PAM, 
 
 JAPAN 
 
 /'K 
 
 APPLIED CHRISTIANITY 
 IN THE HOKKAIDO - - 
 
 *5- * AN ATTEMPT AT * * 
 PRISON REFORM IN JAPAN 
 
 By REV. WILLIAM W. CURTIS, of Sendai 
 
 American Boar to of Commissioners for tforeign JHisstons 
 
 I SOMERSET STREET, BOSTON 
 
Applied Christianity in the Hokkaido: 
 
 AN ATTEMPT AT PRISON REFORM IN JAPAN. 
 
 An experiment is being tried in the great northern island of this empire which 
 ought to enlist the sympathies of all Christendom. The people of Japan have 
 not yet opened their eyes to what is going on within their borders, but the 
 experiment, which is nothing less than an attempt to administer the great govern- 
 ment prisons of the Hokkaido according to Christian principles, is being made 
 with the full approval of the central government, who take deep interest in it, 
 and seem to expect that it will result in a reformation in the treatment of 
 prisoners throughout the land. 
 
 Fourteen years ago the government began the practice of sending long- 
 sentence convicts to the wilds of the Hokkaido, which they were trying to 
 colonize, intending to utilize these convicts in preparing the way for the coming 
 of settlers. Now there are four great prisons, two in the west, in the Ishikari 
 valley, a region rapidly being settled and in which is Sapporo, the capital of the 
 Hokkaido, and two in the east, one on the Okhotsk Sea, the other some sixty- 
 five miles inland. A fifth prison is soon to be opened in the fertile Tokachi 
 valley, in the southern part of the island. In these four prisons are some 7,000 
 men, employed for the most part in cutting down the forests and reclaiming 
 land, in roadmaking, and in mining. Into the regions which they have opened 
 in the forests settlers are flocking by the hundreds yearly. The product of their 
 labor in the coal mines is finding its way by the million tons to America. No 
 convicts are sent to the Hokkaido under a shorter sentence than twelve years, the 
 periods ranging from this to life service, so that scarcely any have been discharged 
 as yet; but within the next two years some 1,900 will gain their freedom. The 
 result of turning loose so many criminals in that thinly populated region is looked 
 forward to with anxiety by the settlers. 
 
 A few years ago these prisons were entirely independent of each other, and in 
 some of them the government was quite lax. Two years since they were all put 
 under one management, and the most efficient of the wardens, Mr. Oinue, was 
 made general superintendent, in addition to the duty of being warden of one of 
 the prisons. Mr. Oinue is a man of great executive ability, ranking highest in 
 this respect, I have heard, of all the wardens in Japan. Very strict in the execu- 
 tion of the prison rules, he at the same time shows so kind a heart that he is 
 
3 
 
 both feared and liked by the prisoners and most thoroughly respected by every- 
 body. He consults freely and intimately with the other wardens and with the 
 moral instructors, so that whatever is attempted is sure of having sympathetic 
 support in all the prisons. His superior insight led him to the conviction years 
 ago that the principles of Christianity are what are needed for the instruction of 
 the prisoners, and he was anxious to get a Christian instructor for the prison of 
 which he then had charge. Succeeding in this, and his anticipations being fully 
 realized, when he was subsequently transferred to another prison he soon secured 
 a Christian instructor for that; afterward, when made superintendent of all, he 
 went to the third prison, the oldest of all, and introduced a Christian teacher 
 there, and to the fourth prison, which was just opened, he sent as warden the man 
 who had been next to him in authority in his first prison and who also had 
 become convinced that the new religion was the right one for the instruction of 
 criminals, so to that prison a Christian teacher was appointed from the start. 
 
 In my tours in the Hokkaido it has been my privilege to visit all of these 
 prisons and to inspect them thoroughly ; some of them in two successive years. 
 
