(Bvowtb of the Bible in 
 5apan. 
 
 l^This paf'cr hy I he Society's Editorial Superintendent 
 is ref rinted, by permission, from '■ The Sunday at Home," 
 September, i8gy.\ 
 
 OUBTLESS many 
 of the Society’s 
 friends have heard 
 something of the 
 strange entrance 
 of the Bible into 
 Japan. The story 
 has already ap- 
 peared in several 
 versions ; but as 
 I was able, while 
 
 £ 
 
 in Japan, to ascertain the leading facts, at first 
 hand, from those who were personally acquainted 
 with them, and to verify details from the lips and 
 pens of men who have given them publicity, I 
 desire to place on record the whole narrative. 
 
 In 1854 the British fleet anchored in the 
 beautiful harbour of Nagasaki, in the south of 
 
 Reprint Series . — /’//. 
 
Japan. This was four years before the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty of commerce, in virtue of 
 which English ships are free to visit certain ports 
 in the hitherto excluded empire. English states- 
 men were then pressing the treaty on Japan, 
 and the arrival of war ships, while negotiations 
 were still in progress, created a great stir in 
 Nagasaki. Troops poured into the town, and 
 swarmed out of their hives like wasps when 
 their nests are disturbed. They had assembled 
 in great force to prevent a British landing which 
 had never been intended. 
 
 The soldiers were under the command of a 
 distinguished general called Wakasa, who traced 
 his descent from a noble family ; and his business 
 was to prevent, if necessary by force of arms, 
 any communication between the foreign fleet 
 and the people. In the discharge of his duty 
 the commander-in-chief was accustomed to sail 
 round the harbour in a swift boat to see that 
 the British were holding no intercourse with his 
 people. 
 
 During the days that the English lay within 
 sight of the beautiful green hills and white villas of 
 Nagasaki, some one dropped his English New 
 Testament into the sea. It may have been a copy 
 placed by gentle hands, accompanied by a mother's 
 prayers, among her son’s things, as he left the 
 old home, or it may have been the treasured 
 companion of some man of God. \\’hence it 
 came we shall never know ; but we are certain 
 
it did not fall into the sea by chance. It was 
 God’s bread sown upon the waters. General 
 Wakasa, on one of his rounds, saw the book in 
 the water. Being a Japanese, he was curious 
 to know what the book contained. Perhaps it 
 might compromise the foreigners who had rudely 
 entered their harbour. 
 
 The book was carefully dried, and taken to 
 the interpreter, who happened to be a Dutchman. 
 He declared it to be the Christian’s Bible that told 
 of God, and Christ, and the future life. The 
 general’s curiosity was excited. He must know 
 the contents of the Christian’s book. On making 
 further enquiries he learned that it had been 
 translated into Chinese. He sent to Shanghai 
 and procured a copy. 
 
 When the English fleet departed from Nagasaki, 
 the commander-in-chief returned to his home at 
 Saga. He was now at leisure, and in company 
 with his brother Ayabe, and a near relation called 
 Molino, and two friends of his family, he began the 
 study of the New Testament. 
 
 All educated Japanese read classical Chinese. 
 The little company of four read and studied 
 the Delegates’ New Testament. They understood 
 the version, and without a teacher penetrated 
 through the crusts of the translation to the Gospel 
 significance. 
 
 Eight years later, in 1862, Dr. Verbeck of 
 the Reformed Dutch Church of America, was 
 at Nagasaki as a missionary. Christianity was 
 
4 
 
 a forbidden religion at that time in Japan. One 
 day he was surprised by a visit from a gentleman of 
 high rank of whom he knew nothing. It was 
 Ayabe, the brother of Wakasa. He wanted in- 
 struction regarding the Christian religion, and 
 explanations of passages in the New Testament 
 which he did not understand. Dr. Verbeck gladly 
 instructed him more fully, and he found him 
 not only an apt, but a grateful pupil ; for early 
 in the following year he came to the missionary 
 secretly by night, and at the peril of his life, 
 and warned him of impending danger. Owing 
 to this timely warning Dr. ^Trbeck was enabled to 
 escape safely to China. 
 
