THE KINGDOM OF 
 GOD IN JAPAN 
 
 Observations and Recommendations 
 of a Deputation Appointed by the 
 American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions : : : : 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I Letter of Transmittal 
 
 II Summary of Recommendations to the Prudential Com- 
 mittee 
 
 III Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 A. Foreword 
 
 B. The Evangelistic Work 
 
 C. The Organized Congregational Church in Japan 
 
 D. The Deploying of Missionary Fnrrpg 
 
 E. The Educational Work 
 
 F. The Social Work 
 
 rV The Call of Japan 
 V Appendices 
 
 A. Summary of Suggestions Made to the Japan Mission 
 
 B. Record of the Visit to Korea 
 
 C. Missionary Project for the Hokkaido 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/kingdomofgodinjaOOamer 
 
REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DEPUTATION TO JAPAN 
 
 1. Letter of Transmittal 
 
 To the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commis- 
 sioners for Foreign Missions. 
 
 Gentlemen : — 
 
 Acting as your representatives in the capacity of a Deputation 
 to Japan, we beg leave to present the following report: — 
 
 Under appointment from your committee, Dr. John C. Berry 
 and Dr. James A. Blaisdell, accompanied by Mrs. Berry and Mrs. 
 Blaisdell, embarked from San Francisco January 23, 1918. After 
 spending two week in Honolulu, where important information was 
 secured bearing on the matters under investigation in Japan, they 
 landed at Yokohama on February 25. There they were met by 
 Secretary Enoch F. Bell, who had arrived in Japan a few days before, 
 after completing a trip of investigation through the Philippine 
 Islands. On the afternoon the Deputation laid out a program and 
 itinerary which occupied it consecutively until the date of sailing. 
 May 30, 1918. In the prosecution of this itinerary at least two 
 members of the Deputation visited each of the stations of the Board 
 and also acquainted themselves with the situation in Korea. The 
 Deputation examined the work of other missionary boards, held 
 innumerable conferences, individual and group, both with the mis- 
 sionaries, and with the Japanese Christian workers, shared in many 
 ways in public occasions and made the information thus secured the 
 basis of its own careful conferences. Dr. Berry and Mr. Bell visited 
 Seoul and Ping-Yang, Korea, investigating the situation in detail. 
 Dr. Blaisdell, in the meantime, spending a few days in North China 
 but returning in time for a brief stop at each of the Korean points 
 mentioned. The Deputation concluded its work in Japan by at- 
 
4 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 tendance upon and participation in the Mission meeting at Arima, 
 and on intervening days, when the Mission was occupied in other 
 business, shared in a conference with the executive body of the 
 Kumiai Congregational Church which was called for this purpose and 
 which also met in Arima. 
 
 While the Deputation acted as a unit and ultimately reached 
 its conclusions by conferences which resulted in unanimous agree- 
 ment, the varied training and experience of the different members 
 proved a distinct advantage and undoubtedly increased the efficiency 
 of the commission and the value of its results. Dr. Berry’s long 
 experience in Japan and the fact that he had received a decoration 
 from the Japanese Emperor opened special opportunities of approach. 
 As a secretary of the American Board and at one time a member of 
 the Japan Mission, Mr. Bell was familiar with the business and per- 
 sonal details of the Mission and its work; while Dr. Blaisdell’s as- 
 sociation with educational interests was of special service in matters 
 pertaining to this department of our missionary work. The judg- 
 ment and conclusions of each, however, were made the possession 
 of all and the decisions ultimately reached were those of the entire 
 Deputation. 
 
 Your Deputation came to Japan at a most significant hour. 
 Socially, politically, intellectually and spiritually, Japan is at this 
 moment in a most critical period of rapid transition. Her mind and 
 soul lie open and receptive as perhaps never before in her history. 
 Universally it was recognized throughout the Empire that we had 
 come at a moment of vital importance, and the report which we 
 herewith render is delivered to you with the feeling that it concerns a 
 nation in a most strategic and crucial hour of national development. 
 Issues of an importance far beyond any possibility of description are 
 now being decided and their consequences will reach into the, most 
 distant future. 
 
 The nature of our opportunity is further indicated by the fact 
 that our reception, by missionaries, by government officials and by 
 Japanese Christians, was surpassingly cordial. At every station 
 the missionaries of the Board gave us assured welcome and opened to 
 us both the problems and the possibilities of their work. The greet- 
 ing of the Japanese Christians also was always obviously hearty and 
 genuine to the last degree. Not only in the Christian Church but 
 throughout the Empire as well there were the warmest expressions of 
 friendship and cordiality, and everywhere the spirit was such as is 
 
Letter of Transmittal 
 
 5 
 
 indicated in the greeting of Dr. Ebinaof Tokyo: “You have come i 
 to us at just the opportune time. Our hearts are open to receive 
 you.” Government officials invariably expressed the same welcome, 
 official receptions were cordial in the extreme, and were received 
 and remembered with pleasure and gratitude. 
 
 In many ways your Deputation was impressed by the difference 
 in the situations faced by us and by your former Deputation in the 
 year 1896. Regret was often expressed that any shadow had 
 fallen in earlier days upon the relations of the Board and the 
 Japanese church. It was everywhere emphasized that spiritual 
 forces had been in operation drawing all the various workmen into 
 consciousness of their real comradeship in the common undertaking. 
 In all this process the tact of the missionaries has been of the utmost 
 importance in clarifying the situation, and this has been met in turn 
 by the growing appreciation and friendliness of their enlarging work 
 and by the necessity of securing the co-operation of Christian forces 
 from abroad. It is with great joy that we record this evident rap- 
 prochement of fellow- workers, American and Japanese, in whose 
 common task we are so deeply interested. 
 
 On the other hand, it is to be regretted that these twenty years 
 have been inevitably a period of uncertainty in our Mission. 
 Under the circumstances which existed the exact part which our 
 missionaries were likely to have in the development of Japanese 
 Christianity was not clear. Consequently the question of recruiting 
 our mission with increasing numbers has been a difficult one in view 
 of the earlier problems. As a result the various stations have been 
 allowed to become depleted of their missionary forces. Buildings 
 and equipment have been suffered to decline. As this process con- 
 tinued a feeling akin to discouragement inevitably developed. The 
 original deploying of our forces had been accomplished with singular 
 wisdom, but with the decrease in numbers of the ordained mis- 
 sionaries it became a serious problem as to where the few new families 
 should be placed, among the many stations calling most urgently 
 for succor. The lines of these missionary field forces had become so 
 thin that an early decision involving the gravest consequence seemed 
 inevitable. Either these forces must be generously recruited or im- 
 portant stations must soon be abandoned. In either case radical and 
 prompt action must be taken. 
 
 It will at once be seen that this decision could not be treated as an 
 isolated issue. Rather it involved the whole problem of our atti- 
 
6 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 tude toward missionary work in countries as far developed as is 
 Japan. This question in turn seemed to necessitate a fundamental 
 decision of Christian' policy as to how far the missionary commission 
 of the church is rightly satisfied with the completion of a rudimen- 
 tary form of evangelization and how far it demands co-operation 
 in the construction of a complete Christian civilization. The in- 
 sufficiency of the working forces in Japan which led to the call for a 
 deputation thus opened questions of such fundamental importance 
 that we have felt warranted in devoting the body of this report to a 
 somewhat detailed statement of the situation as we found it. This state- 
 ment also embodies the explanation of our specific recommendations. 
 
 It should here be observed that while the missionary force has 
 thus declined in numbers the urgency of the need has found increased 
 and general emphasis. If at any time there has been division of 
 opinion among Christian workers in Japan, native and foreign, as 
 to the need of enlarged missionary forces, no shadow of such a doubt 
 lingers now. The call of our missionaries for added resources of men 
 and means is most emphatic ; but it is no more so than is the call of 
 the Japanese Christian church itself. On this matter there was but 
 one word, insistent and pathetic, - — that the Christians in Japan are 
 unable as yet to meet the vast and critical need of the country and 
 that they must have the co-operation of the established churches of 
 other lands for years to come. 
 
 The Mission meeting was held at Arima, May 16 to 24. A gen- 
 erous allotment of time was given to your Deputation for the pres- 
 entation of their suggestions bearing on the work of the Mission in 
 Japan; and also for the discussion and suggestion of matters per- 
 taining to the report to be made to your committee. Reference is 
 made in this report to the matters brought under advisement at this 
 time. In general it may be said that it seemed wise to suggest to 
 the Mission certain forms of organization and work which appeared 
 to us to promise an increased unity and efficiency both in the Mis- 
 sion itself and in its relation with the Kumiai Church. A memoran- 
 dum of these suggestions is appended to this report. 
 
 The discussion of these subjects resulted in the creation of the 
 office of Field Secretary as an agency helpful both in the Mission 
 itself and in its relation with the Kumiai churches; the appointment 
 of this Secretary; the designation of a publicity committee; and the 
 appointment of a committee of six who should consider other sugges- 
 tions which were made and who should further co-operate with the 
 
Letter of Transmittal 
 
 7 
 
 Deputation in the formulation of a statement of various important 
 needs. We believe that the steps thus taken, though simple, will 
 be of far reaching consequence and that they will mean much to 
 the future work of the Mission. 
 
 Your Deputation met twice with the Riji, the executive body of 
 the Kumiai church in Japan. The first of these meetings was early 
 in our stay in the country. The second meeting was held as indi- 
 cated at Arima, contemporaneously with the Mission meeting. 
 The meetings of the two bodies were held in separate places and the 
 brevity of the time prevented any union gatherings save those of a 
 social nature. These meetings with the Riji were of the greatest 
 consequence. We were made familiar with the frank feeling of our 
 Japanese brethren. The conferences were thoughtful, friendly and 
 deeply spiritual, and we came away with a profound feeling of grati- 
 tude for the ability and spiritual character of the men who, under 
 God, are leaders of our Congregational Communion in Japan. 
 
 After closing these important gatherings with the Mission and 
 the Riji, your Deputation, with only a few days delay, embarked 
 from Yokohama. Much time was devoted to conferences on ship- 
 board. The whole' journey was reviewed and all the topics which 
 had been brought to our attention were again taken under advise- 
 ment. In the early stages of our work we had kept separate counsel, 
 so that each might reach an unbiased conclusion. Our judgment was 
 therefore greatly fortified by finding that independently we had 
 reached, in almost every case, practically identical results. The most 
 important findings of our journey we herewith submit to you in 
 the general body of this report, and to this report we have appended 
 comments on certain special details. You also have accessible the 
 notes kept by Mr. Bell, secretary of this commission. 
 
 In conclusion we desire to express to your committee our grate- 
 fulness for the privilege of participating in an undertaking which is 
 so greatly illuminating, so enlarging of thought and interest, and 
 one which involves partnership in one of the deeper spiritual under- 
 takings of our times. It has been a joy to us to serve together; 
 and together we have found it a joy to serve with all those other work- 
 ers of Christ Jesus with whom we have thus been brought in council. 
 We transmit to you this report in the common hope and prayer that 
 it may be of consequence not only to the forwarding of our own mis- 
 sionary work but also to the whole undertaking of the establishment 
 
8 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 of the Kingdom of God in this great Empire to which our hearts 
 have been so closely drawn. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 James A. Blaisdell 
 John C. Berry 
 Enoch F. Bell. 
 
II. Summary of Recommendations to the 
 Prudential Committee. 
 
 A. SPECIAL PRAYER 
 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That the year 1919, which marks the 50th anniversary of 
 American Board work in Japan, be emphasized as a period of special 
 thanksgiving and prayer in behalf of the Japan Mission; and 
 
 2. That, taking the past as an earnest of the future, the Board 
 set itself with renewed purpose and zeal to the task of fulfilling its 
 mission, under God, in Japan. 
 
 B. STRATEGIC OCCUPANCY 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That due consideration be given to the judgment of the 
 missionaries and Japanese Christians that the situation in Japan and 
 the inadequacy of the church there are such as to call for the de- 
 velopment rather then the devolution of our forces; 
 
 2. That all the established stations in Japan (including Oka- 
 yama and Sendai) be held ; 
 
 3. That the Mission be allowed to place one of its number in 
 Seoul, Korea, when the increase of forces renders this practicable; 
 
 4. That for the present the requests of the Kumiai Church for 
 help in Formosa, Liukiu Islands and Manchuria be regretfully de- 
 clined; • 
 
 5. That the importance be noted of allowing the missionaries 
 en route to and from Japan to visit oftener the Japanese churches of 
 Hawaii and Pacific coast, such temporary service being of strategic 
 importance and of far-reaching effect upon Japan proper; 
 
 6. That the unique opportunity in the Hokkaido and the plans 
 for the adequate stressing of the work there, as expressed in Appendix 
 C of this report, be given special consideration; 
 
 7. That, in general, precedence be given to those stations 
 which, because of more openness of mind, lessening resistance, or 
 other evidences of peculiar promise, provide the best reason for 
 early success; and 
 
10 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 8. That, too, in line with the recommendation of the former 
 Deputation, the country field (including cities of moderate size 
 surrounded by large rural districts) be given precedence over the 
 immense cities for general missionary work. 
 
 C. A DEMONSTRATION CENTER 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That some moderate-sized city, preferably Okayama, be 
 developed as a demonstration center wherein shall be grouped choice 
 forces for model evangelistic work through church, school and social 
 service institutions, amid, “country” as well as “city” conditions; 
 
 2. That the Woman’s Boards be conferred with on the matter; 
 
 3. That the Mission be authorized to consult with the Kumiai 
 Church and report to the Board as to ways and means of developing 
 such a center in fullest co-operation; and 
 
 4. That this center be considered the Mission’s first responsi- 
 bility in its location of missionaries, distribution of work and funds, 
 even if this meant leaving some stationer stations unoccupied pend- 
 ing the arrival of reinforcements. 
 
 D. FIELD SECRETARY 
 
 We Recommend : 
 
 That the Misson be authorized to appoint a Field Secretary 
 whose chief duties shall be : 
 
 (1) To serve as main point of contact between mission and church : 
 
 (2) To seek to correlate the mission organization with that of the 
 church : 
 
 (3) To assume general oversight of stations temporarily without 
 a resident missionary : 
 
 (4) To have general oversight of the work in Korea until a mis- 
 sionary is located there permanently : 
 
 (5) To serve the stations, as may be desired by the mission in its 
 effort toward greatest efficiency as a unit. 
 
 E. SUPPLY OF MISSIONARIES 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That in response to the urgent appeal of the Japanese 
 
Recommendations to the Prudential Committee 
 
 11 
 
 church and the Mission, the Board undertake to keep each of its 
 twelve stations (including Okayama and Sendai) manned with at 
 least one family and one single lady missionary ; 
 
 2. That it provide as soon as practicable for new phases of 
 work, including the response to the demand for a man in Korea, for 
 social service workers, Sunday School experts, and the like ; 
 
 3. That young college men be sent out on short-term service as 
 assistants to Japanese pastors for such definite tasks as shall be ar- 
 ranged for by the Mission and the Church in question. 
 
 ( Note-. The minimum force required for the sound maintenance 
 of the work in Japan is as follows: 27 ordained [married] men — 
 an increase of three families over the present basis: 5 single men for 
 special work; and 29 [single] ladies — as against 21 at present.) 
 
 F. CAMPAIGN FOR RECRUITS 
 We Recommend : 
 
 That in the Board’s campaign for recruits in Japan the 
 appeal of the Japanese leaders for young men and women from 
 America, and the promise of those leaders to give the missionary 
 recruits the best of opportunities for initiative and responsibility for 
 progressive work, be widely circulated ; that the Japanese conviction 
 that the situation in Japan will appeal with unusual force to return- 
 ing soldiers from France be emphasized; that the Board continue 
 to find recruits of such capacity as will enable them to work in 
 closest fellowship with the Japanese under the general direction of 
 the church of which they can become an important part. 
 
 G. LANGUAGE SCHOOL 
 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That a good working knowledge of the vernacular be con- 
 tinuously urged upon every recruit as a way to missionary success. 
 
 2. That the Japan Mission be commended for its insistence 
 upon careful preparation in the language on the part of every new 
 missionary; and 
 
 3. That continued use be made of the Language School in 
 Tokyo in expectation that more and more it will meet the demand for 
 an institution in the field which shall make it unnecessary to lengthen 
 a recruit’s professional training in America, so far as such bears upon 
 
12 Deputation to Japan 
 
 the language, civilization and religion of the people with whom his 
 life work is to be done. 
 
 H. SCHOOL FOR MISSIONARIES’ CHILDREN 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That the Board continue its special interest in the school 
 for missionaries’ children at Kobe; and 
 
 2. That it endorse in every way possible the school in Tokyo 
 which has the possibilities of becoming a real American high school 
 in the Orient worthy of American governmental assistance. 
 
 1. DOSHISHA 
 
 We Recommend; 
 
 1. That the Board adhere in general to its time-honored 
 policy of co-operation with Doshisha; 
 
 2. That in view of the grave problems the institution is now 
 facing in sustaining its original Christian atmosphere as it enlarges 
 upon a university basis, the Board respond whith special effort to 
 the appeal of faculty and friends of the institution for some aggres- 
 sive religious work among the students; 
 
 3. That Doshisha’s wide constituency in America be hereby 
 asked to carry this matter upon its heart, in full assurance that 
 “prayer and pains accomplish all things”; 
 
 4. That the Board lend its support to Doshisha’s appeal for 
 funds for Christian dormitories and for American college men to 
 man the same; 
 
 5. That the desire for an annual Lectureship in Theology, for a 
 longer or shorter period, be favored by the early appointment of 
 some American scholar to temporary service in Doshisha; 
 
 6. That in general the policy of an interchange of professors 
 between Doshisha and American institutions be wisely fostered ; 
 
 7. That as the services of present missionary theological 
 teachers cease and Japanese are placed more and more in those 
 chairs the Board give careful deliberation to new forms of co-opera- 
 tion with Doshisha; and 
 
 8. That when funds permit, the Board provide for Doshisha’s 
 sending selected pastors from among its graduates to America for 
 advanced studies. 
 
Recommendations to the Prudential Committee 
 
 13 
 
 J. KOBE COLLEGE 
 
 We Recommend : 
 
 That the expansion and perfecting of Kobe College as one 
 of the largest and most vital Christian efforts in Japan be given 
 generous consideration ; on the understanding that no small invest- 
 ment can be at all adequate; that the large and pressing questions 
 of construction, equipment and adjustment should be faced soon; 
 and that the College has undoubted possibilities in the development 
 of an adequate educational policy for the Empire, — a mission as 
 distinct as is that of the Girls’ Department of Doshisha. 
 
 K. GLORY KINDERGARTEN TRAINING SCHOOL (Kobe) 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That, continuing under missionary auspices for an indefinite 
 length of time, this necessary institution be suitably housed in 
 permanent quarters owned by the Board, provided with adequate 
 equipment, and in general fully sustained as a typical American 
 kindergarten school; 
 
 2 . That all sound efforts for the securing of property and endow- 
 ment, either from American or Japanese sources, be actively 
 supported by the Board. 
 
 L. WOMEN’S EVANGELISTIC SCHOOL (Kobe) 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That this institution be encouraged in its purpose to ex- 
 pand its share of influence, increase its faculty, and improve its stu- 
 dent body ; 
 
 2. That the Mission and Woman’s Board of the Interior be 
 asked to take under advisement the question of transferring the 
 school to the proposed demonstration center whenever such a center 
 is definitely planned for; 
 
 3. That meanwhile, the School and Kobe College be encour- 
 aged in any plan they may devise for a more complete unity in 
 staff and student body ; and 
 
 4. That constant effort be made to bring the Japanese into the 
 support and administration of this school, which in a peculiar way 
 aims to supply suitable workers for the Kumiai Churches. 
 