 My first visit was to the chief prison. When the instructor requested the privi- 
 lege of showing the prison to his friend he was refused permission on the ground 
 that it is against the rules of the Prison Department to admit strangers. But sub- 
 sequently learning that I was a Christian missionary, Superintendent Oinue, not 
 only waived the rule, but in person showed me over the whole institution. I was 
 greatly pleased at the evidences I saw in all of the prisons that officers and 
 guards discharge their duties, not perfunctorily, but with an interest in the wel- 
 fare of their prisoners. Spending weeks in the neighborhood of these prisons I 
 saw the convicts in many places, both within and without prison walls, and saw 
 them under various circumstances, yet not once did I see the abuse that I have 
 seen in other parts of the country. The system of management seems well cal- 
 culated to develop manhood, and to make the men capable of earning their 
 living as good citizens when released. 
 
 The greater part of the men are engaged, as has been said, in public works, 
 but each prison has its farm and its series of workshops, in which are carried 
 on such industries as are needful in their self-support, yet none of these are 
 carried to such an extent as to compete with free labor by throwing the products 
 of prison labor into the market. The workshops in these great prisons are inter- 
 esting sights. In them are carried on carpentering, blacksmithing, coopering, 
 tailoring, shoemaking, harness and saddle making, toolmaking* etc. Rice- 
 cleaning is an important industry in Japan, and each prison has its rice-cleaning 
 and also its shoyu and miso department. These sauces, shoyu and miso, made of 
 
4 
 
 beans, wheat, and salt, are almost as essential to a Japanese meal and in cooking 
 as pepper and salt are with us. The rations served are abundant and wholesome, 
 and a principal article of diet is rice and wheat mixed in the proportion of six 
 parts to four, more nourishing than the clear rice, which is the usual food of the 
 better classes in the land. 
 
 The washhouse, the cookhouse, the bathhouse, the changehouse where 
 garments are changed as they go out to work and again as they return, the dry- 
 house where their workclothes if wet are quickly dried, and the hospital all 
 show thorough provision for the bodily wants of the men. 
 
 The cells are well ventilated, clean, and neat. In almost every one is to be seen 
 a little pile of books, scientific, ethical, and religious, showing not only the privilege 
 granted them, but that the men as a rule are glad to avail themselves of it. A 
 noticeable feature in each cell is the handwriting on the wall. A “ golden 
 saying” hangs there, the words of some wise man, Confucius, Mencius, or other 
 ancient or modern sage, among them quotations from the Bible. These aphor- 
 isms, selected by the warden or the instructor, look the men in the face as they 
 enter their cells day by day until they are thoroughly familiar, then are replaced 
 by new ones. 
 
 More interesting than the workshops and cells are two rooms, one for personal 
 conversation, where the instructor summons individuals with whom he wishes to 
 talk privately and where they may seek an interview with him if they choose, 
 and the room where is kept the record of work and behavior. The conduct of 
 each prisoner is recorded every day in regard to three particulars : ( i ) observance 
 of the rules, (2) deportment toward the guards and toward other prisoners, and 
 (3) diligence in work. If well behaved, they are granted special favors, and are 
 paid a small amount monthly, being permitted with the money to make pur- 
 chases. They receive rewards of merit in the shape of blue squares on the 
 coatsleeve. I have seen a good many in the shops with one, two, three, four, 
 and even five of these marks of honor, the latter showing them to be worthy of 
 great trust. 
 
 Each prison has its chapel, or lecture hall, where the prisoners are assembled 
 every Sunday afternoon for a moral address, after which is held a Sunday-school. 
 Attendance at the lecture is compulsory, at the Sunday-school optional. I 
 imagine that such unique Sunday-schools are to be found nowhere else in the 
 world, where side by side are classes in Bible study and classes in the Buddhist 
 scriptures and the Confucian classics. Here may be seen zealous Buddhists and 
 Confucianists, stimulated in the study of their own religions by the interest of 
 their fellow-prisoners in the Christian religion. However, the study of the Bible, 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/appliedchristianOOcurt 
 
5 
 
 wherein are found the wonderful, new doctrines of the fatherhood of God and 
 the brotherhood of man and of a present salvation from sin, proves by far the 
 greater attraction. 
 