 When the danger had passed. Dr. Verbeck re- 
 turned again to Nagasaki. His friend and saviour 
 in the meantime had gone as an official to another 
 part of the island, and the circumspection incum- 
 bent on missionaries in those days did not admit of 
 enquiries as to natives in high station. 
 
 Soon, however, another nobleman called on 
 Dr. \'erbeck. This time it was Molino, whom 
 ^\'akasa had sent to get information regarding 
 passages in the New Testament that he did not 
 understand, and to procure for him other religious 
 books. Molino had in the meantime learned 
 English, and he continued to come and go between 
 \Vakasa and Dr. Verbeck, carrying with him books 
 and instruction for the space of three years. 
 
 On May 14th, 1866, a messenger came in hot 
 haste to Dr. Verbeck to say that a great official, 
 
5 
 
 with his suite, had arrived in Nagasaki and wished 
 to have an interview with him. The party at 
 whose corning the town had been moved proved 
 to be Wakasa and his two sons, Ayabe and the 
 friend Molino. 
 
 Wakasa was then a minister of state, the 
 governor of a province. He came to Dr. Verbeck 
 with a splendid retinue. He was a tall and 
 dignified old gentleman, with courteous and at- 
 tractive manners. He spoke freely of the long 
 years he had been studying the Gospels, of his 
 pleasure at meeting a Christian teacher, and 
 especially of the joy with which he had first 
 read the story of Jesus Christ. “I was,” he said, 
 “filled with admiration, overwhelmed with emo- 
 tion, and taken captive by the record of His 
 nature and life.” 
 
 At the close of a long interview, in which he 
 showed great familiarity with the Bible, Dr. 
 A^erbeck was surprised by the great man asking him 
 to baptize him and his brother. Molino also 
 wished to be baptized. There was something 
 of the martyr spirit in the request, for W'akasa 
 knew that the Christian religion was condemned, 
 and that to embrace it would be attended with 
 peril to all concerned. But he was steadfast in his 
 purpose, and after much conversation as to the 
 nature of the ordinance. Dr. Verbeck agreed to 
 comply with his request. 
 
 On the following Sunday evening Wakasa, 
 his brother Ayabe, and Molino, arrived at the 
 
r, 
 
 appointed time. Their escort was dismissed, with 
 instructions to return for them after an hour. 
 With the shutters closed, so that no prying eyes 
 might see what was going forward. Dr. A'erbeck 
 baptized the three illustrious Japanese who had 
 been brought to Christ in so strange a way. Then 
 the four Christian brethren united in celebrating 
 the Lord’s Supper, and perhaps never since that 
 first night in the large upper room were the 
 Saviour’s djnng commands obeyed under circum- 
 stances more solemn and wonderful. 
 
 At the close of the ceremony AVakasa expressed 
 himself supremely happy in having obtained what 
 he had so long and ardently hoped for. Then 
 he told the story of the English New Testament 
 found in the sea at Nagasaki, and of the blessing 
 that it had brought to him and his family. Dr. 
 Verbeck sent a full account of the matter to 
 his mission, and after Wakasa and his friends 
 had joined the church of the firstborn, the story 
 was made public. 
 
 ]\Iany years had passed. AA’akasa had died 
 in the Christian faith about 1872. Dr. Verbeck 
 had removed to Tokyo, and his place had been 
 taken by the Rev. Mr. Booth. One Sunday 
 morning, in the month of April, 1880, Mr. Booth 
 was surprised to see in the front row of his 
 audience two ladies of rank. They paid close 
 attention to all he said, and at the close of the 
 service introduced themselves as AA’akasa’s daugh- 
 ter and her nurse. Her father had taught his 
 
family the truths of Christianity, and she and one 
 of her brothers were true believers. 
 
 She had come to Nagasaki, and with her nurse 
 had sought for the missionary. They had met 
 a priest who gave them a Prayer-book. They 
 afterwards discovered the Bible Depot, and in 
 looking over the books recognised “ The Sermon 
 on the Mount,” and from the keeper of the Depot 
 they learned where they should find the church. 
 
 Like her father Wakasa, the lady came to 
 receive the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s 
 Supper. Mr. Booth saw her on the following day, 
 and found that she and her nurse were true 
 believers in the Lord Jesus, having been well 
 instructed in the truths of the Bible. On the 
 following Sunday the lady, accompanied by her 
 husband, attended at the church, and with her 
 faithful nurse was baptized. “ I shall never,” said 
 Mr. Booth, ‘‘ forget the expression of peaceful 
 joy that shone in the faces of the two women as 
 they went away.” 
 