14 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 M. OTHER EDUCATIONAL WORK 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 That questions pertaining to the special policy and develop- 
 ment of Matsuyama Girls’ School; the extent of our co-operation 
 with Baikwa, Maebashi Girls’ School, or other institutions owned and 
 controlled by Japanese; and the co-ordinating of all our educational 
 work with that of other Christian educational institutions in Japan 
 be a subject of special study and effort until a satisfactory system is 
 evolved. 
 
 N. THE UNION CHRISTIAN WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY 
 
 (Tokyo) 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That the general plan and purpose of this new union insti- 
 tution receive the cordial support of the Board ; and 
 
 2. That the Board assume at least one unit of representation 
 in the administration of the University. 
 
 O. THE PROPOSED UNION UNIVERSITY FOR MEN 
 
 (Tokyo) 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 That no further action be taken at present than has already 
 been taken by the Board, which though in sympathy with the ideal 
 has not yet been convinced of the practicability of any proposed plan. 
 
 P. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADEQUATE MINISTRY 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That this grave problem confronting both missionary and 
 Japanese Christian leaders receive the serious attention of the 
 American Board and its constituency; 
 
 2. That in the Board’s co-operation with Doshisha this need be 
 ever kept in mind ; 
 
 3. That in the development of the proposed Demonstration 
 Center an effort be made to have said center used for theological 
 students, pastors and other Christian workers who seek to perfect 
 themselves in service ; 
 
Recommendations to the Prudential Committee 
 
 15 
 
 4. That the Board do what it can to stimulate more Japanese 
 pastors and other Christian leaders of tested strength to come to 
 America for advanced studies; and 
 
 5. That other sound projects which may be devised for the 
 securing and training of an adequate ministry receive the support 
 of the Board. 
 
 0. NEW BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURE 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That in the construction of new buildings, residential or 
 otherwise, attention be given to the formulation of a type of build- 
 ing which shall involve the best of our American equipment in ex- 
 ternal Japanese forms; and 
 
 2. That due consideration be given to the advisability of em- 
 ploying an able architect in Japan who shall preserve a general 
 policy of construction throughout the field. 
 
 R. SOCIAL SERVICE 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1 . That Japan’s immediate problem of social reconstruction due 
 to her development as an industrial and commercial nation be a 
 subject of earnest thought and prayer; 
 
 2. That all Japanese Christian effort to meet the serious 
 conditions receive the moral support of the Board ; 
 
 3. That the Mission be encouraged to promote any practical 
 movement likely to interest and train Japanese workers for this 
 service. 
 
 4. That the Board stand ready to set aside certain missionaries 
 for co-operation in such social service organizations as may in due 
 time be administered by the Japanese; but 
 
 5. That there be no assumption of principal responsibility 
 for institutional church work or for social settlement work by the 
 Mission in the large centers or wherever else the Japanese are cap- 
 able of carrying this responsibility themselves; the missionaries, 
 however, being constantly encouraged to stimulate endeavor and 
 to assist as opportunity offers. 
 
16 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 6. That the Hanabatake social settlement at Okayama be 
 held and developed, particularly if that city is selected as a demon- 
 stration center; 
 
 7. That evangelistic work among industrial classes, as a 
 special form of missionary activity, be more highly developed; 
 
 8. That the Women’s Boards be encouraged to support lady 
 missionaries set aside for this special service; 
 
 9. That the Board’s constant support be given to all sound 
 movements in behalf of the Christian Home, the Christian Sabbath, 
 Temperance, Playgrounds, — and of every other proved principle 
 and practice of social uplift; 
 
 10. That in general the Mission continue along its time hon- 
 ored lines of “educational evangelism’’ as the best method of per- 
 forming the broadest and deepest social service for the Empire. 
 
 S. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That increasing attention be given to the production of 
 effective Christian literature in Japan; 
 
 2. That the Board continue to participate in the work of the 
 Christian Literature Society, the official representative of the Mis- 
 sions in Japan; and 
 
 3. That the Board proceed upon the understanding that the 
 entire propaganda of Christian literature will be increasingly, and 
 in due time predominantly, under the-direction of the Japanese. 
 
 T. RELATION OF THE MISSION TO THE NATIVE CHURCH 
 We Recommend : 
 
 1. That the leadership of the Kumiai Church be increasingly 
 honored by the American Board, in firm confidence that in time this 
 native church shall administer all the functions of Congregational 
 oversight and endeavor in Japan; 
 
 2. That to this end the Mission be encouraged, both as a 
 body and as individuals, to co-operate with the Church in such a way 
 as ultimately to bring to pass the integration of the Mission with the 
 Church ; 
 
 3. That one of the chief duties of the Field Secretary shall be 
 the furthering of this policy of ultimate integration ; 
 
Recommendations to the Prudential Committee 
 
 17 
 
 4. That the Board also approve other steps toward integration 
 suggested in the main part of the Report, such as — 
 
 (а) The appointment of short-term men as a^istants to 
 Japanese pastors. 
 
 (б) The setting aside of missionaries for special work for a 
 definite period of time as associate pastors. . 
 
 (c) The appointment of specialists on Sunday School and other 
 work, to be responsible to the church. 
 
 {d) The increasing of Japanese membership upon educational 
 boards. 
 
 {e) Missionaries to become members of local Japanese 
 churches (1) for effective service therein and (2) that they may serve, 
 when required, as representatives in local associations and at na- 
 tional councils. 
 
 5 . That the J apanese initiative in educational as in evangelistic 
 work be encouraged, and that every sound plan be supported 
 which aims in due time to place upon the Japanese the paramount 
 responsibility for the administration of most of the educational 
 work of the Mission. 
 
 6. That it is expected that along with the leadership of the 
 church shall go an ever increasing responsibility on the part of the 
 Japanese for the full financing of the work, - — the mission constantly 
 pushing toward this desired end. 
 
 U. COMITY 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That the Board, while adhering to the principle of comity, 
 question if the time has not come for a revision of the present mis- 
 sionary comity in favor of one more in line with the tendencies of 
 native church development; 
 
 2. That it move on the assumption that the native church 
 rather than the foreign missionary body should now resume the re- 
 sponsibility of fixing upon those principles and methods which should 
 henceforth prevail; and 
 
 3. That in the interests of comity the American Board exert 
 its influence with the Kumiai Church in favor of the latter’s adopt- 
 ing a constructive comity program in co-operation with the other 
 Japanese communions. 
 
18 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 V. CHRISTIAN UNITY 
 
 We Recommend: 
 
 1. That the Board, continuing its support of church unity both 
 in spirit and in effort, urge upon the Kumiai Church the wisdom of 
 uniting with all other communions of similar polity in Japan; 
 
 2 . That in evangelistic, educational and social work sound union 
 plans be fostered, particularly those that look toward united reli- 
 gious effort in connection with government institutions. 
 
III. Discussion of the Main Questions 
 Investigated 
 
 A. FOREWORD 
 
 The religious development of Japan presents a significant and 
 unique problem in the modern history of Christian missions; for, 
 the Christianization of a country like Japan as contrasted with semi- 
 barbarous, belated races, presents wholly new problems, and in- 
 evitably demands distinctly different attitudes and forms of approach. 
 Japan is already a well-advanced nation with a place of prestige and 
 influence among the nations of the world. In many phases of life 
 it is highly civilized. In the matter of literacy and in some of the 
 arts it stands, indeed, among the foremost peoples of our time. Situ- 
 ated in the midst of those vast embryonic forces of the East, which 
 are struggling for emergence and which are prophetic of untold 
 consequences, Japan is undoubtedly the most commanding national 
 influence among them. Although proceeding out of a form of social 
 life essentially feudal in its nature, this nation has already attained 
 a modern and highly organized society. As a people, also, the Jap- 
 anese are chivalric, sensitive, and responsive. It is obv^ious, there- 
 fore, that the problem of presenting the gospel to this people must be 
 distinctly different in its nature from that which has occupied our 
 missionaries among the humbler and less self-reliant peoples; and 
 that the development of a Christian church in Japan must proceed 
 through methods definitely adapted to an advanced race. Further- 
 more,so much progress has been made in the development of a sturdy, 
 intelligent and eager church that some even question whether the 
 time is not near when the Japanese church shall be able wholly to 
 support and to administer its Christian propaganda. 
 
 In view of this, two questions inevitably arise: (1) What measure 
 of responsibility remains to the American Church, and particularly 
 to us as Congregatronalists, for the further development of Chris- 
 tianity in Japan? And (2) In what manner shall this responsibility 
 be met and discharged? 
 
 It may well be borne in mind, also, that the study of these ques- 
 tions is of importance not only to the future of Japan but also as 
 bearing upon other similar situations which the Christian church 
 
20 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 will meet in due time among the other races pressing forward in the 
 ways of national progress. For the missionary hope itself forecasts 
 just such development among the peoples for whom we labor, and 
 will therefore demand corresponding adaptation of procedure. There 
 is thus opened a new chapter in the methods of the highest Christian 
 statesmanship as it relates to the enlistment of such races in the 
 service of the Kingdom of God. 
 
 The review of the matters involved in this report comes at a 
 notable anniversary hour. By the opening of a few treaty ports, 
 entrance to Japan was first made possible in the year 1859. Chris- 
 tian missionaries, having eagerly and impatiently awaited this op- 
 portunity, were among the first foreigners to accept the new privilege 
 and only ten years later (1869) the American Board began its work 
 in that country. As a communion, therefore, we are just completing 
 our first fifty years of missionary history in this unique empire. As 
 the year 1919 will mark the jubilee of the arrival of our first mis- 
 sionaries, we are at a peculiarly fitting time to take reckoning of our 
 situation. Look backward we must, over the accomplishment of 
 past years, but it is in the forward look that we find renewed cause for 
 thought with reference to such readjustment as experience may have 
 shown to be wise. 
 
 B. THE EVANGELISTIC WORK 
 
 Missionary work is inherently evangelistic. The missionary 
 is charged with the supreme business of carrying a gospel powerful 
 to transform and renew the human heart, and thus to supply the 
 springs of a Christian civilization. Whatever other forms of work 
 the missionary may devise — educational, physical, social — these 
 are but corollaries of this primary evangelistic purpose. In any 
 study of the development of the religious life of Japan for the last fifty 
 years, the first question of importance relates therefore to the pro- 
 gress and effectiveness of the evangelistic endeavors of the Chris- 
 tian missionary. 
 
 The Gospel has Penetrated. 
 
 The results of the Gospel message in the thought and life of 
 Japan have been most marked. So quietly, to be sure, has this 
 process gone on and with so little display that one can only be made 
 fully conscious of it by careful study. Still, when the perspective 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 21 
 
 of fifty years is taken into account, the change is seen to be profound. 
 The whole range of Japanese life and thought has been broadened 
 and elevated. The nation has been set upon new directions of 
 progress. While it is true that many forces have operated to pro- 
 duce these changes, the impact of Christianity upon the Japanese 
 mind and heart has been the primary cause. 
 
 Has Given New Idea of God. 
 
 If a brief resume may be attempted it should be said first that 
 the very idea of God, the fundamental concept of all thought, has 
 been generally transformed among intelligent Japanese. Formerly 
 Japan was popularly called the Land of the Gods. The ancient 
 worship of the country was said to include eight million divinities. 
 Today, we are told, the Christian conception of a monotheistic God, 
 the Father of his people, may be said to be commonly accepted in the 
 religious thinking of Japan, difficult as it has been to co-ordinate 
 this logically with the theology of Buddhism. With this conception 
 there has naturally developed also an idea of human brotherhood. 
 In a country where foreigners were assumed to be enemies, the idea 
 of a universal fraternity of humanity has been established and the 
 larger logic of international obligation and good will is taking as- 
 sured form. The idea of the person of Jesus has also gripped the 
 imagination and ideals of the race. Fifty years ago the public sign 
 boards cursed this name, and opposition to Christian work was not 
 only bitter and universal but sharply and severely cruel. But the 
 change has been little less than miraculous. Among the educated 
 Japanese, Jesus is widely recognized as "one of the great sages of the 
 world.” His teachings are probably better known among the com- 
 mon people than are those of Confucius, perhaps as well known as 
 those of Buddha, while the life of Christ forms the ideal of a growing 
 portion of the Japanese race. The sweep and the prospective con- 
 sequences of such transformations of fundamental convictions are 
 most inspiring. 
 
 The Bible is Read. 
 
 To these facts it should be added that there is no other religious 
 book in Japan so widely circulated as is the Bible. Not only is it 
 held in reverence among those who are confessing Christians, but 
 everywhere is it recognized as belonging to the great religious litera- 
 
22 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 ture of the world. Possession of the Bible is more general than the 
 possession of the Buddhist scriptures. Newspapers quote it; 
 teachers of ethics in the public schools refer to it ; while in growing 
 circles its ideals are held in high respect. 
 
 The Gospel Has Affected Social Ideals and Life. 
 
 Furthermore the social effects of the gospel are to be found on 
 every hand. Christianity has introduced the ideal of monogamy and 
 the conception of the Christian home. Neither Confucianism nor 
 Buddhism accomplished this. Indeed, each of these systems has 
 rather condoned concubinage. The home of Christian countries, so 
 beautifully exemplified by our missionaries, is increasingly held in 
 honor. Coincident with this has been the elevation of woman. 
 Though held in higher respect in Japan than in some countries of 
 the east the oriental religions have degraded her; but now she is 
 coming to her own through Christian precept and practice. Noth- 
 ing has been more characteristic of the advent of Christianity in 
 J apan than the impulse which it has given to the education of woman ; 
 indeed, these early beginnings of her emancipation are multiplying 
 on all sides so that her opportunities are now steadily, even rapidly, 
 increasing. 
 
 It Has Inspired Philanthropy. 
 
 To these transformations of the home many other social changes 
 must be added. Christianity, for example, has notably increased 
 Japanese philanthropy. Many charities, both public and private, 
 have sprung up. There is evidence of a general willingness on the 
 part of the Japanese people to respond to these undertakings with 
 financial support. It may be urged, and it is doubtless true, that 
 much of this philanthropy has sprung from other than religious 
 sources. But most of it can be traced, directly or indirectly, to 
 Christian impetus. (Incidentally it should be recorded that no other 
 communion in Japan has thus far contributed more to the devel- 
 opment of charities, even to the point of “weakening” the mother 
 organization, than has the Kumiai Church.) No better example of 
 this Christian influence can be given than what the Church is doing 
 to initiate the privileges of a sabbath in Japanese life. Early in 
 the Meiji era the government adopted a seventh day of rest and 
 all government buildings and all public schools are closed on this 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 23 
 
 day. Some factories also recognize the sabbatic principle. This 
 beneficent movement, involving so much of advantage to the labor- 
 ing masses, is making progress, though at present embarrassed by 
 the requirements of war industries. 
 
 And Also Democracy. 
 
 Along with such influences as those which have been mentioned 
 there have developed other characteristic results of the Chri; tian 
 attitude. While these may not be distinctly religious in their nature, 
 they proceed primarily from conceptions which are peculiarly Chris- 
 tian. The growth of democracy, for example, a form of society 
 which develops out of the Christian estimate of individual rights and 
 responsibilities, is steadily making way in Japan as over against the 
 old form of feudalism. The public school system has grown to ex- 
 tensive proportions and covers all the range of youth. Though 
 this system is not yet adequate to the needs of Japan, yet its con- 
 struction and elaboration is remarkable, when one considers that it 
 has been wrought out in the brief period since Japan opened her 
 gates to foreign influence. Elementary schools exist for all chil- 
 dren. Large privileges, though as yet inadequate, exist for inter- 
 mediate education, while five great universities serve the profes- 
 sional interests of students completing their courses of education. 
 
 It Has Stimulated Buddhism. 
 
 But perhaps nothing is more remarkable in new Japan than 
 the influence of Christianity upon the old, native religions. Bud- 
 dhism in its alliance with Shinto has had its grip upon the Japanese 
 mind and life for twelve centuries, and yet so profound has been the 
 effect of Christianity upon this entrenched religious system that 
 even the casual observer will recognize the modifications both in 
 method and in spirit. Preaching, often highly ethical, is increasingly 
 associated with Buddhist services. Christian hymns have been 
 literally adopted, substituting only the name of Buddha for that of 
 Christ. Marriage is more and more taking the form of a religious 
 rite. In the more popular sects Buddhism now has its Sunday 
 schools and “Y. M. B. A.” Christmas is coming to be recognized 
 as a general festival. Christian trained teachers are not uncommon- 
 ly introduced into Buddhist work, and the principles and doctrines 
 of Christianity are often involved in their publications, even the 
 
24 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 teachings of the Sermon on the Mount having been embodied in 
 some Buddhist literature. Yet, notwithstanding all this, it is a fact 
 that Buddhism is generally losing power. This is especially true 
 among the intelligent classes who condemn this spirit of plagiarism 
 which so strongly stamps Buddhism as a man-made religion. It is a 
 question if even three sects now retain any great hold upon the 
 masses. Thus surely is the Old passing with the advent of the New. 
 
 Yet the Gospel’s Influence Has Not Yet Taken Shape in Wide 
 Ecclesiastical Forms. 
 
 When reckoning has been made of the profound changes in 
 process due to Christian influence, it must yet be admitted that the 
 numerical and other visible results in the development of a great 
 Christian Church are comparatively and even disappointingly 
 meagre. The formal expression of Christianity as shown by uniting 
 with the visible church, for example, has not laid any extensive hold 
 upon Japan. At most there are probably not more than two hundred 
 thousand Christians formally associated with the church, both 
 Catholic and Protestant, in the Empire. While perhaps a ma- 
 jority of these are Protestant, still no branch of the Christian 
 church, Roman, Greek, or Protestant, has outwardly gathered any 
 really considerable following. This is reflected also in the compara- 
 tively weak financial resources of the church. In a country in which 
 poverty is still marked these resources are almost infinitesimal as 
 compared with those which exist in the Christian churches of Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 Some Difficulties in the Way. 
 
 Perhaps we expect too much. Certainly we must not forget 
 that Christianity is essentially a thing of the spirit; that many of 
 the habits and institutions associated with it in our thought have 
 grown out of the social and racial characteristics which have been 
 peculiar to us of the West; that some of those which we count 
 most important are doubtless not really vital to the essence of the 
 Gospel though they have been of unquestionable advantage to the 
 progress of Christianity in its European and Anglo Saxon environ- 
 ment. In a country like Japan, which in so many ways presents a 
 totally different social cosmos, the intimate problem arises as to how 
 far Christianity Can remain real while divesting itself of historic 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 25 
 
 forms dear to us, and adapting itself to a new world of habit. Noth- 
 ing is easier than to over-estimate or under-estimate those institu- 
 tions which have been characteristically associated with the Chris- 
 tian system. 
 
 Let us take the Sabbath, for example. In Japan there is no 
 such special observance of the Day as blesses our own country. 
 Social, business, and other conditions have thus far made apparently 
 impracticable an emphasis upon a Sunday morning preaching ser- 
 vice considered so essential in the West to the growth and work of 
 the Church. The religious training of Japan for ages has rested 
 upon worship somewhat casually performed rather than upon any 
 set service of preaching; and, because of this the difficulty is en- 
 hanced for Japanese Christianity, should it continue to emphasize, 
 as its central and most efficient propaganda the typical congrega- 
 tional service of worship observed by us on Sabbath morning. 
 
 Moreover, it is probable that unconsciously we have involved 
 in our Christianity certain elements of mind and spirit which are 
 characteristic of the Anglo Saxon only. It has been said that nine 
 out of ten Japanese hesitating to accept Christianity will say that 
 their reluctance is due to the fact that Christianity has not yet been 
 Japanized. While sympathetic with what they consider its es- 
 sential message, they feel that its outward form is foreign, not yet 
 adapted to the custom of Japan. These considerations turn all 
 missionary work back upon the primary question as to what really 
 are the essential elements in the Christian message and as to how 
 far they must necessarily be accompanied by those forms of ecclesias- 
 tical procedure and outward organization with which we are familiar. 
 No real portion of the Christian gospel can we afford to omit; but 
 no unessential portion can we afford to lay as a burden upon a race 
 which in its eastern birthright is nearer in temper to the Orient than 
 are we. 
 
