a NIPPON SEI KO KWAI THE JAPAN HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH 0 ^ 9 NIP PON SEI KO KWEI B OFt£A V6 This map shows the division of dioceses in Japan between the American^'and Enjilish Churches and a few of the principal stations. The American dioceses are Tokyo and Kyoto. The English dioceses are Hokkaido, South Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyushu. Note : Since this map was drawn a seventh diocese has been established, supported by the Church of England in Canada. It embraces the northern part of South Tokyo and Kyoto and is called the diocese of Centra! Japan. 2 NIPPON SEI KO KWAI THE JAPAN HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH HISTORY THE BEGINNINGS St. Francis Xavier preached the Gospel first in Japan. He came in the wake of the Portuguese traders, landing in Kagoshima in 1549. Owing to a peculiar combination of cir- cumstances, in which politics played an important part, the Christian faith was speedily adopted by great numbers of the people. At the end of the sixteenth century, it is said that there were a million baptized Christians. This phenomenal success, however, did not attend the mission for long. The Shoguns (the rulers of Japan), thinking that the continuance of Christianity in their land was inimical to its best interests, insti- tuted a fierce persecution, and by 1638 the new religion was practically crushed out. For more than two hundred years no public Christian service was held in Japan, not in fact until the doors of the Sunrise Kingdom had been forced open and Western commerce and civilization admitted. It was in 1853 that Commodore, Perry’s “thunder ships’’ steamed into, the Bay of Yedo, and he entered into 3 negotiations with the Japanese government; it was during his stay that the first Christian service since the sev'enteenth century was celebrated ; a burial service, after the ritual of our own Prayer Book. The first missionaries to enter Japan under the new treaty were two priests of our Church, the Rev. John Liggins and the Rev. Channing Moore Williams. These settled in Nagasaki early in 1859. After many discouraging vicis- situdes, and after working for years almost in secret, they succeeded in sowing seed which has since borne good fruit. The chief dates of the preliminary period of the American Mission In Japan are: 1866 — Mr. Williams baptizes his first convert. Mr. Williams consecrated Bishop of China and Japan. 1870 — Chapel built and first confirmation held in Osaka. 1874 — Bishop Williams becomes Bishop of Yedo (Tokyo). 1878 — First Conference of Anglican Missionaries held. Common Prayer Book adopted. 1883 — First Japanese ordained to the Ministry. 1887 — The Nippon Sel Ko Kwai holds its first Synod and adopts Its Constitution. THE SET KO KWAI Meanwhile English missionaries under the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society had come to Japan and begun their work, and in 1883 4 the first English bishop, the Rt. Rev. A. W. Poole, was consecrated. In 1887 the English and American Missions joined forces as a single, national Church, and the Nippon Sei Ko Kwai held is first synod and adopted its constitu- tion. Since this time solid and safe progress has been made. We are all apt to expect and demand overmuch speed in the advance of the Kingdom. If we should be warned of its futility anywhere it should be in Japan. In the sixteenth century it “boomed” — and made serious mistakes. Too rapid progress is just as bad for the Church as for anything else. Conse- quently we do not ask to see a Church of tens of thousands at the end of thirty-five years. What we have accomplished has been well done and those who understand the conditions are content to thank God. The chief dates during these last years are: 1889 — Bishop Williams resigns the jurisdiction of Yedo. 1893 — The Rev. John McKim consecrated Bishop of Tokyo. 1894 — 1896 — Jurisdictions of the American and English Bishops delimited and defined. Sei Ko Kwai divided into districts of South Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Ky- ushyu (English) and North Tokyo and Kyoto (American). 1900 — Rev. Sidney C. Patridge consecrated first Bishop of Kyoto. 1912 — Rev. Henry St. George Tucker conse- crated Bishop of Kyoto. 5 6 SYNOD OF THF NIPPON SKI KO KWAI IN 1911 METHODS OF WORK I N discussing present conditions in the Mission and the methods employed by our staff of some 413 workers, the chief emphasis must be upon the preaching of the Gospel. All other forms of work are but handmaids to this. It must, however, always be remembered that points of contact must be supplied whereby the mis- sionary may reach the people, and hence forms of work other than direct evangelization have to be carried on. All in all, we may group the various activities of the Mission under three heads: I. Evangelistic; II. Educational; III. Medical. EVANGELISTIC In the larger cities the work of the parish churches is similar to the work in any city parish in the United States. Many parishes are partially or entirely self-supporting. They have their own vestries and their Japanese rector. Others are more like our mission chapels. These are in charge of a foreign clergyman and supported by the Bishop. The regular services, the special “preaching services,” the guilds, the societies, the Sunday-schools, parish kinder- gartens and night schools, the visiting and parochial work, all of these go along in much the same way as parochial work in this country. The aim' is everywhere the same — to minister to those who are already Christians, and to win the “not-yet-Christians” for the Master. 