 There are many inquirers about Christianity in each of the prisons. Out of 
 1,506 prisoners in the Kabato prison, where Christian instruction was begun 
 latest of all, 510 are studying the Bible, and of these 148 pray daily and follow 
 the course of daily Bible readings marked out by the Seisho no Tomo (Bible 
 Friend), a course used quite generally by the Christians of Japan. There is no 
 chance while in prison for a public confession of Christ, as by joining the church, 
 but the radical change wrought in the character of some of the men is such as 
 greatly to impress those who have witnessed it. According to the testimony of 
 their teachers they are “ an example to believers.” 
 
 The results of Christian instruction have not yet attracted public attention to 
 any extent, so few have as yet been released, but these results are beginning to 
 be manifest in the prisons, not merely in the conversion of some but by a 
 general leavening. In evidence of this, the little effort made of late to escape 
 from prison may be compared with that of a few years ago. From the begin- 
 ning of the present year up to the latter part of May, when I last visited the 
 prisons, but one man out of all the 7,000 prisoners had escaped. Last year the 
 number of fugitives was 70 ; the year before it was 160 ; the year before that a 
 still greater number. For this improvement two reasons were given me: one 
 that the prisoners are beginning to believe that they can depend on the Chris- 
 tians to befriend them when they are discharged ; the other, that the guards in 
 all of the prisons are becoming interested in the good conduct of the prisoners, 
 and are doing their best, so that a generous rivalry has arisen as to which of the 
 prisons can make the best showing. 
 
 The general tone in all the prisons has greatly changed under Christian 
 influence. 
 
 One thing that has given the prisoners great hope is the organization of an 
 “ Association for the Protection of Discharged Prisoners.” A large tract of 
 land was selected not far from Kabato, on the Ishikari River, the largest river in 
 Japan, where it was planned to found what they call a Puritan colony of these 
 discharged men, having as the ideal of this colony that simplicity of life and 
 uprightness of character which marked the early New England colonies. ^A 
 schoolhouse and a church are to be the first buildings. Buddhist opposition of 
 late has put obstacles in the way of their getting a title to the land, and it is yet 
 uncertain whether they will be able to carry out their plans just as designed. 
 Another thing that has been very helpful is a prison magazine called The 
 
6 
 
 Sympathy, which has quite a circulation in the prisons. Many of the prisoners, 
 as I understand, subscribe for it. It is an independent undertaking of the 
 instructors, having no government aid in its maintenance. 
 
 The way in which this great experiment in the Hokkaido came to be attempted, 
 the Providential leadings in it from the first until now, are of deep interest. 
 
 I have heard the story from the lips of those who were moved of God to 
 undertake it, and have before me as I write notes penned by them to aid me in 
 making this record. They speak with great modesty but with the deep con- 
 viction that they were called of God to undertake this work — and that what 
 has already been done is but the small beginnings of what God is going to do 
 for this class of people for whom they labor. 
 
 The pioneer in this work was Taneakira Hara, who was one of the first to 
 become a Christian in New Japan. He was baptized in 1874, at the same time 
 with a number who have become prominent as preachers. Mr. Hara decided 
 not to give up his business, which was mining, but wishing to engage, indirectly 
 at least, in Christian work he started a bookstore for the sale of Bibles and 
 other religious publications. This store, the Jujiya, is the oldest of all Chris- 
 tian bookstores and publishing houses, and has sold more religious books than 
 any other house in Japan. Mr. Hara did not confine himself, however, to 
 religious publications. A political pamphlet written by him was the instru- 
 mental cause of a complete change in all his plans for life. It happened in this 
 wise. 
 
