2T5.Z 
 St 62 j 
 1887 
 
The person charging this material 15 
 sponsible for its return on or before 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 Theft, mutilation, and underlining of book* 
 are reasons for disciplinary action and may 
 result in dismissal from the University. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 \ 7 n 
 
 L161— ( 
 


/ 
 
 
 I 
 
 A 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/japanjapanmissioOOstoc 
 
■.y. 
 
 / 
 
 ifl 
 
 /'r 
 
LiBKARY 
 
 b7<IV£RSITY Of ILUNOi? 
 URBAM 
 
 
 ; 
 
MOUNT FUSHIVAMA, .lAPAX. 
 
JAPAN 
 
 
 AND THE 
 
 JAPAN MISSION 
 
 C1}uvdj iitti£isionav|j 
 
 EUGENE STOCK, 
 
 Editorial Secreta.ry of the Society. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 REVISED, IN PART RE-WRITTEN, AND CONTINUED TO DATE, BY THE 
 
 Rev. C. F. WARREN, 
 
 Formerly Missionary of the Society at Osaka, and Secretary of the Japan Mission. 
 
 WITH A MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 “The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the 
 sun unto the going down thereof.” — Ps. 1. i. 
 
 Land of the East, awake, 
 
 Soon shall your sons be free ; 
 
 The sleep of ages break. 
 
 And rise to liberty. 
 
 On your far hills, long cold and gray. 
 
 Has dawned the everlasting day. 
 
 ^on6ott : 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY HOUSE, Salisbury Square. 
 SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY, 54, Fleet Street. 
 
 1887. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ♦ " 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Land of tKe Rising Sun i 
 
 II. The People of Japan 
 
 III. Japan in Past Times 26 
 
 IV. The Two Religions of Japan 34 
 
 V. The Jesuit Missions 5 ^ 
 
 VI. The Locking and the Unlocking 60 
 
 VII. The Revolution 7 ^ 
 
 VIII. New Japan 79 
 
 IX. Protestant Missions in Jap\n 89 
 
 X. The Church Missionary Society’s Mission : — 
 
 (I.) Introduction m 
 
 XL „ H (II-) Nagasaki 120 
 
 XII. ,, ,, (HI.) Kiushiu Out-stations . 140 
 
 XIII. „ „ (IV.) Osaka 167 
 
 XIV. „ „ (V.) Osaka Out-stations .... 202 
 
 XV. „ „ (VI.) Tokio 221 
 
 XVI. „ „ (VII.) Hakodate 246 
 
 XVII. „ „ (VIII.) Aino Mission 260 
 
 XVIII. Conclusion 271 
 
 i 1 93962 
 

 /!./■' j 5 
 
NOTE. 
 
 The First Edition of this book was published in 1879. It 
 has been for some time out of print. I am greatly indebted 
 to the Rev. C. F. Warren for his kindness in revising it, and 
 continuing the history of Japan and its Missions, and par- 
 ticularly of the C.M.S. Mission, down to the present time. 
 More than half of the present work is entirely new, and is 
 contributed by Mr. Warren. 
 
 E. S. 
 
 Church Missionary House, 
 December f 1887. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In preparing this Edition the original plan of the work has 
 been preserved. Several of the earlier chapters have needed 
 very little revision, but considerable additions and modifica- 
 tions have been introduced in others. The additional matter 
 in the New Edition of The Mikado's Empire has been con- 
 sulted, and in revising the Chapters on the People and 
 Religions of Japan, I have been much indebted to the 
 valuable Papers and Translations of E. Satow, Esq., J. 
 Troup, Esq., and B. H. Chamberlain, Esq., published in the 
 Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japa7i^ and also to a 
 Paper by the latter gentleman, published by the Imperial 
 University of Tokio. The later Chapters, from Chapter IX., 
 have been almost entirely re-written, and the history of the 
 Mission has been brought down to the latest possible date. 
 
 I have to thank the Rev. E. W. Syle, D.D., and several 
 other friends, for valuable suggestions and help in various 
 ways. 
 
 C. F. W. 
 
 2, Grove Road, 
 
 New Southgate, N. 
 
 August 4th , 1887. 
 
CHURCH MISSIONARY ATLi 
 
 
 
 
 fM'- 
 
JAPAN AND THE JAPAN MISSION. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN. 
 
 ■“ He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” — Matt. v. 45. 
 
 APAN is the Great Britain of Asia. The British 
 Isles are the western outpost of Europe in 
 the Atlantic. The Japanese Isles are the 
 eastern outpost of Asia in the Pacific. Instead 
 of two large islands, however, like Great 
 Britain and Ireland, there are four, viz., 
 Hondo,* Kiushiu, Shikoku, and Yezo, with innumerable 
 smaller islets. The total area of the British archipelago is 
 122,550 square miles ; of the Japanese, about 147,000. The 
 British population in 1881 was 34,884,848 ; the Japanese, by 
 the census of 1882, was 37,041,368. The four principal islands 
 lie between the thirty-first and forty-sixth parallel of North 
 
 * The name Nippon, or Nihon, by which the largest island is known to 
 English Geographers, is not applied to it by the Japanese. They had no name 
 for it apart from its satellite islands until lately. Their modern maps call it 
 Hondo, or Honshiu=“ Main roads” {do) or “principal provinces’* {shiu). 
 Nippon, or Dai Nippon (Great Japan), is the name of the whole empire. Nippon 
 is the colloquial and Nihon the classical form. “Japan” is our foreign cor- 
 ruption of the Chinese form of Nippon, Ji-pun. 
 
 A 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 latitude, their united length being about i,200 miles, and the 
 breadth of the main island varying generally from loo to 175 
 miles. They are all but continuous, the Straits between the 
 main island and its two southern satellites — Shikoku and 
 Kiushiu — being extremely narrow. Besides the principal 
 islands and the numerous smaller ones immediately contiguous 
 to them, the Japanese Empire also includes the Kurile Islands, 
 stretching away some 600 miles in a north-easterly direction 
 
 WESTERN ENTRANCE TO THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 
 
 from Yezo, towards the icy coast of Kamschatka ; the Loochoo 
 Islands, extending some 500 miles in a south-westerly direc- 
 tion from Kiushiu to a little east of Formosa ; and the chain 
 of islands commencing with Vries, near the Gulf of Yedo, and 
 terminating in the Bonin group, some 500 miles to the south. 
 
 The distance between the principal islands — with which we 
 are at present exclusively concerned — and Korea, may be 
 roughly given as 100 miles, but the westernmost outpost of 
 the Japanese Empire — the large island of Tsushima — in 
 
The Land of the Rising Snn. 
 
 3 
 
 the Korea Channel, is within twenty-five miles of the con- 
 tinent of Asia. 
 
 Japan is the crest of a submarine mountain chain. From 
 its shores the land plunges down abruptly into deep water. 
 The islands are everywhere exceedingly mountainous. The 
 more lofty mountains are from 4,000 to 9,000 feet high, and 
 Mount Fuji, a beautiful cone, towering in solitary grandeur 
 thousands of feet above the highest mountains in its vicinity, 
 rises to an elevation of some 13,000 feet above the sea level, 
 its summit being covered with snow the greater part of the 
 year. It is no wonder that the unique form of this “ match- 
 less mountain” has inspired the poets and artists of Japan. 
 It is frequently the central object in the background of Japanese 
 ideal and allegorical pictures. It is painted at the bottom of 
 the delicate china cup from which he sips his tea, and on the 
 bowl from which he eats his rice. It appears on his fan, 
 on the back of his metal looking-glass, and on the skirts of 
 his garments. 
 
 Many of the peaks of the mountain chains are volcanoes, 
 mostly extinct or quiescent, and ''even the superb Fuji owes 
 its matchless form to volcanic action, being clothed by a gar- 
 ment of lava on a throne of granite ” (Griffis). Some of the 
 volcanoes are still active. Asama-yama, N.W. of Tokio, 
 " puffs off continual jets of steam,” and so does the volcano on 
 Vries Island ; and, as late as 1874, the volcano of Taromai in 
 Yezo, whose crater had long since congealed, exploded, blow- 
 ing its rocky cap far into the air, and scattering a shower of 
 ashes as far as the sea-shore many miles distant. Shocks of 
 earthquake are frequently felt, and they have sometimes been 
 attended with disastrous results, but for the most part they 
 are harmless. Of late years they have been more numerous 
 in the neighbourhood of the capital than in the other parts of 
 Japan where Europeans reside. Hot springs are found in all 
 
 A 2 
 
4 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 parts of the country, and many of them, owing to their medi- 
 cinal properties, are much resorted to by persons suffering 
 from various ailments. 
 
 Japan is not a country of large rivers, yet several of the 
 principal streams form important water-ways, and are navi- 
 gated by boats and small steamers of light draught. Many 
 of the rivers, for a great part of the year, are nothing more 
 than torrent beds, with very narrow streams of water, and 
 some of them are all but dry, except in the spring or after 
 heavy rain. Mountain streams are, however, numerous and 
 perennial, and their water is utilised to irrigate the terraced 
 rice-fields in the narrow valleys between the hills and in the 
 plains below. There are many waterfalls in different parts 
 of the country — the Japanese enumerate upwards of 600 — the 
 largest of which is that of Nachi in the province of Ki-i, south 
 of Osaka, which is said to be upwards of 800 feet high and lOO 
 feet broad ; but they are generally more remarkable for beauty 
 than for grandeur. The Mino Fall, twelve miles from Osaka, 
 though a comparatively small stream with a fall of about 100 
 feet, is one of the prettiest. Its situation and surroundings 
 are extremely lovely. It stands at the head of a valley, with 
 rocky but well wooded hills rising on either side ; and when 
 seen in the autumn, just as the maples are changing colour, 
 and their crimson foliage of various shades is mingled with 
 that of numerous evergreens, and the yellow and many- 
 coloured leaves of deciduous plants, presents such a picture 
 as baffles both pen and pencil. 
 
 The lakes, which are said to be more than 200 in number, 
 are for the most part small ; but many of them, standing in 
 silent grandeur among the mountains — like the Hakone lake, 
 near the celebrated Hakone Pass on the Tokaido, west of 
 Tokio — or nestling in luxuriant beauty amidst the foliage 
 of surrounding hills — like Chiuseuji, several miles above 
 
The Land of the Rising Sim. 
 
 S 
 
 Nikko — are extremely pretty. There are some larger ones, 
 and Biwa, a few miles east of Kioto, which is the largest, is 
 a magnificent sheet of water, with a coast-line of about i8o 
 miles. 
 
 Japan is not devoid of mineral wealth. Gold and silver are 
 found, and in the sixteenth century the Portuguese and Dutch 
 exported considerable quantities of both these precious metals, 
 but the present output is limited. Of the useful metals 
 copper has now become an important article of export. 
 
 IN THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 
 
 Lead, tin, and iron are also found. The coal-fields are 
 extensive, but the coal is inferior ; mines are being worked 
 both in Kiushiu and Yezo. But the true wealth of the 
 country consists in its agricultural resources. The soil is 
 fertile, and in some places, as in the Osaka plain, yields two 
 crops annually ; but owing to the mountainous character of 
 the country only a limited portion is under cultivation. 
 Rapeseed, which is grown for its oil, wheat, barley, peas, and 
 beans are among the crops harvested in early summer. Rice, 
 
6 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 which is the principal grain crop, cotton, sweet potatoes, &c., 
 are grown later in the year. Tobacco and tea are cultivated 
 for home use as well as for the foreign market. The wax-tree 
 and camphor-tree also produce important articles of com- 
 merce ; and the mulberry-tree is cultivated to provide food 
 for silkworms. 
 
 Animal life is not so abundant in Japan as in some other 
 countries. Mr. Griffis says : The poverty, of the fattna 
 
 strikes the traveller with surprise.” Bird song must be 
 omitted from the catalogue of natural glories.” Yet it must 
 not be supposed that Japan is deficient in birds, or that 
 among the 325 species enumerated by two naturalists in 
 1880,* there are none remarkable for either beauty or song. 
 Some of the Flycatchers, and especially the Long-tailed 
 Flycatcher (Tchitrea Princeps), which, when alive, '‘rivals in 
 beauty any denizen of the tropics ” ; " two species of 
 Pheasants peculiar to the country,” " the Mandarin Duck,” 
 "the Falcated Teal,” and, when flying in the sunlight, "the 
 Japanese Ibis,” are birds of noteworthy plumage. The song 
 of the Skylark, and the sweet, though not much varied notes 
 of the Japanese Nightingale, frequently remind the English- 
 man of two of his favourite songsters. " Three species of 
 Thrushes, all good songsters, abound on Fuji-san. Two of 
 the Pdycatchers . . . sing sweetly, and the chorus of birds 
 there in the early morning is delightful.”f 
 
 The seas of Japan are scarcely equalled in the world for the 
 abundance, variety, and excellence of their fish, and fishing is 
 an important industry all along the extensive coast line of the 
 islands. 
 
 * Catalogue of the Birds of Japan ^ by T. Blakiston and H. Fryer. Vide 
 Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan ^ vol. viii., p. 172. 
 t Ihid., pp. 174, 175. 
 
The Land of the Rising Sun, 
 
 7 
 
 The climate of Japan is mainly governed by monsoons. 
 The south-west monsoon, which blows from May to August, 
 and is accompanied by heavy rains, produces a hot and damp 
 summer ; and the north-east monsoon, which lasts from 
 October to February, makes the winter cold ; but the 
 extremes in either case are not so great as are experienced 
 on the neighbouring continent. In winter, changes of tem- 
 perature are great and sudden, and severe night frosts are 
 common after warm and sunny days. Heavy falls of snow 
 are not uncommon even in Southern Japan, and the moun- 
 tain ranges are covered with it for weeks together. The 
 climate varies very considerably in different parts of the 
 country, owing to the extent of latitude covered and the 
 influence of ocean currents. At Sapporo, in Yezo, the 
 average temperature for the whole year is less than 46°; 
 at Tokio it is 57° ; and at Nagasaki it is nearly 62^. Kiu- 
 shiu, the south coast of which is struck by a warm current, 
 called the Kuroshiwo, or “ Black Stream,’' is in the latitude of 
 Egypt, and the heat in summer is almost tropical. Yezo, on 
 the other hand, with a cold current from the sea of Okhotsk 
 passing its eastern coast, though in the latitude of northern 
 Spain, has a climate in winter more severe than our own. 
 
 The scenery is fine everywhere and highly diversified. 
 Bamboo thickets and pine groves are important features in 
 almost every landscape. The mountains in many places are 
 clothed with fine timber. Most of the trees, and many of the 
 plants, are evergreen, keeping Japan in perpetual verdure. 
 The very broken coast-line gives a continuous succession of 
 bays and gulfs ; and the far-famed Inland Sea, between the 
 main island and its two southern satellites, studded with 
 numerous small islands in some of its narrowest parts, 
 presents some of the loveliest views in the world. 
 
 The cities and towns are numerous, and many of them 
 
8 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 have large populations. Tokio (formerly called Yedo), Kioto, 
 and Osaka, are fit or first-class cities. 
 
 The treaty-ports are Tokio, Yokohama, Osaka, Hiogo, 
 (Kobe), and Niigata in the main island ; Nagasaki in Kiushiu ; 
 and Hakodate in Yezo. 
 
 Kioto, the once sacred capital, where the Mikados 
 resided for upwards of a thousand years — from A.D. 704 to 
 1868 — is by far the most interesting city in the country. 
 Since the revolution in 1868 it has been called Saikio,^ or 
 Western Capital,'’ in contradistinction to Tokio, the 
 “ Eastern Capital.” It is in the heart of Japan, a few miles 
 Avest of Lake Biwa. Except to the south, the plain in which 
 it stands is encircled by mountains, and on its eastern side — 
 parallel to the river Kamo, which flows through and divides 
 the city — a range of hills several hundred feet high, quite 
 distinct from the higher mountain range beyond it, adds much 
 to the beauty of its situation. The Kamo is spanned by 
 several long bridges, but it is not navigable even for small 
 boats, being little more than a dry shingly bed, except 
 when swollen by heavy rains. The river bed is quite a 
 marked feature of the city. It is utilised for bleaching linen, 
 scores of lengths of which may be seen spread on it on any 
 fine day. In the summer evenings some portions of it are 
 alive with multitudes of citizens, their families and friends, 
 who occupy booths and “ cooling stages,” sipping tea or wine, 
 eating ices and fruit, smoking their tiny pipes, using their fans, 
 chatting and otherwise refreshing and amusing themselves. 
 The city is well built and the streets are broad and clean. 
 Most of the residences formerly occupied by nobles and court 
 officers have been demolished, but the Imperial Palace still 
 
 * In early works on Japan, Kioto is called Miaco, which is the Japanese 
 word for capital, and of which Kio and Kioto are the Chinese equivalents. 
 
The Land of the Rising Sim, 
 
 9 
 
 remains, and it was occupied by the Emperor for some 
 months during the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. Though 
 shorn of its former dignity and glory by the removal of the 
 Court to Tokio, the industries and trade of Kioto still flourish, 
 and its population is probably upwards of 300,000. 
 
 Kioto has for centuries been the principal centre of the 
 nation’s religious life, and both Buddhist and Shinto temples 
 and shrines are numerous. It wears the aspect of a city 
 wholly given to idolatry. In the city, among the many, the 
 chief temples of the great Shin sect are conspicuous, and 
 Tera-machi, ‘‘Temple Street,” as its name implies, is full of 
 temples. In the suburbs, and all along the hill which forms 
 the background of the city on its eastern side, temples 
 abound everywhere ; and the grounds ' of many of them, 
 especially those which include woods and thickets on the 
 hill-sides, are both extensive and beautiful. Some are like 
 parks, some are laid out as gardens — admirable specimens of 
 Japanese landscape gardening — and in all of them the people, 
 who are great lovers of nature, find abundant pleasure and 
 delight. 
 
 Tokio, formerly called Yedo, is a comparatively modern 
 city. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century it was 
 a place of no importance. Then it was that Tokugawa 
 lyeyasu, who had just succeeded to the Shogunate, as the 
 founder of a new dynasty, by erecting his castle, and estab- 
 lishing his government there, laid the foundation of its future 
 greatness. It is now the largest city in the Empire, and has 
 a population of about a million. When the Shogunate was 
 abolished in 1868, Yedo received its new name Tokio, and 
 became the seat of the Mikado’s Government. The city 
 stands at the head of what is called by foreigners the Gulf of 
 Yedo, and at the mouth of the Sumida river, which divides 
 its eastern suburb. The first C.M.S. missionary at Tokio, the 
 
10 
 
 Japan and the Japan Altssion. 
 
 Rev. J. Piper, thus wrote of it in 1874, the year of hi 
 arrival : — 
 
 Although it cannot boast of such a beautiful structure as the Taj in 
 Agra, nor possesses ruins at all equal to those in Lucknow or Delhi, yet 
 it far surpasses those cities in extent, and certainly surpasses them in the 
 arrangement, width, and nature of its streets ; and, as compared with 
 the great cities of China, which I have visited, viz.. Canton, Fuh-Chow, 
 and Ning-po, it exceeds them as much as the Strand does Lower Thames 
 Street, or as the western half of London does the eastern. It is about 
 eight miles from north to south, and nearly the same distance from east 
 to west. The main street, a part of the famous Tokaido {i.e.. Eastern 
 Ocean Road), divides the city into two unequal parts. In the western 
 are the Imperial domain and extensive grounds, and most of the old 
 residences of the nobility; in the eastern part the buildings are mostly 
 warehouses, shops, and dwellings for the poorer classes; Shinto and 
 Buddhist temples are to be found in abundance. These temples are 
 beautifully situated, and cover many acres of ground. Many of them 
 are, nevertheless, in a state of ruin, since the Buddhistic faith has been 
 practically set aside by the Government. Some of the mansions formerly 
 occupied by the nobility are now used by the government for offices and 
 barracks. Some are in ruins, whilst others have entirely disappeared; 
 and hence there are acres of ground now covered with long grass. 
 
 The main street is a remarkably good one ; it has a row of trees newly 
 planted on either side, between which and the shops is a brick causeway 
 which would be a credit to any city. Most of the other streets are straight 
 and wide, and they are kept in good order. The large number of canals 
 running through the city give occasion for a still larger number of bridges, 
 which I think benefit as well as beautify the metropolis. The houses are 
 seldom more than two storeys high — many of them only one. 
 
 Originally built as a military stronghold, its principal feature 
 was the Shoguns' Castle, the walls and moats of which still 
 remain. The moats and other canals are connected and 
 communicate either with the Sumida river or the bay ; and it 
 is over one of these, which crosses the main street of the city, 
 that the famous Bridge of Japan — Nihon Bashi — is built ; from 
 which all distances in the Empire are measured. But the 
 
The Land of the Rising Snn, 
 
 II 
 
 bridge '‘of cedarwood, with highly ornamental balustrades,” 
 or, as described by another, the " humpbacked structure, 
 a crazy mass of old firewood,” of former days, has given 
 place to a well-built bridge^ of stone, almost level, and well 
 adapted for the passage of the continuous stream of tram- 
 cars, waggonettes, and jinrikisha^ which were unknown in 
 Tokio twenty years ago. The city is becoming more and 
 more Europeanised every year. Not only have many public 
 buildings been erected in European style, but the houses in 
 the western half of the city, many of which a few years ago 
 were slightly-built structures of wood with shingle roofs, and 
 were burnt down by tens of thousands, have been replaced by 
 more substantial edifices, constructed with a view to resisting 
 fire, and divided into blocks to minimise the danger from that 
 source. 
 
 Yokohama is situated on a bay in the Gulf of Yedo: the 
 important town of Kanagawa, which gives the official name to 
 the port, being on one sideTof the bay, and Yokohama, "the 
 cross -strand,” just opposite. It is eighteen miles from Tokiop 
 with which it is connected by railway, and is the principal 
 treaty-port and the head-quarters of the principal mercantile 
 firms established in the country. Before the opening of the 
 ports in 1859, it was a miserable fishing village on the edge 
 of a swamp. It is now a large and flourishing town of 80,000 
 inhabitants, with European and native quarters ; and has some 
 fine buildings in European style, including the Custom House, 
 Post Office, Town Hall, and Court House. The European 
 commerical quarter is substantially built, but some of the 
 streets are narrow. Many of the foreigners reside on the 
 Bluffs, a range of low hills, extending from the shore of the 
 bay inland, on which there are numerous pleasantly situated 
 villas, with gardens well screened from the roads by ever- 
 green hedges and shrubberies. The regular foreign residents 
 
12 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 in 1884, were 1,229, besides visitors and sailors in harbour, 
 and exclusive of 2,471 Chinese, many of whom are merchants, 
 store-keepers, brokers, money-changers, and clerks, others 
 being working carpenters, painters, tailors, shoemakers, and 
 domestic servants in European houses. The resident Euro- 
 peans support an English chaplain and have their own church, 
 which is not, however, an imposing edifice. Services connected 
 with other denominations are held in the “Union Church,’’ a 
 neat and substantial building, which is also the regular meeting 
 place of a Japanese congregation. 
 
 Osaka stands in the delta of the River Yodo, about two 
 miles from the sea and thirty from Kioto. This river is formed 
 in the plain south of Kioto, by the union of the waters of its 
 four principal affluents — one issuing from Lake Biwa, another 
 flowing across the Kioto plain to the west of the city, another 
 passing through the city itself, and the fourth draining the 
 country to the south and south-east — and thence flows towards 
 the Gulf of Osaka, into which it falls by several channels. 
 Having lost a portion of its water above Osaka it enters the 
 city at its north-eastern extremity, and is thence divided. Its 
 several streams, together with the numerous canals cut at right 
 angles to each other, completely intersect the city. These are 
 spanned by scores of bridges — chiefly of wood, but with a few 
 modern ones resting on iron piles — and on this account Osaka 
 has been frequently called the “Venice of the East.” The 
 city is well built, but the streets are narrow, except where 
 advantage has been taken of the destruction of buildings by 
 fire to make them wider. The Shogun’s Castle, with its 
 massive granite walls and broad moats, still stands at the 
 north-east corner of the city, and is now the head-quarters 
 of the Osaka garrison. The public buildings include the 
 Imperial Mint and Arsenal, the Railway Station, and the 
 Government Offices of the Fu^ all of which are substantially 
 
The Land of the Rising Sun. 
 
 13 
 
 built in European style. The population is upwards of 
 300,000. As a port of foreign trade it has been eclipsed by 
 Kobe, twenty miles distant, but it retains its supremacy as 
 the centre of native trade in Southern and Western Japan. 
 Not only is it in constant communication with numerous ports 
 on the inland sea and on the outside coasts, but it is con- 
 nected with Kobe on the one hand, and with Kioto, the Lake 
 Biwa district, and beyond, on the other, by railway. It is also 
 the seat of local government for the Osaka Fu, the most 
 populous prefecture in the country, with nearly 1,600,000 
 inhabitants. In 1884 the European residents were 98, and 
 the Chinese 97. 
 
 Hiogo is an old and important town in the Gulf of Osaka, 
 which, though giving the treaty-port its official name — ^just as 
 in the case of Kanagawa already noticed — has no direct con- 
 nection with its foreign trade. This is exclusively carried on 
 at Kobe, where there is a small but well-built and well- 
 ordered settlement, with its own municipal government, and 
 adjoining it, chiefly to the west, a large and flourishing 
 Japanese town of more than 50,000 inhabitants. Kobe is 
 pleasantly situated on the edge of the gulf. Behind it the 
 ground gradually rises for more than half a mile, and beyond 
 this is a mountain range of considerable elevation. The port 
 not only has the advantage of a fine anchorage, but it is in 
 direct railway communication with Osaka, Kioto, and the 
 south-western shore of Lake Biwa, whence steamers run across 
 the lake to its north-eastern shore, where two other sections of 
 railway are in operation, the one terminating at Tsuruga on 
 the west coast, and the other running eastward, in the line of 
 the great central road of the country called Nakasendo, where 
 its construction is being continued. Kobe has a much smaller 
 European community than Yokohama. In 1884 it numbered 
 385, including children, There is a Union Protestant 
 
14 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Church,” in which Church of England services are held by 
 English and American Church missionaries, but the building 
 is also used by other denominations. In 1884 there were 528 
 Chinese residents. As a port Kobe is steadily rising in im- 
 portance. 
 
 Nagasaki is the treaty-port in the Island of Kiushiu, the 
 southernmost of the four principal islands of the Japanese 
 group, and so called from its division into nine provinces.” 
 It stands near the head of a lovely bay, which, with its rocky 
 coasts and surrounding hills, makes it by far the prettiest of 
 the treaty-ports. The town has a population of some 33,000, 
 exclusive of the suburbs, and it is the seat of government for 
 the prefecture, now called the Nagasaki It is historically 
 
 interesting as one of the places connected with the final 
 struggle between Romish Christianity and the Secular power 
 in 1637, when many, faithful unto death, were hurled from the 
 top of the small rocky island of Pappenberg, at the mouth of 
 the bay, a little south of the town ; and further, as having 
 been the place of the Dutch trading settlement of Deshima, 
 the only point of contact between Japan and the outside 
 world for 230 years, after the expulsion of foreigners in 1624. 
 In 1884 there were 248 European and 603 Chinese residents. 
 
 Hakodate is the treaty-port in Yezo, the northernmost of 
 the four large islands. This island consists mainly of impene- 
 trable jungles, inaccessible mountains, and impassable swamps, 
 and has some volcanoes, several of which are still in full 
 activity. Its area is considerably larger than that of Ireland, 
 but its population is sparse, numbering about 150,000, and 
 consists chiefly of colonists from the central and southern 
 islands, many of whom are actively engaged in bringing 
 available land under cultivation in and near the south-west 
 coast. Hakodate is by far the largest and most flourishing 
 town in the island. In 1859, when it was first opened to 
 
The Land of the Rising Stm. 
 
 15 
 
 foreigners, it had a population of about 6,000, and was only 
 resorted to by whalers. It is now an important commercial 
 centre, with a population of some 40,000, and is in direct 
 steam communication with Yokohama, Kobe, and other 
 ports. The town is pleasantly situated on the slope of a 
 hill, and the shore-line of a land-locked bay which forms a 
 deep, commodious and safe harbour. In 1884 the European 
 residents were 40, and the Chinese 41. 
 
 Niigata is on the west coast, at the mouth of the Shinano- 
 gawa, the largest river in Japan. It is the capital of one of 
 the richest provinces in the Empire, but it has not been 
 successful as a treaty-port. Very few foreigners have ever 
 settled there, and direct foreign trade has not developed as 
 at the other ports. The important island of Sado, noted for 
 its gold mines, is off Niigata. 
 
 wSuch, in a few words, is the Land of the Rising Sun, as the 
 Japanese themselves delight to designate their country. They 
 sail out into the East, but find nothing save the broad expanse 
 of the Pacific ; a stretch of four thousand miles to the opposite 
 coast of North America ; and their national flag represents 
 the morning sun rising out of the sea. 
 
II. 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 
 
 “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face 
 of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds 
 of their habitation .” — Acts xvii. 26. 
 
 WO distinctly marked types of feature are found 
 among the people of Japan. Among the upper 
 classes, the fine, long, oval face, with prominent, 
 well-chiselled features, deep-sunken eye-sockets, 
 oblique eyes, long drooping eyelids, efevated and arched eye- 
 brows, high and narrow forehead, rounded nose, bud-like 
 mouth, pointed chin, small hands and feet, contrast strikingly 
 with the round, flattened face, less oblique eyes almost level 
 with the face, and straight noses, expanded and upturned at 
 the roots. The one type prevails among the higher classes, 
 the nobility and gentry ; the other among the agricultural 
 and labouring classes. The former is the southern, or Yamato 
 type, the latter the Aino, or northern type.” (Griffis.) 
 
 These two types of face represent probably two distinct 
 immigrations. The northern horn of the crescent-shaped 
 chain of Japanese islands almost touches the mainland of 
 Siberia. The separating channel is but five miles across, and 
 so shallow that, after certain winds, it is occasionally dry ; 
 and in the winter it is frozen over. Across this narrow strait 
 probably came the Aino immigration. Again, the southern 
 shores of Japan are washed by one of the great equatorial 
 
The People of Japan. 
 
 17 
 
 currents of the Pacific, the Kuroshiwo, or Black Stream, up 
 which many a boat has drifted from the Malay archipelago ; 
 and in this way, and also by immigration from Korea, the 
 coast of which is distant but a day’s sail in a junk, were 
 peopled the southern islands of Kiushiu and Shikoku. 
 Gradually the southern immigrants conquered the northern, 
 and in the course of ages the races were fused together, and 
 formed the present Japanese people ; the original distinction, 
 however, being still visible in the two types of countenance. 
 Such at least is the theory of Mr. Griffis, to which also 
 Dickson and others incline. 
 
 In the island of Yezo, however, the Ainos long maintained 
 their independence, and their purity of race ; and a remnant 
 of them, some 15,000 in number, still survive, though subject 
 for centuries past to the Japanese. ‘‘As the Aino of to-day 
 is and lives, so Japanese art and traditions depict him in the 
 dawn of history : of low stature, thick-set, full-bearded, bushy 
 hair of a true black, eyes set nearly at right angles with the 
 nose, which is short and thick, muscular in frame and limbs, 
 with big hands and feet. His language, religion, dress, and 
 general manner of life are the same as of old. He has no 
 alphabet, no writing, no numbers above a thousand. ... In 
 character and morals they are stupid, good-natured, brave, 
 honest, faithful, peaceable, gentle.” (Griffis.)* 
 
 The general account of their origin, as given in their own 
 traditions, is that they are the offspring of a breed between 
 man and beast, their remote ancestor on one side having been 
 a large white dog or wolf. The term Aino — more correctly 
 Ainu — is their common word for “man,” and notwithstanding 
 its close resemblance in sound with the Japanese words inUy 
 “ a dog,” and ai-no-koy “ cross-breed,” its derivation from these 
 
 * An account of the Ainos, with fac-similes of Japanese pictures of them, 
 appeared in the C. M. Gleaner of May, 1877. 
 
