and its three thousand members 
 were sent off as prisoners, condemned to 
 hard labor, into thirty-four different prov- 
 inces. Kido, one of the most enlightened 
 and progressive statesmen of the time, not 
 only executed this edict of banishment, but 
 declared himself to be against the mission- 
 aries, who, he said, were " sent to Japan to 
 teach the peoj^le to disobey the laws." A 
 young man named Ichikawa Einosuke was 
 employed as a teacher of the Japanese lan- 
 guage by a missionary of the American 
 Board residing in Kobe. In connection 
 with his duties as a teacher he became an 
 earnest student of the Bible, but had not re- 
 ceived baptism. In the spring of 1871 he 
 and his wife, who had as yet shown no in- 
 terest in Christianity, were arrested at dead 
 of night and thrown into prison. The only 
 evidence of crime on his part was a manu- 
 script copy of the Gospel of Mark, which 
 was found in his possession. Every effort 
 was made to secure his release ; but neither 
 the personal efforts of missionaries, nor the 
 kindly offices of the American consul, nor 
 
44 MAKING A START. 
 
 even those of the American minister at 
 Tokyo, availed anything. Even the place of 
 his confinement remained unknown till No- 
 vember, 1872, when his wife returned to 
 Kobe to tell the story of their imprison- 
 ment, and of the death of her husband 
 in the faith of the gospel, which had sus- 
 tained him throughout all his trials. So 
 much impressed was she by this fact, that 
 she had embraced the same religion, and 
 afterwards became one of the original mem- 
 bers of the first church formed in connec- 
 tion with the mission. There were other 
 Protestant Christians who were similarly 
 treated. A young man named Shimizu, 
 formerly a Buddhist priest, who was bap- 
 tized in 1868, suffered in various prisons 
 for nearly five years. 
 
 Under such circumstances the missiona- 
 ries could do little else than make prepara- 
 tions for the future, for the better day 
 which they believed was sure to come. 
 They studied the language ; they prepared 
 grammars and dictionaries ; and portions of 
 the Bible were translated, though not pub- 
 lished. The Japanese - English dictionary 
 published by Dr. J. C. Hepburn in 1866 is 
 still (in its third edition) the standard for 
 
DAYS OF PREPARATION. 45 
 
 both Japanese and foreigners. They minis- 
 tered to the sick and unfortunate, and by 
 kind deeds and pure and upright lives showed 
 the Jaj^anese that they were not such foes 
 to mankind as they had been represented. 
 The Japanese became convinced that Pro- 
 testantism was not the dangerous power po- 
 litically which many of them believed the 
 Roman and Greek churches to be. One 
 man in high authority was heard to say : 
 " I like the Protestants better than the Ro- 
 manists ; not that I have examined their 
 doctrines, but Protestant missionaries do 
 not look and act as though they were going 
 to swallow us up, country and all." For di- 
 rect evangelistic w^ork, however, there was no 
 opportunity beyond private conferences with 
 individuals. When we arrived in Japan in 
 the autumn of 1872, there was not in the 
 whole empire a single public preaching- 
 place. The one church of a dozen members, 
 of whose organization we shall soon speak, 
 met on the premises of a missionary, under 
 protection of the United States flag. 
 
 But althoug^h thus shut off from direct 
 evanofelistic work, the confidence secured and 
 the experience gained during these years of 
 waiting enabled them to improve in large 
 
46 MAKING A START. 
 
 measure a great opportunity which was un- 
 expectedly given them. 
 
 Intercourse with the nations of the West 
 had shown to the Japanese the advantages 
 of knowing European languages, and hun- 
 dreds of young men of the samurai class 
 were thirsting for a knowledge of English, 
 which was felt to be of special importance. 
 It is hardly too much to say that the only 
 competent teachers then on the ground were 
 missionaries. Aware of this through the 
 work done in their homes, the government 
 sent a dozen young men of rank to Yoko- 
 hama to be taught English by a missionary ; 
 and later this school and one in Nagasaki re- 
 ceived larger official patronage. A language 
 school — the beginning of the present Impe- 
 rial University — was established in Yedo. 
 Its English department was placed under the 
 charge of a missionary, the other foreign in- 
 structors being, according to the report of a 
 visitor at the time, " an English engineer and 
 a French corporal." Soon after, this mission- 
 ary. Rev. Dr. Verbeck, wa^s not only given 
 entire charge of the school ; he was made for 
 many years educational adviser to the govern- 
 ment. He was thus in position to secure many 
 accomplished teachers from America, and to 
 
TEACHING ENGLISH. 47 
 
 arrange for the education of Japanese youth 
 in our best schools. The influence for good 
 which he thus exerted is immeasurable. 
 
 Other missionaries worked in the same 
 way. Beyond even the medical work so 
 nobly and successfully carried on in several 
 places, the teaching of the English language 
 was the key to the hearts of the people, and 
 missionaries almost universally used this key. 
 Mission schools and homes everywhere be- 
 came thronged with young men ready to 
 read the Bible or Christian books, or to 
 listen to Christian teaching, if only they 
 could learn to read and speak English. Not 
 a few of these pupils were touched by the 
 Truth, which they at first had no desire to 
 hear for itself. From them and their parents 
 and friends were our early converts, and 
 many of them are valiant Christian soldiers 
 to-day. Some, of course, were restive under 
 what seemed excessive doses of Christianity ; 
 others were afraid to take directly what 
 they had no objection to receive indirectly ; 
 and others still became antagonistic. Their 
 broken English often gave a ludicrous color- 
 ing to what they said, either in the way of 
 approval or disapproval. A young ration- 
 alist once arose in a meeting and said, — 
 
48 MAKING A START. 
 
 speaking slowly and with great effort, — "I 
 believe — hell — arimasen " (is not) ! The 
 Japanese alphabet has no "1," and so it 
 comes about that, in speaking English, " 1 " 
 and " r " are even more of a perplexity to 
 them than "p" and "q" to an American 
 child. A class of custom-house officials 
 whom Mrs. Gordon, during our residence at 
 Osaka, had taken through " Wilson's Third 
 Reader," which is largely composed of Scrip- 
 ture stories, deserted her at once when Bibles 
 were put into their hands. Years afterward 
 we received a letter from one of them, at 
 that time an interpreter in the foreign office 
 of the Osaka Fu, asking wherein the essence 
 of Christianity lies. "Does it consist simply 
 of obedience to the Gordon Rule ? " Un- 
 fortunately we could not claim that " the 
 Gordon Rule " is a perfect standard. One 
 who had become a Christian announced 
 with a profound bow, " I am the Protestant 
 Church." 
 
 I have intimated that some of the early 
 language-teachers employed by the Japanese 
 were unfit for their positions. Of the earli- 
 est Japanese students, many with only the 
 veriest smattering of English set up schools 
 of their own. A Japanese acquaintance told 
 
''ENGLISH TAUGHT HERE.'' 49 
 
 me of his surprise, when visiting his native 
 province far in the interior, on seeing a 
 notice on the door of a school-house an- 
 nouncing (in Japanese, of course), ^''English 
 Taught Here'^ Curiosity led him to enter 
 and inquire how far their English instruc- 
 tion extended. He received the reply, " We 
 teach, the alphabet as far as to G." When 
 we remember that in studying Chinese one 
 simply masters some of the Chinese charac- 
 ters, this story seems less improbable than it 
 otherwise would. 
 
 These students of English were of course 
 largely selfish in motive in their coming 
 to the missionaries. Even when they came 
 with the Scriptures in their hands, saying, 
 " Teacher, please teach me Holy Bible," we 
 knew it was the English shell rather than 
 the Christian kernel they were after ; though 
 not a few, in attempting to crack the shell, 
 were caught by the aroma of the kernel 
 within, as they afterwards were ready to 
 confess. Others came for different purposes 
 with the same show of interest. Men who 
 wanted positions as servants (often that they 
 might learn English) came with the most 
 pious of faces. Men who wanted to become 
 doctors or druggists approached our mission- 
 
50 MAKING A START. 
 
 2LVY physicians in a similar way. One man 
 spent a whole forenoon with me talking 
 about Christianity, his real purpose being to 
 find out whether Christian funerals cost as 
 much as Buddhist ones or not. And others 
 sought to know about Western commerce or 
 manufactures, brought mineral water to be 
 analyzed, etc., etc. Some of them were so 
 skillful in simulating an interest in Chris- 
 tianity as to deceive the most cautious. 
 That many others came with a sense of deep 
 spiritual need will clearly appear as we go 
 on. One of the most venerable pastors be- 
 came a Christian after making a complete 
 round of the various religions in the fruitless 
 attempt to satisfy his soul's longings. That 
 more did not so come even at that time is 
 not strange, in view of the fact that they had 
 for centuries been taught to look upon Chris- 
 tianity as a system of sorcery. 
 
 Perhaps I cannot better conclude this 
 story of the way a beginning was made 
 than by transcribing a brief account of the 
 organization of the first Christian church in 
 Japan : — 
 
 "In January, 1872, the missionaries at 
 Yokohama, and English-speaking residents 
 of all denominations, united in the observ- 
 
THE FIRST JAPANESE CHURCH. 51 
 
 ance o£ the Week of Prayer. Some Jap- 
 anese students, connected with the private 
 classes taught by the missionaries, were pre- 
 sent through curiosity, or through a desire 
 to please their teachers, and some perhaps 
 from a true interest in Christianity. It was 
 concluded to read the Acts in course, day 
 after day, and, that the Japanese present 
 might take part intelligently in the service, 
 the Scripture of the day was translated 
 extemporaneously into their language. The 
 meetings grew in interest, and were continued 
 from week to week, till the end of February. 
 After a week or two the Japanese, for the 
 first time in the history of the nation, were 
 on their knees in a Christian prayer-meeting, 
 entreating God with great emotion, with 
 tears streaming down their faces, that He 
 would give his Sj^irit to Japan as to the 
 early church and to the people around the 
 apostles. These prayers were characterized 
 by intense earnestness. Captains of men-of- 
 war, English and American, who witnessed 
 the scene, wrote to us, ' The prayers of these 
 Japanese take the heart out of us.' A mis- 
 sionary wrote that the intensity of feeling 
 was such that he feared often that he would 
 faint away in the meetings. Half a dozen. 
 
52 MAKING A START. 
 
 perhaps, of the Japanese thus publicly en- 
 gaged in prayer ; but the number present 
 was much larger. This is the record of the 
 first Japanese prayer-meeting. 
 
 " As a direct fruit of these prayer-meetings, 
 the first Japanese Christian church was or- 
 ganized in Yokohama on March 10, 1872. 
 It consisted of nine young men baptized 
 that day, and two middle-aged men who had 
 been baptized before. The members gave 
 their church the catholic name of ' The 
 Church of Christ in Japan,' and drew up 
 their own constitution, a simple evangelical 
 creed, together with some rules of church- 
 government, according to which the govern- 
 ment was to be in the hands of the pastor 
 and ciders, with the consent of the mem- 
 bers." 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 THE " KUMAMOTO BAND." 
 
 In tlie previous chapter I have spoken of 
 the fact that the teaching of English was, 
 in the early days, a key to the hearts of 
 young Japanese which was constantly used by 
 the missionaries. Other Christian teachers, 
 not under missionary appointment, used the 
 same key with great faithfulness and a good 
 measure of success. This was especially 
 true of Captain L. L. Janes, of Kumamoto, 
 in the south ; and of President Clark, of 
 the Massachusetts Agricultural College, who 
 was for a time at the head of the Japanese 
 Agricultural College at Sapporo, in the ex- 
 treme north. As an illustration of the good 
 work done by these teachers under more or 
 less favorable circumstances, I give below 
 a translation (made by a Japanese) of an 
 account of the work of the gentleman first 
 named, prepared by one of his pupils, after- 
 ward the Rev. P. Kanamori : — 
 
 " In 1871 Captain L. L. Janes came to 
 Kumamoto upon the invitation of the dai- 
 
54 THE " KUMAMOTO BAND." 
 
 myd of Higo, and established a school where 
 foreign knowledge was to be taught. The 
 daimyo was decided in his desire for a mili- 
 tary officer, because he feared that, if he 
 employed an ordinary scholar, the youths of 
 the province would ' fall into literary weak- 
 ness,' and so the bold spirit of the province 
 would be lost. So he employed this learned 
 and valorous officer in order to introduce 
 the sciences of the West, and at the same 
 time stimulate the military spirit of his 
 young men. Captain Janes having been 
 employed with this end in view, his circum- 
 stances were very different from those of 
 the missionaries. At that time Japan was 
 still unenlightened, particularly in the vi- 
 cinity of Kumamoto. The number of men 
 who were yet opposed to Christianity was 
 very great, so that even the lives of Captain 
 and Mrs. Janes were by no means free from 
 danger. The pupils were largely sons of 
 the rough and turbulent men of the place, 
 and it may be readily seen that to teach 
 Christianity to them was a very delicate and 
 difficult task. No pupil could understand 
 English, and Captain Janes did not under- 
 stand the Japanese language, so that the 
 difficulty of communication was extreme. 
 
CAPTAIN JANES. 55 
 
 " For the first two or three years Captain 
 Janes said little or nothing about Christian- 
 ity, but gave his whole strength to teaching 
 English and the sciences ; but he was so 
 kind and fatherly in his treatment of his 
 pupils that they came to forget that he 
 was a foreigner, and they gladly listened to 
 whatever he said to them. 
 
 "As he was a fervent Christian, his desire 
 to preach to the pupils must have been in- 
 tense, but under the circumstances he wisely 
 contented himself with first seekino- to win 
 his pupils' hearts as the best possible prepa- 
 ration for the future sowing of the gospel 
 seed. After he had been there about three 
 years he one day said to us : 'I shall teach 
 the Bible on Sunday ; any one who wishes 
 may come to my house.' We still hated 
 Christianity as though it were a snake, and 
 did not like even to see the Bible, but we 
 so respected him that we concluded to go 
 to the meeting. One of us went to the 
 teacher of Chinese and asked his consent. 
 He replied that we might go to learn about 
 Christianity, not to believe it, but to study 
 its strong and weak points in order to ojDpose 
 it. And so, of the few who went, some went 
 simpl}^ out of curiosity, others for amusement, 
 
56 THE '' KUMAMOTO BAND:' 
 
 others still that they might oppose, — none 
 with a desire to hear. The portions of the 
 New Testament that we read had no flavor 
 for us, and the time seemed spent in vain. 
 But our teacher was kind and assiduous in 
 his teaching, and fervent in his prayers for 
 us. During his prayer, which seemed tedi- 
 ous to us, we sometimes opened our eyes 
 and looked upon his face with its closed 
 and tearful eyes, and then we laughed, say- 
 ing that ' Americans weep.' At this time he 
 simply taught the Bible, and never exhorted 
 us to become Christians ; and when two of 
 us thought to impose upon him by pretend- 
 ing that we wished to become preachers, he 
 met them sternly, saying, ' You are not yet 
 worthy to be preachers ; go on with your 
 Bible study.' A year later, in 1875, a few 
 were really touched by the gospel, and this 
 was followed by a division of the students 
 into two parties, the one favorable to Chris- 
 tianity, the other seeking to oppose it by 
 reviving the study, of ' The Great Learning ' 
 and ' The Doctrine of the Mean,' as taught 
 by the Chinese sages. In August of the 
 same year. Captain Janes added preaching 
 to his biblical instruction. His sermons 
 were long, sometimes three hours long, but 
 
CHRISTIANITY VS. CONFUCIANISM. 57 
 
 as we had become interested in Christianity 
 they were never tiresome to us. All who 
 attended these meetings were studying the 
 Confucian morality at the house of the Chi- 
 nese teacher every Sunday afternoon, and 
 so, for quite a while, we were studying 
 Christianity with Captain Janes in the 
 mornings, and Confucianism v/ith the Chi- 
 nese teacher in the afternoons. For about 
 six months we w^ere thus divided in our ad- 
 miration for Christianity and Confucianism, 
 but by the end of the year, all except one 
 or two were united in their belief in Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 " By Captain Janes's advice, some of us 
 spent the New Year's vacation in the study 
 of the Gospel of John, and in prayer to 
 God for his blessing upon ourselves and our 
 classmates. When the new term opened, 
 these Christian students had a faith which 
 burned like fire, so that they could not but 
 preach to their fellow-students, and try to 
 lead them to the gate of salvation. The 
 whole school was like a boiling caldron ; 
 the studies were neglected ; and groups of 
 five, or six, or seven men began to study the 
 Bible in the recitation - rooms, the dining- 
 room, or in their private rooms. These stu- 
 
58 THE '' KUMAMOTO BAND:' 
 
 dents had but little knowledge of the Bible 
 or theology, but they were impelled to 
 preach, even though some of them were not 
 more than twelve years old. The recitations 
 were suspended, and Captain Janes gave 
 himself to the work of preaching the gospel 
 to the students. We had not even heard of 
 the word 'revival,' and knew nothing of 
 the special workings of the Holy Spirit. 
 We wondered why our spirits burned like a 
 fire, and why we preached the gospel like 
 madmen. One of us said, ' May not this 
 be the work of the Holy Spirit mentioned 
 in the Bible ? ' And others answered, ' Yes, 
 it may be.' Our preaching was not con- 
 fined to the school, but found its way to the 
 servants of the teachers, our kindred in our 
 homes, old men and women in the streets, 
 and so on. 
 
 " Now I must speak of one who was secretly 
 praying in her closet, who received an open 
 reward from her heavenly Father. This 
 was Mrs. Janes. She had no acquaintance 
 with the students, but for many months her 
 mind had been filled with intense desire for 
 the salvation of the students, and she prayed 
 day and night for the Holy Spirit to come 
 upon them. This was a great hidden cause 
 
A REVIVAL. 59 
 
 of the revival. This revival continued for 
 about a month, and those who confessed 
 faith in Christ numbered over forty, and 
 more than forty others were studying the 
 Bible. On the last Sunday in January, a 
 beautiful spring-like day, the Christian stu- 
 dents went out to a hill, Hana-oha-yama^ — 
 southwest of Kumamoto, — a hill since made 
 famous as the spot where Saigo Takamori 
 placed his cannon to bombard Kumamoto. 
 They went singing hymns as they climbed 
 the hill, and, taking their seats in a circle 
 on its summit, they made a solemn covenant 
 together that, as they had been thus blessed 
 by God in advance of all their countrymen, 
 they would labor to enlighten the darkness 
 of the empire by preaching the gospel even 
 at the sacrifice of their lives. 'They 
 prayed kneeling, and wrote an oath-paper 
 on which they signed and sealed their 
 names.' 
 
 " The fact that this covenant had been 
 made became known, and all those con- 
 nected with the school cried out in dismay : 
 ' Alas ! the students have become Christian 
 priests. Captain Janes has made Christians 
 of them. If this be not stopped, our hopes 
 for the school will be gone.' At this time 
 
60 THE " KUMAMOTO BAND.'' 
 
 the life of Captain Janes was in great dan- 
 ger, and the Christian students were perse- 
 cuted in a thousand ways, for Christianity was 
 looked upon as a kind of witchcraft. One 
 mother said to her son : ' If you don't aban- 
 don Christianity I must kill myself in order 
 to wipe out the stain which you have cast 
 upon your ancestors.' A father said : ' If 
 you don't give up your faith I will kill you 
 immediately.' One student was confined 
 in his room for one hundred days, and was 
 finally driven from home. There was not 
 one who was not more or less persecuted. 
 On this account the number fell off to less 
 than thirty. But the true believers, although 
 the oldest was under twenty years, were im- 
 movable in their faith, and ready even to sac- 
 rifice their lives. During all the time they 
 were encouraged and comforted by Captain 
 Janes, and enabled to stand up against the 
 persecutions, which continued for about six 
 months ; so that the believers not only gained 
 the victory, but were made all the stronger 
 by their persecutions. By the following 
 autumn, Captain Janes left Kumamoto, and 
 the Christians went to the Doshisha school 
 in Kyoto, to prepare themselves more fully 
 for the preaching of the gospel." 
 
FA3IILY PERSECUTION. 61 
 
 A word or two may be added concerning 
 this persecution and the character of these 
 men. Knowing the bitter feeling in Kuma- 
 moto against the young men, and that he 
 could continue with them for only a short 
 time, Captain Janes wrote, asking if they 
 could be received into the Doshisha school, 
 saying among other things : " My boys and 
 I have been passing through unusual events, 
 and the mutterings of a sharp, vindictive, 
 and exciting persecution are still in the air. 
 They have four of my Christian boys still 
 shut up in their homes. I think the little 
 band is practically intact. No lives have 
 been taken, although that was seriously 
 enough threatened, and there are no cases 
 of harakiri yet to report, although a mother 
 in one family and a father in another took 
 that method of driving their sons from the 
 faith. The number of faithful to the end is 
 larger than I expected. I grieve over my 
 imprisoned Christian boys. The physical 
 strength of one is failing, and his unthink- 
 ing persecutors may kill him. I understand 
 there was an auto da fe of his Bibles a few 
 days since." 
 
 Of the writer of the above account he 
 wrote: "He has received the most cruel 
 
62 THE '' KUMAMOTO BAND:' 
 
 and outrageous treatment at the hands of 
 his brother, and has been practically a pris- 
 oner for one hundred and twenty days. He 
 was made the slave of the servants of his 
 family, who were instructed to treat him as 
 one possessed of a devil, without human 
 rights. He is now practically an outcast. 
 He severs his family connection and strikes 
 for liberty. He is a shorn lamb, and leav- 
 ing all." 
 
 The subsequent history of nearly every 
 one of these men is such as to justify the 
 hopes to which their faith and patience un- 
 der persecution gave rise. Of the men who 
 went to Kyoto and continued their educa- 
 tion, one (Kanamori) afterward built up a 
 strong church in Okayama, then for a time 
 was acting principal of the Doshisha, after 
 that becoming pastor of the Bancho church, 
 Tokyo.i Another (Yokoi), after remarka- 
 ble success as an evangelist and pastor 
 at Imabari, is now pastor of the Hongo 
 church, Tokyo, and editor of "The Chris- 
 tian," a weekly religious newspaper, and 
 " The Rikugo Zasshi," a Christian magazine. 
 Another (Kozaki), the first pastor of the two 
 
 ^ His faith is at present suffering an eclipse which his 
 friends hope will be only temporary. 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERS. 63 
 
 churches just named, and the founder and 
 first editor of the above - mentioned peri- 
 odicals, is the honored successor of Dr. 
 Neesima as president of the Doshisha Uni- 
 versity. Another (Ebina) was the first 
 pastor of the Annaka and Maebashi 
 churches, and after excellent work at Ku- 
 mamoto and elsewhere is nov/ the president 
 of the Japanese Missionary Society. Mr. 
 Miyagawa, the pastor of the large and flour- 
 ishing First Church at Osaka, who has done 
 and is doing a work second to none in im- 
 portance, is another member of this com- 
 pany. Other members are Mr. Morita, for 
 ten years a teacher in the Doshisha, and 
 a recent recipient of the degree of Ph. D. 
 from Yale University, where he has been 
 lecturing during the past year on Oriental 
 Philosophy ; Mr. Ichihara, first a valued 
 teacher in his alma mater^ then principal 
 of the Tokwa school at Sendai, for the 
 past three years at Yale, which has given 
 him also the philosophical degree ; Mr. 
 Shimomura, a graduate of the Worcester 
 Polytechnic Institute, a student of Johns 
 Hopkins University, and now principal of 
 the Harris Science School of the Doshisha 
 University; Mr. Tokutomi, founder of the 
 
64 THE ' ' K UMAM OTO BAND." 
 
 poj)ular magazine, " The People's Friend," 
 and " Tlie People's Newspaper," and a man 
 of national reputation ; Mr. Ukita, a profes- 
 sor in the Doshisha, and widely known as a 
 writer ; Mr. Kato, a professor in the Doshi- 
 sha, now in the Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology that he may further prepare for 
 his work ; and Messrs. Ide and Fuwa, pas- 
 tors of important churches. Of the work of 
 these men Kev. Dr. J. D. Davis has truly 
 said : " It has already changed the history 
 of Japan. The coming of these young men 
 at that early day, with their earnest Chris- 
 tian purpose, gave a tone to the school; 
 and their influence was felt in moulding the 
 Doshisha morally, and in shaping its course 
 of study from that time." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 It will readily be imagined that, under 
 the circumstances outliued in the preceding 
 chapters, our early Christian preaching was 
 very simple and informal. It greatly re- 
 sembled that of the first Christian centuries 
 when Christianity was a religio illicitae when 
 Paul "reasoned daily in the school of Ty- 
 rannus," or "in his own hired house received 
 all that came unto him, preaching the king- 
 dom of God, and teaching those things 
 which concern the Lord Jesus Christ." Such 
 preaching was to individuals rather than to 
 large assemblies ; was conversational rather 
 than oratorical. But though informal it was 
 not ineffective. The missionary in his broken 
 Japanese told of the love of God, and how 
 men may approach and serve Him, or ex- 
 plained some passage of Scripture to the 
 few who dared to be seen entering his house. 
 A little later some of those who had become 
 Christians would invite friends and neigh- 
 
66 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 bors to their own houses to see and hear the 
 missionary, much as Matthew the publican 
 gathered his fellow-publicans in his house 
 that they might meet and be taught by his 
 newly-found Teacher. 
 
 The floors of Japanese houses are elevated 
 about two feet from the ground and covered 
 with thick straw mats. On entering the 
 house the wooden clogs, straw sandals, or 
 foreign shoes, as the case may be, are left in 
 the do7na, a sort of vestibule or unfioored 
 space near the door, and all step up on the 
 floor in their stocking (or bare) feet. In 
 this way the floors are kept scrupulously 
 clean. Another result is that many mission- 
 aries have preached more sermons with their 
 shoes off than with them on. As there are 
 no chairs in purely Japanese houses all su- 
 waru ; that is, double their legs under them, 
 and sit on their heels. Tradition has it that 
 the apostle James spent so much of his time 
 in prayer that his knees became callous like 
 a camel's. We in Japan after sitting in 
 this style through long services often feel 
 that we might well claim similar distinction, 
 even if not because of our devoutness. 
 
 Although greater freedom and success led 
 to more public and formal preaching, these 
 
PRIVATE MEETINGS. 67 
 
 small meetings in private houses, where 
 teacher and taught gather in the most so- 
 ciable way, with the hibachi (brasiers with 
 charcoal fires) to warm and the ever present 
 tea-tray to cheer, must long continue to be 
 an important part of evangelistic work. 
 They will ever remain also among the mis- 
 sionary's most cherished memories. 
 
 At a subsequent stage, Japanese houses 
 fronting on some public thoroughfare were 
 rented, and, with slight remodeling, trans- 
 formed into regular kogisho, or public preach- 
 ing-places. At these kogisho the audience 
 usually divided itself into two or three parts. 
 First were the Christians and kyudosha 
 (seekers of the way) who immediately upon 
 entering dropped their foot-gear in the doma 
 and at once ascended to the floor ; secondly, 
 those who had courage enough to enter the 
 door and stand in the doma; and thirdly, 
 those passing along the street with their 
 loins girt for traveling, or, it may be, with 
 packs on their backs, who, attracted by the 
 unusual sight and sound of the preacher, 
 would stop for a while to hear the "red- 
 haired and blue-eyed " foreigner tell of the 
 strange religion believed in beyond the wide 
 seas. These classes greatly varied in their 
 
68 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 proportions on different days. Sometimes 
 the transient hearers so far outnumbered the 
 regular ones that the preacher was con- 
 strained to put aside his specially prepared 
 sermon and give them a general outline of 
 the great features of the religion of Christ. 
 And speaking thus of the Heavenly Father's 
 love in giving his Son for man's redemption 
 and enrichment, — that which had proved the 
 blessing of blessings in his own life, — to his 
 brother men who had never before heard of 
 it and might never hear of it again, he would 
 be a dull preacher who would not find his 
 heart glowing with unusual emotion and his 
 voice speaking with unwonted pathos. 
 
 The renting of these kogisho often proved 
 a difficult and disheartening task. In many 
 places, Kyoto for example, there is an un- 
 written law that no outside party shall be 
 allowed to rent a house in any ward without 
 the unanimous consent of the residents. And 
 so it often came about that negotiations for 
 the renting of a house would go on with per- 
 fect smoothness until the time came for the 
 final ratification of the bargain, when, ac- 
 cording to another law, the renter must state 
 in writing of what religion or sect he was 
 an adherent. Then the trouble began. The 
 
KOGisno. 69 
 
 landlord would usually discover that the 
 house was too small or too large for the 
 renter, or would manufacture some other 
 reason for withdrawing his offer to let it. 
 Or some resident would point out the fu- 
 tsugo (inconvenience) that would arise from 
 such an arrangement, and so after innumer- 
 able consultations and floods of polite and 
 formal talk the would-be tenant would find 
 himself exactly where he started from, only 
 with one more road barred to all progress. 
 Unless a house could be found belonging to 
 a Christian, or to some one of such an inde- 
 pendent mind or in such pecuniary straits 
 as to be ready to defy tradition and the 
 opinions of his neighbors, the case was well- 
 nigh hopeless. 
 
 Ordinary street preaching has never found 
 great favor in Japan. The natural refine- 
 ment and the formal manners of the Japan- 
 ese make them shrink from seeming to put 
 the Christian preacher on a level with the 
 street pedler. 
 
 As the opposition died away and Chris- 
 tianity became more popular larger buildings 
 were needed and secured. 
 
 In many localities the Christians erected 
 more or less commodious church-buildings. 
 
70 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 As the American Board does not aid in the 
 building of churches, and the only outside 
 aid is from individual missionaries and the 
 few European residents who are favorable 
 to Christianity and in sympathy with mis- 
 sions, the self-denial which these buildings 
 cost is often remarkable. Wives have dis- 
 posed of their wedding-dresses, or they have 
 sold other clothing descended from their an- 
 cestors ; and samui^ai have sold their own or 
 their fathers' swords, the dearest of all their 
 earthly possessions. 
 
 A popular form of assembly is the Kiri- 
 suto kyo sehkydkai or enzetsukai, that is, 
 meetings lasting from two to ten or more 
 hours, in which a number of speakers preach 
 sermons or make addresses upon the Chris- 
 tian religion and related subjects. 
 
 These meetings are sometimes held in the 
 churches ; more commonly a theatre or other 
 public hall is used. Japanese theatres, — as 
 the usual name for them, shibai-goya, theatre- 
 barn, indicates, — are, as a rule, especially 
 in the country towns, very rudely built and 
 furnished. Above is the naked roof, which 
 does not always shut out either light or rain. 
 Below, no chairs or benches, but the floor, 
 often of earth, divided up into little squares 
 
THEATRE MEETINGS. 71 
 
 where the members of a family or party can 
 sit together on mats rented for the occasion ; 
 tea, sweetmeats and other edibles, and smok- 
 ing implements being furnished by the at- 
 tendants. The walls are usually of rough 
 mud, and the scenery and other appurte- 
 nances of the most primitive kind. The 
 foot-gear of those who attend is taken at 
 the door, a check being given to the owner. 
 In this way the number of hearers at any 
 meeting can be known with a good degree 
 of accuracy. 
 
 The Japanese government has quite strict 
 regulations in regard to public meetings, 
 being ever watchful lest seditious opinions 
 be promulgated ; and policemen are usually 
 present to keep order and to see that these 
 regulations are enforced. The names of the 
 speakers, their themes, and often synopses 
 of their sermons or addresses have usually to 
 be furnished the local government. Some- 
 times the subject or the matter of an ad- 
 dress is objected to; but it is rare that 
 the speaking is entirely stopped. For the 
 Japanese show much adroitness in evading 
 these regulations, which they regard as out 
 of place at religious meetings. I remem- 
 ber one young man whose address had been 
 
72 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 forbidden, who arose when his time to speak 
 came, and with an air of the greatest frank- 
 ness proceeded to say that he had expected 
 to have the pleasure of addressing the audi- 
 ence upon the subject announced; but the 
 delivery of his address had been prohibited 
 by the local government and he must of 
 course submit. If, however, he had been 
 allowed to speak it was his purpose to dwell 
 upon several important points, the first of 
 which was so and so, the second so and so, 
 the third and fourth so and so; and he went 
 on to the end of the speech that he would 
 have made had his address not been forbid- 
 den by the government ! 
 