 In 1883 several members of the Liberal party gave offence to the government 
 by some of their political utterances, and were arrested, among them Mr. Kono, 
 now the leader of that party in parliament. Mr. Hara, sympathizing with them 
 and disliking the government’s attempt to prevent freedom of speech, published 
 a little book containing the pictures of these men, with a sketch of their lives, 
 and no doubt giving his own opinion on the subject of free speech. For this 
 he also was arrested, and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. To 
 quote his own graphic words, “ I crept into the gates of the prison. Immediately 
 my clothes turned red. 1 I was taken along with three robbers into a room where 
 were kept over 100 prisoners, though at that time they were all out at work. 
 Sitting down quietly on the mats, I looked around and saw seated at a table a 
 man evidently in charge of the room, although a prisoner. He was eying me 
 intently as though trying to recall something. At length he beckoned to me, 
 and still looking most earnestly at me as I drew near, he asked, ‘ Do you know 
 me? I know you, but cannot recall your name.’ But I did not know him at 
 
 1 The prison garb in Japan is of a brick-red color. 
 
7 
 
 all, nor could I believe that I could have a friend among the criminals in prison. 
 He was impatient to know who I was. I told him that I was a bookseller and 
 my shop was on Ginza Street. No sooner had I said this than he slapped his 
 hand on his knee with the cry, ‘ Ah ! you are a Jesus-teacher ! Yes, it was you ! 
 But how did you happen to'come here? At all events your misfortune is my 
 good fortune, and heaven’s will may have been in it.’ Then with great polite- 
 ness he went on to say, ‘ How fortunate I am to meet you again, teacher. 
 I have seen you time and again in my dreams. I never expected to see 
 you here, but my heart’s request to meet you again is granted to-day.’ He 
 seemed full of joy and thankfulness, and continued, ‘ I committed a great 
 crime, a robbery, on account of which my conscience troubled me exceedingly. 
 One evening walking along Ginza Street I happened on a crowd to whom 
 a man was preaching. I stopped to listen. You were that preacher ; I cannot 
 forget that.’ 
 
 “ So the man said, but I never used to preach, and do not remember that I 
 ever stood before my shop and spoke to the passing people. Yet it may be that 
 the Lord guided me to speak on that one occasion. He went on : ‘As you 
 spoke you said, “ What is more bitter to the human heart than the consciousness 
 of sins and crimes ? Bodily pain, though severe, is easily borne compared with 
 the pain of remorse. It is only the salvation of Jesus Christ, the Lord of Peace, 
 that can give comfort to the repenting heart.” My heart was, indeed, in most 
 bitter agony at that time, and nothing could give me any peace or comfort. 
 Having heard from you that there is a salvation which can take away the suffer- 
 ings of sin, I longed to know more about it. But it was not long before I was 
 bound and put in prison as the result of my crimes. Suffering is painful, yet 
 physical punishment brought a feeling of comfort as paying back in a measure 
 my debt of crime, yet it did not free me from my mental suffering, and how 
 could I get rid of this torture? No deed, no thought, no repentance could 
 release me from it. Finally I bought this Bible ’ (he took one out from under 
 the table and showed it to me) ; ‘ but though I have the Bible I cannot yet under- 
 stand the true meaning of salvation, and have been daily asking God’s guid- 
 ance, and now here is my opportunity, though it is your misfortune.’ Tears of 
 joy and gratitude were in his eyes, and I myself felt very thankful. In the 
 meantime the prisoners had finished their work and came back to the roo^n, 
 and the man was at once very busy among them. Soon they began to call me 
 the Jesus-teacher. 
 
 “ The officials gave me permission to teach the Bible and talk about Chris- 
 tianity every night, and I was able to work very pleasantly among them. Coming 
 
8 
 
 into familiar contact with them and studying their minds carefully I found that 
 none of them were originally vicious, but that all had fallen into their wretched, 
 miserable condition from pressure of circumstances, and that if instructed and 
 guided in a right way there was much hope of their reformation. It seemed to 
 me a most pitiable thing that the criminals suffer severely in prison, under cruelly 
 strict punishment, the government regarding them as incurably diseased with 
 crime, and giving them no instruction good or bad ; then when they come out 
 of prison they are despised generally and hated, whatever they say or do. So 
 thinking, I spent my term of imprisonment in careful study of the criminals. As 
 for myself this imprisonment was the bitterest suffering of my life. During it I 
 was dangerously ill with typhoid fever. But the hand of the Lord was upon 
 me in my sad condition. His voice was in my ears, and I received constant 
 peace from him. I had joy in my troubles and passed my days in prison with 
 a thankful heart.” 
 