 B 
 
i8 
 
 JapU7i and the Japan Mission. 
 
 words, as suggested by some Japanese scholars, appears to be 
 altogether fanciful. In the older Japanese literature they are 
 called ebisu^ savages/' 
 
 The Aino and Japanese languages, although at first striking 
 the student as having a great apparent resemblance," are in 
 reality wholly different. The similarity ‘‘ vanishes as soon as 
 the two languages are more carefully compared. The paradox 
 of two races so strongly contrasted speaking related languages 
 has no foundation in fact."* Such is Mr. Chamberlain's 
 verdict, after a scholarly comparison of Aino with Japanese 
 and its related languages. He inclines to accept Von 
 Schrenck’s assertion, that Aino is to be regarded as a 
 language altogether isolated at the present day." If this be 
 so, it is a strong proof that there was no ancient connection 
 between the two peoples. 
 
 The Japanese appear to be the true progenitors of the 
 North American Indians, and of the Mexicans and Califor- 
 nians, or at all events a branch of the same stock. When 
 Cortes arrived in Mexico he was received by Montezuma 
 and his sages as a long-expected messenger from their 
 ancestors in the far distant west. Photographs of Colorado 
 and Nebraska Indians have been taken by Japanese for their 
 own countrymen. ‘‘ Some affirmed that they were acquainted 
 with the persons represented." Scanty or no beard, colour 
 of skin, hair, and eyes, were alike." There are said to be 
 some remarkable correspondences in the Japanese and Red 
 Indian languages ; but this branch of inquiry has not yet 
 been followed out. 
 
 How would the Japanese reach North America? They 
 would be drifted thither by the great current, the Black 
 
 * Memoirs of the Literature College, Imperial University of Japan, No. I. 
 The Language^ Mythology^ and Geographical Nomenclature of f apart ^ 'vic'voed in 
 the Light of Aino Studies^ by B. H. Chamberlain, Esq., p. 4. 
 
The People of Japan, 
 
 19 
 
 Stream, already mentioned. It flows up past Japan and the 
 Kurile Islands to the coast of Alaska, and thence southwards 
 towards California. This is not speculation. Forty-seven 
 Japanese junks were wrecked or met with on American shores 
 between 1782 and 1876, some of which had been eighteen 
 months adrift. 
 
 If this view be correct, tribes related to both Japanese and 
 Ainos may be found in North America, and the likeness 
 between the Ainos and Esquimaux which some have traced 
 may prove to be a real one. 
 
 THE JAPANESE JINRIKISHA. {From an Original Sketch by an Officer of H.M.S. Challenger.) 
 
 The Japanese are very small in stature, the average height 
 of the men being not much over five feet ; but they are not 
 lacking in endurance and activity. The jin-riki-sha men 
 will run with the little carriage and its occupant thirty miles 
 at the rate of six miles an hour.* 
 
 * Twelve years ago there was no such thing as a wheeled carnage in Japan. 
 Kago, a kind of sedan, but altogether unlike those in use in China, were to be 
 had ; or the traveller could ride on horseback, or walk. An ingenious English- 
 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 ‘‘In moral character/' says Griffis, “the average Japanese 
 is frank, honest, faithful, kind, gentle, courteous, confiding, 
 affectionate, filial, loyal. Love of truth for its own sake, 
 chastity, temperance, are not characteristic virtues/’ “The 
 merchants are mean, and in moral character low.” “ In 
 reverence to elders and to antiquity, obedience to parents, 
 gentle manners, and universal courtesy and generous impulses, 
 the Japanese are the peers of any, and superior to many, 
 peoples of Christendom.” 
 
 The Japanese cannot be called a moral people, if we judge 
 them by our Christian standard ; but they are certainly no 
 worse than other heathen nations. Much of their evil 
 reputation in this respect arises from their disregard of what 
 we consider the ordinary decencies of life, as shown by their 
 bathing in public, &c. ; but they are manifestly quite uncon- 
 scious of any impropriety in these habits. Nations differ in 
 their views of such matters. The Mohammedan lady in the 
 East conceals her face ; the Brahmin lady in India sees, and 
 is seen by, no man but her husband ; and both consider 
 English customs highly improper. The Japanese has only 
 one legal wife, but secondary wives are allowed, if he can 
 
 man had an arm-chair fixed upon wheels, and hired a Japanese to drag him 
 about. The idea took ; and with the rapidity which is so extraordinary a 
 feature of the progress of civilisation in Japan, the jinrikisha became the 
 national vehicle. Jin-riki-sha means “ man-power carriage,” or as a Yankee 
 phrased it, “ Pull-man-car y It is a two-wheeled carriage, not unlike a Bath 
 
 chair without the small wheel in front. There is generally a hood of woollen 
 cloth to keep the sun off, and in wet weather this is covered with oiled paper 
 such as rain-coats are made of. It is drawn by a single man, running between 
 the shafts, and sometimes assisted by a second pushing behind, or pulling in 
 front tandem fashion. They will trot along all day at a good pace. The ordi- 
 nary rate is six miles an hour, at 2d. per mile. Mr. Warren says the travelling 
 would be fairly comfortable but for the bad roads, which cause incessant jolting. 
 “ The coolies, however, are very good-natured, and by their pulling, twisting, 
 and groaning, progress is made.” 
 
The People of Japan. 
 
 21 
 
 support them. Mr. Griffis affirms, however, that not five per 
 cent, of the population avail themselves of this conventional 
 licence. In some other matters, the immorality of Japan is 
 very marked ; yet it is to be feared that the Japanese are not 
 
 JAPANESE PEASANT AND WIFE. 
 
 without excuse when they say that some foreigners are worse 
 than themselves. Certainly vice is most rampant in the treaty- 
 ports. On leaving Yokohama and Tokio for an inland city, 
 Mr. Griffis (not a missionary be it remembered, but a professor 
 
2 2 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 of physical science) wrote these sad words : — “ I had seen how 
 long contact with heathen life and circumstances slowly dis- 
 integrate the granite principles of eternal right once held by 
 men in a more bracing moral atmosphere. I met scores of 
 white men, from Old and New England, who had long since 
 forgotten the difference between right and wrong.'' Two 
 illustrations will suffice: (i) One merchant at a treaty-port 
 had ten Japanese wives; (2) The form of agreement which the 
 Government required white gentlemen engaged for educational 
 purposes to sign contained an undertaking that they would 
 not get drunk 
 
 The position of woman in Japan is much better than it is in 
 most other Asiatic countries. This is all the more creditable 
 to the people, seeing that Buddhism accords her a very low 
 place, and tells her that her only hope of salvation" is 
 to be re-born as a man. In the history and literature of 
 Japan women occupy an honourable place. Nine of its 123 
 sovereigns, and those not the least famous, have been women. 
 Mr. Aston, of the British Legation, says : ‘‘ I believe no 
 parallel is to be found in the history of European letters to 
 the remarkable fact that a very large proportion of the best 
 writings of the best age of Japanese literature was the work 
 of women." And Mr. Griffis, in his more grandiose style : 
 “ Moses established the Hebrew, Alfred the Saxon, and 
 Luther the German tongue in permanent form ; but in Japan, 
 the mobile forms of speech crystallised into perennial beauty 
 under the touch of woman’s hand." The latter writer speaks 
 highly of the Japanese ladies. ‘‘ No ladies excel them in 
 innate love of beauty, order, neatness, household adornment 
 
 * The moral tone of the Treaty- Ports, though still far below what it should 
 be, has much improved of late years, since the communities of foreign residents 
 have become more settled, and their social life has been purified by the advent 
 of numerous European ladies. 
 
The People of Japan, 
 
 23 
 
 and management.’' ‘‘ In maternal affection and tenderness, the 
 mothers need fear no comparison with those of other climes. 
 As educators of their children they are peers to the mothers of 
 any civilisation.” ‘‘The three fundamental duties of woman, 
 which include all others, are almost universally fulfilled with- 
 
 JAPANESE FISHERMEN, ISLAND OF YEZO. 
 
 out murmurings or hesitation, viz., (i) obedience to her father 
 when a child, (2) obedience to her husband when a wife, (3) 
 obedience (at least formal) to her eldest son when a widow.’ 
 “ The biography of a good woman is written in one word — 
 obedience.” 
 
24 
 
 Japan and the Japa^i Mission. 
 
 The people of Japan are (or rather were, for since 1868 a 
 levelling process has been going on) divided into four principal 
 classes: — (i) The Samurai, or military and literary class — 
 the sword and the pen being united as in no other country ; 
 (2) the farmers and agriculturists; (3) the artizan class; 
 (4) the merchants and shop-keepers, who have always been 
 regarded as the lowest in social rank in Japan. Below these 
 again, outside the pale of humanity, were the pariahs of Japan, 
 the eta^ generally living in separate villages, and following the 
 occupation of skinners, tanners, leather-dressers, grave-diggers, 
 &c., — and the hinin, beggars. These were enfranchised in 
 1871. Since then Samurai, farmer, artizan, trader and eta 
 have been on an equal footing before the law. At the head 
 of the Samurai were the Daimio, the great feudal chiefs, 268 
 in number ; and above them again in rank, though not in wealth 
 and power, were the Kug 4 or court nobles of Kioto, numbering 
 150 families, all branches, more or less distant, of the Imperial 
 house. 
 
 The Samurai, or ‘Two-sworded men,’' who had the right, 
 until March 1876, to wear two swords,* are called by Mr. 
 Grifhs ‘The brightest type of the Japanese man.” For 
 centuries they “ monopolised arms, learning, patriotism, and 
 intellect.” “The Samurai is the soul of the nation.” On the 
 other hand, of the farmer he says, “ Like the wheat that for 
 successive ages is planted as wheat, sprouts, beards, and fills 
 as wheat, the peasant, with his horizon bounded by his rice- 
 fields, his water-courses, or the timbered hills, his intellect laid 
 
 * Dickson, writing in 1869, says, “All Japan is divided into two classes — 
 those who have a right to wear two swords, and those who have no such right. 
 The swordless man pays rent for his ground, house, and shop. The two-sworded 
 man pays no rent and no taxes, because he is not allowed to trade.” He trans- 
 lates Samurai “an officer and a gentleman.” (Japan, p. 138.) All these 
 distinctions are now abolished. 
 
The People of Japan. 
 
 25 
 
 away for safe keeping in the priest's hands, is the son of the 
 soil ; caring little who rules him, unless he is taxed beyond 
 the power of flesh and blood to bear — then he rises as a 
 rebel.”* 
 
 The happy brightness of child-life in Japan has struck all 
 who have visited the country. Sir R. Alcock has nicknamed 
 it “a Paradise of babies.” Mr. Griffis has an entertaining 
 chapter on the games and sports of Japanese children, which 
 he regards as, 'Tn general, natural, sensible, and in every 
 sense beneficial.” Some, he says, teach history or geography, 
 good sentiments or language ; some inculcate reverence and 
 obedience to the elder brother or sister, to parents, or to the 
 Mikado, or stimulate the manly virtues of courage and 
 contempt for pain.” And he concludes with these words : 
 ''The character of the games has much to do with that 
 frankness, affection, and obedience on the side of the children, 
 and that kindness and sympathy on the side of the parents, 
 which are so noticeable among the good points of Japanese 
 life and character.” 
 
 * All classes of the population are now rising in the social scale, and the 
 Samurai, shorn of their special privileges as a military caste, no longer enjoy a 
 monopoly of political influence. With the advance of education and the spread 
 of knowledge, even the intelligent country villager joins with other classes in 
 discussing the many questions that affect the welfare of the country. 
 
III. 
 
 JAPAN IN PAST TIMES. 
 
 ‘‘And the times of this ignorance God winked at ; but now commandeth all 
 men everywhere to repent .” — Acts xvii, 30. 
 
 HE present Mikado* or Emperor of Japan, Mut- 
 suhito, claims to be the 123rd sovereign in direct 
 succession. Remembering that Queen Victoria is 
 only the thirtieth from William the Conqueror, we 
 can form an idea of the alleged antiquity of Japanese annals. 
 
 Japan boasts of a voluminous historical literature. The 
 oldest works extant are the Kojiki, or Records of Ancient 
 Matters,” and the Nihongi, or ‘‘Chronicles of Japan,” the 
 former completed in 712 A.D. and the latter in 720. “The 
 scope of the two histories is the same ; but the language of 
 the latter and its manner of treating the national traditions 
 stand in notable contrast to the unpretending simplicity of 
 the elder work.” “The subject matter is touched up, re-ar- 
 ranged and polished as to make the work resemble a Chinese 
 history as far as possible” (Chamberlain). Many commen- 
 taries have been written upon them. They contain the 
 
 * The meaning of “ Mikado” is doubtful. The Chinese characters used to 
 express the term mean “ Honourable Gate,” a phrase similar to “ Sublime 
 Porte.” The Emperor is never spoken of by his personal name, but as Ten-shi 
 = “Son of Heaven.” The name by which he will be known to posterity will 
 be conferred on him after his death. See the following note. 
 
Japan in Past Times. 
 
 27 
 
 cosmogony, the mythology, and the early history of the 
 nation. Much of the contents is fabulous on the face of it. 
 The first Mikado, Jimmu Tenno,* whose date corresponds 
 with 660 B.C., and who would be contemporary with Manasseh 
 King of Judah and Assurbanipal King of Assyria, is said to 
 have had a goddess for his mother, and to have come from 
 heaven in a boat. He is worshipped as a god at thousands 
 of shrines ; and on the 7th of April, the traditional day of his 
 accession, salutes are fired in his honour by the Krupp and 
 Armstrong guns of modern Japanese ironclads. 
 
 Authentic history does not begin till the seventh century 
 A.D. ; but from that time to the present the records are com- 
 plete and trustworthy.f The chief authority is the Dai Nihon 
 Shi, or History of Great Japan, a really great work, published 
 in 1715. It is written in pure Chinese, which is to Japanese 
 what Latin is to the languages of modern Europe, and fills 
 243 volumes. The people are enthusiastically fond of the 
 history of their country ; and local records (like our county 
 histories), diaries, official guide-books, &c, abound. There 
 are hundreds of children's histories ; and the national annals 
 hold a prominent place in the education of the young. 
 
 This is not the place to attempt any summary of Japanese 
 history, but a few notes may be added. The earliest tradi- 
 tions of the Empire, embodied in the Records of Ancient 
 
 * divine valour” is the posthumous or canonical name of Kamu- 
 
 yamato-ihare-biko. Until the eighth century A.D. such canonical names were 
 not given, and those of the preceding monarchs, from Jimmu 660 b.c. to Ko-niu 
 781 A.D., were all invented by a scholar, after the latter date, at the command 
 of the Emperor Kuwan-mu. heavenly king,” the ruler by divine 
 
 right, is the official title. 
 
 t Speaking of the “Records” and “Chronicles” Mr. Chamberlain says: — 
 “ So far as clear native documentary evidence reaches, 400 a.d. is approximately 
 the highest limit of reliable Japanese history.” Transactions Asiatic Society of 
 Japan, vol. x.. Supplement, p. Ixiv. 
 
28 
 
 Japan and the Japan Missio7i, 
 
 Matters and the Chronicles of Japan are of the scantiest 
 kind possible. From the beginning of the reign of Jimmu’s 
 successor there is ‘‘a blank of (according to the accepted 
 chronology) four hundred years, during which absolutely 
 nothing is told us excepting dreary genealogies, the place 
 where each sovereign dwelt, and where he was buried, and the 
 age to which he lived.’’* But the later traditions have their 
 heroes : Sujin, the civiliser, who with the aid of his generals 
 subdued various turbulent districts in the first century B.C. ; 
 Yamato-Dak^ of the imperial family, a great conqueror ; and 
 the Emperor Sei-mu, who divided the Empire into provinces, 
 districts, cities, towns, &c., in the second century A.D. ; and, 
 in particular, the Empress Jingu “godlike exploit”), one 
 of the nine queens already alluded to, who after her husband’s 
 death took the reins of power, and subsequently assisted her 
 son, who was born after her return from Korea, in the govern- 
 ment of the Empire. She flourished in the third century 
 A.D., and is renowned for her “ beauty, piety, intelligence, 
 energy, and martial valour.” She conquered Korea (now part 
 of the Chinese empire) ; and through the communication thus 
 established with the mainland, Japan received from China 
 during the next three centuries its philosophy, letters, juris- 
 prudence, ethics, art, and science — in short a new civilisation. 
 From China came also a new religion — of which more here- 
 after. 
 
 In the fourth century A.D. lived Nintoku — the sage emperor 
 — a man of simple tastes and habits, whose benign rule was 
 characterised by paternal consideration for the poorer classes 
 of his subjects. He remitted all taxation for three years, and 
 it is said that during his reign there was no criminal trial. 
 In the seventh century A.D. the custom of attaching special 
 
 Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan ^ vol. x., Supplement, p. xlix. 
 
Japan in Past Times. 
 
 29 
 
 names to successive periods of years, as in China, was intro- 
 duced by the Emperor Kotoku,* who also, among other 
 reforms, appointed governors over the provinces, established 
 postal stations, and enrolled an army for defensive purposes. 
 In the same century the reign of Tenji, which was character- 
 ised by the introduction of water-wheels, the first manufacture 
 of iron-ware, and the foundation of schools, is considered the 
 most prosperous one of the middle ages. In the next century 
 the Chinese calendar f was introduced, and in its latter half 
 Keiki, better known by his canonical name, Kobo-Daishi, the 
 inventor of the Japanese syllabary, was born. 
 
 From the earliest times down to the twelfth century A.D., 
 the government of Japan was imperialism. The Mikado not 
 only reigned, but ruled. Gradually, however, the feudal sys- 
 tem arose. J The great nobles, or Daimios, in their fortified 
 castles, became more and more powerful and independent. 
 Their armed retainers formed the military caste of Samurai, 
 or two-sworded men,” already noticed. For many centuries, 
 coming down to our own day, Japan was in much the same 
 condition as Scotland is pictured to us in the pages of Sir 
 Walter Scott, parcelled out among great clans, the chiefs of 
 which professed unbounded loyalty to the king while keeping 
 much of the real power in their own hands. The Daimios 
 
 * Since that time Japanese history has been divided into 228 periods, com- 
 mencing with Dai-kuwa, the Era of “ Great Glory,” and ending with Mei-ji, 
 the current period, the Era of “ Illustrious Rule.” 
 
 t This continued in use until 1872, when it was superseded by the Gregorian 
 calendar. 
 
 J Mr. Chamberlain, whose knowledge of ancient Japanese literature gives his 
 opinion considerable weight, whilst denying that anything like the organized 
 feudalism which prevailed from the twelfth century a.d. down to 1868, existed 
 in ancient times, yet thinks it indisputable that “beyond the immediate limits 
 of the Imperial domain the government resembled feudalism rather than cen- 
 tralization .” — Transactions Asiatic Society^ vol. x.. Supplement, p. Ixii. 
 
30 
 
 yapan and the yapan Mission. 
 
 were the Macduffs and the Macdonalds, the Campbells and 
 the Douglases of Japan. 
 
 Towards the close of the twelfth century A.D., Yoritomo, 
 who belonged to the Minamoto clan, one of the two rival 
 military families of the time, and who after his father’s defeat 
 had been exiled as a boy, succeeded in concert with other 
 members of the family in completely destroying the power of 
 the rival house. Thus becoming military master of the 
 
 JAPANESE KAGO. 
 
 country, he ended by himself usurping all the executive 
 authority of the state, while still acknowledging the Mikado 
 as his liege lord. He subsequently received the title of 
 Shogun* (general), and laid the foundation of the dual form 
 of government which lasted till 1868, more than 700 years. 
 He made Kamakura his capital, and there the power of the 
 Shoguns was chiefly centred until lyeyasu transferred it to 
 
 * The Shogun has generally been called Tycoon, or Taikun, by Europeans 
 Sir R. Alcock’s book, The Capital of the Tycoon)] but this name is not 
 known to the Japanese people. It was invented for the American treaty of 1854 
 (p. 65). The full title conferred on Yoritomo was SeUUdai-Shogun=^ Barbarian 
 Subjugating Great General.” 
 
Japan in Past limes. 
 
 31 
 
 Yedo in the seventeenth century.* The Mikado held his 
 court at the sacred capital Kioto, rarely appearing before his 
 subjects, but worshipped by them almost as a god ; while the 
 Shogun resided generally at Kamakura, or later at Yedo, and 
 virtually governed the country. It was not, as has been sup- 
 posed, that the Mikado was spiritual and the Shogun temporal 
 head. The Shogun only ruled in the Mikado’s name. ‘^The 
 soldier who would begin revolution, or who lusted for power, 
 would make the Mikado his tool ; but however transcendent 
 his genius, he never attempted to write himself Mikado. No 
 Japanese Caesar ever had his Brutus, nor Charles his Cromwell, 
 nor George his Washington. Not even, as in China, did one 
 dynasty of alien blood overthrow another and reign in the 
 stead of a destroyed family.” “ Though individual Mikados 
 have been dethroned the prestige of the line has never suffered. 
 The loyalty or allegiance of the people has never swerved.” 
 (Griffis.) The dynasty is one of the oldest in the world. 
 
 The greatest of the Shoguns was Hideyoshi, better known 
 as Taiko Sama (Taiko being a title he received, and Sama, 
 honourable,” answering to his highness ”), who was contem- 
 porary with our Queen Elizabeth. His name is still a house- 
 hold word among the people, and he is everywhere worshipped 
 as a god under the name of Toyokuni. It was he who banished 
 the Jesuit missionaries — of whom more presently. On his 
 death in 1598, one of his generals, lyeyasu, of the Tokugawa 
 clan, usurped power, and after a severe struggle, which is 
 interesting on account of the part taken in it by the Romish 
 Christian Japanese, totally defeated his rivals at the battle of 
 Sekigahara, some miles to the east of Lake Biwa, on the 
 
 * Kamakura is a few miles west of Yokohama. Its glory has departed. It 
 is now a small village, but its former greatness is attested by the colossal statue 
 of Buddha, and the temple of Hachiman, where many relics of Yoritomo are 
 preserved. The great warrior’s grave is on the hill-side. 
 
32 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 great central road called Naka-sendo. This battle decided 
 the condition of Japan for over two centuries, the settlement 
 of the Tokugawa family in hereditary succession to the 
 Shogunate, the fate of Christianity, the isolation of Japan 
 from the world, the fixing into permanency of the dual system 
 and of feudalism, the glory and greatness of Yedo as the 
 Shogun's capital.” The last of the Shoguns, who was deposed 
 in 1868, belonged to the Tokugawa family, and was the 
 fifteenth in the direct succession from lyeyasu. 
 
 Thus the Shogunate continued unchanged down to our 
 own day ; and with it continued all the characteristic features 
 of mediaeval feudalism. Even in externals the resemblance 
 between the Samurai of less than twenty years ago and the 
 knights of the age of chivalry in Europe was most remarkable. 
 Every trooper, and his horse, wore a complete suit of armour, 
 specimens of which have been sent over to our International 
 Exhibitions ; every clan had its banner emblazoned with its 
 lord's arms ; every Daimio had his well-known and much- 
 prized crest, and Japanese heraldry was as elaborate as 
 European. The crest of the Mikado was the Chrysanthemum 
 flower, which is still represented heraldically on the govern- 
 ment seal. One of the mediaeval civil wars, in which the 
 contending factions had respectively red and white flags 
 bearing this device, has been happily called, in imitation 
 of a familiar episode of English history, the War of the 
 Chrysanthemums.* 
 
 One of the most characteristic institutions of Japanese 
 
 chivalry ” was the hara-kiri^ or suicide by ripping up the 
 
 * Three of these crests are represented on the cover of this book, on the front, 
 at the bottom. To the left is that of the Tokugawa clan, who held the Shogunate 
 from 1603 to 1868, representing three hollyhock leaves pointing inward. In 
 the centre is that of the Mikado, representing the sixteen petals of the chrysan- 
 themum. To the right is that of the Shimadzu clan of Satsuma (see p. 68), the 
 ring of a horse’s bridle-bit. 
 
Japan in Past Times. 
 
 33 
 
 body. A defeated warrior or a deposed official who had 
 any regard for his own honour destroyed himself in this hor- 
 rible manner. Hence arose, about the fifteenth century, the 
 fashion of wearing two swords, the shorter one being reserved 
 for the wearer’s own body.* Under the Tokugawa Shoguns, 
 the practice was introduced of using hara-kiri as a judicial 
 punishment for the Samuri class, condemning a man to com- 
 mit suicide. In few countries is human life less valued than 
 in Japan. One of the national proverbs is, If you hate a 
 man, let him live.” 
 
 * Some curious accounts of hara-kiri occur in Bp. Smith’s Ten Weeks in 
 Japan, pp. 131 — 142, and Mr. Mitford in his Tales of Old Japan gives a detailed 
 account of a case of which he was an official witness. It was considered an 
 honourable kind of execution, and did not carry with it the disgrace attached 
 to other modes of capital punishment. 
 
 C 
 
IV. 
 
 THE TWO RELIGIONS OF JAPAN, 
 
 “ Having no hope, and without God in the world.” — Eph. ii. I2. 
 
 HE ancient religion of the Japanese is called Kami 
 no 7nicJii^ the way of the gods.” The Chinese 
 equivalent of the name, Shin-to, is the one 
 commonly used ; whence this religion is called 
 by English writers Shintoism. 
 
 Mr. Kodera describes it as ‘‘simply a remnant of the 
 primitive worship long prevalent among the rude tribes of 
 the islands of Japan, and subsequently developed and shaped 
 according to the degree of civilisation to which they attained ; ” 
 “ a mixture of that nature worship which is so common among 
 uncivilised races, and the worship of ancestors, especially of 
 some chiefs or heroes.”* Shintoism is founded on the 
 mythologies and traditions preserved in the Kojiki;\ the 
 bible of the Shintoists, where it appears as “a bundle of mis- 
 cellaneous superstitions, rather than a co-ordinate system.” J 
 
 * Paper on “ Shintoism,” C. M. Intelligencer ^ 1884 (p. 477). 
 f Valuable as the Kojiki is, as embodying “more faithfully than any other 
 book, the mythology, the manners, the language, and the traditional history of 
 Ancient Japan,” it must be remembered that it contains much that is unedifying, 
 and some narratives characterised by “ shocking obscenity in word and deed.” 
 — Chamberlain, Vid. Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan^ vol. x.. 
 Supplement, p. xlii. 
 
 X Ibid., p. Iv. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan, 
 
 ^ 5 
 
 Commencing in atheism, it represents the first deities as 
 coming into existence when heaven and earth spontaneously 
 began. Five single deities and seven pairs, called the Seven 
 Divine Generations, successively appear, whilst the earth still 
 continues in a state of chaos, and the land is like floating oil 
 and drifts about like a jelly-fish. Then Izanagi and Izanami, 
 the last of these divine pairs, receive commandment from the 
 heavenly deities to consolidate and give form to the drifting 
 land. They ''are united in marriage and give birth to the 
 various islands of the Japanese archipelago. When they have 
 finished producing islands they proceed to the production of a 
 large number of gods and goddesses, many of whom correspond 
 with what we should call personifications of the powers of 
 nature.^’* Subsequently Izanami dies in childbirth and goes 
 to the land of Hades. Izanagi visits her there, and on his 
 return "purifies himself by bathing in a stream, and, as he 
 does so, fresh deities are born from each article of clothing 
 that he throws down on the river-bank, and from each part of 
 his person. One of these deities was the Sun-goddess, who 
 was born from his left eye,”* and to whom he gave the charge 
 to rule the Plain of High Heaven. 
 
 This late-born child of Izanagi is the supreme deity of 
 Shintoism, and her supremacy rests not only on the fact that 
 the sun is "the greatest visible sign of the powers of Nature,” 
 but on the belief that the Sun-goddess is the ancestress of the 
 ruling family of Japan. Each successive emperor, according 
 to the orthodox Shinto view, is directly descended from her, 
 and her sole representative on earth. This is, indeed, the funda- 
 mental belief of Shintoism, and out of it grows the duty of 
 absolute obedience to the Mikado, which is one of the main 
 
 * Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan x., Supplement, pp. xlv., 
 xlvi. 
 
 C 2 
 
36 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 characteristic features of the system. According to Motoori, 
 as summarised by Mr. Ernest Satow, he ‘‘ is the immovable 
 ruler who must endure to the end of time, as long as the sun 
 and moon continue to shine. In ancient language the Mikado 
 was called a god, and that is his real character. Duty there- 
 fore consists in obeying him implicitly without questioning 
 his acts.”* This explains the statement of Mr. Griffis that 
 the united verdict given him by native scholars was, “ Shinto 
 is not a religion ; it is a system of Government regulations, 
 very good to keep alive patriotism among the people.” This, 
 too, is the reason why Mr. -Satow speaks of Shintoism, as 
 expounded by Motoori, as nothing else than an engine for 
 reducing the people to a condition of mental slavery,” and 
 why Shintoism was made the state religion and placed under 
 a department of State after the revolution of 1868, which 
 subsequently put forth the following commandments as 
 embodying its essential principles : — 
 
 1. Thou shalt honour the gods, and love thy country. 
 
 2. Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of heaven and the duty 
 of man. 
 
 3. Thou shalt revere the Mikado as thy sovereign, and obey the will 
 of his court.f 
 
 But, with regard to the second of these commandments, it 
 should be observed that Shinto has no moral code. The 
 Kojiki^ or Records of Ancient Matters, already alluded 
 to, contains only mythological and heroic narratives. 
 
 It lays down no precepts, teaches no morals or doctrines, 
 prescribes no ritual.” Motoori, whom Griffis calls the great 
 
 * Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, \o\. iii., Pt. I., Appendix, 
 p. 27. 
 
 f A curious account of the official sermons preached on the occasion of the 
 proclamation of these commandments appeared in the C. M. Intelligencer of 
 Jan., 1873, 
 
38 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 modern revivalist of Shinto,”* taught that morals were 
 invented by the Chinese because they were an immoral 
 people; but in Japan there was no necessity for any system 
 of morals, as every Japanese acted aright if he only consulted 
 his own heart.” 
 
 Together with the Sun-goddess numerous other deities, 
 commonly spoken of as the eight hundred myriads of gods,” 
 are worshipped. These include “not only the Imperial 
 ancestors and those divine personages who lived in the 
 mythological age, but numerous poets, scholars, warriors, 
 statesmen, and patriots,” f who have been successively deified 
 in both ancient and modern times, by Imperial decree, it being 
 a part of the prerogative of the representative of the Sun- 
 goddess thus to create gods to be honoured by the nation. 
 These multitudinous deities govern all things. “ They direct 
 the changes of the seasons, the wind and the rain, the good 
 and bad fortune of states and individual men ” ; hence the 
 occasions for seeking their protection and deliverance are 
 manifold. Their worship is very general. In most houses, 
 even those of Buddhists of some sects, the “gods shelf” 
 is found, and shows that one or more Shinto deities are 
 reverenced by the family. Every village, town, or division 
 of a town has its patron deity and common temple, and the 
 inhabitants of the district are called the children of the god, 
 and bring their infant children to be dedicated to him. When 
 the local festivals are held business is often suspended, and 
 each householder hangs a large lantern at his door in honour 
 of the god. 
 