 One of the most impressive of these theatre 
 meetings occurred in Kyoto in 1881. It was 
 impressive because of the place, an historic 
 theatre in the old capital of Japan, the 
 centre and stronghold of Buddhism ; because 
 of its size, nearly three thousand hearers, 
 including several hundred priests, being pre- 
 sent; because it was the first public chal- 
 lenge made by the Christians of central 
 Japan to their fellow-countrymen, and espe- 
 cially to the Buddhists ; because of the length 
 of the meeting, the eighteen addresses occu- 
 pying almost all the time from one to ten 
 
THEMES OF SERMONS. 73 
 
 o'clock, P. M. ; because of the number, char- 
 acter, and ability of the speakers, the list 
 including such names as that of Neesima, 
 Miyagawa, Morita, Yokoi, Ukita, Yamasaki, 
 Uyehara, Kanamori, and other Japanese, as 
 well as a number of missionaries ; because of 
 the subjects treated of, which indicate the 
 broad thinking and boldness of utterance 
 which characterize the Christian preachers. 
 It may be worth while to give some of these 
 subjects : " The Nature of God," " Seeing 
 the Invisible God," "The Importance of a 
 Revelation," "The Life of Christ," "The 
 Fruits of Christianity," " The Present Con- 
 dition of Christianity," " Christianity Suita- 
 ble for AU the World," "The Soul," "The 
 Power of Truth," "The Foundation of Civil- 
 ization," "Faith," "Sin," "True Liberty," 
 "Amida Nyorai." This last subject refers 
 to the Buddha worshiped by the most pop- 
 ular sect in Japan, and was perhaps the first 
 attempt by a missionary to discuss publicly 
 the essential faith of many Buddhists. 
 
 To the Christians this meeting brought 
 a great increase of courage. One young 
 man returning to his home exclaimed, " To- 
 day I have seen the great power of God." 
 The enemies of Christianity were equally 
 
74 THE FIRST PRE AC n IN G. 
 
 impressed, but in a different way. One of 
 them sent an anonymous letter to Mr. Miya- 
 gawa, the chairman of the meeting, denoun- 
 cing his lecture on "True Liberty," call- 
 ing him a very wicked man and a stirrer-up 
 of strife, and threatening that he should not 
 reach his home alive. He knew his people 
 too well to laugh at this as an idle threat, but 
 quietly remarking, " I 'm ready, if need be, 
 to be a martyr," he went on with his work. 
 
 The Japanese are wonderfully patient 
 hearers. Think of sitting through eleven 
 sermons lasting four hours, with an evening 
 session of similar length still in prospect! 
 And meetings of almost equal length are 
 asked for, even when there are only three or 
 four speakers. Once in the city of Fukui 
 I was one of several speakers who addressed 
 an audience of nearly fifteen hundred, when 
 some of us were asked for addresses of an 
 hour and a half each. I have again and 
 again attended meetings where second and 
 third sermons were called for, the Japanese 
 audiences apparently becoming most pleas- 
 antly interested at the point where an Amer- 
 ican audience would be impatient for the 
 meeting to close. 
 
 The themes above mentioned indicate 
 
MEETINGS DISTURBED. 75 
 
 what I believe to be a fact, that in preach- 
 ing in Japan we appeal to the intellect, to 
 the reasoning powers of our hearers, more 
 largely than is done in ordinary preaching 
 in the United States. 
 
 Japanese etiquette comes in at these meet- 
 ings. The preacher usually bows to his 
 audience on beginning, and the people bow 
 in return. At the close of the sermon this 
 is repeated, with a much profounder bow 
 from the people. 
 
 It must not however be inferred that the 
 meetings always go on quietly and harmo- 
 niously to the end. Occasionally there are 
 those who bring honest objections to the 
 new and strange doctrines of the Christian 
 preacher. More commonly Buddhist priests 
 or their emissaries are there for the very 
 purpose of making disturbance. At one 
 time there was a persistent effort of this 
 kind to break up the evening meetings at a 
 kogisJio on Matsuwara Street, Kyoto. Pu- 
 pils from Buddhist schools gathered among 
 the standing hearers outside the door, jeered 
 at the speakers, attempted to drown their 
 voices by " Hear, hear ! " " No, no ! " and 
 other cries, and rushed from behind upon 
 the willing hearers in front, not stopping 
 short of stone-throwing. 
 
76 THE FIRST PREACHING. 
 
 Thinking that his presence outside the 
 door might have a restraining influence, the 
 missionary in attendance stationed himself 
 there while the Japanese evangelists were 
 speaking; but a native Christian, not regard- 
 ing the position a safe one, came out and 
 stood by his side. This was the signal for a 
 more violent rush, in which this young man 
 was dragged into the middle of the street 
 and shamefully and severely handled. The 
 missionary had purposed not to leave his 
 vantage-ground by the door, but he could 
 not but go to the rescue of his maltreated 
 defender, in doing which he himself received 
 several kicks and blows, but no serious in- 
 jury. 
 
 In several places the interruptions have 
 been far more serious than this. The stones 
 thrown in the village of Komatsu in Shi- 
 koku have since been built into the founda- 
 tions of the church, and I think the same 
 thing has happened elsewhere. In Takaha- 
 shi, a hahugioai ishi (stone of persecution) 
 of four pounds' weight is kept on exhibition. 
 On several occasions missionaries have been 
 saved from great violence only by the inter- 
 vention of the police. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 JAPANESE PREACHERS. 
 
 The Japanese have not been accustomed 
 to public speaking except in a very re- 
 stricted way. Besides that of the shibai 
 SiJidjorwi (a kind of opera), which was not 
 worthy of the name, there were only the 
 hanashika, and the Shinto and Buddhist 
 priests. These hanashika, as their name in- 
 dicates, are simply public storj^-tellers who 
 amuse and excite their hearers by tales of 
 love and war. They speak the language of 
 the common people, draw largely from the 
 national folklore, and often show a good 
 deal of power in moving their audiences. 
 The Shinto priests go but little beyond the 
 mere recitation of their mythology, and ap- 
 peals, based thereon, to their hearers' patriot- 
 ism; for a religion that, in the language of 
 Prof. Chamberlain, " has no set of dogmas, 
 no sacred book, no moral code," has little 
 call to preach. Buddhism attaches more 
 importance to preaching than does any other 
 
78 JAPANESE PREACHERS. 
 
 non-Christian religion, and in Japan has 
 produced some preachers of considerable 
 ability. However, its priests have long 
 been so lazy and immoral — due in part per- 
 haps to centuries of patronage — that their 
 preaching has had but very little power over 
 the people. Possibly the last decade, dur- 
 ing which they have been spurred to activity 
 and greater attention to morality by the suc- 
 cess of Christianity, ought to be made an 
 exception to the above strong statement.^ 
 
 There were no political speeches, for the 
 reason that politics and political parties 
 were unknown. Education was mainly a 
 matter of teaching the Chinese characters 
 and the Confucian code of morals, — quite 
 exclusively the work of the pedagogue. 
 And, so, as has already been intimated, pub- 
 lic speaking was not among the national 
 traditions, but was to our early Christians 
 an unfamiliar art. It must be conceded, 
 
 1 The editor of the Japan Mail wrote, under date of 
 November 15, 1888, "Until the past few years Buddhism 
 has virtually fallen asleep in Japan. Only to-day is there 
 any evidence of a really earnest attempt to revive it. 
 And to what is that attempt avowedly due ? To contact 
 with militant Christianity. ' Unless we stir ourselves,' 
 the Buddhists say, ' we cannot hope to hold our ground 
 against this energetic, untiring propagandism.' " 
 
INSPIRERS OF CONDUCT. 79 
 
 however, that they took hold of it with a 
 great deal of readiness and tact, and that 
 they have carried it to a high degree of suc- 
 cess. Not a few of them have become in- 
 spirers of conduct, real ethical leaders of 
 their people. The best speakers among the 
 missionaries are put to their mettle to keep 
 pace with them. Of course, the missionary 
 is at a great disadvantage, because he must 
 speak in a language which is not his vernac- 
 ular, and of whose literature he has of ne- 
 cessity but a limited knowledge. But more 
 than one missionary believes that, aside 
 from these disadvantages, the Japanese are 
 naturally better speakers than Americans. 
 Speaking in public comes easier to them. 
 They are bright, impulsive, sympathetic, 
 quick to discern an advantage gained, fertile 
 in illustrations, and skillful in applying 
 them ; qualities which go far to make up 
 the successful speaker. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to give a few 
 examples of this last quality. One of the 
 earliest that I remember was that by which 
 the preacher showed his idol-worshiping 
 countrymen that they are less discerning than 
 chikusho., birds and beasts. For however 
 skillfully a scarecrow may be made, by the 
 
80 JAPANESE PREACHERS. 
 
 second or third day the crows will discern 
 that it has neither life nor power. The de- 
 scription of the crows' process of arriving 
 at this knowledge was given by a few bold 
 but natural strokes, and prepared the way 
 for a startlingly vivid picture of the idola- 
 ter's dullness. It was like Isaiah's " The 
 ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his mas- 
 ter's crib, but Israel doth not know, my 
 people doth not consider." 
 
 I have also heard the absurdity of idolatry 
 shown up by the following well authenticated 
 story. A certain judge — the father of one 
 of our pastors — was appointed to a station 
 in a country town. Having taken a house 
 in the suburbs, he experienced great annoy- 
 ance from the throwing of rubbish by the 
 townspeople on the vacant lot opposite his 
 residence. How he could rid himself of 
 the nuisance was long a perplexing problem. 
 Finally, a bright thought struck him. Se- 
 curing a small stone idol which some boys 
 had found near an old shrine, he one night 
 had it set up upon the vacant lot. The 
 next morning a man from the town came 
 trotting along with two baskets of rubbish 
 suspended from a pole which he carried on 
 his shoulder in the usual way. Just as he 
 
A JUDGE'S RUSE. 81 
 
 was about to dump his load he caught sight 
 of the idol, and, startled by the sudden ap- 
 parition and frightened by the danger of 
 committing an act of sacrilege which he 
 had so narrowly escaped, he jogged on to 
 the next vacant lot with his rubbish, as did 
 others who followed him. Two or three 
 days afterward there was a consultation, 
 and a dozen of the townspeople came with 
 hoes and brooms and cleared the lot of all 
 rubbish ; and not long afterwards other de- 
 vout ones came and erected a roof over 
 the idol and placed a stone basin in front of 
 it. The final stage was reached when the 
 judge saw people bringing their sick and, 
 after worshiping the idol, washing the dis- 
 eased parts with "holy water" from the 
 basin ! 
 
 Another, in describing the idolater's treat- 
 ment of the true God, said, " He is like a 
 child, in the arms of a father standing be- 
 fore a mirror, who turns from his loving 
 father's embrace to the lifeless shadow of 
 the father in the mirror." 
 
 A preacher who was speaking of the fact 
 that the gospel is preached not by angels or 
 other sinless beings, but by men who have 
 known through experience the effects of sin, 
 
82 JAPANESE PREACHERS. 
 
 told how, when he was being vaccinated, he 
 looked up at the face of the physician who 
 was performing the operation, and found it 
 covered with pockmarks. 
 
 Another preacher spoke of the fact that 
 old Japanese armor is too large for the men 
 of the present generation. This proves 
 physical deterioration because of the viola- 
 tion of hygienic laws. On the other hand, 
 the old armor in the Tower of London, being 
 too small for modern Englishmen, proves 
 the reverse. From this, the application to 
 shrunken, deteriorated souls was swift and 
 strong. 
 
 The biographies of Dr. Neesima clearly 
 show what a place in his thought and life 
 John iii. 16 had. I shall always remember 
 the power with which he used it in his 
 first sermon in Central Japan upon his re- 
 turn from America. After a description of 
 the beauty and grandeur of Fujisan, the 
 peerless mountain of Japan, as seen from 
 the deck of the steamer which brought him 
 to Kobe, — a description admirably fitted to 
 appeal to every Japanese heart, showing, as 
 it did, that long residence abroad had not 
 made him insensible to the beauties of his 
 native land, — he introduced this passage as 
 
THE SECRET OF THEIR POWER. 83 
 
 the " Fujisan of the Bible." The author re- 
 calls with pleasure two men, whom he in- 
 vited to that service to hear " the returned 
 Japanese," whose special interest in Christi- 
 anity began with that sermon. Dr. Neesima 
 was not so much of an orator naturally as 
 many others of our preachers were, but his 
 sermons were characterized by a modesty, 
 simplicity, and tenderness which, together 
 with his remarkable history and nobility of 
 life, always gave them great power. 
 
 It would be a great pleasure to give in 
 detail the characteristics of our leading 
 preachers, not only of the older and better- 
 known men, such as Miyagawa, Matsuyama, 
 Ebina, Kozaki, Yokoi, and others, many of 
 whom have already been referred to, but 
 also of the younger men, like Hori, Osada, 
 Abe, Homma, Murata, Harada, and others, 
 who, with perhaps a less striking experience, 
 are not less gifted, not less zealous, not less 
 successful ; but time will not allow of this. 
 
 After all, the secret of the power wielded 
 by these men is not so much in special ora- 
 torical gifts as in the new life and exalted 
 purpose with which the religion of Christ has 
 filled them. The difference in the spirit 
 with which our graduates leave the Doshisha 
 
84 JAPANESE PREACHERS. 
 
 from that which characterizes the average 
 graduate of the government schools has al- 
 ready attracted wide attention and comment. 
 An official of the educational department, 
 not friendly to Christianity, once attended 
 our commencement, with the thought of re- 
 maining through only a small part of the 
 exercises; but he was so attracted and im- 
 pressed by the earnest spirit of the gradu- 
 ates as manifest in their speeches that, as 
 he told the officer in question the next day, 
 he broke an official engagement, and stayed 
 through to the end. It is this earnestness 
 of purpose, this high ideal of life, which has 
 seized upon the attention of their country- 
 men wherever these men have gone, and has 
 made them prophets of God, preachers of 
 righteousness to them. 
 
 Take a recent example. In September, 
 1890, Mr. J. Takenouchi went to Miyadzu, 
 to take up work there which had been be- 
 gun by a student in the preceding summer 
 vacation. This was at the time when the 
 anti-foreign reaction was strong, and the 
 liberal theological movement at its zenith, 
 though neither of these movements was felt 
 so much there as in some other cities. This 
 young man worked so quietly and success- 
 
THEIR TRIUMPHS, 85 
 
 fully that, in April of the following year, 
 twenty-five persons — adults — made a pub- 
 lic confession of Christ, and united in form- 
 ing a church. Among these were four men 
 and their wives. The principal of a large 
 primary school, and the leading teacher in a 
 grammar school, and their wives, were among 
 the converts, although both had been threat- 
 ened with dismissal if they persisted. Not- 
 withstanding the fact that they had families 
 dependent upon them, they did persist, and 
 were thrown out of their positions. Another 
 of those baptized was a woman who had kept 
 a house of ill-repute. She closed this busi- 
 ness and sent away the inmates, at considera- 
 ble pecuniary loss. In the following year 
 twenty others were added to this church, 
 including the husband and the daughters of 
 this woman. A family of eight persons has 
 thus been rescued from this degraded life, 
 and brought into the church of Christ ! In 
 another such house in the same city, two 
 daughters have been impelled to leave their 
 homes by the same preaching. I know a 
 country town in which the proprietors of 
 four similar houses have become Christians, 
 and gone into other employments. Such 
 results are the preacher's greatest triumphs. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 TOURING. 
 
 One important mode of spreading the 
 gospel is evangelistic touring. In planning 
 for this, one needs first to arrange for a 
 passport, without which traveling in the in- 
 terior is impossible. 
 
 Foreigners are allowed by the treaties to 
 reside in narrow grants of land, called " Con- 
 cessions," specially set apart for them in 
 several " open ports," and have the privilege 
 of going inland from any one of these a dis- 
 tance of ten H, or twenty-five miles, without 
 passports. To secure permission to reside 
 elsewhere than on or near these " Foreign 
 Concessions," one must become an employee 
 of the government, or of some private indi- 
 vidual or company. Missionaries are, of 
 course, subject to these regulations, just as 
 other foreigners are, and this will explain 
 the fact, which has puzzled not a few Ameri- 
 can friends, that so many missionaries are 
 concentrated in the ports. To avoid this 
 
NECESSITY OF PASSPORTS. 87 
 
 undesirable concentration, and that they 
 may live in closer association with the peo- 
 ple, many gladly become Japanese employees, 
 agreeing to teach a greater or less number 
 of hours each day, although such a course 
 involves a loss of time for mission work 
 and the study of the language, and brings 
 many other restrictions and inconveniences. 
 For example, the missionary's house, if he 
 build one, must be held in the name of his 
 Japanese employer, as foreigners are not 
 allowed to hold real estate except on the 
 Foreign Concessions. Many would gladly 
 put themselves entirely under Japanese law 
 if permitted to reside in the interior. The 
 government, which rightly feels itself un- 
 justly dealt with by the existing treaties, 
 has been unwilling to grant this permis- 
 sion. Very recently, freedom of residence 
 and travel has been specially granted to Rev. 
 Dr. Verbeck and family. I have no doubt 
 that if it be found to work well in this case, 
 similar favors will be given to others. 
 
 So, too, for traveling in the interior, pass- 
 ports are a necessity, and must be secured 
 from the central government. By a resi- 
 dent at one of the ports, they are applied 
 for through his consul ; by one in Japanese 
 employ, through his employer. 
 
88 TOURING. 
 
 A very uncomfortable thing about these 
 passports is that they are granted only " for 
 health or scientific purposes." Because of 
 this fact, some missionaries are unwilling to 
 use them for evangelistic touring, and so 
 confine themselves to the vicinity of the 
 open ports. Others hold "for health or 
 scientific purposes " to be a technical phrase 
 whose real object is to prevent trade in the 
 interior. The ready granting of these pass- 
 ports to " globe-trotters," circus companies, 
 and so on, gives color to this view. It is 
 said that high officials have given this inter- 
 pretation, that the touring is done openly 
 and aboveboard, often with protection from 
 the government, — in some cases, known to 
 have been directed from the capital. The 
 writer once heard a very influential cabinet 
 minister say that he was glad to see the 
 spread of Christianity ; and it was said at 
 the same interview that the government did 
 not object to such use of these passports. 
 The government has, however, been vacillat- 
 ing in its interpretations ; and although, in 
 recent years, some missionaries have received 
 passports to do evangelistic work as em- 
 ployees of a church, all will heartily welcome 
 the revision of the treaties, or any other 
 
JINRIKISHA TRAVEL. 89 
 
 event which will bring relief from this un- 
 comfortable question. 
 
 In traveling in Japan we can on the 
 one hand make use of railway cars and 
 steamboats, and on the other we are, for 
 lack of roads, sometimes obliged to walk 
 long distances ; but our main reliance is the 
 jinrikisha, a vehicle of very recent origin, 
 but now of universal use. For convenience, 
 if not for comfort, it is unsurpassed. One 
 drawn by a single man can be hired for 
 from five to eight cents an hour when shop- 
 ping or visiting in the city, or for about 
 three cents a mile on the road. In ascend- 
 ing long hills a merciful traveler will either 
 walk a part of the way, or employ a sahi- 
 hiki^ a second man, to run tandem. . In a 
 hurried journey over rough roads, or in wet 
 weather, two men are often used. 
 
 " How far can one of these men go in a 
 day ? " is a question often asked. The fol- 
 lowing incident is an answer to that ques- 
 tion. Not long ago a lady living in Kyoto, 
 wishing to join her husband who was tour- 
 ing in the provinces of Tamba and Tango, 
 went to a neighboring stand and engaged a 
 jinrikisha to take her and her ten-year-old 
 daughter on the following day to Fukuchi- 
 
90 TOURING. 
 
 yama, twenty-three W (fifty -seven miles) 
 away. Her thought was, that the man, after 
 running ten or fifteen miles, would sell out 
 his bargain to a new man, this process to 
 be repeated several times later on. This is 
 a very common practice. For some reason, 
 however, perhaps as a mere trial of endur- 
 ance, this young fellow wished to go the 
 whole distance. He did this with his two 
 passengers, getting help only up two or 
 three long hills, in about twelve hours. 
 
 Life in Japanese hotels is another feature 
 of touring. These differ not a little from 
 American hotels. In entering and leaving 
 the best room, which is always in the rear 
 of the house, one usually passes through the 
 kitchen, and can see the food in various 
 stages of preparation; and landlord and 
 landlady, cook and waitresses, assemble in 
 the passage to bow him in and out, and with 
 shouts of hayo oide nasatta, " You have 
 come with august earliness," or Dozo o hayo 
 o kaeri nasaimase, "Please return with 
 honorable earliness," they "welcome the 
 coming and speed the parting guest." 
 
 The bathroom, also, he passes by the 
 way ; and if the tired traveler wisely decides 
 to try a Japanese bath, he will sometimes be 
 
HOTELS. 91 
 
 fortunate enough to find himself protected 
 from the common gaze by glass windows or 
 mosquito-netting doors. 
 
 In ordinary hotels, one does not find ta- 
 bles, chairs, knives, forks, spoons, bread, 
 butter, coffee, or milk, and yet he can find 
 a good deal of comfort in them if he knows 
 how to look for it. Some tourists take a full 
 supply of food ; others take bread and but- 
 ter and canned meats, etc., to supplement 
 the food furnished by the hotels ; a very 
 few can enjoy and thrive on Japanese food 
 alone. The food furnished by good hotels 
 near the coast, where fish are plentiful, is, 
 to the experienced palate, both relishable 
 and nourishing, though the best of us miss 
 our cup of coffee for breakfast. The prices 
 are not exorbitant, as the following list, 
 copied from a notice (in Japanese) in a 
 hotel in which I stopped shortly before leav- 
 ing Japan, will show : 
 
 1st class. 2d class. 3d class. 
 
 Supper, lodging, and 
 
 breakfast ... 25 sen. 20 sen. 15 sen. 
 Dinner 15 " 10 " 8 " 
 
 In addition to this, one must pay for food 
 specially ordered, and there always is, when 
 taking more than a single meal, the chadai 
 
92 " TOURING. 
 
 (literally, tea-price), — a tip, not to the ser- 
 vants, but to the landlord, for serving tea, 
 sweetmeats, etc., in addition to the meals. 
 For a cup of tea, when stopping for a rest by 
 the wayside, one or two sen is sufficient; at 
 a hotel it ranges from ten sen (cents) up- 
 wards, according to the size of the party and 
 the length of time spent. The Japanese al- 
 ways pay tliis ; and the missionary or other 
 foreigner who neglects or refuses it, on the 
 ground that he has " paid his bill," violates 
 one of the Japanese proprieties, and so, un- 
 consciously but grievously, offends where he 
 was specially desirous of pleasing, — another 
 illustration of the importance of knowing the 
 manners and customs of the people. One 
 great objection to Japanese hotels is their 
 lack of retirement and quiet. An occasional 
 one will have a best room, separated from the 
 rest of the house ; but usually thin paper 
 doors alone separate your room from two or 
 three others. Sometimes your nearest neigh- 
 bor will be a man who, unable to sleep, spends 
 a great part of the night in reading aloud 
 from some Japanese or Chinese book. Or 
 there may be a party who call in geisha (low 
 women who sing, play, and dance) and make 
 night hideous with their revelry. 
 
CALLERS. 93 
 
 When the coming of a missionary is ex- 
 pected, the Christians usually engage, in 
 advance, the best and quietest hotel, and 
 are there to meet him on his arrival. Fre- 
 quently they have one or more of their num- 
 ber remain with him all the time, seeing 
 that his food is properly prepared and 
 brought on, often serving it themselves. 
 These assist the waiters in preparing his 
 bed for the night, and in removing it in the 
 morning, and in a thousand ways show their 
 unbounded kindness of heart. Especially 
 in the early days of work in a town or city, 
 there are sure to be callers, inquirers about 
 Christian truth and European ways, until 
 late at night, and then they or others are 
 back before our tourist is up in the morn- 
 ing. This is what makes touring so wear- 
 ing. Should the missionary be in company 
 with a Japanese pastor, he may be relieved 
 partly or wholly of this work. The writer 
 recalls evenings spent in hotels with Dr. 
 Neesima when he would go to sleep about 
 midnight, leaving that good brother patiently 
 answering the inquiries of some caller, to 
 be awakened at four o'clock the next morn- 
 ing by the sound of a similar conversation 
 going on between him and some one else. 
 
94 TOURING. 
 
 There is no doubt that his death was has- 
 tened by inconsiderate demands upon his 
 strength, and especially by his being thus 
 robbed of sleep. 
 
 Occasionally we are invited to the house 
 of a pastor or other Christian. To one un- 
 accustomed to Japanese food, such experi- 
 ences are sometimes trying, because of the 
 difficulty of avoiding offense, either to one's 
 palate or to the sensibilities of the kind 
 host and hostess. It has given us a grain of 
 comfort to know that, when the tables were 
 turned and they became our guests, they 
 sometimes experienced a similar difficulty 
 with our cuisine^ though in this, as in other 
 things, they are quicker to learn than we. 
 
 But these occasions are, as a rule, remem- 
 bered with joy. I recall with special plea- 
 sure one such, where I spent two nights, 
 and the included day, in a country house. 
 The host was a landholder of considerable 
 means, a physician and druggist, a salce 
 brewer, the head man of his village and dis- 
 trict, and the representative of his county in 
 the prefectural legislature. His wife, his 
 mother, his two adopted sons now away at 
 medical schools, and other relatives, were 
 Christians, and himself a constant and 
 
EOSPITALITT. 95 
 
 friendly student of Cliristianity. He had 
 not progressed farther, because he could not 
 make up his mind to stop brewing sake. 
 
 The oku-zashiki (back parlor) was made 
 our sitting- and dining-room, and my sleep- 
 ing-room, as the evangelist who accompa- 
 nied me, and who sat and ate with me, 
 slept in an adjoining* apartment. Every- 
 thing about us was apparently new, and 
 scrupulously neat and clean. As usual, 
 there was nothing in the room except a sin- 
 gle picture hanging on the wall, and a rug, 
 with two hihachi filled with glowing coals 
 upon it, covering the straw-matted floor. 
 On entering, the wife, who had just brought 
 the hibachi, came again with the chadogu, 
 the hot water, the tray, the tiny teapot, the 
 canister, cups, and other articles necessary for 
 tea-making. The husband made the tea, first 
 cooling the water below the boiling-point, 
 so as not to take too much of the strength 
 at the first drawing, then poured it into the 
 tiny cups, which the wife passed to the 
 guests. At mealtime, much the same pro- 
 cess was gone through. No servant ap- 
 peared, though several were in the house, 
 but host and hostess served the excellent 
 food, — fish, rice, lily bulbs, boiled chestnuts, 
 
96 TOURING. 
 
 turnips, etc., etc., — with their own hands. 
 The second day a chicken, dressed and cut 
 up into bits of one or two ounces in weight, 
 was brought in. This was cooked, then and 
 there, over the hihachi^ boiled in a shal- 
 low vessel, with sugar and slioyu. This 
 shoi/u is prepared bj fermenting wheat and 
 beans, and is said to be the principal ingre- 
 dient in the well-known " Worcestershire 
 Sauce." It is used with almost every ar- 
 ticle of diet in Japan. My fellow-traveler, 
 a beloved evangelist, acted as cook, and the 
 result proved the skill which I had often 
 tested elsewhere. Of course, we were all on 
 our knees on the matted floor, and knives, 
 forks, and spoons did not appear in con- 
 nection with the very enjoyable repast. 
 
 As bedtime approaches, there is the usual 
 announcement that " the bath is ready," 
 and the guest, as a matter of course, has the 
 offer of entering first. Where there are a 
 number of guests, each will in politeness 
 urge the claims of others to precedence, much 
 as, in a slow mule race, each rider of his 
 neighbor's mule will goad him onward so as 
 to secure the last place for his own mule. 
 The great heat of the water used in these 
 baths, and the fact that the same water 
 
EVENING MEETINGS. 97 
 
 serves for a series — be it longer or shorter 
 — of bathers, are facts too well known to 
 need repetition here. 
 
 Such occasions as this are not only highly- 
 enjoyable ; they are invaluable as a means 
 of drawing close together. They are sure 
 to lead to a frank discussion of national 
 peculiarities, elements of strength and weak- 
 ness, with the need and methods of reform, 
 both in America and Japan ; they also 
 tempt to a mutual relation of personal ex- 
 periences, and so lead on to earnest words 
 from the depths of hearts light and warm 
 with Christian love to those who acknow- 
 ledge and regret that they are still walking 
 in darkness. 
 
 The first evening we walked out about 
 two miles to a village, where a meeting was 
 held in the house of a school-teacher, whose 
 face reflected the new light and joy that had 
 recently come into his heart. Between fifty 
 and sixty persons filled his zashiki and lis- 
 tened to the two sermons. Of course, there 
 was tea -drinking all round, and talk of 
 various kinds, which delayed our return till 
 midnight. The second evening we went 
 about an equal distance in a different direc- 
 tion, where, despite the pouring rain, more 
 
98 TOURING. 
 
 than a hundred were gathered in a rude 
 schoolhouse to listen to the strange-looking 
 foreigner's attemj^ts to talk Japanese. 
 
 And so the tourist goes on his way. 
 Sometimes his best work is in a family like 
 that just referred to, talking with them of 
 life and its problems, explaining the Scrip- 
 tures as they are read by the different mem- 
 bers of the family in turn, and praying for 
 them and with them for the Great Father's 
 blessing. Sometimes — and I am now think- 
 ing of one special trip — it is reading and 
 praying with a few women in a farmhouse ; 
 a dozen friends and relatives gathered in a 
 shopkeeper's best room ; a Sunday with a 
 laborious evangelist, where baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper are, in a city of twenty thou- 
 sand, administered for the first time ; a meet- 
 ing of a hundred and more in a rifle-club 
 room in a town where we are entertained by 
 a Christian tax-gatherer ; baptisms and com- 
 munion in a country village, and an evening 
 meeting in a theatre, where twelve hundred 
 people, almost every one of whom hear for 
 the first time, crowd even the stage, until there 
 is barely standing-room for the preachers ; a 
 meeting in the best hotel of a city, where three 
 hundred of the most enlightened people of 
 
VARIED EXPERIENCES. 99 
 
 the place are admitted by ticket; dinner 
 with the public prosecutor of a large dis- 
 trict, whose wife, son, and two daughters are 
 members of the church ; the first public 
 meeting held by Protestants in a city of ten 
 thousand, where a small theatre full of 
 hearers listen for two hours and a half with 
 an interest which is fairly painful, and where 
 the seven scattered Christians, most of them 
 hitherto unknown to each other, unite them- 
 selves by a covenant to forsake not the as- 
 sembling of themselves together, — a cove- 
 nant which has since borne good fruit. And 
 then on through other Christian communi- 
 ties, where, with some things to discourage, 
 there is much to give hope, the tourist and 
 his associate go, thanking God constantly 
 that they have been counted worthy to be 
 put in trust with such a glorious gospel. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 One of the missionary's greatest privileges 
 is that of witnessing the divine way in which 
 the gospel attracts men. By this I do not 
 mean that people are always ready to re- 
 ceive and obey the truth when presented in 
 purity and simplicity. As a matter of fact, 
 the multitudes are not thirsting: for the 
 gospel. This is implied in the blessing pro- 
 nounced by our Lord upon the limited num- 
 ber who are hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness. It is clearly shown by the 
 fact that He who was the embodiment of 
 grace and truth had but a handful of disci- 
 ples at his death. No ; man, who was made 
 for Truth and God, is too often indifferent 
 to both. It remains true, however, that God 
 is not wholly forgotten. Man is everywhere 
 a religious being, and Christianity again and 
 again shows its divine power by sounding 
 depths of the human heart unreached by 
 other religions, and by satisfying wants 
 
POWER OF A SERENE FACE. 101 
 
 which other religions have served mainly to 
 intensify. The young church of Japan fur- 
 nishes many illustrations of this truth. 
 
 An influential man in a central province, 
 a member of the prefectural legislature, was 
 so overwhelmed by business and family trou- 
 bles that he determined upon suicide. With 
 this in mind, he left his home and took 
 passage on a small coasting steamer. One 
 of our missionary ladies, who, with a Japa- 
 nese associate, was on an evangelistic tour, 
 happened to be a passenger on the same 
 steamer. When this man, who was deter- 
 mined on putting an end to his own life as 
 the only way of avoiding trouble, looked upon 
 the lady's serene face, he said to himseK : 
 " Peace is attainable even in this world of 
 trouble, for her face shows that she is the 
 possessor of it." He opened conversation, 
 first, with the Japanese associate, and then 
 with the lady herself, and as a result he 
 became an inquirer, later a convert, and then 
 an evangelist. He is now in the Doshisha 
 theological school at Kyoto, well on in his 
 preparation for the ministry, a living monu- 
 ment to the unconscious influence of charac- 
 ter as revealed in the human face. 
 