 On the other hand, with those Japanese who have broken with 
 Buddhism and who have distinctly allied themselves with the Chris- 
 tian movement, it is a somewhat singular fact that there has been 
 an inclination distinctly to accentuate the foreign character of 
 Christianity. There has been apparently a desire to make the break 
 with the old inadequate religious association sharp and striking. 
 The new life has seemed so vastly better than the old that the desire 
 has been to make the disassociation so outwardly evident as to ac- 
 centuate the separation and to make a return to the old relations 
 
26 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 the more impossible. There has been a certain satisfaction, there- 
 fore, in emphasizing the foreign phases of Christianity. For this 
 as well as for economic reasons, the American meeting-house, usually 
 of the least aesthetic type, has been adopted in Japan. The sug- 
 gestion that the best architecture of worship as it exists in the 
 nobler native forms might be advantageously used by the Chris- 
 tian church has been met with scant approval, the evidently dis- 
 tinct effort being to produce a marked separation from all that 
 religious life which was prevalent in Old Japan. 
 
 While this tendency has operated obviously to separate Chris- 
 tianity from the native religions and sharply to identify the Cnris- 
 tian church in Japan, it has nevertheless given to Christianity a 
 distinctly foreign cast. This has exaggerated the impression of its 
 alien origin and character, and has in some sense made it appear to 
 the masses as so un-Japanese an institution as to put it outside the 
 range of ordinary life. 
 
 Thus the question of the outward form of the Christian move- 
 ment in Japan is, in the minds of many, a difficult but deeply im- 
 portant problem. It cannot be doubted that in many respects the 
 outward organization of Christianity as it appears in America must 
 have important modifications if it is to be adapted to a people so 
 different from us as are the Japanese. The discovery of these modi- 
 fications and the expression of the essential Christian gospel in forms 
 that shall be germane to the thoughts and habits of the Japanese 
 race is most important and calls for spiritual sensitiveness and dis- 
 crimination. 
 
 The Growth of Visible Church Tarries. 
 
 To sum up the situation it may be said : that a vast spiritual 
 process is on in the Empire; that the minds and hearts of people 
 are being transformed and reorganized ; that part of this movement 
 is finding its results in a Christian church, measurably like our 
 American churCh ; that part is showing in a vitally transformed life 
 which still persists under something of the old forms and names; 
 but that generally speaking the growth of a great Church Visible 
 in Japan tarries. It has been pointed out that “it is easier to explain 
 or even if need be to alter in some measure the meaning of an ac- 
 cepted formula than to introduce a new one.” How far there is any 
 such possibility for the native religious life of Japan still remains a 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 27 
 
 serious question. In the mind of the native Christians of Japan 
 there is little hope in this direction. They look to see the gradual 
 disintegration of the native religious systems and expect that in due 
 time there will rise instead a triumphant Christian church. The 
 mists of spiritual life are rising but not as yet in final shape. The 
 inner transformation proceeds; the outward manifestation delays. 
 We can only be sure that the new Christian principle will have its 
 way and find its own expression in due time, as the Spirit of God 
 works on to will and to do of His own good pleasure. 
 
 Yet There is a Call for a Vital Religion. 
 
 Nothing that has been said, however, regarding the modifica- 
 tions of the non-Christian religious life of Japan should for a mo- 
 ment obscure the fact that it is everywhere characterized by igno- 
 rance, superstition, sin, suffering, and the consciousness of the un- 
 satisfied soul. No one can look upon Buddhism in its popular mani- 
 festations without a great surging sorrow of heart. Its gods in the 
 home and in the temple inevitably develop materialism and paralyze 
 spirituality. Religion which is so unreal and unsatisfying ceases to 
 lay hold upon the intelligent portion of the population now so rapidly 
 increasing. This element largely consists of young people, with the 
 result that the youth of Japan, where it has the privileges of higher 
 learning, is swiftly becoming agnostic. This fact is recognized by 
 thoughtful Japanese of whatever religious affiliation. Even the 
 government itself is deeply concerned; for the situation is one in 
 which the whole basis of public order seems involved. The result is 
 that every effort is being made to regalvanize the old religious 
 formulae. That this effort, save as it proceeds out of more vital 
 sources than are characteristic of Buddhism, is destined to failure is 
 obvious to practically everyone. This failure in turn is a matter 
 of dismay to the serious, sober element of the Japanese people. 
 
 Eager Study of Christianity Will Show Outwardly Some Day . 
 
 Out of this storm and stress of the spiritual life there rises a 
 readiness to learn the essential message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 One has only to offer the opportunity of inquiry to draw to himself 
 many who desire to know what Christianity is. Advertisements in 
 newspapers offering to answer questions on this theme are met by 
 an encouraging correspondence of interrogation. Tracts and dis- 
 
28 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 cussions are welcomed. The religious mind of Japan is in a ferment 
 that welcomes any solution of its problem or any light upon its 
 spiritual way. The missionary in Japan has no question of approach. 
 If he is a man of thoughtfulness and human sensitiveness he will find 
 everywhere the most cordial welcome. Many leaders of Buddhism 
 are ready and eager for conversation on the deeper spiritual themes 
 which concern life Your Deputation found opportunity to discuss 
 these matters with Buddhist scholars in their own homes, temples, 
 and colleges, and the same welcome is extended to the intelligent 
 Christian missionary. Out of this impact of Christian influence 
 upon the spiritual thoughtfulness of the race, it is inevitable that 
 both inner and outward consequences shall in due time be born. 
 
 Present Obstacles. 
 
 Many forces in Japan, however, restrict the results which might 
 ordinarily be expected. Perhaps chief of these is the influence of the 
 family. It is to be remembered that the Japanese have not had 
 that training which accustoms them to our conception of the privi- 
 leges and rights of the individual. Every important movement of 
 life is the subject of the family council and the break from family 
 advice is fraught with consequences of the utmost seriousness. 
 Under these circumstances and in the general religious conditions al- 
 ready described, it is the natural tendency that a Japanese who has 
 become interested in Christianity should endeavor to carry out the 
 new spirit under the forms and in the organizations of the established 
 habits and religion of the family of which he is a member. This 
 influence operates profoundly to thwart the development of a dis- 
 tinctly Christian organization among the Japanese. 
 
 It therefore comes to pass that the special opportunity to enlist 
 the Japanese in such radical change of life as shall commit them 
 definitely to the formal ranks of the Christian church comes when, 
 by some transition in life plans, they have occasion to break away 
 from the old surroundings of birth and inheritance. Such times of 
 readjustment offer the supreme occasion. With the increase of 
 travel these transitions are more and more taking place, but pre- 
 eminently they offer their opportunity when young people are start- 
 ing out upon their life career in the new world of education, or for 
 livelihood in some new and distant part of the Empire which by its 
 advantages attracts the more virile and progressive elements of the 
 population. 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 29 
 
 The Open Doors. 
 
 Japan is at the beginning of some of these great movements of 
 her people and they now open to the Christian missionary conditions 
 such as have never existed before. At the north is the great island 
 of the Hokkaido, into which the Japanese government is inviting 
 a host of immigrants. By tens of thousands the aggressive Japanese 
 are moving into this new country. That these times of transition 
 offer special Christian opportunity is clearly indicated by the fact 
 that in this island twice as large a proportion of the population is 
 Christian as in Japan proper, and that the number of Christians is 
 increasing twice as rapidly, in proportion to the population, as in 
 Old Japan. One cannot stand on the dock at Hakodate and see the 
 expectant thousands of Japanese immigrants hurry by into the new 
 life of this opening North without feeling that here is a stirring op- 
 portunity for deeply moving the life of all Japan. 
 
 The same situation obtains in Korea; also, we understand, to 
 some extent in Formosa and the new islands into which Japan is 
 now entering at the south. Earnest effort directed to these points 
 is most successful. From these places in turn the Christian influence 
 reacts upon Japan proper. There is constant transfer both of resi- 
 dence and influence from these more prosperous and progressive 
 regions back into the life of conservative Japan. 
 
 In passing, attention should be called to the fact that the same 
 influences operate with special force in the movement of Japanese to 
 America. There can be no doubt that one of the supreme opportu- 
 nities for the effective leavening of Japan is in the chance which is 
 offered to reach the Japanese in Hawaii, the Philippines and along 
 the Pacific coast. Meagre as seem to have been the outward re- 
 sults of Christian influence upon Japanese in America, it is neverthe- 
 less true that the proportion of Japanese Christians here, as related 
 to our whole Japanese population, is greater than in Japan, and that 
 there is much less of hindering opposition. These American Jap- 
 anese have an undoubted and manifold influence in Japan. They 
 represent an eager and forceful element of the population, and while 
 the travel back and forth is not so easy, the communication is perhaps 
 more full of heart for that very reason. Few wiser investments of 
 Christian effort can be made than that missionaries to Japan be 
 allowed the privilege of working temporarily, en route, among the 
 
30 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Japanese in this country, thus making use of that sensitiveness of 
 affection and remembrance which is always in evidence when a 
 traveler is far from his home and longs to have sympathetic messages 
 carried to those whom he holds dear and from whom he has long been 
 separated. 
 
 Stress These Special Openings. 
 
 As a general principle, the Christian missionary should stress 
 his effort at points where there seems to be obivous cleavage in the 
 ranks of the forces opposing him. Parts of Japan are strongly and 
 stubbornly conservative. While not abandoning these regions, it 
 seems the part of wisdom to throw the most of our strength along 
 those lines where there are signs of distinct advantage. There is 
 obviously a great difference in this respect in various regions of the 
 Empire. There are certain places in Old Japan where the Christian 
 movement is especially welcome ; but in accordance with this general 
 principle it would certainly seem wise to accentuate our work at 
 the places where the great transitions of life are occurring and we ad- 
 vise distinct and increased investment of missionary forces at these 
 points of vantage. 
 
 The Church in Japan Still Needs Us. 
 
 How far the appropriation of these opportunities is dependent 
 on the continued or increased investment of missionary forces re- 
 mains yet to be considered, but enough has already been said to in- 
 dicate that the organized and effective church in Japan is so small 
 that it cannot fully utilize the opportunities now presented. For 
 many years Japan will need the fellowship of those vast and ancient 
 resources which have been developed in other lands through the ages 
 of Christian history. But at whatever hand the redemption of 
 Japan is achieved it will be accomplished fundamentally through 
 the evangelistic message. Other forms of Christian work will have 
 their place; but only through the revelation of God as made mani- 
 fest in Jesus Christ will these have their sustaining inspiration. A 
 ministry, missionary and Japanese, on fire with this message, is 
 the first necessity of continued progress. To secure this should be 
 our primary concern. And we may be confidently assured that out 
 of this birth of spiritual forces there will come in due time, and in 
 obedience to the power of the spirit to form its own habitation, a 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 31 
 
 ■common Christian society such as is beyond our power now to formu- 
 late or our vision to comprehend. 
 
 C. THE ORGANIZED KUMIAI (CONGREGATIONAL) 
 CHURCH IN JAPAN 
 
 A Strictly Japanese Church. 
 
 Next to the actual advent of the spiritual message itself is the 
 development of an effective church. Missionary work can in no 
 wise be considered accomplished until such a native fellowship of 
 Christ’s followers is set in full array to carry foward to completion 
 this work which has been received from other hands. That there 
 are difficulties in the way of the development of such a native 
 church we have already shown. The church cannot be a western 
 institution transplanted; it must be a church of the Japanese. It 
 must have all essential qualities; in other matters there must be ab- 
 solute liberty of adaptation. It must be a church of the spirit; 
 it need not be a church of the ritual. It should be a church in the 
 fellowship of which our own American Christianity should indeed be 
 enlightened, broadened and reoriented in the discrimination of uni- 
 versal and eternal verities from those which are passing and provin- 
 cial. It is perhaps right to say that the supreme business of our 
 missionary work in Japan is now that of making contribution, as 
 we may, to the eventuation of this militant, evangelistic and effec- 
 tive church out of the great company of Japanese who have already 
 felt the influence of the spiritual message. This statement should 
 not be considered as contradictory to the emphasis placed upon our 
 evangelistic errand but only as indicating our conviction that the 
 crown and completion of this mission is the establishment of a 
 church which shall have power permanently to project the message. 
 
 Well Led and Independent. 
 
 Early in our missionary work in Japan such a native Congrega- 
 tional, or Kumiai, church took definite form under a leadership of 
 marked ability, both intellectual and spiritual. Indeed it was a 
 particularly fortunate fact that the first successes of our missionaries 
 included a considerable proportion of Japanese of the upper classes 
 not only in social position but in individual capacity and outlook. 
 
32 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Some of these leaders still continue after many years of notable 
 Christian service and their numbers have been recruited by later 
 additions of men of like consecration. Under the inspiring influence 
 of Joseph Neesima and others who shared his spirit the native 
 churches and Christian schools of Japan speedily assumed an un- 
 usual degree of independence, not only making phenomenal progress 
 but also giving promise of continued and rapid increase. The es- 
 tablishment of an independent native church, which in most coun- 
 tries is the delayed ideal of missionary hope, was thus early achieved 
 in our Japanese life. 
 
 Influenced by Anti-foreign Stress of the Nineties. 
 
 The solidarity of the Kumiai church was still further accentuat- 
 ed by the anti -foreign influences which swept over Japan in the de- 
 cade between 1890 and 1900. The depth and intensity of this 
 movement have never been generally understood, nor can they read- 
 ily be over-estimated. In this environment a large proportion of 
 the Japanese Christian leaders were led to feel that the work of the 
 foreign missionary was done and that the new Japanese church was 
 sufficient for the undertaking of the evangelization of Japan. The 
 death of Neesima at this crisis still further weakened the bonds that 
 tended to hold American and Japanese Christians together. The 
 outcome was the unfortunate drawing apart of missionary and 
 native forces which led to the appointment of the Deputation 
 twenty years ago. 
 
 Church and Mission Separate as Organizations. 
 
 Since the termination of that period of misunderstanding, 
 many of the influences which operated toward separation have 
 markedly decreased or entirely disappeared. Native and mis- 
 sionary workers have come to see more clearly, eye to eye, and to 
 value each other’s character and service. Individual missionaries 
 have been particularly successful in co-operating with Japanese 
 workers. Nevertheless, as organizations the Mission and the 
 Church have remained independent each of the other, and have 
 maintained separate activities in Evangelistic work. Technically 
 the mission as such has been an “Affiliated” rather than a strictly 
 “Co-operative” mission, though the mission has been avowedly 
 and actively co-operative in spirit. 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 33 
 
 Other influences of more permanent nature have emphasized 
 the distinction between the two bodies. In a country so conscious 
 of nationality as is Japan it is perfectly natural that the native 
 church should feel itself responsible for the administration of the 
 Christian propaganda within its own boundaries. This is particu- 
 larly so when the body includes such evident ability and consecra- 
 tion. In this conception of Christian administration the foreign 
 missionary is a contributive but not a ruling factor. On the other 
 hand our mission is composed of able men and women who have 
 ever desired to give the best that there is in them to the service of 
 the missionary cause in Japan. They have behind them not only 
 their specialized individual training but the long and enlightening 
 experience of the Christian centuries into the inheritance of which 
 we have entered. They have naturally felt the responsibility of 
 doing their work wisely and investing their resources with the most 
 careful and discriminating thoughtfulness. They have thus felt 
 the importance of being the administrators of a trust. It is obvious 
 that no arrangement for their mutual co-operation with the Kumiai 
 church can be successful which robs them of that initiative and re- 
 sponsibility through which our Congregational missionaries have re- 
 ceived the training which has eventuated in such notable capacity 
 and character. 
 
 Though Co-operating in the Interests of the One Church. 
 
 Your Deputation found, however, that though between these 
 two organizations there was little official contact save as the workers 
 were brought together on local fields, there yet was everywhere 
 warm friendship. The two bodies were held to be co-operating in 
 the sense that when the Mission accomplished the organization of 
 any Japanese church it was at once passed over into the fellowship 
 and care of the Kumiai body. The Mission thus maintained no 
 independent churches of any kind. The finances of the Mission 
 were devoted to the support of the several mission stations, to the 
 various unorganized preaching places at which missionaries or mis- 
 sionary helpers served, and to the schools which were under missionary 
 administration. On the other hand, the Kumiai church cared for 
 the interests of the self-supporting and home missionary churches 
 and for such work of propaganda as it could itself support. For this 
 work the church is definitely organized, its chief executive directorate 
 
34 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 being known as the Riji, a body of distinctly able men who con- 
 stantly devote their best wisdom to the interests of the body. 
 
 (It should be remarked in passing that the administration of 
 the Kumiai Church is on the whole markedly more centralized than 
 is the case among our Congregational churches in America, — this 
 form of administration being more congenial to the Japanese con- 
 ception of government than it is to us, so familiar with a democratic 
 regime by which leadership and authority proceed out of the suf- 
 frages of the mass.) 
 
 They Should Eventually Be One. 
 
 Howbeit, it did not seem to your Deputation that so dis- 
 tinct and separate a life of these two bodies belonging to the same 
 communion and divided only by nationality could be the ideal form 
 of fellowship for congregational work either in Japan or in those 
 future fields in which our Japanese polity may become a precedent. 
 While recognizing to the full the achievements which had been se- 
 cured under this separate organization we could not but believe that 
 it had been bred out of, and adapted to, conditions of misunder- 
 standing which were now happily passing and which could best be 
 completely dissipated only by some closer and more intimate fel- 
 lowship. Moreover it did not seem to us that the real unity or ad- 
 vantage of the Christian church was met when two distinct but 
 authoritative bodies of congregational work were in service in the 
 same country. Our observation led us to believe that each body 
 would gain by the development of a more inclusive fellowship. In- 
 deed we cannot but believe that a failure to accomplish a closer inte- 
 gration will eventually mean a friction that will militate against the 
 mission’s greatest usefulness. 
 
 “Ultimate Integration.’’ 
 
 To outline such a forrn of organization adapted to the growing 
 consciousness of a missionary church is not easy. We certainly 
 cannot speak the final word on a problem to which so much thought 
 is given. Nevertheless it is clearly obvious that to the Japanese 
 church belongs the primary responsibility for the administration 
 of the religious interests of Japan. While it is true that the admin- 
 istration of these matters is a new experience to Japanese Chris- 
 tians, while they lack in certain training and inheritance with which 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 35 
 
 our missionaries are equipped, and while doubtless this will lead at 
 times to what will seem to us a lack of judgment and efficiency in 
 the administration of Christian affairs, it still must inevitably be the 
 part of missionary wisdom heartily to yield to the Japanese church 
 the right of leadership in its own country. 
 
 Increasing responsibility and authority of all kinds must be 
 centered in the Japanese church. Indeed we must be prepared to 
 take our place as somehow integrated with this as the responsible body. 
 That such an organization offering adequate place and leadership 
 for all concerned is difficult to formulate is obvious from what has 
 been said. 
 
 The Mission Has a Future. 
 