7 In the country districts the methods employed are much the same, but the organization is somewhat different. Some strongly established church is taken as the center. The priest-in- charge of the district (usually a foreigner) is rector of this central church. The various missions in the outlying towns and villages are in charge of native workers — sometimes ordained men, but usually catechists or Bible women, or perhaps some new recruit from the United States who is learning the language and the methods of work by residing alone in a country station. The priest-in-charge visits his various missions, administering the sacraments, examining the catechumens (by which is meant those under probation while waiting for baptism) and the candidates for confirmation, and directing the resident workers. In all the evangelistic work the preaching and visiting are, of course, of primary importance, and in both of these the native worker is naturally much more effective than the foreigner. EDUCATIONAL This work may be grouped under two heads: that which is undertaken with a view to estab- lishing a point of contact with the people, and that which is planned to provide Japan with a body of well-educated native workers, both clerical and lay. It must not be thought that these are the only objects of our educa- tional endeavors, inasmuch as Japan is not as yet well-provided with schools, either academic 8 or industrial. Our work, therefore, makes a valuable contribution to the national life. Under the first group we find the kindergartens, the night schools and the industrial schools. These are parochial in their nature, being opened in almost every case as a means of reaching the people of the district, and being under the direc- tion of the parish priest or the missionary in charge of the district. The kindergarten as a missionary agent was first tried in our mission in Japan in 1905, when Mrs. Madeley opened the Akita kindergarten. There are now thirteen reported, and several more have recently been opened. There are six night schools, five In Kyoto and one in Tokyo. Those at Fukui, Nara and Wakayama are for young men who wish to receive an English education. The Kawaguchi Commercial Night School In Osaka is maintained in connection with Christ Church. The Osaka Alrin Night School, on the other hand, is main- tained by the Widely Loving Society, and is for those poor children who are unable to receive any education except in a night school. The Prlest-in- Charge at MIto considers his night school of the utmost importance to the Church. In connection with the Widely Loving Society it might be well to mention here the three Church Orphanages, one of which is maintained at Osaka by the Widely Loving Society, a society composed largely of native Christians. The other orphanages are St. John’s at Osaka, and Holy Trinity Orphanage in Takinogawa, Tokyo. 9 IN'I HRIOR OF HOLY 'I RINI'I'Y CATHEDRAL, TOKYO. JAPAN 10 All three orphanages were founded and are supported entirely by the Japanese themselves, and are a very lively proof of the reality of their religion. We have live industrial schools for women connected with our mission. In four of these — the schools at Aomori, Hirosaki, Hashimoto and Iwasa — sewing and embroidery, together with the tea-ceremony, flower-arrangement and eti- quette are taught. In Kanazawa, however, St. Elizabeth’s School of Needlework not only teaches the women sewing and embroidery but also employs them to make goods for the market. The reason for this is that in Kanazawa, as in other manufacturing cities, the factory conditions are deplorable and the opportunity of working under proper conditions is eagerly embraced by the women. In all these schools the Bible is taught and a point of contact is established be- tween the people and the Church. Under the second group of schools, i. e., those established primarily for the sake of supplying a Christian academic education for the young men and women of Japan, we have three general schools: St. Paul’s, St. Margaret’s and St. Agnes’s; and three training schools: the Centra! Theological College, St. Matthias’ School for Catechists, and the Sendai Training School for M ission Women. St. Paul’s College, Tokyo, is an institution operating under Government license. It is the only school with a college department connected with the Sei Ko Kwai, and the only boys’ board- ing and day school maintained by the mission 11 of the American Church. It comprises a middle school and a college department. The Christian teaching is voluntary in the schools, but compul- sory in the dormitory. St. Paul’s College is about to be transferred from its present quarters in Tsukiji, the foreign part of Tokyo, to more commodious buildings on the new site in the out- skirts of Tokyo, opposite the Central Theological Seminary. St. Margaret’s School, founded in Tokyo in 1877, and St. Agnes’s School, founded in Osaka in 1874, and transferred to Kyoto, where it is now know as “The Girls’ High School