 The most sacred shrines in the country are those of the 
 
 * For an able accoun^t by E. M. Satow of the Revival of Pure Shinto, see 
 Appendix to vol. iii. (Pt. I.) of the\Transacfions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 
 
 1875- 
 
 t Shintoism. See C.M. Intelligencer, vol. ix., p. 476, August, 1884. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan. 
 
 39 
 
 Sun-goddess and the Goddess of Food in the province of Ise, 
 which are near each other, and are known as the ‘‘Two Great 
 Divine Palaces.” They are annually visited by thousands of 
 pilgrims from all parts of the Empire. 
 
 Great simplicity characterises the architecture of Shinto 
 temples. During the ascendency of Buddhism elaborately 
 decorated and highly ornamented temples were erected with 
 torii (gateways) of bronze or granite ; but the pure Shinto 
 shrine, like that of the sun-goddess, is built of plain, uncoloured 
 wood, thatched with straw or covered with shingles, and its 
 torii , three in number, are made of trunks of fir, with the 
 bark removed. 
 
 Shintoism has no images, but every temple contains some 
 object, generally within the closed doors of the actual shrine, 
 in which the spirit of the deity is supposed to reside. In the 
 temple of the Sun-goddess this object is the mirror which, 
 according to the tradition, was given by the goddess to her 
 grandson Ninigi when he was sent down to subdue the earth, 
 and with reference to which she said, “ Look upon this mirror 
 as my spirit, keep it in the same house and on the same floor 
 with yourself, and worship it as if you were worshipping my 
 actual presence.” All the mirrors in Shinto temples are 
 imitations of this one, but they are not exposed to view 
 except in temples that have been under Buddhist influence. 
 The go-hei -\ — ‘'a slender wand of unpainted wood, from 
 which depend two long pieces of paper, notched alternately 
 on opposite sides” — may be seen wherever the gods are 
 
 * The torii (bird-rest) was originally what its name denotes, a perch for 
 fowls kept at Shinto shrines, but not for purposes of sacrifice. It is now simply 
 a gateway, and marks the entrance to the grounds of a Shinto temple, or the 
 beginning of a road leading to one. 
 
 t Go-hei is compounded of two Chinese words, meaning ‘august,’ or 
 ‘ imperial,’ and ‘ presents.’” (Satow.) 
 
40 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 worshipped. Originally offerings of rough and fine white 
 cloth, which from its preciousness was supposed to attract 
 the gods, they came in later times to be considered as the 
 seats of the gods, and even the gods themselves.” Shintoism 
 has its married priesthood, its virgin priestesses who dance 
 before the shrine on festival and ceremonial occasions, its 
 services, prayers and purifications, and its offerings of wine, 
 water, salt, fruit, vegetables, and other articles of food. It 
 lays much stress on bodily purification. Not only must the 
 priest bathe before officiating and place a piece of paper over 
 his mouth when presenting offerings, but every worshipper 
 before he approaches the god must wash his hands and rinse 
 his mouth with water from the laver at the entrance of the 
 temple. No peculiar sanctity is supposed to attach to the 
 water, for it is frequently conveyed from mountain streams 
 through bamboo pipes, and pilgrims at the shrine of the Sun- 
 goddess perform their ablutions in a running stream close by. 
 
 However imperfect the conception of sin may be, the recog- 
 nition of national and individual guilt, and of the need of 
 cleansing, with a view to deliverance from divine judgments, 
 is a marked feature of Shintoism. Twice every year, in the 
 sixth and twelfth months, festivals are held at Ise, which are 
 supposed to purify the nation from the sins of the previous 
 half-year. In individual prayers, too, the correction of faults 
 and the removal of guilt are sought. 
 
 But Shintoism, whatever its influence upon the individual, 
 social, and political life of the Japanese, and however closely 
 interwoven with their customs and institutions, has been to a 
 large extent superseded by Buddhism. For although Shinto 
 is the religion of the government, the religion of the people is 
 Buddhism. 
 
 Buddhism does not, as has been supposed, surpass every 
 other religion in the number of its votaries. Sir M. Monier 
 
The Two Religions of Japan. 
 
 41 
 
 Williams puts it fifth, after Christianity, Hinduism, Con- 
 fucianism, and Mohammedanism. Still, it cannot but be 
 regarded from a Christian point of view with deep and painful 
 interest. This is not the place, however, to discuss its history, 
 principles, and influence. We have only to do with its relation 
 to Japan. 
 
 Buddhism had run its course of a thousand years in India, 
 and been finally overthrown and banished by the Brahmins, 
 before it spread to Japan. It was then no longer a “pure 
 atheistic humanitarianism/’ with its lofty moral code, and its 
 melancholy view of life as a delusion, and of absorption into 
 the infinite (iiirvand) as the only goal of existence. It had 
 developed into a popular religion, with an elaborate array 
 of ceremonial and priest-craft, monks and nuns, shrines and 
 relics, images and altars, vestments and candles, fastings and 
 indulgences, pilgrimages and hermits. “The bare and bald 
 original doctrines of Buddha were by that time glorious in the 
 apparel with which Asiatic imagination and priestly necessity 
 had clothed and adorned them. The Buddhist missionaries 
 entered Japan having a mechanism perfectly fitted to play 
 upon the fears and hopes of an ignorant people, and to bring 
 them into obedience to the new and aggressive faith.” (Griffis.) 
 
 Nevertheless, Buddhism won its way but slowly among the 
 Japanese. Introduced into the Empire towards the close of 
 the sixth century A.D., it was quickly adopted b}^ the nobles ; 
 but not until the ninth century, when a priest nam.ed Kukai, 
 better known by his posthumous name of Kobo Daishi, who 
 had travelled in China, tried to combine the two religions by 
 teaching that the Shinto gods and heroes were manifestations 
 of Buddha, did it spread further among the people. Its great 
 triumphs were achieved in the thirteenth century by the 
 proselytising zeal of two famous preachers, Shinran and 
 Nichiren, since which time it has been the prevailing religion. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan, 
 
 43 
 
 The Buddhists of Japan must not be thought of as a homo- 
 geneous body. They are divided into some fourteen sects 
 {shiu) as much opposed to each other as those of Christen- 
 dom. Of these, the two most important were founded by the 
 two leaders just mentioned, Shinran and Nichiren. The 
 Nichirenites,”* says Mr. Griffis, excel all others in polemic 
 bitterness, sectarian bigotry, and intolerant arrogance.’’ 
 “ They excel in the number of pilgrims, and in the use of 
 charms, spells, and amulets. Their priests are celibates, and 
 must abstain from wine, fish, and all flesh. A ‘revival- meet- 
 ing ' in one of their temples is a scene that often beggars 
 description. What with prayers incessantly repeated, drums 
 beaten unceasingly, the shouting of devotees who work them- 
 selves into an excitement that often ends in insanity, and 
 sometimes in death, and the frantic exhortations of the 
 priests, the wildest excesses that seek the mantle of religion 
 in other lands are by them equalled, if not excelled.” 
 “Christianity in Japan will find its most vigorous and persis- 
 tent opposers among this sect.” 
 
 The other chief sect, Jo-do-Shin-shiu — commonly called the 
 Shin-shiu or True Sect — is, as its name implies, a split from 
 the Jo-do, and claims to be the true {shin) Jo-do sect. When 
 Genku Daishi established the j5-do sect, the regent. Prince 
 Kamezane, became his great benefactor, and Shinran his 
 chief disciple. On one occasion, referring to the discrepancy 
 between his own life as a layman and that of his teacher who, 
 as a member of the priesthood, abstained from wine and 
 marriage, the regent asked, “ Is there no distinction of excel- 
 lent and base in this } ” Genku replied, “ All equally call 
 Buddha to remembrance ; what fault is there in this } ” 
 Whereupon the regent, wishing all doubt to be removed, 
 
 * The sect is called Nichiren-shiu. 
 
44 
 
 Japari and the Japan Mission. 
 
 proposed that his own daughter should be married to Shinran. 
 This was at length arranged, and the marriage resulted in the 
 founding of the Shin sect* 
 
 One peculiarity about the sect is that its chief-priesthood is 
 hereditary in the family of Shinran, the present primate of 
 the sect being his actual descendant in the twenty-second 
 generation, 
 
 Mr. Griffis calls the Shin-shiuists the Protestants of Japan. 
 “ Shinran taught that marriage was honourable, and celibacy 
 an invention of the priests. Penance, fasting, prescribed diet, 
 pilgrimages, the hermitage and the cloister, and generally 
 amulets and charms, are all tabooed by this sect. The family 
 takes the place of monkish seclusion. Devout prayer, purity 
 and earnestness of life, and trust in Buddha himself as the 
 only worker of perfect righteousness, are insisted upon.” 
 The sacred writings of other sects are written in Chinese, 
 which only the learned can read ; those of the Shin-shiuists 
 are in the vernacular. They plant their temples in the great 
 centres of population, and are untiring in their efforts to win 
 adherents. For good or for evil, they wield vast influence 
 over the people. 
 
 The unique position of this, the most influential and popular 
 of all the Buddhist sects in Japan, will be better understood 
 from the following brief account of its teaching, chiefly sum- 
 marised from a paper by James Troup, Esq., Her Majesty’s 
 Consul at Kobe.f According to Buddhism the unenlight- 
 ened,” who have not attained to Buddhahood, are ''subject to 
 the evil of birth and death,” " sinking and floating in the sea 
 
 * Several years ago the present emperor conferred posthumous honours 
 upon Shinran, by creating him 2. Dai-shi (=“ Great Teacher”) with the new 
 name, Ken-shin (=“ seeing or perceiving truth”), and he is now honoured by 
 the sect as Ken-shin Dai-shi. 
 
 t Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan^ vol. xiv.. Part I. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan, 
 
 45 
 
 of existence ” through ages measured by millions of years ; 
 and the aim of all its sects is to obtain “ deliverance from the 
 cycle of birth and death, in other words, to reach Nirvana.” 
 Thus far agreed, they differ in regard to the means of attaining 
 this end. Those sects which follow what is called the Holy 
 Path ” seek deliverance by the practice of the moral and 
 religious precepts and prohibitions of Buddhism,” that is to 
 say, by good works and virtuous actions. On the other hand 
 those of the Pure Land* — the j5-do sect, and its offshoot the 
 Jo-do Shin-shiu — look upon this way of salvation as utterly 
 impossible for men in the present age of the world, this 
 being, according to Buddhist doctrine, the Period of the 
 Latter Days of the Law,t when the inferior capacities of 
 men are dark, and they cannot tread the Holy Path and rise 
 to perfection.” They consequently seek deliverance by birth 
 into the Pure Land of Amida Buddha, resting their faith and 
 hope on the “Original Vows,”J which this imaginary being of 
 bygone Kalpas is said to have made “ in respect of his deter- 
 mination to attain the rank of Buddha.” The eighteenth of 
 these vows, which embodies the conditions in which deliver- 
 ance may be obtained, is as follows : “ If when I attain 
 Buddhahood, any of the living beings in the ten regions, who 
 with sincerity having faith and joy, and an ardent desire to be 
 born into My Country call [My Name] to remembrance ten 
 times, should not [then] be born there, I shall not accept 
 
 * The original of this is Jo-do, and hence the name of the sects, 
 t Supposed to commence 1,500 years after the death of Sakyamuni, since 
 whom no Buddha has appeared. 
 
 J Of the forty-eight vows of Amida three are called Hon-guwan=Qng\r\d\ 
 vows, and of these again the eighteenth is called so par excellence. The 
 expression also gives the name to the principal temples of the two main 
 divisions of the sect at Kioto and in other places. They are called Hon- 
 guwan-ji=^'‘ Temples of the Original Vow.” 
 
A JAPANESE BUDDHIST PRIEST. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan. 
 
 47 
 
 enlightenment. But from this the five classes of reprobates" 
 and revilers of the Right Law are excluded.” This is inter- 
 preted by the *'True Sect” to mean that men of all classes 
 and conditions and in all ages of the world — whether priests 
 or laymen, merchants or husbandmen — whether married or 
 single, with or without families — whether abstaining from flesh 
 and wine or not — ‘Tf they only put forth the Believing Heart 
 and invoke Amida Buddha,” after this life '' they will be born 
 in Heaven, they will reach Nirvana.” 
 
 In connection with this way of salvation three points of 
 Shin-Shiu teaching must be noted : (i) They believe in, call 
 to remembrance, and invoke, Amida Buddha aloiie — ‘‘ as a 
 faithful servant does not serve two masters.” (2) The 
 Believing Heart is not, as the original Jodo sect teaches, 
 “ faith by one’s own power,” faith excited and kept alive by 
 means of religious observances,” but “ faith by the power of 
 another ” — a Believing Heart conferred by the Power of Amida 
 Buddha. The former, they say, “ is not strong ; speedily it 
 changes. It is like a picture drawn on water. But the 
 Believing Heart by the Power of another — this recedes not 
 from its strength ; it is like the diamond.” (3) The invoca- 
 tion of Amida — “ the action of calling to remembrance with 
 the living voice ” his sacred name — results from the possession 
 of a Believing Heart ; that its object is not to obtain salvation 
 as a reward, but to express gratitude for the boundless great 
 compassion ” of Amida, and for the certainty of deliverance 
 by being born into His Pure Land. Such in a few words is 
 the teaching of this remarkable sect in regard to salvation in 
 the other world. But, if in this matter it ignores Prohibitions 
 and Rules, it is not unmindful of the importance of social 
 
 * These are “parricides, matricides, those who incite the priesthood to 
 quarrel, they who shed the blood of a Buddha, they who put to death an 
 Arhat.” 
 
48 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 and relative duties. In the ‘‘ Greater Sutra/' one of the three 
 Sutras that constitute the Scriptures of the sect, it is said : 
 
 For a servant to betray his lord, for a child to deceive his 
 father, for brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, wise or 
 unwise (priesthood or laity) to fail in their duty to each other, 
 these are the actions violating the relations of life, which the 
 venerated Shiaka (Sakfa) has denounced." 
 
 The census of 1875 returned 207,669 “religious" (to use 
 the Romish phrase), priests, monks, nuns, &c., of all grades. 
 “In Japanese as in European history, romance, drama, and 
 art, the monk and nun are staple characters." And as in the 
 West, so in the East, their character and reputation vary 
 greatly. As in mediaeval Europe, so in mediaeval Japan, the 
 monks were not seldom the sole possessors of scholarship and 
 the most civilising agency in the community. The sciences 
 of astronomy and mathematics, the arts of painting and sculp- 
 ture, were cultivated in the monasteries. The copying of 
 sacred writings was as regular an occupation at Kioto as at 
 Clairvaux. 
 
 Among the most prominent objects of Japanese mediaeval 
 art were images of Buddha, and bells. Some of the temple- 
 bells are magnificent. “ Few sounds," says Mr. Griffis, “ are 
 more solemnly sweet than their mellow music. On a still 
 night a circumference of twenty miles was flooded by the 
 melody of the great bell of Zozoji."* These bells have no 
 clapper ; they are struck from the outside by a piece of timber 
 suspended by ropes. The casting of a bell was always an 
 occasion of public rejoicing, and the description of the fes- 
 tivities reminds one of Schiller’s famous poem.f 
 
 * The great temple of Zozoji was destroyed by fire on the night of Dec. 31st, 
 1873. It had been sequestrated by the Government, and was to be turned into a 
 Shinto shrine; but a fanatic Buddhist incendiary saved the great bell from being 
 used in the service of the rival religion. 
 
 t There is a picture of the great bell at the temple of Daibuts at Kioto in the 
 C. M, Gleaner of Dec., 1877. 
 
The Two Religions of Japan. 
 
 49 
 
 Of the colossal images, the figures of Dai Butsu (sometimes 
 printed Daiboots), or Great Buddha,” at Kamakura and 
 Nara, are the most celebrated. The former is a mass of 
 copper 44 feet high, and a work of high art. The latter, 
 which was first erected in the eighth century, destroyed 
 during the civil wars, and recast about 700 years ago, is 53^ 
 feet high; its face is 16 feet long, and 9^ feet wide. The 
 width of its shoulders is 28/q feet. Its head is adorned 
 with 966 curls, and encircled by a halo 78 feet in diameter, 
 on which are 16 images, each 8 feet long. The metal is said 
 to weigh 450 tons.* 
 
 Buddhist temples f are numerous in all parts of the country. 
 In most large towns there is a street of temples, which is 
 called Tera Machi, answering to our familiar Church 
 Street.” 
 
 The position of both Buddhism and Shintoism has been 
 seriously affected by the revolution of 1868 and the changes 
 consequent upon it. The cause of Buddhism had been 
 for centuries identified with that of the Shoguns, and the revo- 
 lution was a severe blow to its powder and prestige, as it was 
 then deprived of State patronage and support. On the other 
 hand Shintoism, so closely connected with the semi-divine 
 person of the Mikado, and the basis of his authority, gained 
 a triumph. Under the new regime both religions remained 
 under the control of the Government. In 1877 the Depart- 
 ment of Religion ” was abolished as a separate office and 
 made a branch of the Home Office ; and at the same time the 
 
 * Mr. Clark, an American gentleman who was engaged in educational work 
 under the Japanese Government, writes : “After studying the Daibuts at Nara 
 as a work of art, I climbed up into his capacious lap, and sat upon one of his 
 thumbs, which are placed together in a devout attitude. Here I began to sing 
 the Doxology, to the astonishment of the priest standing below.” {Life and 
 Adventure in Japan, p. 20.) 
 
 t A Buddhist temple is called tera ; a Shinto shrine miya. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Shinto priests, in lieu of such of their revenues as were derived 
 from the State, were awarded pensions, to cease after twenty 
 years. A few of them commuted ” and went into trade, 
 but the bulk continued to exercise the priestly office. The 
 changes thus far were the beginning of the end, and prepared 
 the way for the more decided step taken in 1884, when the 
 connection of both Buddhism and Shintoism with a depart- 
 ment of State was severed, and each sect was enjoined to 
 make provision for its internal government and administra- 
 tion. But although disestablished, and deprived of State 
 support, both religions continue to exist, and under the new 
 order of things Buddhism especially has manifested fresh 
 energy. In January, 1879, some ten years after the Revo- 
 lution, the Rev. C. F. Warren thus wrote : — 
 
 Buddhism, at least in one of its branches — the Monto or Shin sect — 
 shows remarkable signs of vigour. It has recently established a mission 
 in China, which is reported to be flourishing; it is making strenuous 
 efforts to get a footing in Satsuma, from which province it has hitherto 
 been excluded ; and it has just completed a large college at Kioto for 
 the accommodation of 600 students, who will be selected from their schools 
 in the provinces. 
 
 Still it cannot be doubted that the action of the Govern- 
 ment has done much to prepare the way for Christianity, as 
 the Rev. J. Piper wrote nearly ten years ago : — This gradual 
 withdrawal of State aid will not dry up the torrent of 
 heathenism in the country, yet it must necessarily reduce the 
 stream to such a moderate depth that Christianity will be 
 able more easily to stop its course. May God hasten such 
 a happy result ! ” 
 
V. 
 
 THE JESUIT MISSIONS. 
 
 “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” — i Cor. iii. 13. 
 
 IPANGU/’ says Marco Polo, “is an island towards 
 the East, in the high seas, 1,500 miles distant 
 from the Continent, and a very great island it 
 is. The people are white, civilised, and well- 
 favoured. They are idolaters, and they are dependent on 
 nobody, and I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is 
 endless.’’ 
 
 These words, written by the old Venetian traveller nearly 
 six centuries ago, however inaccurate, first revealed to Europe 
 the existence of Japan. Marco Polo spemt seventeen years, 
 1275 — 1292, at the court of Kublai Khan; and there he 
 heard of the Land of the Rising Sun, which the great Tartar 
 chieftain had tried in vain to conquer : his fleet, like another 
 armada sent to annex another island empire, being utterly 
 destroyed by the winds and waves. 
 
 Marco Polo’s book appeared in 1298. Two hundred years 
 later it found an ardent student in Christopher Columbus ; 
 and there is now little doubt that when the discoverer of 
 America sailed out into the West, it was Japan that he was 
 in search of. But not until 1542 did any European reach 
 Japan, and then not across the Atlantic, but round the Cape ; 
 and not a Spaniard, but a Portuguese, Mendez Pinto, whose 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 vessel was drivea thither by stress of weather. Japanese 
 historians note that year as the date of the first appearance 
 of foreigners, Christianity, and fire-arms. ‘‘To many a native,” 
 sadly writes Mr. Griffis, “ these are still members of a trinity 
 of terrors, and one is a synonym of the other.” 
 
 The confiding Japanese received the traders, Portuguese, 
 Spanish, and Dutch, who now poured in, with open arms. 
 And the traders were not alone. Seven years after Mendez 
 Pinto came Francis Xavier. A Japanese named Anjiro 
 wandered to India in one of the Portuguese vessels, and at 
 Goa met with the great Jesuit missionary, learned Portuguese, 
 and embraced the new religion. Xavier asked him what 
 prospects Christianity would have in Japan, and thus records 
 his reply : — “ His people, he said, would not immediately 
 assent to what might be said to them, but they would 
 investigate my religion by a multitude of questions, and, 
 above all, by observing whether my conduct agreed with my 
 words. This done, the Daimios, the nobility, and the people 
 would flock to Christ, being a nation which always follows 
 reason as a guide.” “These words,” observes Mr. Griffis, 
 “ seem fresh, pertinent, and to have been uttered but yester- 
 day, so true are they still.” 
 
 In August, 1549, Xavier landed at Cangoxima (Kagoshima), 
 a port in the southern island of Kiushiu,* and subsequently 
 proceeded to the main island, and made his way to Kioto. 
 “There is something heroic in the simple story of his pri- 
 vations and difficulties, as in the depth of winter, thinly clad 
 and barefoot, he made his two months’ journey to the capital, 
 through snow drifts and mountain torrents.^f His reception, 
 
 * On May ist, 1879, the first C.M.S. converts at Kagoshima were baptized 
 by the Rev. H. Maundrell. See a later chapter. 
 
 t Bp. Pakenham Walsh, Heroes of the Mission Fields p. 178. 
 
The Jesuit Missions, 
 
 53 
 
 however, was not encouraging, and after about two years’ 
 labours he left the country.* But his successors reaped an 
 extraordinary harvest ; and of the Romish Mission as a 
 whole, it may well be said, in the words of the Roman 
 general, that they came, they saw, they conquered. Within 
 five years, Christian communities were rising in every direction. 
 Within thirty years the converts numbered 150,000, and the 
 churches 200. The Japanese themselves give two millions as 
 the figure ultimately reached, but the Jesuits do not claim 
 that, and perhaps half a million may be nearer the mark. 
 This was however a great success ; to what is it to be 
 attributed ? 
 
 The answer is not far to seek. Shinto, which is now a 
 power, politically at least, was then a myth unknown to the 
 people. Buddhism, with all its external splendour, had lost 
 what little life it had once possessed. The Jesuit priests 
 gave the Japanese all that the Buddhist priests had given 
 them — gorgeous altars, imposing processions, dazzling vest- 
 ments, and all the scenic display of a sensuous worship — but 
 added to these a freshness and fervour that quickly captivated 
 the imaginative and impressionable people. The Buddhist 
 preacher — unless of the Shin sect — promised heavenly rest, 
 such as it was, only after many transmigrations involving 
 many weary lives. The Jesuit preacher promised immediate 
 entrance into paradise after death to all who received baptism. 
 And there was little in the Buddhistic paraphernalia that 
 needed to be changed, much less abandoned. The images of 
 Buddha, with a slight application of the chisel, served for 
 images of Christ, Each Buddhist saint found his counterpart 
 in Romish Christianity ; and the roadside shrines of Kuwan-on,+ 
 
 * See Venn’s Life of Xavier^ pp. 167 — 213. 
 
 t This is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters read Kwan- 
 yin in Pekinese, and Kun-yam in Cantonese. 
 
54 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 the goddess of mercy, became centres of Mariolatry.* 
 Temples, altars, bells, holy-water vessels, censers, rosaries, all 
 were ready, and were merely transferred from one religion to 
 the other. It is a strange spectacle. And those who have 
 seen both rituals marvel whether Buddhism is a child of 
 Romanism, or Romanism of Buddhism, or whether both must 
 not have some common origin. 
 
 There was also a political cause for the success of the 
 Jesuits. The Shogun of that day, Nobunaga, hated the Budd- 
 hists, and openly favoured the missionaries, thinking to make 
 them a tool for his own designs. In 1583, four nobles were 
 sent by the Christian Daimios of Kiushiu to Europe as an 
 embassy to Pope Gregory XIII., to declare themselves vassals 
 of the Holy See ; and at the same time the subjects of these 
 same Daimios were ordered to embrace Christianity or go 
 into exile. The decree was carried out with great cruelty. 
 The spirit of the Inquisition was introduced into Japan. 
 Buddhist priests were put to death, and their monasteries 
 burnt to the ground. The details are given, with full approval, 
 by the Jesuit Charlevoix in his Histoire dn Christianis 7 ne atL 
 Japon. Take one passage as a specimen: — ‘Hn 1577, the 
 lord of the island of Amakusa issued his proclamation, by 
 which his subjects — whether bonzes [priests] or gentlemen, 
 merchants or tradesmen — were required either to turn 
 Christians, or to leave the country the very next day. They 
 almost all submitted, and received baptism, so that in a short 
 
 * Xavier himself thus relates the first presentation of Christianity to the 
 Japanese : — “ Paul [the converted Japanese, Anjiro] showed a beautiful picture 
 he had brought from India, of the Blessed Mary and the child Jesus sitting in 
 her lap. When the governor looked upon it, he was overwhelmed with emotion, 
 and falling on his knees, he ve«ry devoutly worshipped it, and commanded all 
 present to do the same.” — Xavier’s Journals, quoted in Venn’s Life of Xavier^ 
 p. 180. 
 
The Jesuit Missions, 
 
 55 
 
 time there were more than twenty churches in the kingdom. 
 God wrought miracles to confirm the faithful in their belief.” * 
 
 Rome in Japan took the sword — and perished with the 
 sword. European national antipathies were carried into the 
 far east ; and the Dutch traders bitterly opposed the Spaniards 
 and Portuguese. The different religious orders also quarrelled 
 amongst themselves ; and Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans 
 illustrated by their mutual hatred the hollowness of Rome’s 
 boasted unity. Nobunaga’s successor, the famous Taiko 
 Sama or Hideyoshi, found the Jesuits, true to their traditions, 
 plotting against his throne; and in 1587 he issued a decree 
 of expulsion against them. 
 
 They were not so easily got rid of. Closing their churches, 
 they withdrew from public notice for a while, but secretly con- 
 tinued their work as actively as ever. Then persecution 
 began ; and then a religious civil war. Taiko Sama died in 
 1598, and in the struggle for power that followed, the Chris- 
 tian nobles took the side of his young son ; but the battle of 
 Sekigahara, as already noticed, decided the conflict in favour 
 of lyeyasu, who at once set to work to put down the foreign 
 religion. Plots, revolts, and fighting, however, continued. At 
 length, in 1615, the son of Taiko Sama was besieged in 
 Osaka, where he was entertaining some Jesuit priests. The 
 city was taken, and a terrible massacre ensued ; and Sir R. 
 Alcock justly emphasises the fact that this final blow fell 
 in the very year in which a few Puritan pilgrims landed at 
 New Plymouth, and laid the foundation of Protestant 
 America — to which, in our own day, is due the re-introduction 
 of Christianity into Japan.f 
 
 lyeyasu’s triumph was complete ; and under him and his 
 
 * A fuller account of the Jesuit Missions will be found in the C. M. Intelligencer 
 of March, 1872. 
 
 t Alcock’s Capital of the Tycoon, vol. i., p. 60. 
 
56 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 immediate successors fire and sword were now freely used to 
 extirpate Christianity.* The unhappy victims met torture 
 and death with a fortitude that compels our admiration ; and 
 it is impossible to doubt that, little as they knew of the pure 
 Gospel of Christ, there were true martyrs for His name among 
 the thousands that perished. They were crucified, burnt at 
 the stake, buried alive, torn limb from limb, put to unspeak- 
 able torments ; and historians on both sides agree that but 
 few apostatised. One Jesuit priest, Christopher Ferreyra, 
 after enduring horrible tortures, was at last hung by his feet 
 in such a way that his head was in a hole in the ground from 
 which light and air were excluded. His right hand was left 
 loose, that with it he might make the prescribed sign of 
 recantation. Fie hung for four hours, and then made the 
 sign. He was at once released, and compelled to become a 
 Japanese inquisitor, and to consign Christians to torture and 
 death. 
 
 At length, in 1637, the Christians struck a last desperate 
 blow for freedom. They rose in Kiushiu, fortified an old 
 castle at Shimabara, and raised the flag of revolt ; but after a 
 two months' siege they were compelled to surrender, and 
 thirty-seven thousand were massacred, great numbers being 
 hurled from the rock of Pappenberg, near the harbour of 
 Nagasaki. 
 
 This was their expiring effort. The Christianity which 
 Rome had presented to the Japanese was finally banished. 
 What did it leave behind "i 
 
 It did not leave the Bible behind. If it had, Japan might 
 perhaps have been another Madagascar. Persecution as bitter 
 fell upon the Malagasy Christians under Queen Ranavalona, 
 
 * In the castle grounds of lyeyasu at Shidzuoka, 260 years after his death, 
 an American Christian gentleman taught a purer Christianity to Japanese students. 
 See Clark’s Life and Adventures in Japan ^ p. 70. 
 
The Jesint Missions. 
 
 57 
 
 and the door into Madagascar was as fast closed. But when 
 it opened again, a true and living and indigenous Church 
 stood revealed to the astonished gaze of Christendom. Not 
 so with Romanism in Japan. 
 
 It left a name of infamy, a memory of horror. The name 
 of Christ, writes Mr. Griffis, was regarded as '‘the synonym 
 of sorcery, sedition, and all that was hostile to the purity of 
 the home and the peace of society. . . Christianity was re- 
 membered only as an awful scar on the national annals. No 
 vestiges were supposed to be left of it, and no knowledge of 
 its tenets was held, save by a very few scholars in Yedo, 
 trained experts, who were kept, as a sort of spiritual blood- 
 hounds, to scent out the adherents of the accursed creed.” 
 
 A special police commission was organised, called " The 
 Christian Inquiry,” and every year the Buddhist priest had 
 to report to the commissioners on the orthodoxy of their 
 parishioners, if we may call them so. High rewards were 
 offered to informers. Suspected persons were compelled to 
 trample on pictures or images of Christ ; and sometimes the 
 whole population of a town would be tried by this test. Now 
 and then a stray Christian would be detected ; and as late as 
 1829, six men and an old woman are said to have been 
 crucified at Osaka. Was all this a leaf taken out of the book 
 of the Spanish Inquisition ? 
 
 Notwithstanding, a small and obscure community of ad- 
 herents did remain in Kiushiu, who have been recognised by 
 modern Roman Catholic missionaries as the descendants of 
 the Jesuit converts. How the}^ were regarded in their own 
 land may be guessed from the fact that an image of the Virgin 
 Mary and infant Christ was found a few years ago in a cave, 
 where it Avas held sacred by the country people, who supposed 
 it to be an image of Buddha and his mother, and believed 
 that it healed diseases. 
 