 Under these circumstances and faced with these perplexities, 
 problems and adjustments, it might perhaps be urged at first thought 
 that the Japanese church is now so far established that it would I c 
 the part of wisdom for us to withdraw from the Empire, thus avoid- 
 ing the questions of mechanism beVween the Kumiai body and the 
 Mission. But anyone who carefully views the situation cannot for a 
 moment thinl^that this is the time for such a course of action. Even 
 to the most casual observer it is clear that neither the Kumiai body 
 nor the Japanese church as a whole is yet able with any adequacy 
 to deal with the situation. None are more emphatic in this conclu- 
 sion than are the churches of Japan themselves. With one voice 
 and with a common urgency they insist that the critical and vital 
 issues of the hour are so important and their own forces so meagre 
 that the abandonment of Japan by missionary forces would be dis- 
 astrous. In a population of perhaps seventy-five million in Greater 
 Japan there are hardly one hundred thousand Christians connected 
 with all Protestant communions of every sort, and of this number 
 the membership of the Kumiai church, active and absentee, includes 
 only about twenty thousand. When one considers how many of 
 these are young people; how few of them as yet have had any ade- 
 quate training; and how widely they are scattered over the extended 
 limits of the Empire, it is obvious how slight an organized force has 
 yet been developed. . When we recall also how much specialized 
 training has gone into the preparation of our own ministry in America, 
 how considerable that ministry is in numbers, and indeed how our 
 laity has been trained by generations of Christian preparation ; and 
 
36 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 when over against these resources we set the small numbers of the 
 Japanese church and the fact that it is the development of only a 
 few brief years and in a land far away from all of the organized move- 
 ments of Christianity, it is at once evident how inadequate this 
 church is for meeting the tremendous issue which is upon it at this 
 time. 
 
 Wise Adjustment Necessary. 
 
 We are thus led back to the obvious duty of adjusting our mis- 
 sionary work to co-operation with the Kumiai church in the effort 
 to assure its rise to adequate power. While maintaining its integrity 
 and leadership we must contribute to it a full inheritance of effective- 
 ness in all the methods and resources which are ours by the long con- 
 tributions of Christian history and service. That this is not easy 
 to accomplish is evident; that it will involve difficulties and much of 
 tactful forbearance on both sides is inevitable. That it is the 
 method of ultimate progress, at the end of which is the establishment 
 of a strong independent Japanese church, seems to be assured. 
 
 Your Deputation feels therefore that at such a stage of mission- 
 ary progress as we have reached in Japan way must be found hap- 
 pily to involve the missionary influence inside the native church. 
 This does not mean that the unity or self-consciousness of the Mis- 
 sion shall be lost; rather these should be carefully preserved; but 
 the Mission should take on the form of an evangelistic band so in- 
 timately involved in the life of the native church that all distinctions 
 of “mine” and “thine” shall disappear. Instead, of being a body 
 which, with separate organization and a distinct sphere of labor, 
 turns over its product to the native church as now — there to find 
 henceforth another oversight and fellowship — it must become a 
 body which from within contributes its manifold helpfulness toward 
 all those problems and tasks which compose the rounded life of an 
 efficient church. Unless there is inherent reason why diverse nation- 
 alties cannot work together this seems to us the true way of effective 
 Christian fraternity. 
 
 Suggested Steps Toward Integration. 
 
 Your Deputation therefore advised the Mission that it find 
 increasingly some such form of incorporated life with the Kumiai 
 church. We urged that it seek in itself, to a measurable degree, so to 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 37 
 
 duplicate the lines of the Kumiai church as to facilitate co-operative 
 contact and fellowship between its own missionaries and the church 
 workers engaged in similar lines of endeavor. This effort would 
 seem to begin with the general practice of becoming members of 
 Kumiai churches. This action is not uncommon and seems to have 
 been taken with uniformly good results. Following this would be 
 regular participation, as elected, in the district and national meet- 
 ings of the Kumiai church. Indeed the rules of this church are now 
 in process of modification so that missionaries can regularly be mem- 
 bers of these bodies. 
 
 A Field Secretary. 
 
 As correlating the organization of the Mission and the church 
 we suggested the Mission’s appointment of a Field Secretary. This 
 official should not only be the servant of the Mission in the matter 
 of co-operating with all stations and of exerting friendly oversight of 
 stations temporarily deprived of other missionary direction, but also, 
 by fellowship with a like general official of the Kumiai church should 
 ser\^e as a main point of contact between the two bodies. Still 
 further to develop this sense of community in work we suggested the 
 hope that it might be found practicable to bring certain missionaries 
 serving considerable sections of territory into some semi-official 
 relation with the Kumiai body, as also the representatives of that 
 body, so that both the Mission and the church might feel a sense of 
 ownership and responsibility in the work of these agents. We fur- 
 ther urged the appointment of certain younger members of the Mis- 
 sion, as the other imperative needs of our stations would allow, to the 
 positions of assistant or associate pastors in a few of the Japanese 
 churches. It is our belief that in this form of service a considerable 
 contribution could be made to the effectiveness of these churches and 
 that also by this form of co-operation such younger missionaries 
 could have those opportunities of close association with Japanese 
 leaders as would furnish a favorable introduction to their life work. 
 
 Church to Assure Missionary Initiative. 
 
 While thus urging the Mission to seek closer fellowship with 
 the Kumiai church your Deputation, on the other hand, felt that the 
 missionaries should be assured of the utmost latitude in service. We 
 constantly pointed out, not only to the Riji but to other members of 
 
38 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 the Kumiai church, that it would be impossible for the Board to 
 secure missionaries of influence and such commanding weight as the 
 Japanese themselves desire if there were not granted at the same time 
 large freedom of initiative and a full sense of comradeship in leader- 
 ship. To these expressions the Riji gave the most warm and cordial 
 response and in such fashion that the Deputation can entertain no 
 doubt that such range of independent service will not only be granted 
 to the missionary but will be desired and sought from him. 
 
 No Community of Funds at Present. 
 
 We should perhaps call attention to the fact that in all this dis- 
 cussion no reference was made to the community of financial affairs. 
 It was uniformly recognized that the Mission should have control of 
 its own funds. At the same time, it is true that at certain stations 
 there has been some effort at mutual counsel regarding the use of 
 its funds. It is possible that the time may come when care of 
 such should become a matter of common consideration and 
 advice. Your Deputation believes that individual stations might 
 well be allowed to experiment regarding this matter. We believe 
 that the problem is not now fraught with the difficulties which were 
 associated with it even a decade ago. At the same time, we believe 
 that the closer integration of the two bodies need not necessarily 
 involve the common purse, and it is our judgment that the move- 
 ments which we have advised should proceed along lines which do 
 not at present involve a common administration of the funds 
 which come independently to the different organizations. 
 
 Sending Specialists Important Step. 
 
 In conclusion, it should be said that as the Japanese church 
 takes on form and efficiency it will more and more need to employ the 
 service of specialists in the various departments of activity which 
 are characteristic of successful church work. Naturally the number 
 of such well-trained workers in Japan is limited. Having had little 
 opportunity for experience at home, such specialists must be trained 
 in Christian countries, and the number of those who have had such 
 experience abroad is insufficient. The result is that J apanese leaders 
 appointed to various specialized forms of work find themselves in- 
 adequately fitted for their undertaking. There is therefore an urgent 
 pressure that we should send out men whohavehad a definite training 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 39 
 
 in these forms of co-operation. As an example, there is a great ur- 
 gency that the Japanese church should be supplied with specialists 
 in Sunday School work. These men and women would go as mis- 
 sionaries of the Board but would receive also honorary appointments 
 as co-operating agents with the Kumiai church. Their work would 
 thus be in fellowship and co-operation with the great agents appoint- 
 ed by the Kumiai church itself. Your Deputation believes that in 
 this form of co-operation there are large possibilities of usefulness and 
 that by such appointments the work of the Board and of the Kumiai 
 church can be more closely identified. 
 
 Encouraging Co-operation of Church. 
 
 While the problem of such mutual relation is a difficult one, and 
 will undoubtedly involve study and experiment, it is nevertheless 
 a matter of gratitude and encouragement to us that such a native 
 church with self-confidence, individual initiative, and high sense of 
 hope and responsibility has arisen in Japan. To share as members 
 in the struggles of such a growing church, to give it daily encourage- 
 ment from within and to go forward with it on its way toward the 
 ultimate conquest of its own people for Christ is a matter of our 
 largest concern, as it will be an evidence of our greatest missionary 
 efficiency. 
 
 D. THE DEPLOYING OF MISSIONARY FORCES 
 
 Two forms of geographical approach in missionary effort are 
 conceivable and have been illustrated in actual missionary practice. 
 The missionary strategist may plan to occupy some small portion of 
 the country to be entered, with the purpose of making this section 
 a center and stronghold from which the Christian influences shall 
 gradually radiate throughout the whole nation. Or, the plan of ap- 
 proach may project the occupation of strategic points covering the 
 whole country, with the purpose of securing an earlier and more 
 general effectiveness. In Japan the American Board has proceeded 
 along lines of the latter method. The work began at the treaty 
 port of Kobe but early spread to the considerable cities in that 
 neighborhood. Then important places in various parts of the Em- 
 pire were entered, until practically the whole of Japan was occupied 
 at significant points of vantage. From that time on the American 
 
40 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Board has conceived of its mission in Japan 
 as a national project. 
 
 Board Has Occupied Strategic Centers. 
 
 While this gradual unfolding of the 
 work followed lines of cleavage and of op- 
 portunity, one who looks thoughtfully upon 
 our missionary map of Japan must be im- 
 pressed with the fact that through a singu- 
 larly wise guidance we have been led upon 
 our way. We have stations at Kobe, 
 Osaka, the ancient capital of Kyoto, and 
 Okayama with its outlaying missionary 
 station of Tsuyama. This touches Central 
 Japan, that great industrial and commer- 
 cial center along the Inland Sea. To the 
 north we occupy the modem capital, Tokyo 
 the doorway of the empire. Close by, but 
 inland, within a great silk-producing prov- 
 ince is our Maebashi station. 
 
 The center and north of the main 
 island are commanded from 
 Sendai; while on the western 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 41 
 
 coast our missionary forces occupy Niigata, northward, and 
 Tottori to the southward. Every portion of the central island is 
 thus reached with comparative ease from these notable missionary 
 centers. In the great island of Hokkaido on the north toward which 
 such tides of immigration are now setting, we occupy the capital 
 center, Sapporo, with its neighboring city of Otaru. The two large 
 islands to the south of the main island, Shikoku and Kiushiu, also 
 have American Board stations, Matsuyama and Miyazaki, respec- 
 tively. A glance at the map will show that an imperial plan of re- 
 ligious investment could hardly be more wisely organized. 
 
 Through Which It Is Touching Whole Empire. 
 
 While some may doubt as to whether any single denomination 
 should aspire thus to spread its influence broadcast over a whole em- 
 pire, no one could now advise retreat ; for it is evident that through 
 this process of missionary deployment in Japan there has come into 
 our hands a matchless opportunity of splendidly accelerated influence. 
 We are here offered a statesman’s opportunity in the land which 
 dominates the destinies of the New East, and since with interde- 
 nominational approval we have occupied these centers, we have 
 obviously no right to abandon the undertaking until we have 
 achieved the results which these points of vantage place within our 
 grasp. Here is indeed an open door to an influence upon the whole 
 range of the empire, upon Asia and upon the world. 
 
 Coincident with this unfolding of our missionary program, 
 members of the Kumiai church moving back and forth over the em- 
 pire have not only carried with them the common message of the 
 gospel but have also established themselves widely though in small 
 numbers throughout the empire. The very fact that the Kumiai 
 Christians are so scattered makes the missionary co-operation the 
 more helpful and important. In its small numbers covering so 
 extensive a territory, Japanese Christianity in its organized form is 
 indeed as yet a thin line, and any slight shifting of forces leaves only 
 a meagre and struggling church facing tremendous odds. Under 
 these circumstances it is impossible to over-estimate the service 
 that the Christian missionary renders even in places where the gospel 
 has already found entrance. Our mission stations, therefore, are 
 at points of vantage for co-operation with the Kumiai churches in 
 the development of our communion in all the various portions of 
 Japan. 
 
42 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Disastrous to Give up Stations. 
 
 We can hardly over-estimate the importance of sustaining our 
 missionary forces until the church of Japan has more generally ac- 
 quired the ability to maintain and to administer its own organiza- 
 tion. Considering the areas to be covered and the difficulties to be 
 faced this will doubtless be a considerable period of years. The dis- 
 appearance of a missionary from a given region often takes away just 
 that element of constructive and aggressive influence which makes 
 the church a force, and throws it back upon a period of dismay, if 
 not of actual disintegration and death. Take Sendai for example. 
 Under the compulsion of a diminished missionary force, it seemed 
 wise to the Mission to close that station, a missionary of the Woman’s 
 Board alone remaining at a point which has been of central impor- 
 tance. The results have been most pitiful. Your Deputation found 
 a sad condition of weakened churches and disheartened native work- 
 ers. While in some places the Kumiai groups have properly 
 allied themselves with other communions, in other places the Kum- 
 iai churches have remained the sole occupants. These have dwindled 
 and dwindled through lack of oversight and the Christian light is 
 fading from those communities in consequence. The depleted vigor 
 of these struggling bodies is testimony to the fact that it was at 
 serious loss to Christian interests that that work of the Board was 
 closed. 
 
 Comity Considerations Call For Our Co-operation. 
 
 The question of comity in Japan is an interesting one. It may 
 well indeed be urged that the lines of denominationalism should be 
 obliterated on the mission field, and particularly that the Japanese 
 churches should not be allowed to fall heir to the separation into 
 sects which has obtained in this country. Under this view Japanese 
 Christians of the Kumiai church should be consistently advised to 
 ally themselves with the general body of the followers of Christ 
 in whatever town they may come. Theoretically such a denomina- 
 tional division of Japan as would prevent the conflict of our mis- 
 sionary forces has been arranged among the various communions 
 working in Japan. But it is to be said that such a division of the 
 field, while measurably helpful for guidance in our missionary work, 
 faces almost unsurmountable difficulties. While there is an inter- 
 denominational union of Japanese Christians, it is a somewhat singu- 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 43 
 
 lar fact that the lines of denominationalism are probably more 
 sharply drawn between the Japanese Christian churches than be- 
 tween the churches of our own country. And it must be admitted 
 that this attitude is not wholly without reason. With us certain 
 issues of polity mean vastly less than they do in Japan. In particular, 
 our Kumiai church has felt that our Congregational polity, with 
 its emphasis upon the Christian view of the individual and the rights 
 of a self-controlled society, had a profound ministry to fulfill in the 
 life of a country which is only gradually advancing out of the atti- 
 tudes and habits of a feudal autocracy. In a singular measure the 
 Kumiai church has felt a holy allegiance to the principles to which 
 our Pilgrim Fathers bore witness. Furthermore, as Christian his- 
 tory has developed in Japan, the Kumiai church has been par excel- 
 lence the independent J apanese church. It has carried the standards 
 of a national Christianity. More tha’n any other it has been ad- 
 ministered by Japanese leadership, and in the public eye it may 
 fairly be said that it has, by its form of organization, a prestige as a 
 Japanese movement. It is therefore released from those hesitations 
 which are more or less inevitably involved in any land when foreigners 
 are conspicuous in places of administration. For these reasons, 
 the Kumiai church has felt that it had a national ministry in Japan 
 and a moral obligation, within bounds, to foster the establishment of 
 its local groups in all parts of the empire. 
 
 As an outcome of such influences, there has been a feeling among 
 the various Japanese communions that the matter of comity is one 
 in which they themselves are primarily concerned and which they 
 themselves should administer as over against the missionary au- 
 thorities and foreign boards. They have insisted that it was not 
 within the province of foreigners to divide the empire and to set 
 bounds to the spread of the various forms of polity and faith. With 
 reason they have urged that any real comity must be a matter of 
 arrangement between the native churches themselves, and that 
 while such comity should prevent an unseemly scramble among 
 various communions it should not operate to prevent the natural 
 spread of the various churches into the different portions of the 
 empire in a land where there is untold need of Christian work and 
 ample room for the establishment of the various forms of Christian 
 discipleship. 
 
 The result of all these influences is the unquestioned fact that, 
 regardless of any mission comity rules, Congregationalism in the 
 
44 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 form of the Kumiai church is to spread through all parts of the em- 
 pire. Furthermore, it seems certain that as an outstanding Japanese 
 church it is to have special right of way in the new regions which 
 Japan has acquired, where the purpose is to have the religious 
 forces of a distinctly Japanese complexion and under Japanese ad- 
 ministration. The question which coiicerns us, therefore, is merely 
 whether we shall allow this church to go upon its way in comparative 
 weakness and in avowed inadequacy, or whether, from the various 
 points of occupation over the empire, we shall seek to reinforce it 
 by the companionship and co-operation of our missionaries, while 
 trusting that a native system of sound comity will be evolved which 
 shall insure good team work with the other communions. 
 
 To this question there can be but one answer: As we have ful- 
 filled our part in the introduction of the Christian spirit into the 
 life of Japan, so we must continue to help to our utmost in the develop- 
 ment of a strong, trained, and forceful independent church, and in 
 the fulfilment of its special mission. Only when that shall have 
 been accomplished can we consider the possibility of withdrawal 
 without losses which shall be irreparable in their extent and their 
 consequences. We can stand by this responsibility in full trust that 
 in time a sound native system of comity will be evolved which shall 
 insure constructive advance of our unit in perfect liaison with the 
 other units of Christ’s church. 
 
 Country, Advantages and Disadvantages. 
 
 On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that there are 
 very real dangers in seeking to plan our work in regions so sparsely 
 settled that self-support can never be reasonably hoped for. With- 
 drawal from such locations has such inevitably heartbreaking con- 
 sequences in leaving a shepherdless folk unable to secure adequate 
 oversight that the tendency is to linger on in such places even when 
 the investment has ceased to bring proportionately adequate re- 
 sults. The plan, therefore, is likely to result in the long and unwise 
 continuance of such mission stations in which it is not the part of 
 wisdom to involve ourselves. 
 
 It has been a favorite suggestion with many that our Board 
 while holding its work in the populated centers, should give 
 its emphasis to those opportunities which unquestionably exist in 
 the smaller towns and country districts. In favor of this policy it is 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 45 
 
 to be said that the Japanese are themselves more and more occupying 
 the great centers, whereas there is in the rural districts an openness 
 of heart and facility of familiar approach which do not exist in the 
 more formal life of the large city. A missionary who locates in the 
 country can make the teaching of English a vehicle of reaching an 
 unlimited number of the most vigorous and promising youth of the 
 region and certain of the missionary efforts made in such regions 
 are beyond measure interesting and inspiring. 
 
 Hold All Stations. 
 
 Your Deputation comes unanimously and most earnestly to 
 the conclusion that not only all the present stations of the 
 Board should be maintained but that also the Board should 
 re-establish itself with at least one missionary family in Sendai. 
 While other denominations are at work there, we are assured 
 by them that the missionary of the Board would be welcome. 
 Indeed, the renewal of our missionary work at that point would 
 add to the common success of all Christian work. 
 
 We must hold what we have gained at great sacrifice, while 
 strengthening our positions at vulnerable spots and strategic 
 places. Who could deliberately close a single station in the face 
 of Japan’s crucial need today ; of the almost pathetic call of the 
 Japanese Christians for assistance; of the inability of the other 
 communions to take over our fields and to work them adequately ; 
 of our God’s clear call to save Japan, to save the East? We dare 
 not recommend anything but a wise, comprehensive, constructive 
 plan of continued effort in Japan. 
 
 To carry on effectively the work of all these stations including 
 Sendai will undoubtedly require a considerable increase of the mis- 
 sionary forces as well as the investment of adequate funds for the 
 renewal of the material equipment of these stations. Under the 
 uncertain conditions of our earlier relations to the Japanese church, 
 the Board felt that it was unwise to send more than the most meagre 
 number of recruits to the Japanese mission. Doubtful as to what 
 was to be the future of the work, the material equipment was al- 
 lowed to deteriorate. The result has been, as already indicated, 
 that a wholly inadequate number of missionaries is struggling to 
 maintain these important centers of Christian endeavor. Sendai was 
 abandoned simply because there were not enough missionaries to 
 
46 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 hold these points, even with the thinnest and most inadequate line. 
 It will not be possible to maintain them save as there shall be a sub- 
 stantial increase of ordained missionaries. Buildings and equip- 
 ment in places give an impression of unprogressiveness. Compara- 
 tively little construction has been done for nearly twenty years and 
 a considerable expenditure of money will be required in several of 
 the stations to put them into modem form for effective work. That 
 this investment will amply and richly justify itself is our conviction. 
 