 Mr. Hara says that after his release he could not but heed the scriptural injunc- 
 tion to “ remember those in bonds as bound with them.” He had been in 
 prison, and his thoughts were now constantly of the prisoners. He talked with 
 his friends about them and their needs ; and, unable to keep still on the subject, 
 he published a pamphlet on the condition of the prisoners, adding his opinion 
 as to how it might be improved. This pamphlet attracted the attention of the 
 chief prison officials, who became deeply interested in his views. They set him 
 to inspecting the prisons throughout a large section of the country and to 
 reporting on their condition. He had frequent talks with the head of the prison 
 department, Mr. Ishii, and with others, about the great importance of prison 
 reform, and expressed the opinion that the difficult work of reforming criminals 
 could never be done except by those who have a true spirit of self-sacrifice. 
 Asking the chief to point out any among the many prison officers throughout 
 the whole country who had this spirit, the answer was, with a sigh, that not one 
 could be found. The answer moved Mr. Hara very strongly, and raised in his 
 mind the question whether he ought not to give himself to the work. But he 
 had chosen bookselling as his profession, and it was hard for him to give it up 
 for such a calling. 
 
 His mind, however, was not at rest. He could not attend to his business. 
 He could think of nothing else until this question of duty was decided. He 
 frequently went alone to the Nihonbashi church where he belonged, and kneeling 
 down by the lonely pulpit would think and think and pray. He passed a week 
 waiting for the command of the Lord, the words (Acts 22 : 15) repeatedly 
 knocking at his heart, “ For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou 
 
9 
 
 hast seen and heard.” Then the decision was made, and, though opposed by 
 relatives and friends, he renounced his worldly ambitions and gave his life to 
 the work of improving the prisons. When he informed Mr. Ishii of his decision, 
 he found that the Lord had been preparing a place for him, for he was at once 
 told that the “ Temporarily- Receiving Prison ” of Hyogo (Kobe) was seeking 
 for a moral instructor and that he could have that position. When he came to 
 meet the superintendent of this prison, to his surprise he found in him a fellow- 
 Christian from Tokyo, Mr. Sakabe, a member of Mr. Kozaki’s church. And so 
 he was able to give instruction as he pleased, without interference. 
 
 After working in the Hyogo prison about three years, Mr. Hara visited the 
 Hokkaido, and at the newly established prison in Kushiro province he received 
 a hearty welcome from the superintendent, Mr. Oinue, already spoken of, who 
 openly said that what was needed in prison instruction was Christian principles. 
 His earnest desire for a Christian instructor moved Mr. Hara greatly. Then, 
 too, he saw in that prison many whom he had instructed in the Hyogo prison, 
 and though he had no chance to talk with them, there was an appealing look on 
 their faces and often tears in their eyes as they saw him, as though they were 
 longing for his sympathy and counsel. Their stay in the Hyogo Receiving 
 Prison was brief, but here they were to spend at least twelve years, and he felt 
 that this was the place to do good. So he resolved to break the ties that bound 
 him to Kobe, and go to the wilds of the Hokkaido. He was urged by the 
 government to become a prison official in Tokyo, but he wanted to work 
 directly for the prisoners, and his request for permission to go to Kushiro was 
 granted. 
 