58 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 In the year following the Revolution of 1868 (page 71). 
 persecution was revived against this remnant. Three thousand 
 Romish Christians, who apparently formed the entire popula- 
 tion of the village of Urakami, near Nagasaki, were torn away 
 from their homes, and banished, some to the interior of the 
 country and others to the Goto Islands. Horrible accounts 
 of the cruelties inflicted on them were circulated by the Pro- 
 paganda, but on Sir Harry Parkes, the British Minister, inter- 
 posing on their behalf, the Japanese authorities were able to 
 show that these statements were almost entirely without 
 foundation, and affirmed that the deportation itself was ren- 
 dered necessary by the disloyalty of the Christians. In their 
 reply to Sir H. Parkes, these significant words occur : — 
 
 The Japanese Government has been obliged to take this course from a 
 conviction of its necessity, and particularly in consequence of a growing 
 pressure of public opinion, which arose from the memory of the deplora- 
 ble events connected with the introduction of Christianity by Romarn 
 Catholic missionaries some centuries ago. Public opinion even now 
 demands that the same seeds of discord should be removed which at that 
 period so nearly succeeded in overthrowing the government, and endan- 
 gering the independence of this country. 
 
 We have no means of knowing on what grounds the charge 
 of disloyalty was brought against the villagers of Urakami. 
 Most of them were ignorant and probably inoffensive peasants, 
 and unless they were being manipulated by foreign intriguers, 
 they could scarcely have been very dangerous ; and in 1873 
 they were restored to their homes. But under any circum- 
 stances, the official apology is a melancholy commentary on 
 the history of the Jesuit Missions in Japan. 
 
 Still more melancholy is the inscription which, for two 
 hundred and thirty years, appeared on the public notice- 
 boards along with prohibitions against crimes and breaches of 
 
The Jesuit Missions. 
 
 59 
 
 the law, at every roadside, at every city gate, in every village 
 throughout the empire : — 
 
 So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian 
 be .w bold as to come to Japan; and let all know that the King 
 of Spain himself or the Christians' God, or the Great God of 
 all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his headS 
 
 Who is “ the Christians’ God,” so curiously distinguished in 
 these shocking words from the great God of all ” ? Is it 
 Christ ? Or is it the Pope ? One of the letters carried to 
 Pope Gregory XI II. by the four Japanese nobles (p. 54) was 
 thus addressed — A celui qui doit etre adore, et qui tient la 
 place du Roi du Ciel, le grand et Tres-Saint Pape ” ; and 
 another began thus — J’adore le Tres-Saint Pape, qui tient 
 la place de Dieu sur la terre.” 
 
 We can honour the zeal and self-denial of the Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries. We can believe that among their converts there 
 were some who, in much ignorance, did trust their souls to 
 the Saviour. But the responsibility for the blasphemous 
 proclamation which for two centuries and more shut out 
 Christianity from Japan must lie at the door of Rome. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE LOCKING AND THE UNLOCKING. 
 
 “ I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” — Rev. iii. 8. 
 
 OR two hundred and thirty years Japan was closed 
 to the outer world. By the century of intercourse 
 with European nations she had gained the know- 
 ledge of gunpowder and firearms, and of tobacco 
 smoking ; the enrichment of her language by a few foreign 
 words ; some additions to her familiar forms of disease ; and 
 an inveterate hatred of Christianity. Content with these 
 acquirements, and desiring no more, she retired from public 
 gaze. The curious cabinet which had so suddenly opened, 
 and into the secret drawers of which the eyes of Portuguese, 
 Spaniards, English, and Dutch, had so eagerly pryed, was as 
 suddenly locked, and the key hid carefully away for upwards 
 of two centuries.” {C.M, Intelligencer, December, i86i.) 
 
 In 1624 all foreigners except Dutch and Chinese were 
 banished from Japan. At the same time, the Japanese were 
 forbidden to leave the country, and all vessels above a very 
 small size were ordered to be destroyed. It is manifest that 
 these edicts were directed especially against communication 
 with Roman Catholic nations. The English were not in 
 question. Their share in the trade had been small. The 
 
The Locking and the Unlocking. 
 
 6i 
 
 first Englishman to enter the country, Will Adams,* did not 
 land until fifty years after Xavier ; the first English ship only 
 reached Japan twel){^ years before the decree of expulsion ; 
 and before that decree was issued the English traders had 
 left the country — ‘‘ with an unstained reputation,” says the 
 American Dr. Hawks. f And the Dutch were specially 
 
 exempted. 
 
 Even the Dutch had to submit to very humiliating terms.;]: 
 They were confined to a little artificial islet, 600 feet by 200, 
 in Nagasaki harbour, called Deshima {de, out ; shima, island ; 
 i.e., “exit island’’) ; and a strong Japanese guard always held 
 the small bridge connecting it with the mainland. One ship 
 only was allowed to come to this settlement once in six 
 months ; and when it arrived, two water-gates were opened 
 for its admission, which remained closed at all other times. 
 Once in four years the Dutch Commissioner had to go to 
 Yedo, bearing the costly gifts required as tribute from the 
 foreigners. The Chinese were also allowed to live in Naga- 
 saki, but at no other port. 
 
 Why were the Dutch exempted ? In the first place, to them 
 the Government owed the discovery of the Jesuit plots. One 
 of their vessels intercepted a letter to the King of Portugal, 
 asking for troops to overthrow the Mikado ; and they eagerly 
 seized the opportunity to discredit their Portuguese rivals. 
 
 Will Adams was a remarkable man. From being the English pilot of a 
 Dutch fleet he rose by his ability and integrity to be the trusted adviser of the 
 great Shogun lyeyasu. The street in Yedo where he lived is still called Anjin 
 Cho, “ The Pilot’s Street,” and the dwellers in that street hold an annual festival 
 in his honour on the 15th of June. His grave, with a stone monument erected 
 by the Japanese, was discovered in 1872. 
 
 t A treaty had been concluded between the Mikado and James I., which is 
 printed in the C. M. Intelligencer of July, 1859. 
 
 X Some curious details are given in Bp. Smith’s Ten Weeks in Japan^ 
 pp. 18 — 24. 
 
The Locking and the Unlocking, 
 
 63 
 
 In the second place, they carefully abstained from all pro- 
 fession of Christianity, as is acknowledged by their own 
 historian Kaempfer.^One of them, being taxed with his belief, 
 replied, ‘‘ No, I am not a Christian, I am a Dutchman.’’ 
 
 At long intervals efforts were made to open the closed 
 cabinet, but in vain. Charles II. sent a vessel to Japan, but 
 it was not allowed to trade because the Dutch had informed 
 the Japanese authorities that Charles had married the daughter 
 of the King of Portugal. In 1695, a Chinese junk was sent 
 away from Nagasaki because a Chinese book on board was 
 found to contain a description of the Romish cathedral at 
 Peking. In 1709 an Italian priest, the Abbe Sidotti, per- 
 suaded the captain of a ship to put him on shore. He was 
 seized, and kept a prisoner for several years until his death. 
 A Japanese book has been found which gives a full account of 
 him. Russia made efforts to get into Japan at the beginning 
 of this century, but without success ;* after which she seized 
 the Kurile Islands,t which had been part of the Japanese 
 empire. 
 
 It was reserved for the Unifed States to take a key and 
 unlock the cabinet, and for England to lift the lid. In seeking 
 to open negotiations with the Japanese, the American Govern- 
 ment sought to secure proper treatment for shipwrecked 
 sailors, and to obtain the opening of ports to facilitate the 
 coaling and provisioning of her trans-Pacific steamers, the 
 running of which between San Francisco and Hong-Kong 
 
 * Captain Golownin, of the Russian Navy, has given a detailed account of the 
 seizure and imprisonment of himself and his officers, when they ventured to land 
 on the Island of Yezo to obtain provisions, in a work entitled Narrative of My 
 Captivity in Japan (London, i8i8). 
 
 t These now form part of the Empire of Japan, Russia having transferred 
 all her authority over and interest in them to Japan, in exchange for a similar 
 transfer of all the rights of Japan over a portion of Saghalien. This was done 
 by treaty in 1875. 
 
64 
 
 Japan and ihe Japa7i Mission. 
 
 was contemplated. But the aggression of Russia was the 
 immediate occasion of the opening. The American Govern- 
 ment took alarm, and resolved to forestall her further advances 
 by sending a naval expedition to Japan. 
 
 On July 8th, 1853, the American squadron, commanded 
 by Commodore Perry, anchored off Uraga, at the mouth of 
 the Gulf of Yedo. A Japanese official went off to the flag- 
 ship, but the Commodore was determined to negotiate only 
 with authorities of the highest rank, and the official was 
 informed that the President of the United States had sent a 
 letter for the Emperor of Japan, but that it could only be 
 delivered, with due ceremony, to a functionary properly 
 qualified to receive it. He replied that the laws of Japan 
 prohibited any communication with foreigners except at the 
 port of Nagasaki, and that the squadron must go there. This 
 was exactly what Commodore Perry did not mean to do. To 
 go away hundreds of miles from Yedo, and humbly knock at 
 the little wicket-gate at which so many indignities had been 
 inflicted on the Dutch, would entirely defeat his purpose. 
 Ultimately the quiet but resolute courtesy of the commodore 
 prevailed, and a noble of high rank was sent to receive the 
 letter. Some sentences of it are worth recording : 
 
 I have directed Commodore Perry to assure your Imperial Majesty 
 that I entertain the kindest feelings towards your Majesty’s person and 
 Government, and that I have no other object in sending him to Japan 
 but to propose that the United States and Japan should live in friendship,, 
 and have commercial intercourse with each other. ... We know that 
 the ancient laws of your Imperial Majesty’s Government do not allow of 
 foreign trade except with the Chinese and the Dutch; but as the state of 
 the world changes, and new governments are formed, it seems to be wise 
 from time to time to make new laws. . . . The United States constitution 
 and laws forbid all interference with the religious or political concerns of 
 other nations. I have particularly charged Commodore Perry to abstain 
 from every act which could possibly disturb the tranquillity of your 
 Imperial Majesty’s dominions. 
 
The Locking and the Unlocking. 
 
 65 
 
 The commodore was content to take one step at a time ; 
 and having delivered this letter with all possible ceremony, 
 he sailed away from Japan. Eight months afterwards he 
 came back again with a more powerful squadron than before, 
 to conclude a formal treaty. Lengthened negotiations fol- 
 lowed ; the Japanese strove hard to confine their new friends 
 to Nagasaki ; but nothing would move the commodore from 
 his purpose, and on March 31st, 1854, a treaty was duly 
 signed and sealed, which opened two ports, viz., Shimoda, 
 100 miles south of Yedo, and Hakodate, in the northern 
 island of Yezo, to American trade. Shimoda was soon after- 
 wards destroyed by an earthquake, and by the treaty of 1858, 
 Yokohama, which is now the most important centre of foreign 
 trade, was opened instead. 
 
 Other nations were not slow to claim similar advantages ; 
 but it was only under much pressure that the Japanese 
 granted them. Russia succeeded in getting a treaty signed, 
 and Holland in procuring the withdrawal of some of the 
 restrictions under which her merchants had laboured at 
 Deshima. A treaty was also negotiated by a representative 
 of Great Britain, but it was never ratified. But all concessions 
 were refused to France and Portugal, obviously because they 
 were Roman Catholic nations. Of course in after years they 
 acquired the same liberty as others. 
 
 Thus the “curious cabinet’' was unlocked. But it could 
 scarcely be said to be opened yet. That was the work of 
 England. 
 
 On August I2th, 1858, Lord Elgin, fresh from his triumphs 
 in China, where the Treaty of Tientsin had been signed six 
 weeks before, entered the Gulf of Yedo. Taking advantage 
 of the fact that he had with him a small steam yacht sent by 
 the Queen as a present to “the Emperor of Japan,” he de- 
 termined to sail right up to the capital. Shimoda was passed ; 
 
 E 
 
JAPANESE PEASANT IN WINTER COSTUME. 
 
The Locking and the U niocking. 
 
 67 
 
 Uraga was passed ; Yokohama itself was passed. Japanese 
 guard-boats in vain tried to arrest the progress of the squadron ; 
 two-sworded officials in vain waved it back with their fans. 
 Vouchsafing no answer, and perceiving by the presence of 
 some large vessels purchased by the Japanese* that the 
 channel (yet unsurveyed) was safe for his frigates, Lord Elgin 
 steamed on until he cast anchor opposite Yedo, to the conster- 
 nation of the authorities. 
 
 They were shrewd enough, however, to see that their old 
 policy of isolation could no longer be maintained; and they 
 gave the British ambassador very little trouble. Within a 
 fortnight, on the 26th of August, Prince Albert’s birthday, the 
 Treaty of Yedo was signed. It was a much more compre- 
 hensive document than Commodore Perry’s. Hakodate, 
 Kanagawa (Yokohama), and Nagasaki, were to be opened to 
 British subjects at once,’ and ;Hiogo, , Osaka, and Niigata at a 
 given date; consuls were: to. be stationed at all these ports ; 
 a diplomatic : agent was to , reside at Yedo, with liberty to 
 travel all over the realm ; and other important concessions 
 were granted. Since- that time the Treaty has been supple- 
 mented by various Conventions and Articles of Arrangement 
 affecting the conduct of foreign trade. Customs duties, the 
 opening of the later ports and Tokio to foreign trade and 
 residence ; but it is still the basis of our relations with 
 Japan.t 
 
 Thus a bloodless victory seemed to have been gained ; but 
 
 An amusing incident occurred when the Japanese received the first of these 
 ships from the Americans. The engines being once set going, the native crew 
 knew not how to stop them, and, to prevent the vessel running ashore, she had 
 to be steered round and round the bay till the steam was expended. 
 
 t Whilst these pages were being revised (1887), negotiations fora new treaty 
 were being conducted in Tokio, which seemed likely to open the entire country 
 to foreign residence, and otherwise materially modify our relations with Japan ; 
 but they fell through. 
 
 E 2 
 
68 
 
 Japa7i and the Japan Mission. 
 
 not without bloodshed were the fruits reaped. Sir Rutherford 
 (then Mr.) Alcock took up his abode at Yedo as the first 
 British Minister to Japan ; merchants hastened to establish 
 themselves at the open ports; and the Japanese, both rulers 
 and people, appeared eager for friendly and mutually 
 profitable intercourse. But the turbulent Samurai resented 
 the admission of strangers on to their sacred soil, and a 
 succession of outrages kept the foreign communities in a 
 state of alarm for several years. In particular, the American 
 Secretary of Legation was assassinated in 1861 ; in the same 
 year a desperate assault was made on the house occupied by 
 the British Legation, some members of which were badly 
 wounded ; in 1862 an English gentleman, Mr. Richardson, 
 \vas murdered on the high road; in 1863 some new buildings 
 for the British Minister were blown up; and in 1864 two 
 English officers were assassinated at Kamakura. The parties 
 concerned in these outrages were in some cases punished by 
 the Shogun’s government, and indemnities paid ; but for Mr. 
 Richardson’s death they disclaimed responsibility, as the 
 murderers belonged to the powerful Satsuma clan, the head 
 of which, Shimadzu,^ refused reparation, and set the Shogun 
 at defiance. The British fleet accordingly sailed to the south 
 end of Kiushiu, and bombarded the chief Satsuma , city, 
 Kagoshima (the place where Xavier had landed (see p. 52). 
 And in the following year, the guns of another great feudal 
 prince, the prince of Choshiu (Nagato), which commanded the 
 narrow strait at the western entrance to the Inland Sea, having 
 fired on an American ship, the allied squadrons of England, 
 France, Holland, and the United States, proceeded to bom- 
 bard his forts likewise. These two actions, though they did 
 not escape animadversion at home, made a lively impression 
 
 Respecting Shimadzu and the Satsuma clan, see p.- 83. 
 
69 
 
 The Locking and the Unlocking. 
 
 on the Daimios and their followers, and no further fighting of 
 the kind has since occurred. 
 
 Up to this time the Shogun had been supposed to be the 
 real ruler of Japan, and English writers called him the 
 ‘'Temporal Emperor,’' regarding the mysterious Mikado, of 
 whom they could get very little information, as the “ Spiritual 
 Emperor.” The Shogun had concluded the treaties on his 
 own authority, in which he was styled the Tai-kun ; and Sir 
 R. Alcock, who was Her Majesty’s minister at Yedo for 
 several years, gave to the book he published on his return 
 home the name of The Capital of the Tycoon. Gradually, 
 however, it became apparent that the Shogun was not the 
 sovereign ruler of the empire even in things temporal ; that he 
 had no right to make the treaties at all ; that the Mikado had 
 not sanctioned what had been done ; and that the great 
 Daimios were much enraged at having been ignored in the 
 matter. At first they objected to the admission of foreigners ; 
 then, when they saw the advantages of extended trade, they 
 objected equally because the Shogun had (naturally enough) 
 only opened ports over which he had direct control — ports 
 which did not belong to the feudal lords, and from the open- 
 ing of which they received no profit. The first thing that Sir 
 Harry Parkes, the new British Minister, did, on reaching 
 Japan in 1865, was to obtain the formal ratification of the 
 Treaty of Yedo by the Mikado himself ; though he did not 
 then see the Mikado, nor even approach his old sacred capital, 
 Kioto. He paid, however, a state visit to Shimadzu, the great 
 Daimio of Satsuma, at Kagoshima, the scene of the bom- 
 bardment. 
 
 All this time the forces w^ere at work which led to the 
 extraordinary Revolution described in the next chapter ; and 
 in 1868 the final overthrow of the Shogun and his regime 
 caused some anxiety as to the maintenance of the treaties. 
 
70 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 But the young Mikado who had ascended the throne the year 
 before, and who was now de facto as well as de jtire ruler, 
 proved most friendly; and on April 26th, 1868, Sir Harry 
 Parkes stood face to face with the sovereign whose prede- 
 cessors had been invisible to, and unapproachable by, even 
 their own subjects for hundreds of years. This was at Osaka. 
 Towards the close of the year, the Mikado removed to his 
 new capital, the Shogun’s old capital, Yedo — thenceforth 
 called Tokio ; and on January 5th, 1869, he gave his first 
 state, audience to the Foreign Ministers. The date is worth 
 noting; for it was only a few* days after, on January 23rd, 
 that the first English missionary, the Rev. G. Ensor, landed 
 in Japan. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 God is the Judge : He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” — Ps. Ixxv. 7. 
 
 HE year 1868 in Japan was the year of one of the 
 most astonishing revolutions in the history of the 
 world. 
 
 What was this Revolution ? It was, (ij the 
 abolition of the Shogunate after it had lasted 700 years ; 
 
 (2) the resumption by the Mikado of the reins of government ; 
 
 (3) the voluntary surrender by the Daimio of their feudal 
 powers and privileges into the hands of the central govern- 
 ment ; (4) the adoption of the European system of depart- 
 ments of State, with a responsible Minister at the head of 
 each. It was a radical and thorough change, from feudalism 
 to personal rule — indeed to constitutional government in 
 theory, but this is hardly attained yet. In addition, the 
 Revolution (5) was meant to effect the suppression of 
 Buddhism — but it failed in that ; and (6) it actually resulted 
 in that which it was designed to prevent, the adoption by 
 Japan of Western civilisation. 
 
 This Revolution, though to outsiders it appeared sudden, 
 and seemed to be an immediate consequence of the opening 
 of Japan to foreign nations, was in reality the crisis and con- 
 summation of a long period of silent preparation for change. 
 
 For a century and more the jealousy of the Daimios at the 
 
72 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 exclusive power wielded by the Shogun, who was properly 
 only one of themselves, had been growing more and more 
 restive; and at the same time an important intellectual move- 
 ment was fashioning the political views of the educated classes. 
 A revival of Chinese learning, which sprang up at the end of 
 the seventeenth century, imbued the Japanese mind with the 
 ethics of Confucius, from which they derived lofty ideas of the 
 reverence due to the sovereign. The publication of the Dai 
 Niho 7 i Shi, the great history already mentioned, in 17 1 5 , the 
 central purpose of which was to exalt the sole authority of 
 the Mikado, powerfully stimulated the development of these 
 ideas ; and when at last the spirit of loyalty burst forth like a 
 volcanic eruption and swept the Shogunate away, the rallying 
 cry of the imperial party was King and Subject ! A 
 revival of Shintoism helped the movement. The study of the 
 old Shinto books showed that the Mikado had always been 
 revered as the representative of the gods (see chap, iv.) ; and 
 when the Revolution came a cry arose for the abolition of 
 Buddhism, which was identified with the Shogunate. But 
 although Shinto became the State religion, and the Buddhist 
 temples were deprived of State support, and in many cases 
 used for barracks, hospitals, schools. See., Buddhism has 
 proved to be too closely bound up with the life of the people 
 to be thus easily thrust aside, and it still remains, as we have 
 before seen, the popular religion of Japan. 
 
 The detailed history of the Revolution itself cannot be 
 given here. The foreign treaties were undoubtedly the im- 
 mediate occasion of it. The Shogun who signed them died 
 shortly after under suspicious circumstances. The heir being 
 a minor, a regent was appointed, who was soon assassinated, 
 and his head exhibited with a placard inscribed with these 
 words — ‘‘This is the head of a traitor who has violated the 
 most sacred law of Japan ; and then anarchy prevailed, the 
 
The Revolution. 
 
 73 
 
 Bakufu (Shogun’s council) continuing to conduct foreign 
 affairs, but being set at defiance at home by the Daimios. 
 The young Shogun died in 1866, but not before he had at last 
 obtained the Mikado’s acceptance of the treaties, and the 
 withdrawal of the ancient edict prohibiting Japanese from 
 leaving the country ; for the Daimios, as intimated in the pre- 
 ceding chapter, were beginning to see that Japan would gain 
 and not lose by foreign intercourse, and the most powerful of 
 them all, Shimadzu of Satsuma, had already, despite the 
 edict, sent the most promising of his young men to visit 
 Europe and America. The new Shogun, Keiki (sometimes 
 called by one of his titles, Yoshi Hisa), entered into intrigues 
 with the envoys of Napoleon III., hoping to make France his 
 ally in the impending struggle, and sent a handsome consign- 
 ment of Japanese products to the Paris Exhibition of 1867. 
 
 Thus both parties were now seeking foreign intercourse, and 
 the Revolution, which began with the cry of, '‘Expel the bar-' 
 barians,” ended by admitting them more freely than the old 
 regime had ventured to do. The Satsuma men who had 
 visited Europe returned, with open eyes and high hopes, just 
 in time to guide the empire at the crisis of its change, which 
 was now imminent. 
 
 The new Shogun had scarcely assumed power when the 
 Mikado died,> February 3rd, 1867. His successor, Mutsuhito, 
 being a young man, the party of progress seized the oppor- 
 tunity to push their designs. They persuaded Keiki, a timid 
 and vacillating man, to resign the Shogunate ; and then, to 
 ensure complete success, on January 3rd, 1868, they seized the 
 palace at Kioto, and proceeded to administer the government 
 in the name of the Mikado. Civil war ensued ; but in a 
 desperate battle fought at Fushimi,* a place between Kioto 
 
 * Fushimi is a few miles south of Kioto, on the Uji river; the river through 
 which the water of Lake Biwa flows into the Yodo. See Chap. i. 
 
74 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 and Osaka, which lasted three days, January 27th to 30th, 
 the Shogun’s army was totally defeated ; and although the 
 northern clans continued the contest on their own ground, the 
 imperial forces were everywhere victorious, and within a few 
 months the young Mikado was the undisputed ruler of all 
 Japan. Keiki himself submitted at once, and was allowed to 
 live in retirement; and the last of the Shoguns became a 
 quiet and loyal country gentleman. Equal clemency was 
 shown even to the leaders who held out longer ; and the very 
 last to lay down his arms, a noble named Enomoto, after- 
 wards became Japanese envoy at the court of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Some of these men were scholars and authors, who had 
 themselves also been sent to Europe and America by the 
 Shogun’s government, and, like their opponents of the 
 southern clans, had come back fired with a new patriotic 
 ambition. One, Fukuzawa, wrote a book on Western 
 Manners and Customs,” which had an enormous circulation. 
 Another, a schoolmaster named Nakamura, translated English 
 books like Smiles’s Self-Help, &c. 
 
 The young Mikado now came forth from behind the screen 
 of ages, and took his place as head of the State. He pro- 
 claimed that “ the uncivilised customs of former times should 
 be broken through, and the impartiality and justice displayed 
 in the workings of Nature adopted as a basis of action ; and 
 that intellect and learning should be sought for throughout 
 the world in order to establish the foundations of empire.” 
 
 In the eye of the people the outward and visible sign of the 
 change was the transfer of the capital from Kioto to Yedo. 
 For nearly three centuries Yedo had been the seat of the 
 executive government; but Kioto was the sacred imperial 
 city, and during the progress of the revolution, Yedo, being 
 identified with the falling cause, became much discredited, 
 and the population was rapidly diminishing. For the Mikado, 
 
The RcrolutioiL 
 
 75 
 
 
 THE MIKADO OF JAPAN IN 1878. 
 
76 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 after 700 years’ seclusion at Kioto, to come forth and set up 
 his throne at Yedo before the world, was a token indeed that 
 a new era had begun. To emphasise the change, the name 
 of the new capital was changed to Tokio ; and the emperor 
 entered it in state on November 26th, 1868, being then 
 eighteen years of age. Six months afterwards he entered it a 
 second time with a young empress at his side. 
 
 Then followed a still more remarkable phase of the 
 revolution. It became clear to the victorious Daimios, under 
 the influence of the men who had seen Western civilisation, 
 that the weak point in the Japanese polity was their own 
 feudal power ; that semi-independent principalities were an 
 anachronism ; and that if the Mikado was to reign over a 
 mighty and united empire, a centralised government was 
 essential. In the enthusiastic tide of patriotism personal 
 interests were swept aside ; and with a self-abnegation 
 scarcely to be paralleled in history, the leading Daimios, to 
 enable their country (so said their public manifesto) to take 
 its place side by side with the other countries of the world,” 
 voluntarily surrendered the whole of their feudal rights, lands, 
 and revenues into the hands of the imperial government, 
 and took the position of private gentlemen. Their retainers 
 were exhorted to give their entire allegiance directly to the 
 Mikado ; and the clans became absorbed in the nation. In 
 the very same year that the petty kings and princes of 
 Germany crowned King William of Prussia Emperor at 
 Versailles, the princes and nobles of Japan assembled in 
 solemn council at Tokio, and bowed their heads in submission 
 to the Mikado, as his new Prime Minister read out the imperial 
 decree abolishing feudalism. 
 
 Truly it is a wonderful spectacle. Some writers, however, 
 have rather overdrawn the picture. Of course the Daimio, 
 in rank and in public estimation, were Daimio still ; in many 
 
The Revolution, 
 
 77 
 
 cases they became governors, under the imperial government, 
 of the provinces formerly their feudal domains ; and life 
 pensions were granted to them and their retainers out of the 
 national funds — which has helped not a little to cripple the 
 finances of the country. Still, for a great territorial aristocracy 
 to become pensioners of the state, however exalted, and for 
 a proud and warlike historic caste to merge its peculiar 
 privileges in ordinary citizenship, was, after all deductions, 
 an event of the highest significance. 
 
 A deeply interesting account is given by Mr. Griffis of the 
 farewell gathering of the great Echizen clan on the occasion 
 of the retirement under this decree of their wealthy feudal 
 chief, on Oct. ist, 1871. count,” he says, “among the 
 most impressive of all my life’s experiences that scene in 
 the immense castle hall of Fukui, when the Daimio of 
 Echizen bid farewell to his three thousand two-sworded 
 retainers, and amidst the tears and smiles and loving fare- 
 wells of the city’s populace, left behind him lands, revenue, and 
 obedient followers, and retired to live as a private gentleman 
 in Tokio. . . . He adjured them all to transfer their allegiance 
 wholly to the Mikado and the Imperial House. Then, wishing 
 them all success and prosperity in their new relations, and in 
 their persons, their families, and their estates, in chaste and 
 fitting language he bid them solemn farewell. . . . To them 
 it was more than a farewell to their feudal lord. It was the 
 solemn burial of the institutions under which their fathers had 
 lived for seven hundred years. Each face seemed to wear a 
 far-away expression, as if their eyes were looking into the 
 past, or striving to probe an uncertain future.” 
 
 This lord of Echizen was one of the most liberal and 
 far-seeing of the Daimios. Six years before this he had 
 presented a memorial to the Mikado and the Shogun, 
 advocating a more enlightened policy. Some extracts are 
 
78 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 given in Mossman’s New Japan. Western foreigners of 
 the present day/’ he said, differ greatly from those of former 
 times; and while they are united in bonds of friendly com- 
 merce, Japan, standing apart in her solitude, has not known 
 the changes in Heaven’s course, and has lost the friendship of 
 the world at large. Hence to shut up this country and drive 
 out foreigners were a positive evil. . . . The so-called corrupt 
 religion of the Western nations is a different thing from the 
 Christianity of former times. Were Japan to adopt and 
 practise it, I am of opinion that no sects would arise to 
 ruin or damage the country.” 
 
VIII. 
 
 NEW JAPAN. 
 
 “Yet lackest thou one thing .” — Luke xviii. 22. 
 
 the impressive scene just referred to was a token 
 of the passing away of the old order of things, the 
 cf A fS presence, in a distant city in the interior of Japan, 
 
 of the clever American gentleman who describes 
 
 it, was a sign of the coming in of the new. 
 
 Immediately after the assumption of power by the Mikado, 
 the new government had begun to invite foreigners to Japan 
 to fill high administrative offices. Englishmen and Americans 
 had been appointed Comptrollers of the Navy and Public 
 Works, Inspectors of Mines, &c., &c. ; and most comprehen- 
 sive educational machinery had been set on foot, with foreign 
 professors of languages and science in some of the great 
 cities. Mr. Griffis was in 1871 scientific lecturer in a school 
 of 800 students at Fukui, the capital of the Echizen province ; 
 hence his presence at the Daimio’s farewell. 
 
 But after the abolition of feudalism, the advance of civilisa- 
 tion proceeded at a greatly accelerated rate ; and the year 
 1872 is memorable in the annals of New Japan as a year of 
 extraordinary progress. The Army, Navy, and Civil Service 
 were entirely reconstructed ; the Imperial Mint at Osaka was 
 opened, and a new coinage introduced ; the Educational De- 
 partment established in 1871 largely extended its operations 
 
8o 
 
 Japmt and the Japan Mission, 
 
 under an enlightened minister of state, and a University was 
 established at Tokio ; the Post Office was organised, runners 
 being employed who by connections could cover 125 miles a 
 day ; an Industrial Exhibition was held at the sacred city of 
 Kioto ; on June I2th, the first railway in Japan was opened, 
 from Tokio to Yokohama, a distance of eighteen miles ; and, 
 perhaps most wonderful of all, on June 28th, the young 
 Mikado set out on a tour of inspection through his dominions. 
 On New Year’s Day of 1873 the Calendar of the civilised 
 world was adopted : the years, however, being reckoned from 
 the traditional accession of the first Mikado, or from the new 
 period inaugurated at the revolution called Meiji, so that 
 1873 was the year 2333 of the Empire, and the 6th of Meiji.^ 
 
 Nor were the changes all material in character. Many 
 moral reforms were carried out. The eta, the pariahs of 
 Japan, were admitted to citizenship ; the “ two-sworded men ” 
 lost their exclusive privileges, and the two swords were soon 
 laid aside ; important regulations were framed to promote the 
 sacredness of marriage and to raise the condition of women ; 
 and above all, a move was made towards the toleration of 
 Christianity, of which more hereafter. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Japan ratified her entrance into the 
 comity of nations by sending an embassy of nobles and 
 ministers of high rank, headed by Iwakura, the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs, and one of the most enlightened men of the 
 progressive party, to the courts of America and Europe. 
 This was the first Imperial embassy ever sent to the west by 
 Japan. On the 4th of December, 1872, the ambassadors were 
 received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. 
 