 Modification of Big City Policy. 
 
 Owing to the increased hold of the Japanese Christians upon 
 the larger centers, together with the opening of opportunity in the 
 less populated places, your Deputation of 1896 advised that there be 
 no further development of work in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, or 
 Okayama, the outstanding centers of population in which our sta- 
 tions have been located. That Deputation felt that these centers 
 would be adequately cared for through the native churches and by 
 the work of other interested communions. The present Deputa- 
 tion recognizes and agrees with the principles which led to the earlier 
 conclusions. We would, however, point out certain modifications 
 which the experience of the last twenty years has shown to be im- 
 portant. The definite purpose to withdraw emphasis in the larger 
 cities and to scatter our work over the empire has operated to leave 
 us, as a Mission, without any strong and inspiring center and focus 
 of our general missionary work. As your Deputation traveled about 
 it was impressed with the fact that any observer would feel that our 
 work consisted simply of a considerable number of rather independent 
 and inadequately supplied stations and that the unqualified policy 
 of leaving the large cities would result in the sense of diffusion and 
 weakness and the loss of unity and centralized power. As a matter 
 of fact our Mission in Japan does not give the impression of force 
 that might reasonably be expected of a body that is really so large 
 and important. Your Deputation cannot but feel that at least one 
 city of the empire should be selected as in some sense a citadel of 
 general missionary work, a point which shall thus be an illustration 
 of manifold Christian energy, such as we cannot hope to make at 
 every stat'on, and consequently to exert an impressive and widely 
 radiated influence. 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 47 
 
 Choose Moderate Sized City. 
 
 We have been led, therefore, unanimously to the conviction 
 that choice should be made of some city where our Congregational 
 forces can be centered, for a large and varied work. For this purpose 
 a city of moderate size should be selected though probably not one 
 of the largest in the empire for there our work is less needed and is 
 more likely to be submerged in the metropolitan life. On the 
 other hand the city should not be too small, for here the work would 
 not have adequate scope, range, or prominence. Moreover, it should 
 be a center of a large rural community. We believe that evangelistic, 
 social, and educational agencies such as are characteristic of the most 
 aggressive Christian effort in America should here be established, 
 an illustration of communal evangelism. We believe that this 
 effort is so desirable that it should be made, if necessary, even at 
 some expense to the other stations. We would recommend the es- 
 tablishment here of experts in various lines of Christian work who 
 should carry their specialized form of ministration into all parts of 
 the empire. We should be glad to see the work so organized, so 
 splendidly efficient and so closely allied with the work of the Japanese 
 church itself that young Japanese might find in this environment an 
 inspiring vision of Christian work at full tide and also the opportunity 
 of training in the various forms of Christian specialization and in the 
 administration of those agencies which are characteristically asso- 
 ciated with Christian work. How greatly Japan needs this view of 
 aggressive Christianity! 
 
 At present there is little possibility that a Japanese leader shall 
 have actual contact with such work save as he may make the long 
 journey to America or to England with a considerable residence in 
 these countries. Unfortunately such a privilege can come to but few 
 of the Japanese and without it the real content and meaning of 
 Christian work can hardly be even dim.ly comprehended. To create 
 such an outstanding illustration of what Christianity can be when 
 adequately supported would seem to be a most inspiring project 
 for some great Christian philanthropist. For the sight of such work, 
 set in the very heart of Japan would certainly fire the imagination 
 and the ambition of multitudes of youngjapanese and participation 
 in it would train them to Christian efficiency wherever in the Em- 
 pire their life work may be fulfilled. 
 
48 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Obviously such a station should have first claim upon the 
 Mission’s purse and personnel. It should be kept fully manned 
 and financed even when this would mean vacancies in other sta- 
 tions pending the receipt of reinforcements. Indeed we can see 
 how having some one station of such primary importance would be 
 necessary in view of the undoubted delay in re-manning the entire 
 field. 
 
 Okayama, as Demonstration Center. 
 
 After long consideration your committee unanimously urges 
 the consideration of the peculiar advantages of Okayama as such a 
 center. While this city is included in the list eliminated by the 
 former Deputation, it is the smallest city of that list. It is a city 
 in which Christianity found one of its earliest and most friendly ap- 
 proaches and that peculiarly friendly atmosphere still exists there. 
 The co-operation of missionary forces would be eagerly welcomed. 
 It is a city where certain forms of educational work are particularly 
 needed and are as yet unsupplied. The city is large enough also to 
 supply field and area for various forms of work; indeed some social 
 work has already been started there though with inadequate re- 
 sources. It is surrounded by towns and villages open to the Gospel. 
 Two native churches of markedly spiritual character and under wise 
 leadership are in existence. On the other hand, neither the native 
 church nor other denominations have made it a center of first impor- 
 tance. It would naturally be considered, as it has been considered, 
 an American Board field. Our Board there would have ample free- 
 dom for this great undertaking. Added to these considerations is 
 the fact that Okayama’s geographical location is most favorable. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 Given such a demonstration center; with lines reaching out to 
 the various strategic points where our stations are now established, 
 and ultimately to Korea and Manchuria; with emphasis accentuated 
 where there is evidently assured cleavage; with a mission given 
 unity and an efficient but responsible leadership; with an organ- 
 ization so adapted that it shall correlate co-operatively through 
 specialists, officials and pastors with like agencies of the Kumiai 
 church; with a fellowship of Congregational workers in Japan such 
 as shall lodge final responsibility with the native church but shall 
 also give scope for intelligent helpfulness to the missionary co-laborer ; 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 49 
 
 with earnest and helpful sympathy toward other communions; 
 and with a passion of the spirit for a redeemed Japan — it would 
 seem as if we had to our fullest ability set ourselves to occupy one of 
 the largest opportunities which has befallen a church of Christ in all 
 the days of Christian history. 
 
 E. THE EDUCATIONAL WORK 
 
 / 
 
 The missionary movement has found some of its most conse- 
 crated and efficient agents in the physician and the educator. A 
 new valuation, both of body and mind, has everywhere accompanied 
 the advent of the Gospel. In Japan some of the most permanent 
 and far-reaching work of the earlier days was done through the mis- 
 sionary physician, who not only met the bodily need of the individual 
 but also laid the foundations of the public hospital, and of the train- 
 ing school for nurses. He entered as well into many of the most dis- 
 tressing and important social problems of the nation. But the rapid 
 development of the Japanese themselves in medical skill in due time 
 made it inadvisable to continue a form of missionary work which ap- 
 peared increasingly to be in the nature of competition with a really 
 able native Japanese profession. Consequently the Board has not 
 commissioned missionary physicians to Japan for many years. 
 
 Educational Work Conspicuous As a Method. 
 
 On the other hand, educational work assumed conspicuous 
 prominence and its value in missionary work has steadily increased. 
 The causes for this are obvious and its growth as a missionary fac- 
 tor inevitable. Commonly missions have been planted among the less 
 developed races and the first office of the missionary has been to 
 stir aspiration and desire. But in Japan the case was wholly differ- 
 .ent. Here was a people which had suddenly burst from its pro- 
 vincialism into a startled world consciousness. The eager mind of 
 Japan besieged the Christian missionary for intellectual help. The 
 rescript of the Japanese Emperor, which only" a year before our mis- 
 sionaries landed had laid the foundations of constitutional govern- 
 ment, declared that learning was to be sought throughout the world. 
 A governmental policy was adopted of sending explorers to the ends 
 of the earth that they might bring back reports of the location of 
 the greater centers of riches, both material and mental. A few 
 
50 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 favored scholars were able to find the funds to go abroad. The num- 
 ber of those however who were thus privileged was inevitably small 
 and so racial progress through this inadequate medium was slow. 
 
 Under this condition Japan naturally turned to the missionaries 
 already at work and extraordinary pressure was laid upon them to 
 magnify the teaching function. They were everywhere beset with 
 the urgent inquiries of the young Japanese who found in them their 
 great opportunity of education. There thus opened before them a 
 marvelous door of privilege and the educational features of our work 
 were early developed. The service thus done by Christian mis- 
 sionaries has not only formed a most significant chapter in the in- 
 tellectual renaissance of Japan but has also proved a singularly 
 effective medium for the transmission of the Gospel me sage. 
 
 Two Forms of Education. 
 
 Naturally the work of education among the Christian forces 
 in Japan took two forms: schools early opened by the missionaries 
 themselves; and others started in co-operation with missionaries 
 but under Japanese direction. The missionary schools included 
 classes of all grades, night schools and day schools, and in numbers 
 extending from a few individuals to groups of considerable size. 
 While every form of knowledge was the object of inquiry , opportunity 
 for the study of English was the supreme desire, as acquaintance 
 with this language seemed so generally to unlock the doors of the 
 world’s wisdom. Very spoedily, however, schools began to arise 
 under the administration and direction of native Christians. The 
 strong national consciousness, together with the sense of patriotic 
 and Christian responsibility, led to the founding of such institu- 
 tions under the oversight of Japanese boards. Sometimes these 
 boards included missionaries or foreigners in their number, but the 
 native element was in the majority and held the places of responsi- 
 bility. This development of institutions under the leadership of- 
 the Japanese themselves was natually according to the desire of the 
 missionary forces because it indicated the rise of an efficient Jap- 
 anese Christianity, the end and ideal for which the missionaries 
 were toiling. 
 
 Two Forces Contributing. 
 
 To the development of these Japanese Christian schools two 
 great forces contributed. The first of these was the marvelous 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 51 
 
 work of Joseph Neesima, who so profoundly laid his influence not 
 only upon the rising church but upon the whole life and thought of 
 the Japanese people. His ambition to establish a higher school for 
 Japanese, which found its first notable expression in his memorable 
 and epoch-making address before the American Board at its annual 
 meeting in 1874, resulted in the establishment of Doshisha, in the 
 ancient capital city of Kyoto, on land immediately adjacent to the 
 old imperial palace. It is hardly possible to overstate the influence 
 of tnis undertaking on the educational and spiritual life of the 
 Japanese people. 
 
 The second influence which accentuated the development of 
 native Christian schools rose out of the anti-foreign tendencies 
 of the decade 1890-1900. How mighty and sweeping this impulse 
 was, few foreigners have ever understood. Indeed one cannot 
 appreciate it until he realizes that it was an intense resurgence of 
 the old time national isolation policy, awakened by the difficulties 
 and disappointments which Japan had experienced in the 
 internal perplexities which had befallen her since the opening of 
 her ports to foreign commerce. Suffice it to say that this anti- 
 foreign feeling made it almost impossible for a foreigner to 
 continue any authoritative connection with an enterprise which 
 seemed so evidently to be the instrument of foreign ideas as were 
 our missionary schools. 
 
 While the force of this popular tendency has now passed and 
 large numbers of Japanese are in attendance upon schools admin- 
 istered by foreigners, it is nevertheless a fact that the question of the 
 native or foreign administration of Christian schools bulks large and 
 is not likely to be less in the minds of the Japanese. Indeed, one 
 has only to reverse the case to understand how human, if not rea- 
 sonable, this attitude is. What, we may ask, would be our own re- 
 action as Americans to educational institutions or systems If es- 
 tablished and officered among us by Japanese. That each nation 
 has a contribution to make to the other is obvious and a few in- 
 stitutions in either land might well have place; but ordinarily we 
 should expect that the Japanese contribution could best be made to 
 us through institutions administered by our own countrymen. 
 
 Missions and the Public School System. 
 
 Moreover to understand fully the educational problem of 
 Christian missions in Japan one must keep in mind certain facts 
 
52 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 which are of great importance and which are in turn the explanation 
 of serious and vital questions demanding early and careful attention. 
 The Japanese have developed an elaborate and vigorous public 
 school system. By this system the child is supposed to enter school 
 at the age of six years. So universal is elementary education that 
 the literacy of the Japanese is close to one hundred per cent. Fol- 
 lowing the elementary schools there is a division of the sexes. The 
 Chu Gakko, or middle school, occupies the boy for five years. This 
 is followed by the Koto Gakko, extending over three years. Then 
 in turn comes the university or professional school, covering ap- 
 proximately four years. The Chu Gakko is also supplemented by 
 various technical schools which are in turn followed by higher 
 technical schools, the educational organization in general having its 
 impulse in the German system of education so far as its formal 
 character is concerned. The whole process of education consumes 
 more time than does ours, serious delay being caused by the neces- 
 sity of instructing the boy in the use of the Chinese characters for 
 the primary processes of reading and writing. 
 
 Unfortunately, schools following the elementary years are 
 wholly insufficient to meet the urgent demand of the Japanese boys 
 wishing for an education. So inadequate are these resources that 
 admission to the Chu Gakko and higher schools is made by a most 
 severe examination system. The intensity of the competition for 
 the privilege of entrance into these schools can be somewhat appre- 
 ciated when it is known that in such a city as Tokyo hardly one- 
 tenth of those making application can find admission: while over 
 the Empire as a whole not more than sixty per cent of Japanese 
 youth can by any possibility have admission to the Chu Gakko: 
 and in the eight Koto Gakko schools of the empire, in the year 1917, 
 out of 10,802 applicants only 2182 could be received. Naturally 
 the large numbers that are left turn most eagerly to such opportuni- 
 ties as can come to them from other all too meagre sources. This 
 struggle for educational opportunity is thus most pathetic in its 
 fierce intensity and bitter disappointment, straining as it does the 
 physical and intellectual powers to the last limits of their endurance; 
 and the eagerness with which such students turn to the Christian 
 schools as to the great remaining possibility of life, offers one of the 
 most attractive opportunities of missionary work. 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 53 
 
 Mission Institutions at a Disadvantage. 
 
 It should be pointed out, however, that this educational situa- 
 tion in Japan tends strongly to hold the best student to the State 
 schools and to make them a closed and exclusive system. The 
 student who proposes to enter these public schools at any point from 
 privately administered schools finds himself at certain, and usually at 
 great, disadvantage. It is so much easier for students to move in 
 lock step through the entire system of public education that it is 
 with difficulty that our schools or their students are reckoned into 
 the educational processes of the people. Christian schools are there- 
 fore at considerable disadvantage (save as the State schools are 
 wholly inadequate in number) not only because of this difficulty but 
 also because they must find their constituency largely among stu- 
 dents who, because of somewhat lesser ability, have not been able 
 to secure admission into the State system. For these reasons 
 many Christian educators in Japan have felt that the Christian 
 schools could have no adequate opportunity until they were able to 
 cover the entire range of education; until with thoroughness and 
 efficiency they could pass a student from his earliest school days clear 
 through the educational process to the termination of his university 
 or professional career. ’ 
 
 Union Christian University for Men. 
 
 With this in mind, some able missionaries have urged that the 
 Christian forces unite in founding a great university for men in 
 Tokyo which should crown the educational process of the boy and 
 render it wholly independent of the State system. It is contended 
 that such a university would be a keystone to the whole Christian 
 system of education, rendering it more stable and effective; and 
 that it would be of immense consequence in furnishing a necessary 
 theistic background to all the educational process. The founding 
 and administration of such a university, obviously, involves grave 
 problems, not the least of which is the question whether such an 
 institution could really be made attractive to the masses of the abler 
 Japanese who would still have at their door the privileges of the im- 
 perial school. However, the project is one of great importance and 
 should continue to have careful and interested consideration in view 
 of its relation to the problem of Christian education in Japan. 
 
54 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Opportunity for Christian Education of Girls. 
 
 What has been said above has mostly to do with the education 
 of boys. The public school provides for the passage of girls, at the 
 end of the elementary period and approximately at the age of twelve 
 years, info what is known as the Koto Jo Gakko, or Girls’ High 
 School. This is somewhat more inclusive than the Chu Gakko or 
 Middle School for boys, but ordinarily leaves the girl, at the age of 
 approximately eighteen, with her education finished unless she 
 enters the profession of teacher — a calling, by the way, which is 
 more generally preempted by men than in this country. It will be 
 seen, therefore, that the opportunity for girls in the public school is 
 much more limited than for boys. It is also true that there is, less 
 hesitation among the Japanese regarding the attendance of girls 
 upon schools of foreign administration. Indeed, there is a rather 
 strong and general feeling that the Anglo Saxon home has a distinct 
 contribution to make to Japanese womanhood and married life. 
 This situation, together with the rising consciousness of womanhood 
 in Japan, has opened an almost marvelous opportunity for educa- 
 tional service. Other reasons also have made it easier to conduct 
 schools for girls than for boys, so that it is a somewhat singular fact, 
 with the exception of the Doshisha, all the organized educational 
 work both of the Board and the Kumiai church, with the exception 
 of night schools, is carried on in the interests of girls and women and 
 with the support of our three Woman’s Boards. In view of this fact 
 we raise the question whether we have reached an altogether bal- 
 anced adjustment of our efforts. 
 
 Co-ordination of all Missionary Education. 
 
 Under the influences which have thus been described it is na- 
 tural that there should have been in the missionary ranks a general 
 and deep eagerness for the establishment of schools. This has seemed 
 to be the point at which we could best meet the natural approach of 
 Japanese youth whom we have so earnestly desired to reach. The 
 various missions have felt this need with the result that denomina- 
 tional schools have been rather indiscriminately established. Prob- 
 ably few, if any, have failed of a large measure of usefulness. Cer- 
 tainly it would be hard to find any one which could be easily dis- 
 continued. But everywhere, as is so commonly the case with educa- 
 tional institutions, there is a tendency of schools to press on into 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 55 
 
 the higher regions of education and still further to complicate an 
 unorganized and somewhat confused situation. While many schools 
 of low grade may be established without large expense, the condition 
 becomes more serious when these schools take on the form and de- 
 mands of the higher ranges of education. They must then have 
 expensive endowment and equipment or else remain unable to gain 
 and hold the students: or they will call forth the criticism that 
 Christian work lacks in thoroughness and idealism. 
 
 Then, too, the establishment of schools has often been without 
 definite and constructive prevision as to the desirable location, 
 city or county, or as to their relation to other schools. In other 
 words, the institutions have sprung up where there was local op- 
 portunity and where the forces happened to exist. The question 
 as to whether certain schools should exist in centers of population, 
 where they could have large attendance, or whether they should 
 exist in the quieter and more separate places where influence can 
 be deeper, is one to which it has been impossible heretofore to give 
 careful consideration. Other questions of serious consequences 
 are now gradually emerging. 
 
 Doshisha. 
 
 Doshisha University has been a deeply cherished undertaking 
 both of American and Japanese Christians. While its board of 
 trustees is entirely Japanese, with the except'on of three missionaries 
 nominated by the Mission, the institution has always been particu- 
 larly dear to American hearts. Large gifts have been made to it by 
 individuals and by churches; the American Board makes a con- 
 siderable annual contribution to portions of its work; and the success 
 and growth of the institution has been watched with unflagging in- 
 terest. It is therefore a particular pleasure to report the recent en- 
 couraging growth of Doshisha. The physical development ©f the 
 institution, taxing indeed the present location, is obvious, while 
 the increase in attendance has been remarkable. 
 
 Indeed the growth of the University creates its special prob- 
 lems. The needs of the enlarged attendance of students must be 
 supplied by a corresponding increase of the Faculty. The institu- 
 tion faces therefore the usual secularizing tendencies so common 
 everywhere. This means a special problem in the matter of securing 
 teachers under peculiarly difficult circumstances; for these must be 
 
56 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 supplied immediately as the occasion arises, and the number of 
 trained Christian teachers of capacity and quality to fill these im- 
 portant positions is as yet inadequate. It becomes therefore ex- 
 ceedingly hard to maintain that Christian emphasis which was 
 characteristic of the earlier days and which we should be glad to see 
 permanently secure. It is the more important that the influences 
 supplied by the co-operating missionary forces should be effectively 
 Christian ; and that all the good offices of the Board should be used 
 in fellowship with the officers of the institution to secure and to main- 
 tain those high ideals of character which prompted the noble Chris- 
 tian benefactions in which the University had its origin. 
 