 Here is another instance, different from the 
 
102 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 foregoing, but no less impressive, — worthy, 
 I think, of narrating at some length : In 
 1854, in the village of Amino in the province 
 of Tango, a death occurred in a wealthy and 
 prominent family. Not much was thought 
 of it, since people must die, and the loss was 
 banished from the minds of friends by the 
 usual empty Buddhist ceremony and plenty 
 of sake-drinking. You may know that the 
 Japanese have hitherto divided the years 
 into cycles of twelve, each one called after 
 an animal. Rat, Bull, Tiger, Hare, and so on ; 
 and it was written over this one's grave that 
 he had died in Tiger year. Well, nothing 
 more was thought of it until the Tiger year 
 came around again, and then the husband 
 and father sickened and died. Superstitious 
 as the Japanese are, they could not fail to be 
 deeply impressed by this second death ; and, 
 though the loss was gotten over in the same 
 way as before, two tombstones belonging to 
 one famil}^ with the Tiger year inscribed on 
 both, were enough to make that year looked 
 on as a fated one in that household. No- 
 thing further of interest occurred during 
 that cycle. The widow, a woman of energy 
 and directing power, carried on the family 
 business of making silk crepe, which has 
 
" WHOSE TURN TO DIE?" 103 
 
 made that village and district famous, and 
 prosperity followed her plans until the 
 dreaded and fatal Tiger year again came 
 along with January, 1878. At New Year's, 
 all through Japan, business is suspended, and 
 the people give themselves over to unre- 
 strained merry-making and indulgence. But 
 among the outwardly merry there are always 
 some with heavy hearts, concealing a sorrow 
 or dread, and, by concealing it, trying to 
 deceive themselves into believing that it is 
 gone forever. 
 
 This family also had the sake to treat 
 their friends and callers at this New Year's 
 festival, but within the three days set apart 
 for its observance they met to talk together 
 about the dread that they could not shake 
 off. " Whose turn is it to die this year ? " 
 was the question opened. The upshot of 
 the long consultation was this : the old lady, 
 with the hopeless resignation that Buddhism 
 often gives its followers, volunteered to con- 
 secrate herself to death, that the younger 
 ones of the family might live on, as was 
 fitting. 
 
 When this was agreed to, though no doubt 
 with earnest protestations of horror from all 
 the rest, she determined to make a pilgrim- 
 
104 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 age to the centre of idolatry, the province 
 of Ise, visiting celebrated temples by the 
 way, and scattering generous gifts to the 
 gods and buddhas, that thereby, with a pure 
 heart, she might meet her fate. Attended 
 by a servant, she journeyed as far as the city 
 of Osaka, where she stopped about three 
 months in the house of a brother-in-law. 
 This old man and his wife had recently 
 become Christians, and the very first night 
 she heard from them her first word of the 
 new religion. The second night she heard 
 with amazement a further narration of their 
 new-found peace and joy ; that they had 
 torn down their idol-shelves, and discarded 
 the old religions ; that they dared openly to 
 profess a way that all Japanese had been 
 taught to dread ; and that they seemed to be 
 full of delight in their new religion. These 
 things led the old lady to say on the third 
 day : " The weather is raw and the roads are 
 bad. If the servant wishes to continue the 
 pilgrimage on to Ise, all right ; I wiU stay 
 tiU his return and learn this way." 
 
 She heard for a week, and gave a doUar 
 to the church ; two weeks, and she must buy 
 portions of the New Testament (the whole 
 was not yet translated) and other religious 
 
A CHAPEL BUILT. 105 
 
 books to take back home as presents ; an- 
 other week, and she gave another dollar to 
 the church, and one to the girls' school. 
 Later still, she went back to her home, taking 
 ^vith her her Christian relatives, that they 
 might aid her in meeting the objections the 
 family and friends were sure to raise. 
 
 Thus far in her history I have followed 
 pretty closely a letter written at the time by 
 the graphic pen of my colleague and friend, 
 Rev. Dr. De Forest. A year later the old 
 lady went back again to Osaka with so much 
 of the spirit of Christ in her heart and life 
 that she was baptized and received into the 
 church, returning almost immediately to her 
 distant home again. Here she has lived, 
 more than a hundred miles away from her 
 church, and almost as far from the nearest 
 Christian, making one or two visits to Osaka 
 during the twelve years that have elapsed, 
 and receiving visits from other believers only 
 at great intervals. 
 
 Four or five years ago, when she was still 
 the only Christian in the place, she built 
 with her own funds a small chapel and 
 parsonage combined, a two-storied building, 
 eighteen by thirty-five feet in size. The 
 family estate and business had been trans- 
 
106 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 ferred to a son ; she, by an unusual arrange- 
 ment, receiving a special allowance. She has 
 long been anxious for an evangelist to be 
 located there. At the beginning of 1891, 
 a man was secured, and she herself gladly 
 pays more than one third of his salary. But 
 she does more than this. Althouo-h over 
 seventy years of age, she goes around from 
 house to house, — as the evangelist has told 
 me, — inviting her friends and neighbors to 
 the meetings. 
 
 In April last, it was my privilege to visit 
 this village, accompanied by the two evange- 
 lists referred to in the preface. As we came 
 in sight, we saw a little company walking 
 toward us. It proved to be the old lady, 
 her granddaughter who had recently become 
 a Christian, and a few others, come out to 
 welcome us. Of an unusually tall and com- 
 manding figure for a Japanese lady, and 
 handsomely dressed although in her widow's 
 weeds, she would have attracted attention 
 anywhere ; and as she stood there leaning 
 on her staff, with joy beaming from her coun- 
 tenance, she seemed patriarchal indeed, — a 
 very "mother in Israel." After many mu- 
 tual salutations, she conducted us to the 
 chapel, made the upstairs or parsonage part 
 
A FAITHFUL SON. 107 
 
 of it our lodging-place, and during our stay 
 had excellent meals sent us from an adjoin- 
 ing hotel. That afternoon we held a preach- 
 ing-service in the chapel, administered bap- 
 tism to five persons, and then united in the 
 Lord's Supper, which proved a rich feast to 
 us all, — but especially to her, who like 
 Simeon had been waiting long to see in that 
 village the salvation of God. 
 
 At night we had a crowded theatre meet- 
 ing, over one thousand hearers being present. 
 When we started away next morning, she 
 and the other Christians accompanied us 
 beyond the limits of the village, where, after 
 uniting in prayer as we stood in the street, 
 we bade each other — I am not ashamed to 
 write it — a tearful farewell. 
 
 There recently died in Wakayama, in 
 great peace of mind, another old lady whose 
 spiritual history was unusual. Her son went 
 to America fifteen years ago, and had been 
 there but a few years when he became a 
 Christian. At once his heart was moved 
 toward the conversion of his mother in 
 Japan, who was an intense Buddhist. As 
 his business would not permit his immediate 
 return, he wrote her about his conversion 
 and sent her a Bible. This he followed up 
 
108 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 with a number of letters explaining the way 
 of salvation, and several tracts. One day, 
 about three years after his own conversion, 
 his heart was gladdened by the receipt of a 
 letter from his mother announcing that she 
 had forsaken her idols and had accepted 
 Christ as her Saviour, and desired to be 
 baptized. But what was the son to do, for 
 there was not a Christian in all her city of 
 fifty thousand people ? After prayer for 
 guidance he sent a letter to Rev. Dr. Hail, 
 of the Cumberland Presbyterian Mission, 
 saying that he thought his mother had be- 
 come a Christian, and askins: him to 2:0 to 
 her home in Wakayama and examine her, 
 and, if she was found ready, to baptize her. 
 The letter came while Dr. Hail was on a 
 missionary tour, and was sent to him by his 
 wife, reaching him in the very town where 
 the subject of its contents resided. Losing 
 no time, he went to her house, and to his 
 surprise found her so well prepared for bap- 
 tism that then and there, at a late hour of the 
 night, in the heart of a heathen city, he bap- 
 tized her and received her into the church. 
 After this she desired the communion, and 
 using a piece of cracker, the only remains 
 of his lunch, and some native wine that she 
 
A CURIOUS LETTER. 109 
 
 had in the house, they celebrated the suffer- 
 ings and death of her new-found Saviour. 
 The reception of this lady into the church 
 was the beginnino^ of a srreat work in Waka- 
 yama, a place where the Cumberland Presby- 
 terian Mission had long tried to secure a 
 footing, but in vain. She was the first mem- 
 ber of a church which now numbers more 
 than one hundred, and she was one of the 
 most active and useful of them all. Her 
 son on returning to Japan became a minis- 
 ter of the gospel, and is still doing excellent 
 work. 
 
 Here is a letter, with both its amusing and 
 touching characteristics, which shows how 
 one young girl came under Christian influ- 
 ences. It was written by a man who had 
 felt so much pity for his friend's daughter, 
 who was constantly abused by her stepmo- 
 ther, that he had taken her to his own home. 
 The letter, which is given as nearly verbatim 
 et literatim as intelligibility will allow, was 
 brought by the young girl to the lady mis- 
 sionary whose Sunday-school class she en- 
 tered. It is full of tJapanese idioms: — 
 
 Instead of my mouth (or conversation). 
 My dear Sir, — I wish to tell you next speech. 
 I am simple people (in Japanese) . I know very 
 
110 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 little English. I don't know English grammar. 
 I don't know European habit. I don't know 
 light [right] conversation. I cannot spell light 
 letter. But now I take not care of my shame- 
 full, and dare give strange curious letter. Here 
 I nmst tell you about some matter. 
 
 This matter is my poor, poor girl. She is my 
 dear friend's girl. She have a very Unhappy 
 for Her mother are not true mother, (Because 
 her mother do not born she) so that she receive 
 always very battery, and very bad managed from 
 mother. So that she became a foolish fellow 
 and have sorrowful feel, so that she often content 
 to Own Death. Then I could not bare so that 
 I take unto my home by his father's beg, and I 
 educate with all my heart. But one day I find 
 her heart became very bad by her ignorant foolish 
 mother's bad education. O, O, I am very sorry. 
 
 When one day I think Christianity is all good 
 heart and good conduct. If my poor girl become 
 a Christianity she will change [to] a good, holy 
 heart. If she heard holy speech and look holy 
 missionary. If she place own body in holy 
 church. So that I beg you that if you please 
 educate to Christianity. Ah, my good teacher 
 give she true life for her poor spirit. Let she 
 make a true sheep of God. 
 
 Your Savant K. Yamanaka. 
 
 It is a surprising fact that in opening a 
 work the first converts are almost never 
 
A SAD FALL. Ill 
 
 natives of the place. They are sure to be 
 school-teachers, officials, and others who have 
 come from another city and are only so- 
 journers there. The explanation of this is 
 that in becoming Christians, natives have to 
 go against their family, friends, and their 
 old associates, and the difficulty of embra- 
 cing the new faith is not only greater, but 
 the danger of falling away again is immense. 
 A sad example of inability to withstand 
 these unfavorable influences may be given : 
 A man who had been a libertine was, after 
 some reluctance, received into the church by 
 a Japanese pastor. The next day after bap- 
 tism he visited a city where he had previ- 
 ously lived in dissipation. One of his former 
 female associates invited him to her house, 
 but he refused, saying that he had just 
 become a Christian. She followed him as 
 he went away ; old associations were too 
 strong for him and he fell. Filled with re- 
 morse he hastened to commit suicide ; and 
 she, touched apparently by the same feeling, 
 voluntarily died with him. 
 
 A scholarly Japanese was employed to 
 write the I^unten (marks which indicate the 
 order in which the characters must be read) 
 into a Chinese Bible, for the purpose of mak- 
 
112 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 ing it intelligible to a wider circle of Japa- 
 nese readers. His own eyes were thereby 
 opened to see beyond the letter, and he was 
 so impressed by the beanty of Christ's char- 
 acter that he became a Christian, and has for 
 many years been a preacher of the gospel. 
 
 A traveler returning from a journey pre- 
 sents to a friend a copy of the Scriptures 
 which had been given him, and which he 
 evidently regards as of little value. The 
 friend reads it, but there is mu3h that he 
 cannot understand. Finally, for the sake of 
 finding an interpreter, he removes with his 
 family to Tokyo. That was fifteen years 
 ago ; and for many years he also has been 
 a o-ood minister of Jesus Christ. 
 
 "A man in great distress, ruined in business 
 and anxious over the illness of three children, 
 accidentally picked up a secular newspaper 
 with this quotation in one of its editorials : 
 ' Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow ; 
 for the morrow shall take thought for the 
 things of itself.' Deeply impressed by the 
 thought of the quotation, he inquired for the 
 book that contained it, learned that it was 
 found in the Bible, and to him also a New 
 Testament, bought in a second-hand book- 
 store, proved a field with a hidden treasure." 
 
GOOD SEED. 113 
 
 " Another, with a heart full of resentment, 
 is on his way to injure one whom he re- 
 gards as having done him a great wrong. 
 He stops at the house of a Christian friend. 
 As they part, the friend, knowing nothing of 
 the object of his journey, gives him a Bible. 
 Not long after the man opens the book, and 
 his eye falls on the words, ' Judge not, that 
 ye be not judged.' His conscience is trou- 
 bled ; he gives up his purpose of revenge ; 
 he continues to read, and in due time ac- 
 cepts Christ as his Master." 
 
 An old man of seventy, who lived in the 
 province of Goshu, hearing of the preaching 
 of Christianity in Kyoto, visited that city 
 for the purpose of learning about it. Fail- 
 ing to find any one in Kyoto who could 
 teach him, he went on to Kobe, where he 
 met a Roman Catholic priest, and received 
 from him some books. Disappointed in 
 these, he at a later date received a Bible 
 and some Protestant tracts, took them home, 
 and spent several years in the unaided study 
 of them. In 1882 he came to Kyoto to 
 see Mr. Neesima, and, hearing that there 
 were to be baptisms on the following day, 
 he earnestly asked the rite for himself. I 
 had the privilege of sitting with the church 
 
114 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 committee appointed for his examination, 
 and we began it with the thought that he 
 would better defer entering the church a 
 while longer. But after a conference of an 
 hour, it w^as the unanimous opinion of the 
 committee that he should be baptized at 
 once. We found that he had written three 
 small volumes of Chinese poetry (which 
 Japanese scholars are very fond of) upon 
 Christianity. Some of these poems were 
 said to show very deep spiritual insight. 
 He had had prayer and Scripture reading 
 in his family, and had made it known in the 
 community that he was a Christian. In his 
 examination he said, among other things : 
 " Many object to Christianity because of 
 the cross ; but to my mind the cross is the 
 distinctive glory of the religion of Christ." 
 With one other instance of remarkable guid- 
 ing toward the light, I will close this chap- 
 ter. 
 
 In 1854, before treaties with foreign na- 
 tions had been made, an English fleet sud- 
 denly appeared in Nagasaki harbor. This 
 filled tlie government with consternation, and 
 an army was collected to watch the fleet, and 
 prevent intercourse with the people. The 
 commander of this army, Wakasa-no-kami, 
 
BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 115 
 
 in one of his trips about the harbor, found in 
 the water a small New Testament, though he 
 of course did not know what it was. Curios- 
 ity impelled him to diligent inquiry, and he 
 finally learned from a Dutch interpreter 
 that it was a good book, and told of God 
 and Christ. He learned further that he 
 could get a Chinese translation of it by 
 sending to Shanghai, and this he did at 
 once. He was, however, soon ordered back 
 to his native province of Saga, but he kept 
 up his study of the Bible, and induced four 
 others to join him. Eight years afterward 
 one of these became, for a short time, a pu- 
 pil of Dr. Verbeck at Nagasaki, and Wa- 
 kasa also put himself under his instruction. 
 But as he was prevented by feudal restric- 
 tions from going there himself, he would 
 send one of his retainers on the two days' 
 journey to Nagasaki, to get explanations of 
 such passages as he had not been able to 
 understand. This unique Bible-class was 
 kept up in this way for nearly three years. 
 In 1866 Wakasa and his brother secured 
 permission to visit Nagasaki, and were bap- 
 tized on the day of Pentecost. At that 
 time he told of the Testament found in the 
 water twelve years before. 
 
116 COMING TO THE LIGHT. 
 
 In 1880, fourteen years later still, the 
 daughter and a female servant of the family- 
 went to Nagasaki and were baptized, and they 
 at that time reported the triumphant death 
 of Wakasa in 1872. This daughter and her 
 husband are now active members of a Pres- 
 byterian church in Tokyo. The servant's 
 zealous service for her spiritual Master has 
 resulted in the organization of a church in 
 Saga. A granddaughter of Wakasa has 
 become a Christian, and, in 1890, a grand- 
 son entered the Doshisha College, bringing 
 with him, and presenting to the school, a 
 large English Bible which had been given 
 to his grandfather thirty years before, but 
 which they had been obliged to conceal for 
 years, to avoid persecution. We thus see 
 in this family a living comment upon the 
 Psalmist's declaration that " the righteous- 
 ness of the Lord is unto children's chil- 
 dren.'' 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 This is the divine test for all things, — 
 a test ordained not only by the words of 
 our Lord, but also by the reason divinely 
 implanted in every soul of man. That 
 grapes do not grow upon thorn-bushes, that 
 fruits declare the nature of the trees that 
 bore them, is recognized by every sane 
 mind. Nor does the presence of tares 
 among the wheat disprove the existence of 
 true wheat, or deny that it grows only from 
 good seed-wheat. What has been true of 
 Christianity everywhere, and in all ages, is 
 markedly true of its history in Japan ; the 
 divine characteristics of the fruit prove the 
 divine nature of the tree. 
 
 Christianity has already given the people 
 at large the impression that its fruits are 
 unusual. There was a curious illustration 
 of this in Tsuyama, in the province of Mi- 
 masaka, two or three years ago. A theft had 
 been committed in a neighboring city, and 
 
118 BY THEIR FEU ITS. 
 
 late at night word was sent to the police of 
 Tsuyama that the thief had in all proba- 
 bility gone there, and directing them to make 
 an immediate examination of the guests in all 
 the hotels. At one hotel an officer, with the 
 landlord for a guide, was going the rounds 
 of the sleeping-rooms. " Who are in here ? " 
 he asked, stopping before one large bed- 
 room. "This room is occupied by a num- 
 ber of Christian young men from surround- 
 ing towns, who have come here as delegates 
 to the dedication of a church and the ordina- 
 tion of a pastor," said the landlord. " Oh, 
 well, let 's pass on to the other rooms ; 
 there 's no hope of finding a thief here," 
 was the policeman's rejoinder, and so our 
 Christian friends continued to sleep the 
 sleep of the just. In another room they 
 found a young man who had come in late, 
 and was occupying a room alone. This 
 promised more, and so they woke him up, 
 and began searching his luggage for stolen 
 goods. Pretty soon a Japanese New Testa- 
 ment rolled out on the floor, and the police- 
 man, with an air of disappointment and 
 disgust, went on to pastures new in his 
 thief-searching. 
 
 As is well known, other foreign residents 
 
CAUSES OF CRITICISM. 119 
 
 on missionary ground are often unfriendly 
 critics of missionaries and their work. 
 There are various reasons for this. One is 
 a contempt for the natives, and a disbelief 
 in the possibility of their becoming honest 
 and trustworthy. Another is a too common 
 disbelief in the good results of Christianity 
 anywhere. A third is their lack of know- 
 ledge of the missionary's work and its re- 
 sults. Because they do not see, or care to 
 see, the missionary's work, they conclude 
 that he has none. Underlying most of 
 these reasons, in the early days especially, 
 was the fact that not a few had " taken 
 wives of the children of the land," and, by 
 open violation of the seventh and other 
 commandments, must either stand con- 
 demned themselv^es, or unite in condemning 
 Christianity and its teachers. 
 
 In Japan, however, there are many who 
 recognize the value of the work missionaries 
 are doing, and who are ready to testify to 
 the zeal and success of missionary labors. 
 A few years ago, an outward-bound steamer 
 carried among its passengers one who was 
 constantly railing at missionaries, their lack 
 of zeal, etc. ; whereupon a well - known 
 American merchant in Japan was overheard 
 
120 BY THEIR FRUIT8. 
 
 to say (I do not pretend to quote literally) : 
 " It is not so with lis. Very near my 
 home in Kobe live three cultured American 
 ladies. We should be glad to have them 
 at our house frequently, but they are so busy 
 every day, from early morning till late at 
 night, that it is very rarely indeed that we 
 can secure them as guests." 
 
 Twelve or fifteen years ago, an English 
 merchant began to say to us : " You missiona- 
 ries are doing a good work ; I know it, be- 
 cause I have the evidence of it in my own 
 house," and he has ever since been our 
 friend, the friend of our Japanese Chris- 
 tians, and a liberal contributor to our work. 
 The evidence to which he referred was the 
 honest and upright life of a native Christian 
 employee who acted as his hanto^ or fore- 
 man. Not lonof after we be^^an to hear of 
 this, the death of the father of this Chris- 
 tian called him back to his old home in 
 Fukui, the capital of the great province of 
 Echizen, to take charge of the family af- 
 fairs. On the front of the public bath-house 
 which he inherited from his father he im- 
 mediately hung up the notice, " No business 
 done here on Sunday." This sign excited 
 wide inquiry, which was always met with 
 
A "JESUS BATH HOUSE:' 121 
 
 pleasant replies, and invitations to come on 
 Sunday to learn more of the "Jesus way." 
 The house was nicknamed " the Jesus Bath- 
 house," and was reported to offer cleansing 
 for men's souls as well as their bodies. 
 Even his dog was called " the Jesus dog." 
 
 He was soon boycotted, and after great 
 pecuniary loss the bath-house was closed 
 entirely, and turned into a regular preaching- 
 place, and he for a time became a colporteur 
 evano^elist. About the time of his return to 
 Fukui, students from the Doshisha school 
 began to go there to work during the sum- 
 mer vacations, and a little company of 
 Christians, many of them Matsuura's per- 
 sonal friends, was gathered. Four years 
 ago, his family affairs became so arranged 
 that he could accej^t the invitation, that had 
 been open to him all the while, to go back 
 to his old employer in Kobe. As a parting 
 gift to the little church, whose members 
 were nearly all very poor, he gave his 
 house. Another man, not a baptized Chris- 
 tian, gave another house and lot, and with 
 these, and the contributions of the other 
 Christians, a neat little chapel was built. 
 
 Over thirty years ago, two samurai met 
 near a well-known gate in Tokyo, and be- 
 
122 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 cause of some discourtesy, fancied or real, 
 their swords leaped from their scabbards, 
 and they were soon in deadly conflict. One 
 cut the other across the forehead, and again 
 on the chin. The blood ran down into the 
 eyes of the wounded man so that he could 
 not see his opponent, and so he was soon 
 dispatched. But the victor found no rest. 
 The fear of the avenger — kataki-uchi — 
 was ever with him. He studied fencing, 
 and became an expert with the sword. He 
 put a sword in every room of his house, and 
 slept with one under his bed. By means of 
 a go-between he '' received a wife," but was 
 horrified to find that she was a relative of 
 the man he had murdered. He divorced 
 her, and married another. Dwelling upon 
 his deed, he came to feel that his own chin 
 and forehead gave him constant pain, and so, 
 from fear and suspicion and anxiety, his 
 health broke down. A few months ago he 
 became a Christian, openly confessed the 
 facts given above, and since then has been 
 leading an active and happy Christian life. 
 
 A prominent American, who visited Ja- 
 pan several years ago, afterward publicly 
 reported a conversation which he had with a 
 Japanese lady of rank, who, although edu- 
 
A LAMENTABLE CUSTOM. 123 
 
 cated in part at least in mission schools, 
 had not become a Christian, and gave as 
 her reason therefor that the missionaries 
 had advised her to go against the wishes 
 of her parents. The narrator expressed 
 approval of her decision to stand by her 
 father, and his words were received by his 
 hearers with applause. And yet it can 
 hardly be supposed that these Christian 
 ladies and gentlemen meant by this applause 
 to express approval of that Confucian prin- 
 ciple of ethics which makes obedience to 
 parents the highest of all laws, a principle 
 which has sent thousands of young girls to 
 lives of infamy, and created a public senti- 
 ment which for centuries has highly ap- 
 proved such a course. Again and again 
 have missionaries, or Japanese Christians, 
 bought girls out of brothels, or kept them 
 from going in, and saved them to useful 
 and honorable lives. I know at least one 
 who was thus rescued, who is now the wife 
 of a Christian minister, and there are doubt- 
 less many other similar cases. Several 
 years ago, in the province of Kishu, a Chris- 
 tian who was traveling on foot overtook a 
 mother and daughter who seemed greatly 
 downcast. As they walked on, he learned 
 
124 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 that the mother was going to the city to sell 
 her daughter into a house of ill-repute, their 
 extreme poverty making this a seeming ne- 
 cessity. To relieve the family, and so save 
 the daughter, he gave the mother all the 
 money he had. The daughter afterward 
 became a Christian, and I believe married a 
 Christian. 
 
 Several years ago, the chief warden of the 
 prison in Matsuyama fell ill. One of our 
 lady missionaries was at that time working 
 in the vicinity, and, calling at his house, 
 talked with him of Christian truth and life. 
 He received the truth, repented of his sins, 
 and became a Christian. His change from 
 severity to kindness and forbearance was so 
 marked as to astonish the prisoners and the 
 other officials, and a number of the latter 
 also became Christians. In 1888 a man 
 was arrested, tried, and condemned to death 
 for the murder of three persons, jealousy 
 and anger being the cause. While awaiting 
 execution, the evangelist found him, and 
 daily instructed him in regard to Christ and 
 his salvation. On the day of his execution 
 he refused the customary feast which was 
 offered him, asking that the money might 
 be taken to buy food for the sick prisoners. 
 
THE GOSPEL IN A PRISON. 125 
 
 Upon the scaffold, permission having been 
 asked and granted, he offered the following 
 prayer : " Heavenly Father, I have been a 
 great sinner, and must now die for my sins ; 
 but while in prison thou hast deeply blessed 
 me by opening my heart, baptizing me with 
 the gospel of Jesus, filling my heart with 
 joy and peace through the sacrifice made on 
 the cross. Even in the hour of death thou 
 givest me hope and peace everlasting. O 
 Father, I go to thee ! Receive my soul, I 
 beseech thee. O Father, have mercy on my 
 mother and sister. I beseech thee to lead 
 them to believe in thee. And as thou hast 
 saved me, save also all these my brother 
 and sister prisoners." 
 
 Rising from his knees he said : " I leave 
 an aged mother and a sister ; please see that 
 they soon learn to know of Jesus." 
 
 The vice-governor and other officials 
 present were deejDly impressed by his calm 
 death. 
 
 " In a retired valley of Joshu there is a 
 little hamlet of charcoal-burners. A few 
 years ago their manner of life was the 
 rudest possible. There seemed no glimmer 
 of hope for better things. A colporteur, in 
 passing through the valley, spoke to the 
 
126 BY THE IE FRUITS. 
 
 people. Two men became interested and 
 purchased copies of the New Testament. 
 Their employers soon noticed a change in 
 the grade of charcoal from these two men : 
 it was more carefully burned, was better 
 packed, and free from stones and grass. 
 This charcoal was looked upon as a special 
 brand, and brought a special price. On 
 Sundays work was suspended, and these men 
 with their families oathered for religious 
 worship and the study of the Bible. Shortly 
 after, they began to reclaim the mountain 
 land around them, to plant wheat and gar- 
 den stuff, and recently one of them has be- 
 come forehanded enough to build a neat 
 frame house in place of his old hut. His 
 employers say he is the most efficient and 
 trustworthy man in the mountain. He him- 
 self says he owes his new vigor to his weekly 
 day of rest, and that without it he could not 
 do his work. Both men recognize the value 
 of the aid their church gives them ; and 
 though it is ten miles away, they contribute 
 liberally and gladly to the support of their 
 pastor." 
 
 In 1887 the Rev. George Muller, the 
 founder of the Orphan Asylums at Bristol, 
 England, visited Japan and addressed the 
 
A UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPH. 127 
 
 Christians in several of its cities. While 
 in Yokohama he was asked to sit for his 
 photograph, but declined, saying, " Let one 
 of you Japanese Christians found an or- 
 phanage ; that will be my photograph." 
 
 Whatever may have been the effect of 
 this remark, it is certain that the knowledge 
 of Mr. Muller's life of trust was a seed 
 which found a soil prepared for it in the 
 heart of one young Japanese. This was 
 Mr. J. Ishii, a student in the Okayama 
 Medical School, who a little more than two 
 years before had, after a short experience 
 in the Roman Catholic communion, joined 
 the Protestant church in that city. A ser- 
 mon by Dr. Neesima on " Laboring for 
 Others," in which he told of an old man and 
 an old woman in America who out of their 
 poverty had given two dollars each to estab- 
 lish a Christian college in Japan, had moved 
 him to consecrate himself to a life of devo- 
 tion to the welfare of others, and he at once 
 opened a night school for poor children, in 
 an old Shinto shrine. A poem by Mr. Ike- 
 bukuro, a Japanese Christian, strengthened 
 the impression made by the sermon. Like 
 nearly all Japanese poetry, it is a tiny ode 
 of thirty-one syllables, and may be roughly 
 translated as follows : — 
 
128 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 How grieved His "heart for a siuful -world 
 \Mio had not where to lay His weary head I 
 
 He had been impressed also by a transla- 
 tion of Dr. Guthrie's testimony to the in- 
 fluence upon his own life of the example of 
 John Pounds, who, while earning his daily 
 bread by working as a cobbler, had rescued 
 from misery and saved to society not less than 
 five hundred poor children. Mr. Ishii then 
 wrote in his diary : "I believe myself born 
 for that purpose *' (^caring for poor children), 
 "and I will follow Guthrie's example in imi- 
 tating Pounds.*" 
 
 Up to the time of learning of ^Muller's 
 work he had intended to take up this life- 
 work after graduation ; now he decided to 
 begin at ouce his labors for children. 
 
 The house adjoining was a miserable 
 hovel frequented by the very poor. One 
 day, seeing a beggar woman with two chil- 
 dren there, he stepped in and gave the eight- 
 year-old boy a bowl of his own rice. The 
 lad immediately passed it over to his younger 
 sister, who was a cripple. Learning from the 
 mother the pitifid story of her widowhood 
 and povert}*, and that she could support 
 herself and the girl, but not both giii and 
 boy, Mr. Ishii finally induced the mother 
 
A WORK OF FAITH. 129 
 
 to allow him to adopt the latter. This boy, 
 now a healthy and happy youth, is often 
 shown as the '"original orphan " of the asy- 
 lum which ^Ir. Ishii founded. In the sum- 
 mer of the same year he learned of an ex- 
 tremely poor fisherman and his wife who 
 adopted two children of three and five years 
 whom the cholera had bereft of all their 
 relatives. The heartless neighbors were 
 about to bury the younger child alive in a 
 coffin with its mother, as it was abeady 
 nearly dead from starvation. This so im- 
 pressed him with the pitiable condition of 
 orphans and the corresponding duties of 
 Christians that he stopped in his medical 
 course, ^N'ithin four months of graduation, 
 sold his medical books, and a part of his 
 own and his wife's clothing, rented a part of 
 an old Buddhist temple, and with the boy 
 above mentioned, and two others whom they 
 had picked up, began to gather in the home- 
 less and friendless little ones. He had the 
 conviction that the living God who had 
 called him to this work woidd supply the 
 means, and in this conviction he receives 
 every needy applicant, guarding carefully 
 against imposture, of course, and goes to God 
 with their daily needs. Beyond making an 
 
130 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 announcement through our Christian news- 
 papers from month to month of the number 
 of children and the amount of money re- 
 ceived and expended, he asks no man for 
 pecuniary aid. This plan has more than 
 once brought them into great straits, but 
 deliverance has always come. One of these 
 experiences, which I well remember, is wor- 
 thy of record. 
 
 During the summer of 1889 there were so 
 many floods and earthquakes in Japan, and 
 consequently such a severe drain on the 
 benevolence of the Christians, that the or- 
 phanage was almost forgotten. The supply 
 of food grew less and less, until on Septem- 
 ter 24th only a very little rice remained. 
 At the five-o'clock supper Mr. Ishii made a 
 speech to the children, telling them the food 
 was nearly all gone, and there was no money 
 to buy any more. For supper they must 
 be coutent with a little rice gruel, and even 
 that would not last long. Then he related 
 the story of a poor but godly family who 
 were in a starving condition, when the father 
 called his five children together and told 
 them God loved them, and would answer 
 prayer and help them if it seemed wise to 
 Him to do so, and asked them to pray with 
 
PRAYER ANSWERED. 131 
 
 him. A few minutes later a raven flew in 
 and laid a gold ring on the table. The poor 
 man would not sell the ring, but carried it to 
 his pastor, who carried it to the king, whose 
 property it proved to be. The sequel may- 
 be imagined. 
 
 ''Now, children," said Mr. Ishii, "that 
 happened many years ago in Holland, but 
 the same kind heavenly Father still watches 
 over his children, and I believe He will help 
 us. As many of you as think the same 
 will please go with me, when you have 
 finished your supper, to the little graveyard 
 back of the house, and there we will pray in 
 faith for help." 
 