 The last fifteen years have been a period of great and con- 
 
 * A succinct narrative of the adoption of these various reforms is given in 
 Mossman’s Neno Japan, down to 1873. Mr. Griffis gives less detail, but brings 
 the story of progress down to 1886, in the New Edition of his book. 
 
New Japan. 
 
 8i 
 
 tinuous progress. A decided advance has been made towards 
 the establishment of representative institutions. Under the 
 Mikado's government as established after the revolution of 
 1868, the supreme legislative and executive power of the 
 empire was vested in the Privy Council, which besides the 
 Emperor consisted of three chief Ministers of State and a 
 number of Privy Councillors ; and affairs concerning the 
 general administration of the empire were usually conducted 
 in accordance with the decision of the Emperor, b}^ and with 
 the advice and assistance of the First Minister, and after 
 deliberation by the other two ministers and the Privy Council. 
 Immediately subordinated to the Privy Council were the 
 Ministries or Departments of State. This was only a transi- 
 tion government, for when the Mikado assumed the reins of 
 power he solemnly promised that a deliberative assembly 
 should be formed," and '‘all measures decided by public 
 opinion." The first steps in this direction were taken in 1875 
 by creating a deliberative assembly composed of the Governors 
 of Provinces, who were to consult and advise on measures 
 relating to administrative matters of general application, and 
 by establishing a House of Senators to discuss and decide 
 upon measures of new legislation, or for the revision of exist- 
 ing laws. There was a still more decidedly onward move- 
 ment in 1877 when Provincial Representative Assemblies 
 were called into existence for Local Government purposes. 
 The discussion of questions of local taxation, and of matters 
 of local interest to be pressed upon the attention of the 
 Central Government, has done much to make the people 
 conscious of their power, and to show them the value of 
 representative government, and to educate them for it* The 
 
 * It is worthy of note that a voter must be able to read and write, and that it 
 is necessary in recording his vote to write his own name and that of the can- 
 didate for whom he votes on the ballot paper. 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 Japan a7id the Japan Mission, 
 
 press, platform, and debating club, both before and since, have 
 contributed towards forming public opinion on the subject, 
 and in December, i88i, the Emperor, yielding to its pressure, 
 definitely promised to establish a representative Parliament 
 in 1890, when constitutional government in Japan will 
 become an actuality. In 1884 the system of nobility was 
 modified to suit the altered circumstances of the country, 
 and hundreds who have rendered distinguished services to 
 the Empire have been admitted to its orders, and now figure 
 among ourselves as marquises, viscounts, barons. See. Thus 
 the way is being prepared for the formation of a Second 
 Chamber when the popular assembly is elected in 1890. In 
 anticipation of the same great change the Government was 
 reorganised in December, 1885. This was no mere redistri- 
 bution of offices, but a complete reconstruction of the govern- 
 ment fabric. Not only were men of the old court party 
 removed from office and young men educated abroad called 
 to fill the highest posts, but the triple Premiership, Privy 
 Council, and Ministries as then constituted were abolished,” 
 and a Cabinet, formed after European models, established in 
 their place ; but it has yet to be decided whether under the 
 new constitution the Ministers will be responsible to the 
 Emperor or the Parliament. The change, too, besides bring- 
 ing the Emperor and his subjects closer together, was one 
 greatly in the interests of economy, for by it the services of 
 some eight thousand officials were dispensed with. 
 
 The Government of the Restoration entered on its arduous 
 task with very heavy financial responsibilities, but it has met 
 them with complete success. In 1877 a scheme of commuta- 
 tion was promulgated, which provided for the extinction of 
 hereditary and life pensions created by the abolition of the 
 feudal system. This enormously increased the national 
 debt, which still amounts to nearly' 250 million dollars, and 
 
New Japom, 
 
 83 
 
 necessitates an annual expenditure of 20 millions. At the 
 same time the land tax — the principal source of revenue — 
 has been reduced one-sixth, involving an annual loss to the 
 Treasury of some 8 million dollars ; and yet the national 
 income, amounting to nearly 75 million dollars, fully covers 
 the expenditure. 
 
 Tokens of progress are to be seen in every direction. The 
 newspaper press has gone on developing in intelligence and 
 power, in spite of the check it received in 1876, when the 
 state of the country rendered stringent regulations necessary, 
 and numerous editors and writers suffered imprisonment for 
 violating them. A dozen daily newspapers are now published 
 in Tokio, three in Osaka, and more in other large towns, 
 whilst many more are published once, twice, or three times 
 a week in all parts of the country. Education is making 
 rapid strides. Of the 53,000 primary schools contemplated, 
 nearly 30,000 have been built, and are in active operation. 
 They are taught by teachers trained in normal schools, 
 and are attended by three million children, of whom about 
 a million are girls. The English language has been in- 
 cluded among the subj.ects taught, and is being more widely 
 studied than ever. Higher education is attracting more 
 attention, and that of women is now the question to the 
 front. The writing of Japanese with Roman letters is being 
 strongly urged in some quarters, and a new society called the 
 Romaji Kai or Roman Letter Association, was formed in 
 1884 to promote it. Should the system be adopted it will 
 greatly facilitate the work of education. The Post Office 
 has developed into a most important institution, with its 
 Money Order and Savings’ Bank business. In 1880 nearly 
 thirty-three million letters, seventeen million postcards, and 
 fourteen million newspapers passed through the post-offices 
 of the Empire, and in 1885 nearly one hundred million letters 
 
 F 2 
 
84 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 and packages were forwarded.* Japan is now a member of 
 the Postal Union, and regularly receives and despatches 
 foreign mails. The telegraph, first introduced in 1869, now 
 runs from end to end of the Empire. In 1885 there were 
 nearly six thousand miles open, with fifteen thousand miles 
 of wire ; and nearly three million messages were transmitted. 
 Cables connect the island Empire with the continent of 
 Asia and the whole of the civilised world. The telephone is 
 also in use in the large cities. Railway construction is being 
 pushed forward. The first little railway — that between 
 Tokio and Yokohama — was ppened in 1872. In 1885 
 “ there were 265 miles open, 271 miles in course of con- 
 struction, and 543 miles in contemplation.” The work of 
 surveying and engineering was formerly done by Europeans ; 
 it is now in the hands of Natives. Japanese packet and war 
 steamers are to be met with thousands of miles from Dai 
 Nippon. The Japan Mail Shipping Company has a large 
 fleet of steamers, and those regularly running between 
 Shanghai and Yokohama, calling at Nagasaki and Kobe, 
 belong to this company. Lighthouses stand on the principal 
 promontories, and on some of the outlying islands along the 
 coast where they are required to facilitate navigation. 
 Machinery has been introduced, and manufactories of all 
 kinds are in operation. 
 
 One of the most remarkable instances of Japanese imitation 
 of the customs of Christendom is the official adoption of 
 Sunday as a day of rest. There was formerly a national 
 holiday every fifth day,f viz., the ist, 6th, nth, i6th, 21st, 
 
 * Even eleven or twelve years ago the Rev. J. Piper, travelling in the heart 
 of the country, found a letter-box in almost every village, with in most places 
 the English words, “ Post Office.” The number is now much greater, and 
 pillar and wall-boxes are common in both town and country, 
 t Called I chUroku— one-six. 
 
New Japan. 
 
 85 
 
 and 26th of each month. On the ist of April, 1876, these 
 were abolished, and the first day of each seven substituted. 
 As the many Europeans engaged in various departments 
 refused (from whatever motives) to work on Sundays, the 
 inconvenience of the old system was manifest, and as the 
 Saturday half-holiday has been introduced as well as the 
 Sunday rest, officials have lost nothing by the change. 
 
 But this progress, though continuous, has not been always 
 uninterrupted. Disaffection repeatedly showed itself among 
 the Samurai after they were dispossessed of their privileges 
 and wealth, and more than once open insurrection broke out. 
 The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, especially, was a most serious 
 affair, and demands a brief notice. 
 
 Satsuma is (or rather was) a principality at the southern 
 end of Kiushiu. The Daimio of the Satsuma clan was the 
 most powerful, and almost the richest, of the Japanese nobles, 
 and certainly the most independent. The then de facto 
 chief, Shimadzu Saburo, who had acted for his son, the nominal 
 head of the clan (but a minor), since 1858, played a leading 
 part in the Revolution. It was he whose retainers killed Mr. 
 Richardson in 1862 ; it was he whose city, Kagoshima, was 
 bombarded, and who afterwards entertained Sir H. Parkes ; 
 it was he who led the attack on the Shogunate. Among 
 his leading Samurai were Saigo and Okubo, who, under the 
 revived government of the Mikado, became respectively 
 Commander-in-chief and Minister of Finance. 
 
 Within a year after the Revolution, divergences of opinion 
 began to appear in the Cabinet. The Prime Minister and 
 Vice-Prime Minister, Sanjo and Iwakura, headed the pro- 
 gressive party, and were supported by Okubo and other 
 Satsuma men ; while Shimadzu (who held no post, but had 
 great influence) and Saigo were unwilling to go further than 
 they had already gone, and exhibited reactionary tendencies. 
 
86 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 In particular, the two latter advocated the old rights of the 
 Samurai, and endeavoured in 1873 to force Japan into a 
 war with Korea, hoping that by gaining military glory the 
 two-sworded men would recover their former pre-eminence. 
 Iwakura and Okubo, having been in Europe and America, 
 had learned the advantages of peace, and their views prevailed 
 in the Government, although, as a kind of sop to the dis- 
 contented Satsuma Samurai, an expedition was undertaken 
 in 1874 to Formosa, to punish the people of that island for 
 some outrages on shipwrecked Japanese. Saigo retired from 
 the ministry, and Shimadzu presented to the Mikado a solemn 
 protest against twenty specified innovations contrary to 
 national usage, one of which was “ the engagement of 
 foreigners for the service of the State and the adoption of their 
 ideas, and another, the non-prohibition of the extension of 
 evil doctrines'’ {i.e.^ Christianity). No attention was paid to 
 this memorial; and when in March, 1876, the final abolition 
 of the two-swords ” was decreed, it was to Shimadzu ‘‘ the 
 knell of all his hopes and dreams of a return to the old order 
 of things." “ He acknowledged the impossibility of realising 
 his dream, and retired from the political arena.” " 
 
 Saigo was not so easily overcome. In view of a possible 
 contest, he and the Satsuma Samurai carried on the manu- 
 facture of arms at Kagoshima on their own account, and 
 gradually perfected a military organisation for the overthrow 
 of the Government, all being done nominally in the name of 
 the Mikado, though in avowed opposition to his ministers. 
 At length in February, 1877, civil war broke out. A desperate 
 conflict ensued, which desolated Kiushiu for seven months, 
 
 * The notification of March, 1876 was : — “ No individual will henceforth be 
 permitted to wear a sword unless he be in Court dress, a member of the military 
 or naval forces, or a police officer,” when it appeared there were very few of the 
 Samurai who were wearing swords except on special occasions. 
 
New Japan, 
 
 87 
 
 and cost Japan 35,000 men and eight millions of money. But 
 it ended in the total defeat of Saigo. On September 24th he 
 and the remnant of his personal followers were surrounded 
 and overpowered. He was one of the first to fall wounded 
 to the ground, when one of his lieutenants, true to the ancient 
 custom of Japan, cut off his chiefs head with a single blow of 
 his heavy sword, and then slew himself by hara-kiri. The 
 head was discovered and recognised by the victors, and 
 “ Admiral Kawamura, the senior officer present, reverently 
 washed it with his own hands as a mark of respect for his 
 former friend and companion in arms.’'* 
 
 The suppression of the rebellion greatly strengthened thfe 
 Government. But it did not give universal satisfaction. 
 Thousands of the people of Satsuma have since visited the 
 grave of Saigo ; and the popular belief at the time of his 
 death was that his spirit had taken up its abode in the planet 
 Mars, while those of his followers inhabited a new race of 
 frogs which was said to have appeared in Kiushiu. 
 
 A great calamity fell upon the Cabinet and the country in 
 the following year. Iwakura had been assaulted and severely 
 wounded by disaffected Samurai in 1873 ; and now his able 
 colleague Okubo met a violent death at their hands, being 
 assassinated in Tokio itself on May 14th, 1878. In him Japan 
 lost a great man, and one of her most enlightened and judi- 
 cious leaders. 
 
 But the progress, if checked, has never been stopped. Iwa- 
 kura continued to serve his country for four years, and then 
 passed away in July, 1883. Sanjo, his former chief, still lives, 
 though the active duties of government have passed into 
 younger hands. But the tide of progress still flows. The 
 
 * This brief notice of Saigo’s revolt and the circumstances that led to it is 
 based upon a most interesting book, Mounsey’s Satsuma Rebellion (Murray, 
 1879). See also an article in the C, M. Intelligencer of July, 1879. 
 
88 
 
 Japan a7id the Japan Mission, 
 
 Europeanising process is going on more rapidly than even 
 Politically, socially, and religiously old things have passed 
 away and all things have become, or are becoming, new. In 
 England, the Revolution of the seventeenth century followed 
 on the Reformation of the sixteenth, and was, as far as the 
 State was concerned, its crown and completion. Japan has 
 had its Revolution, not indeed, as we have seen, independent 
 of all connection with religion, but untouched at all events by 
 any faith that can exercise a chastening and an elevating 
 influence on the people. Will that Revolution have its crown 
 and completion in a true Reformation — in the adoption of the 
 Y esu-no-7nichi, the Way of Jestis } Some of the following 
 pages may help us to answer the question, or at least to form 
 an opinion as to the way it is likely to be answered in the not 
 very distant future. 
 
IX. 
 
 PROTESTAKT MISSIONS IN JAPAN. 
 
 “ Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon 
 thee.” — Isa. lx. i . 
 
 NGLAND was mainly instrumental in opening the 
 door for the Gospel to enter Japan, and the 
 American Churches were foremost in carrying it 
 in. Under Commodore Perry’s limited treaty 
 several American missionaries, connected with China, paid 
 brief visits to Japan, to ascertain what were the prospects of 
 commencing missionary work ; but nothing further could be 
 done until Lord Elgin’s Treaty of 1858, and the similar 
 treaties concluded between Japan and other Western nations, 
 secured liberty for foreigners to reside at certain specified 
 ports. When these came into operation in July, 1859, the 
 Rev. J. Liggins, and the Rev. C. M. (now Bishop) Williams, 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, 
 were already at Nagasaki, and in the following October Dr. 
 Hepburn of the American Presbyterian Board arrived at 
 Kanagawa. These were followed in November by two clerical 
 and one medical missionary connected with the Dutch 
 Reformed Church of America, and in the following April 
 by a missionary of the American Baptist Free Mission 
 Society. Thus, within a year from the opening of the treaty- 
 ports to foreign residence, four American societies were 
 represented by five ordained and two medical missionaries. 
 
90 
 
 Japan a7id the Japan Mission. 
 
 The Civil War in the United States, of i860 — 4, sadly 
 crippled American missionary effort generally for the time ; 
 and in 1861, some of the Episcopal missionaries who were 
 compelled to retire from Japan for lack of support from home 
 wrote to England, and appealed to the Church Missionary 
 Society to take up the work they had begun. The means for 
 this, however, were not forthcoming ; and on the restoration 
 of peace in America, the Churches there were enabled to 
 strengthen their missions. 
 
 It was just at that epoch, 1864, that a remarkable event 
 occurred which more than anything else was instrumental in 
 awakening Christian people in the United States to their 
 responsibilities. A young Japanese of good family named 
 Neesima, had been struck by a book on geography in the 
 Chinese language, published by an American missionary. It 
 began, ‘‘ In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
 earth.’’* What could this mean ? Who was that God ? 
 Certainly He did not live in Japan ; perhaps He might live in 
 America, whence the author of the book came. So reasoned 
 the young man, and determined to go to America and seek 
 for God. He left Japan secretly, and at the peril of his life 
 (for the old law forbidding Japanese to leave their countr\' 
 was still in force), made his way to China in a trading vessel, 
 and thence obtained a passage to Boston. There he found 
 himself more perplexed than ever. I came all the way to 
 Boston,” he said to the captain of the ship that had brought 
 him, ‘‘ to find God, and there is no one to tell me.” The 
 captain took him to the owner of the vessel, a well-known 
 Christian merchant, Mr. A. Hardy. The merchant took him 
 home, treated him as a son, and sent him to college. He 
 
 * “ An excellent introduction,” says a missionary who tells the story, the Rev. 
 J. H. Ballagh, “to a system of geography. It would hardly be tolerated in this 
 Christian land, but in a heathen land it might pass.” 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan. 
 
 91 
 
 soon found the God he had been seeking, and with his whole 
 heart embraced the faith of Christ. In 1875 he returned to 
 Japan as a missionary at the charges of his benefactor and in 
 connection with the American Board, and became president 
 of a Christian college at Kioto, which was then founded, and 
 where in 1884 — 5 there were 172 students pursuing the 
 ordinary collegiate course, and 48 theological students pre- 
 paring to labour among their countrymen. But the deep 
 interest which his case excited at the time gave a great 
 impetus to American missionary zeal on behalf of Japan. 
 
 The pioneer missionaries were in circumstances of no little 
 discouragement and difficulty for several years after they 
 entered upon their work. The Government viewed them 
 with suspicion ; the people, though by no means hostile, were 
 distant and timid ; and all classes dreaded Christianity as a pes- 
 tilential creed, the introduction of which would bring manifold 
 evils upon the country. Official spies were frequently sent to 
 the missionaries ostensibly to make friends with them, but 
 really to discover what object these unofficial and non-trading 
 foreigners had in coming to J apan. Even in private the greatest 
 caution was necessary in dealing with visitors, for so much 
 were the consequences of being suspected of favouring Chris- 
 tianity feared, that whenever the subject was mentioned to a 
 Japanese he would involuntarily put his hand to his throat as 
 a token of the danger to which the introduction of such a 
 subject exposed him. Some young men who in these early 
 days came to a missionary to learn a little English, purchased 
 copies of a book called The Christian Reader^ and at once 
 erased the word “ Christian ” from the title page and cover, 
 for fear it should be noticed by others and bring them into 
 trouble. 
 
 But even then, when open missionary work was an impos- 
 sibility, and any attempt to engage in it would have invited 
 
92 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 disaster, the personal influence of the missionaries was 
 making itself felt, and the disposal by them of numerous 
 copies of the Holy Scriptures and other books in Chinese, 
 which were imported for circulation among the educated 
 classes — who studied and read Chinese as a classical language 
 — carried the light of Christian truth to places far away from 
 the treaty-ports. Almost from the first there were a few 
 earnest, though timid seekers after truth, and every year their 
 number increased. This was especially the case after three 
 or four years, when, owing to the change in official and 
 popular feeling, larger numbers came to the missionaries for 
 instruction in English ; and the improvement was still more 
 marked when a little later Government schools were estab- 
 lished in Yokohama and Nagasaki, for the teaching of 
 English, and placed in charge of missionaries. It was chiefly 
 in this way that the Gospel was first brought in contact with 
 the people. ‘‘From 1859 to 1872 there was no preaching 
 worthy of mention. The missionaries were all engaged in 
 teaching. God led our missionaries into the schools, and the 
 Kingdom of Christ entered Japan through the schools.''* 
 
 In January, 1866, “a little band of believers of various 
 nationalities " residing in Yokohama, who had been observing 
 the Week of Universal Prayer, issued “ an address to God’s 
 people throughout the world, asking their prayers in a special 
 manner for Japan." It mentioned some favourable changes 
 in the circumstances of the missions ; that the Government no 
 longer sent spies to watch the missionaries, but began to 
 repose confidence in them by employing them as school 
 teachers ; that in the schoolrooms and in the houses of the 
 missionaries the intelligent young men who came to learn 
 English manifested a readiness to talk about Christianity, and 
 
 * Report of the General Conference on Foreign Missions, held at Mildmay, 
 Oct., 1878. Paper by Rev. Dr. Ferris, on “ Missions in Japan.” 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan, 
 
 93 
 
 no longer uttered the name of Jesus with bated breath ; and 
 that some of them went daily to the missionaries’ houses in 
 groups of from two or three to six or seven to read the English 
 Bible, preferring this to the study of school-books.” 
 
 In June, 1869, the C.M. Society’s experienced missionary in 
 China, the Rev. W. A. (afterwards Bishop) Russell, visited 
 Japan, and in his report to the Society he laid especial stress 
 upon the fact that while against Christianity in a Roman 
 Catholic garb, from what took place in the past, there no 
 doubt existed a very bitter feeling, no hostility was mani- 
 fested against Protestant Christianity,” which the Japanese 
 were already beginning to discern to be a very different thing. 
 He found visitors to the missionaries speaking with reserve 
 about religion till they ascertained them to be Protestants, 
 
 and then religious conversation was prosecuted without hesi- 
 tation.” This probably arose from a growing conviction that 
 Protestantism was politically less harmful than either Roman 
 Catholicism or the system of the Russo-Greek Church, but it 
 nevertheless betokened the advance of knowledge among 
 intelligent and discriminating men, for during the earlier 
 years no such distinctions were made. 
 
 But whatever change of opinion may have been discernible 
 in some quarters the law against Christianity was still unre- 
 pealed, and the Mikado’s Government seemed bent on main- 
 taining it in its integrity. Soon after the Revolution in 1868, 
 the laws of the Shogun’s Government, which had been posted 
 on the notice-boards in every town and village, were replaced 
 by those of the new Imperial Government. Among the new 
 enactments were the following : — 
 
 The evil sect, called Christian, is strictly prohibited. Suspicious per- 
 sons should be reported to the proper officers, and rewards will be given. 
 
 Human beings must carefully practise the principles of the five social 
 relations. Charity must be shown to widowers, widows, orphans, the 
 
94 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 / 
 
 childless, and sick. There must be no such crimes as murder, arson, or 
 robbery. 
 
 And a few months later a further decree appeared : — 
 
 With respect to the Christian sect, the existing prohibition must be 
 strictly observed. Evil sects are strictly prohibited. 
 
 But notwithstanding these hostile notifications some relaxa- 
 tion could not long be delayed. Already Christian men and 
 Christian missionaries were residing in the country, and 
 
 allowed the free exercise of their religion,” and had “ the 
 right to erect suitable places ‘ of worship,” under treaties. 
 Already, too, the law that made it criminal for a Japanese 
 to leave the country, or having left to return to it, which was 
 enacted at the same time as the laws against Christianity, had 
 fallen into abeyance, and these were soon destined to be simi- 
 larly disregarded. In 1873 all the new Imperial notifications 
 just quoted were withdrawn from the notice-boards. This 
 action of the Government was equivocal. It did not repeal 
 the law against Christianity ; but just as the laws respecting 
 ‘‘ murder, arson, and robbery ” remained in force, notwith- 
 standing the removal of the particular prohibitions respecting 
 them, so was it with the prohibition of the evil sect.” In- 
 deed, officers were appointed to warn the people against 
 • supposing that the law was changed because the notices were 
 no longer exhibited as formerly. But, in spite of these expla- 
 nations, the people soon began to regard what had been done 
 as equivalent to a repeal of the obnoxious edicts ; and the 
 Government, who were undoubtedly anxious to avoid offend- 
 ing the Christian sentiment of Western nations, were not 
 averse to such a construction being put upon their action, and 
 were better able to ignore breaches of the law when its exist- 
 ence was less conspicuous. 
 
 But whilst the central Government every year pursued a 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan, 
 
 95 
 
 more liberal and enlightened policy, local officials were in 
 many cases slow to follow. Ostensibly acting in the interests 
 of public order, they had numerous opportunities — of which 
 they sometimes took advantage — of throwing obstacles in the 
 way of the open propagation of Christianity, and of intimi- 
 dating and oppressing those who favoured or embraced 
 it. But eventually the views of the party of progress 
 triumphed, all official opposition ceased, and toleration 
 became virtually complete. Buildings were set apart for 
 Christian worship, not only for foreigners but for natives, 
 not only at the treaty-ports but in towns and villages far 
 removed from them. No obstacles were placed in the way 
 of the evangelistic work of either natives or foreigners. No 
 difficulty was experienced in holding public meetings in 
 theatres and other large buildings. Christian literature was 
 everywhere exposed for sale and openly circulated by book- 
 sellers, and by colporteurs employed for the purpose. In 
 1884 — less than twelve years after the removal of the edicts 
 from the notice-boards — the final step was taken, and the 
 topstone of the edifice of religious toleration laid by the issue 
 of notifications in regard to registration and burial. Until 
 that time every citizen was registered as a Buddhist or Shin- 
 toist, and difficulties were sometimes experienced by Christians 
 in getting their names transferred from the register in one 
 place to that in another. A still greater difficulty was some- 
 times experienced in burying the Christian dead. In some 
 places where public cemeteries had been established — as at 
 Osaka — there was no such difficulty, as the cemeteries were 
 open to all, of whatever sect or creed, and the employment of 
 a Buddhist or Shinto priest was optional. But in other places 
 it was quite different. Thus in 1875 the Rev. Mr. Thompson, 
 an American missionary at Tokio, having buried a convert 
 with Christian rites, two Japanese who took part in the funeral 
 
96 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 were summoned before one of the courts, severely reprimanded, 
 and threatened with a fine for breaking the law which required 
 every burial to be according to Buddhist or Shinto rites. As 
 most of the burial-grounds were connected with Buddhist 
 temples and under the control of the priesthood, the difficulty 
 was increased by the tenacity with which the priests very 
 naturally clung to their prescriptive rights and dues. In pro- 
 cess of time Christian burials were allowed to take place in 
 some of the Buddhist burial-grounds with the consent of the 
 priest in charge. Even so lately as 1884, one of the C.M.S. 
 Christians was thus buried in Tokio. The priest received the 
 customary fee, and to accommodate those concerned went out 
 for the day, leaving the Christians free to bury the remains of 
 their departed sister with Christian rites. By the notifications 
 just referred to, all religious distinctions in registration and 
 burial were abolished, and provision was made for the estab- 
 lishment of public cemeteries to be open to all, so as not to 
 interfere with the prescriptive rights of the priesthood. Thus 
 thirty years after the negotiation of Commodore Perry’s 
 treaty, and twenty-five after the opening of the ports, the last 
 obstacles to Christian liberty were removed, and perfect 
 religious equality was established ; and that without any such 
 reference to Christianity by name as would have marked it 
 out for opposition from those interested in maintaining the old 
 religions of the country. 
 
 This happy result has been achieved by a variety of means. 
 Christianity was not recognised by the treaties with Japan as 
 a religion inculcating virtue, nor did Western nations stipulate 
 that liberty should be given to propagate it ; yet Christian 
 diplomacy has done much to promote the cause of religious 
 freedom in Japan. It must not be forgotten that the with- 
 drawal of the anti-Christian edict in 1873 happened at the 
 very time the first Imperial embassy visited Europe and 
 
Protesta7it Missio7ts m Japa7i. 
 
 97 
 
 America, and that the still more decided and altogether 
 unequivocal action of the Government in 1884 followed closely 
 upon the return from Germany of Mr. Ito, a member of the 
 Privy Council, who is said to have learnt from conversations 
 with Prince Bismarck and the Emperor William that Christi- 
 anity was not a mere human device for the maintenance of 
 influence and power, but a reality in the hearts of men,'’ 
 exerting an influence of untold value to the individual and 
 the nation,” and to have recommended the Mikado to study 
 it and to promote its introduction. 
 
 In the early days of cautious and tentative effort much 
 good was also effected by the influence of able and devoted 
 Christian laymen, chiefly from the United States, who engaged 
 in educational work under the Government ; and unquestion- 
 ably the toleration that so soon obtained was largely due to 
 the spread, by their instrumentality, among the governing and 
 literary class — the very class they came in contact with in the 
 colleges and schools — of correct views of the high character 
 of the Christian religion. One of these gentlemen, Mr. E. 
 Warren Clark, in his pleasant little book Life a7id AdveTttures 
 m Japa7tf gives incidentally some interesting glimpses of the 
 exercise of this kind of Christian influence. He was engaged 
 as a teacher of science at the city of Shidzuoka. When he 
 reached Japan from America, he found in the agreement he 
 was to sign a clause forbidding him to teach Christianity, and 
 binding him to silence for three years. It was a great 
 dilemma,” he says ; for I had spent all my money in coming 
 to Japan and getting ready to go into the interior." Some of 
 his friends urged him to accept the condition ; and his Japa- 
 nese interpreter recommended him to sign the agreement and 
 then disregard it. But he felt a great principle was at stake, 
 
 Published in England by J. Nisbet & Co. 
 G 
 
98 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 and he stood firm. Unless the clause was struck out, he 
 informed the Government, he must decline to go on. “ It is 
 impossible,’' he added, for a Christian to dwell three years 
 in the midst of a Pagan people, and yet keep entire silence on 
 the subject nearest his heart." His firmness triumphed ; the 
 clause was struck out ; and the J apanese, he says, respected 
 his ‘‘pluck," and were more friendly than ever. He began 
 the very first Sunday he was at Shidzuoka, and conducted a 
 Bible-class the whole time he was there; and when he was 
 transferred to the Imperial College at Tokio, he resolved to 
 hold three every Sunday, for the convenience of different 
 classes of students. Unusual difficulties arose here, but he 
 persevered. “ I confess," he wrote, “ that when the feeling 
 floods upon me, that these are souls for whom Christ died, 
 and mine is the privilege to make the fact known unto them, 
 it breaks through all bounds of mere expediency, and forces 
 me to speak the truth at all risks. There is a solemnity 
 beyond expression in the attempt to bring before these young 
 men the words of eternal life." 
 
 Another American gentleman. Captain Janes, who was for 
 some time engaged as a school-teacher at Kumamoto, in 
 Kiushiu, was the means of leading a fine body of young men 
 to Christ, of whom more than thirty joined the Christian 
 College at Kioto at once, in 1876, and were subsequently 
 received into the Christian Church in that city. About a 
 dozen of this number completed their theological course — 
 extending over three years — in 1879, and are now engaged 
 in educationaf, pastoral, evangelistic and literary work. 
 
 What would have been the result, not only in J apan but 
 in every part of the world, if English and American Christians 
 had always thus reflected the light of Christ in word and 
 deed! The Japanese, like other intelligent races, were not 
 slow to notice the marked difference between the Christianity 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan. 
 
 99 
 
 preached by the missionaries and the Christianity exhibited 
 in the lives of too many who came from Christian countries, 
 and to infer that the religion of Christ had no more living 
 power than the religion of Buddha. This is illustrated by 
 the following passage from an essay by a young Japanese, 
 quoted in Lanman’s Japanese in America : — 
 
 The conduct of foreigners, excepting some of the better class of mis- 
 sionaries and a few laymen, is a very shame to the name of Christianity 
 and civilisation, and retards the progress of both. ... It is in vain that 
 some really good Christians try to persuade the natives that Christianity 
 is the true religion of God while they are beset on all sides by these 
 splendid specimens of nominal Christians. ... A traitor is worse than 
 an enemy; yet these nominal Christians are such. . . . Woe to the 
 betrayer of their Master ! If He should appear in this world at this 
 time He could scarcely recognise His own people. 
 