 The rapid growth of the Doshisha, including both its work for 
 men and for women, has also accentuated its financial problem. In this 
 the institution is only at the beginning of its undertaking. Japanese 
 have given largely and generously. Doubtless their gifts will be in- 
 creased, as their spirit and means develop. In time they will carry 
 the entire burden. We must keep in mind however that the finan- 
 cial resources of the Japanese Christians are as yet not only meager 
 but also heavily drawn upon for all forms of missionary need. 
 The growth of this really great institution, including the women’s 
 department, must therefore continue to be one of the important con- 
 cerns of our American Christianity. 
 
 Kobe College. 
 
 The administration of Kobe College is under a board of managers 
 and a faculty predominantly foreign, though the tendency is 
 wisely to increase Japanese representation. With a singular per- 
 vasiveness the influence of the college has extended throughout 
 Japan. Indeed, too much cannot be said in praise of the work of 
 the college in days gone by and of its present place in Christian 
 effort. The school however is inadequately equipped. Its grounds 
 cannot long be sufficient for the growing undertaking. The ques- 
 tions regarding its permanent location and an adequate endow- 
 ment and equipment are among the most pressing and important 
 that are included in the educational problem of our Mission. 
 
 Women’s Bible School. 
 
 This institution prepares women workers, who are in great de- 
 mand, for a peculiarly valuable form of missionary service. It is a 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 57 
 
 highly important contribution to Christian effectiveness though it 
 does not deal with large numbers. The Deputation feels that lead- 
 ers for the work might perhaps be more easily secured if the school 
 could be located in such a center as is proposed at Okayama, where 
 other varied missidnary work exists. This must be settled, however, 
 by the consideration of many interests. 
 
 Glory Kindergarten. 
 
 Kindergarten work in Japan has been largely the projection of 
 the influence of the Glory Kindergarten. This institution has had a 
 remarkable history and recognition. Through contact with the 
 children the kindergarten teacher has intimate influence with the 
 mothers and thus a singularly pervasive and radiating power. This 
 entre to the inner life of Japan together with the chance to shape the 
 fundamental ideas of the child, must bulk large in missionary op- 
 portunity. Added to this is the fact that the Japanese woman is by 
 nature and instinct peculiarly adapted to the calling of the kinder- 
 gartner. The work therefore is one of hopeful promise. The Glory 
 Kindergarten, however, has been inadequately housed and equipped. 
 As an important type of education this mother school should have 
 far larger resources at its command ; for Japanese schools are as yet 
 hardly touched by the kindergarten idea and the school has before it 
 a long and expanding future of usefulness as a source of kindergarten 
 supply and Christian inspiration. 
 
 Training of an Adequate Ministry. 
 
 In all the educational work of the Christian church in Japan, 
 nothing is more important than the preparation of an adequate 
 ministry. With a public school system that has strong claim, as 
 has been indicated, upon the ablest youth of Japan and with the 
 inevitable pull of prosperity toward more mercenary callings, there 
 is sore need of a great recruiting of the ministerial calling. There is 
 need as well for a more adequate training for all Christian workers 
 both in intellectual and practical forms of efficiency. The Japanese 
 ministry early felt the influence of German thought and it has been 
 occupied with much the same philosophical problems that have been 
 in the minds of our American ministers. These interests have doubt- 
 less tended to delay the more evangelistic types of work. In the 
 interim, preaching has perhaps been ethical rather than spiritual. 
 
58 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 There is now however a distinct feeling that this period of intellec- 
 tual orientation is past. The ministry is devoting itself to the more 
 aggressive forms of Christian effort. It is then an opportune time 
 for the Board to emphasize and increase any help that can be given 
 toward the development of a strong and convincing ministry. Ap- 
 parently this can be best accomplished by institutions under Japan- 
 ese control, but the efficiency of the work must depend largely upon 
 our ability to contribute out of the abundance with which our wealth 
 of privilege and experienc? has endowed us. 
 
 This resume has thus far dealt principally with institutions al- 
 ready established. Regarding the question of new plans and the 
 further initiation of educational projects, your Deputation is in- 
 clined to be very conservative, at least until there is a more com- 
 prehensive policy regarding our relation to the whole matter of 
 Japanese education. 
 
 Union Women’s College. 
 
 However, almost immediately on our arrival in Japan we were 
 met with an urgent plea that the American Board should participate 
 actively in the establishment of a Union Women’s College in Tokyo. 
 This project had been under consideration and development for 
 some time and several of the stronger denominations had already 
 actively and energetically committed themselves to its support. A 
 strong board of trustees, composed both of Japanese and foreigners, 
 had selected the distinguished Japanese educator. Dr. Inazo Nitobe, 
 as president of the institution, the more intimate administration being 
 placed in the charge of an able Japanese woman. Miss Tetsu Yasui, a 
 member of one of our Kumiai churches. Our communion is indeed 
 generously represented in the whole personnel of the new institu- 
 tion. The opening exercises of the Women’s College were held dur- 
 ing our stay in Japan. Its auspicious outlook is indicated by the 
 fact that some eighty young women of highly promising scholastic 
 character at once enrolled in the institution. It is therefore an edu- 
 cational opportunity with which it will be a privilege to be associated. 
 It has, however, been pointed out that as a communion we have al- 
 ready an extensive program of our own for the higher education of 
 women in Japan. It would seem as if perhaps we were doing our 
 share, considering especially the fact that we are so deeply .involved 
 in the work of Kobe College and of the women’s department of the 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 59 
 
 Doshisha. On the other hand, it has been characteristic of Congre- 
 gationalism to join heartily in union undertakings and it is not ac- 
 cording to our nature to miss participation in a union educational 
 enterprise which seems to be so heartily supported by other denom- 
 inations and is so evidently important. Your Deputation, under the 
 circumstances, feels that we ought to be represented in some degree 
 in the support of the institution. 
 
 Middle Schools for Boys. 
 
 It should perhaps be recorded that there is in Japan an interde- 
 nominational organization which seeks to include the leaders of 
 higher Christian education and that this body is giving some mea- 
 sure of united consideration to the interest of educational institutions 
 of Christian character. At the recent meeting of this committee 
 on Christian education the report was made that middle schools for 
 boys were at present needed and likely to be of permanent value at 
 Okayama in Southern Japan, and at some point in the Hokkaido. 
 It was further advised that the middle school in the Hokkaido should 
 ultimately be allowed to develop into a higher school of Koto Gakko. 
 Your Deputation has in mind this advice in its previous suggestion 
 of development of the work, under proper auspices, at Okayama as a 
 central point of influence and in the Hokkaido as one of the regions 
 in which there is a specially evident opening for usefulness. 
 
 These Questions Need Special Study. 
 
 How far shall our Christian system be apart from the State sys- 
 tem and how far shall we seek to gather Christian influences around 
 the public schools and state universities? How far can there be 
 thrift in placing a few schools in important centers? How far shall 
 our schools be co-ordinated with those of other denominations? 
 How far should we seek gradually to pass over all our educational 
 interests into the hands of native Christians? These are a few of the 
 questions which seem to your Deputation to demand consideration. 
 We feel that the time has come in Japan when there should be a 
 thorough consideration of our situation in education as related to 
 other educational interests ; and also a careful and discriminating effort 
 to forecast what ought to be the character, location and range of those 
 educational interests into which we are to put our largest resources 
 and from which we are to expect those ages of influence which have 
 
60 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 characterized such major enterprises of education both in England 
 and in America. Such a study must take far more time and knowl- 
 edge than has been within our power to give, but to your Deputation 
 it seems a matter for deliberate investigation and for careful, dis- 
 criminating and constructive thought. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 In conclusion we recur to the general principle that the admin- 
 istration of Christian work in Japan, in education as in its other 
 phases, should be increasingly in the hands of the Japanese. This 
 does not mean that all our educational enterprises should at once be 
 transferred to them. Perhaps, indeed, some of them should never 
 be so transferred. There is doubtless a steadiness in the mainte- 
 nance of ideals in the schools under foreign control which as yet cannot 
 be uniformly expected from a people who have so recently entered 
 into the practice of democratic forms of government. Nevertheless, 
 your Deputation doubts the wisdom of entering into any new educa- 
 tional enterprises, save under most unusual circumstances, which 
 are not primarily the project and concern of the Japanese themselves. 
 Where such projects are strongly initiated by wise native leadership 
 it should be our part to co-operate generously under such forms 
 and conditions as will stimulate its natual sponsors. Only thus will 
 the largest educational capacities of our Christian forces be realized, 
 while through such an administration and experience of responsibil- 
 ity we may well hope for the development of a communion in Japan 
 which shall wield dominating influence by its enlistment of the 
 singular intellectual capacities of the race in the service of its re- 
 ligious and spiritual ideals. 
 
 F. THE SOCIAL WORK 
 Japan’s Social Reorganization Needs Christ. 
 
 On every hand it has been obvious that the influences going into 
 Japan in the last fifty years must involve social re-organization. 
 In these few decades a people which was distinctly feudal in its 
 character has assumed its place in the modern family of nations and 
 has sought to readjust all its life to the new relations involved in inter- 
 national commerce and society. The very basis of the body politic 
 has thus been sweepingly transformed and all the attitudes and cus- 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 61 
 
 toms of life have been inevitably involved. It is therefore a most 
 vital question whether all this reorganization of Japan shall, in this 
 hour of destiny , be dominated by the unrestrained spirit of commercial 
 selfishness or by the beneficient laws of a Christian society. Mis- 
 sionary service is not completed with the mere announcement of the 
 gospel. It involves the transmission of the substance of our in- 
 heritance of experience regarding the structure and fellowship of 
 a Christian communion. It surely must also include some con- 
 tribution of companionship in the application of Christian teach- 
 ing to those most serious questions which are arising in Japan in 
 these portentous hours of social reformation. He who can look 
 upon the vast upturning of this soil of ancient habit and be uncon- 
 cerned about fellowship with the church of Japan in its pioneering 
 for a Christian social order can have indeed little of the heart of 
 Jesus, so solemn and urgent are the conditions. 
 
 Japan’s Poverty Presents Serious Problem. 
 
 Japan is poor. How poor it is only those who have visited the 
 country can comprehend. Up to the time of the war only a very 
 few families in the whole population had a family income of $500 a 
 year and the overwhelming majority had less than $250. Clothing, 
 food, and housing are correspondingly inadequate. The whole 
 population, men, women and children, labors incessantly and for a 
 mere pittance. Various forms of disease, especially tuberculosis, 
 create an appalling death rate. This condition of the great mass of 
 the Japanese has been made more serious as a result of the war, even 
 though wages have been somewhat raised. 
 
 Japan has been eager to become a manufacturing nation and 
 the international conditions evoked by the present European situa- 
 tion have opened a remarkable opportunity to the few to realize this 
 ambition. All forms of manufacture have increased at an astonishing 
 pace in the great cities. The factories have been largely the pos- 
 session of a small company of fortunate investors or speculators 
 and have been immensely profitable. These newly rich are con- 
 spicuously in evidence in the great centers of Japan and the morals 
 of those who have thus suddenly acquired munificence is one of the 
 most serious problems which the country faces. 
 
 On the other hand the growth of these manufacturing indus- 
 tries has largely been accomplished by prostituting the labor of men. 
 
62 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 women and children. The pay of all workmen is pitifully small, 
 while that of women and children is shockingly inadequate, although 
 they are often compelled to work twelve to fourteen hours a day. 
 Even the holidays are few, a rest day once in two weeks being com- 
 monly the maximum opportunity of change. The result is that the 
 death rate among laborers is exceedingly high. A woman worker 
 endures the strain only a few months, or years at most, and the re- 
 sult of the sad situation is that new sources of supply for female 
 labor are constantly being sought, young women from the outlying 
 parts of Japan and from Korea being brought in in large numbers to 
 fill the gaps which these fatal conditions create. 
 
 Congestion of Population. 
 
 Some impression of the seriousness of the situation can be ob- 
 tained from various statistics. Historically the Japanese have been 
 pre-eminently a rural people. But between 1880 and the present 
 time the situation was radically changed by the growth of the great 
 cities. Tokyo increased from 857,780 to over 3,000,000; Osaka from 
 
 500.000 to nearly 2,000,000; while Nagoya, 200,000 in 1880, Yoko- 
 hama, 100,000, and Kobe, 100,000, have become cities approximating 
 a half million each. What this sudden masking of population has 
 meant in the radical change of social order and practice can only 
 dimly be conceived. 
 
 Factory Facts. 
 
 This new congestion of population has been accompanied and 
 indeed largely caused by the introduction of the factory system. In 
 1883 there were 125 modern factories in Japan; in 1917 there were 
 over 25,000, the factories in Tokyo alone numbering over 17,000, 
 though a large proportion of these are limited in extent. More than 
 
 400.000 country workers annually enter these great manufacturing 
 cities. Unbefriended in any efficient sense they pour into the 
 surging stream of labor over which capital and greed hold sway. 
 The inbred attitudes of subserviency which centuries of feudalism 
 have ingrained render this mass specially docile to the new tyranny, 
 while vice, drinking and disease do their worst. 
 
 Four years ago the Japanese Chronicle was authority for the 
 statement that female workers in Japanese factories numbered 
 500,000, of whom 300,000 were under twenty years of age. Out of 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 63 
 
 this army, 400,000 were engaged in the spinning, weaving and dyeing 
 industries. Seventy per cent of these women lived in factory 
 quarters, which meant a sort of confinement. Work in the raw silk 
 factories lasted from thirteen to fourteen hours a day on the average, 
 and that in weaving mills, fourteen to sixteen hours. Few could 
 stand the strain for more than one year, when death, sickness, or 
 desertion was the outcome. Thus eighty per cent left the mills 
 every year through various causes, their places being immediately 
 taken by new hands. The women in the day and night shifts were 
 obliged to share the same bed, which was neither aired nor dusted, 
 and never exposed to the sun, since as soon as one left it another 
 took her place; consequently consumption and other epidemics 
 were taking a terrible toll of the workers. The number of women 
 recruited as factory workers each year reached 200,00 but of these 
 
 120.000 failed to return to the parental roof. Either they became 
 birds of passage, moving from one factory to another, or went as 
 maids in dubious tea houses or as illicit prostitutes. Among the 
 
 80.000 who returned home, 13,000 were found to be sick, 25 per cent 
 had contracted consumption. The conditions to-day are but little 
 better. 
 
 Attitude of Government. 
 
 In this universal social revolution of Japan the attitude of the 
 government is most interesting. It is indeed concerned, but must 
 obviously wait for the working of moral and spiritual forces in the 
 nation. In the meantime it has felt it necessary to take a strong 
 attitude against any effective organization of labor. While certain 
 unions of a kind are in existence, the government nevertheless 
 stands ready forcibly to oppose the organized efforts which could 
 materially influence the situation. All economic literature is care- 
 fully censored and the situation is made still more serious by the fact 
 that the masses of the people have no recourse to the suffrage, only 
 approximately eight houses in one hundred being represented by the 
 vote. Notwithstanding all this there is less general unrest among 
 the masses than would be expected. The long centuries of feudal 
 society and the reverence in which the imperial house is held operate 
 distinctly to stabilize these conditions and to create an attitude of 
 quiet endurance. 
 
 The government enacted helpful factory legislation but it was 
 not supported by public opinion, and monied interests secured the 
 
64 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 enactment of two sweeping exceptions. By the first the competent 
 official is given power to exempt factories from the operation of the 
 law even to the suspension of all holidays. By the second the actual 
 enforcement of any of the provisions may on special application be 
 suspended for periods ranging from five to fifteen years. Moreover 
 this factory legislation applies only to factories employing fifteen or 
 more hands, the result of which is said to have been the scattering of 
 larger groups into companies of less than fifteen to escape the law. 
 
 Call for Missionary Assistance. 
 
 It would not be right to fail to state that the situation is in 
 some respects improving. Certainly model factories and more 
 salubrious conditions are appearing. Nevertheless when one faces 
 the whole problem of the nation’s emergence out of old conditions 
 and all the adaptation which must be involved in the reorganization 
 of life before Japan can be a Christian power among the nations of 
 the world, it is evident that we have here a missionary service 
 which must lay hold upon our best thought and resource. It is not 
 strange therefore that many missionaries in Japan have felt a strong 
 impulse to social work. The younger missionaries, distinctly eager 
 for it, have been urging the establishment of social settlements and 
 the various forms of work which naturally gather around these centers. 
 The social work done in America, amid the inspiration of which 
 so many of our young people have found their own warm altruistic 
 awakening, has stirred them with the hope of sharing in the develop- 
 ment of this form of ministry in Japan. Their very strong arguments 
 are presented to the end that our missionary societies undertake work 
 of this character. Something, indeed, has already been accomplished, 
 though in a rudimentary way : the work done at Okayama in the 
 Hanabatake settlement, for instance. Although meagerly and in- 
 adequately equipped, this settlement among the desperately poor 
 is one of the most notable experiments of this sort in all Japan. The 
 success of this small undertaking is an argument in itself for the 
 pushing of this form of Christian activity. 
 
 Social Service Will Appeal to Japanese. 
 
 Such social work as is thus proposed would doubtless find a very 
 large response among the Japanese. As has already been pointed 
 out, Christianity has not yet secured any large formal or ecclesias- 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 65 
 
 tical acceptance among the Japanese. It has, however, distinctly 
 operated to develop a humanized sentiment. In fact, the general 
 answer given to the appeal of beneficence in Japan is one of the 
 surest testimonies to the fact that the real essence of Christianity 
 has been implapted far beyond the outward indications of sect or 
 communion. Could Christianity be represented characteristically 
 to the Japanese by this altruistic attitude it would undoubtedly lay 
 hold upon a much large r proportion of the population than is now 
 reached by its philosophical and theological presentation. 
 
 Japanese Must Carry the Responsiblity. 
 
 At the same time, there is extreme difficulty involved in the 
 conducting of such work by foreigners. Even in our own country 
 the social settlement has involved political complications of the most 
 delicate and intricate character. Sooner or later the social settle- 
 ment has found itself enmeshed in local, city, and national politics 
 of the most perplexing nature. It will therefore appear at once how 
 difficult it is for a missionary to conduct such work in a foreign 
 country where the forces of paternalism, not to say imperialism, have 
 been entrenched by so many ages of custom. In no very long time 
 the social ideals would surely involve the missionary movement in 
 the most delicate problems. For this as well as for other reasons 
 the administration of social settlements and social work should be 
 in the hands of the Japanese themselves, whose attitudes would not 
 involve international complexities and reactions. 
 
 Furthermore, the expense of social work must be seriously 
 considered. A single social settlement almost inevitably involves 
 a program of large expenditure. To do adequate and conspicuous 
 work in a city like Tokyo or Osaka, the undertaking must necessarily 
 include many phases of work together with a large corps of helpers; 
 and even if begun in the most inexpensive fashion, the pressure of need 
 for enlargement becomes almost absolutely irresistible. Added to 
 this, however, is the fact that a single settlement will be wholly in- 
 adequate. In this country we have found that several in a single 
 city find ample room and scope. In cities like Osaka and Tokyo the 
 same would obviously be true and the expense of one settlement 
 would be many times multiplied by the need for others. Such a 
 budget would almost inevitably entail a larger expense than our 
 missionary work could legitimately face. 
 
66 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Yet Missionaries Should Help. 
 