 The nurse returned to Saga to make known 
 to others the joy that filled her own heart. She 
 began at once to teach a few bright little girls. 
 Soon, she had a class of women studying the Bible, 
 and as soon as these were able to teach she 
 opened a Sunday-school. Soon there were forty 
 Christians in the town brought to Christ chiefly 
 by her efforts. She rests from her labours, but 
 her work is carried on by others whom the Lord 
 has raised up. 
 
8 
 
 ^^’akasa's daughter went with her husband to 
 Osaka, and her home became a centre of Christian 
 beneficence. She used her high station and in- 
 fluence in furthering the Christian cause. When 
 her hu.sband on one occasion returned from a visit 
 to one of the many islands, he told her of a people 
 whom he had seen who were without any religion. 
 Her heart was touched, and she at once proposed 
 to pay half the salary of a missionary to the 
 neglected island. At a later period she returned 
 to Nagasaki, where she and her daughter were 
 among the most useful and exemplary of the 
 church members. 
 
 Years passed bringing many changes, and one 
 day in 1884 Dr. Verbeck was assisting at a meeting 
 in Tokyo. At the close of the meeting an aged 
 gentleman stepped up to him, and said, “ I am 
 Ayabe, the brother of ^Vakasa.” He had been 
 in the army, and also on survey work, but he had 
 never gone on any undertaking without his Bible. 
 
 He was accompanied by his daughter, a young 
 lady fifteen years old. Ayabe sought baptism 
 for his daughter. It was a joyous meeting between 
 Ayabe and his old friend and teacher, and father 
 and daughter vrere soon members of the Rajimachi 
 church in the capital. 
 
 These are the simple facts as told by Dr. 
 Verbeck and others, and confirmed by Hr. H. 
 Loomis, who gave me full permission to use them 
 in any way I might think fit. How God’s harvest 
 waits u[)on God's sowing I 
 
9 
 
 During the years covered by this story there was 
 much anxiety on the part of the awakened church 
 to occupy Japan; but owing to many circumstances 
 the kingdom was closed to the Gospel. Drs. 
 Hepburn, Verbeck, and Brown, arrived in 1859, 
 but down to 1868 only eight or nine missionaries 
 had reached the country, and the number resident 
 there did not at any time exceed five or six. 
 
 Nor had the missionaries at that date mastered 
 the language. They had no grammars, or vocabu- 
 laries, or dictionaries, and owing to the severe laws 
 against Christianity, they found it difficult to 
 get native assistance, or instruction of any kind. 
 
 The spoken language was not difficult to learn, 
 reading and writing was another matter. The 
 Chinese written characters had been borrowed by 
 the Japanese, and to these they added a syllabary 
 of their own invention, and the missionaries had to 
 master both in order to become masters of the 
 language, or to become acquainted with the 
 literature. 
 
 The difficulty was increased by the fact that 
 the languages of China and Japan are so unlike 
 each other in their structure, and that the Chinese 
 characters can only be used in a Japanese way. 
 The two systems are intertwined, the symbolic 
 and the syllabic, without being congenial to 
 each other. 
 
 Notwithstanding these difficulties. Bishop Wil- 
 liams, Drs. Verbeck, Brown, and Hepburn, were 
 labouring on the work of translation, and Dr. 
 
Brown had translated the four Gospels, and the 
 book of Genesis. Others were translating the 
 Epistles, and Dr. Hepburn, in addition to trans- 
 lation work, was engaged on a dictionary. The 
 educated in Japan were buying and reading the 
 Chinese New Testament, but the great want of the 
 mission was a Japanese Bible, and to the work 
 of producing one the best energies of the mission 
 were given. 
 