 Nearly thirty of the children volunteered 
 to go, some of them without tasting even 
 a mouthful of the scanty meal. Mr. Ishii 
 opened the little service of prayer, and, 
 after offering a very urgent petition himself, 
 started, supperless and probably dinnerless, 
 to attend the church prayer-meeting, leaving 
 the children praying in the temple grave- 
 yard. 
 
 While they were in the act of prayer 
 there came a call at the door of the orphan- 
 age, and a missionary lady, who had that 
 day come to Okayama from another city, 
 
132 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 entered bringing thirty-one dollars (831.00), 
 sent through her to the asylum from a mission 
 band in the State of New York. Mrs. Ishii, 
 to whom she handed the money, seemed 
 dazed, so overwhelmed was she with joy at 
 their unexpected relief from distress, and at 
 the striking coincidence. She sent word 
 immediately to Mr. Ishii, at the church, and 
 a few minutes later the whole story was told 
 in the church prayer-meeting. The Rev. J. 
 H. Pettee, of Okayama, the earnest friend 
 and coadjutor of Mr. Ishii, to whom I am 
 chiefly indebted for these facts about the 
 orphanage, says : " So quiet had he kept the 
 matter of their urgent need that, though the 
 asylum is less than half a mile from my 
 house, I had simply heard a rumor that they 
 were having rather a hard time. That was 
 all the lady who brought the relief knew, 
 and probably not a single person outside the 
 orphanage was aware of the desperate need." 
 The history of this asylum has made a 
 great impression upon our Japanese Chris- 
 tians. They had frequently told their un- 
 christian countrymen of such institutions 
 in other lands ; they now point to this fruit 
 of Christianity in their own country, and 
 ask, "Why, with more than a thousand 
 
WHY NO ORPHANAGES? 133 
 
 years of the ethics of Confucius and the re- 
 ligion of the gentle Shaka (Buddha), has 
 our country never known an orphan- 
 asylum worthy of the name ? And by 
 what power is this young man, without 
 wealth and reputation, enabled to house, 
 feed, clothe, educate, and train in various 
 industries, these more than two hundred 
 orj)hans now under his charge?" And to 
 these questions their unchristian friends have 
 no reply. 
 
 When the terrible earthquakes occurred 
 in October, 1891, Mr. Ishii had an agent 
 promptly on the ground, and forty-one or- 
 phans were taken to the asylum. But he 
 did not stop with this. He inaugurated a 
 campaign for funds in aid of the sufferers. 
 The orphans went everywhere in the city 
 and vicinity, and pupils of the two Chris- 
 tian schools were also enlisted. The contri- 
 butions began with sixteen cents from an 
 orphan, "all that she had." One orphan 
 entered the largest house of ill-repute in the 
 city, and was quickly given one dollar by 
 one of the inmates. So much zeal was 
 shown that eleven hundred dollars and seven- 
 teen hundred articles of clothing were in 
 this way secured. 
 
134 BY THEIR FRUITS. 
 
 Provision for the orphans of the district 
 being still incompleta, Mr. Ishii has opened 
 a branch of the asylum at Nagoya, in the 
 earthquake district. More than thirty-six 
 are now cared for there. A recent liberal 
 gift from a member of the famous Buxton 
 family of England has given this branch a 
 home of its own. 
 
 The industrial element enters very largely 
 into the education given the orphans. The 
 trades now taught are printing, farming, bar- 
 bering, straw-weaving, silk - embroidery, be- 
 sides cooking, washing, sewing, knitting, etc. 
 The boys hull rice for their own food, and also 
 for sale in the city. They have the contract 
 for the printing of the Okayama Prefecture. 
 Mr. Ishii has long wanted to get some land 
 and put a part of the boys to farming. Re- 
 cent gifts have enabled him to do this. By 
 far the largest gift was from an evangelist, 
 who sold his recently inherited estate for 
 il,880, and gave it for the purchase of 
 land. Two hundred and eighty-five chil- 
 dren have been cared for from the begin- 
 ing ; the present number is two hundred and 
 thirty-three. At least three other orphan- 
 ages have sprung into existence through the 
 influence of this one. The needs of the in- 
 stitution strongly appeal to the benevolent. 
 
A NEW IDEAL. 135 
 
 In writing tlius of the fruit of missionary 
 seed-sowing in Japan, I would not liave it 
 forgotten that many seeds have been fruit- 
 less, because falling upon hearts like the 
 trodden or stony or thorny soil ; or that, 
 among the wheat, tares also have been sown. 
 But, notwithstanding all such loss and disap- 
 pointment, that some seeds have a genuine 
 and even abundant fruitage the sowers see 
 with joy and satisfaction. 
 
 But the good results are not limited to 
 those gathered into the churches. Christian- 
 ity has had, upon a far wider circle, an influ- 
 ence which was none the less potent for being 
 unrecognized. As Dean Church has said of 
 its influence upon the Greek race, so may it 
 be said of the influence of Christianity upon 
 the Japanese : " It (has) put before the 
 public mind a new ideal of character, — an 
 ideal of the deepest earnestness, of the most 
 serious purity, of unlimited self-devotion, of 
 the tenderest sympathy for the poor and the 
 unhappy, of pity and care for the weak, for 
 the sinner." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 The history in some detail of the growth 
 of a single local church is illustrative of 
 the method of growth which generally pre- 
 vails. 
 
 One of the earliest students in the Doshi- 
 sha school was a native of Kameoka, a 
 town in the corner of Tamba, fifteen miles 
 to the northwest of Kyoto. He became a 
 Christian, and, with the same zeal which he 
 has since shown in the pastorate, on every 
 visit home eagerly told his friends and 
 neighbors of the new life into which he had 
 entered. Among them all, however, but 
 one, a Mr. Murakami, a man somewhat 
 older than himself, was at that time moved 
 by the story. This man frequently there- 
 after walked to Ky5to to attend Christian 
 services, and was finally received into one 
 of our churches. 
 
 From the first, the bringing of the people 
 of his town and province to Christ was a 
 
AN EARNEST COLPORTEUR. 137 
 
 cherished purpose. He arranged for visits 
 by teachers and students of the school, and 
 before long had the satisfaction of seeing 
 several of his fellow-townsmen confessing 
 Christ. He had been connected with a 
 sake brewery, but he gave that up. Then 
 he was chosen to be the head-man of his 
 ward, but he soon resigned that position, in 
 order to give his whole time to the work of 
 a colporteur evangelist, the death of a little 
 bo3% his only son, having strongly moved 
 him to this work. Yf ith his loins girt for 
 walking, and his pack of Bibles, tracts, and 
 hymn-books on his back, he repeatedly vis- 
 ited all the important towns and many of 
 the villages of that and an adjoining pro- 
 vince, — nothing daunted even when the 
 people said to him, very politely but un- 
 mistakably, that they did not wish to see 
 him ; or the local magistrates, on at least 
 one occasion, less politely insisted that they 
 did wish to see him, and have him explain 
 why he was selling the books of this for- 
 eisrn religion. So well known did he be- 
 come through all that region that, on in- 
 quiring of a countryman whether he knew 
 anything about Christianity or not, he re- 
 plied : " Oh, yes, Murakami, of Kameoka, 
 
138 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 is Yasu Kyo " (the Jesus religion). He 
 arranged for several meetings in the tumble- 
 down theatre, at which lectures were de- 
 livered upon educational and economic 
 questions to audiences of from two to five 
 hundred. By this means, several prominent 
 men of the district, especially school-teach- 
 ers and school-committee men, became inter- 
 ested, and they in turn arranged for meet- 
 ings in other towns and villages. One of 
 these school-committee men opened his own 
 house to us. Of two memorable meetings 
 there, I wrote at the time as follows : — 
 
 " I arrived just at dusk, two of our stu- 
 dents having preceded me by an hour. It 
 began to rain before night, and by the time 
 of meeting it was pouring down in torrents, 
 so that we expected but few hearers. We 
 found, however, a house full of people, 
 more than one hundred and fifty being 
 present. One of the young men said the 
 rain acted as a sieve, keeping the poor 
 hearers away, and so filling the house with 
 those only who have a sincere desire to 
 know about Christianity. 
 
 " The meeting began about seven o'clock 
 and lasted till after ten. One of the Ka- 
 meoka Christians first spoke for about half 
 
KNOTTY QUESTIONS. 139 
 
 an hour on ' The Worth of the Soul.' Then 
 one of our young men followed on ' True 
 Happiness ; ' after that the other spoke for 
 a full hour, and with great earnestness and 
 tenderness, on ' Love ; ' I closed in a talk of 
 about three quarters of an hour on the text, 
 ' The Kingdom of God is not Meat and 
 Drink.' Through the whole three hours 
 there was the most absorbed attention." 
 
 And of a second meeting : — 
 
 " I got there a little before six p. M. A 
 few minutes later several young men, mostly 
 teachers, came in, and after the usual polite 
 salutations were ended, one of them took two 
 or three books from his bosom and went for 
 ' that hairy foreigner ' with questions of every 
 conceivable kind till after eight o'clock, when 
 the preaching began. He had evidently been 
 hearing objections to Christianity, and we 
 had first a rapid examination of the first 
 chapter of Genesis, including the creation of 
 light before the sun, the plural form Elolimi 
 and its possible relation to the doctrine of 
 the Trinity. Then followed such questions 
 as, ' Did the serpent stand erect before the 
 curse ? ' ' Can a serpent have a moral qual- 
 ity? ' ' Where did Cain get his wife ? ' ' How 
 at that stage could Cain say, " Every one that 
 
140 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 findeth me shall slay me " ? ' ' Were Adam 
 and Eve finally saved ? ' ' Did the human 
 race descend from a shigle pair ? ' ' Was 
 the flood universal or local ? ' etc, etc. 
 
 *' It is sometimes said that there is no 
 need of first-class men going as missionaries. 
 That may or may not be true ; but I should 
 have been very glad to have at least one 
 superior man around that night, for I was 
 deeply conscious of my infirmities as an 
 exegete, a theologian, a speaker and hearer 
 of the Japanese language, a student of Con- 
 fucianism, and, above all, as a persuasive 
 preacher of salvation. There is quite a dif- 
 ference between playing with such questions 
 in the lecture-room and meeting them at such 
 a time and place that, humanly speaking, 
 the salvation of your questioner may depend 
 upon the answers you give." 
 
 The subsequent history of our host at 
 these meetings was one of the sad things 
 which missionaries meet from time to time. 
 The young men who came to his house to 
 hear, one after another became personally 
 interested in Christianity, but his interest 
 did not increase. While they made progress 
 that could be seen from week to week, he 
 seemed tethered to something which hin- 
 
A SUICIDE. 141 
 
 dered all advance. Finally, after a visit to 
 an uncle in a distant province, he returned 
 home ill in body and mind, and we were all 
 shocked to hear of his death on the follow- 
 ing day. It soon appeared that he had died 
 by his own hand by means of morphia re- 
 ceived from his uncle, who was a physician ; 
 the sad reason being that he had aj^propri- 
 ated school funds, and had found it impossi- 
 ble to return them. 
 
 After his death, letters were found ad- 
 dressed to his friends, in which he said that 
 he was soon to die and go, as he deserved, 
 to perdition, but he urged them, while the 
 opportunity was given them, to repent and 
 believe unto salvation. These letters, de- 
 livered after the funeral, seemed like mes- 
 sages from the unseen world, and produced 
 a profound impression, especially upon a 
 Chinese scholar, the head of a large school 
 in the vicinity. He belonged to perhaps 
 the most difficult of all classes to reach, but 
 this letter so stirred the depths of his nature 
 that he could not rest until he found peace 
 in believing, — a course in which he was fol- 
 lowed by the members of his own family, 
 and a number of the teachers and pupils of 
 his school. I am glad to report of the 
 
142 THE GEO WTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 suicide's family that his mother and two 
 brothers became Christians. One brother 
 died in triumphant faith ; the other is now 
 in our theological school in Kyoto. 
 
 One of our hearers at the theatre meetings 
 was a physician of moderate means who then 
 resided in the farming village of Goma, ten 
 or twelve miles further back in this moun- 
 tainous province. He afterward went to 
 Kameoka, had a long talk with Mr. Mura- 
 kami, and ended by inviting him to visit 
 Goma once a month to explain the Bible to 
 himself and neighbors, an invitation which he 
 was glad to accept. One of these neighbors, 
 a notorious gambler, hearing that the doctor 
 had become a student of the " Jesus reli- 
 gion," bethought himself of a copy of a 
 Gospel which a brother had bought and left 
 at his house long before and which he had 
 put aside as unintelligible, hunted it up, and 
 took it to the doctor one night for explana- 
 tion. He kept up these nightly visits through 
 twenty days, so applying the teaching of the 
 gospel to himself that he became a repentant 
 and humble believer in Christ, and entirely 
 left off gambling. The change wrought in 
 this man's heart and life produced no small 
 stir in the community, and a considerable 
 
''HEAVENLY JOY:' 143 
 
 number began to examine this new religion 
 which had shown such unbeard-of power. 
 Fifteen persons soon professed to have re- 
 pented, and, on our first and subsequent 
 visits there, crowded the little building given 
 by the doctor for a meeting-place. Most of 
 them could read, but that was about all, and 
 they were quite plainly and even roughly 
 dressed, though very formal in their man- 
 ners. After each address they would bow 
 their heads to the very floor, saying together, 
 " Thank you for your trouble in coming so 
 far to speak to us." The gambler's wife 
 was there, ber face radiant with joy at the 
 change which had come to her family. To 
 a remark of one of our young men about 
 her hope of future happiness she replied : 
 "I am not waiting till I go to heaven for 
 happiness ; I have heavenly joy already." 
 When a church was formed of the Chris- 
 tians scattered through that region, the gam- 
 bler and his wife, with their young son, were 
 among the original members. The mother 
 expressed the hope that this son might be- 
 come a Christian preacher. 
 
 The church was organized in 1884 with 
 thirty-one members. Its present member- 
 ship is about two hundred and sixty. Fifty- 
 
144 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 five were added on confession in 1890-91. 
 In the previous 3^ear it employed a pastor and 
 two evangelists. The latter were partly sup- 
 ported by the mission. Its members, scat- 
 tered over a territory thirty-five miles long, 
 were divided into five companies, each with 
 a leader. It had twelve places for regular 
 preaching, owned three (now four) church 
 buildings, and rented several more. It has 
 furnished at least three valuable evangelists. 
 
 There is no time to speak of the new life 
 of purity, sobriety, faith, hope, and joy which 
 many in this church are living. Nor is it 
 necessary to point out that the work of Chris- 
 tianizing this province — extensively and in- 
 tensively — is only just begun, or that here as 
 elsewhere the net " gathers of every kind." 
 
 I cannot, however, forbear speaking of one 
 man, Kakudo Kobayashi. He was one of 
 the original members of the church, and it 
 was known at the time that he had the taint 
 of leprosy in his system. The dread disease 
 was, however, quiescent, and it was hoped 
 would remain so, and hence he mingled freely 
 with the other Christians, visited us in our 
 homes, and often sat with us at the commu- 
 nion table. But of late years the disease 
 become virulent, and by the end of 1890 he 
 
A CHRISTIAN LEPER. 145 
 
 was totally blind, and otherwise greatly dis- 
 figured. The unchristian villagers drove him 
 out of the village ; his brothers and other 
 relatives deserted him ; and he lived alone 
 in a rude hut in the mountains, receiving a 
 little aid from the prefectural government, 
 and more from the Japanese Christians and 
 the missionaries. At a little later period the 
 Christians cooked his food and otherwise 
 cared for him, but for quite a while he built 
 his own fire and cooked his own rice, going, 
 in his solitary blindness, to and from the 
 spring that furnished him with water, guided 
 by the straw rope which had been put there 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The evangelist of whom I have already 
 frequently spoken in this chapter, hearing of 
 his pitiable condition, went to condole with 
 him, but to his surprise he was met by the 
 assurance that he was not an object of con- 
 dolence ; that his heart was full of joy, be- 
 cause Kami ga sMju waga usMro ni oru, 
 " God is always behind me." Think of it ! 
 A pauper, an outcast, deserted by his rela- 
 tives, the victim of a disease surely fatal and 
 loathsome beyond expression, with no one, 
 aside from the occasional visit of a Christian, 
 to speak a kind word or lend a helping hand, 
 
146 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 yet full of rejoicing because God is always 
 with him! This peace and joy remained 
 with him to the day of his death, September 
 28, 1891. 
 
 Who would not preach such a gospel of 
 comfort ! 
 
 This Christian leper did acknowledge anx- 
 iety in one respect. It was not, however, 
 for himself, but for his church, which had 
 just lost its pastor. Let me give you some- 
 thing of the history of this pastor who had 
 been called away. 
 
 A dozen years ago one of our physicians 
 made a number of visits to the city of Taka- 
 hashi, in the province of Bitchii. A boy in 
 his teens, an acquaintance of a Japanese 
 physician who had become interested in 
 Christianity, referring to the foreigner's 
 coming, spoke of the loneliness which he 
 must feel so far away from home. His 
 friend replied that the foreigner was not 
 so lonely as might be supposed, for he be- 
 lieved in one God, a heavenly Father, every- 
 where present. That greatly impressed the 
 boy, who soon became an interested hearer. 
 His father, however, was bitterly opposed, 
 sought to confine his son to the house, 
 whipped him repeatedly, and even swung 
 
A PErSON CHAPLAIN. 147 
 
 him clear o£ his feet by a rope tied around 
 his thumbs. Finally, in desperation he ran 
 away from home. He went to a Christian 
 community fifty miles away, and I have been 
 told by a member of that community that 
 when he arrived there he looked like one far 
 gone in consumption. 
 
 He soon recuperated, however, and came 
 to Kyoto and took a four years' course, in the 
 vernacular theological department. Upon 
 graduation he was called to the pastorate of 
 this church scattered among the mountains, 
 and served it most faithfully and laboriously 
 — often walking long distances through the 
 roughest weather — for several years. 
 
 Early in 1891, a strange and unexpected 
 call came to him. In the Hokkaido, in the 
 extreme north of Japan, five hundred of the 
 three thousand prisoners in the Ichikishiri 
 prison united in requesting the superinten- 
 dent of the prison to give them a Christian 
 " moral instructor," since the Buddhist 
 priests who from time to time officiated in 
 the prison had no message for them. This 
 superintendent had seen the good effects of 
 Christian work in another prison, and, con- 
 senting to the request, sent to one of the 
 leaders of the Kumi-ai churches, inquiring 
 
148 THE GROWTH OF A CHURCH. 
 
 for a suitable man. The request finally came 
 to Mr. Tomeoka, the pastor of this mountain 
 church. After deliberation and consultation 
 he accepted the call, and in May last entered 
 upon his duties there. Every Sunday after- 
 noon the three thousand prisoners are 
 marched in, and he addresses them upon 
 Christian morality ; and on Sunday mornings 
 he has a Bible -class which between three 
 and four hundred of the prisoners volunta- 
 rily attend. Several persons connected with 
 the prisons have already been baptized. So 
 highly appreciated is his work that in an- 
 other large prison two other Christian 
 " moral instructors " have since been ap- 
 pointed. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE KUMI-AI, OR ASSOCIATED, CHURCHES. 
 
 I HAVE already given an account of the 
 formation of the first Christian church in 
 Japan. The first two churches connected 
 with the mission of the American Board 
 were organized about two years later, in the 
 spring of 1874. One of these was in Kobe, 
 and consisted of eleven members ; the other, 
 in Osaka, had seven members. Their creed 
 was the nine articles of the Evangelical Alli- 
 ance; their church rules of the simplest 
 nature ; their name, " The Church of 
 Christ." To this they affixed the local 
 name, and had no thought of adding any- 
 thing further. The name Kuml-ai came 
 several years later, and was at first used in- 
 formally, and especially by outsiders, who 
 felt the need of some term to distinguish 
 these churches from Chord Kydhvjai (Pres- 
 byterian Church), Kantoku Kyokwai (Epis- 
 copal Church), etc. It is not a translation 
 of " Congregational," but means joined^ or 
 
150 THE KUMI-AI CHURCHES. 
 
 linked together. From the first, three ideas 
 characterized these churches : — 
 
 1. They were to he evangelistic. 
 
 Soon after their organization, a member 
 of the mission wrote : " It has been our aim 
 from the beginning to impress upon all mem- 
 bers, male and female, that their business is 
 to preach Christ, and ten of the twelve 
 male members have preached, with more or 
 less regularity, ever since they united with 
 the church. The whole region around us 
 seems to have received the impression that 
 to become a member of the church means to 
 become a preacher of the Word. A short 
 time since, when the question of forming a 
 church was proposed to a little company of 
 Christians in Sanda, one objection came to 
 all their minds at once, that they did not 
 know enough to preach." That the evan- 
 gelization of their country was to be mainly 
 their own work was urged upon the Chris- 
 tians from the start. 
 
 2. They were to he self-governing. 
 
 This their simple church rules made 
 clear. There was nothing which put them 
 under the authority of the missionaries, the 
 American Board, or the Congregational 
 churches of the United States. They were, 
 
THREE CHARACTERISTIC IDEAS. 151 
 
 and always have been, treated as freemen 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 3. They were to he self-supporting. 
 Another missionary writes : " I have been 
 pleased to see how readily they fall in with 
 the idea of self-support and self-propaga- 
 tion. Whatever may be right elsewhere, 
 there ought to be no question about hadng 
 the Japanese support their own pastors, and 
 build their own churches, from almost the 
 first, if not from the very first." The 
 Christians felt it would compromise them in 
 the eyes of their unchristian countrymen if 
 they received foreign money, and so they 
 paid their own way on the first evangelis- 
 tic tours ; and the young man whom they 
 hoped would become the first pastor of the 
 church in Kobe declined to do so, think- 
 ing it better to go into business, for which 
 he had special qualifications, and aid in 
 the support of others. So strong was this 
 fegling, that missionaries feared it would 
 greatly limit the work, and especially the 
 training of men for the ministry. Subse- 
 quent events have not, however, justified 
 this fear. 
 
 It is doubtless true that these high ideals 
 have not been fully realized ; but it is un- 
 
152 THE KUMI-Al CHURCHES. 
 
 questionable that tliey have been prominent 
 in all the subsequent history of the churches, 
 as even the briefest examination will show. 
 
 Following the order already given, j^t 
 not attempting to keep these three ideas 
 entirely distinct, we notice, first, that the 
 churches have been always, above all things 
 else, evangelistic. The progress made shows 
 that. The two churches, of eighteen members 
 in 1874, have grown to seventy-one churches,^ 
 with a membership of over ten thousand, ex- 
 tending from Satsuma in the south to the 
 Hokkaido in the north. They include one 
 hundred and twenty -nine preachers and 
 teachers (twenty-eight of whom are ordained 
 ministers), who preach regularly in one hun- 
 dred and ninety-five places, to congregations 
 which aggregate eight thousand people. The 
 net gain of membership during 1891 was 
 806. Their one hundred and seventy-five 
 Sunday-schools have seven thousand pupils. 
 A good deal of strength has been spent, in 
 educational work. Several flourishing boys' 
 schools are entirely supported and managed 
 
 ^ These churches all have creeds, covenants, rules, and 
 officers, and admit and dismiss members ; some of them, 
 however, because they are not financially independent, 
 have not received formal recognition. None with a mem- 
 bership of less than twenty is counted. 
 
THE DENDO-GWAISHA. 153 
 
 by members of these cburches. The same is 
 true of ten very influential schools for girls, 
 with their six hundred pupils. 
 
 But the greatest enthusiasm has always 
 centred in the Dendo- gwaisha^ or Mis- 
 sionary Society. It was formed in 1878. 
 It was the first cause which brought our 
 young churches together, and for a long 
 time its annual meeting was the only regu- 
 lar meeting the churches had. Its first 
 president w^as our beloved Neesima. 
 
 At the start, this society used only such 
 money as the Japanese themstlves contrib- 
 uted. They wished, however, to enlarge 
 their work, and it was plain that the evan- 
 gelists could not work permanently on the 
 pittance received by the first workers. On 
 the other hand, the missionaries wished 
 their advice and aid, and so they agreed to 
 furnish six dollars for every four given by 
 the Japanese, the whole sum to be adminis- 
 tered by a joint committee. In this way a 
 larger work was done, and the danger from 
 using foreign funds, of weakening the spirit 
 of the churches, was minunized. The propor- 
 tion from the mission was changed subse- 
 quently, and at present a lump sum is 
 granted, the administration continuing as 
 
154 THE KUMI-AI CHURCHES. 
 
 before, with tlie exception that the question 
 of individual salaries is decided by the Japa- 
 nese alone. 
 
 In 1891 - 92 the society had nineteen 
 evangelists working in twenty-five different 
 places, for which the Japanese raised more 
 than 11,000 silver. The number of Chris- 
 tians under the care of these evangelists was 
 eight hundred and seventy-three. 
 
 Of our seventy-one churches, forty-four 
 are reported as entirely self - supporting. 
 The others are partially so. Their contri- 
 butions in the year in question are reported 
 as more than 125,000. This is enough to 
 show that the idea of self-support has not 
 been abandoned. 
 
 As to self-government, it may be doubted 
 if it prevails to an equal degree in any 
 other mission field. The Christians organ- 
 ize churches; examine and admit members, 
 and, when necessary, discipline and expel 
 them. They call, examine, and ordain their 
 own ministers, adopt their own creeds, and 
 modify them at their pleasure. In their 
 stated and special meetings, missionaries 
 are there as advisory members, and are 
 usually treated very courteously, but they 
 have no vote, nor do they wish one. Our 
 
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. 155 
 
 advice is constantly sought and given, and 
 frequently taken, but we should no more 
 think of interfering in their decisions, or en- 
 tering their pulpits unasked, than we should 
 of committing similar breaches of df/^ "um 
 in the United States. 
 
 The meetings of our huJcwal (associations 
 or presbyteries) have been great object-les- 
 sons to the people. Since 1868 the eyes of 
 every intelligent Ja23anese have been turned 
 longingly toward the promised time when 
 the Tenshi should establish a representative 
 government. AU their hopes and aspira- 
 tions have centred in this, so that, as the 
 unchristian men have come into these meet- 
 ings and seen the delegates, after electing 
 their own presiding officer, proceed in an 
 orderly manner to discuss and decide ques- 
 tions of importance to the churches, they 
 have said, " This is just what we want." It 
 is beyond question that their representative 
 form of government has been a great aid 
 to the evangelistic work of the Congrega- 
 tional and Presbyterian churches. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DOSHISHA (one-purpose COMPANY) UNI- 
 VERSITY. 
 
 Reference has already been made to the 
 prominence given in the beginning of mis- 
 sionary work to education. Changing cir- 
 cumstances may have lessened the amount 
 of this as compared with evangelistic work, 
 but the importance, the necessity of it, is 
 still almost universally recognized. Every 
 mission, in addition to its theological school, 
 — concerning which there is, of course, no 
 question, — has its schools for boys and its 
 schools for girls ; and the larger missions 
 are seeking to build up colleges. Of these 
 higher institutions the Doshisha University, 
 which is in close relationship with the mis- 
 sion of the American Board, may be taken 
 as a representative. 
 
 From a very early period, the mission not 
 only established primary schools, it also 
 purposed more advanced educational work. 
 It was consequently very ready to coope- 
 
A COLLEGE PLANNED FOR. 157 
 
 rate, as far as was in its power, with Dr. 
 Neesima in his efforts to realize the great 
 purpose with which he returned to Japan, 
 — the founding of a Christian college. 
 
 Thus, in its report on the Japan Mission 
 in 1875, the Board, in speaking of the as 
 yet unestablished school whose location in 
 Kyoto was then under consideration, said : 
 " This will, it is hoped, be the nucleus of 
 an institution which will meet the rapidly 
 opening demands for a thoroughly scientific 
 yet Christian education." And early in the 
 following year, "an earnest and eloquent 
 appeal from the mission for f 100,000 for 
 the immediate endowment and equipment 
 of a Christian college," is spoken of.^ 
 
 In the spring of 1875, Dr. Neesima met 
 Yamamoto, the blind councilor of the Kyoto 
 government, who had become interested in 
 Christianity through intercourse with mis- 
 sionaries, and was encouraged by him to 
 locate the proposed school in that city. 
 Kyoto had been for a thousand years the 
 capital and residence of the Mikados, now 
 recently restored to power. It was the cen- 
 tre of the Buddhist religion, which had 
 there 3,500 temples and 8,000 priests. 
 
 1 Appendix A. 
 
158 DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Shintoism, so closely related to the throne 
 and family of the Mikados, also had there its 
 2,500 shrines and priests. The murderous 
 attack upon the British Embassy and the 
 assassination in its streets of Yokoi Hei- 
 shiro, a councilor of the Mikado, because of 
 suspected friendliness to Christianity, only 
 a few years before, were indications of its 
 extreme conservatism. Now, to establish a 
 Christian college in such a city, where every 
 foreign teacher must have a residence pass- 
 port from the central government, and all 
 real estate must be owned by the Japanese, 
 was a hazardous undertaking. Even the 
 hopeful Neesima had " thought of Kyoto as 
 the last place to be opened to Christianity," 
 and in Jul}^ 1875, could not say more than 
 that his "skeptical cloud was almost clear- 
 ing up." So strong, however, was the mis- 
 sion's belief that it was being divinely led 
 id establish the school in Kyoto, that it 
 encouraged Messrs. Neesima and Yamamoto 
 to form the One-purpose Company, and ap- 
 proved their purchase, for the school, of land 
 just north of the Emperor's palace. And 
 so in November of that year the Doshisha 
 school was opened with two teachers and 
 eight pupils. 
 
INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS. 159 
 
 Its opening was the signal for tlie most 
 violent opposition on the part of the ten 
 thousand priests of the city, and they be- 
 sieged the weak and vacillating governor 
 with presents and threats until he finally 
 withdrew his confidence, not only in Dr. 
 Neesima, but in Yamamoto also, and became 
 a secret enemy to the school. For years its 
 life, to human eyes, was suspended by a 
 slender thread, but by the patient labors of 
 principal and teachers, and the pure and 
 purposeful lives of its students, it gradually 
 won its way to the hearts of the people. 
 
 In securing this happy result the friend- 
 ships which Dr. Neesima had formed with 
 the members of Iwakura's embassy, during 
 his association with them in America and Eu- 
 rope in 1871-72, played an important part. 
 Ito, Kido, and Tanaka, though of necessity 
 cautious in their actions, remained his 
 stanch friends, and through their influence 
 other men of position became his supporters. 
 The new governor of Kyoto, Kitagaki, was 
 one of these. Count Inouye, for so long the 
 influential Minister for Foreign Affairs, was 
 another. He repeatedly visited the school 
 and became its avowed friend. In the spring 
 of 1888, he invited a number of men of rank 
 
/ 
 V 
 
 160 DO SHIS HA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 and wealth to a dinner party, presented the 
 claims of the school to them, subscribed a 
 thousand dollars himself, and secured thirty 
 thousand dollars more from his guests, for a 
 department of law and economics. 
 
 When he returned from America, Dr. 
 Neesima had found the people all looking 
 forward to the establishment of a represent- 
 ative government as the panacea for all na- 
 tional ills. He boldly said to them, how- 
 ever, that a representative government could 
 be stable and salutary in its influence only 
 as founded upon a pure morality. For that 
 morality he held that Christianity furnished 
 the only basis ; and so he not only urged 
 them personally to accept Christianity, — he 
 also expressed his desire and purpose to 
 found a department in the Doshisha in 
 which men could receive under Christian in- 
 fluences the legal and economic instruction 
 necessary to make them intelligent voters 
 and legislators. The purpose of the Do- 
 shisha school, he declared, was " not merely 
 to give instruction in English and other 
 branches of learning, but to impart higher 
 moral and spiritual principles, and to train 
 up not only men of science and learning, but 
 men of conscientiousness and sincerity. We 
 
HARRIS SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. 161 
 
 believe this can be done . . . only by a 
 thorough education founded on the Chris- 
 tian principles of faith in God, love of 
 truth, and benevolence to one's fellow-men. 
 . . . We believe that it is our special work 
 to nourish the spirit of self-reliance in our 
 students' bosoms, and to train up a self-gov- 
 erning people." 
 
 In November, 1888, these views were an- 
 nounced simultaneously through the twenty 
 leading newspapers of the Empire ; the pro- 
 gress already achieved was briefly narrated ; 
 and a special appeal was made to his coun- 
 trymen for further funds to establish this 
 department. As a result, the school was 
 brought prominently before the whole coun- 
 try, and the endowment fund was raised to 
 157,000 silver, $45,000 of the whole being 
 now in the hands of the trustees. 
 