 His going was the beginning of Christian instruction in the Hokkaido prisons. 
 Before this the instruction was wholly in the hands of the Buddhists, and the 
 superintendents, with the exception of this one at Kushiro, favored Buddhism. 
 Providentially the transfer of Superintendent Oinue from Kushiro to Sorachi 
 prison gave him an opportunity to appoint the instructor there. Providentially 
 too his successor as superintendent at Kushiro was from Okayama, where his 
 wife was a member of the church. He recommended Mr. Oinue to apply for an 
 instructor to Mr. Kanemori, his wife’s former pastor, who had removed to Tokyo. 
 Mr. Kanemori’s departure from his early faith into extreme liberalism and his 
 final withdrawal from the ministry are deeply deplorable ; but he did a good work 
 before his defection, and one of his best deeds was his recommendation of 
 Pastor Tomeoka, of Tamba, and his advice to him to accept this invitation to a 
 Hokkaido prison. 
 
 Mr. Tomeoka, who has become very prominent in this work, was a graduate of 
 
10 
 
 the Vernacular Theological Course at the Doshisha University, and had been 
 preaching with much devotion and success for three years. He had become 
 deeply interested in Christianity’s relations to sociological problems. “ Christi- 
 anity and Pauperism,” “ Christianity and Business,” “Christianity and Philan- 
 thropy,” “ Christianity and Prison Reform,” and subjects like these were often 
 in his thoughts, with the feeling that Christianity is too often a thing of words 
 and too seldom of practice. He had little inclination, however, to accept this 
 invitation, which came to him so unexpectedly, until Mr. Hara wrote to him from 
 Kushiro, telling him about the condition of the Hokkaido prisons and the impor- 
 tance of moral instruction there. Then the question of duty arose. Ought he 
 to go? Ought he to give up his cherished plans of pastoral work? He turned 
 again and again to his friends for advice, but got little encouragement from them. 
 He spent whole nights in prayer and meditation. It was three months before 
 he could decide to give up his pastorate and attempt this new work, but at 
 last he made up his mind that the call was of God and that he must give himself 
 to this work. 
 
 He reasoned with himself, as he says, somewhat after this fashion : “ These 
 convicts may be difficult to reform, yet they are men, our brothers, and there is 
 no reason why we should dread them or be disgusted with them as though they 
 were dogs or wolves or bears. Our heavenly Father created them, and we can 
 save them by his Word, the Bible. The Buddhist priests, who are the chaplains 
 of the prisons of Japan, cannot reform these criminals who are under the heavy 
 pressure of iron chains. To do this is the mission of Christians. There is 
 more joy in heaven over the one sinner that repents than over the ninety and 
 nine righteous persons that need no repentance. Now I am going to try and get 
 this worst sinner into heaven.” Unmoved by the coolness of some of his fellow- 
 Christians, who thought his going a sign of declining faith and of a desire for 
 office and salary, he went with joy in his heart to work for the reformation of the 
 Hokkaido convicts. This was in April, 1891. 
 
 Mr. Tomeoka was anxious to get all the light and all the help he could on the 
 subject of prison reform, and within a year he had heard of and purchased Dr- 
 Wines’ book, “ The State of Prisons and Child-saving Institutions in the Civilized 
 World.” The more he studied it the more convinced he was that prison reform 
 cannot be accomplished except through Christian principles. He saw that the 
 prison reform of the Western world is one of the social movements of Christian- 
 ity, and felt more deeply than before that if the Japanese prisons are to be 
 reformed it must be done by those who feel deeply the love of Christ in their 
 hearts. In Dr. Wines’ book, that standard work on prison reformation, he found 
 
1 1 
 
 great help in his labors in Sorachi prison. Then he got hold of the Reports of 
 the Prison Congress in America. Through his study he has become intensely 
 interested in the “Indeterminate Sentence System,” the “Elmira System” as it 
 is often called, and has entered into correspondence with Superintendent Brock- 
 way of Elmira, and with Secretary Round of the New York Prison Association, 
 seeking for information and advice from them. 
 
 He is very enthusiastic about this “ Indeterminate Sentence System,” regard- 
 ing it as the ideal system. He is interesting his fellow-workers in the subject, 
 and hopes in time to see it adopted throughout Japan. Whether this desirable 
 result is to be attained or not, the zealous labors of these men in reforming the 
 prison system of Japan is sure to bear rich fruit. 
 