 The open discussion of Christianity and the advocacy of 
 its toleration in the numerous daily and weekly newspapers 
 published in the capital and the provinces, also tended to 
 help forward change in this direction. An extract or two 
 from articles which appeared in 1875 may be quoted : — 
 
 The faith of people can only be formed by their hearts, and it seems 
 therefore improper for the Government to dictate to them which form of 
 faith is right or wrong, and what they shall do and what not do on 
 this subject. It would be better for the Government to permit the 
 people to worship God as they please, provided that in doing so they do 
 not violate the laws of their country. . . . This, therefore, is a thing to 
 which our rulers ought to give the greatest consideration. Ye statesmen, 
 what are your views ? 
 
 A religion is established by the number of those who believe it. . . An 
 athlete, however strong, could not by the force of his muscles, wrench the 
 belief of another from his mind, nor could an eloquent man by his 
 eloquence. A Government ought, therefore, to leave religion to the free 
 consciences of men, and it has no right to say, We insist on this belief 
 and prohibit the other belief,” for a Government itself is composed only 
 of men. 
 
 The entrance of Christianity is the natural outcome of time. There is 
 
 G 2 
 
100 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 nothing better than Christianity to aid in the advancement of the world, 
 but there are sects which are injurious, as well as sects that are beneficial. 
 The best mode, therefore, of advancing our country is to introduce the 
 most free and enlightened form of Christianity and have it diffused 
 among the people. 
 
 These and many similar utterances of the native press were 
 read and discussed in all parts of the country. If they pro- 
 voked opposition in some quarters, they enlightened the 
 popular mind, and emboldened multitudes to study Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 The presence of Missionaries, domiciled in the country for 
 the avowed object of propagating the faith of Christ in the 
 face of anti-Christian edicts, opened the conflict, and their 
 quiet but persistent, and, in due time under God’s blessing, 
 successful efforts to win individuals to Christ intensified it. 
 Then it was that the widespread manifestation of Christian 
 truth and its exemplification in Christian lives, the influence 
 of Christian Governments, the zeal of enlightened journalists, 
 and the action of far-seeing statesmen, combined to secure for 
 the people of Japan perfect liberty of conscience in matters 
 of religion. Surely in all this the Church may hear the voice 
 of her living Lord, the King of nations, saying, ‘‘ Behold I 
 have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” 
 
 Until 1869 only the four American societies which entered 
 the field in 1859 and i860 had representatives in the country. 
 Then two new Missions were established, that of the C.M.S. 
 at Nagasaki, and the American Board Mission, whose first 
 missionary reached Yokohama in November, and removed to 
 Kobe in the following spring (1870). In 1871 three agents 
 of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society of America arrived 
 at Yokohama, and in the year following they established the 
 “American Mission Home,” an important female educational 
 institution, which has been “ the spiritual birthplace of many,” 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan, 
 
 lOI 
 
 and which still continues to be an important centre of female 
 missionary work. In 1873-74 the older Missions were con- 
 siderably strengthened and their operations extended, and 
 several new ones were commenced. In the former year the 
 American Baptist Missionary Union took the place of the 
 Baptist Free Mission Society, and three other new Missions 
 entered the field — those of the American Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, the Methodist Church of Canada, and the English 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ; and in the latter 
 year the Edinburgh Medical Mission was started, and the 
 United Presbyterian Church of Scotland sent out its first 
 missionaries. Since then eleven other smaller missions have 
 commenced work, and the Edinburgh Medical Mission has 
 withdrawn from the field, and transferred its work at Niigata 
 to the American Board. At the close of 1886 there were, 
 therefore, 22 Protestant Missionary Societies represented in 
 Japan, viz., 14 American, i German-Swiss, and 7 British — 
 the British being i Scotch, i Canadian, and 5 English — but 
 nine of the entire number had fewer than five missionaries 
 each, and two of them had only one missionary each. 
 
 The total number of male missionaries at that time was 
 128, and of single lady missionaries 87. Of the former 92 
 were American, i German-Swiss, and 35 British — 3 being 
 Scotch, 8 Canadian, and 24 English — and the lady workers 
 were made up of 75 American and 13 British — 5 being 
 Canadian and 8 English. Thus it will be seen that American 
 missionaries, who were first to enter Japan in 1859, who 
 were doing useful pioneer work nearly ten years before the 
 arrival of the first British missionary, still continue to take 
 the lead. 
 
 Most of the missionaries have hitherto resided at one or 
 other of the seven treaty-ports, but some of them have from 
 time to time resided at other places, as employes of Japanese, 
 
102 
 
 Japan and the Japaii Mission. 
 
 generally in the capacity of school-teachers, with, in some 
 cases, no little advantage to the work. Thirteen such places 
 were occupied during 1886 by one or more missionary 
 workers, viz., Fuku-oka and Kumamoto in Kiushiu, Kochi in 
 Shikoku, Nemuro and Sapporo in Yezo, and in the main 
 island Naka-no-Seki in Choshiu in the west, Okayama in 
 Bizen (opposite the island of Shikoku), Wakayama in Kii, 
 south of Osaka, Kioto the old capital, where the American 
 Board has had a strong staff in connection with Mr. 
 Neesima’s Christian College for more than ten years, 
 Shidzuoka on the Tokaido, west of Tokio, Kanazawa in 
 Kaga on the west coast, Kubota in the Akita ken in the 
 extreme north-west, and Sendai on the north-east coast. 
 Of the twenty places just mentioned including the treaty- 
 ports, thirteen were in each case occupied by one society 
 only, but at the remaining seven two or more societies were 
 working side by side. Thus at Tokio, the head-quarters 
 of so many missions, fourteen societies were represented, 
 at Yokohama eight, at Osaka six, at Sendai four, at Naga- 
 saki and Kobe three, and at Hakodate two. But while 
 the ingathering at these chief centres has been large, much 
 work has been done in numerous other places, both by mis- 
 sionaries travelling under Government passports, and by 
 stationary and itinerant native evangelists. 
 
 The first Japanese convert to receive Christian baptism 
 from a Protestant missionary was Yano Riu, who had been a 
 teacher of the language to one of the missionaries since i860. 
 He was baptized at his own house in Yokohama in the 
 presence of his family, and with their full consent, in October, 
 1864, died shortly afterwards in the assurance that he 
 was about to be with Jesus. The next were two brothers 
 who held official positions in Kiushiu under the Prince of 
 Hizen. An English pocket Testament, which had been acci- 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan. 
 
 103 
 
 dentally dropped overboard from one of the ships of the 
 English fleet which visited Japan in 1854, came into the 
 hands of the elder, Wakasa by name, and on learning that 
 there was a Chinese translation of it, he procured a copy and 
 began to study it. This eventually resulted in his younger 
 brother and three others becoming interested in Christianity. 
 When they sought instruction from Mr. (now Dr.) Verbeck, 
 who was then living at Nagasaki, they were residing at Saga, 
 where the C.M.S. now has an outstation. Being unable to 
 visit their instructor, owing to official duties, they were plen- 
 tifully supplied with Chinese Christian books, and two mes- 
 sengers were employed going regularly to and fro between 
 teacher and pupils — a two days’ journey each way — with 
 questions from the latter and explanations in reply to them 
 from the former. In May, 1866, Wakasa and his brother 
 visited Nagasaki, and on Whit-Sunday they were secretly 
 baptized. Wakasa fell asleep in Jesus in 1872, and happy 
 fruit gathered in 1880 bore witness to his continuance in the 
 faith, and to his earnest and faithful efforts to win his children, 
 friends, and servants to Christ. 
 
 Other isolated converts were gathered from time to time, 
 but up to the spring of 1872, a period of nearly thirteen years 
 since the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries, only ten 
 Japanese had received baptism at their hands, the last being 
 Mr. Nimura, who was baptized by Mr. Ensor at Nagasaki 
 in 1871. 
 
 The first native Japanese Church was organised at Yoko- 
 hama on March loth, 1872, nearly a year before the with- 
 drawal of the edicts against Christianity. Its first member- 
 ship embraced nine young men, who then received baptism, 
 and two who had been baptised previously, one of them being 
 Mr. Ensor’s first convert just mentioned. It was called The 
 Church of Christ in Japan,” and its constitution consisted of 
 
104 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 a simple evangelical Creed, and some rules which placed the 
 government of it in the hands of the pastor and elders, with 
 the consent of the members. It is now one of the numerous 
 congregations connected with the body called ‘'The United 
 Church of Christ in Japan,’’ which, as will presently be seen, 
 was organised in October, 1877, and embraces all the 
 Christians gathered in connection with the American Presby- 
 terian and Dutch Reformed and Scottish U. P. Missions. 
 
 The ingathering, so slow at first, has been rapid during the 
 last few years ; so that at the close of 1886 — less than fifteen 
 years after the first church was ‘organised — there were 193 
 “ organised churches ” or congregations, and the ten Christians 
 baptized during the more than twelve years ending with the 
 close of 1871, had grown into a body of 14,710. During the 
 year 1886 there were 4,115 baptisms, and the net increase in 
 the three years ending December, 1886, was 8,112, or 123 per 
 cent. One of the most marked evidences of the reality of this 
 work and of the vigour of Japanese Christianity, is the spirit of 
 independence and self-support which characterises the Native 
 churches. Thus of the 193 organised churches reported to be 
 in existence in 1886, no fewer than 64 were wholly self-sup- 
 porting, and 1 19 partially, and their united contributions 
 amounted to nearly |26,866, which, at the par rate of 4s., is 
 equal to ;^S>373> more than 7s. for each baptized church 
 member. 
 
 The relations between the several missions have been, as a 
 rule, most cordial and friendly, and in spite of national, deno- 
 minational, and individual differences, substantial unity has 
 prevailed, and, in some important matters of common interest, 
 united action has been secured. This has been the case in 
 the work of translating the Old and New Testament Scrip- 
 tures. A committee for the translation of the New Testament, 
 to “ consist of one member from each mission desirous of co- 
 
Protestant Missions m Japan. 
 
 lOS 
 
 operating in this work/' was appointed by a united conference 
 of Protestant missionaries held at Yokohama in September, 
 1872, and arrangements were made for translating the Old 
 Testament, by a similar but larger representative conference 
 held in Tokio in 1878. Not to mention the older translations 
 of Doctors Gutzlaff, Bettleheim, and S. W. Williams, ‘‘ the 
 early existence of which," says Dr. Verbeck, “testifies to the 
 Christian zeal and industry of those worthy men,” previous 
 to the formation of the New Testament committee in 1872, 
 the early missionaries had prepared and published the Gospels 
 of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. John, and a second trans- 
 lation of St. Matthew was published in the following year. 
 The committee commenced to meet for joint work in June, 
 1874, and the revision of the last book of the translation was 
 completed on November 3rd, 1879. The first editions of the 
 several books were printed from wooden blocks, and published 
 as they were prepared : St. Luke, the first joint production of 
 the committee having appeared in August, 1875, and several 
 Epistles and the Revelation, the last portions, in April, 1880 ; 
 and the completion of the work was celebrated by a united 
 meeting for thanksgiving, held at Tokio on April 19th, which 
 was attended by representatives of fourteen American and 
 English Missionary Societies, and of the Japanese churches in 
 the neighbourhood of the capital. In preparing the transla- 
 tion the first place of honour belongs to J. C. Hepburn, M.D., 
 LL.D., by whom the greater portion of the draft translations 
 were made, and to whose indefatigable labours the work owed 
 its early completion. He was ably seconded by his two prin- 
 cipal colleagues, the Rev. S. R. Brown, D.D., and the Rev. D. 
 C. Greene, D.D., who were associated with him throughout.* 
 The translation of the Old Testament has now been corn- 
 
 * Osaka Conference Report, 1883, p. 41. 
 
io6 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 pleted. Many of the books have already been published^ and 
 the rest soon will be. Dr. Hepburn has taken an active part 
 in the work, and the Rev. P. K. Fyson, of the C.M.S. Mission, 
 has been wholly engaged in it since 1882 (with the exception 
 of a few months spent in England in 1884), under an arrange- 
 ment with the British and Foreign Bible Society. A desire 
 having been expressed by the Japanese Churches for a respon- 
 sible share in the work, in 1884 an arrangement was made to 
 include as their representatives in the committee of translators 
 three Christian Japanese scholars, their expenses being in part 
 paid from a fund raised for the purpose by the native Chris- 
 tians of all denominations. A uniform translation of the 
 Scriptures — whether that just now completed, or some subse- 
 quent revision of it — appealed to by all the Native churches, 
 will, it is hoped, long bear witness to their substantial unity 
 in all that is essential. 
 
 The printing and circulation of the separate portions of the 
 Bible, and of the completed New Testament in Japanese — 
 including editions printed from metal type, and the justly 
 popular New Testament, with 12,000 references, prepared by 
 the Rev. J. Piper, of the C.M.S.'*' — has been the work of the 
 British and Foreign, the Scotch National, and the American 
 Bible Societies. They have also had prepared by competent 
 scholars special editions of the Chinese Scriptures, with marks 
 for Japanese readers. These editions of the Holy Scriptures, 
 in both Chinese and Japanese, are being widely circulated in 
 all parts of the empire. In 1886 the colporteurs of the Scotch 
 Bible Society alone sold 61 1 Bibles, 10,437 Testaments, and 
 45,288 portions ; and the agent of the American Bible Society 
 
 * A pocket edition of this valuable work has recently been issued, and 
 thousands of copies have been sold. Some years ago a Romanized edition 
 of the New Testament was published. A second has now been issued to meet 
 a demand. 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan. 
 
 107 
 
 states in his last report that during the past fifteen years about 
 half a million Bibles, Testaments, and portions have been 
 circulated in the country. 
 
 The preparation of Japanese Christian literature is being 
 proceeded with. Since Dr. Hepburn published his first 
 religious tract in 1867 many more have been prepared by 
 different missionaries, and sent forth by tens of thousands 
 every year, by the Religious Tract Society and its sister the 
 American Tract Society. Numerous other larger works 
 have also been prepared and published. During 1886 the Re- 
 ligious Tract Society alone printed 174,824 publications with 
 2,700,000 pages, and put into circulation 156,000. The 
 Pilgrim's Progress is in circulation, the first edition of 2,000 
 copies having been almost entirely sold out. Year by year 
 thousands of copies of Dr. Martin’s Evidences of Christianity 
 (first published in China for the Chinese) are issued. Thus 
 not only tracts but books of various sizes, some suited to the 
 general reader and some intended for theological students, 
 are being prepared and circulated. It shows marvellous 
 progress that a tract which twenty-five years ago no Japanese 
 dared to print — the first edition having been printed in China 
 — is now circulated by thousands every year, and that an 
 edition in Roman letters has just been published, as books in 
 the Roman character are in great demand. 
 
 In April, 1883, a General Conference of Protestant Mis- 
 sionaries was held at Osaka, which was attended by 106 
 representatives of nineteen missionary and the three Bible 
 societies, including the wives of missionaries. Apart from 
 its value to the missionaries as affording an opportunity 
 for the interchange of views on a variety of subjects affecting 
 the welfare of their common work, and as a means of pro- 
 moting mutual edification and brotherly love, it had a marked 
 influence on the native Christians in their relations to each 
 
io8 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 other. The» native brethren, revived by the showers of 
 blessing which God graciously granted in different parts of 
 the country in that year, were more closely knit together in 
 sympathy and love, their fellowship became more real, and 
 they received fresh power to witness for their Lord before 
 the world. That year was a fresh starting point to the infant 
 Churches, and the remarkable ingathering of the three subse- 
 quent years shows that they went forward. 
 
 Young Men’s Christian Associations have been formed in 
 some places. That in Osaka, in addition to promoting Chris- 
 tian edification, has been the means of uniting the native 
 Churches of the city in common evangelistic efforts in theatres 
 and public halls ; and now having been able, with the aid of 
 sums sent from England, America, and Australia, to erect a 
 suitable building for united work on the principles of the 
 Y.M.C.A., these efforts have become more regular and syste- 
 matic.* A Scripture Union, too, has been formed, and at the 
 close of 1886 had a membership of about 4,800. 
 
 The several missions have organised their converts in con- 
 gregations and churches mainly according to the systems they 
 represent. This, if inevitable in the present divided state 
 of Protestant Christendom, should certainly only be tem- 
 porary, and in working Church systems and adapting them to 
 the circumstances of a new race being won to Christ, the 
 utmost liberty should be accorded to native Christians ; free 
 and informal intercourse in united gatherings, if not organic 
 union, should be fostered ; the ultimate establishment of a 
 really native Church, embracing within its pale the bulk, if 
 not all, of the native Christians connected with the several 
 missions, should be steadily kept in view ; and any action in 
 
 * Their new hall was opened on the Mikado’s birthday, November 3, 1886. 
 It will accommodate more than a thousand. 
 
Protestant Missions in Japan, 
 
 109 
 
 the least calculated to frustrate this desirable end should be 
 avoided. This has been the view of at least a majority of 
 the Protestant missionaries in Japan. As early as 1872, 
 when some of the earlier missionaries met in conference at 
 Yokohama, they agreed to use their influence to secure as far 
 as possible identity of name and organisation in the native 
 Churches, in the formation of which they might be called to 
 assist. This decision did not, however, result in any organic 
 union of the kind some contemplated. But in 1876 the three 
 Presbyterian missions then established in the country agreed on 
 a basis of union, and in October, 1877, the ‘‘ United Church of 
 Christ in Japan held its first official assembly. This body, 
 which embraces all the Christians gathered in connection with 
 the American Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and Scottish 
 U.P. Missions, increased from eight churches with 623 members 
 in 1877 to 55 churches with 5,472 members in 1886. This is 
 now the largest organised Protestant Church body in Japan, 
 and it is especially strong at the capital, and its membership 
 may be augmented at any time by the admission to the 
 union of the congregations connected with three more recently 
 established Presbyterian Missions. The church body next 
 in importance in point of numbers is that comprising the Con- 
 gregational Missions, which are located for the most part in 
 Central Japan, and are 35 in number with an aggregate 
 membership of 4,231. Overtures have recently been made 
 with a view to amalgamating the Independent and Presby- 
 terian Missions, and there is every prospect of this being 
 accomplished. At the close of 1886 the membership of the 
 remaining families of missions was as follows : The Methodists 
 had 2,798 members, the Baptists 682, and the Episcopal 
 Missions about 1,300. If these various figures show that 
 there has been encouraging progress, they equally remind 
 us that there is yet very much land to be possessed. If 
 
I 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 IIO' 
 
 Japan is to be won to Christ and the whole land filled with 
 His glory, the Lord’s people must pray more fervently and 
 work more earnestly, and press forward in confident faith to 
 the victory. And may not the hope be cherished that in a 
 land where there are so many tokens of God’s presence and 
 power, and where the Church is growing, and the zeal of native 
 Christians burns so brightly, the Churches will ever remain 
 essentially one in faith and love, and eventually be united in 
 one Native Church } 
 
X. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (I.) Introduction. 
 
 “ He declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles 
 . . and when they heard it, they glorified the Lord .” — Acts xxi. 19, 20. 
 
 T has been already remarked that some of the 
 American Episcopal missionaries appealed to the 
 Church Missionary Society in 1861, to take up 
 the work they had begun. It was not, however, 
 until several years later that the Society was in a position to 
 commence its Japan Mission. The appeal for special prayer, 
 addressed to Christians in Europe and America by the 
 American missionaries in January, 1866, was received by the 
 Society, and published in the CJmrch Missionary Intelligencer 
 of June in that year. Not only did it call forth a spirit of 
 prayer in C.M.S circles, but within twelve months one answer 
 came to the supplications offered, in the shape of an anonymous 
 donation of ;^4,ooo to the society, as a nucleus for a special 
 Japan fund. In yet another twelve months, God who had 
 thus provided the means gave also the man ; and in the very 
 year of the great revolution, 1868, the Rev. George Ensor, 
 B.A., of Queen's College, Cambridge, was designated as the 
 first missionary from Christian England to the newly opened 
 Empire. 
 
 The first station occupied was Nagasaki, where, when Mr. 
 
I 12 
 
 Japan and the Japaii Missio7i. 
 
 Ensor arrived in January, 1869, the American Episcopal 
 Mission was still located. He was joined in 1871 by the 
 Rev. H. Burnside ; but both these brethren were soon obliged, 
 by failure of health, to retire from the field. It was in 1873, 
 when the remarkable course of events in Japan seemed to 
 indicate that ere long a great and effectual door would be 
 opened, that the Society’s enlarged plans for missionary 
 operations in that country were formed ; and in that and 
 the two following years, four new stations were occupied, viz. : 
 Osaka, by the Rev. C. F. Warren, formerly of Hong-Kong, 
 on the last day of 1873 ; Tokio,* by the Rev. J. Piper, also 
 formerly of Hong-Kong, — and Hakodate, by the Rev. W. 
 Dening, transferred from Madagascar, — both in May, 1874; 
 and Niigata, by the Rev. P. K. Fyson, M.A. (who had reached 
 Tokio in 1874), in the autumn of 1875. These stations, with 
 the exception of Niigata, which was finally relinquished in 
 1883, are still the centres of the Society’s Japan work. Not 
 only was Nagasaki early deprived of its first missionaries, 
 but of the brethren just mentioned as founders of the other 
 stations only one — the Rev. P. K. Fyson — remains in the 
 field in connection with the Society. Mr. Piper left Tokio in 
 December, 1880, and retired in 1882 in consequence of Mrs. 
 Piper’s health ; Mr. Warren left Osaka in March, 1885, and is 
 compelled to remain in England for the same reason ; and 
 Mr. Dening was separated from the Society at the beginning 
 of 1883. But the work is still carried on vigorously by those 
 who were associated with these brethren, or who have subse- 
 quently gone out. At Nagasaki the Venerable Archdeacon 
 Maundrell still takes the lead in the work which he practically 
 recommenced in 1875, and he is supported by the Rev. A. B. 
 Hutchinson, formerly of Hong-Kong, who joined the mission 
 in 1882, and the Rev. J. B. Brandram, M.A., who arrived at 
 Nagasaki with his sister in April, 1884. At Osaka the Rev. 
 
The C.M,S, Mission . — (/.) hitroduciion. 
 
 113 
 
 H. Evington, M.A., who joined Mr. Warren in December, 
 1874, is the senior missionary, and also Secretary of the 
 Japan Mission. His colleagues are the Rev. G. H. Pole, M.A., 
 who reached Osaka in February, 1881, and who since Christ- 
 mas, 1884, has held the Principalship of the Osaka Divinity 
 School ; Miss Caspari, formerly of Sierra Leone, who went to 
 Hakodate in 1880, and was transferred to Osaka in 1883 ; 
 the Rev. G. Chapman, who arrived in December, 1884; the 
 Rev. W. J. Edmonds, formerly of the East African Mission, 
 who arrived a year later, and the Rev. T. Dunn, formerly of 
 the Ceylon and North Pacific Missions, who reached Osaka 
 in December, 1886. 
 
 At Tokio the Rev. P. K. Fyson is the Society’s senior 
 missionary, but his work has lately been of a special character, 
 the translation of the Old Testament. The Rev. J. Williams, 
 who was formerly in East Africa, and was transferred to 
 Hakodate in 1876, and thence to Tokio in 1879, is the 
 Society’s active evangelistic missionary at the capital. At 
 Hakodate the Rev. W. Andrews, who went to Nagasaki in 
 1878, and was transferred to Hakodate in 1882, has been the 
 Society’s only ordained missionary since the spring of 1883, 
 but Mr. J. Batchelor who went to Japan in 1877, and was 
 appointed catechist in 1879, lay missionary in 1883, 
 
 makes Hakodate his head-quarters, and when there, renders 
 valuable assistance in Japanese work, though his special work 
 is amongst the Aino aborigines of Yezo. 
 
 The details of the work are left to the missionaries at each 
 station, who are expected to co-operate so as mutually to 
 support each other in their several lines of work ; but the 
 Japan C.M.S. Conference, which first met, especially for 
 conference and prayer, under the presidency of Bishop Burdon 
 in 1878, and which since 1881 has been convened annually, 
 now occupies an important place in the government of the 
 
 H 
 
y^pan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 mission, as all matters involving expenditure have to be 
 referred to it before the parent committee will take them 
 into consideration. 
 
 Until the appointment of Bishop Poole in 1883, the English 
 missions were under the Episcopal supervision of the Bishop 
 of Victoria, Hong Kong. Bishop Smith first, and subse- 
 quently Bishops Alford and Burdon, visited Japan officially. 
 It was when Bishop Burdon last visited Japan in 1878 that 
 the question of appointing a bishop to reside in the country 
 was first raised among the missionaries. After considerable 
 delay, the Rev. A. W. Poole, who had been a C.M.S. missionary 
 in South India, was appointed. He was consecrated on St. 
 Luke’s Day, October i8th, 1883, and reached Japan in 
 December, where he was warmly welcomed by the English 
 clergy and the native Christians connected with the English 
 Church Missions. His Episcopal career was brief; but the 
 ten months of his residence in Japan were not lived in vain, 
 for he won the affection and confidence, not only of his 
 fellow-Churchmen, but of the missionaries of the various 
 American societies, and his influence seemed likely to do 
 much towards uniting the servants of Christ in Japan. He 
 has been succeeded by Bishop Edward Bickersteth — son of 
 the Bishop of Exeter, and grandson of a former secretary of 
 the Society — who reached Japan in April, 1886, and has since 
 visited every station and outstation of the C.M.S., from the 
 Aino village of Horu-betsu in Yezo to Kagoshima in South 
 Kiushiu. How important a part of the Bishop’s work the 
 oversight of the C.M.S. Mission is, will appear from the 
 detailed account of each centre presently to be given. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the mission of the 
 American Episcopal Church. It has never been a strong one, 
 and was especially weak during the first twelve years of its 
 existence. Mr. (now Bishop) Williams was practically single- 
 
The C.M.S. Mission . — (/.) Introduction. 
 
 IIS 
 
 handed from 1859 to 1871, as both his early colleagues had 
 retired before the end of 1861 through failure of health ; 
 and the mission was in abeyance during his absence, extend- 
 ing over nearly three years. In 1869 he removed from 
 Nagasaki to Osaka, and there and at Tokio this mission now 
 has its two chief centres of work. In 1873, the year in which the 
 C.M.S. resolved to extend its operations, the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel entered the field, and now has 
 missionaries at Tokio and Kobe. With these sister Church 
 Missions the C.M.S. missionaries have cordially co-operated 
 in works of common interest. 
 
 The mutual friendly relations of the three missions were 
 greatly promoted by a united conference, held at Tokio in 
 May, 1878, under the presidency of Bishops Williams and 
 Burdon. Previous to the conference, views had been frequently 
 interchanged on the desirableness of having one Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer for the Missions of the sister Churches, and when 
 the conference had discussed the matter in its different bear- 
 ings, a resolution was passed embodying a basis of co-opera- 
 tion, and providing for the appointment of a Prayer Book 
 Translation Committee. The committee nominated by the 
 bishops were : Bishop Williams, and the Rev. J. Quinby, of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church of America ; the Rev. A. E. 
 Shaw, of the S.P.G. ; and the Revs. C. F. Warren and J. Piper, 
 of the C.M.S. The first portion of the joint work of this 
 committee, embracing the Morning and Evening Prayer and 
 Litany, the Baptismal, Confirmation, and Communion Offices 
 and Catechism, was published in December, 1879. The Occa- 
 sional Offices, Collects, and Occasional Prayers and Thanks- 
 giving were completed and published in 1882, and the 39 
 Articles in 1885, and the Psalms were left to be added when 
 published by the Bible Societies. The bulk of the translation 
 work was done by Bishop Williams and Mr. Warren, and the 
 
 II 2 
 
ii6 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 latter carried the whole through the press. The adoption of 
 one Book of Common Prayer has tended to bring the con- 
 verts of the three Missions close together, and now they have 
 formed themselves into one Japanese Church. This was done 
 at a synod held in Osaka in February, 1887, which was 
 attended by delegates from the different congregations. A 
 constitution and canons were passed, together with a resolu- 
 tion declaring that for the present the Japanese Church adopts 
 the Prayer Book and Articles of the Anglican Communion. 
 God grant that with this united action in synod there may be 
 deepening of spiritual life and a growth of brotherly love and 
 missionary zeal, and that the Churches walking in the fear of 
 the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost may be 
 multiplied ! 
 
 Before noticing in detail the work at the four stations at 
 present occupied by the Society’s missionaries, a brief refer- 
 ence must be made to that formerly carried on at Niigata. 
 The Rev. P. K. Fyson, its founder, remained there until the 
 summer of 1882, when he removed to Yokohama, and a year 
 later to Tokio, to take part in the translation of the Old 
 Testament under an arrangement with the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society. During the whole of his residence 
 at Niigata — more than six years — he was mainly occupied 
 in evangelistic labours ; but literary work was not neglected, 
 and some of his earliest attempts gave promise of future 
 usefulness in this department, of which his Old Testament 
 translations are now a fulfilment. Preaching was persistently 
 carried on in the town of Niigata, tours were sometimes made 
 in the surrounding populous district, and many Chinese and 
 Japanese Scriptures and Christian books were sold. A little 
 school was opened in 1880, and continued until the final 
 withdrawal in 1883, with an attendance of about 40 during 
 most of the period. 
 
The C.MS, Mission . — (/.) Introduction. 
 
 117 
 
 The people in that part of the country were not at all 
 well disposed towards either foreigners or Christianity. When 
 Mr. Fyson opened the little school he did not visit it for 
 several days, for fear of frightening away the children, and 
 when he did first appear half of those present got up and ran 
 out. Mr Fyson’s own account of his work at the preaching 
 station in the town in 1882 — the seventh and last year of his 
 residence — will best illustrate the temper of the people at this 
 remote port. He says : — 
 
 Almost every evening, except when the weather was very bad, I used 
 to go with the catechist to preach there. The number of hearers varied 
 very much ; there were frequently 50 or 60, sometimes 80 and up to 
 100. Sometimes a very noisy set of young men came in and did their 
 best to interrupt the meeting, to the evident annoyance of more sober- 
 minded people who wished to hear what we had to say. The front of the 
 house being quite open to the street, it was practically equivalent to 
 preaching in the open air, and the people stood in their clogs on the earth 
 floor, so that we could not turn the rowdy ones out, and their yells often 
 completely drowned our voices. “ Makoto no Kami True God 
 would be shouted in derision, or Namu Amida Butsu — the usual 
 Buddhist invocation — jocularly, in opposition. Abusive epithets were 
 hurled at us in abundance. “ Sorcerer,” ‘‘ thief,” “ incendiary,” mur- 
 derer,” and others too foul to repeat ; the catechist coming in for his 
 special share, ‘‘Traitor to your country,” &c. Sometimes dirt and a 
 few stones were thrown, or we found our table or the rain-doors smashed. 
 I think the only person of those attending these meetings who showed 
 any interest in Christianity was a young carpenter ; he came pretty regu- 
 larly, bought some books for himself, and mended our table without 
 making any charge. However, a good many visitors from the country 
 were discernible in the crowd, and they would no doubt carry back to 
 their homes something of what they heard, and in this way we may hope 
 some knowledge of Christianity would be spread over a wide surface, 
 although there was no apparent beneficial result in the town of Niigata 
 itself. 
 