 After five and a half years’ translation and 
 revision, the text of the New Testament was 
 completed on March 30th, 1880, and the first New 
 Testament in the Japanese tongue was published 
 on the 17th of April of the same year. The 
 New Testament was the work of a translation 
 committee appointed by a convention of mission- 
 aries in 1872. While it was in preparation the 
 missionaries met at Tokyo in 1876, and set 
 apart four of their number to translate the Old 
 Testament, in harmony with the New. These 
 translators met regularly for about a year and 
 completed the first eleven chapters of Genesis, 
 which were published in 1877. Several books 
 of the minor prophets were translated by the 
 Rev. J. Piper, and published, but the committee 
 was dissolved, and their work passed into the 
 hands of a permanent committee appointed by 
 a convention which met at Tokyo in June, 1878. 
 
 At first the different parts of the Old Testament 
 were assigned to committees of missionaries residing 
 in the large towns. Under this arrangement the 
 
Rev. P. K. Fyson translated the Book of Joshua ; 
 Mr. Davidson, 2 Kings ; Mr. I'hoinpson, Genesis ; 
 and Dr. Hepburn, the Book of Proverbs. 
 
 .\t a meeting of the Permanent Committee in 
 1882, a new method was adopted, and Dr. Verbeck, 
 Dr. Hepburn, and Mr. Fyson, were appointed a 
 translating and revising committee, and these 
 scholars, accepting all that was best from the 
 accumulated translations of their predecessors, 
 completed the Bible. It was an arduous work, 
 and a great meeting was held on February 3rd, 
 1888, at Tokyo, to celebrate the publication of 
 the Japanese Bible. 
 
 “ This delay,” said Dr. Hepburn, who occupied 
 the chair, “ has proved to be a great advantage, 
 in that it has been the means of securing greater 
 uniformity of style and oneness in the various 
 books. The style of the Old Testament has 
 been made to conform to that of the New, so 
 that there is complete uniformity in this respect ; 
 as much, I may say, as if both translations had 
 been the work of one person.” 
 
 This splendid result has been achieved, not 
 alone by the scholarship and perseverance of 
 the chief translators, but by the constant care 
 of two native Christian scholars, Messrs. Mat- 
 suyama and Takahashi Goro, who aided first in 
 the production of the New Testament and then 
 of the Old, giving uniformity to the style and 
 character of the version. 
 
 The translators had the advantage of comparing 
 
12 
 
 their work, as it proceeded, with the Revised 
 English Version, and they availed themselves of 
 the light to be had from the best critical and 
 grammatical works, and from other versions of 
 the Holy Scriptures, ancient and modern. Speak- 
 ing broadly, the American Bible Society bore 
 the expense of the New Testament, and the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, and the 
 National Bible Society of Scotland, that of the 
 Old. It should also be added that the services 
 of Dr. Hepburn were freely given by the Board 
 of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
 of America. 
 
 Editions of the new version were multiplied 
 in many forms. On June 8th, i88t, a marginal 
 reference New Testament, prepared by the Rev. J. 
 Piper, was published by the British and Scottish 
 Societies. The edition consisted of 6,000 copies, 
 4,000 of which were printed on Japanese paper, 
 and in Japanese style, and 2,000 on English paper, 
 as an experiment. 'Phe books in English style 
 were purchased so rapidly by the Japanese, that 
 two further editions had to be brought out before 
 the end of the 3'ear, while the books in pure 
 Japanese style were neglected. 
 
 In 1894 the Bible was published in Roman 
 letters. All defects discovered in the translations 
 were corrected, and ' the \ ersion brought up to 
 the latest standard of admitted excellence, and 
 all new editions will be brought into harmony with 
 it. 
 
The latest achievement in connection with this 
 version has been the publication of two dainty 
 volumes with over-turning flaps that fasten in. 
 The one is a small but clearly-printed pocket 
 reference New Testament, and the other is the 
 Gospel of St. John, so small that it will go 
 easily into the waistcoat pocket. The latter has 
 been largely circulated among the soldiers, and 
 may come to be known yet as the Soldier’s 
 Bible. Other Gospels in the same style are being 
 published. 
 
 'I'he translators in Japan had one great advantage 
 over the translators in China, they had few dia- 
 lectic differences to contend with. Japanese is 
 Japanese, and though there are patois in different 
 parts, there is no occasion to introduce patois 
 in books. The new Bible can be read with 
 pleasure by every Japanese who can read, and 
 those who cannot read it for themselves can under- 
 stand it when they hear it read aloud by others. 
 