of the City of Peace,’’ are the girls’ boarding and day schools of the northern and southern districts respectively. Both schools are licensed by the Government and conform to its rules and standards. This means that, as at St. Paul’s, the religious education is \’oluntary in the day school, but compulsory in the dormitory. In the early days of the American Mission, Bishop Williams opened Trinity Divinity School in Tokyo for the training of catechists and the preparation of candidates for Holy Orders. Later it became advisable to separate the school for catechists. This school is still maintained as St. Matthias’s School for Catechists. Trinity Divinity School, however, has lately been merged in the new Central Theological School which the English Church has founded with a part of the great Pan-Anglican Thank-Offering. The plan is that the English Church shall pro- vide the Theological School, and the American 12 Church the preparatory College (St. Paul’s), which shall furnish the Sei Ko Kwai with that upon which its very existence depends — a well-educated and thoroughly trained native ministry. Important as it is to have well-prepared clergy and catechists, it is also most important to have well-trained women evangelists or “Bible women.” The Church Training School for Mission Women at Sendai provides for this need. In connection with the Sendai School there is a kindergarten, and it is hoped that in the near future a kindergarten normal school may be opened as one department of the Training School. Before leaving the educational side of the work of the American Church in Japan, atten- tion should be called to the various agencies through which the students in the Government schools and colleges are reached. The peculiar necessity for such work will be realized when on the one hand is considered the importance of reaching the class from which will come the future leaders in Japan, and on the other the great dangers which beset Japanese students who for the most part are living in cheap boarding houses, without the protection afforded by the sort of college life to which we are accustomed in the United. States. In Kanda, Tokyo, the student work centers around All Saints’ Church, and a boarding-house for girls is main- tained. In Hongo, Tokyo, there is a hostel for boys, the Doshikwai, and St. Timothy’s Church, 13 where Bible Classes and special services for the students are provided. In the student district of Kyoto St. Mary’s Mission does a similar work, and in Fukui and Kanazawa there are church hostels. MEDICAL The American Church Mission in Japan maintains two hospitals: St. Barnabas’s Hospital, Osaka, dates from 1833 and owes its existence and excellent work to the unremitting and splendid seindces of Dr. Henry Laning. Two years ago Dr. Laning’s son. Dr. George M. Laning, a graduate of Ann Arbor University, took charge of the hospital which had recently been rebuilt. The equipment of the hos- pital has been much improved. Another physician is urgently needed to assist Dr. Laning in the present hospital and in the development of the new institution. Plans are now under considera- tion to this end and it is hoped that in the near future new buildings can be erected to take care of the increasing demands made upon the hospital. St. Luke’s, Tokyo, is one of the best and finest equipped for its size in Asia. It ministers not only to Japanese but to many foreigners. Its rapid development in the last fifteen years and its present excellent condition are largely due to Dr. d'eusler, who has been physician in charge since 1900. The fund for building the new St. Luke’s Hospital amounts noAV to $350,000, and it is hoped building will be started within the year. Japanese physicians are used both in St. Barnabas’s and St. Luke’s Hospitals and both in- stitutions are practically self-supporting. 14 THE SEI KO KWAI IN 1916 The Nippon Sei Ko Kwai is divided into seven jurisdictions, as follows: Jurisdiction Bishop Maintained by Tokyo John McKim, D.D. The American Church. South Tokyo Cecil Boutflower, D.U. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society of Eng- Osaka Hugh Foss, D.D. land. Kyoto Henry St. G. Tucker, D.D. The American Church. Kyushyu Arthur Lea, D.D. The Church Mis- sionary Society of England. Hokkaido Walter Andrews, D.D. The Church Mis- sionary Society of • England. Mid- Japan Heber J. Hamilton, D.D. The Church of Eng- land in Canada. Total number of Communicants (1914), 16,752. STATISTICS OF THE AMERICAN MISSION, 1916 Bishops, 2. Priests, 53. (Foreign, 20; Native, 33). Deacons 15 (Foreign, 2; Native, 13). Total number of workers, 413 (Foreign, 79; Native, 334). Mission Stations, 125. Schools, 49. Hospitals, 2. Native Communicants, 3,483. 15 T he work in the districts of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, is carried on under an appropriation by the Board of Missions of the Episcopal Church, and is typical of the work which the Church is doing in other quarters of the world. Contributions to support this work should be sent to George Gordon King, Treasurer, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. Copies of this leaflet can be had by applying to the Literature De- partment, Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York. Ask for No. 300. IE(1., 3-](i. ]5ir. Sc'h.