 This " School of Political Science and 
 Law," whose endowment was thus begun, 
 was opened in 1891. It has two three-year 
 courses, and aims to do thorough university 
 work. 
 
 A scientific school has also been estab- 
 lished. Mr. J. N. Harris, of New London, 
 Conn., whose desire that science be taught to 
 the Japanese under Christian auspices first 
 
162 D asm SEA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 found expression in a gift of f 15,000 for a 
 Science Hall, afterwards increased his gift 
 to 1100,000, thus founding " The Harris 
 School of Science." It has been in opera- 
 tion since September, 1891. Probably no 
 single thing has done so much to convince 
 the Japanese that the presence of American 
 missionaries in their country has a larger 
 and nobler meaning than the mere propaga- 
 tion of a sect as Mr. Harris's royal gift. 
 
 The establishment and endowment of two 
 departments have just been spoken of. The 
 collegiate and theological departments, which 
 have been much longer in operation, are still 
 practically without endowment, being de- 
 pendent financially upon tuition fees and a 
 small annual grant from the American 
 Board. Could Christians of wealth find 
 any more promising object for their bene- 
 ficence than this ? 
 
 Mrs. Byron W. Clarke, of Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., has just given 110,000 for the erec- 
 tion of a Theological Hall as a memorial to 
 her son. 
 
 In addressing his plea to the Japanese 
 public. Dr. Neesima naturally enough said 
 very little of the missionaries' part in the 
 school, or of the relation of the school to the 
 
NUMBER OF STUDENTS. 163 
 
 cliurclies. As a matter of fact, the students 
 came almost entirely from the churches and 
 the communities in which Christian work 
 was groin Of on. Our students went out from 
 the school in the vacations with burning zeal 
 as preachers of the gospel. They returned 
 not only with the story of converts to the 
 faith, but with bright boys and young men 
 as candidates for admission to the school, 
 and, when our girls' schools were founded, 
 pupils for them also. 
 
 There is scarcely a pastor or evangelist 
 working in connection with the Kumi-ai 
 churches who has not spent a longer or 
 shorter time within the walls of the school. 
 Frequently, at the annual meetings of our 
 churches, I have noted that three fourths or 
 more of the delegates were former students 
 of the Doshisha. In 1891-92, the students 
 in all departments numbered five hundred 
 and twenty-two and came from forty-four 
 different prefectures. Of these eighty-three 
 were in the theological department. nJ 
 
 There have been graduated from its Eng- 
 lish theological course forty-five men, and 
 from its special theological course of four 
 years sixty-five men ; in all, one hundred 
 and ten theological graduates. Of these, 
 
164 DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 eighty -one are preaching, seventeen are 
 teaching, and four are still pursuing their 
 studies. From the collegiate department 
 one hundred and seventy-eight have been 
 V sent out. Of these, thirty-six are preaching 
 
 or studying theology, fifty-eight are teachers, 
 forty-five are students, twenty-one are in 
 business, five are editors, and two are in 
 the diplomatic service. Besides the above- 
 named graduates, more than eighteen hun- 
 dred young men have been connected with 
 the school for a longer or shorter period. 
 Less than ten students have been graduated 
 ^^ from the collegiate department who have 
 
 not been professing Christians. 
 
 Mr. Kozaki, Dr. Neesima's successor, has 
 already been spoken of. He is of a philoso- 
 phic bent of mind and of wide scholarship. 
 He is a sympathetic and impressive preacher, 
 and profoundly interested in the religious 
 welfare of the students, the prosperity of 
 the theological department, and the speedy 
 Christianization of Japan. 
 
 In order to indicate the nature and extent 
 of the work done in the school, the names of 
 the faculty are given in Appendix B. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MEDICAL MISSIONS. 
 
 Christians are discerning as never before 
 that their mission is to all men, and to the 
 whole of man's nature. They see that it 
 was no accident by which our Lord gave so 
 much of his time and strength to the healing 
 of bodily diseases, and that the healers of 
 the sick, no less than the preachers of the 
 truth, are his ministers. One of the most 
 striking characteristics of tliis missionary 
 century is the increased attention every- 
 where given to the physical condition and 
 environment of those whom it is hoped may 
 be Christianized. This is one of the many 
 spiritual gifts which foreign missions have 
 bestowed upon Christendom. 
 
 It is a shallow and unchristian view of 
 medical missions which makes them merely 
 a wise contrivance for introducing Christian- 
 ity among those indifferent or opposed to it, 
 by influence gained over or favors conferred 
 upon the sick and unfortunate. Such a 
 
166 MEDICAL MISSIONS. 
 
 motive and method of work are shamed out 
 of countenance by the unreckoning liberality 
 of Him who went about doing good. Nor, 
 on the other hand, would it be just to regard 
 our Saviour's miracles or modern medical 
 missions as springing merely from a desire 
 for man's physical well - being, with no 
 thought of his spiritual interests. The re- 
 lief of physical pain, disease, and deformity 
 is an absolute good in itself. And yet the 
 Christian medical missionary cannot be con- 
 tent with that alone ; he ever works in the 
 hope that upon his patients and their friends 
 may come a greater blessing than the mate- 
 ria medica or the surgeon's knife can give. 
 It is also beyond question that those who 
 value this latter blessing most highly are 
 the most untiring in the bestowal of the 
 former. 
 
 Medical missions had early representatives 
 in Japan. Of the six missionaries who ar- 
 rived there in 1859, two were physicians. 
 One of these in the next year severed his 
 connection with the society which sent him 
 out. The other. Dr. J. C. Hepburn, who 
 left a lucrative practice in New York city 
 to become a medical missionary, is still in 
 Japan, though since 1878 literary work has 
 
DOCTOR HEPBURN. 167 
 
 occupied his attention. He opened a dis- 
 pensary in Kanagawa soon after his arrival. 
 This dispensary found favor with the people, 
 who patronized it freely until the govern- 
 ment, in its hatred and fear of foreigners 
 and e;^peciaily of Christianity, fo bade their 
 attendance. A, was closed temporarily, but 
 reopened again in Yokohama in 18G2, where 
 it was continued until 1878. " Thousands 
 upon thousands of poor sufferers were re- 
 lieved of their ailments, while their spiritual 
 needs were at the same time attended to, 
 in several cases with the happiest results. 
 There is no doubt that the benevolent pur- 
 pose in this work also exerted a powerful 
 influence upon the final removal of the peo- 
 ple's bitter opposition to Christianity." I 
 cannot forbear adding a word in reference 
 to the hospitality of Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn. 
 For many years their house was the resort 
 not only of missionaries passing through 
 Yokohama, but of all visiting Americans. 
 In recognition of this, naval officers used to 
 speak jocularly of Mrs. Hepburn as " the 
 mother of the United States Navy." 
 
 For more than twelve years Dr. Hepburn 
 was the only medical missionary in Japan. 
 Beyond question his success in treating ob- 
 
168 MEDICAL MISSIONS. 
 
 scure and stubborn diseases, especially his 
 operations for the removal of cataract and 
 for other affections of the eye, had much to 
 do in creating among the Japanese a desire 
 for a knowledge of foreign medicine. This 
 desire becoming known to our missionary 
 societies, there was a considerable influx of 
 physicians in 1872 and the immediately suc- 
 ceeding years. These new men everywhere 
 received a warm welcome, one in striking con- 
 trast to that accorded to their predecessors. 
 
 Dr. Berry (A. B. C. F. M.) was met on his 
 arrival by an invitation from the physicians 
 of Kyoto to locate there, and they offered 
 him the use of a house free. The Kyoto gov- 
 ernor and vice-governor received him with 
 deference and attention ; but as they could 
 not give him freedom to teach Christianity 
 publicly in that inland city, he declined to go. 
 He became connected with a hospital in 
 Kobe (a treaty port), where he not only 
 successfully treated many patients, but had 
 a number of physicians under his instruc- 
 tion. Visits were made to surrounding 
 towns, and many sick were treated in con- 
 nection with the native physicians. These 
 physicians furnished the medicines for the 
 poor patients, and buildings for the dispen- 
 
A JAPANESE PHYSICIAN. 169 
 
 saries. These buildings were also used as 
 chapels. In some places this work contin- 
 ued for a considerable time, and the ex- 
 istence of such churches as those at Sanda 
 and Akashi bear witness to the good accom- 
 plished. Elsewhere the local officials, re- 
 garding it as Kirishtan^ — a name by which 
 for two centuries the Japanese had learned 
 to stigmatize Christianity as diabolical, 
 speedily obstructed it, and so the hoped-for 
 churches were not formed. The writer, who 
 went out at this time, was soon led by the 
 wide-open doors to abandon medical jDractice, 
 and give himself exclusively to educational 
 and directly religious work. 
 
 Dr. Adams (A. B. C. F. M.), at Osaka, 
 succeeded in organizing a native medical 
 society. In connection with the leading 
 member of this society, he opened a dispen- 
 sary and drug-store. This man had learned 
 to read English very well without a teacher, 
 using a Dutch-English dictionary. Writing 
 of him in 1875, Dr. Neesima said : " I 
 preached in Osaka last Sabbath, and bap- 
 tized an influential native physician of the 
 city. He has fifty medical pupils, and gives 
 them lectures on physiology, anatomy, chem- 
 istry, etc. Besides his daily task, he gathers 
 
170 MEDICAL MISSIONS. 
 
 his neighbors and reads to them every night 
 the New Testament, using ' Barnes's Notes ' 
 for explanation. Through his efforts I trust 
 four or five men have already become Chris- 
 tians." The evangelistic work thus begun 
 resulted in the organization of the Naniwa 
 Church. The untimely death of this phy- 
 sician and of Dr. Adams was a great blow 
 to the work in Osaka, 
 
 Dr. Taylor, of the same mission, afterwards 
 took up this work. He is now consulting 
 physician to three hospitals, and in 1891 
 saw 2,533 patients. The church at Hikone 
 is an outgrowth in part of Dr. Taylor's 
 earlier work. He has made special and 
 valuable researches into the origin of hahhe. 
 — an obscure disease peculiar to Japan, but 
 related to the heri-heri of India, — and per- 
 formed many major operations which have 
 justly attracted attention. 
 
 Dr. Laning (Protestant Episcopal) has for 
 many years carried on a successful work in 
 connection with St. Barnabas's Hospital, 
 founded by him in the same city. 
 
 Dr. MacDonald (Canadian Methodist), 
 spent four years in Shizuoka, where, in addi- 
 tion to the treatment of many sick, the di- 
 rect evangelistic result of his labors was a 
 
PHYSICIANS WORSHIPED. 171 
 
 net ingathering of one hundred and eighteen 
 believers. Since then, he has been doing a 
 wider work in Tokyo. 
 
 Dr. Theobald Palm (Edinburgh Medical 
 Mission), a man of rare gifts and spirit, 
 spent several years at Niigata. During one 
 year he treated 2,950 patients, this medical 
 work being more than self-supporting. As 
 a result of his labors and those of his Jap- 
 anese associates, preaching was maintained 
 for a time in thirteen different places, and 
 eighty-eight were baptized. Dr. Palm's re- 
 call prevented the full ripening of results. 
 
 Dr. Berry's medical work was a most im- 
 portant element in the opening of Okayama 
 and neighboring prefectures to evangelistic 
 effort. In connection with Dr. Buckley, he 
 is now carrying on a hospital and school for 
 nurses in Kyoto. The number of patients 
 last year was 2,400. At the time of the 
 recent earthquakes. Dr. Berry was promptly 
 on the ground with a well trained corps of 
 assistants. Over five hundred patients were 
 treated. By the skill and kindness shown, 
 inestimable good was accomplished, the more 
 ignorant patients in their gratitude literally 
 worshiping their benefactors. 
 
 I regret that I cannot give fuller accounts 
 
172 MEDICAL MISSIONS. 
 
 of the noble work done by our medical mis- 
 sionaries, some of whom I have not even 
 named. 
 
 In regard to medical missions in Japan, I 
 think it is the general feeling that the need 
 is far less than in many other fields. This 
 is mainly because a corps of Japanese phy- 
 sicians of fairly high order is being trained 
 in the government schools. The general 
 readiness of the people to listen to Chris- 
 tian preaching also bears upon this question. 
 
 The excellency of the Japanese physicians 
 makes it imperative that the missionary phy- 
 sicians who do go there should have thorough 
 qualifications. Such physicians can become 
 the leaders and advisers of the native doctors 
 in the treatment of difficult diseases, and 
 especially in questions of public sanitation, 
 as is exemplified in the work of the mission- 
 ary physicians now on the ground. They 
 also give great impetus to the medical treat- 
 ment of the poor. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 In Japan woman lias never been relegated 
 to the extremely secluded and degraded po- 
 sition she occupies in India, Turkey, and 
 China. As a rule, she has been treated 
 with kindness, and the wife and mother es- 
 pecially have been freer and more respected 
 among the Japanese than among any other 
 Asiatic people. That her position has been 
 different from that accorded to her in 
 Ajnerica may be gathered from a few ex- 
 tracts from a famous and popular work en- 
 titled " She Great Learning for Women." I 
 foUow Professor Chamberlain's translation. 
 
 " Seeing that it is a girl's destiny, on reach- 
 ing womanhood, to go to a new home, and 
 live in submission to her father-in-law and 
 mother - in - law, it is even more incumbent 
 upon her than it is on a boy to receive 
 with all reverence her parents' instructions. 
 Should her parents, through excess of ten- 
 derness, allow her to grow up self-willed, 
 
174 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 she will infallibly sliow herself capricious in 
 her husband's house, and thus alienate his 
 affection, while, if her father-in-law be a 
 man of correct principles, the girl will find 
 the yoke of these principles intolerable ; she 
 will hate and decry her father-in-law, and 
 the end will be dismissal from her husband's 
 house, and the covering of herself with 
 ignominy." '' The only qualities that befit 
 a woman are gentle obedience, chastity, 
 mercy, and quietness." "The customs of 
 antiquity did not allow men and women to 
 sit in the same apartment, to keep their 
 wearing apparel in the same place, or to 
 transmit to each other anything directly 
 from hand to hand." 
 
 "After marriage, her chief duty is to 
 honor her father-in-law and mother-in-law." 
 " On every point must she inquire^f them, 
 and abandon herself to their direction." 
 " The great life-long duty of a woman is 
 obedience : when the husband issues his 
 instructions, the wife must never disobey 
 them. In doubtful cases, she should inquire 
 of her husband, and obediently follow his 
 commands." "A woman should look upon 
 her husband as heaven itself, and never 
 weary of thinking how she may yield to her 
 
A WIFE'S DUTIES. 175 
 
 husband, and thus escape celestial castiga- 
 tion." " She must value her father-in-law 
 and mother-in-law even more than her own 
 parents, and tend them with all filial piety. 
 Her visits, also, to the paternal house, should 
 be rare after marriage." " She must sew 
 her father-in-law's and mother-in-law's gar- 
 ments, and make ready their food. Ever 
 attentive to the requirements of her hus- 
 band, she must fold his clothes, dust his 
 rug, rear his children, wash what is dirty, 
 be constantly in the midst of her household, 
 and never go abroad but of necessity." 
 
 " The five worst maladies that afflict the 
 female mind are : indocility, discontent, 
 slander, jealousy, and silliness. Without 
 any doubt, these five maladies infest seven 
 or eight out of every ten women, and it is 
 from these that arises the inferiority of 
 women to men. A woman should cure 
 them by self-inspection and self-reproach. 
 The worst of them all, and the parent of 
 the other four, is silliness. Woman's nature 
 is passive [literally, shade']. This passive- 
 ness, being of the nature of night, is dark. 
 Hence, as viewed from the standard of man's 
 nature, the foolishness of woman fails to un- 
 derstand the duties that lie before her very 
 
176 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 eyes." " Sucli is the stupidity of her char- 
 acter that it is incumbent on her in every 
 particular to distrust herself, and to obey 
 her husband." " We are told that it was 
 the custom of the ancients, on the birth of a 
 female child, to let it lie on the floor for 
 the space of three days. Even in this may 
 be seen the likening of the man to heaven, 
 and of the woman to earth ; and the cus- 
 tom should teach a woman how necessary it 
 is for her in everything to yield to her hus- 
 band the first, and to be herself content with 
 the second place." 
 
 The prevailing religion added its weight 
 to these teachings. According to Buddhism, 
 women are greater sinners than men, hardly 
 knowing the difference between truth and 
 falsehood. Only men can enter Nirvana, or 
 become Buddhas. Even the merciful Ami- 
 tabha can take women to his paradise only 
 by first changing them to men. " A nun of 
 a hundred years' experience must bow rev- 
 erently before every monk, even though he 
 be ordained only on this day." In this life, 
 woman must obey her father in childhood, 
 her husband in wedlock, her son in her 
 widowhood. Professor Chamberlain, writing 
 in 1890, said : " At the present moment, the 
 
A GIRL'S education: 177 
 
 greatest duchess or marchioness in the land 
 is still her husband's drudge. She fetches 
 and carries for him ; bows down humbly in 
 the hall when my lord sallies forth ; w^aits 
 upon him at his meals." Under the old 
 regime^ she could not hold property, or 
 become the head of the family ; the latter 
 honor she often yielded to her unweaned son. 
 She must be ready cheerfully to receive her 
 husband's concubine into her house ; she 
 could be divorced for any one of seven rea- 
 sons, — really at her husband's will ; and 
 she was often sold into brothels, by parents, 
 foster-parents, husband, or brother. 
 
 With such ideas prevailing as to woman's 
 nature and position, it goes without saying, 
 that but little attention was given to female 
 education. The common term for education 
 — a term not yet obsolete — excluded girls. 
 It was shitei no kyoihii^ " the education of 
 the son and younger brother," that is, of 
 the young males of the house. There were 
 '' sewing-schools " for girls, in which also 
 the above-mentioned " Great Learning for 
 Women," simple epistolary writing, various 
 polite ceremonies, such as arranging flowers 
 and making ceremonial tea, and occasionally 
 a little flower -painting, music and verse- 
 
178 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 making were taught. Excepting those rare 
 cases in which the daughters of a samurai 
 house studied with her brothers at home, 
 that was all there was of female education. 
 The woman might love and serve; she was 
 not expected to know. She accepted this 
 subordinate position with the utmost sweet- 
 ness and grace. She has been content not 
 to know, and to be regarded as not knowing. 
 Such being her position, what has Christi- 
 anity done, what is it doing, for her ? First, 
 the position of equal and companion to her 
 husband, publicly and privately accorded the 
 wife in the nearly two hundred missionary 
 families, has been a great object-lesson. 
 That chivalrous idea, born of Christianity, 
 which impels the husband, as the physically 
 stronger, to consider the wife, to anticipate 
 her wants, to relieve her as far as possible 
 from labor and anxiety, has been unknown 
 to the Japanese. This concrete manifesta- 
 tion of it is a revelation to them. In its 
 presence the wife, who was not only re- 
 garded as an inferior, but, from lack of 
 education, was not in reality the equal and 
 companion of her husband, and did not 
 want to be, was stimulated to a new thirst 
 for knowledge ; and it was one of the com- 
 
''SHE TALKS LIKE A MANr 179 
 
 mon experiences of teachers In girls' schools 
 to have married women, even those with 
 children, apply for admittance. At this 
 moment there is a lady of wealth, formerly 
 a pupil in a mission school, who is in this 
 country for a year or more, away from her 
 husband, away from her young children, 
 that she may learn more of the wife's du- 
 ties. And to the man who saw the wife's 
 position in the family, sitting at the same 
 table with her husband, helped to food be- 
 fore him, passing through a door before 
 him, ready and prepared to teach his classes 
 in his absence, reading the same books and 
 periodicals, etc., many new thoughts would 
 occur, and he would be ready, not only to 
 second his wife's efforts for improvement, 
 but also to accord to her a hitherto unknown 
 dignity and freedom. Some of the families 
 in which both husband and wife have had 
 a Christian training have in turn become 
 most worthy models themselves. 
 
 Again, the character of our missionary 
 ladies has made a profound impression. 
 Their intelligence, their interest in affairs, 
 their independent, self-sacrificing lives, their 
 teaching abilities, their executive powers, 
 have had an incalculable influence. " Why, 
 
180 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 she talks like a man," was the comment of 
 a male eavesdropper, at one of the earliest 
 meetings of one of our ladies. As Miss 
 Bacon, in her excellent book, " Japanese 
 Girls and Women," truly says of the Japa- 
 nese woman, " She has no career or vocation 
 open to her ; her duties must always be 
 either within the house, or on the farm." 
 The thought of her doing anything for her 
 sex, or for any part of the outside world, 
 especially of her uniting with other women 
 for that purpose, was as foreign to her as 
 the idea of color to the blind. 
 
 But here were ladies, unmarried as well 
 as married, — hundreds of them, — leaving 
 home and kindred and country to teach and 
 help their sisters of another race and nation. 
 How insensibly and powerfully this fact 
 has wrought upon their ideals of woman- 
 hood ! In the hearts of how many girls has 
 it awakened high and holy ambition ! 
 
 In the spring of 1887, in an inland city, 
 four girls, the daughters of samurai parents, 
 bound themselves together by an oath to use 
 all possible means to induce their parents 
 to allow them to attend a mission school 
 for girls, and, in the event of failure, to 
 commit suicide. In this covenant, these 
 
A COVENANT KEPT. 181 
 
 children of fifteen years showed the very 
 spirit of their class. Two of them, in the 
 bitterness of disappointment, put an end to 
 their lives. A third, for whom a marriage 
 had been arranged, confided her purpose of 
 suicide to her uncle, a Christian physician, 
 who gently led her to the Saviour. She 
 gave up her suicidal intent, acceded to the 
 demands of her parents that she marry the 
 husband provided for her, and, although cut 
 off from intercourse with Christians, was, 
 at the last reports, a faithful follower of 
 Christ. The fourth one alone, by the Chris- 
 tian doctor's entreaties, was permitted to 
 carry out her purpose of securing an educa- 
 tion and becoming a teacher. 
 
 Moved by the same ambition, how many 
 have consecrated themselves to the task of 
 enlightening and elevating their sex ? The 
 hundreds who are studying and the scores 
 who are teaching in our girls' schools to- 
 day give answer. From earnest students in 
 Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, and 
 similar institutions, who received their first 
 inspiration in mission schools, comes the 
 same reply. These glowing hearts and 
 trained minds are among the brightest tro- 
 phies of mission work in Japan. 
 
182 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 Once more : the good done by direct in- 
 struction in mission schools, in families, as 
 evangelists, and as advisers to the churches, 
 has been very great. In 1890 the number 
 of these schools for girls was fifty-one, their 
 pupils aggregating 4,249. These include 
 not only the ordinary schools for girls, but 
 also special schools in which older women 
 are trained as nurses for the sick, kinder- 
 gartners, and evangelists ; and their good 
 results are greatly enhanced by the way in 
 which the ladies follow and assist their pu- 
 pils after they leave the schools. 
 
 A few of these schools have been in opera- 
 tion for twenty years, a large proportion of 
 them for ten years. A simple arithmetical 
 process will indicate the number of girls 
 who have thus been influenced, the number 
 of homes that have been reached. These 
 schools have been criticised, and, with so 
 much that was new and untried to the teach- 
 ers, it would have been a miracle if they had 
 been beyond criticism. When such great 
 changes were being effected, it was inevitable 
 that the faultless and lifeless symmetry of 
 the past should be disturbed, and that to 
 the conservative Japanese the girls should 
 seem brusque, conceited, forward. These 
 
THE WORTH OF WOMEN. 183 
 
 are failings which the rising generation of 
 the other sex has not wholly escaped. 
 They are defects which time will do much 
 to remedy, and which affect in no way the 
 solid good accomplished. It should be re- 
 marked in passing, that the schools for girls 
 established by the government in recent 
 years have been even more severely criti- 
 cised by the Japanese newspapers than have 
 the mission schools. But that most faith- 
 ful and effective work has been done in 
 these government schools is beyond question. 
 The personal Christian influence of Mrs. 
 Straight, Miss Bacon, the Misses Pierce, 
 and other ladies employed in these schools, 
 it is a great pleasure to recognize. 
 
 Finally, we must note the influence — im- 
 plicit in all those previously named — of the 
 Christian doctrine of the worth of woman as 
 the immortal child of God, and a member 
 of that church in which there can be neither 
 Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor fe- 
 male. This is the thought which impels for- 
 ward the Christians — native and foreign — 
 who are laboring for female education in 
 Japan. This gives them high vantage- 
 ground, not only over those who are indif- 
 ferent or opposed to female education, but 
 
184 CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD. 
 
 also over those who favor it simply on the 
 ground that educated men need educated 
 wives. This is the motive power of the 
 Christians who more than all others are la- 
 boring, on the platform and in legislative 
 halls, to abolish those social customs which 
 degrade and defile woman. Christianity, by 
 thus giving woman a greater sense of her 
 own powers, by im23arting to her the fructi- 
 fying truths of the Bible, and by imbuing 
 her with a nobler purpose, has already 
 proved itself to thousands of Japanese wo- 
 men a life-giving power. Go into any mis- 
 cellaneous assembly of Japanese women, and 
 you will find it an easy task to pick out the 
 Christians by their brighter, more thought- 
 ful, more purposeful faces. In the presence 
 of these noble and gracious Christian ladies, 
 the Japanese women represented by Sir Ed- 
 win Arnold's sensuous pen are as inferior as 
 they ought to be offensive. 
 
 Much of our most productive evangelistic 
 work is done by our lady missionaries. They 
 enter the houses with a freedom which is de- 
 nied to men, and in individual work possess 
 a tact, if not a devotion, which male mission- 
 aries do not always show. Not over their 
 own sex alone, but over men also, — men of 
 
SELF-SACRIFICE. 185 
 
 wealth and position, merchants, physicians, 
 judges, and others, as well as over the more 
 lowly, — has their influence been potent. 
 Some of these are the most valued advisers 
 and helpers of the Japanese churches and 
 pastors. As illustrating this, the following 
 incident, hitherto unknown beyond a very 
 narrow circle, may be given. A certain 
 church was deeply in debt for its building. 
 Plans made for the liquidation of the debt 
 failed, and the church, burdened and dis- 
 heartened, went to one of our young ladies. 
 After a long consultation, she told them that 
 she could see only one way of escaj^e, and 
 that was by their going home and sacrifi- 
 cing, not something which they lightly val- 
 ued, but some one thing that they prized 
 more than other things. When they had 
 gone, realizing the demands which she had 
 made ujDon them, she asked herself, " Am I 
 willing to take to myself the advice I have 
 given them? What do I specially value 
 that I am willino^ to make an offerino^ of ? " 
 She was an ardent lover of music, and the 
 question came, " Can I give up my piano? " 
 The result was the sale of the piano, and 
 the speedy lifting of the debt by their united 
 self-sacrifice. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LITEEATURE. 
 
 Christians are to be followers of Christ, 
 and even in methods of work they can often 
 do best by closely following- in his footsteps. 
 But we should seek to live by the principles 
 which governed his life, and to adapt them 
 to our greatly different circumstances, rather 
 than to make his words and deeds a pattern 
 to be exactly and slavishly copied. That 
 the church has ever so regarded Christian 
 discipleship finds an excellent illustration in 
 the use which it makes and ever has made 
 of literature. 
 
 Our Lord wrote nothing himself, and there 
 is no record of a command to his disciples 
 to write ; yet from the days of Paul's first 
 letters the written or printed page has stood 
 next in power to the living voice. The mod- 
 ern missionary is not behind others in the 
 value which he places upon Christian liter- 
 ature. In a country with a government 
 hostile to Christianity as Japan was down 
 
DOUBLE-POINTED PENS. 187 
 
 to less than twenty years ago, literature plays 
 a peculiarly important part. A book can 
 go where a missionary cannot. Ease of 
 concealment makes its reception possible by 
 those who would not dare to harbor a mis- 
 sionary. It can speak where he is voiceless. 
 
 Nor did the special need of a Christian 
 literature pass away with the hostility of the 
 government. As elsewhere pointed out, re- 
 strictions as to residence and travel by all 
 foreigners still exist, while the book, news- 
 paper, and magazine have free course. The 
 author of a tract speaks through it to thou- 
 sands whom he may never see. 
 
 That classical Chinese is easily read by 
 Japanese scholars is a fortunate fact, which 
 the early missionaries in Japan made wise 
 use of. The missionaries in China had al- 
 ready created a considerable literature, and 
 this was freely drawn upon for use in Japan. 
 " The faithful authors of this literature were 
 little aware that, while working for the sal- 
 vation of China, they had been, as it were, 
 writing with a double-pointed pen and work- 
 ing for Japan as well. They had unwit- 
 tingly been doing a work which, in the 
 providence of God, was to be twice blessed. 
 The sale of these books was very suitable 
 
188 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 employment for beginners, since it could be 
 clone without an extensive knowledge of the 
 language. At Nagasaki, on one occasion, a 
 shipment of four large cases of these books 
 was purchased and paid for in bulk as it 
 arrived." 
 
 The Bible and many tracts in the Chinese 
 language were thus circulated long before 
 any translations into Japanese were made. 
 The influence of these books was immense. 
 As is well known, it was one or two small 
 volumes of this Chinese literature which 
 filled a young man with an unquenchable 
 desire to visit America, and thus gave to the 
 world that apostle of Japan, Joseph Hardy 
 Neesima. One of the most useful of these 
 books was the Tendo Sogen (" Evidences of 
 Christianity"), by Rev. Dr. Martin, now head 
 of the Imperial College at Peking, but at 
 the time of its preparation actively engaged 
 in missionary work. Its author, possessing 
 a profound acquaintance with the thought of 
 China, and so of the thought of Japan 
 which was a development of it, presented 
 Christianity in a light which made it almost 
 irresistible. An ilhistration of the power of 
 this book may be of interest. In the spring 
 of 1875, one of our number spent a month 
 
TENDO SOGEN, 189 
 
 in Kyoto. While here he met the blind 
 Yamamoto elsewhere referred to as joint 
 founder with Neesima of the Doshisha, and 
 still one of its most influential trustees. 
 Mr. Neesima, who visited the city a little 
 later, thus writes : — 
 
 " Dr. was at the same time in Kyoto 
 
 for his health, and made himself acquainted 
 with Yamamoto, the adviser of the vice- 
 governor. I suppose he did not say much 
 to him about Christianity, but gave him 
 simply a copy of Tendo Sogen. It is a 
 most interesting and convincing work. It 
 has done more in Japan in converting men 
 than the Bible itself, for they find the Bible 
 very difficult to understand, and often stum- 
 ble at some biblical statements, not being 
 able to see their real meaning. Teiido So- 
 gen is just the thing to meet and challenge 
 our educated and sceptical minds to pay 
 attention to gospel truth and seek for life 
 and light. 
 
 "Dr. hit the right point by giving 
 
 this convincing work on Christianity to one 
 of our best-educated thinkers. I must tell 
 you more of this interesting man. He is 
 kept by the Kyoto government as a guest 
 and adviser. He is unable to walk, and is 
 
190 CHRISTIAX LITERATURE. 
 
 blind also, but liis mind is clear and sharp. 
 AYhen I called on hiiu, some time after he 
 
 received the work from Dr. , he told me 
 
 that it was an excellent book. ' It has done 
 me great good,' he said. 'It has cleared 
 away my doubts in regard to Christianity, 
 and has also solved a hard problem that I 
 have kept in mind for many years. In my 
 younger days I thought I must render to 
 my country some service, and so I devoted 
 myself to military tactics : but afterwards I 
 found that that was not enou2:h to do a real 
 service to the country ; so I gave myself to 
 jurisprudence, hoping that through my effort 
 the people might be more justly treated. 
 But after careful observation I found there 
 was a certain limit to jurisprudence. The 
 law could say that the people must not come 
 beyond such a limit, but they could not be 
 kept up unless there were severe restriction. 
 As soon as the restriction is removed, the 
 people go beyond the limit. They do steal, 
 lie, murder, etc., whenever they can. The 
 law could not prevent their thinking evil in 
 their hearts. The law could condemn or 
 justify their outward but not their inward 
 actions. 
 
 " ' Now I rejoice that I have found the 
 
A PROBLEM SOLVED. 191 
 
 means to solve my hard problem. Christian- 
 ity alone can reach and renovate the very 
 spring of the human heart. The day has 
 dawned upon me, so that I can see the path 
 which was utterly unknown to me, and for 
 which I have been unconsciously seeking. ' " 
 
 Later, several translations of this book 
 into the language of the common people 
 were made. One of them was by Naka- 
 mura Masanao, one of Japan's most famous 
 scholars. When Viscount Arinori Mori went 
 as ambassador to China he carried a copy of 
 this translation as a present to the author 
 from the translator .^ 
 
 Among the many other useful books thus 
 introduced from China, Dr. Williamson's 
 " Natural Theology," and Rev. Ernest Fa- 
 ber's "Commentaries on the Gospels," and 
 his discussions of Confucianism, deserve 
 special mention. 
 