 It is uniformly agreed that the Japanese themselves should be 
 urged to undertake this form of work. There are many of conse- 
 cration and tact who might well make this a life occupation. At 
 present, however, they can have little idea of the methods of such 
 work. Indeed, few have anything like the proper training, while 
 the great mass, even of Japanese Christians, have little idea of the 
 character or range of the modern program of social service. Under 
 these circumstances they must be inspired to the work and led in 
 the way by missionary advice and co-operation. Your Deputation 
 believes that a popular movement could well be undertaken by some 
 of our missionaries looking toward the creation of such conceptions 
 of service by the Japanese themselves. We believe that a propa- 
 ganda of public intelligence as to what is being done for the 
 care and cure of poverty, disease and social disorder in Christian 
 countries would have a large popular response in Japan and that it 
 would be perhaps the most winning presentation of Christianity 
 that can be offered. The fruits of Christianity might have large 
 apologetic power where the more theological appeal has not con- 
 spicuously succeeded. We are greatly interested, therefore, to for- 
 ward any such plans as our missionaries may deem practicable. 
 We believe, furthermore, that the Board might well give the ser- 
 vices of certain missionaries to such social organizations as may be in 
 due time administered by the J apanese themselves. This judgment, 
 however, must not be construed as opposed to such settlements as 
 Hanabatake in Okayama. (Indeed, the location and standing of 
 this settlement in that city is one of the reasons why your Deputa- 
 tion feels that this city should be chosen as our demonstration center.) 
 We question, however, the wisdom of the general initiation of such 
 work or its extensive amplification as any considerable portion of 
 our missionary undertaking. 
 
 It was the good fortune of your Deputation through Dr. Berry 
 to have a share in emphasizing the importance of social work while in 
 Japan. Among the political leaders and also among charitable or- 
 ganizations, Dr. Berry’s approach was heartily welcomed. His 
 words were received with more than passing enthusiasm as he pressed 
 the plea that a sum of at least two million yen should be raised by the 
 Japanese for the inauguration of social work on a large scale in 
 the Empire. Indeed his message met with remarkable response. 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 67 
 
 Especially in Osaka did the project take hopeful form. It seems 
 likely that results of large consequence will flow from these endea- 
 vors. On all these occasions Dr. Berry was careful to emphasize 
 the fact that these social undertakings were the characteristic pro- 
 duct of Christianity and were in themselves a testimony to its 
 genuineness and power. 
 
 Unlimited Opportunity in Temperance. 
 
 Recognizing the limitations in missionary social service in J apan, 
 it may yet be pointed out that there are certain forms of work of 
 fundamental social importance which can well be carried on by our 
 missionaries without raising political complications. Among these 
 your Deputation would urge the emphasis upon temperance. It 
 may well be that we should be represented by some one person who 
 by giving particular attention and fellowship to all those influences 
 which are seeking to oppose the traffic in intoxicating drink should 
 express the attitude of our American Christianity upon the matter. 
 Indeed the seriousness of the situation in regard to intoxicating 
 liquors can hardly be overstated, the use of sake being a veritable 
 threat to the future of Japan. 
 
 The Sabbath. 
 
 The situation in regard to the Sabbath is also most unfortunate. 
 While government houses and the schools are closed on Sunday, the 
 general labor of the people continues with little interruption. Not 
 only are the working classes thus deprived of that great blessing 
 which has come to us in the rest of the Anglo Saxon Sabbath but it 
 has already been pointed out how the situation undercuts the possi- 
 bilities of the Christian Church. Doubtless the Japanese Sabbath 
 will never be exactly like our own, and yet it cannot be doubted that 
 a movement to create a Sabbath for physical and spiritual recupera- 
 tion would be ultimately successful and would be one of the largest 
 contributions to the welfare of the Japanese people that can possibly 
 be imagined. 
 
 The Home. 
 
 The development of the home in Japan is also a social under- 
 taking which might well have the specialized thought and attention 
 
68 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 of certain missionaries. The word “home” has itself been adopted 
 into the Japanese language as representing an ideal of family life 
 which had not previously existed. The establishment of such 
 homes among the Japanese involves both social and architectural 
 problems. The proper care and training of children is a subject in 
 which the mothers of Japan are deeply interested. Many times 
 particular gratitude is expressed in communities where missionary 
 children are growing up. The community has thus a practical illus- 
 tration of the way in which home life in its completeness is developed 
 in Christian America. The architectural problem is also most in- 
 teresting. Undoubtedly the Japanese will permanently retain cer- 
 tain phases of their architecture. Into this splendidly simple en- 
 vironment the most worthy elements of our American house must 
 somewhere be fitted. The Omi Mission (independent), which 
 specializing to a considerable degree in architecture has devoted 
 much thought to the study of the production of such a house as 
 shall be adequately the home of a Japanese, would seem to offer a 
 peculiarly specialized form of work for a tactful and ingenious Chris- 
 tian missionary. 
 
 All Mission Work of Social Consequence. 
 
 As has been urged all these lines of social work are inevitably in- 
 volved in the ministry of Christianity to humanity. There is no 
 point at which the follower of Jesus can stay his hand or his interest 
 until he has seen the native forces equipped with all the inheritance 
 of Christian experience for the establishment among themselves of 
 the society of the Elder Brother. It is not indeed because Chris- 
 tianity has ceased to be a message to the individual but because the 
 Christian spirit cannot be satisfied until it has contributed, itself, 
 to a better social order. Hence we shall inevitably find ourselves 
 enlisted in all projects which are involved in the development of 
 Christian society. ^ 
 
 The Mission a Social Service Group in Itself. 
 
 Nevertheless it should not be forgotten that evangelistic work 
 itself is fundamentally and essentially social in its nature and its 
 outcome. Historically the great social impulses have found their 
 origin in the Gospel message. We are surely doing fundamental 
 social work in the announcement of the teachings of Jesus, for these 
 
Discussion of Main Questions Investigated 
 
 69 
 
 have always borne fruit in the altruistic life and in a reorganized, 
 enlightened and beneficent social order. It should never be over- 
 looked that every true missionary is, therefore, a social worker and 
 that from the spiritual springs of the spirit which he uncovers the 
 desert of a nation’s social life shall in due time blossom as the rose. 
 
IV. The Call of Japan 
 
 The question of the relative urgency of missionary work in 
 Japan as over against the claims of other lands in a world of such 
 universal need and opportunity is indeed a valid one; and this major 
 problem evidently lay in the background of all minds when this 
 Deputation was appointed to investigate the missionary situation in 
 Japan. Many facts bearing on the decision of this question have 
 already been stated. They may now be briefly reviewed and sum- 
 marized for a definite conclusion. 
 
 The seed of the gospel has been surely planted in the soil of 
 Japan. Of this there can be no question. Moreover, the Christian 
 influences have extensively permeated the thinking and the atti- 
 tudes of the Japanese people. Even the axioms of the old life have 
 been widely and profoundly transformed. On the other hand, be- 
 cause ecclesiastical institutions and the religious organizations 
 characteristic of Christianity have as yet laid little hold upon the 
 imagination of the race there must be much doubt regarding the 
 exact forms in which the new life of Japan will express and per- 
 petuate itself. Christian institutions exactly like our own may never 
 appear, but to any thoughtful insight the precise characteristics of 
 the organization do not give concern provided there is, in some form, 
 a really large and efficient agency of progress. The more serious 
 fact is, however, that no such adequate Christian force has yet any- 
 where developed. Organized Christianity is as yet a comparatively 
 small body. Moreover, it is seeking to do its work at a time when 
 Japan is in a ferment of vast change induced by contact with all 
 the innumerable influences of the whole world. In this confusion 
 of inflooding forces of every sort all the basic attitudes of life are in 
 transition and with these go, as of course, the reformation of the pro- 
 cedure of life, individual and social, physical, intellectual and 
 religious. The nation is in the crucible and for the efficient re-fusing 
 of Japanese life the saving element is yet meagre. 
 
 The question is therefore one of the comprehensiveness of our 
 conception of our mission. How inclusive is to be the vision of our 
 undertaking; for how extensive a task are our resources sufficient? 
 If the announcement of the gospel is all with which we are concerned, 
 then our work is in some sense already accomplished. If beyond 
 
The Call of Japan 
 
 71 
 
 this we seek the organization of a church that shall permanently se- 
 cure what has been achieved and, given sufficient time, will project 
 its life into the Japanese race, it may be said that we have laid the 
 foundations of an organization which will ultimately accomplish 
 such a ministry. This will, however, involve much time and the loss 
 of immediate opportunities. If still further, however, we have it in 
 our capacity to be obedient to the vision of the early establishment of 
 the nation among the aggressive powers of world influence for 
 righteousness, we have yet before us a greattaskof brotherhood; for 
 those efficiencies which inhere in a society whose forms have been 
 shaped by the spirit of the gospel have yet to be evoked in Japan. 
 As has been suggested it is doubtless true that all these results might 
 in due time develop from the beginnings which have already been 
 made. But how futile and wasteful would be such a policy of un- 
 concern. In coming days of universal opportunity when the voice 
 of Japan should be abundantly effective she would remain in a sense 
 unconscious of the influence which she could exert. 
 
 For Japan is a mighty potential force in the world. When 
 every qualification has been stated, she is to-day the outstanding 
 native power in Asia. She is the one determined and intelligently 
 constructive force in all the lands that border the western Pacific. 
 Her shadow is indeed over all Asia. Whatever may be hoped from 
 China (and no man can begin to measure the future of her destiny), 
 she is today in apparently helpless provincial division. Her govern- 
 ment is said to be one of unlimited graft and selfishness. Instead of 
 organizing she seems to be disintegrating, though it cannot be doubted 
 that the time of her re-fusing will ultimately appear. Those most 
 optimistic, however, are almost in despair over her present emergency. 
 In all this chaos of disintegration and disorganization, Japan 
 appears as the one progressive factor. The lines of her policy 
 are clear and far-reaohing. Her prevision is astute; her will de- 
 termined. She will be the shaping power of the East and the ques- 
 tion which remains is simply this: shall that power be Christian or 
 pagan, theistic or agnostic, egoistic or altruistic, autocratic or popu- 
 lar. It is not conceivable that civilization anywhere in the world 
 can placidly accept this uncertainty as a matter of insignificant 
 concern. 
 
 But even this is a mere fragment of the story. Eastern Asia is 
 the unexplored El Dorado of potential trade for all the nations of the 
 world. There are not a few who believe that the real cause of 
 
72 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 the present European war is to be found in the exhaustless prizes 
 of commerce which are offered in the western Pacific littoral. Indeed 
 in some large sense this must be true, for back of all strivings of a 
 thousand years has been the desire to reach the coveted riches which 
 were concealed beyond these mysterious curtains. In any case, the 
 opportunity to appropriate the mineral and agricultural riches of 
 China and vicinity and the trade of unnumbered millions will be the 
 irresistible magnet which shall draw all the great races of the world 
 into competition such as the world has never seen before. Here 
 there is certain to come the gathering ambition of the world’s dominat- 
 ing nations. Here will be another melting pot of international 
 eagerness and struggle. To exaggerate is not necessary ; but there 
 are many who, knowing the East, look out upon the coming impact 
 of the races in Eastern Asia with most solemn concern. And in all 
 this Japan, as a nation, will be the sponsor. Her faith and her ideals 
 will be influential beyond bur power to anticipate. With what 
 faith and what ideals shall she exercise her efficient sway in this hour, 
 when lifted so suddenly out of the isolation of the past she becomes 
 the arbiter of such world destinies? 
 
 Nor have we time to lose. Wherever we can most quickly 
 reach the East with Christian influence there lies urgent obligation. 
 China must be evangelized and educated; but China will move 
 slowly. Her power is in her conservatism and by this fact she will 
 write her ponderous, perhaps her preponderating influence into ulti- 
 mate history. Meanwhile every potential Christian influence rnust 
 be brought to bear upon her. But the issue of Eastern conflict is on 
 now, and Japan must be reckoned with as the dominant force. 
 
 It is not necessary to go further and to point out how speedily 
 the coming influence of Asia is to be felt throughout the world; but 
 no man can stand unconcerned before the evidence of Power in 
 Eastern Asia. When the tides shall go out in China and all the East, 
 not so many years hence, on what shores shall these far-flooding 
 waves be cast? To all this future the influence of Japan is of the 
 most immediate importance. In that nation Christianity has its 
 opportunity of swiftest impact in the East and time is the essence of 
 our strategy. 
 
 If then with high determination we are to set ourselves to the full 
 measure of our obligation and opportunity the foregoing pages have 
 laid open the conditions amidst which we are to set forward. 
 The spiritual lands have been surveyed by our missionary forces. 
 
The Call of Japan 
 
 73 
 
 The news of a Christian faith that has laid profound hold on the 
 world’s strong nations everywhere has been dimly appreciated. The 
 alert mind of the Japanese is eager for the facts. The old social 
 order, the modem system of commercial selfishness and the aspira- 
 tion for a better order which has been faintly conceived are every- 
 where in conflict. Eager men and women in Japan wait expectantly 
 for authentic tidings of a better civilization. The Christian church 
 of Japan, insufficient for the opportunity, asks earnestly for our en- 
 larged co-operation. But no such fellowship of service to Japan in 
 such an hour can be sufficient if it is a policy of merely sparse and 
 scattered seed-sowing. Our aim must contemplate the achievement 
 of nothing less than a Christian Japan, redeemed individuals, a new 
 social order, and enlisted nation. With the project of this larger 
 missionary program we are thus inevitably challenged. What shall 
 our answer be? 
 
 Your Deputation believes that there can be but one answer. 
 It has been the blessing of these dark days that America has been 
 taught to think in terms of larger programs and greater sacrifice. 
 She has undertaken to lay herself in a mighty range of influence and 
 ministry on other continents. She has learned that in her national 
 destiny she must include world offices of idealism, social and spir- 
 itual. To this very attitude the Christian Church has been sounding 
 its call since the founding of the modern missionary movement. 
 We believe therefore that nothing is more germane to the higher 
 consciousness of the hour than the raising of the flags for campaigns 
 of brotherliness such as have heretofore been esteemed to be beyond 
 the practical limits of our human altruism. The danger is that our 
 projects shall be too small rather than too large. The Church of 
 Jesus Christ must have plans of usefulness which shall satisfy an 
 age which in its abandon has poured forth millions of men, forsaking 
 all, for a new crusade across the seas — or it will go under. What 
 has it to offer that is more direct, more expansive, and more satisfy- 
 ing than a campaign of investment by which an influence in some 
 measure equivalent to a Christian America or a Christian England 
 shall be established in Asia? 
 
 Moreover, your Deputation believes that there are other re- 
 sources, far beyond our guess, for such a program of service. We 
 believe that there are agencies and potencies, as yet never consciously 
 linked in missionary co-operation, which by the spiritual movements 
 of our day are made aware of a real relation to all endeavors for a 
 
74 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 higher life and a better world. There is also a lofty Christian states- 
 manship securing a new and inclusive alignment of all those forces 
 of service which the sorrows and strivings of a world in spiritual 
 travail are bringing to birth. It will be strange and sad indeed if out 
 of the lifting of our whole national life to levels of sacrifice in battle- 
 service there shall not come a tidal wave of re-enforcement for the 
 world-wide projects of the Kingdom of God. We have seen what 
 at the heart America is; what it is now it should consciously and 
 permanently be. Not a little does it lie with us to determine 
 whether what can be shall be. 
 
 In somewhat the same sense, missionary work in Japan, as else- 
 where, cannot longer be conceived of as merely the projection of a 
 few missionaries into a distant venture. Somehow the power of all that 
 the Christian world is to-day in all its manifold manifestations must be 
 organized in such form as to bring its influence to bear on lands that 
 are yet in need. The call will not be less for men and women who 
 establish themselves as centers of light and leading within the actual 
 boundaries of un-Christian lands; they will serve primary and in- 
 dispensable ministry; but in Japan we are not going to an isolated 
 land but to one intimately knit up into association with other peoples 
 through all the channels of civilization and it is our obligation stu- 
 diously to set our influence along all these lines of approach. Paths 
 of international travel of all sorts and all the relations of diplomatic, 
 social and intellectual contact must be appropriated to be the high- 
 ways of the march of the Spirit of Christ into authority. To elab- 
 orate on this opportunity would be to catalog all the points of vital 
 contact which exist between Japan and America or that can be 
 called into existence by Christianity. To such a missionary states- 
 manship Christian America must arise. 
 
 Japan should not by any means absorb all the missionary endeavor. 
 Indeed it is not likely to do so. Here at our door are the needs of 
 Mexico. Yonder is the immeasurable mass of China; India, that 
 destined pearl of Christ’s Kingdom ; Turkey on the high road to all the 
 East; Africa over which dawn is breaking; but Japan — who can 
 look over the world and not find here a determinant race of the world ? 
 Who can doubt that here for the next half century there is a field of 
 unsurpassed investment of life’s most precious capacities? Who 
 will go? To many missionary recruits the typical missionary work 
 in pagan lands will make a greater appeal than does the call of 
 Japan. They will rejoice to lay their work on no other man’s 
 
The Call of Japan 
 
 75 
 
 foundations. Their ecstasy will be in Christian pioneering. They 
 will love the adventures on the picket line and the marches before 
 the dawn. At their post of outlying service such men and women 
 will serve their indispensable and heroic part, as such spirits always 
 have in the ever-onward movement of the Faith. But many, too, 
 there will be who will find their deepest satisfaction in serving the 
 statesmanship of a more advanced nation like Japan. Here the 
 fundamental work has been done. Here the rudimentary forces 
 are already awaiting to be appropriated by the skillful master. 
 All Christian men and women, missionaries and Japanese, are ready 
 to give their •companionship. It is a problem not so much of ex- 
 pansion as of constructiveness; a native mind must be befriended; 
 the Christian forces must be given form and efficiency for permanent 
 power; a Christian social order with all its various phases must be 
 developed constructively out of the old feudalism. Philanthropy, 
 education, individuality, — applied Christliness in all its multipli- 
 city of blessings — must be part of that undertaking, the end of 
 which shall be a Christian Japan at the helm of the East. Who can 
 doubt that there are men and women in our colleges and in war 
 service who shall see a high calling in such an opportunity? 
 
V. Appendices 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Suggestions Made to the Japan Mission by the Deputation, 
 at Arima. 
 
 The Deputation desires to put on record the substance of its recom- 
 mendations made to the Japan Mission at the annu/il meeting at 
 Arima, May, 1918, together with a brief statement of the reasons 
 for such counsel. It should be said, however, that the Deputation 
 looked upon this occasion not so much as an opportunity for making 
 suggestions as for receiving them and thus clarifying its own mind 
 by the advice of those who have so long shown themselves to be ex- 
 perts in missionary work. Moreover, the Deputation was thor- 
 oughly conscious that such suggestions could not have the value of 
 long experience on the field such as was the larger privilege of mis- 
 sionaries who shared in the meeting. Such worth as attached to 
 the recommendations rather grew out of the experience which your 
 Deputation has been privileged to have in Christian organization 
 and work as it has grown effective in America together with the 
 peculiar and very real value which undoubtedly comes from a fresh 
 and unprejudiced view of any situation. The Mission listened to 
 your Deputation with most gracious respect and was pleased to give 
 the report long and painstaking consideration. 
 
 More Centralization Needed. 
 
 The Deputation felt that the form of organization of the 
 Mission which has grown up through the last half century, somewhat 
 independent of the general movement of Christian organization 
 throughout the world, now operates in considerable measure to de- 
 prive the Mission of centralized and effective leadership and re- 
 sponsibility. We are conscious of the advantages which come out 
 of an absolute democracy and we highly value the sense of fraternity 
 and family life which is thus secured; but we feel that such a democ- 
 racy, to be effective, must be organized through the fraternal ap- 
 pointment and recognition of certain persons as having a distinct 
 measure of oversight which while responsible must be inclusive, as- 
 
Appendices 
 
 77 
 
 sured, and in some considerable measure continuous. We felt that 
 the work of the Mission, in its diffusion of responsibility, lacked this 
 capacity of united and alert initiative and therefore urged upon the 
 Mission the wisdom of some such development of its life as has taken 
 place in Congregationalism in this country in the last few years. 
 We cannot say, however, that this need has yet been generally 
 recognized by the Mission. Other important needs seemed to us 
 also to call for this action. The reduction of missionary forces in 
 Japan and absences on furlough operate to leave stations vacant 
 for a longer or shorter period with comparatively little oversight. 
 In one or two cases stations have been abandoned altogether and 
 long investment and work has lost in consequence. 
 