 Miss Bird visited Niigata when she was in Japan, and a 
 short passage from her Unbeaten Tracks in Japan will show 
 
ii8 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 the kind of influence Mr. and Mrs. Fyson were exercising 
 during their residence in Niigata : — 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fyson offer what is very important in this land of loose 
 morals, the example of a virtuous Christian home, in which servants are 
 treated with consideration and justice, and in which a singularly sensitive 
 conscientiousness penetrates even the smallest details. Mrs. Fyson 
 speaks colloquial Japanese readily, has a Bible-class, and is on very 
 friendly terms with many of her female neighbours, who talk to her confi- 
 dentially, and in whom she feels a great interest. Her real regard for 
 the Japanese women, and the sympathetic, womanly way in which she 
 enters not only into their difficulties, birt into their different notions of 
 morals, please me much. 
 
 The ingathering was not large, one now and then, but it has 
 one worthy representative still working in connection with the 
 C.M.S. This is Mr. Makioka, who, on leaving Niigata in 
 1883, took up his residence in Tokio, and acted first as cate- 
 chist and subsequently as pastoral agent of the congregation 
 there, and is now doing evangelistic work zealously and accept- 
 ably at Tokushima, one of the Osaka out-stations. It cannot 
 but be regretted that want of means and men necessitated the 
 Society’s withdrawal from Niigata, just at a time when a 
 larger ingathering might have been looked for ; but it was the 
 unanimous opinion of the conference that concentration at 
 fewer stations, where the missionaries could co-operate and 
 mutually support each other in different branches of work 
 was essential, and that Niigata ought to be given up, unless 
 in addition to maintaining two missionaries there the Society 
 could strengthen Osaka and Nagasaki. The Edinburgh Medical 
 Mission has withdrawn from Niigata, as well as the C.M.S., 
 and the missionaries of the American Board have now entered 
 into the labours of their brethren of these two British societies, 
 and are reaping fruit, “ And herein is that saying true, one 
 soweth, another reapeth.” Mr. Fyson’s present translational 
 
The CMS. Mission . — (/.) Introductiori. 
 
 119 
 
 work, though precluding him from most of the active duties 
 of missionary life, as well as from the joy of seeing converts 
 gathered by his own evangelistic efforts, is nevertheless of the 
 utmost importance to the common work of all Christian 
 missionaries, and cannot but largely help forward the grov/th 
 and development of the Churches. 
 
XL 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (II.) Nagasaki. 
 
 “One soweth and another reapeth .” — John iv. 37. 
 
 T was on the 23rd of January, 1869, eighteen days 
 after the young Mikado gave his first State recep- 
 tion at Tokio to the Ministers of Foreign Powers 
 accredited to his Court. The Rev. G. Ensor 
 landed at Nagasaki. He took up his residence in “ a neat 
 little bungalow, the property of the American Bishop Williams, 
 which stood at the edge of the native town, and at the extreme 
 boundary of the foreign settlement.’' 
 
 At that time Christianity was a proscribed faith, and one of 
 the first things to catch the eye of the newly arrived missionary 
 was the ominous notice posted up — ^‘The laws hitherto in 
 force forbidding Christianity are to be strictly observed.” 
 
 I read those words in Japanese, and I realised at once that the 
 missionary work in Japan was thenceforward to be one of excessive 
 difficulty. What were we to do? I couldn’t gather the little ones into 
 the Sunday-school or stand and preach in the streets. The only op- 
 portunity I had was simply to receive the visits of any inquirers wh 
 chose to come to me to my own house; and would a Japanese venture 
 thus ? 
 
 They did venture — 
 
 Ere a month had passed, day by day, hour after hour, my house 
 would be thronged with Japanese visitors, all curious to know something 
 
Jhe C.M.S. Mission , — (//.) Nagasaki, 
 
 I2I 
 
 about England and her science and art and progress, but, most of all, 
 about her religion ; they knew that she was a power among the nations, 
 and believed that religion and power in a State are inseparable. More 
 serious inquirers would wait till the darkness of night, and then steal 
 into my house ; and we used to have the doors closed and the windows 
 barred, and as I bade them farewell when they left I scarce ever expected 
 to see them again — for I was informed that an officer had been specially 
 appointed to keep watch at my gate. 
 
 Some nine months after Mr. Ensor’s arrival, occurred the 
 deportation of the Romanist Christians of Urakami (see 
 
 NAGASAKI HARBOUR, FROM THE ISLET OF DESHIMA. 
 
 page 58). They were driven by hundreds past his house. 
 
 My heart bled for them,” he wrote ; “ I had no sympathy 
 with their doctrines, but I had sympathy with them in their 
 sufferings ; and I felt that the arm which had been lifted to 
 suppress one section of Christendom in Japan, if the motive 
 were political, could not afford to spare another.” He goes 
 on to relate how one night in that week, when he had '' dropped 
 
122 
 
 Japan and the Japafi Mission. 
 
 into an almost despairing frame of mind/’ a token for good 
 was given to him : — 
 
 I was sitting by myself in my study, and heard, in the darkness, a 
 knock at the door. I went myself to answer it, and, standing between 
 the palm-trees of my gate, I saw the dark figure of an armed Japanese. 
 He paused a moment, and I beckoned to him to enter ; and he came in 
 and sat down, and I asked him what his business was. He replied, 
 “ A few days ago I had a copy of the Bible in my hands, and I wish to 
 be a Christian.” I said, Are you a stranger in these parts ? Don’t 
 you know that thousands of your people are being detained as prisoners 
 for this? ” Yes,” he said, I know. Last night I came to your gate, 
 and as I stood there, thinking of the terrible step I was about to take, 
 fear overpowered me, and I returned. But there stood by me in the 
 night one who came to me in my dreams, and said I was to go to the 
 house of the missionary and nothing would happen to me, and I have 
 come.” And, drawing his long sword, he held it up to me in a form 
 signifying the Japanese oath, and promised that he would ever keep true 
 to me, and I received him. 
 
 This man was afterwards baptized by the name of Titus ; 
 ‘‘ for God,” says Mr. Ensor, who comforteth those who are 
 cast down, comforted me by the coming of Titus.”* 
 
 Mr. Ensor was privileged to baptize ten or twelve Japanese, 
 and then, after four years of most zealous labour, the failure 
 of his health compelled him to return home. Meanwhile, 
 however, the Rev. H. Burnside had joined him in 1871, and 
 after his departure Mr. Burnside was able, taking advantage 
 of the growing toleration, to work more openly. Instead of 
 waiting for the people to come to him, he began to go to the 
 people. On one occasion, in November, 1873, the following 
 interesting incident occurred : — 
 
 I went into one of the large Buddhist temples in the town, and whilst 
 there expressed a wish to enter into the place where the idol is located, 
 
 * Nothing is now known of this man. Some years after his baptism he was 
 living in Osaka, and teaching in a Government school. He had then grown 
 cold. 
 
THE ISLAND OF DESHIMA: THE C.M.S. CHURCH, SCHOOL, AND MISSIONARY’S HOUSE. 
 
124 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 and which, except upon special occasions, is kept closely shut up and 
 railed off from the people. The priests, as is always the case, were very 
 gracious and polite. They informed me, however, that nobody but 
 priests were allowed within the sacred inclosure. “ Be it so,’’ I replied, 
 but I am myself a priest, the English priest of Oura,” — such is the 
 name by which I am known throughout this whole island. Oura is the 
 name of the foreign settlement. Upon this, judging, I presume, from 
 my dress of the truth of my words, they instantly gave way, and told me 
 that I might enter. This, after thanking them, and after having taken 
 off my boots as well as my hat, I at once proceeded to do, accompanied 
 by about twenty priests. Inside I beheld, as I expected, the idol, altar, 
 incense, flowers, and all the other paraphernalia of heathen and idolatrous 
 worship. My heart grew hot within me. I felt that I must speak, and 
 so for the space of three-quarters of an hour, and in the very presence of 
 their idol, I was enabled, by God’s grace, to preach to the poor fellows 
 of the Lord Jesus and of His great and only salvation, as also of the 
 hollowness and fearfulness of idolatry. They confessed that very much 
 of what I said was true, told me that I was a learned man, and some of 
 them expressed a wish to be allowed to come and see me, in order that 
 they might hear more about Christ. That same afternoon two of their 
 number called and stayed conversing about the Bible for some consider- 
 able time. 
 
 At the same time Mr. Burnside opened a public service at 
 his house in the foreign settlement, which was soon fairly 
 attended by inquiring Japanese. He was assisted by a 
 catechist, Mr. Midsushina, a convert from Buddhism, who 
 had been a member of the Russo-Greek Church. Mean- 
 while he set about building a regular mission church. Of 
 course such a thing was impossible in the native town 
 ■ — indeed he had failed even in hiring a house there for ser- 
 vices — but he secured an excellent site on the little islet of 
 Deshima, close to the bridge leading from the foreign settle- 
 ment to the native town, within a few minutes walk of any 
 part of it, and in full view of the harbour.* On this spot he 
 
 See the pictures in the C. M, Gleaner of March, 1877, and Dec., 1878. 
 
The C,M.S, Mission , — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 125 
 
 erected a neat little church ; but before the day arrived for 
 setting it apart to the service of God, he had left Nagasaki, 
 compelled by weakened health to return to England. It 
 was completed under the superintendence of the Rev. H. 
 Evington, who came from Osaka to carry on the Mission 
 during the short interval between the departure of Mr. 
 Burnside and the arrival of his successor, the Rev. Herbert 
 Maundrell ; and it was opened on July i ith, 1875, a few days 
 after the latter reached Nagasaki. As this was the first 
 C.M.S. church erected in Japan, it may not be out of place to 
 give here Mr. Evington’s account of the building : — 
 
 It is built of bamboo and plaster, and faced on the outside with boards, 
 painted a yellowish stone colour. The building is about seventy feet long 
 and thirty feet broad, and has a porch over the front entrance. Above 
 the porch is a circular window with a stained-glass centre. On either 
 side of the porch is a window going to a point at the top, with a little 
 circular window of red glass in the point. There are four more windows 
 of the same shape on either side, and, at what is practically the east end, 
 though the church does not stand east and west, there is a large Gothic 
 window, having at the top a circular window corresponding to that at the 
 west end. On either side of this window is a small door entering the 
 vestry on one side, and an ante-room on the other. A small Maltese 
 cross crowns the gable at the west end. Inside, a sort of apse is formed 
 by the cutting off of the vestry and ante-room, and this is raised from the 
 floor two steps. The roof is supported by open beams stained a dark 
 brown, and varnished, and the rest of the wood-work, window-frames, 
 doors, and seats, is made to correspond ; the walls are covered with white 
 plaster. There are three rows of benches, one down the centre and one 
 on each side; they are supplied with book-rests, and boards underneath 
 the seat to hold the geta [clogs] or zore [sandals] which the natives 
 always take off their feet when they enter a house. A massive stone 
 font stands to the right of the principal entrance, and a neat Communion 
 table, with chairs and kneeling-stools, form the furniture of the chancel. 
 
 Sunday, the nth, was. the day fixed for the opening of the church for 
 public preaching. The notice of this was written, according to Japanese 
 fashion, on a small board, and hung up at the door. Before commencing 
 service we met in the catechist’s house, with Mr. Stout and Mr. Wolff, 
 
126 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 ■ /, 
 
 two American missionaries, and two Japanese Christians, one a convert 
 of the American Episcopal Mission at Osaka, and the other Mr. Stout’s 
 assistant, to ask God’s blessing upon the work and the place, that it 
 might prove to many to be the house of God and the gate of heaven. 
 The service commenced at half-past three, and was conducted as follows : — 
 I read two of the sentences preceding the exhortation, and then went on 
 with the confession. Lord’s Prayer, prayer for rulers, prayer for all con- 
 ditions of men, general thanksgiving. We then sang a hymn, and I 
 asked the catechist to read the lesson. Matt. v. This was followed by 
 another hymn, “Jesus loves me,” and, this over, I asked the catechist to 
 preach. His text, which Mr. Maundrell had selected, was Matt. vii. 2. 
 
 The congregation was small, not numbering more than forty, who 
 stayed throughout the service, whilst there is ample accommodation for 
 a hundred and sixty or seventy. Still I trust that, when it is well-known 
 that preaching is going on, there will not be a congregation wanting. 
 May God grant that this small beginning may continue but for a short 
 time, and that ere long there may be gathered within its walls a company 
 of faithful men who have come, not only to hear the Word preached, but 
 to pray to and praise Him who has bought them with His blood, and to 
 glorify the name of the one true God. 
 
 Bishop Burden says of this church : ‘‘ Its turret, surmounted 
 by a cross, is quite a prominent object at the head of the 
 beautiful bay. You will remember that Deshima is the very 
 spot where the cross was laid down to be trampled on as a 
 test of any Natives suspected of Christianity. The raising of 
 the cross on high at Deshima has, therefore, an additional 
 significance that it has not elsewhere.” 
 
 When Mr. Maundrell arrived, most of those who had pre- 
 viously received baptism had left Nagasaki, a milkman and 
 his wife (who still remain faithful) and the acting catechist, 
 Mr. Midsushina, being the only Christians connected with the 
 mission. But as soon as he had mastered the language, he 
 found a promising work growing under his hands. The first 
 convert baptized by himself, in August, 1875, was Paul 
 Nakamura, a native of Higo, one of the provinces of Kiushiu. 
 Another convert, Peter Yoshidomi ( = lucky riches), baptized 
 
The C.M.S. Mission . — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 127 
 
 December 26th of the same year, belonged to another principal 
 city of Kiushiu, Saga. It is in this way that the Gospel 
 spreads. Nakamura brought from Kumamoto three friends 
 of his, of the Samurai class, who. entered the Nagasaki police 
 force in order to be where they could receive Christian teaching. 
 All three, with four others, were baptized on Easter Day, 
 1876 ; and all three, with five others, were confirmed on Whit 
 Sunday in that year by Bishop Burdon, on his first Episcopal 
 visitation in Japan. During the next two years there was 
 encouraging progress, and at the close of 1878 the converts 
 numbered forty-eight. It is interesting to notice that the 
 little company was made up of persons of different classes, 
 and included several entire families. Thus of the sixteen 
 adults and five children baptized in 1878, three were Samurai, 
 and the rest of the artizan, shopkeeping, and labouring classes. 
 In three cases husbands and wives were baptized together, 
 and several husbands previously baptized had the joy of seeing 
 their wives added to the Church. The year 1878 was, too, 
 one of preparation for future work. A two-storied school 
 building was erected in close proximity to the Deshima 
 church, and before the close of the year was in use for Sunday- 
 school and Bible- class work. Most of the money needed for 
 its erection, amounting to about ^900, or ;^’i8o, was raised 
 among the European residents at Nagasaki, who were and 
 still are, dependent on the C.M.S. missionaries for the services 
 at the English church. Mr. Maundrelhs hands were also 
 strengthened by the arrival in December of the Rev. W. 
 Andrews, a Cambridge graduate. 
 
 In the following year, 1879, the extension to Kagoshima 
 and Saga took place under the circumstances and with the 
 results to be noticed in the next chapter. In Nagasaki itself, 
 although preaching to the heathen in the native town could 
 not be systematically carried on, owing to the difficulty of 
 
128 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 securing a good preaching place with any continuity of tenure, 
 there was encouraging progress. Twelve adults and five 
 children were baptized, and the attendance of the Christians 
 at the services, with one or two exceptions, gave general 
 satisfaction. Two fresh efforts were inaugurated by the 
 opening of a day-school in the building erected in 1878, and by 
 the commencement of the Girls’ Training Institution. The 
 former took place soon after the beginning of the year. 
 Vernacular classes were held in the morning under a native 
 teacher, and English was taught in the afternoon by Mrs. 
 Goodall — a lady of whom more will be said presently — and 
 the preparandi students. From the beginning of 1880 Mr. 
 Andrews undertook the supervision of the morning school ; 
 and Mr. Hutchinson, soon after his arrival at Nagasaki in the 
 spring of 1882, did what he could to help it forward. But it 
 was never very successful. During 1879 ^he scholars varied 
 from twenty to twenty-five. In 1880 they fell to ten or 
 twelve, and apparently did not increase in i88r. In 1882 
 there was a slight improvement owing to the diligence and 
 zeal of Jacob Watanabe, but it was not such as to warrant 
 the continuance of the school, and it was closed in 1883. 
 Still during the more than four years of its existence it filled 
 a place in offering a Christian education to those desirous of 
 availing themselves of it, and the afternoon classes which owed 
 so much to the earnest and persevering efforts of Mrs. Goodall, 
 and which were attended both by the girls in her training 
 institution, and the junior students of the college, were most 
 useful. From the very beginning, as repeatedly urged by Mr. 
 Maundrell, the great want was a well qualified English school- 
 master ; and the school, revived in some modified form, may 
 yet be among the most successful agencies used by the Good 
 Shepherd in gathering and feeding the lambs of His redeemed 
 flock. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (//.) Nagasaki, 
 
 129 
 
 In the year 1880 Kumamoto was occupied as an out-station, 
 but in Nagasaki there was nothing of stirring interest. With 
 steady plodding work on the part of the missionaries and their 
 helpers, there was indifference on the part of the people. 
 Out of forty-three baptized at Nagasaki and its out-stations, 
 only nine — four adults and five children — belonged to N agasaki. 
 The result of the next year’s work was still more disappointing. 
 The efforts of previous years were continued, and Mr. Andrews 
 laid himself out for evangelistic work in the villages within 
 easy reach of Nagasaki ; but out of fifty baptisms in Kiushiu 
 in connection with the mission, only four were administered in 
 Nagasaki, and all the four recipients were natives of Saga. 
 
 In 1882, Mr. Andrews, who had suffered from the climate of 
 Nagasaki, was transferred to Hakodate, and the Rev. A. B. 
 Hutchinson, formerly of Hong-kong, took his place. The 
 year was not one of much progress, and it had its special 
 trials. Paul Moro-oka, the catechist at Kagoshima, caused 
 grievous disappointment, and was lost to the work. Paul 
 Yoshidomi, who had been for some time in charge of the 
 work at Saga, left the mission, and joined another society. 
 On the other hand, Jacob Watanabe, a ready speaker, who had 
 rendered good service in the Deshima school, and shown him- 
 self zealous in every good work, was appointed a catechist. 
 The hope inspired by the promise he then gave of future use- 
 fulness is, as we shall presently see, being realised. 
 
 In previous years there had been much indifference shown 
 by the people of Nagasaki, but in 1882 there was open oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 This opposition was continued during 1883 by the bitter 
 and slanderous attacks of an anti-Christian society — a society 
 drawing its members from those, whether Buddhists, Shin- 
 toists, Confucianists, Agnostics, Materialists, or Atheists, who 
 reject Christianity on either religious, national, /i*^//^<^?-philo- 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 sophic, selfish, or fleshly grounds. Added to this trial from 
 without was the bitter sorrow caused by the withdrawal from 
 the mission of two leading adherents at Kagoshima, and of 
 another at Nagasaki. But others were added to the Church, 
 and the Christians generally made considerable advances in 
 knowledge and grace. 
 
 In February, 1884, Bishop Poole paid his first and only 
 visit to Nagasaki. This was an event of no little importance. 
 The Bishop manifested — as indeed he did everywhere, and at 
 all times — the keenest interest in every department of Chris- 
 tian work. He examined the catechists, attended the native 
 Church services, preached at the English service on Sunday, 
 visited Mrs. Goodall’s school, and personally examined those 
 of her pupils who were candidates for Confirmation, went over 
 the Sailors’ Institute, and inquired into its working, visited 
 the Japanese Hospital, and conversed and prayed with two 
 English patients, attended the inaugural meeting of the 
 Kiushiu District Church Council, visited the depot of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, went to see the site just 
 purchased for a mission-room, and held a Confirmation for 
 twenty-eight candidates. 
 
 This latter was the chief event of the visit. Mr. Hutchinson 
 thus wrote of it : — 
 
 That Sunday will long be remembered with feelings of deepest interest. 
 The service began at half-past eight as usual, and altogether there was a 
 congregation of about eighty or ninety assembled, including, besides 
 our own Christians and catechumens, a very few from other churches, 
 and one or two heathens. The candidates, twenty-eight in number, 
 occupied the front seats, the w’omen having a small square of white silk 
 folded in half and neatly tucked into their head-dress by way of a veil. 
 The answer of the candidates was given with much fervour, and the 
 address of the Bishop, translated sentence by sentence by Mr. Maundrell, 
 fully and faithfully pointed out the necessity for us all of the continual 
 indwelling and renewal of the Holy Ghost — the spiritual meaning of the 
 apostolic rite in which we were engaged. All but three or four of the can- 
 
The C.M.S, Mission . — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 131 
 
 didates had been baptized as adults, which gave additional solemnity to 
 the service, as a renewed dedication of themselves to the Lord that 
 bought them One of the candidates had risen from a bed of sick- 
 
 ness to be present, and two had come from Saga ; all felt it good to be 
 
 there In the afternoon the native congregation again assembled, 
 
 and forty communicated with us, after listening most attentively to a 
 plain and most practical address on the duties of Christians, as influenced 
 by the Holy Spirit, and the manifesting of His indwelling by the manner 
 in which those duties are performed. 
 
 Soon after the Bishop’s visit Mr. Maundrell left for Europe 
 with his family. This was a great, though, thank God, only 
 temporary loss to the Mission. It is always a strain upon a 
 young mission,” wrote Mr. Hutchinson, when one who has 
 been directing the work for years quits his post for a time, 
 and the strain is greater when he into whose hands the work 
 falls is comparatively inexperienced and unable to speak the 
 language fluently.” About the same time the Mission was 
 strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. J. B. Brandram and 
 Miss Brandram. Their first work was the language, but 
 whilst pursuing their studies in it they found opportunities of 
 usefulness, and were “cheered by real signs of successful 
 work amongst Europeans both on shore and afloat.” Twenty- 
 five adults and twelve children were baptized during the year 
 in connection with the Mission, of whom eight belonged to 
 Nagasaki. One of them, a Samurai of the Goto Islands, 
 sought the truth in vain amongst the Buddhists ; after a three 
 years’ course, finding his heart still unsatisfied, he came to 
 Nagasaki and was “found of the Good Shepherd.” 
 
 The close of the year was marked by the opening of a new 
 mission-room in the native town. The Deshima church, and 
 other mission buildings belonging to the C.M.S. and other 
 Protestant missionary societies, had all been erected in the 
 foreign settlement. This was the first instance of such a 
 building being erected in the town of Nagasaki. So far this 
 
132 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 new departure has not resulted in any marked improvement 
 in the outlook ; for notwithstanding the excellent position of 
 the building, the attendance on the regular preaching days 
 has been small. 
 
 There were ten baptisms in Nagasaki in 1885, and several 
 have been received since. When Bishop Bickersteth made 
 his first visitation tour in Kiushiu in the autumn of i886, and 
 held Confirmations at seven different places, fourteen of the 
 
 C.M.S. JAPAXESE STUDENTS* RESIDENCE, NAGASAKI. 
 
 sixty-four candidates were Confirmed at Nagasaki.* This is 
 sufficient to show that progress is being made, even if it is 
 slower than we could wish. 
 
 Mr. Maundrell, who returned to Nagasaki in the spring of 
 1886, and who has since been appointed Archdeacon by the 
 Bishop, laments the continued indifference of the people, not- 
 withstanding the absence of the determined and active oppo- 
 sition of former years. 
 
 The Confirmation at Nagasaki was held on January ist, 1887. 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 133 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson writes: — “Nagasaki remains dry ground. 
 Pray for the dew to fall and quicken it to life.’'* “ Can these 
 bones live ? O Lord God, Thou knowest.” “ It shall come 
 to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My 
 Spirit upon all flesh.” 
 
 Two special branches of the work must be separately men- 
 tioned before the out-station work is described. In 1877, Mr. 
 Maundrell established a little college for training candidates 
 for missionary work among their own countrymen, in the 
 first place as evangelists, and then, if it please God to call 
 them, as ordained ministers of the Church. Mr. Maundrell 
 thus wrote : — 
 
 The building for which the committee made me a grant has been 
 finished, and it was opened on St. Andrew’s Day. 
 
 The young men admitted as students are Stephen Koba, of Kumamoto, 
 and Paul Yoshidomi, and Paul Moro-oka, of Saga. Another young man, 
 John Ko, is equally desirous of becoming a teacher, but his (as yet 
 heathen) wife and parents do not sympathise with him in this desire, so 
 for the present he is a non-resident student. Admiral Ryder, before he 
 resigned his command of the China Fleet, paid a visit to Nagasaki, and 
 came up to see the college just as it was being finished. He was so pleased 
 with it, and felt so strongly the necessity of each student having a room 
 to himself, that he afterwards sent me 50 dols. towards a new wing 
 when required.” Some of his officers made this sum up to 100 dols. 
 
 During 1878 the same four students pursued their studies, 
 and at the beginning of 1879 another, John Inutsuka, was 
 admitted. During 1880, all the five were doing active work. 
 Stephen Koba was at Kagoshima and Paul Yoshidomi at 
 Saga. John Inutsuka was temporarily sent to Kumamoto, 
 and John Ko and Paul Moro-oka did good service in Nagasaki 
 whilst continuing their studies in the college. 
 
 In training native agents Mr. Maundrell’s admirable plan 
 
 Annual Letter, January 19th, 1887. 
 
134 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 other four were at the out-stations— increased to three by the 
 occupation of Kumamoto in 1880, — Stephen Koba, who had 
 been located at Kagoshima nearly two years, and had done 
 good service there, was brought back to Nagasaki, where, in 
 addition to helping considerably in the preaching at the 
 
 was to combine study with work, and by moving his men 
 from time to time to give them in turn the advantage of being 
 under his own immediate influence at the central station, and 
 of further training in the college. Thus in 1881, while the 
 
 CATECHISTS AT NAGASAKI. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 135 
 
 Deshima church, he was reading Divinity — chiefly the Thirty- 
 nine Articles and the Holy Scriptures — and Church History. 
 
 From this time, too, the name of Jacob Watanabe must be 
 associated with the college. Although he was only baptized 
 in the previous year, his attainments, age, and experience 
 soon placed them in a position of equal rank with the 
 members of the senior class. Mr. Maundrell speaks of him 
 as a married student who attended the classes at the college 
 in the morning, and assisted at Deshima day-school in the 
 afternoon, combining active work in the present with prepara- 
 tion for the future. 
 
 Simultaneously with the training of the student-catechists 
 the junior class was continued with varying numbers — some 
 leaving and others joining from time to time. In 1880 and 
 the following year there were eight junior students, in 1882 
 six, and in 1883 eight, of whom, however, two were placed 
 with Mr. Maundrell by the Rev. A. Shaw of the S.P.G. Tokio 
 Mission. 
 
 Throughout the entire course the study of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures was steadily pursued, and Pinnock’s Analysis of the Old 
 Testa^nent — of which Mr. Maundrell published a translation — 
 and Dr. Smith’s Scripture History were used as text-books. 
 Among the subjects taken up from time to time were the 
 Prayer Book and Thirty-nine Articles, Paley’s Naticral 
 Theology, Pearson on the Creed, and Robertson’s Sketches of 
 Chtrch History ; besides which there was a general course 
 embracing Ancient History, Mathematics, Greek and English. 
 In the last named subject the senior students early attained 
 a good degree of proficiency, and at the close of 1878 Mr. 
 Maundrell wrote of them: — ''Thanks to Mrs. Goodall, they 
 are now able to make good use of English Commentaries 
 and historical works bearing on the Old and New Testaments, 
 which are helping them to a more intelligent knowledge of the 
 
136 
 
 Japaji and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Bible and of the Christian religion than they could otherwise 
 obtain. Their knowledge of English will also enable them 
 to proceed at once to theological works and Church History.” 
 The training of native agents was only a branch of Mr. 
 Maundrell’s work, and the constant pressure of other mis- 
 sionary duties made it impossible for him to give undivided 
 attention to it. The classes were at times “greatly inter- 
 rupted, the students’ time not made the most of, and their 
 progress impeded.” Yet in spite of this, the effort commenced 
 in faith and carried on with prayer and painstaking perse- 
 severence, has not been without .encouraging, and, it may 
 be hoped, lasting results. There have been failures, as might 
 have been expected. Some of the junior students manifested 
 unfitness for spiritual work, others failed in health and had to 
 discontinue their studies, but six have been transferred to the 
 Osaka Divinity School, which is now the central training 
 institution for the C.M.S. Japan Mission. 
 
 Of the four original students, two have caused grievous 
 disappointment, yet the other two — Stephen Koba and John 
 Ko — together with John Inutsuka and Jacob Watanabe, have 
 proved themselves zealous workers, as the following pages 
 show. This branch of Mr. Maundrell’s work has been 
 noticed and much commended by naval officers and others. 
 The following letter from Admiral Coote, when on the 
 China Station in 1880, speaks for itself: — 
 
 H.M.S. “ Vigilant P May 2']th, 1880. 
 
 Dear Mr. Maundrell, — Having visited your little college, it has 
 been much on my mind that an effort should be made to render it more 
 efficient; and finding that there is every probability of getting more 
 Japanese young men for training as teachers, and eventually for 
 ordination, I have much pleasure in placing at your disposal $500 
 towards increasing the present small collegiate building, with the hope 
 that the Committee of the C.M.S. will see the necessity of sending, at an 
 early date, a thoroughly efficient helper in the educational department. 
 
The C,MS, Mission . — (//.) Nagasaki. 
 
 137 
 
 You are at liberty to communicate my views to the Secretary of the 
 
 C.M.S. 
 
 Wishing you much success in your Master’s service. 
 
 I am, yours truly, 
 
 R. COOTE. 
 
 Mr. J. C. Hall, H.B. Majesty’s Consul at Nagasaki, who 
 had met two of the catechists trained by Mr. Maundrell at 
 Kagoshima and Kumamoto, referred to them in the following 
 terms : — ‘‘ I feel that Mr. Maundrell has gone the right way 
 to work with the right sort of men.” When Bishop Poole 
 visited Nagasaki in February, 1884, he ‘‘spent some hours in 
 examining the catechists individually, and particularly as to 
 their attainments” ; and he was afterwards heard to say how 
 much he was pleased with all of them. 
 
 The Girls’ Training Institution also demands a brief notice. 
 Its history is a record of quiet and unobtrusive, but solid and 
 excellent work. It may be well to mention that Mrs. Goodall 
 is the widow of an Indian chaplain, who, instead of electing 
 to spend the remainder of her life in a quiet English home, 
 volunteered to become Mr. Maundrell’s associate at Nagasaki 
 as an honorary missionary, and reached Japan a few months 
 after he did. Her chief work has been the training of a few 
 Christian girls in the little institution which owes its existence 
 mainly to her efforts. A house was purchased, and Mrs. 
 Goodall commenced her work by taking two girls, who were 
 with her during most of 1879, and a third was added at the 
 close of the year. In 1880 there were eight under training, 
 and from that time to the close of 1884 this was the usual 
 number. In the spring of 1885 there were ten in residence, 
 and although applications have been received from others 
 desirous of entering, it has been impossible to entertain them, 
 as the present house will not accommodate more. 
 