 But, valuable as this Chinese literature 
 was for Japanese scholars, it was as a sealed 
 book to the great body of the people. 
 Hence the creation of a Jaj)anese Christian 
 
 1 Dr. Martin has told me that when Viscount Mori spoke 
 of this at a banquet in Peking-, he (Dr. M.) suddenly- 
 asked him if he were a Christian. The viscount gave 
 the characteristic reply : " I endeavor to live so that men 
 may think I am a Christian." 
 
192 CHRIST J AN LITERATURE. 
 
 literature has been from the earliest times a 
 constant purpose. Owing to the difficulties 
 of the language, and especially of the Chi- 
 nese characters, missionaries employ Japa- 
 nese writers, and do not attempt writing their 
 books themselv^es. Japanese authors even 
 often employ professional writers. Some mis- 
 sionaries write out their thoughts in English, 
 and have them translated. A more common 
 way has been to talk one's thoughts into a 
 Japanese writer, much as one might into 
 a phonograph, and let him put them in liter- 
 ary form. The process differs from the use 
 of a phonograph in that, instead of coming 
 out exactly as it went in, the easy and free 
 colloquial is transformed into stiff and stilted 
 written language. The author finds his 
 thoughts clothed In words he never heard of 
 before, and he is incredulous when told that 
 they have the same meaning as those he had 
 used. Then there is pretty sure to follow a 
 struggle between the author, who pleads 
 strongly, perhaps unduly so, for a simple 
 form of the written language, and the writer, 
 who is unwilling to endanger his literary rep- 
 utation by writing a book that everybody 
 can read. He says, and says truly, that his 
 intelligent fellow-countrymen will refuse to 
 
A FINE SERMON. 193 
 
 read a book which gives no evidence of Chi- 
 nese scholarship. And so the missionary 
 author attempts to steer his untried craft so 
 as to avoid the Scylla of iLamhun — high 
 Chinese which nobody can read — and the 
 Charybdis of Kanabumi — easy, colloquial 
 writing which no one will read. Some books 
 have the two styles side by side ; others are 
 mixtures of the two in varying proportions. 
 This affectation of the Chinese lano^uas^e has 
 been and still is a great obstacle to the dif- 
 fusion of Christianity, and, indeed, of all 
 knowledge. A servant girl, who had just re- 
 turned from a meeting where one of our 
 most scholarly Japanese had preached, was 
 dilating upon the excellence of the sermon. 
 "What was the sermon about?" asked her 
 mistress. " Oh," she replied, " I have no 
 idea what it was about ; it is not for the like 
 of me to understand so fine a sermon as 
 that ! " One of our most scholarly mission- 
 aries says, that in preaching to a new audi- 
 ence he usually gives a few Chinese sen- 
 tences near the beginning of a sermon, to 
 show his educated hearers what he can do, 
 and then for the remainder of the sermon 
 uses easy language that every one can 
 understand. 
 
194 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Our earliest books and tracts were printed, 
 not from movable types, but from wooden 
 blocks. The author's written page was 
 pasted on a wooden block, three fourths of 
 an inch thick, and in area equal to the page. 
 The carver then cut away the surface of 
 the blocks, leaving the writing untouched. 
 Sheets of paper were then rubbed by hand 
 upon these blocks. The printed page was 
 thus ^fac simile of the author's autograph. 
 
 There is no space to speak of the myriads 
 of tracts which have been prepared and 
 scattered up and down the empire. Some 
 of these are adaptations of Chinese tracts ; 
 others are translations of tracts in Eng- 
 lish ; others still, original productions of 
 missionaries. Some of the very best and 
 most useful were prepared by our Japanese 
 ministers, nearly all of whom have tried 
 their hands at books, or tracts. Among the 
 most widely distributed and useful tracts, 
 Dr. Davis's Chiha Michi (Near Way), 
 Rev. K. Ibuka's Jesii Kyo Mondo (Dia- 
 logue about Christianity), and Rev. P. 
 Kanamori's '^ Three Great Doctrines," de- 
 serve mention. As a writer of easy but 
 acceptable books for the young, the Rev. N. 
 Tamura stands preeminent. A more learned 
 
PERIODICALS. 195 
 
 and more difficult grade introduces us to the 
 works of Messrs. Kozaki, Yokoi, Uemura, 
 and others. 
 
 A partial list of publications is given in 
 Appendix C. 
 
 In accordance with what has already been 
 said, where the name of a missionary is given 
 it is often understood that he has had Japa- 
 nese to assist him. 
 
 The American Tract Society and the 
 London Religious Tract Society have been 
 the ready and efficient assistants of the mis- 
 sions in the publication of books and tracts. 
 
 The influence of periodical literature has 
 been great. It began with the Shichi-IcJii 
 Za])j)o (" Weekly Messenger "), started by 
 the American Board's Mission in 1876, and 
 edited by Rev. O. H. Gulick. The Kiti- 
 siito Kyo Shimhun, of T5kyo, is its succes- 
 sor. For a long time it had the field en- 
 tirely to itself, but now all the leading 
 denominations have their organs. The first 
 paper for children, " Good Tidings," edited 
 by Mrs. E. R. Miller, and published by the 
 aid of the Foreign Sunday-school Society, 
 is stiU pursuing a successful career. 
 
 The first Christian magazine was the 
 Rihugo Zasshi (" The Cosmos "), edited and 
 
196 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 published by Kev. H. Kozaki, who ungrudg- 
 ingly gave to it his time, strength, and 
 means. He has had his reward in its wide in- 
 fluence, and in its present satisfactory finan- 
 cial condition. Other able writers like M. 
 Uemura and G. Takahashi in the early days 
 warmly supported Mr. Kozaki in the con- 
 duct of this magazine, and have since em- 
 ployed their practiced pens in other useful 
 channels. The editors of the influential 
 Jogdku ZassM (" Magazine of Female Edu- 
 cation ") and Keizai Zasshi ("Journal of 
 Political Economy") are Christians. Both 
 the editor and publisher of the most popular 
 magazine in Japan, " The Nation's Friend," 
 and the daily newspaper since associated 
 with it, are disciples of Dr. Neesima, and 
 trustees of the Doshisha University ; and 
 those periodicals are more or less pervaded 
 by Christian sentiments. 
 
 The progress in the production of a hym- 
 nology, if slow, has been substantial. The 
 Japanese, from our point of view, are not a 
 musical people, as might be inferred from 
 Miss Bacon's remark that " it is fortunate 
 that the musical art in Japan is limited to 
 women, priests, and blind men." A hymn- 
 book including two hundred and sixty-three 
 
TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 197 
 
 numbers, a large proportion of which are 
 translations of our standard hymns, was 
 published in 1890. The tunes set to these 
 hymns were printed in Japan. There are 
 a few adaptations of Japanese music ; the 
 remaininof tunes are those heard in the 
 churches of the United States. The hymns 
 are largely the work of Messrs. Okuno, 
 Uemura, Matsuyama, and Yerbeck. The 
 onerous task of preparing and publishing 
 the music was performed by the competent 
 hands of Rev. George Allchin. 
 
 The translation of the Bible occupied the 
 early attention of the missionaries. The 
 New Testament was translated by a commit- 
 tee organized in 1872. The most prominent 
 and permanent members of this committee 
 were J. C. Hepburn, M. D., Eev. S. R. 
 Brown, D. D., Rev. D. C. Greene, D. D., 
 and Rev. Messrs. Okuno and Matsuyama. 
 As may be inferred from preceding pages 
 of this chapter, their task was a delicate and 
 difficult one. That they performed it suc- 
 cessfully, avoiding both extremes of stiffness 
 and freedom, is clear from the fact that fif- 
 teen years of progress in Christian know- 
 ledge and experience has created no demand 
 for its revision. It also gave direction to 
 
198 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 the translation of the Old Testament, which 
 is the work of a larger circle of scholars. 
 The Japanese Bible is already exerting 
 something of the same influence over the 
 Japanese language which Luther's version 
 has had over the German tongue. 
 
 In the publication and circulation of the 
 Bible, the American Bible Society gave its 
 valuable aid almost from the very start. 
 Later, the British and Foreign Bible Society 
 and the National Bible Society of Scotland 
 have shared in this work. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DENOMINATIONALISM AND MISSIONS. 
 
 The unique condition of Japan during 
 the past quarter of a century has made it a 
 most attractive field to the various branches 
 of the church. It is doubtful whether the 
 world has ever seen or ever will see a more 
 striking exhibition of the absurdities of 
 Christian denominationalism ; more than 
 thirty different missionary societies, all 
 bearing the name of Christ, but each with 
 something peculiar in its character, its his- 
 tory, or its methods, working in one small 
 country, the majority of them in a single 
 city ! Is it any wonder that the Japanese 
 are puzzled, and ask, " Are there thirty 
 Christs ? " or, " Is only one of the thirty the 
 true Christ ? " Or that they reply to our 
 exhortations, "I will first study all, and 
 afterward decide which Christ I will follow." 
 
 Is it any wonder that the unsympathetic 
 foreign residents in the East regard mis- 
 sionaries as engaged in a general game of 
 
200 DENOMINATIONALISM. 
 
 grab, quite as ready to receive converts from 
 each other's ranks as from the unchristian 
 world about them ? Such a view is, how- 
 ever, very far from the truth. It may be 
 questioned whether so many distinct bodies, 
 engaged in the same occupation, ever before 
 worked together so harmoniously as do these 
 missions. Of course there have been cases 
 of misunderstanding, because there as every- 
 where men see different sides of the same 
 shield; and the adjustment of the relations 
 of the different missions, in some instances, 
 has not been free from friction. Of course, 
 also, there are sects which there as elsewhere 
 are largely parasitic in their manner of life. 
 But taking it all in all, the spirit shown has 
 been admirable. 
 
 At the very time of the writer's arrival 
 in 1872, when there was only one church, 
 and that but a few months old, the missiona- 
 ries of all denominations working in the land 
 (with perhaps one exception) had met in 
 convention, and were harmoniously planning 
 for the translation of the Bible, and the or- 
 ganization of native churches. 
 
 The result was, first, the early and excel- 
 lent translation of the New Testament, re- 
 ferred to at the close of the preceding 
 
CHURCHES OF CHRIST. 201 
 
 chapter. In regard to the organization of 
 churches, the following preamble and resolu- 
 tion were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 " Whereas the church of Christ is one in 
 Him, and the diversities of denominations 
 among Protestants are but accidents which, 
 though not affecting the vital unity of be- 
 lievers, do obscure the oneness of the church 
 in Christendom, and much more in pagan 
 lands, where the history of the divisions 
 cannot be understood, we, as Protestant 
 missionaries, desire to secure uniformity in 
 our modes and methods of evangelization, 
 so as to avoid as far as possible the evil 
 arising from marked differences. We there- 
 fore take this earliest opportunity offered 
 by this convention to agree that we will use 
 our influence to secure, as far as possible, 
 identity of name and organization in the 
 native churches, in the formation of which 
 we may be called to assist, that name being 
 as catholic as the church of Christ; and the 
 organization being that wherein the govern- 
 ment of each church shall be by the ministry 
 and eldership of the same, with the concur- 
 rence of the brethren." 
 
 This plan for forming simple churches of 
 Christ failed at the time, largely — must it 
 
202 DEN03II NATIONALISM. 
 
 be confessed ? — because some people at 
 home could n't count converts so easily ; but 
 the good spirit of the convention has fol- 
 lowed these missions down to the present 
 time. Great courtesy and consideration have 
 alwaj^s been the rule in the treatment of 
 each other. Local inter-denominational con- 
 ferences, union prayer-meetings, have been 
 regularly maintained, and union of effort 
 in evangelistic services frequent. One gen- 
 eral conference was held in 1883, in which 
 more than one hundred missionaries, repre- 
 senting twenty-two different societies, united 
 in discussing various features of missionary 
 work. This conference was attended by a 
 harmony and cordiality which greatly sur- 
 prised our Japanese friends, and was indeed 
 a surprise and gratification to ourselves. 
 
 While general organic union has not been 
 attained, important steps in that direction 
 have been taken. The results of the labors 
 of three Baptist missions will form but one 
 Baptist church. A similar union has been 
 effected by the two English and one Amer- 
 ican Episcopal missions. Six Presbyterian 
 missions have united in forming one church, 
 which has dropped the name Presbyterian 
 and gone back to the " Japanese Church of 
 
A DISASTROUS FAILURE. 203 
 
 Christ." It has also displaced the West- 
 minster and Heidelberg confessions by one 
 at once simple and orthodox. Beginning 
 about 1886, there was for several years a 
 strong movement for organic union between 
 this body and the ICmni-ai Kyokai^ the two 
 largest ecclesiastical bodies in the empire. 
 Its failure was regarded by most of the mis- 
 sionaries and «Japanese leaders as a great 
 calamity, not to say sin. It costs the Chris- 
 tians of America thousands of dollars annu- 
 ally ; the spiritual losses are immeasurable. 
 
 There has been talk of a Japanese na- 
 tional church freed of all connections with 
 foreign lands. Some have feared this, others 
 prayed for it. If wisely brought about, it 
 would be a great blessing. The hopes for it 
 are not now so great as formerly. The 
 Japanese Christians are apparently not so 
 favorable to it either as they formerly were, 
 or as the missionaries now are. Desire for 
 union is strongest either in the newly con- 
 verted or in the mature Christian. An in- 
 termediate stage of experience is the best 
 soil for the growth of the denominational 
 spirit. 
 
 As illustrating the mutual disposition of 
 even those bodies which have scarcely any 
 
204 DENOMINATIONALISM. 
 
 hope of uniting organically, I give the fol- 
 lowing minute adopted by all the missiona- 
 ries working in Central Japan, December 16, 
 1890: — 
 
 " The Protestant missionaries connected 
 with the Missionary Association of Central 
 Japan, whilst frankly acknowledging the dif- 
 ferences which separate them, heartily recog- 
 nize each other as loyal servants of the same 
 Master, as true members of the one body of 
 Christ, and as faithful allies In the common 
 work of Christianizing this empire. They 
 desire to thank God for the rapid growth 
 and development of the church ; for the in- 
 crease of foreign missionary laborers and 
 native pastors and evangelists, and for the 
 extension of aggressive evangelistic effort 
 throughout the country ; and in view of this 
 they deem it Important to place on record 
 for their own guidance, and for the conside- 
 ration of their Japanese brethren and other 
 fellow-workers, certain principles of mission 
 comity which. If acted upon, will, they be- 
 lieve, prevent friction, promote economy and 
 efficiency, and tend to further unity, peace, 
 and love amongst Christians generally. They 
 agree as follows : — 
 
 " 1. That in every department of work — 
 
COMITY. 205 
 
 evangelistic, pastoral, and educational — 
 Christ should be so supremely exalted as 
 the light of the world and the Saviour of 
 men, the head of his church and the life of 
 his people, as to make it impossible unduly to 
 magnify or emphasize the differences which 
 separate Christians, to the injury of spiritual 
 life in the church and the work of the Lord's 
 kingdom in the world, and that even when 
 it is necessary to teach distinctive principles 
 it should be done with a scrupulous regard 
 for the views held and taught by others. 
 
 " 2. That even when a city is occupied by 
 the missionaries of one society or church, 
 such considerations as its size and impor- 
 tance, its position as the centre of a district, 
 the advantages it affords as a place of re- 
 sidence for foreigners, and relations to church 
 members resident in it, may justify its occu- 
 pation by other missions ; and that, when 
 this is decided on, the members of the new 
 missions should be cordially welcomed as 
 friends and allies ; though, with a view to 
 establishing a good mutual understanding 
 from the first, the mission or missions al- 
 ready in occupation should be communicated 
 with, as a matter of Christian courtesy, and 
 their reasonable wishes respected. 
 
206 DENOMINATIONALISM. 
 
 " 3. That even where there is no evange- 
 listic agent in residence, when regular public 
 services are held on the Lord's day, it should 
 be regarded as occupied, and that in all such 
 cases where the pojDulation is less than five 
 thousand it is undesirable for a second mis- 
 sion or church to enter, unless for very- 
 urgent reasons, as being inconsistent with 
 economy in the distribution of missionary 
 forces for the speedy evangelization of the 
 country. 
 
 " 4. That when the same towns, cities, or 
 districts are occupied by different missions 
 or churches, every effort should be made to 
 locate their centres of work so as to reach as 
 far as possible different circles of hearers. 
 
 "5. That where work is carried on side 
 by side, no attempts should be made directly 
 or indirectly to induce Christians or Chris- 
 tian workers connected with one body to join 
 another, or to influence catechumens under 
 instruction in connection with one church or 
 mission to receive baptism in another ; and 
 that the greatest care should be taken not to 
 receive from another church a member in 
 good standing without the usual commenda- 
 tory letter, or a certificate of Christian char- 
 acter, or to recognize those under discipline 
 
MUTUAL CONFIDENCE. 207 
 
 in auotlier church without the fullest investi- 
 gation, nor until after direct communication 
 with the pastor or other responsible parties 
 concerned. 
 
 " 6. That W'hile it is unnecessary to in- 
 terfere with the freedom of jiarents in taking 
 their sons and daughters from one school or 
 college to place them in another, no scholar- 
 ship should be given or other payment made 
 to or in respect of students and pupils ad- 
 mitted from another missionary college or 
 school, unless, after conference, for special 
 reasons it is mutually agreed to be desirable. 
 
 " 7. That it would often prevent difficul- 
 ties in special cases if the parties concerned 
 would refer their differences to the decision 
 of brethren in whom they have mutual con- 
 fidence. 
 
 " 8. That as the location of Japanese 
 workers and the supervision of pastoral and 
 evangelistic w^ork will more and more pass 
 into Japanese hands, every effort should be 
 made to secure the adoption of the principles 
 laid down in this minute by the several 
 Japanese churches and missionary commit- 
 tees. 
 
 " In adopting these general principles and 
 recommendino^ them to the careful consider- 
 
208 DENOMINATIONALISM. 
 
 ation of all engaged in pastoral and evan- 
 gelistic work in this country, the missiona- 
 ries of Central Japan desire to emphasize 
 the j)aramount importance of mutual confi- 
 dence as the basis of all true harmony in 
 Christian work; and as this can only be 
 secured by friendly intercourse and frank 
 and unfettered expression of opinion on sub- 
 jects where different interests are involved, 
 in the mind and spirit of Christ, they heart- 
 ily welcome the opportunities afforded by 
 the meetings of this association, and cor- 
 dially recommend united meetings of the mis- 
 sionary committees of the several churches, 
 and similarly constituted bodies in the dis- 
 trict, as a means to this end, confidently 
 believing that Christian workers who are 
 living in daily communion with the Lord, by 
 whom they are commissioned, in whom they 
 are essentially one, and to whose glory all 
 their efforts are directed, will, as they know 
 each other better, endeavor to keep the unity 
 of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and help 
 to bring about the full realization of the 
 Lord's high-priestly prayer, ' That they all 
 may be one ; even as thou, Father, art in me 
 and I in thee, that they also may be one in 
 us; that the world may believe that thou 
 didst send me.' " 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 COMPARATIVE RELIGION AS A MATTER OF 
 EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Comparative religion has won for itself 
 a place in the galaxy of modern sciences. 
 Already has it thrown much light upon the 
 origin and development of religious ideas 
 and practices. By its help we understand 
 better than ever before the relation of Ju- 
 daism to other ancient forms of belief. Its 
 historical and comparative methods of study 
 have brought into clearer light the differ- 
 ences between Christianity and other exist- 
 ing religions. 
 
 It should not be forgotten that this is a 
 Christian science. It is so because it is a 
 product of Christian civilization, and because 
 it finds its impulse in that freedom of in- 
 quiry which Christianity fosters. Although 
 the church has often been unfaithful to 
 the spirit of its founder in this as in many 
 other respects, it still remains true that no- 
 where else than among Christian peoples 
 
210 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 have the inductive sciences found a hospi- 
 table home. And what is true of the sci- 
 ences in general is true of Comparative Re- 
 ligion in particular. It is now a part of the 
 course of instruction in many of the colleges 
 and theological seminaries of Christendom. 
 Many scholars are laboriously engaged in its 
 investigation, and in the periodical press as 
 well as upon the platform it is a frequent 
 subject of discussion. Such investigation and 
 discussion are unknown among non-Christian 
 peoples save where they have been excited 
 by the aggressiveness of Christian missions. 
 One obstacle to the real progress of the 
 science has been the imperfect and erro- 
 neous information which we have had con- 
 cerning the ethnic religions. The collection, 
 translation, and publication of the authen- 
 tic teachings of their founders, their sacred 
 books, have done much to remove this ob- 
 stacle. But even with these deliverances 
 of their religious teachers in our hands, we 
 are still a long way off from the thoughts 
 and governing motives of those who make 
 up the mass of their adherents. It is also 
 true that many have written on the subject 
 who have failed to divest themselves of the 
 preconceptions of Occidental and Christian 
 
TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE. 211 
 
 civilization, and their views are so colored 
 thereby as to be either valueless or posi- 
 tively misleading. For the science to reach 
 the absolute truth and to include all the 
 facts, which should be its aim, it is necessary 
 to know the relation which Christianity and 
 other religions bear to each other in the 
 minds of those who, while they may not 
 have studied their theoretical aspects, have 
 been at different times sincere believers and 
 followers of them. 
 
 Probably there is no better opportunity 
 to learn what Comparative Religion is, as 
 a matter of experience, than that which is 
 offered by the ordinary testimony of those 
 who come into Christian churches on mis- 
 sion fields after having spent a great j)art of 
 their lives under the influence and in the 
 practice of other religions. Examinations 
 for baptism are a frequent occasion of this 
 testimony. If there were only that given in 
 the open ports to foreigners who might be 
 easily deceived by adventurers expecting 
 some pecuniary gain, this testimony would 
 be of little value. But in Japan, in the 
 large proportion of cases, it is given to 
 native pastors and church-officers, foreign 
 missionaries being present only occasionally. 
 
212 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 It is given, too, in inland cities and towns 
 where confession of Christ frequently en- 
 tails business and social ostracism, and 
 sometimes downright persecution and pecu- 
 niary loss. Under such circumstances, there 
 is every reason to regard the testimony as 
 the genuine thought and experience of the 
 believer. The evidence of pastors and lay- 
 men, incidentally and unconsciously given, is 
 of equal validity. Unless I have lamentably 
 failed in my object, many pages of this 
 book bear witness to the incomparable power 
 of Christianity over the hearts and lives of 
 men. Some more definite reference to testi- 
 mony given, as described above, by those who 
 have spent many years in the belief and prac- 
 tice of Shintoism and Buddhism, or in the 
 study of Confucianism, may be of interest. 
 I have in mind definite persons and occa- 
 sions. The witnesses include men and wo- 
 men, some young and others of mature age. 
 They embrace those who greatly differ from 
 each other in scholarship, wealth, rank, and 
 position in the community. Some have 
 written brief statements of their religious 
 history, more testimony has been given in 
 response to tlie multiplied and varied ques- 
 tions of pastors and their associates during 
 
THE BURDEN OF SIN. 213 
 
 protracted examinations. In most cases 
 whore the foreigner is present, although a 
 deeply interested spectator, he has been a 
 silent one. As scarcely one of the witnesses 
 had ever heard of the science of Compara- 
 tive Religion, their testimony is all the more 
 valuable, because of its unstudied spon- 
 taneity. It is explicit upon such points as 
 these : — 
 
 Christianity brings a sense of sin tvhich 
 the other 7'ellf/lons named above do not pro- 
 duce. There often has been an intellectual 
 recognition of the fact of sin and its conse- 
 quences, but a powerful impression of it as a 
 personal burdcm is not common. One old 
 lady testified that she had hardly thought of 
 herself as a sinner, until she began to hear 
 this "new way." Then her sins stood up 
 before her in strong condemnation. A 
 young lady, a teacher in the public schools, 
 referring to her parents' unwillingness that 
 she should become a Christian, said that 
 they consented only when told that she 
 could not otherwise get rid of her newly- 
 felt burden of sin. Although there are ex- 
 ceptional cases, one of which will be given 
 later, it is the general testimony of Japanese 
 Christians that their knowledge of Christi- 
 
214 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 anity brings a hitherto unknown sense of 
 sin. 
 
 Christianity alone brings true repentance. 
 If the old religious bring no adequate sense 
 of sin, how can they produce a genuine re- 
 pentance ? The fear of punishment is gen- 
 eral, and often clearly defined, but a deep 
 personal loathing of sin is practically un- 
 known. Often repentance is the strangest 
 and strongest element of the believer's ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Christianity alone aivakens a true spirit 
 of prayer. If no sense of sin and no deep 
 repentance, true prayer by sinful man is im- 
 possible. *' Before I became a Christian I 
 prayed for temporal blessings only, for 
 health, for children, for business prosperity. 
 I never prayed for spiritual blessings. I 
 did not pray for others." 
 
 Christianity alone brings the knowledge 
 that God is our leather. Some sects of 
 Buddhists teach that all prayer is useless ; 
 practically, the followers of both Buddhism 
 and Shi utoism worship many beings. Among 
 scholars the idea of a Supreme Kuler, though 
 not his worship, is common. Christianity 
 alone teaches that this " Supreme Ruler " is 
 our Father, and that we are his children. 
 
PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST. 215 
 
 " Why is God called our Father ? " " Be- 
 cause his love is greater than a human par- 
 ent's love." 
 
 In his 'person and worh Christ is unique. 
 The doctrine of the incarnation once for 
 all, of " the only begotten Son " of the One 
 God, is infinitely removed from the count- 
 less transmigrations and manifestations of 
 the innumerable buddhas. In its freedom 
 from sin, and in its perfection as a model, 
 Christ's life is superior to all others. 
 " Neither Buddha nor Confucius taught of 
 an atonement, and some object to Christian- 
 ity because of the Cross ; but I regard the 
 doctrine of the Cross as the chief excellence 
 of Christianity." " To my mind the peculiar 
 doctrine of Christianity, the one that shows 
 most clearly that it is divine, is the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ." The military officer spoken 
 of in chapter ix., who found a New Testa- 
 ment in the bay of Nagasaki in 1854, said, 
 when at conscious risk to himself and family 
 he was baptized twelve years later, " Sir, I 
 cannot tell you my feelings, when for the 
 first time I read the account of the charac- 
 ter and work of Jesus Christ. I had never 
 seen, or heard, or imagined such a person. 
 I was filled with admiration, overwhelmed 
 
216 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 with emotion, and taken captive by the 
 record of his nature and life." 
 
 Concerning the unique influence of the 
 person of Christ the following account, writ- 
 ten for a friend by a prominent member of 
 the Kumamoto Band (see ch. v.) of his ex- 
 periences in Captain Janes's school, is evi- 
 dence in point. 
 ^ " We began the Bible. I remember we 
 
 began with the Gospel of John. We read 
 on, finished John and began Luke. And 
 gradually, as sure as the penetrating influ- 
 ences of the morning sun, the consciousness 
 that I stood before a Great Personality 
 dawned in my heart. We had learned al- 
 ready from the study of the sciences that 
 there was a God, and when I came to ad- 
 mire the person of Jesus and his sayings, I 
 found myself without any effort on my part 
 a follower of Jesus and a believer in him as 
 my Saviour. I began to pray to him. I be- 
 gan to understand the scriptures. I began 
 to speak about him to my friends. I was 
 not alone. Soon the whole school of one hun- 
 dred young men were exercised to the very 
 bottom of their hearts with the question of 
 Christianity and its claims. . . . Then like 
 a crash the hand of persecution fell on me. 
 
A FIERY TRIAL. 217 
 
 One day when I returned home from school 
 my mother very decidedly informed me that 
 if I did not renounce Christianity, she was 
 going to commit suicide that very evening. 
 My father had been assassinated because he 
 was supposed to be a believer in Christian- 
 ity, and his friends told my mother that if 
 her son became a Christian the stain on the 
 father's name could never be washed away. 
 ... It was a terrible trial, but I asked for 
 a little respite of three days that I might re- 
 consider the claims of Christianity. I said 
 I was willing to abandon it, if I could see 
 that it was not true. So it went on. They 
 used every means in their power to change 
 my mind. But the Unseen Hand was above 
 us all and led me. After three months I got 
 permission to go to the government college 
 in Tokyo, and a year later I entered the 
 theological school in Ky5to. . . . My mother 
 is a Christian now rejoicing in her faith." 
 
 Christianity alone teaches a certain and 
 present forgiveness of sin. Buddhism pro- 
 mises deliverance from the miseries of this 
 world and from the chain of transmigra- 
 tions at death rather than present forgive- 
 ness of sin. This is illustrated in the fol- 
 lowing story of one of those exceptional 
 
218 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 cases, where sin is felt as a burden before 
 Christianity has been received. 
 
 Several years ago, the Japanese pastor of 
 a church in an inland city showed in my 
 presence a white outer garment which had 
 been the property of a woman, who was 
 then a parishioner of his. It was the kind 
 of garment that is seen on religious pilgrims, 
 and is often put upon persons as death ap- 
 proaches or when the body is prepared for 
 cremation. This one was literally covered 
 by inscriptions of Buddhist formulas, and by 
 the impressions made by the seals of the 
 many temples she had visited, in the hope of 
 finding assurance of salvation. But these 
 pilgrimages and inscriptions brought her no 
 peace of mind. All that the priests could 
 do, she said, was to promise a probable fu- 
 ture forgiveness. It was not until she heard 
 the words of Jesus, " Thy sins are forgiven 
 thee," that she found rest and peace. Then 
 she was ready to burn her white garment, 
 but finally consented to give it to her pastor. 
 In this new-found faith and peace, as I have 
 recently been told by tbe pastor, she lived 
 and died. 
 
 Chi'istianity makes loving service to man- 
 kind more prominent than other religions. 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD. 219 
 
 " Thou slialt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 " Love your enemies." 
 
 Christianiti/ s doctrine of this world is 
 superior. Buddhism makes this a world of 
 misery to be escaped from. Strictly speak- 
 ing only those are Buddhists who have " aban- 
 doned the world " and become monks or 
 nuns. Christianity makes this world the 
 sphere of duty to both clergy and laity, and 
 so impels to progress and reform as Bud- 
 dhism does not. 
 
 Christianity's doctrine of a future life 
 is more rational and consistent than that 
 of other religions. Neither Shintoism nor 
 Confucianism has any clear doctrine of a 
 future life. The oldest Buddhist books 
 deny it altogether ; the later books tell of an 
 inconceivably sensuous heaven. 
 
 Christianity alone has a Sunday ; a 
 fixed day for physical rest and worship). 
 " Sunday is a day for spiritual culture, for 
 cleansing our hearts by meditation, Bible 
 reading, and prayer." 
 
 Christianity p)^^^^^ woman in a higher 
 position and gives a higher ideal of mar- 
 riage. In the civilization produced by these 
 other religions, marriage is arranged by the 
 parents, mutual affection before marriage is 
 
220 COMPARATIVE RELIGION. 
 
 not thought of, and the parties often have 
 no choice but to obey the parents' wishes. 
 Gross immorality, concubinage, or repeated 
 previous marriages on the part of the hus- 
 band, make no difference. Christianity 
 alone limits divorce to one cause, and grants 
 it to the wife, as well as to the husband, 
 for that cause. Christianity alone makes the 
 wife her husband's equal. This thought has 
 already given a new impetus to female edu- 
 cation in Japan. 
 
 Finally^ Christianity alone is a living re- 
 ligion. Grant freely all the good that is in 
 other religions. It is practically powerless. 
 They are shihutsu, " dead things," is the 
 often repeated assertion of our Japanese 
 preachers; Christianity by its fruits shows 
 that it has its Master's life within it. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SHIN NIPPON. 
 
 To those accustomed to listen to Japan- 
 ese sermons and addresses, the two phrases 
 not strictly religious which become most 
 familiar from constant repetition are, hum- 
 mei (civilization), and Shin Nipjjon (New 
 Japan). There are no prophecies of the 
 coming of a new nation, no arguments to 
 prove an impending national regeneration ; 
 it is always taken for granted that the new 
 nation is already here and to stay. The 
 only questions which the speakers raise are, 
 " How complete shall the regeneration be? " 
 '* What shall be the permanent characteris- 
 tics of the new nation ? " " What privileges 
 and responsibilities does this new material 
 civilization, which is already here, and which 
 to many seems all-sufficient, bring to Chris- 
 tian men and women, of spirit and patriot- 
 ism?" 
 