 The instruction given in these prisons may be classified as follows : — 
 
 1. Moral instruction by a lecture on Sunday to all of the prisoners, attend- 
 ance being compulsory. Distinctively Christian teaching is not brought into this 
 address because among the prisoners are Buddhists and Shintoists and Confu- 
 cianists, and to all religious freedom is guaranteed. 
 
 2. Religious instruction on the Sabbath. The study of the Bible and explana- 
 tion of Christian truth for an hour succeeding the moral lecture, attendance 
 upon which is voluntary. 
 
 3. Daily instruction in the cells, there being usually some six or eight together. 
 This instruction is either moral or religious, and sometimes takes the form of 
 answers to the questions of the prisoners. 
 
 4. Individual instruction. Meeting the men privately for personal advice, a 
 method valued highly for its good results. 
 
 5. Educational, to those under twenty in common-school branches. 
 
 The work being done by Messrs. Hara and Tomeoka and their associates is a 
 grand work, a hopeful work. Many of these criminals, it seems certain, can be 
 reclaimed. Mr. Hara has told us that they are not originally vicious, but have 
 fallen into crime through pressure of circumstances. My own opinion is that 
 they are by no means so depraved as men under like sentence in America. Not 
 having sinned against such great light, they are not so hardened as criminals in 
 a Christian land are likely to be. I have slept under the same roof with 200 of 
 these convicts and their guards. It was in an immense log hut in the forest. 
 There were no doors in the hut ; the men were not chained. There were but 
 two guards on duty, one at either end of this great building ; and these convicts 
 probably had all of them at least ten years to serve. It was hard to realize the 
 fact at the time, but they were spending night after night through the summer 
 as quietly as we spent that night. I have seen some 400 of these men listening 
 
12 
 
 for the first time in their lives to a Christian sermon, and have seen their eyes 
 glisten and the teardrops start as they were told of the blessed invitation of the 
 mighty Saviour who was meek and lowly of heart, with the invitation, “ Come 
 unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” To give 
 the gospel to such men is surely hopeful work. 
 
 The success of these noble Christian teachers is seen not simply in their direct 
 teaching of the prisoners, but in the influence of their words and example upon 
 the officers and guards. Reform in prison management, as well as in the char- 
 acter of the prisoners, is their aim. And this reform is coming ! This humble 
 effort in practical Christianity in these Hokkaido prisons, if it goes on, is to 
 revolutionize in time the treatment of criminals throughout Japan. And prison 
 reform in Japan will result eventually in prison reform throughout the Orient. 
 Well may these men toil on in hope and faith as they think of the opportunity 
 that God has given them ! But they need our prayers and our sympathy and 
 encouragement in this work. 
 
 And their opportunity is not theirs alone. The work going on in these prisons 
 affords an immediate and direct opportunity in each of the communities where 
 they are located for doing a religious work outside of these prisons, an opportu- 
 nity which ought to be improved for making each place a centre of Christian 
 influence for the surrounding region. An able evangelist should be put in each 
 of these places to cooperate with the prison instructor in work among the officers 
 and guards and among the citizens of the place. This should be made an im- 
 portant factor in the evangelization of the Hokkaido. These are open doors set 
 before God’s people that ought to be entered. Some of them have already been 
 entered. For others the plans have already been laid for entering. As we pray 
 “Thy kingdom come,” let us not forget these practical efforts toward the realiza- 
 tion of the Kingdom, but pray specifically for the speedy success both of the 
 prison work and of these outside labors. 
 
 One other reason why this work humble in its beginnings, yet growing, as it 
 seems to me, like the mustard seed, should enlist our prayers. It is this : an 
 application of Christian principle such as this of prison reform is an evidence of 
 the practical nature, the social value of Christianity so convincing that when 
 once seen in successful operation it must aid grandly toward the breaking down 
 of prejudices among the millions of Japan. Many factors are at work breaking 
 these down and leavening the popular mind, and among the many prison reform 
 bids fair to become a not insignificant one.