 Field Secretary. 
 
 Your Deputation felt that this situation also called for an in- 
 creasingly centralized and responsible oversight, through the appoint- 
 ment of a Field Secretary who should be the continuous representa- 
 tive of the Mission and who should have concern particularly for 
 the fields thus left without proper care. The importance of such ac- 
 tion seemed to us to be farther increased by the fact that such a re- 
 sponsible appointee might reasonably be expected also to become a 
 helpful point of contact between the Kumiai church and the Mission, 
 which are at present distinct and separate organizations. 
 
 If our Mission is under-centralized, it is equally true that the 
 Japanese church is over centralized. There is evident reason for 
 this in that all the native tendencies in Japanese social life and 
 government operate to the establishment of authority in the hands 
 of a few governing officials. This is the historic form of government 
 in Japan and to this fact we must adjust our organized co-operation. 
 The Japanese church has therefore its authorized officials around 
 whom gathers the executive efficiency, whereas, on the other hand, 
 the Mission has nowhere localized any authority or leadership in 
 such way as to offer organized community of counsel. It was 
 represented to us that the Japanese often desires advice as to the 
 views and purposes of the Mission and that such advice would be of 
 large importance to the mutual efficiency of the two bodies, but 
 that in the organization of our Mission there seemed to be no such 
 authorities with whom conference was possible. Your Deputation 
 felt therefore that the appointment of such a Field Secretary, 
 
78 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 definitely authorized to act as a medium between the two bodies, 
 would greatly facilitate their common interests and that this fellow- 
 ship would materially strengthen the sense of resource in each body. 
 
 Your Deputation was gratified that after long and deliberate 
 discussion the Mission was pleased to approve this recommendation 
 and Dr. Hilton Pedley, of Maebashi, was appointed to this newly 
 created office of Field Secretary. He has already undertaken this 
 work and will probably move from his present station to the neigh- 
 borhood of the central offices of the Kumiai church. Perhaps it 
 should be said that the Deputation felt that it would be wise also to 
 combine the office of Field Secretary and Mission Secretary. The 
 Mission, however, did not approve this suggestion for the present, 
 fearing an over-centralization of authority, a danger which we do 
 not apprehend. Indeed it seemed to us that certain friction would 
 be probable unless these offices were united. Experience will how- 
 ever be a wise guide. 
 
 Korea. 
 
 Your Deputation reported to the Mission its conclusion 
 that the American Board should in due time appoint a missionary to 
 Korea but that the depletion of the missionary forces of Japan, 
 from whose body such a missionary should be drawn, seemed to 
 them to make the step impracticable at this time. It was advised 
 that the joint oversight of the interests of our communion so far as 
 missionary co-operation is concerned should be under the charge of 
 the new Field Secretary with the expectation that he should make 
 trips from time to time to the Korean field. This suggestion ap- 
 proved itself to the Mission and this duty was assigned to Dr. Pedley. 
 
 Relation of Mission to Church. 
 
 As indicated elsewhere no conclusion was more definitely 
 reached by your Deputation than the unanimous opinion that the 
 interests of our communion must be increasingly entrusted to the 
 responsibility and leadership of the Japanese. No difficulties, how- 
 ever important, can blur the fact that in a country so far advanced 
 as is Japan the native Christians must be the sponsors of their 
 national religious life. Your Deputation recognizes to the full the 
 difficulties of missionary co-operation under such conditions. 
 Nevertheless, we cannot doubt that any true and continuous success 
 
Appendices 
 
 79 
 
 of our missionary work is involved in a clear emphasis upon the view 
 that with the Japanese must be lodged more and more the primary 
 responsibilities of the administration and development of Christian 
 effort in that land. In this process perplexities will arise. There 
 is no small difference in temper and method between the two races. 
 One springs out of the practical attitudes of the West; the other had 
 its origin in the spirit of the East and as yet has only been measurably 
 modified. One is doing its work out of long years of experience in a 
 democratic pi'ocedure in which brothers make and then obey their 
 own leader ; the other takes its rise from an ancient feudalism which 
 is foreign to the art of democratic leadership. Obviously, therefore, 
 there are large and difficult problems in the adjustment of the Mis- 
 sion to the J apanese church while at the same time preserving to the 
 missionary that measure of initiative without which strongmen and 
 women cannot be attracted to the service. 
 
 Nevertheless, your Deputation cannot doubt that this recogni- 
 tion of native authority in religious work is fundamental to any real 
 establishment of the full power and worth of Japanese Christian 
 character together with the development of the Japanese church of 
 our ideals. While recognizing the consecrated intent of the Mission 
 and realizing the situation out of which the present relations to the 
 Kumiai Church have developed and believing, as well, that these 
 adjustments have been wise and effective in the past we could not 
 think them organically ideal for the future. The two bodies are 
 organized separately, the annual meetings being held at different 
 seasons of the year, nor is there any form of official connection be- 
 tween the two by which they plan or work together. The Mission 
 was held to be “co-operating” in that whenever a church was or- 
 ganized it was immediately turned to the fellowship and care of the 
 Kumiai body. It seemed to us as we were brought into inspiring 
 contact with both Mission and native bodies that a more intimate or- 
 ganic relation was desirable and would better represent the fraternity 
 of Christian brethren laboring in a common task. 
 
 Ultimate Integration. 
 
 To this end your Deputation advised that the Mission make it 
 clear that it was a body working within the Japanese church. While 
 maintaining its own integrity and unity, it seemed to your Deputa- 
 tion that it should take the form of a mission band in some wise way 
 
80 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 integrated into the Kumiai church. Furthermore, your Deputa- 
 tion believes that it is practicable so to accomplish this as to pre- 
 serve the initiative of the missionary and at the same time to de- 
 velop the sense of responsibility in the Japanese church. 
 
 To that end we recommended (1) That the missionaries so es- 
 tablish their personal church relations as to open the way for mem- 
 bership in the ecclesiastical organizations of the Kumiai church. 
 In a very considerable portion of cases this is now done. Your Dep- 
 putation would make it the common procedure and is assured, on 
 the other hand, that participation in the regular councils of the 
 Kumiai church will not only be welcomed but will also be facili- 
 tated by the new constitution of the church soon to be adopted. 
 
 (2) That the Mission work be so geared into the Japanese work 
 that the differentiation between the two should be minimized so far 
 as possible and the sense of “mine” and “yours” disappear. In 
 the mind of the Deputation it was felt that this community of in- 
 terests might be increased if certain missionaries of the Board now 
 covering considerable territory should be recognized also as hon- 
 orary representatives of the Kumiai church, their work becoming 
 thus, to that measure, a part of the native Japanese w6rk. 
 
 (3) The Deputation further advised the formulation of the 
 missionary organization and personnel so as to correlate its workers 
 with the corresponding officials of the various department in the 
 Kumiai church, such missionaries to be honorary associates and co- 
 laborers with the Japanese workers. It is believed that in our own 
 missionary work this method would unify the interests, foreign and 
 native, and would forward the important ends described. Such ap- 
 pointments should have some form of approval from the Kumiai 
 church. It may be said, however, that the general plan would be 
 most welcome to that body. It has general illustration in the ac- 
 tion of the Mission already described by which the Field Secretary 
 of the Mission is correlated with the secretary af the Kumiai body. 
 
 Committee of Six. 
 
 It was the pleasure of the Mission to appoint a committee of 
 six to give consideration to this matter and to other suggestions 
 made by your Deputation. The details of the development of such 
 a policy can only be slowly worked out but we hope that such in- 
 tegration will in due time be accomplished. 
 
Appendices 
 
 81 
 
 Intricate Comity Problem. 
 
 . The matter of comity has been a most involved and intri- 
 cate problem in the Mission field. It has been felt by the home 
 churches that missionary work should not overlap and that differ- 
 ences of denomination should disappear on the foreign field. To 
 this end there has been a measurably recognized division of Japan 
 among the various missionary boards working there. Gradually, 
 however, a feeling has developed among the Japanese that they had 
 themselves prior rights in the determination of this matter. Your 
 Deputation felt bound to admit that such was the case and that 
 inevitably foreign interdenominational compacts must wait on 
 the conclusions reached between the Japanese denominations in the 
 development of their own work. Contrary to general hopes, the feel- 
 ing of denominationalism is rather accentuated in Japan than 
 otherwise though this attitude is not altogether without reason. 
 Among our Kumiai Christians, for instance, there is a feeling that 
 Congregationalism, representing as it does the rights and worth of 
 the individual, offers almost a holy cause in a land which has been 
 from time immemorial under feudal bondage. As Japanese Con- 
 gregationalists scatter over the empire, therefore, they feel the ur- 
 gency of developing the Congregational attitude and practice. 
 The lodgment of final authority in the people seems to them an es- 
 sential part of their religion and naturally this knows no limitation 
 of district or region. And though there is a growing attitude of 
 comradeship in the work of the various communions, and though 
 ideals of comity are gradually taking form, nevertheless in propor- 
 tion as we are associated intimately with the Japanese churches it 
 will be necessary for us to follow along their lines of development or 
 else fail to be of help where most needed. 
 
 Native Comity Will Supersede Mission Comity. 
 
 Accordingly, we advised the Mission to accept the difficulties 
 involved in such co-operation with the native church. We believe 
 that the Kumiai body is not likely to go into the regions where there 
 is not as yet large room for it, and moreover, that the impulses of 
 comity will continue to grow. We believe that the Mission should 
 honor comity arrangements of the missionary boards to every prac- 
 ticable degree. Nevertheless, in our conferences with missionaries 
 of other denominations, we were led to believe that they were feel- 
 
82 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 ing practically the same difhculties and were seeking to adjust the 
 problems in practically the same forms as those herewith suggested 
 by your Deputation. 
 
 Numerous other matters, discussed in the Mission meeting, are 
 treated in other portions of this report. To all these suggestions 
 patient and prolonged attention was given by the Mission. We 
 have ventured frankly to state our views above not as being by any 
 possibility infallible but as bearing upon principles of missionary 
 work of so great importance as to warrant thorough consideration. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 THE VISIT TO KOREA 
 
 It early became clear that the Deputation must visit Korea. 
 This was not to study Korea and the Koreans. It was not primarily 
 to look over the growing Japanese colonies said to be offering unique 
 opportunity for the gospel. It was above all to study first hand the 
 reasons why the Kumiai leaders supported by leading officials were 
 so desirous of having an American Board missionary located at 
 Seoul ; why there seemed to be some opposition to this on the part of 
 American missionaries of other communions at work for Koreans; 
 and to do what we could to remove misunderstandings and help 
 bring missionaries and Japanese closer together. Dr. Berry and Mr. 
 Bell were set aside for the task, though Dr. Blaisdell was to gather 
 what data he could en route through Korea to China on a special 
 mission. Dr. Pedley of the Japan Mission accompanied the party. 
 Only two centers needed to be visited: Seoul the capitol, and Ping 
 Yang, the great mission center near the Chinese border. The dates 
 of the visit were April 5 to 1 1 inclusive. 
 
 The Deputation was given an unexpectedly warm welcome. 
 Governor General Hasegawa and his official family were graciously 
 hospitable. Our Japanese Christian brethren were characteris- 
 tically cordial. The missionaries could not have done more to prove 
 their welcome. On eveiy hand frankness was shown, along with 
 an earnest desire to get at the true facts and to come out upon a 
 common basis of sound co-operation. 
 
 There was no question among missionaries and Japanese Chris- 
 tians as to the advisability of strengthening the missionary forces in 
 Korea for work among the Japanese. Numbering 300,000 at least, 
 
Appendices 
 
 83 
 
 these Japanese were offering the openness of mind characteristic of 
 the pioneer. They had left behind them much of the conservatism 
 of ancient tradition, and were freer to receive new truth than were 
 their families at home. Many of them were of the highly educated 
 classes. All were in need of a religion capable of giving them moral 
 invigoration for the special temptations of a dominant race in a com- 
 munity of subjects. Without question and with common consent 
 the need and opportunity among the Japanese of Korea constituted 
 a call for the American Board. 
 
 The real question however had to do with work for the Koreans 
 and this in turn hung upon the Board’s relation to a movement re- 
 cently inaugurated by Kumiai leaders'(with the alleged support of 
 the government) whereby Korean Christians were encouraged to 
 leave the old communions controlled by the American missionary 
 and to join the Kumiai Korean church dominated by Japanese. 
 
 We need not go into details in reporting our conferences with 
 the Kumiai Christians and the Presbyterian and Methodist mis- 
 sionaries. Nor need we report our conversations with the officials 
 who seemed as eager as the others to have all misunderstandings 
 cleared away in the interests of co-operation. We believe we 
 made it clear to our missionary brethren that the Kumiai Church 
 in Japan was worthy of their confidence and fellowship,- and that 
 it could be trusted to aid in removing the objectionable features 
 of the present Kumiai Korean movement and that if the American 
 Board mission in Japan placed a missionary at Seoul he would do all 
 that lay in his power to assist the Kumiai leaders in their effort to 
 direct the movement along sound evangelical lines. If we properly 
 gauged the missionary mind it was generally agreed that the Korean 
 Christians would join this Kumiai church in increasing numbers, 
 and that this constituted a weighty reason why a member of our 
 Japan mission, in good standing with the Kumiai leaders, should be 
 on hand to lend a helping hand. 
 
 In order however that there be no complications due to our 
 representation upon the governing council of missions at work for 
 Koreans, it was clear that the American Board’s missionary official 
 connections should remain with the mission body in Japan. In- 
 deed it was evident that while the missionaries in Korea would wel- 
 come our assistance in matters pertaining to the Korean Kumiai 
 Church it would be better if the American Board missionary 
 made it his prime business to evangelize the Japanese. 
 
84 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 Our conferences and private conversations showed the desire 
 of all parties concerned for the permanent presence of an American 
 Board missionary from Japan, and we accordingly broke away from 
 that fine fellowship with the conviction that a service varied and 
 telling could be performed by the right kind of man. 
 
 At present the Japan Mission can not spare such a man. 
 This important post however should be early and permanently 
 filled. Meanwhile the Mission’s new Field Secretary should visit 
 as often as time and funds permit. 
 
 We therefore recommend the following: (1) That as soon as 
 practicable a missionary be placed at Seoul, primarily for work 
 among Japanese, but unofficially to help, in every proper way, guide 
 the Korean Kumiai Church along right channels in fullest co-operation 
 with American missionaries of other communions and with 
 Japanese Christians; (2) That until such a man can be placed at 
 Seoul the field and work be under the special care of the Field Secre- 
 tary of the Japan Mission. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 THE OPPORTUNITY FOR MISSIONARY WORK IN THE 
 
 HOKKAIDO 
 
 The Deputation was greatly impressed with opportunities for 
 missionary work which seemed to them peculiarly favorable in the 
 northern island of Japan known as the Hokkaido. Full account has 
 been given in the body of this report of the immigration conditions 
 on this island which make the population particularly open to mis- 
 sionary influence. Your Deputation was also impressed with the 
 wisdom and comprehensiveness of the plans for work which have 
 been formulated by the missionary and Japanese forces co-operating 
 in this region. To a peculiar degree a statesmanlike outlook upon the 
 whole problem has been developed. 
 
 It may be added that the Hokkaido is a section of the Empire 
 apart by itself. Lying in the north temperate zone with the climate 
 essentially of New England it is well fitted for the development of 
 strong character. It is an immigrant population with all the ag- 
 gressiveness and broad outlook of the thrifty pioneer. The distance 
 from the educational centers of Japan proper may make it necessary 
 for this region to train its own Christian workers, at least in part. 
 
Appendices 
 
 85 
 
 Forty years ago the Colonization Government in the island felt the 
 need of training on the ground the men to develop its material re- 
 sources. A college then founded has already trained with eminent 
 success a large group of men, and it has now become the independent 
 Hokkaido Imperial University. 
 
 While the opportunity in the Hokkaido is one of the most at- 
 tractive in all Japan, it is nevertheless of a size which would perhaps 
 allow it to be undertaken by a single individual or by a group of 
 individuals. Such would rejoice in financing a project the growth 
 and effectiveness of which would be evident within a few years. 
 The results would unquestionably be both national and interna- 
 tional in their scope. As has been pointed out there is peculiar 
 reason to believe that they would react upon the whole life of the 
 Japanese people. For, through the sturdiness of the strong immi- 
 grant population, most significant influences for Japanese leadership 
 would be created. Such a parish would be a most inspiring field for 
 investment. The full consequences can only be appreciated by a 
 visit to Sapporo, the capital of the island. 
 
 The project in its full form should include the following program 
 though any one of the four items singly would be of inestimable, 
 con seq uenc e : — 
 
 I. A Bible School for the training of Sunday School and other 
 lay workers. It is believed that for the present such a school could 
 be conducted in rented buildings at an annual expenditure of, say, 
 $1,500 to $2,000 U. S. Gold. The period of study in residence each 
 year would be short and a portion of the students would be employed 
 in direct evangelistic work during the rest of the year. The above 
 estimate would cover the expenses of the students while thus en- 
 gaged in practical work. Such a school would be of value even if it 
 could be continued only a few years: of greater value if it could be 
 made a permanent institution. 
 
 II. A Boys’ School (Middle School grade). This school should 
 (1) demonstrate the value of a Christian secondary education in de- 
 veloping character. It would (2) commend Christianity to widely 
 scattered homes and neighborhoods throughout our field. It should 
 (3) discover and turn toward the ministry a few promising young 
 men who could have their full theological training in the Divinity 
 School of Doshisha. Candidates for the ministry are far short of 
 the needs in all Japan. Moreover boys from un-Christian homes, 
 trained in non-Christian secondary schools have proved to be un- 
 
86 
 
 Deputation to Japan 
 
 satisfactory candidates for the ministry. It should therefore (1) 
 have a high standard for admission; (2) maintain a high grade of 
 scholarship throughout its course in all branches; (3) be superior 
 to government schools in the English language and in moral and re- 
 ligious training; (4) its classes should be kept small, say sixty to 
 eighty, a maximum enrollment of 300 to 400; and (5) its dormitory 
 equipment should be ample in order to keep the students under 
 wholesome Christian influence throughout their course. Such a 
 school would require for — 
 
 Initial equipment $75,000 to $100,000 
 
 Annual expenses beyond income from tuitions $2,000 
 
 N. B. This does not include salaries of American teachers, 
 though the $100,000 does include estimate for housing these teachers. 
 
 III. Personnel to cover work In the whole island: Four mis- 
 sionary families (two additional) ; and three single ladies (two addi- 
 tional). One family would be engaged in the Bible School; two 
 families would be engaged in the Middle School; one family would be 
 engaged in evangelistic work; one lady would be engaged in Sun- 
 day School and children’s work; and two ladies would be engaged 
 in evangelistic work. 
 
 IV. Japanese workers. With the three above-mentioned pro- 
 vided for, the fourth need, that of Japanese workers, would be in the 
 way of being supplied. Sunday School and other lay workers would be 
 trained on the ground; and the Middle School might be expected to 
 start young men toward the ministry who would come back to the 
 Hokkaido after finishing their theological studies in Doshisha or 
 some other Divinity School in Japan proper. 
 
 The above program would so nobly and inspiringly meet the 
 opportunity of this wonderful and strategic area of Japan and would 
 be so undoubtedly consequential in its influence in the whole nation 
 that your Deputation would be glad to speak any word by which 
 the heart of some great benefactor should be kindled to enter upon 
 this most significant undertaking. If undertaken it should be in 
 conjunction with efforts made by the J apanese themselves. Nothing 
 would be done except in closest co-operation with the Kumiai 
 forces on the field. 
 

 
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