 It is not strange that this civilization daz- 
 zles the minds of the Japanese, as a brief 
 
222 SHIN NIPPON. 
 
 glaDce at it will show. Less than twenty-five 
 years ago, the usurping shogun's government 
 was overthrown, the Tenshi restored to im- 
 perial power, and Japan started definitely 
 and determinedly on the course of progress. 
 Since that time, fifteen hundred miles of 
 railway have been laid down and put in 
 operation. At first, this untried work was 
 wisely placed under foreign supervision ; 
 now, excellent railroads, including tunnels of 
 considerable length, are built by Japanese 
 engineers. Rails, engines, and cars are 
 made in Japan, though the increase in the 
 mileage of the roads being more rapid than 
 that of the capacity of the shops, the impor- 
 tation of these materials still continues. A 
 very few foreign advisers are still retained, 
 but both freight and passenger traffic are 
 under native management. 
 
 Two thousand miles of telephone, and 
 more than twenty thousand miles of tele- 
 graph, have been built since 1870. An ex- 
 cellent corps of operators has been trained, 
 and the telegraph is used for weather re- 
 ports just as it is in the United States. 
 
 Within the same period, a postal system 
 excelling our own in many respects (e. g. 
 universal delivery, return postal cards, pos- 
 
MATERIAL PROGRESS. 223 
 
 tal savings banks) has been created. There 
 are now fifty thousand miles of postal roads, 
 and one hundred and forty million pieces of 
 mail matter go through the domestic mails 
 annually. Their first foreign postal treaty 
 was made with the United States in 1873 ; 
 now two million pieces of mail matter go 
 through the foreign department each year. 
 
 In 1868, Japan's imports amounted to 
 110,693,072; in 1890, they were 181,728,581. 
 The exports for 1868 were $15,553,473 ; for 
 1890, 156,603,506. (Silver is the basis in 
 every case.) 
 
 Japan reports an army of 245,528, of 
 which about 60,000 are with the colors. 
 On visiting its military college, General 
 Grant wrote : '' One of the foremost of simi- 
 lar institutions which I have seen in the 
 world." The Navy Department reports 
 11,634 officers and men, and 34 men-of-war, 
 with a tonnage (French) of 55,276, and 
 70,065 horse -power. The military appro- 
 priation for 1890 was $13,413,000 ; that of 
 the navy $6,911,813. 
 
 There are one hundred and eleven light- 
 houses, supj)lied with all modern improve- 
 ments, in addition to light-ships, beacons, 
 buoys, and other protective arrangements 
 
 ■i$- 
 
224 SHIN NIPPON. 
 
 for navigation. " Japanese warships have 
 undertaken many soundings, harbor meas- 
 urements, and other labors, whose results 
 have been made permanent in valuable 
 charts, so that," to continue in the words 
 of Dr. Eein, " in this respect also the Hi-no- 
 maru (circle of the sun) that is, the national 
 flag, with a red sun in a white field, need 
 not hide its folds." 
 
 Engaged in the coasting trade are 1,407 
 ships of foreign pattern, with a tonnage of 
 141,144; and 637,034 vessels of Japanese 
 style. 
 
 The progress in education and in the diffu- 
 sion of knowledge has been equally marked. 
 Twenty years ago there was not in all the 
 Empire a single newspaper published in the 
 vernacular by a Japanese. To-day there 
 are more than seven hundred periodicals, 
 which sent out in 1890 an aggregate of 
 188,289,728 numbers. Seventeen Tokyo 
 dailies send out 46,872,000 numbers annu- 
 ally. The number of books published in 
 1890 was 17,658. 
 
 Immediately upon the restoration of the 
 Mikado to power in 1868, a Board of Edu- 
 cation was established ; and it is a proof of 
 the nation's earnestness, as well as of the 
 
THE NEW EDUCATION. 225 
 
 difficulties which have been encountered, 
 that since that time, this Board and the 
 whole educational system have each been 
 remodeled eight times. As showing the 
 spirit with which this work was undertaken, 
 I quote from an Imperial Edict issued in 
 those early years : 
 
 " Although learning is essential to success 
 in life for all classes of men, yet for farm- 
 ers, artisans, and merchants, and for women, 
 it has been regarded as beyond their sphere ; 
 and, even among the upper classes, aimless 
 discussions and vain styles of composition 
 only were cultivated, from which no practi- 
 cal use could ever be deduced. Much pov- 
 erty and failure in life are owing to these 
 mistaken views. It is intended that hence- 
 forth education shall he so diffused that 
 there may not be a village with an igno- 
 rant family, nor a family with an ignorant 
 member.''^ In the same spirit the govern- 
 ment has been laboring ever since, and, as 
 a result, there is now an excellent — not 
 perfect, of course — educational system which 
 includes the kindergarten at one extreme, 
 and a well-equipped university at the other. 
 In its ninety kindergartens are gathered 
 more than six thousand children. In its 
 
22Q SHIN NIPPON. 
 
 29,233 elementary schools are 97,316 teach- 
 ers and pupil-teachers, and 3,273,489 pu- 
 pils. There are 49 ordinary middle schools 
 with 10,441 pupils, 7 higher middle schools 
 (colleges) with 3,939 pupils, and 46 normal 
 schools with 3,938 pupils. In the Univer- 
 sity there are 120 instructors, 16 of them 
 being foreigners, and 738 students. Of these 
 students, nearly one half are in the Depart- 
 ment of Law, nearly one third in that of 
 Medicine, and one seventh are studying En- 
 gineering. The remaining departments of 
 Literature and Science have about forty stu- 
 dents each. The cost of this educational 
 system is more than $8,000,000 (silver) 
 annually. 
 
 The political changes have been not less 
 marked. In 1868 feudalism was abolished 
 and the Tenshi (son of Heaven) became, 
 for the first time in many centuries, the de 
 facto ruler of all Japan, swearing as he as- 
 cended the throne to give his people, in due 
 time, a constitutional and representative 
 government. After twenty years of waiting 
 and preparation, that oath has been ful- 
 filled. Japan has both a liberal constitu- 
 tion and a parliament. This is the " New 
 Japan " which has already come. Its civi- 
 
RECOGNIZED DEFICIENCIES. 227 
 
 lization is by no means complete and sat- 
 isfactory. The tendency of many to rest 
 contented with material progress, railways, 
 telegraphs, a growing commerce, a large 
 army, etc., is recognized. That more than 
 fifty per cent of its school population are 
 not at school, and that female education 
 lags far behind that provided for males, is 
 admitted. The lack of a satisfactory " ba- 
 sis of ethics " is felt deeply by the most 
 influential educators. The great danger to 
 the nation from unprincipled politicians in 
 the new parliament weighs heavily upon 
 many a patriotic heart. The existence of 
 concubinage, together with the unsatisfac- 
 tory character of the present marriage laws 
 and the marriage relation — one divorce to 
 every three marriages — is widely lament- 
 ed. Granted all these deficiencies, some of 
 which will be touched upon in the succeed- 
 ing chapter, the fact of great, solid, and 
 beneficent progress already achieved still 
 remains undisturbed. Who will not say, 
 especially in view of the great contrast with 
 the past, that the term " Shin Nippon " is 
 not fittingly used ? Who will deny that 
 greater prosperity is still in store for this 
 bright and energetic people ? 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 What relation is there between Christian- 
 ity and the New Japan described in the 
 preceding chapter? 
 
 New Japan is largely a product of Chris- 
 tian influences. 
 
 Notice that I do not say that it is the 
 product of Christian influences only. I cor- 
 dially subscribe to the opinion advanced by 
 Dr. W. E. Griffis in " The Mikado's Em- 
 pire," that there were internal forces at 
 work in Japan, which would have brought 
 about a revolution in the national life, even 
 though outside influences had not come into 
 play. The presence of Commodore Perry's 
 fleet in Japanese waters but quickened the 
 action of revolutionary forces, which had 
 long been in operation. 
 
 Notice further that in using the term 
 "Christian influences," I mean something 
 far wider than the direct efforts of the mis- 
 sionaries. Christian civilization has made 
 
CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 229 
 
 itself felt as a mighty power in Japan. 
 Granted the existence of internal revolution- 
 ary tendencies, the indisputable facts re- 
 main that Perry's visit did precipitate this 
 national revolution, and that the impact of 
 Christian civilization gave form to the new 
 civilization of Japan. 
 
 When the nation was unwillingly aroused 
 from its slumber of two and a half centuries, 
 whither did it go for its teachers and mod- 
 els ? Not to China, or India, or Persia, or 
 to any unchristian nation, but — as the result 
 clearly shows, and as one of the two leading 
 statesmen of that formative period once stated 
 in my presence, — they deliberately took the 
 civilization of Christian countries as their 
 pattern. Their first railways, light-houses, 
 and telegraphs were built by men from Chris- 
 tian England. Their soldiers were trained 
 by Frenchmen, and their army organized like 
 that of France. Their physicians were edu- 
 cated mainly by Germans. The teachers 
 and text-books in their schools were largely 
 from the United States, and to our Christian 
 colleges and universities hundreds of their 
 youth were sent for higher instruction. 
 Their customs service, their postal, legal, 
 educational, and political systems were obvi- 
 
230 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 ously borrowed from Christian lands. Even 
 their old calendar was given up, and the 
 Gregorian calendar of Christendom adopted, 
 and the Christian Sunday made a rest day 
 for all officials, and for the teachers and 
 pupils of the public schools. 
 
 It is not contended that these systems are 
 all in complete accord with the teaching of 
 Christ, but it is maintained that that teach- 
 ing has been a formative principle to the 
 civilization of which these systems are a 
 part. Above all, contact with this civiliza- 
 tion through its representatives in Japan, or 
 by visits to foreign lands, brought the Japan- 
 ese into relation with men permeated by the 
 Christian spirit. The personal influence of 
 Christian statesmen of America, England, 
 or Germany over individual Japanese states- 
 men has been deeply felt and acknowledged. 
 It is, for example, an open secret that when 
 Count Ito, who afterwards framed the na- 
 tional constitution, visited German}^, he was 
 remarkably affected by the evidently sincere 
 declarations of the Emperor William and 
 Prince Bismarck that the Christian religion 
 is essential to the prosperity of Japan. The 
 influence of Christian teachers and other em- 
 ployees of the government has been benefi- 
 
CHRISTIAN BOOKS. 231 
 
 cent in its results. Even those who have 
 taken a position antagonistic to Christianity- 
 have not been able to disguise the fact that 
 they were educated in schools founded by 
 Christian self-sacrifice, and guided and ruled 
 by Christian men ; and that they themselves 
 were products of a cul^^ure permeated by 
 Christian ideals. Not only the public men 
 and institutions of Christendom, but the pri- 
 vate home-life of Christian families also, has 
 profoundly impressed Japanese students and 
 others visiting the Occident. The influence 
 of Christian books — books upon all sub- 
 jects written in the Christian spirit, whether 
 in the originals or in translations — has been 
 incalculable. Wayland's " Moral Philoso- 
 phy," Northend's " Teacher and Parent '* 
 and Dr. Wines's writings upon penology 
 are good examples of this class, and fittingly 
 close this imperfect list of the influences by 
 which Christian civilization has achieved 
 and is achieving a great victory physically, 
 intellectually, and morally, over the non- 
 Christian systems of Japan. 
 
 But the direct influence of Christian mis- 
 sions deserves a place close beside that of 
 Christian civilization. Accounts have al- 
 ready been given of the influence of the 
 
232 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 religion of Christ over individual hearts and 
 lives, over communities, — resulting in the 
 organization of a local church, — and of the 
 growth of one of the larger Christian de- 
 nominations. The time has now come to 
 speak of the aggregate results of missionary 
 effort. The latest available statistics are 
 given in Appendix D. 
 
 These statistics, though not complete for 
 all the missions, are sufficiently accurate to 
 show, so far as a tabular statement can, 
 the results and present condition of mis- 
 sionary effort in Japan. We have there 
 more than five hundred foreign missionaries, 
 and a considerably larger native force, liv- 
 ing and preaching in five hundred different 
 places. There are now thirty-three thou- 
 sand Christians gathered into three hundred 
 and forty-four churches, one evidence of 
 whose faith is the gift of 172,000 in 1891 
 for Christian and philanthropic purposes. 
 More than seven thousand youth are under 
 instruction in the various institutions of 
 learning ; seventeen thousand pupils being 
 enrolled in the Sunday-schools. 
 
 Surely that is no mean showing ! Surely 
 a movement of such dimensions must have 
 no small influence upon the life of the na- 
 
MISSIONARIES AND EDUCATION. 233 
 
 tion ! Almost every page of this book illus- 
 trates the value of the work done. The in- 
 fluence of missionary physicians directly 
 upon the tens of thousands of patients whom 
 they have skillfully treated, indirectly upon 
 the native medical profession, and, by their 
 benevolent work among the poor, upon the 
 thought of the people at large ; the advice 
 given and plans suggested in regard to pri- 
 son reform ; lectures upon political economy ; 
 their work in various schools from the Im- 
 perial University downward, — all these 
 indirect forms of service have scarcely been 
 touched upon. Speaking of mission schools. 
 Count Inouye, whose statement concerning 
 the influence of Christian civilization is re- 
 ferred to on page 229, stated in the same 
 interview that reports universally agreed in 
 putting the morals of their students at a 
 much higher grade than those of students in 
 other schools. As an example of the mis- 
 sionary's influence as a teacher, take Eev. 
 Dr. Verbeck, whose important work has al- 
 ready been referred to. His position as the 
 organizer of the school from which the pres- 
 ent throroughly equipped university has 
 grown, and as adviser for many years to 
 the educational department, was the begin- 
 
234 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 ning of a cliain of influences whicli sent 
 many young men to the Christian schools of 
 the West, introduced into Japanese schools 
 thousands of our text-books, and secured as 
 teachers and advisers in educational matters 
 such men as E^v. Dr. Griffis, Captain Janes, 
 President Clark, Dr. Vedder, Dr. Murray, 
 and others. Dr. Yerbeck's name is also on 
 the list of the official translators of the Code 
 Napoleon, — now, with some modifications, 
 the law of the Empire. 
 
 But what shall we say of the influence of 
 this considerable body of Japanese Chris- 
 tians ? 
 
 As already intimated, it is a large estimate 
 which puts the present number of Christians 
 in Japan at forty thousand, or one in one 
 thousand of its forty millions of people. 
 This fact shows among other things that the 
 thorough evangelization of the nation is still 
 a great way off. Taken in connection with 
 another fact, it has special significance. 
 When the first Imperial Parliament opened 
 in 1890, every one was surprised to find that, 
 besides several Christian members of the 
 House of Nobles, of the three hundred mem- 
 bers in the House of Commons, twelve were 
 members of Protestant Christian churches, 
 
CHRISTIANS IN PARLIAMENT. 235 
 
 and the surprise increased when of the three 
 nominations for speaker, made by the house 
 upon its organization, the Emperor chose 
 Nobuyuki Nakashima, a member of a Chris- 
 tian church, to fill that ofiice. The third offi- 
 cer of the House is also a Christian. That is, 
 of the whole population, only one in one thou- 
 sand are Christians, while in the House of 
 Commons, twelve representatives, including 
 the first and third officers, or one in twenty- 
 five, are members of Protestant churches. It 
 has been said publicly and repeatedly that 
 evangelical missions in tJapan reach only the 
 lowest and most ignorant classes, and that 
 there is no trace of their influence upon 
 the thought and life of the nation. Those 
 who make or publish this statement may 
 very properly now rise and explain how it 
 can be reconciled with the above-mentioned 
 facts. 
 
 What is the reason of this immense dis- 
 proportion? Doubtless one explanation is 
 in the fact that Christianity has appealed to 
 and been received by the more intelligent 
 classes. For example, it is well known that 
 the proportion of students who are Christians 
 is comparatively very great. But this does 
 not explain how so large a proportion of 
 
236 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 Christians came to be voted for. Keally the 
 explanation is very easy. 
 
 A few years ago the central government, 
 doubtless with the wise purpose of educating 
 its people in legislative processes, instituted 
 legislative assemblies in the different pre- 
 fectures into which the country has been 
 divided since 1871. These assemblies pos- 
 sessed very limited powers at first, the 
 limitations being gradually removed as they 
 gained the wisdom of experience. To these 
 local assemblies a few Christians were chosen, 
 and it was found that, just as it was in 
 the formative period of our own free and 
 representative government, the best prepara- 
 tion for the legislator's duties had been the 
 preaching of the ministers of the gospel. The 
 little churches of Japan had been schools for 
 training statesmen. To speak of external 
 things first, the deliberations and decisions 
 of individual churches, and of conferences 
 and presbyteries, were a most valuable train- 
 ing in public speaking and in parliamentary 
 methods, and made the Christians familiar in 
 a most practical way with representative in- 
 stitutions, and government by majority as an 
 integral part of them. But more than this 
 had happened. In so far as their minds 
 
CAPABLE LEGISLATORS. 237 
 
 were filled with the spirit of Christ they had 
 come to look upon all men as their brothers 
 and equals, and to feel under a constant con- 
 straint to labor with unselfish devotion to 
 make men better and happier. In other 
 words, Christianity had given them princi- 
 ples and, to a certain extent, methods of ac- 
 tion. This gave them immense advantage 
 as legislators over many of their colleagues 
 who had neither the Christians' moral and 
 intellectual training, nor the same courage 
 of their convictions. The result was, that 
 the Christians almost invariably came into 
 prominence as disinterested and capable leg- 
 islators. The measures for the public weal 
 advocated and often carried to a successful 
 issue by these men led to their appointment 
 to important positions in these local as- 
 semblies, and indirectly to their increase in 
 numbers. Thus in Gumma prefecture, where 
 Christian principles had been most ably and 
 fearlessly advocated and carried into prac- 
 tice, there were in its assembly, a year or 
 two ago, nine Protestant Christians, includ- 
 ing the chairman and vice-chairman, out of 
 a total membership of sixty. 
 
 When, therefore, the time came to choose 
 members of the Imperial Diet, what could 
 
238 CHRISTIANITY AND NEW JAPAN. 
 
 have been more natural than that the men 
 who had distinguished themselves for legis- 
 lative honesty and ability in the prefectural 
 assemblies should be asked to go up higher ? 
 This is what actually did take place, and is 
 the rationale of the presence of so many 
 Protestant Christians in the first parliament 
 of Japan. 
 
 To go back to the prefectural assemblies : 
 it is worthy of note that in seventeen of the 
 forty-five prefectures, Christians are found 
 as members, their total number being more 
 than thirty. The influence of these men 
 has been, as a rule, on the side of honesty 
 of administration and economy in expendi- 
 tures ; it has been felt in favor of temperance, 
 and especially in the suppression of social 
 vice. By Christian influence inside and 
 outside of the assemblies, votes abolishing 
 licensed vice have been reached in the seven 
 prefectures of Kochi, Tochigi, Miyagi, Ka- 
 nagawa, Kagoshima, and Fukushima. In 
 others, the movement has come but little 
 short of success. A friend of the writer, a 
 member of the Kyoto Assembly, for carry- 
 ing such a measure on to success, was vio- 
 lently attacked by a company of men at the 
 instigation of the keepers of such houses, 
 
CHRISTIAN REFORMERS. 239 
 
 and escaped only through the great exertions 
 of his friends. The Kyoto government re- 
 garded the danger to his person so great 
 that he was placed under the protection of 
 two policemen, who, dressed in citizen's 
 clothes, were with him day and night for 
 weeks. In another prefecture, in their in- 
 ability to secure the immediate passage of 
 more stringent measures, high board fences 
 were placed before every disreputable house 
 to prevent indecent exposure. 
 
 And so it is in many relations of life. In 
 temperance meetings, in educational meet- 
 ings, in meetings for all purposes of benevo- 
 lence or reform, it is the Christians who 
 have principles to stand upon, who have a 
 programme to follow. If they remain true 
 to their Master's teachings they wiU increas- 
 ingly sway men's consciences, and so, sooner 
 or later, become the spiritual leaders and 
 rulers of the empire. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 No account of mission work in Japan 
 would be complete or candid, which did not 
 recognize the conservative and anti-foreign 
 reaction which has been noticeable during 
 the past few years. 
 
 The coming of such a reaction has long 
 been regarded as inevitable, and in many- 
 respects desirable. For a quarter of a cen- 
 tury and more, the government and the people 
 had been looking with wonder and admira- 
 tion upon foreign lands. Our chapter on 
 New Japan has shown us how many things 
 they found in our civilization which they 
 could wisely appropriate. A regular foreign 
 fever set in. Everything domestic came to 
 be looked upon as inferior ; everything from 
 abroad was accepted as superior, and adopted 
 with little inquiry as to its merits. Govern- 
 ment offices and schools had buildings in for- 
 eign style. Men of wealth began to follow 
 the same fashion in building their residences. 
 
A FOREIGN FEVER. 241 
 
 Chairs, tables, and other foreign furniture 
 became common. All officials were required 
 to dress in European style. Soldiers, police- 
 men, postmen, and railway employees, were 
 all put into foreign uniforms. The English 
 language became a part of the course of 
 study in all grammar schools and those of a 
 higher grade. Japanese ladies, imitating the 
 example so generally set by their husbands 
 and fathers, appeared in European costume ; 
 some in Parisian dresses, others in dresses 
 that might have been made almost anywhere. 
 Little boys of five years were arrayed in 
 claw-hammer coats, and otherwise uncom- 
 fortably and grotesquely clad. 
 
 Food cooked, or supposed to be cooked, 
 in foreign style, became the rage. Beer and 
 wine, or their execrable imitations, could be 
 had in the remotest interior towns. Dancing 
 and cards became the passion of the hour. 
 This more expensive style of living demanded 
 higher salaries for officials, and an era of 
 extravagance, or what to the people seemed 
 extravagance, set in, and the burdened tax- 
 payers grew restive. This opposition to the 
 expensive manner of administering the gov- 
 ernment, and of official life, is the expla- 
 nation of the fact that in the first session of 
 
242 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 the first parliament, the twelve and a half 
 millions of dollars for national expenditure, 
 submitted to it by the government, were re- 
 duced to six millions. It also explains the 
 dissolution of the parliament in December, 
 1891. 
 
 The excessive value placed upon all for- 
 eign articles and institutions was justly re- 
 sented by those who felt that Japan has 
 much that is worthy of preservation. The 
 careful discrimination between the good and 
 evil elements in Western civilization, and the 
 gradual assimilation of the former only, 
 rather than the mechanical incorporation of 
 the whole, was advocated. The unjust posi- 
 tion taken, and the unreasonable delays made 
 by foreign powers in the matter of treaty 
 revision, were seized upon and industriously 
 used by ultra - conservatives to irritate the 
 people. 
 
 And so the reaction came, political, social, 
 and religious. After the manner of reac- 
 tions, it went to extremes. The new trea- 
 ties with foreign powers which had been 
 agreed upon but not formally ratified, al- 
 though far more favorable than the existing 
 ones, met with strong popular disapproval 
 on the ground that they did not recognize 
 
CHARGES AGAINST CHRISTIANS. 243 
 
 the sovereignty of Japan and the progress 
 she had made. So strong was public senti- 
 ment on the question that the government 
 was practically compelled to repudiate them, 
 and even the statesmen who aided in fram- 
 ing them were forced into retirement. Con- 
 servatism in the family and in social life 
 asserted itself, and missionary work, which 
 doubtless had been aided in its advances by 
 the wave of popularity which belonged to 
 all things foreign, felt keenly the force of 
 the reaction. " Christianity," it was said, 
 " is an Occidental religion, good enough for 
 Occidentals, it may be, but un suited to the 
 genius of Oriental peoples. It is the state 
 religion of some and the prevalent religion 
 of all of these nations which are so unjustly 
 refusing us a revision of the treaties. To 
 accept it, therefore, is to throw discredit not 
 only upon the religions which our fathers 
 have handed down to us, but upon those 
 fathers, and upon our national history and 
 life as well." " The Christians," they went 
 on to say, " do not observe our holidays, 
 which are patriotic quite as much as reli- 
 gious, and many of them refuse to bow 
 before the portrait of the Te?ishi^ saying 
 'There is another king, one Jesus.' They 
 
244 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 are therefore unpatriotic. Belief in Chris- 
 tianity means denationalization, and is it 
 not true that these ' Christian nations ' have 
 used missionaries as pioneers of their own 
 conquests ? " 
 
 And just at that time there was a con- 
 junction of influences unfavorable to evan- 
 gelical Christianity. A Unitarian " envoy " 
 arrived in Japan, " not to convert, but con- 
 fer with the Japanese upon religious mat- 
 ters." He published articles upon " the 
 value of species in religion," and regarded 
 the missionaries as unwise in asking the 
 Japanese, and they foolish in consenting, to 
 forsake their inherited religions. He de- 
 clared himself to be " a follower of Buddha 
 and all other great religious teachers." The 
 word " Unitarian " was said to mean " the 
 unity of mankind ; " and " atonement, salva- 
 tion and the future life" were " the deadest 
 of issues." In Japan the Orthodox ministers 
 of the United States, as well as the mission- 
 aries, were charged with insincerity, and in 
 our own land it was frequently stated that 
 evangelical missions had failed to touch the 
 thought and life of Japan. 
 
 Then there came several German mis- 
 sionaries who, while showing an excellent 
 
TARES SOWN. 245 
 
 spirit in many respects, began the dissemi- 
 nation of extreme critical views as to the 
 structure and nature of the Bible. All of 
 the Gospel of John and much of the Synop- 
 tics are destitute of historic value. There 
 vi^ere no miracles. Not even the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ was real. The circumstances 
 of the birth of Jesus, his birthplace, and 
 Davidic descent, are all uncertain ; the 
 gospel stories of them were manufactured 
 from the Old Testament. Eeady as we are 
 to recognize the noble work done by Unita- 
 rians elsewhere, and to accord them Chris- 
 tian fellowship when working " In His 
 Name," and fearless as we are of the results 
 of critical investigation of all kinds, it is the 
 simple truth to say, that the principal effects 
 of the early years of these two movements 
 were doubts of the gospel and distrust of 
 the missionaries sown in the minds of Japa- 
 nese Christians. 
 
 About the same time a number of young 
 Christians came to the United States. De- 
 spite the cautions given them, they expected 
 to find the nation with such a religion and 
 such a history very like heaven itself. But 
 when they saw our treatment of the Chinese 
 and Indians, and perhaps received similar 
 
246 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 treatment themselves ; wlien in some of our 
 cities they found the saloons in full blast, 
 even on Sunday, is it strange that they were 
 tremendously disappointed? Is it strange 
 that they found it easy to believe the asser- 
 tion which they had frequently heard in 
 Japan, that Christianity is losing its power 
 over Western peoples ? 
 
 One young man went on to Europe, had 
 an interview with the author of " Robert 
 Elsmere " in London, and met several liberal 
 thinkers in Berlin, and, as he has since said 
 both publicly and privately, he started home- 
 ward with his faith greatly shaken. Passing 
 through Egypt and India he found the heel 
 of the Englishman upon the necks of the 
 darker races, and he asked himself, "Shall 
 Japan share a similar fate ? " His patriotic 
 soul revolted at the thought, and on his 
 return to his native land he joined in the 
 already popular cry "Japan for the Japa- 
 nese." The lamentable failure of union 
 between the two largest denominations in 
 Japan was another evil star in this unfortu- 
 nate conjunction. 
 
 In July, 1890, several leaders in our 
 churches plainly told us that, whereas in 
 former times their people preferred to be 
 
THE PENDULUM RETURNING. 247 
 
 taught by a stammering foreigner, rather 
 than by a Japanese whom they could fully 
 understand, they now preferred Japanese 
 preachers and theological teachers, and that 
 this change was permanent. To some of 
 us that was the darkest hour of missionary 
 experience. If this condition of things was 
 to be permanent, as these leaders thought, 
 the end of our usefulness was near at hand. 
 
 But indications soon appeared that the 
 reactionary pendulum had reached its far- 
 thest point, and was again returning to the 
 centre. Experienced pastors and evange- 
 lists gave as one reason for the retarded 
 progress in evangelistic work that year, 
 which had saddened all hearts, " a lack of 
 confidence in and cooperation with the mis- 
 sionaries." Then came public and private 
 testimony to the freedom accorded them by 
 the missionaries in ecclesiastical polity and 
 in the framing of their creeds, and to the 
 love shown them under all circumstances. 
 At the annual meeting of the churches in 
 Okayama in 1891, there was still free if not 
 caviling criticism, and suggestion as to how 
 we could do our work more effectively (criti- 
 cism and suggestion which we gratefully re- 
 ceived), but the vote to ask the missionaries 
 
248 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 to continue their cooperation was carried 
 with the clapping of hands by the pastors 
 and evangelists present. At the same meet- 
 ing a special arrangement was made to send 
 out one foreigner and one Japanese together 
 to each district, to arouse renewed enthusi- 
 asm in evangelistic work. The most urgent 
 appeals for a large increase of the mission- 
 ary force have also been made. 
 
 Then, in May of the same year, occurred 
 an unexpected event which powerfully af- 
 fected the whole people. The Czarowitz of 
 Russia, who was visiting Japan, was attacked 
 by a policeman while riding through the 
 city of Otsu, and narrowly escaped with his 
 life. It is impossible for those who were 
 not on the ground to understand what a 
 shock this produced. The Tenslii with his 
 cabinet made a hurried journey of two hun- 
 dred and fifty miles to Kyoto, went in per- 
 son to the hotel where the wounded prince 
 was lying, and apologized for the insult of- 
 fered him. The governor of the province, 
 who had held his office but five days, was 
 removed ; the chief of police was removed 
 and degraded. 
 
 The common people were profoundly 
 affected. " See how shamefully we have 
 
''END OF THE REACTION.'' 249 
 
 treated a guest, a royal guest I What will 
 mighty Russia do ! Into what sorrow and 
 anxiety has this act plunged our emperor ! " 
 and similar exclamations were heard on 
 every hand. One woman made a journey 
 of more than two hundred miles to Kyoto, 
 and standing before the government build- 
 ing took her own life, as she said, " to atone 
 for the nation's crime." 
 
 The popular feeling began to show itself 
 in the newspapers. " ' Japan for the Jap- 
 anese ' is a cry that has reason in it, but 
 after all, it may be abused by ignorant men. 
 Let us be more careful." Later articles 
 were published on " The End of the Reac- 
 tion." That time is not yet reached, — it 
 may still be years in the future ; but there 
 is good ground for the more sober statement 
 that " the tide is turning." 
 
 There is reason to believe that the theolog- 
 ical tide is also turning. One of the young 
 men who, according to his own statements, 
 felt his faith slipping away from him, is now 
 publishing articles with these sentiments : — 
 
 " Christ was sinless ; Christ was unique in 
 knowledge and independence ; Christ's death 
 on the cross was not simply an example but 
 necessary to our salvation, — how, I don't 
 know. 
 
250 THE PRESENT OUTLOOK. 
 
 " The resurrection was true ; the real 
 Christ is present. Christ is a living Christ; 
 Christ is a Spirit ; Christ is God." 
 
 The simpler creeds, recently adopted by 
 the two largest Christian denominations, are 
 clear and outspoken on the essentials of 
 evangelical religion. (See Appendix E.) At 
 the close of an harmonious session of a pres- 
 bytery in Tokyo, in October, 1891, the moder- 
 ator (a Japanese) addressed its members as 
 follows: "Novelties in doctrine have disturbed 
 the peace of the church during recent years, 
 but the disturbance is giving way to quiet 
 trust, as the Christians learn that nothing 
 can take the place of the old gospel. Never 
 before was the truth of the divinity of our 
 Lord so intelligently and firmly held as now." 
 
 It would be unwise for the missionaries 
 to expect the Japanese to receive and adopt 
 our theology unchanged in form ; and the 
 greatest folly, to attempt to keep them in 
 ignorance of the discussions going on in 
 Europe and America to-day. The discussion 
 must go on there as it goes on here, and 
 the more thorough, the better and the safer. 
 Only there the forces being, in chemical 
 nomenclature, in a nascent state, their opera- 
 tion is the more intense. We fight, too, 
 
CONDITIONS OF VICTORY. 251 
 
 without the large numbers, the generations 
 of Christian experience, or the thorough 
 equipment that is possessed in Christian 
 lands. The conflict is desperate and will 
 be long ; but with wisdom in the use of the 
 resources at our command, — above all, with 
 harmony and mutual confidence between 
 native and foreign workers, — victory is cer- 
 tain. Enough has been said in the preceding 
 pages to show the high estimation in which 
 the Japanese preachers and pastors are held 
 by the missionaries ; and the appeals for 
 reinforcements just referred to, and the kind 
 words and deeds spoken of in the succeeding 
 chapter show how the missionaries are ap- 
 preciated by their Japanese brethren. If 
 ever there was a case in which union gives 
 strength it is this, and each member of the 
 alliance ought to guard the other's honor and 
 reputation as he guards his own. Failure to 
 do so is an invitation to defeat and disaster. 
 The greatest danger is not from our enemies, 
 but from our own ranks ; for in Japan, as 
 everywhere, the words of Erskine are true, 
 that " the strongest arguments in favor of 
 Christianity are the sanctifying influences of 
 its doctrines ; the strongest arguments against 
 it are the unsanctified lives of its disciples." 
 
CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 SAYONARA. 
 
 Should the missionary in Japan ever be 
 tempted — as he sometimes doubtless is — 
 to think that the Japanese do not want 
 him there, the cordial expressions of good 
 will which he receives when he starts home- 
 ward are well fitted to dispel all such 
 thoughts. For days, it may be for weeks, 
 he is in demand for sohetsukai (farewell 
 meetings) in different places and under 
 different auspices, and he is wholly unpre- 
 pared for the kindly feeling toward himself 
 and family which he hears expressed on 
 every hand. Every one whom he has aided 
 or befriended in the slightest degree now 
 recalls the fact, and acknowledges it in 
 some touching way. 
 
 A distant Christian community, which he 
 visits on the eve of his departure, gathers in 
 an upper room, and with words of formal 
 thanks from the leader, and many prayers 
 by its members for his safety by sea and 
 
SOBETSUKAI. 253 
 
 land, assures the missionary of grateful re- 
 membrance. The oldest of its members, a 
 man of seventy-seven years, reads the follow- 
 ing original poem : — 
 
 ' ' Ima shibashi kuni wa ochi-koclii hedatsurumo 
 Nochi ni wa kiiui to amatsu mi sono ni." 
 
 The meaning, but not the aroma, of this, 
 may be gathered from these rude lines : — 
 
 Though now awhile we dwell in lands apart, 
 Soon in heaven's fields heart shall gladden heart. 
 
 Then there is a larger sobetsukai at the 
 college, arranged for and managed by the 
 students. Members of different classes 
 dwell upon the many good deeds and 
 incomparable virtues of the departing, in 
 fervid oration, in stilted Chinese sJd (verse), 
 and in smooth flowing Japanese uta (poems) 
 of the style given above. There are songs, 
 general and special, in English and Japa- 
 nese, and the whole is crowned with a sem- 
 betsu (parting present) of a beautiful vase. 
 
 A feast a la Japanaise, given by the grad- 
 uating class to the faculty of which he is a 
 member, at a restaurant by the riverside, is 
 next in order. 
 
 Then comes the church and Sunday-school 
 with which 3Irs. Missionary has been associ- 
 ated, and two more sohetsuJcal, with speeches, 
 
254 SAYONARA. 
 
 poems, songs, prayers, and semhetsu are ar- 
 ranged for, and gone through with. Photo- 
 graphs are desired, and for several days, in 
 order to accommodate different sets of busy 
 people, the photographer is employed, at in- 
 tervals, from six in the morning till sunset. 
 
 Representatives from another country 
 church come fifteen, twenty, and twenty- 
 five miles, bringing personal remembrances, 
 as well as a gift from the church at large. 
 Their really deep feeling at parting with an 
 associate of many years is disguised in 
 formal manners. "Blest be the tie that 
 binds," in Japanese, is sung, prayers are 
 offered for mutual safety and prosperit}^, 
 and the most formal leave-taking follows. 
 
 Semhetsu from individuals, from associ- 
 ates in school or church work, from students 
 taught or aided, from shop-keepers patron- 
 ized, from the members of his modest house- 
 hold, follow in profusion. Some are both 
 beautiful and valuable. Even those of 
 slight pecuniary value — fans, tea-pots, tea- 
 cups, vases, pictures, or whatever they may be 
 — are prized for their intrinsic beauty, and 
 more because they are symbols of the donors' 
 kind regards. Students confessing their 
 poverty bring their family swords ; others 
 
THE PARTING GUEST. 255 
 
 bring articles of historic association ; others 
 still, original poems, of one of which the fol- 
 lowing is a paraphrase : — 
 
 As on a wet and gloomy night 
 We love to think of the moon's soft light, 
 So in the land to which you 've gone 
 In memory bright keep fair Nippon. 
 
 In the original, there is a play upon the 
 word ame (rain), and the first part of the 
 word America, which gives it a decided po- 
 etic flavor. 
 
 When the day for departure comes, the 
 principal, some teachers and many students 
 from the college, and scores of Christians 
 from the city, including two members of the 
 national parliament, are at the railway sta- 
 tion two and a half miles away from his 
 home, to speed his parting. Letters are put 
 into the hands of himself and the members 
 of his family, to read by the way, as if 
 spoken words were insufficient to express 
 their overflowing kindness. One young 
 man follows him to Yokohama, earnestly 
 asking to be taken to America, — the sup- 
 posed fountain of all that is wise and good, 
 — that he may become another Neesima. 
 He is restrained only by the suggestion that 
 it would be showing disrespect to that noble 
 
256 SA YONARA. 
 
 man, and disparagement of Ms work, not to 
 use to the utmost the advantages afforded 
 by the school which he has planted. Just 
 before embarking, a beloved pupil puts an- 
 other poem into his hands : — 
 
 " Kimi ga noru kisemu no keburi miyum ma wa 
 
 Toku okuramu Fuji no shirayuki." 
 Until thy steamer's smoke is lost to sight 
 Thou 'rt watched by Fuji's snow so pure and white. 
 
 Were these courtesies thought of as spe- 
 cial to the present recipient, they certainly 
 would not be chronicled in these pages. 
 They are given, only because they show in 
 a concrete way the touching attentions which 
 the Japanese shower upon those who have 
 lived and labored among them. Such at- 
 tentions move the heart most deeply, and 
 make strong the desire to add to our sayo- 
 nara the words which so naturally follow it, 
 — mata mairimasho (we will come again). 
 And so, as we sail away^ all other thoughts 
 and feelings are overshadowed by grateful 
 love for those who have thus poured out 
 their kindness upon us, and our hearts re- 
 spond to the affecting wakare no uta (poem 
 of parting) so characteristically Japanese : — 
 
 " Kagiri naku 
 Omou namida ui 
 
WAKARE. 257 
 
 Sobochinuru 
 Sode wa kawakaji 
 Awan hi made ni." 
 
 Until the day when we shall meet again, 
 
 Drenched will be my sleeve with tears that fall like rain. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Report of the Committee on a Christian 
 College for Japan. 
 
 The members of the mission of the A. B. C. F. M. 
 are impelled to urge upon the Prudential Committee, 
 and upon men of wealth in America, the importance 
 of the immediate and thorough endowment and 
 equipment of a Christian College in Japan. 
 
 Education is the bulwark of religion in every age 
 and in every land. If this be true, the necessity for 
 a Christian education was never more manifest than 
 it is to-day in Japan, where Christianity stands face 
 to face with the most polished heathenism, and, per- 
 haps, the most insidious skepticism in the world. 
 
 Shintoism has been closely identified with and 
 strongly supported by the ancient language and lit- 
 erature of Japan. Buddhism came here, bringing 
 with it the Chinese language, and its teachers have 
 ever fostered Chinese learning as an important aux- 
 iliary to their religious teachings. But the awak- 
 ened Japanese mind finds that these systems of 
 learning are unable to maintain their position in the 
 presence of the new civilization coming here, and 
 that these religions, with their fanciful cosmogonies 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 and philosophic theories, are contradicted by the 
 Western science which he is learning. They are 
 therefore discarded, and all through the Empire we 
 find young men ambitious of learning the English lan- 
 guage and English science. Asa result, Government 
 schools are established in every city, and English and 
 American teachers are imported to whom the educa- 
 tion of these young men, the first young men of the 
 land, is intrusted. But these foreign teachers are for 
 the most part immoral and irreligious, and the sci- 
 ence which they teach is skeptical. " No scientific 
 man," say they, *' is a Christian." "The Bible, 
 when weighed in the balance, and tested in the 
 crucible, is found wanting." And so skepticism, 
 clothed in the garb of English science, and speaking 
 with the silvered tongue of English literature, is 
 taking possession of many of the most cultured 
 minds in Japan. Who will stay it in its course, or 
 bid it depart ? Plainly we cannot trust to the teach- 
 ers in the government schools. We cannot look for 
 help outside of those who believe that the fear of 
 Jehovah is not only the beginning of wisdom, but 
 also perfectly consistent with its highest develop- 
 ment. 
 
 We are favored in having identified and entirely 
 in sympathy with us, in Mr. Neesima, a native so 
 thoroughly educated as to command the respect of 
 even the most skeptical minds of Japan, and who 
 also stands very high in the regard of the leading 
 men of the Empire. While neither Mr. Neesima 
 nor any member of the Mission undervalues Bibli- 
 cal training or teaching, nor for one moment thinks 
 of that as second to scientific and literary culture, 
 we all feel that this skepticism lays upon us the 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 necessity of establishing a college in Japan, so thor- 
 ough in all its equipments as to put it on an equality 
 with the best government schools, and yet so Chris- 
 tian as to lead a large proportion of its students to 
 pass from it into our Theological Training School, — 
 in short, a college which shall give to young men 
 here such a Christian education as Mr. Neesima re- 
 ceived in America. 
 
 We feel sanguine that tlirough Mr. Neesima's 
 influence a large part of the endowment can be 
 raised in Japan, perhaps enough to erect and fur- 
 nish the buildings ; for the endowment of the profes- 
 sorships we look to men of wealth at home. 
 
 We have already secured in Mr. Neesima's name 
 five and a half acres of land adjoining the old 
 palace grounds of the Mikados in Kyoto, for the 
 nominal price of five hundred and fifty dollars. 
 Kyoto has long been considered the religious and 
 educational centre of the Empire, and it affords a 
 most desirable location for the college. It is the 
 purpose of the mission to erect buildings on a part 
 of this land for a Theological Training School, and 
 we hope that a college may occupy the remain- 
 der. 
 
 [After giving a plan " for the ownership of the 
 property, control of the funds and management of 
 the school," the report goes on to say : — ] 
 
 With such a general plan, and under such needs, 
 we ask for the immediate endowment and equip- 
 ment of a Christian college in Japan, for these 
 three things seem plain to us, viz. : — 
 
 1. The need is immediate. There is no time to 
 wait. There never was a time in Japan so full of 
 promise, and yet so full of danger, and each day of 
 
262 APPENDIX. 
 
 delay makes the promise less, and the danger so 
 much the greater. 
 
 2. The men as well as a large part of the money 
 must come from America. We have such impor- 
 tant and pressing evangelistic work here that neither 
 Mr. Neesima nor any member of the Mission feels 
 willing to turn aside for college work. 
 
 3. The college should be thoroughly Christian. 
 
 Adopted by the Mission to Japan, Kobe, June 21, 
 1875. 
 
 (Signed) O. H. Gulick, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 B. 
 
 DosHiSHA University, 1891-92. 
 
 FACULTY OF INSTRUCTION. 
 
 (^Arranged according to time of appointment.) 
 
 Rev. H. Kozaki. President ; Acting College Pastor ; 
 Professor of Bible Instruction and Apologetics. 
 
 Rev. Jerome D. Davis, D. D. Professor of Re- 
 vealed Theology. 
 
 Rev. Dwight W. Learned, Ph. D. Professor of 
 New Testament Literature and Exegesis ; Church 
 History ; Economics and Politics. 
 
 Herman K. Morita. Professor of Logic ; Mental 
 and Moral Sciences. 
 
 Rev. M. L. Gordon, M. D., D. D. Professor of 
 Homiletics and Pastoral Theology. 
 
 K. Shimomura, B. Sc. (Worcester Polytechnic In- 
 stitute). Professor of Chemistry ; Director of 
 the Harris School of Science. 
 
 Rev. C. Marvin Cady, A. M., B. D. Professor of 
 English Language and Literature. 
 
 John C. Berry, M. D. Professor of Physiology 
 and Hygiene. 
 
 G. Eu Kato. Professor of Mathematics. 
 
 Thomas K. Ukita. Professor of Ancient and 
 Modern History. 
 
 Edmund Buckley, A. M. Professor of Philoso- 
 phy. 
 
 Rev. Arthur Willis Stanford, M. A., B. D. 
 Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exe- 
 gesis. 
 
264 APPENDIX. 
 
 (Vacant.) Professor of Translation of English. 
 
 Rev. George E. Albrecht, A. M., B. D. Profes- 
 sor of German Language and Literature ; New 
 Testament Literature and Exegesis. 
 
 George C. Foulk (Annapolis Naval Academy). 
 Professor of Mathematics. 
 
 (Vacant.) Professor of Physics. 
 
 T. FuKUSHiMA. Mathematics. 
 
 Y. Shigaki. Translation of English. 
 
 K. Hanabatake. Translation of English. 
 
 M. Adachi, Translation of English. 
 
 y. NiSHiMURA. Free-hand and Mechanical Draw- 
 ing. 
 
 N. H. KoDAMA, M. D. (University of Michigan). 
 Professor of Biology. 
 
 Rev. T. Matsuyama. Professor of Japanese Lit- 
 erature and History. 
 
 S. MONDEN. Chinese. 
 
 Y. Ono, B. Ph. (Oberlin College), Ph. D. (Uni- 
 versity of Michigan), Professor of Economics ; 
 Director of the School of Political Science and 
 Law. 
 
 Arthur W. Be all, B. A. English Language and 
 Literature. 
 
 H. Kato. Acting Assistant Principal of the Pre- 
 paratory School. 
 
 G. Kashiwagi. Mathematics. 
 
 B. Hadano. Mathematics. 
 
 M. Hanada. Chinese. 
 
 K. KuRiu. German and Physics. 
 
 K. AsuKAi. Keramic Arts. 
 
 K. YuASA, B. D. (Oberlin College), Ph. D. (Yale 
 University). Professor of Old Testament Litera- 
 ture and Hebrew. 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 Y. Hattori, B. a. Translation of English and 
 Elementary Sciences. 
 
 Rev. Harper H. C gates, M. A., B. Do English 
 Language and Literature. 
 
 I. Kato. Lecturer on Buddhism. 
 
 K. Yamasaki. Lecturer on Jurisprudence. 
 
 Y. Hara. Lecturer on Book-keeping. 
 
 K. Koga. Japanese Composition ; Dormitory Man- 
 ager. 
 
 O. Otani. Japanese History. 
 
 U. Wakamatsu. Mathematics ; Japanese Geogra- 
 phy and History. 
 
 Orlando N. Benton. English Language and Lit- 
 erature. 
 
266 APPENDIX. 
 
 C. 
 
 Japanese Christian Literature. 
 
 The Life of Christ. Kev. Wm. Imbrie, D. D., and 
 
 Rev. K. Ibuka. 
 
 (lUustrated.) Rev. J. D. Davis, D. D. 
 
 Young's Christ of History. Rev. K. Ibuka. 
 Geikie's Life of Christ. Translated by Rev. M. S. 
 
 Vail. 
 Stalker's Life of Christ. Translated by Mr. Adachi. 
 Commentary on the New Testament. Rev. D. W. 
 
 Learned, Ph. D. 
 
 The Four Gospels. Rev. N. Tamura. 
 
 The Sermon on the Mount. Rev. J. L. Atkin- 
 son. 
 First Corinthians. Rev. Otis Cary and Rev. P. 
 
 Kanamori. 
 
 ' Thessalonians. Rev. J. H. DeForest, D. D. 
 
 A Harmony of the Gospels. Rev. Mr. Hutchinson. 
 A System of Theology. Rev. J. L. Amerman, 
 
 D. D. 
 
 Rev. J. D. Davis, D. D. 
 
 Raymond's Systematic Theology. Translated by 
 
 Rev. Mr. Yamada. 
 Harris's Self-Revelation of God. Translated by Rev. 
 
 T. S. Tyng. 
 Lightfoot's Essays. Translated by Rev. T. S. Tyng. 
 Hopkins's Evidence of Christianity. Translated by 
 
 Rev. T. S. Tyng. 
 Fisher's Grounds of Theistic and Christian Belief. 
 
 Abridged and translated by Rev. J. T. Yokoi. 
 Bowne's Philosophy of Theism. Translated by Rev. 
 
 J. F. Belknap. 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 The Mystery of Life. (English and Japanese.) Rev. 
 
 G. W. Knox, D. D. 
 Evidences of Christianity. (English and Japanese.) 
 
 Rev. J. D. Davis, D. D. 
 Old Testament Introduction. Rev. H. B. Johnson. 
 Old Testament History. Rev. S. G. M'Laren. 
 Briggs's Messianic Prophecy. Translated by Rev. 
 
 M. L. Gordon. 
 A Church History. Rev. D. W. Learned, Ph. D. 
 
 Rev. D. S. Spencer. 
 
 Sheldon's History of Doctrine. Translated by Rev. 
 
 M. S. Vail. 
 Cruden's Concordance. Rev. D. W. Learned, Ph. D. 
 Life of Neesima. Rev. J. D. Davis, D. D. 
 Gladden's Being a Christian. Translated by Rev. J. 
 
 T. Yokoi. 
 The Resurrection. Rev. J. H. DeForest, D. D. 
 Dale's The Living Christ and the Four Gospels. 
 
 Translated by Rev. T. Harada. 
 
2G8 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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APPENDIX. 
 
 269 
 
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270 APPENDIX. 
 
 E. 
 
 The creeds thus adopted under fire, so to speak, are 
 given as objects of more than passing interest. That 
 of the Kumi-ai churches, adopted April, 1892, is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " We believe in one God, infinite and perfect, who 
 is revealed in the Bible as Father, Son, and Holy- 
 Spirit. 
 
 "We believe in Jesus Christ, who, being God, 
 became man, suffered, died, and rose again for the 
 redemption of the world. 
 
 " We believe in the Holy Spirit, which gives new 
 life. 
 
 " We believe in the Bible, which was given by in- 
 spiration and makes us wise unto salvation. 
 
 " We believe in the Holy Church, baptism by water, 
 the Holy Supper, the Lord's Day, immortality of the 
 soul, resurrection of the dead, and a righteous judg- 
 ment." 
 
 The church that has grown up in connection with 
 the work of the six Presbyterian missionary societies, 
 the " Church of Christ in Japan," has adopted the 
 following : — 
 
 CONFESSION OF FAITH. 
 
 " The Lord Jesus Christ, whom we adore as God, 
 the only begotten Son of God, for us men and for 
 our salvation was made man and suffered. He of- 
 fered up a perfect sacrifice for sin ; and all who are 
 one with Him by faith are pardoned and accounted 
 righteous ; and faith in Him working by love purifies 
 the heart. 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 « The Holy Ghost, who with the Father and the 
 Son is worshiped and glorified, reveals Jesus Christ 
 to the soul ; and without His grace man, being dead 
 in sin, cannot enter the Kingdom of God. By Him 
 the prophets and apostles and holy men of old were 
 inspired ; and He, speaking in the Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testament, is the supreme and infalli- 
 ble Judge in all things pertaining to faith and living. 
 
 " From these Holy Scriptures the ancient Church 
 of Christ drew its confession ; and we, holding the 
 faith once delivered to the saints, join in that confes- 
 sion with praise and thanksgiving : — 
 
 " I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of 
 heaven and earth ; and in J^sus Christ His only 
 Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under 
 Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He 
 descended into Hades ; the third day He rose from 
 the dead ; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at 
 the right hand of God, the Father Almighty ; from 
 thence He shall come to judge the quick and the 
 dead. 
 
 " I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the Holy Catholic 
 Church ; the Communion of Saints ; the forgiveness 
 of sins ; the resurrection of the body, and the life 
 everlasting. Amen." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adams, Dr. A. H.,169, 
 American Board, does not aid in 
 
 church-building, 70. 
 American Board's Japan Mission, 
 
 educational policy of, 156 f., 
 
 259 ff. 
 American Christians, missionary 
 
 zeal of, 41. 
 American merchant, testimony 
 
 of, 119. 
 Amino, old lady from, 102 f. 
 Apologies, 38. 
 Army, 223. 
 
 Bacon, Miss A. M., on the posi- 
 tion of woman, 180 ; on music, 
 196. 
 
 Bathroom, 90. 
 
 Baths, 91. 
 
 Beautiful, the love of, 6. 
 
 Beginning, diflSculties of, 40. 
 
 Berry, Dr. J. C, 168, 171. 
 
 Bible, translation of, 197, 200 ; 
 influence of, on language, 198. 
 
 Blunders, in the use of the lan- 
 guage, 22. 
 
 Brown, Dr. S. R., ix, 197. 
 
 Buddhism, 72, 77, 103, 132, 215 ; 
 teachings of, concerning wo- 
 man, 176. 
 
 Buckley, Mrs. Dr., 171. 
 
 Callers, 93. 
 
 Carey, William, 3. 
 
 Chadai, 91. 
 
 Chamberlain, Professor B. H., 
 
 19, 24, 77, 173, 176._ 
 Charcoal-burners, 125. 
 Chinese ideographs, 20. 
 Chinese hterature, 24. 
 Chinese words, 21. 
 Christian, the, 61. 
 Christian civilization, triumphs 
 
 of, 228. 
 Christianity and New Japan, 
 
 228 ff. 
 
 Christianity and other religions, 
 
 100. 
 Christianity, early opposition to, 
 
 42 ; fruits of, 85, 117 ff. 
 Church, a Japanese national, 
 
 203. 
 Church-building, 70. 
 Civilization, Japanese, old, 8 ; 
 
 new, 9, 221 ff . ; deficiencies of, 
 
 227. 
 Clark, Mrs. B. W., gift of, 162. 
 Clark, President, 53. 
 Climate, 0. 
 
 CoUege planned for, 1.57, 259 ff. 
 Coming to the light, 100 ff. 
 Comity, rules of, 204 ff. 
 Comparative religion, 209 ff. 
 Concessions, foreign, 86. 
 Confucianism, evil effects of, 
 
 123. 
 Confucianism vs. Christianity, 
 
 56, 57, 132, 215. 
 Conversation, beginning, 17. 
 Converts, first, 47. 
 Courtesy, importance of, 31, 32, 
 
 35. 
 Covenant on Hana - oka - yama, 
 
 59. 
 Covenant kept, 181. 
 Creeds, 249. 
 Criticism of the Bible, 244, 
 
 245. 
 Criticisms of missionaries, 11, 
 
 119. 
 Cross, the, 215. 
 
 Cumberland Presbyterian mis- 
 sion, 108. 
 Curious letter, a, 109. 
 Czarowitz, attempted assassina- 
 tion of, 248. 
 
 Daimyo, feudal lords, 33, 54. 
 Davis, Dr. J. D., 64. 
 De Forest, Dr. J. H., 105. 
 Dendo guaisha, missionary soci- 
 ety, 153 ff. 
 
274 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Denominationalism, 199 ff. 
 
 Depreciating self, etc., 35. 
 
 Difficulties, nature of, 4, 12, 41, 
 243 ff. 
 
 Disturbances, 75. 
 
 Doma, entrance to house, 66, 67. 
 
 Doshisha school, x, 59 ff., 116, 
 156-164, 259, 262 ; location of, 
 158 ; opening of, 158 ; gifts to, 
 161 f. ; relation to Kumi - ai 
 churches, 163 ; students of, 
 163. 
 
 Earthquakes and relief, 133. 
 
 Ebina, Rev. J. D., 63. 
 
 Edicts, anti-Christian, 42. 
 
 Education, the new, 225 ; expen- 
 ditures for, 226. 
 
 English language, early teaching 
 of, 46 f., 53 f. 
 
 English merchant, testimony of, 
 120. 
 
 Enzetsukai, lecture meetings, 70. 
 
 Etiquette, 33, 37, 75. 
 
 Evening meetings, 97. 
 
 Exports, 223. 
 
 Extortioners, 34. 
 
 Faber, Rev. E., 191. 
 
 Facility of travel, 3. 
 
 Faithful son, a, 107. 
 
 Family Life as affected by Chris- 
 tianity, 85. 
 
 Family persecution, 60. 
 
 Fatherhood of God, 214. 
 
 First Japanese church, 50. 
 
 Forgiveness, 217, 218. 
 
 Fukui, early Christian work in, 
 120 ff. 
 
 Future life, 219. 
 
 Geisha, dancing girls, 92. 
 German missionaries, 244. 
 Goma, work in village of, 142. 
 "Gordon Rule," the, 48. 
 Greene, Dr. D. C, ix, 197. 
 Griffis, Dr. W. E., 228. 
 Guthrie, Dr., 128. 
 
 Hail, Dr., 109. 
 
 Hardships, few, 4, 10. 
 
 Harris, J. N., 161. 
 
 Heathen, avoidance of word, 3. 
 
 Hepburn, Dr. J. C, ix, 44, 166, 
 
 168, 197. 
 Hibachi, Brasiers, 95, 96. 
 Honorifins, 35, 36. 
 Hospitality, 95. 
 
 Hotels, 90, 91. 
 Household foes, 60, 217. 
 Hymnology, 196. 
 
 Ichihara, Dr. M., 63. 
 
 Ichikawa Einosuke, persecution 
 
 of, 43. 
 Ideal, a new, 135. 
 Idolatry, folly of, illustrated, 
 
 79 ff. 
 Ikebukuro, S., poem by, 128. 
 Imports, 223. 
 Inouye, Count, 159, 233. 
 Ishii, founder of orphanaee, 
 
 127 ff. 
 
 Janes, Captain and Mrs., 53 ff. 
 
 "Japan Mail," 78. 
 
 "Japan for the Japanese," 246, 
 249. 
 
 "Japanese Boy, A," quoted, 22. 
 
 Japanese-English dictionary, 44. 
 
 Japanese language. See Lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Japanese people our antipodes, 
 28. 
 
 Japanese preachers, 77 ff. 
 
 Jesus Clirist, impression made by 
 the person of, 215, 217. 
 
 Jinrikisha travel, 89. 
 
 Kameoka, 136. 
 
 Kanamori, Rev. P., 53, 62. 
 
 Kato, Professor, 64. 
 
 Kido, Japanese statesman, 43. 
 
 Kogisho, public preaching-places, 
 67, 75. 
 
 Kozaki, Rev. H., 62, 164, 197. 
 
 " Kumamoto Band," 53 ff., 216. 
 
 Kumi-ai churches, 149-155; or- 
 gan of, 149 ; meaning of word, 
 149 ; characteristic ideas of, 
 150, 151 ; growth of, 152 ; self- 
 support in, 154; self-govern- 
 ment of, 154 ; missionaries' re- 
 lation to, 155. 
 
 Lady missionaries, example of, 
 180, 185; influence of, 101; 
 character of, 179 ; as evangel- 
 ists, 184 ; as advisers, 185. 
 
 Language, Japanese, necessity of 
 study of, 14 ; characteristics of, 
 19 ; place in philology, 24 ; tinie 
 required in study of, 25 ; hon- 
 orific and depreciatory terms 
 in, 35 f. 
 
 Laning, Dr. H., 170. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 275 
 
 Learning to talk, difficulties of, 
 18. 
 
 Legislatures, prefectural, 236, 
 238. 
 
 Leper, a Christian, 144 f. 
 
 Lighthouses, 223. 
 
 Literature, Japanese, 24 ; Chris- 
 tian Japanese, 186 ff., 266 ; 
 Christian Cliinese, 187. 
 
 MacDonald, Dr., 170. 
 Making a start, 40 fif. 
 Martin, Rev. Dr., 188. 
 Martyn, Henry, 3. _ ^ 
 Medical missions, 165-172. 
 Missionaries, criticisms of, 11 ; 
 early ill-treatment of, 2 ; re- 
 lation to churches, 154, 155 ; 
 subordinate position of, 12 ; 
 number of, 232 ; residence in 
 Japan, 41, 87 ; travel, 87. 
 Missionary work, justification of, 
 
 39. 
 Miyadzu, work in, 84. 
 Miyagawa, Rev. S., 63. 
 Mori, Viscount, anecdote of, 191. 
 Morita, Dr. H. K., 63. 
 MuUer, George, 126 f. 
 Murakami, T., 136 ff. 
 
 Names, double, 21, 22. 
 
 Navy, 223. 
 
 Neesima, Dr. J. H., 83, 93, 113, 
 127, 188, 189 ; educational plans 
 of, 157 ff., 260; influential 
 friends of, 159 ; bold utterances 
 of, 160 ; appeal to his country- 
 men, 101 ; his successor, 164. 
 
 Newspapers, 224. 
 
 New Testament, found in the 
 water, 115 ; translation of, 197. 
 
 New Year's celebrations, 103. 
 
 Obedience to parents carried to 
 
 an excessive degree, 123. 
 Orphanage, Okayama, 127 £E. 
 Outlook, present, 240 ff. 
 
 Palm, Dr. T., 171. 
 
 Parliament, large number of 
 
 Christians in, 234, 235. 
 Passports, 87 f. 
 Patient hearers, 74. 
 Paupers, 6. 
 People, characteristics of, 9 ; 
 
 study of, 27 ff. 
 Periodicals, 195, 224. 
 Perry, Commodore, 228, 229. 
 
 Persecution, 60 ff., 75, 217. 
 
 Personality, sacredness of, 29. 
 
 Pettee, Rev. J. H., 132. 
 
 Physicians, Japanese, 142, 169, 
 172. 
 
 Political progress, 226. 
 
 Postal system, 222. 
 
 Poverty, not extreme, 5. 
 
 Prayer answered, 58, 131. 
 
 Prayer, true spirit of, 214, 
 
 Preachers, Japanese, 77 ff. 
 
 Preaching, first, 65 II. 
 
 Prmting, method of, 194. 
 
 Prison, the Gospel in, 124 ; chap- 
 lain of, 147. 
 
 Protestant missionaries, 45, 268. 
 
 Protestant missionaries of cen- 
 tral Japan, action of, 26. 
 
 Questions, knotty, 139. 
 
 Railroads, 222. 
 
 Reaction, anti-foreign, causes of, 
 240; extent of, 242; check 
 upon, 247. 
 
 Reform, Christians and, 238. 
 
 Repentance, 214. 
 
 Revival, a, 57. 
 
 Rikugo Zasshi, a Christian mag- 
 azine, 02, 195. 
 
 Roman Catholic Christians, 42. 
 
 Sad fall, a. 111. 
 
 Sak(?, a liquor brewed from rice, 
 
 102. 
 Samurai, the experience of, 121. 
 Satow, E. M., 24. 
 Sayonara, "good by," 252. 
 Schools, number and grade of, 
 
 226 ; for girls, 182. 
 Schools, Sunday, 232. 
 School of Science, Harris, 162. 
 Scriptures, illustrations of the 
 
 power of, 112 ff. 
 Sekkyokai, sermon meetings, 70. 
 Self-denial, 70. 
 Selfish inquirers, 49. 
 Semsetsu, parting presents, 253. 
 Sen, cent, 91. 
 Shibai, a theatre, 70, 77. 
 Shimomura, Professor, 63. 
 Shin Nippon, 221. 
 Shintoism, 157. 
 Shinto priests, 77. 
 Sin, sense of, 213, 218. 
 Sobetsukai, farewell meetings, 
 
 252. 
 Statistics, 268, 269. 
 
27G 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Street preaching, never popular, 
 
 69. 
 Students, 181. 
 Study of the people, 27 £f. 
 Suicides, 141, 181. 
 
 Take-no-uchi, 84. 
 
 Tamba, church in, 136-148, 
 
 Taylor, Dr., 170. 
 
 Teaching English, 45. 
 
 Telegraphs, 222. 
 
 Telephone, 222. 
 
 Tendo Sogen, 188 f . 
 
 Theatre meetings, 71 f. 
 
 Themes of sermons, 73. 
 
 Theological tide turning, 249. 
 
 Tokutomi, 63. 
 
 Touring, 86 ff., varied experi- 
 ences in, 98. 
 
 Tracts, 194. 
 
 Trade, 223, 224. 
 
 Tristram, Canon, testimony of, 
 12. 
 
 Tsuyama, thief-searching in, 117. 
 
 Ukita, Professor, 64. 
 Unitarian, " envoy," 244. 
 
 Universal Postal Union, 4. 
 University, Doshisha, 156-164. 
 University, Imperial, 45, 226. 
 
 Vague ideas of missionary life, 
 
 2. 
 Verbeck, Dr. G., x, 46, 87, 115, 
 
 233. 
 Visitors, inconsiderate questions 
 
 of, 31 ; conduct of, 34. 
 
 Wakasa-no-Kami, 114 f. 
 
 Wakayama, woman of, 107. 
 
 Wife, duties of, 174. 
 
 Woman, sad experiences of, 123; 
 subordinate position of, 173 ff.; 
 education of, 177 ; what Chris- 
 tianity has done for, 178 ff., 
 183 ; nature of, 174 ; Professor 
 Chamberlain on the present po- 
 sition of, 176. 
 
 Womanhood, Christian, 173 ff., 
 219. 
 
 World, Christianity and the, 219. 
 
 Yamamoto, 157 f., 189 f. 
 Yokoi, Rev. J. T., x, 62, 73, 83. 
 
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