 One aboriginal language, the Ainu, has been 
 discovered in Japan. It is spoken by an exceed- 
 ingly ignorant and degraded people who live 
 chiefly in the small villages which are scattered 
 along the eastern ajid northern coast of the island 
 of Yezo. They are supposed to number about 
 20,000, and as the capes, the mountains, and 
 other leading features of Japan are known by 
 Ainu names, they are believed to have once 
 occupied the whole of Japan, d'he Ainu people 
 are Polytheists, and worship the sun, the moon, 
 
14 
 
 mountains, rivers, and such objects, all of which 
 they believe have their own gods. They are a 
 down-trodden and despised race, and by a slight 
 play upon their name, the Japanese call them 
 “ dogs.” 
 
 The Rev. J. Batchelor and his wife have devoted 
 themselves to these outcasts, and in 1887 nine 
 chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew were printed 
 in their language. There were then four of the 
 Ainu baptized by Bishop Bickersteth. No 
 European but Mr. Batchelor knew the language 
 of these poor people, and their destiny rested 
 in his hands. 
 
 It would be impossible to exaggerate the 
 common discomforts of living among these really 
 repulsive human beings, but in the spirit of 
 the Master, Mr. Batchelor and his wife have 
 gone among the doubly lost, and in a very marvel- 
 lous manner are lifting them up. The New 
 Testament and Book of Psalms were finished, 
 and published in 1895. 
 
 These are the only versions needed for Japan. 
 The growth has been late, but the work is now 
 complete. 
 
 There is in Japan another rage of pariahs, called 
 the Yeta. Some say they are the descendants 
 of Chinese noblemen, and some speak of them 
 as the descendants of Corean captives. They 
 are scattered throughout Japan, and are looked 
 upon as little better than beasts. They, however, 
 understand Japanese so that a new version is 
 
15 
 
 not needed for them ; but just recently the Cimrch 
 in Japan has set apart a missionary to care for 
 their souls. 
 
 'I'he readers of this paper will wonder how it 
 happened that the Japanese only received the 
 Bible, as it were, yesterday. Many earnest 
 attempts were made to provide a version, but 
 the fulness of time only arrived when the mission- 
 aries occupied the land. Gutzlaff had made a 
 translation of the New Testament at Singapore ; 
 but when the Gospel of St. John was published, 
 the version was declared vulgar and unidiomatic, 
 and no more was published. The Gospels of St. 
 Luke and St. John, and the Acts of Bettelheim’s 
 version were published, but they were found to 
 be more Luchuan than Japanese, and of little 
 value. The work has been done, and well done, 
 by the missionaries at the very earliest opportunity, 
 and there were many missionaries who rendered 
 valuable aid in the translations whose names do 
 not appear in this paper. 
 
 The work should have been done, but was 
 not, by the Jesuits. Xavier arrived in Japan in 
 1549, and after thirty years there were 200 
 churches in Japan, and 15,000 converts. At a 
 later period there were 600,000 Christians in 
 the Empire, chiefly of the ruling classes — princes, 
 admirals, generals. They reached a dominant 
 position in the Empire, and true to their traditions, 
 they abused their power. They did not give the 
 Gospel to the people, but they introduced the 
 
i6 
 
 instruments of the inquisition, and the Roman 
 idols which they called by Christian names. 
 
 In 1890 I was present at the great Japanese 
 Exhibition in Tokyo, and I saw there a collection 
 of the instruments of torture that the Jesuits 
 had worked in Japan ; and I did not wonder 
 that the Japanese had driven, with great ferocity, 
 the whole priestly horde from their lands. When 
 the priests had gone, nothing remained but the 
 thumb-screws and other instruments of their call- 
 ing, and a door barred against Christianity. 
 
 WILLIAM AVKIGIIT, D.D. 
 
 The following Papers are also published in the 
 Reprint Series, and ntay be obtained at the Bible 
 House, T4.6, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. 
 
 //. The Difficulties of a Lady Collector. 
 
 III. A Churchman s Pica for the Bible Society. 
 
 I]'. The Duke of Connaught and the Bible Society. 
 
 T. Additional Il 'ays in which Ladies can Help the Bible 
 Society. 
 
 JT. /low to Organize Bible Society Meetings. 
 
 J. Thompson, Printe*", Ojb, Turnmitt Street, London, E.C.