 In gathering this little number the object has been to 
 
138 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 educate them in the duties of domestic life, to train them in 
 habits of truthfulness, and to form and develop their Christian 
 character. They receive instruction both in Japanese and 
 English ; what may be called the three R’s are emphasized, 
 the Holy Scriptures taught, and Christian truth inculcated 
 and music and singing taken up as accomplishments, with a 
 view to future usefulness in the services of the Church. So 
 far the girls have been almost entirely supported whilst under 
 training, partly by local contributions, and partly by donations 
 of money and work from the supporters of the “ Missionary 
 Leaves Association,” and other friends in England. 
 
 The case of Mary, the third girl received by Mrs. Goodall, 
 shows the value of the Christian training given in this unpre- 
 tending little institution. At the time she was taken she was 
 engaged to be married to Paul Moro-oka, but after his sad 
 defection, although he obtained a good Government appoint- 
 ment, she declined to fulfil her engagement. This gave great 
 offence to her parents and friends, who threatened to disown 
 her unless she married him. At her mother’s request she 
 returned home to Saga, and was kept in anxious suspense 
 some two years, during which every effort was made to induce 
 her to consent to be married either to Paul or to a heathen. 
 But her purpose was firm, and she steadily refused to be 
 yoked with an unbeliever. In a letter written to Mrs. 
 Goodall during this period of trial she said : — It helps me 
 much to think that you are praying for me daily. Do not be 
 too troubled about me. I believe our heavenly Father will 
 guide me and keep me safe.” She was both kept and guided. 
 Mr. Paul Nakamura — not the convert baptized in. 1875 — for 
 several years teacher of Chinese to the college students, and 
 himself a member of the theological class, and later an acting 
 catechist, had expressed a desire to marry her previous to her 
 return to Saga. Her parents refused consent for a time, but 
 
The C.M.S. Mission . — (//.) Nagasaki, 
 
 139 
 
 ultimately it was given, and Mary's marriage to a Christian 
 husband was celebrated in the Deshima church, on June 25th, 
 1885, amidst tokens of sincere Christian rejoicing. 
 
 Other work amongst the females has not been neglected. 
 A Bible-class for women — both Christians and inquirers — has 
 been held at Mrs. Goodall’s house every Wednesday for two 
 or three years past. Mrs. Goodall attends, but the teaching 
 is done by Mr. Nakamura. From fifteen to twenty have 
 attended, and have been greatly benefited and helped by the 
 instruction they have received. The lady members of the 
 Mission have also sought to reach and win their Japanese 
 sisters to Christ, and by precept and example to lead them 
 on in the path of holiness and truth. Their efforts are for the 
 most part quiet and unobtrusive, but they are none the less 
 effectual. The following reference to one such effort will 
 suffice as an illustration, and it will be read with the deeper 
 ‘interest now that Mrs. Maundrell has been removed from the 
 sphere she occupied. 
 
 “ The present governor and his late wife have done much during the 
 past year to bridge over the gulf that separates foreigners and natives. 
 His wife, Mrs. Kusaka, had begun to read the New Testament with Mrs. 
 Maundrell, and we had hope that she would be the means of access to 
 many upper class ladies, when she was suddenly removed by death.” 
 
 Both in Nagasaki and in the Kiushiu out-stations there is a 
 wide field for work amongst both girls and women, which can 
 only be done by ladies without the house duties and cares 
 connected with married life. The Church of England Zenana 
 Missionary Society has been able, in response to the pressing 
 invitation of the C.M.S. Japan Conference, to extend its oper- 
 ations to Japan, and Mrs. Goodall has been received as an 
 honorary missionary of that society. May God speedily give 
 more lady workers to gather the whitening harvest ! 
 
XII. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (III.) Kiushiu Out-stations. 
 
 ' Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward .” — Exodus xiv. 15. 
 
 AGASAKI is the base of operations for the Society’s 
 work in the island of Kiushiu. For ten years 
 nothing was done beyond its immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. The time for extension had not yet 
 come. At length it arrived, and the workmen whom the 
 Lord had been preparing were ready to go forward. Kago- 
 shima and Saga were occupied as out-stations in 1879, arid 
 Kumamoto in 1880. These towns, although worked as out- 
 stations from Nagasaki, are themselves important missionary 
 centres. In speaking of them Mr. Maundrell says: '‘The 
 towns themselves are equal in size to Nagasaki, and being 
 centres of large districts, which are far more extensively cul- 
 tivated than the hills around Nagasaki can possibly be, their 
 suburban population is greater.” The work at these out- 
 stations, and in the districts reached from them, will now 
 occupy our attention. 
 
 I. KAGOSHIMA, 
 
 Kagoshima is the capital of the Satsuma province. It 
 was here that Xavier landed in 1 549, and that the last 
 struggle in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 took place. The 
 
The C.M.S. Mission . — (///.) Kmshiu Out-stations. 141 
 
 town itself does not present an imposing appearance, but its 
 surroundings are pretty. It stands on the western shore of 
 the Gulf of Kagoshima, about twenty miles from its mouth, 
 and is backed by well-wooded hills three or four hundred feet 
 high. In the gulf opposite the town is the volcanic island 
 called Sakura-jima (Cherry-tree Island), with its lofty peak, 
 to the north of which is ‘^a magnificent harbour some twelve 
 miles in diameter, surrounded by lofty hills.” The town is 
 divided into two portions, which are connected by ^'a good 
 road, lined with shops, and much frequented ” — the one being 
 the principal centre of trade, and the other chiefly occupied 
 by Samurai families. The streets are much wider than 
 those of Nagasaki, and better kept, and there are some tidal 
 canals running through the town.” 
 
 The Gospel seems to have been carried to Kagoshima by 
 some of the Nagasaki converts, who were there on business. 
 In March, 1879, Mr. Maundrell, on hearing from them that 
 '' not a few were anxious for Christian teaching,” sent down 
 Stephen Koba, one of the students v/ho had been under 
 training two years, who at once hired a room to preach in, 
 held services every evening, and instructed those who had 
 asked for baptism. Three weeks later Mr. Maundrell received 
 a message, begging him to come to Kagoshima at once. It 
 is significant of the progress made by the Japanese since the 
 opening of the country, only twenty years before, that this 
 message came by telegraph ; that Mr. Maundrell responded 
 by proceeding to Kagoshima in the Japanese steamer Yoshi- 
 no-Maru — and that during his stay he visited a spinning- 
 mill, belonging to Shimadzu (the famous Satsuma Daimio, 
 see p. 85), fitted up with machinery purchased at Manchester 
 and Oldham. 
 
 In the outward aspect of things at Kagoshima there was 
 much indeed to sadden, for during the recent rebellion its 
 
142 
 
 Japan and tlie Japan Mission, 
 
 '‘inhabitants had suffered severely. Not only were hundreds 
 and thousands deprived of their husbands, fathers, or brothers, 
 or other relatives on whom they depended, but the greater 
 portion of their houses were burnt’' — the fifth time within a few 
 years that the town was in a great measure destroyed by fire. 
 
 But the work presented many features of encouragement. 
 There were numerous hearers, and some candidates for bap- 
 tism, whom Stephen had carefully instructed. One of these, 
 a medical man, was admitted to the visible Church by 
 baptism on April 26th, “ the first convert of our Church at 
 Kagoshima.” 
 
 The preaching every evening, commenced by Mr. Koba, 
 was continued during Mr. Maundrell’s visit, and such notes as 
 the following — “ This evening about thirty persons were 
 present ” ; “A crowded room again this evening ” ; " Preached 
 to a full room ” — show that the attendance was good. No 
 less encouraging was the earnestness of the inquirers. Refer- 
 ring to what took place on Sunday evening, April 27th, Mr. 
 Maundrell wrote : “ Eleven persons adjourned, after the 
 preaching, to the ' upper chamber,’ and in a few minutes it 
 was delightful to see them naturally divide into parties to be 
 instructed in the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Com- 
 mandments. While Stephen Koba and Yoshidomi were 
 instructing others, I had an aged man, a young man, and 
 two young women — all of one family — and in a short time 
 the aged man was taking my place as teacher. He under- 
 stood more than the rest what I had been saying about the 
 sufferings of the Saviour, and in pure Kagoshima idioms he 
 explained it to them. . . . All seemed to be interested in the 
 truth, and athirst for it. It is the first time that I have 
 witnessed in Japan anything approaching to the earnest 
 desire for Christianity which one so frequently witnessed in 
 Madagascar.” 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (///.) Kiushin Out-stations. 143 
 
 Mr. Maundrell baptized five more adults and one child on 
 May 1st, and six adults and six children on May 5th, so that 
 on his return to Nagasaki he left a little Church consisting of 
 fourteen adults and seven children, and in addition there were 
 several others who had given in their names as desirous of 
 becoming Christians. Further visits were paid in July and 
 November, and Mr. Maundrell was cheered by evident signs 
 of progress. Stephen Koba had endeavoured to extend his 
 influence by opening a day-school for children and an even- 
 ing school for young men. There was at the time full scope 
 for private enterprise in this direction, as the Government had 
 done much less for education at Kagoshima than at many 
 other places, and no difficulty was experienced 'Gn com- 
 mencing a small Christian school in the heart of the city on 
 the mission property.’' These new efforts were not without 
 results. Writing of his visit in November, Mr. Maundrell 
 says : '' The night school has borne fruit. Among the twelve 
 baptisms that I had this time at Kagoshima were five young 
 men who have been reading the Gospels with Stephen Koba 
 at this school.” These twelve baptisms made, with those 
 administered at the two previous visits, a total of thirty-seven 
 — twenty-five of the recipients being adults and twelve 
 children. Such was the most promising commencement at 
 the first occupied of the Kiushiu out-stations. But even 
 then all was not sunshine, for in his Annual Letter Mr. Maun- 
 drell thus refers to the Kagoshima work : ‘‘ The attendance 
 at the Sunday services is not so good as at Nagasaki, neither 
 is the Sunday observed by some of the native Christians so 
 strictly as it ought to be.” 
 
 Two incidents of the November visit may here be mentioned. 
 The first illustrates the opportunities the travelling missionary 
 often has of speaking to persons of position and influence, 
 and also the attitude of many of the better educated in 
 
144 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 Japan towards Christianity. It is thus referred to by Mr. 
 Maundrell : — 
 
 There were two passengers from Nagasaki in the saloon besides my- 
 self. We were thrown together a good deal, and I was anxious to find 
 out more about them, for they evidently knew me better than I knew 
 them. I was amused at their reticence on the subject of Christianity. 
 One told me that he had been in Worcester Cathedral, and that he had 
 studied six months in America under a Unitarian, hinting that both in 
 England and America there were many Unitarians ! This led to a long 
 talk on the Divinity of our Lord, and my friend seemed somewhat sorry 
 that he had so far revealed that he knew anything of the foreign religion. 
 . . . They were the Government directors of the new dock and iron 
 foundry at Nagasaki. When this dock was opened, every foreign resi- 
 dent in Nagasaki received an invitation to be present at the ceremony, 
 except the missionaries ; these were purposely uninvited because the 
 director of the dock, Mr. Watanabe, is opposed to Christian teaching 
 — the very gentleman that I have mentioned above as my fellow 
 passenger ! ” 
 
 The other incident illustrates the interest often manifested 
 by naval officers and others in missionary work. It is thus 
 referred to by Mr. Maundrell : — 
 
 In addition to the joy of the work, and of further intercourse with 
 Stephen Koba, whose cheerful disposition makes him an agreeable com- 
 panion, there was, for Kagoshima, the rare occurrence of a British man- 
 of-war in harbour, the captain and officers of which, through their 
 frequent attendance with their crew at the English church at Nagasaki, 
 are so well known to me, and not a few of whom take a deep and sym- 
 pathising interest in our work. It was a real pleasure to see Captain 
 Aldrich and Dr. Hart take a lively interest in the little day-school, to 
 accompany them, together with Stephen Koba San and Paul Moro-oka 
 San, to the late Daimio’s cotton mill, and then, on their return, to see 
 them enjoy a cup of tea on the second floor of the Society’s preaching- 
 house, in this extreme out-of-the-way part of Japan — I may almost say, 
 of the world. 
 
 Mr. Maundrell’s next visit to Kagoshima was in April, 
 1880. He found Stephen Koba 'Gvorking very diligently 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (///.) Kiiishiu Out-stations. 145 
 
 and carefully both in the day-school and among the adults.” 
 At the morning service on the Sunday spent there, there 
 were no less than thirty-five children present. The outlook 
 was, therefore, still cheering, but during the year only three 
 adults and five children were added to the Church by 
 baptism. 
 
 In January, 1881, Stephen Koba returned to Nagasaki for 
 a year’s further study, and Paul Moro-oka took his place at 
 Kagoshima. Paul worked zealously and acceptably, and 
 considerable progress was made during the year. Out of 
 fifty baptisms in Kiu-shiu in connection with the Mission, 
 forty- two were at Kagoshima, which was therefore bidding 
 fair to become our strongest post in Southern Japan. Writing 
 at the close of the year, Mr. Maundrell says : — 
 
 The work is full of promise. There are now nearly 100 persons, in- 
 cluding children, who have attached themselves to our Church. At my 
 last visit, only a short time ago, I had the pleasure of giving the Holy 
 Communion to nineteen persons, besides the catechist, and of admitting 
 to the Church by baptism two gentlemen Samurai, father and son, with 
 their respective families, who have shown unmistakable evidence of their 
 sincerity. Like Cornelius, before becoming Christians they had given 
 alms,” and done what they could for the good of others. They built a 
 school 36 ft. long by 15 ft., which must have cost them between two and 
 three hundred yen,* for the sake of their poorer countrymen. 
 
 But the remarkable prosperity of the first three years did 
 not continue. The year 1882 was one of great trial. Paul 
 Moro-oka, who had commenced so well, proved unsatisfactory. 
 He became ‘‘embarrassed in pecuniary difficulties,” and there 
 were also “ rumours of immorality against him, which he 
 rightly judged would, if proved, lead to his dismissal.” He 
 therefore voluntarily withdrew from the Mission. It was a 
 
 About £^o or ;^50. 
 K 
 
146 
 
 Japan and the japa7i Mission. 
 
 sad disappointment, and a severe blow to the work. Mr. 
 Maundrell thus refers to it : — 
 
 It is a grievous fall for him, poor man, and such a disappointment is 
 never without its baneful influence on others. At the same time it is 
 partly by such illustrations of failure, as well as by good example and 
 precept, that an infant Church learns what is required in its teachers, 
 and so its status is gradually raised, and its idea of what the members 
 of the Christian Church should be more accurately realised. Who can 
 measure the good teaching the Church has reaped from the fall of St. 
 Peter and the error of Simon Magus? So now in the missionary field, 
 it is in the weakness and sinfulness of some, as well as by His- grace 
 given to others, that the Lord instructs and edifies His Church. 
 
 Stephen Koba now returned to his old post, and although 
 he worked with his usual care and steadfastness,’' there 
 were not the same visible signs of success. Buddhism, which 
 had long been excluded from the province by the Satsuma 
 clan, was becoming a power, and the activity of the mis- 
 sionaries of the Shin sect seems to have seriously affected 
 the work. Some of the Christians were ‘‘ shaken in their 
 faith, and became less regular in their attendance at the 
 Sunday services ; the number of inquirers was smaller, and 
 there were fewer baptisms.” In May, 1883, there were 
 ninety Church members — fifty adults and forty children — and 
 six candidates for baptism ; but the work showed no signs of 
 recovering from the check it had received in the previous year. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, who was left in charge of the Kiushiu work 
 on Mr. Maundrell’s departure for England on furlough in 
 March, 1884, was unable to visit Kagoshima during the year. 
 The accounts from Stephen Koba were very disheartening, and 
 in his report at the close of the year Mr. Hutchinson wrote : — 
 
 Twenty of those baptized formerly at Kagoshima are not to be found 
 now; whilst twenty-eight (children included) have given up all external 
 profession of Christianity. These last are our trials. The flesh has 
 overcome some; the world ensnared others. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (///.) Kiiishiu Out-stations, 147 
 
 But in the midst of much to sadden, when Mr. Hutchinson 
 visited Kagoshima in May, 1885, tokens of encouragement 
 were not wanting. On one of the days he spent there he 
 baptized a family, husband and wife and three children — and 
 the infant son of the catechist ; and on another day a Samurai, 
 sixty-nine years of age, whose ^‘answers were clear and 
 decided,’' and to whom “ the ‘ blessed hope of everlasting life ’ 
 in Christ Jesus seemed very precious." Work had also been 
 commenced at Kajiki, a village at the head of the gulf, fifteen 
 miles north of Kagoshima. Mr. Hutchinson thus refers to it : — 
 
 Koba San has been preaching here twice a month for some time 
 past. One Christian, a tax-collector, resides here, but was away on 
 duty when we arrived. ... In the evening about seventy people listened 
 attentively to our preaching for some two hours, and then some fifteen or 
 eighteen of the principal men remained, asking questions and looking at 
 Scripture pictures till nearly midnight. 
 
 But whatever may be the future of the work at this out-station 
 and the places visited from it, the present outlook is not at all 
 cheering. “Both Kagoshima and Saga," writes Mr. Maundrell, 
 in his Annual Letter for 1886, “are low in numbers, low in 
 knowledge, and low in means." The removals and defections 
 leave but a “little flock" in either case. At Kagoshima, when 
 Bishop Bickersteth visited it in 1886, only ten persons of all 
 those baptized from the first were presented for Confirmation. 
 But if thus far the work has disappointed the hopes and expec- 
 tations inspired at its promising commencement, let it only 
 stimulate us to pray more earnestly for the few who remain 
 faithful, that they may “ shine as lights in the world, holding 
 forth the word of life." 
 
 2. SAGA AND CHIKUZEN, 
 
 Saga lies to the north-east of Nagasaki, a few miles from 
 the coast at the head of the Shimabara gulf. “ It is not the 
 
 K 2 
 
148 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 capital of 2, Ken (prefecture) .like Kagoshima; but having 
 formerly been the residence of a Daimio it is an important 
 centre.’' Mr. Maundrell first visited Saga in November, 1879. 
 He gives the following account of his journey thither, and of 
 the place and its surroundings : — 
 
 Our route lay round Cape Nomo to the south of Nagasaki, eastward 
 of the Shimabara gulf, and then up this gulf, passing close to the foot of 
 the Shimabara mountain (which, to my regret, we did at midnight), 
 to the mouth of the Ogawa river, at the extreme north of the gulf. 
 We ascended this river some distance to a village called Wakatsu, 
 where Paul Yoshidomi was waiting .for us, and with him we soon took 
 jinrikishas to proceed to Saga. The country here is exceedingly flat — 
 one vast rice-field — presenting a strong contrast to the hilly land of 
 Nagasaki. It is one of the largest rice-fields in Kiushiu. The town of 
 Saga is situated in the middle of it, about five or six miles from Wakatsu. 
 It was a delightful ride. Harvest was in full progress. A large portion 
 of the rice was still standing; some was cut and lying on the ground, 
 some cut and standing in sheaves ; some had been carried, and the 
 ground already prepared for the next crop of wheat or beans. So 
 quickly in succession does one crop follow another in Japan that the land 
 has no time to get weedy. The country full of ripe corn, the busy 
 harvesters, the level roads, and the beautiful autumn day, all contributed 
 to make our ride most pleasant. 
 
 The circumstances which led to this visit are thus given in 
 a letter written immediately afterwards : — 
 
 Four of the preparandi students are natives of Saga, viz., Paul 
 Yoshidomi, Paul Moro-oka, John Ko, and John Inutsuka. It was a 
 place, therefore, that I have always looked upon with interest and hope, 
 and that I had long wished to visit, hoping that at the least, among the 
 relatives and friends of the students, some would be found ready to listen 
 to the Gospel message. This hope had been considerably strengthened 
 of late by the fact that a teacher in one of the Government schools at 
 Saga came to Nagasaki a few weeks ago for the express purpose of 
 receiving baptism, having been taught the Truth by the students during 
 last summer’s vacation. He represented that there were not a few at 
 Saga who were wishing to be instructed, and asked me to come there 
 
'llie C.M.S. Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations, 149 
 
 as soon as possible, and, in the meanwhile, to allow Paul Yoshidomi to 
 precede me, to open a preaching-place. I left Nagasaki on Sunday 
 morning, the 2nd inst., on board a small Japanese steamer called 
 Kiu-kai.ua~marUf taking John Inutsuka San with me. 
 
 During his stay Mr. Maundrell was hospitably entertained 
 by John Ko’s father, who was formerly a retainer of the 
 Daimio of Saga. He visited the large Government school 
 of 600 pupils, in which the gentleman already mentioned as 
 having come to Nagasaki for baptism was a teacher. The 
 head-master and teachers appeared to be very friendly. Of 
 the encouraging outlook Mr. Maundrell thus wrote : — 
 
 I stayed at Saga a week, and had preaching every evening, at which 
 from 150 to 200 persons were present. Happily my host’s house was 
 most elastic. The sides of my rooms were only screens, and, these being 
 removed, two or three additional rooms were available. Old people and 
 young alike came to hear the new doctrine. The parents and friends of 
 the students were present regularly. I could not but see that the time 
 has come for trying to begin a permanent work in Saga, for which the 
 way has certainly been prepared. 
 
 Before he left Saga he baptized John Inutsuka’s brother, a 
 girls’ school teacher, and his wife, and a medical student and 
 his sister, five altogether. Paul Yoshidomi, who had received 
 two years training at Nagasaki, continued as catechist in 
 charge. His marriage to a Christian young woman, trained 
 in a mission school, enhanced the hope of his future usefulness, 
 a hope which, as we shall presently see, was not realised in 
 connection with the C.M.S. Mission. 
 
 In returning to Nagasaki by land Mr. Maundrell passed 
 through a village where he found a young man of his acquaint- 
 ance in charge of a school of 200 children, who had often 
 attended the mission services at Nagasaki, and who, as a 
 native of Saga, was much interested in hearing what had 
 happened there. When Mr. Maundrell next visited Saga, 
 
ISO 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 in April, 1880, this young man, Jacob Watanabe, now one of 
 the most zealous and efficient catechists in the Kiushiu Mission, 
 was one of six persons who received baptism. 
 
 In Saga not only was there no parallel to the rapid growth 
 which characterised the work at Kagoshima in its early days, 
 but there were no baptisms after those just referred to until 
 1882, though four natives of Saga were baptized at Nagasaki 
 in 1881. In 1882 the w^ork was much tried by the defection 
 of Paul Yoshidomi, who joined another mission, and took over 
 with him somxe of the Christians who were related to him. 
 John Inutsuka was sent to take his place, and in October Mr. 
 Maundrell visited Saga in company with Mr. Hutchinson. 
 The pen of the latter tells us that on the Sunday spent there 
 about tw^enty-five were present at morning service and eight 
 partook of the Holy Communion,” and that an attentive con- 
 gregation of between sixty and seventy assembled for prayers 
 and preaching in the evening. During the visit two adults — 
 ''a widow lady, 65 years of age, and a quiet, earnest, young 
 farmer from a neighbouring village,” and three children were 
 baptized ; and another, Mr. Oba, was publicly received as a 
 member of our Church. Mr. Maundrell thus speaks of Mr. 
 Oba’s case : — 
 
 He was one of the first inquirers that I saw on my arrival in Japan 
 in 1875, when he was frequently coming to talk with Mr. Evington, who 
 had come to look after the mission for a short time. During my second 
 visit to Saga three years ago, I baptized his wife and children, but he 
 himself was away from home at the time in Government service at 
 Fukuoka, and living with a second wife. Soon afterwards a missionary 
 of the American Board of Missions, while travelling in Kiushiu, met with 
 him, and not knowing all the circumstances of the case, baptized him. 
 He has now employment at Saga, has put away his second wife, and is 
 likely to prove a considerable strength to the work in the town. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson’s account of an evening’s lecturing may be 
 quoted, as illustrating one branch of evangelistic work often, 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations, 15 1 
 
 as in this case, shared by converts, catechists, and mission- 
 aries : — 
 
 In the evening the room was crowded, over a hundred being present 
 iox \\\^ yen-zetsu^ or lecturing. The catechist commenced, after hymn 
 and prayers, with an earnest address on “ Doubt and inquiry necessary 
 to faith.” Oba San followed on the “ Fear of God needed to keep men 
 straight.” I was then privileged to sketch the Entrance and progress 
 of the Gospel in China,” Mr. Maundrell interpreting. One illustration 
 by Oba San was much enjoyed. It is not enough to hold a gun firmly 
 and aim straight ; you must take care, first of all, that you put the 
 powder in before the bullet, otherwise all the effort is in vain. Faith in 
 God is the essential preliminary to a right life. 
 
 The subsequent history of the Saga Mission has never been 
 of a very encouraging character. In 1884 the little band of 
 Christians was much discouraged and depressed by the efforts 
 made by their opponents to suppress Christianity in the town, 
 and not a single convert was baptized at either of Mr. Hutch- 
 inson’s two visits. In 1885 there was some encouragement, 
 and during his second visit in July Mr. Hutchinson baptized 
 three adults and two infants. The conversion of one of them, 
 a man forty-three years of age, Otsuka by name, is thus 
 referred to by Mr. Hutchinson : — 
 
 About six years ago Mr. Maundrell, in crossing from Tokitsu to the 
 place from which I am writing, was in imminent danger, owing to a 
 storm bursting over the Omura gulf. His fellow-passengers were in a 
 state of great alarm ; Mr. Maundrell offered up prayer in a clear voice, 
 the cry was heard, and all landed here safely. One of the passengers 
 went to his home near Saga, and told how a Kiyoshi (teacher) had 
 prayed to the true God, the God of the Christians, and how plainly their 
 deliverance was the answer. His adopted son, Otsuka, was deeply 
 moved by this, and he became an inquirer, convinced and converted, and 
 it has now been my privilege to admit him to the Church by baptism. 
 The father, alas ! remains undecided ; impressed, but not converted. 
 
 The Christians at Saga are still a small and feeble flock. 
 Of those baptized since 1879 some have transferred their 
 
152 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 allegiance to another mission, others have migrated, and the 
 two most intelligent members of the Church, who ought to 
 have been a help and strength, have proved rather the 
 reverse/' Thus it was that when Bishop Bickersteth visited 
 Saga in 1886, and held a Confirmation there, only four candi- 
 dates were presented. That there is a small remnant of true 
 believers in Saga we cannot doubt. Let us pray that they 
 may be clothed with power from on high to witness for their 
 Lord, that the weak things of the world may by the power of 
 His Spirit confound the mighty, and the little one become a 
 thousand. 
 
 But the town of Saga has now become the centre of a 
 more extended work in the province of Chikuzen, in which, 
 at the important town of Fukuoka, and at other places there 
 are several little groups of Christians. Towards the end of 
 1882 the leading men of several villages in Chikugo — the pro- 
 vince adjoining Chikuzen at its south-eastern extremity — 
 invited our Nagasaki missionaries to visit them. After Mr. 
 Maundrell had promised to go a rumour was circulated that a 
 sum of money would be given to every person embracing 
 Christianity. Jacob Watanabe was sent to expose the falsity 
 of this rumour, and to declare “ the true nature of our Mission 
 in Japan and of the Gospel of Christ." ‘‘ He returned with a 
 list of nearly two hundred families, who, apart from all pecu- 
 niary considerations, had resolved to become catechumens." 
 In the following spring he was sent again, in company with 
 two colporteurs of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 The three were alike impressed with the importance of the 
 opening, and brought back a further request for a visit from 
 Mr. Maundrell. 
 
 After Easter, 1883, Maundrell, accompanied by Jacob 
 Watanabe and John Inutsuka, the Saga catechist, set out for 
 the district. Passing through many villages and the town of 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations. 153 
 
 Kurume— a place as large as Saga — they at length reached 
 Kongo, where Sunday was spent in instructing the villagers, 
 of whom eight families had given in their names. A part of 
 Monday was similarly spent at Takata, another village, out- 
 side which a Buddhist temple, the property of six families, 
 was offered for Christian purposes. In the evening at another 
 place, Hisamatsu, two hundred persons assembled to hear the 
 Gospel, some of them coming long distances. On Tuesday 
 the mountain range between Chikugo and Chikuzen was 
 crossed, and the latter province was entered. At Nishigo on 
 two consecutive days large preaching services were held. 
 Some Buddhist priests made efforts to oppose, but to no pur- 
 pose. Here seven families had given in their names as 
 resolved to become believers in Jesus.'’ The next morning 
 twenty-five families belonging to another village sent in their 
 names. Altogether nearly eight hundred families, some few 
 in Chikugo and Buzen, but for the most part belonging to the 
 Chikuzen province, declared themselves ready to become 
 Christians. The ignorance of these professed inquirers was 
 great, and the motives of many of them questionable, but the 
 open door was a call to prayer and effort. The movement 
 was not in the main a genuine one, but, as in so many similar 
 cases, among the many there were a few sincere seekers after 
 truth, and of these some further particulars must be given. 
 
 The early efforts just noticed were followed up, and in due 
 time fruit began to appear. In June, 1884, John Inutsuka 
 visited Chikuzen, and met with much to encourage him. At 
 Onodani, a village of eighty houses, many attended the 
 preaching on the day of his arrival, and the day following 
 there was much conversation about Christianity, which 
 resulted in seventeen heads of families enrolling themselves as 
 candidates for baptism. Mr. Hutchinson visited them in the 
 following November, and encouraged them to persevere in 
 
154 
 
 Japan and the Japa^i Mission, 
 
 their search for truth ; and on the occasion of his next visit 
 in July, 1 88 1, he had the joy of receiving into the Church 
 three families, consisting of seven adults and three children. 
 Mr. Hutchinson gives the following interesting account of 
 these first-fruits of Onodani : — 
 
 We received a hearty welcome from Kuwano San the elder and the 
 members of his family. Ere long his younger brother, Yasuyemon, who 
 had been our host on the occasion of my former visit, came in, accom- 
 panied by his wife, and a little later, Oba San. We soon plunged into 
 serious matters, and whilst the wives were busied in culinary preparations 
 for their guests and servants, I had a long and most interesting conver- 
 sation with the husbands on the grounds of their faith. I found that for 
 more than six months they had quite given up all idolatry, to the intense 
 vexation of their neighbours, who had, to punish them, cast them out of 
 the village association for mutual help. In fact, they had become social 
 outcasts for Christ’s sake. Every Sunday they meet for prayer and 
 praise and the reading of God’s Word. I found they had made good 
 use of the New Testament I left with them in November last, and they 
 had also purchased others, besides prayer and hymn books for them- 
 selves. Their faith is simple, grasping the salient points of our own 
 sinfulness, of righteousness through Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins 
 through faith in His precious blood, and of daily need of divine grace to 
 help us to follow in the way of God’s commands to our life’s end. Their 
 knowledge was defective of course ; the wonder was that with irregular 
 and but brief periods of instruction they had learned so much, and that 
 to the saving of their souls. Last November they were heathens faintly 
 recognising that the light of a new day had dawned upon them. Now, 
 after suffering persecution and scorn for their Saviour’s sake, they were 
 ready openly to confess their faith in Him, and cut themselves adrift 
 from all the old delusions and idolatry. I wish you could see the real 
 earnestness of these dear brethren in Christ. Salvation is to them a very 
 serious matter. Weariness and fatigue were forgotten in the presence of 
 such lively proofs of the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. Then the 
 three little children, the eldest only seven years of age, joined in singing 
 the translation of Great God, and wilt Thou condescend,” the sweet 
 child-voices helped occasionally and memory prompted by the fathers’ 
 voices. 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (///.) Kiiishiii Out-staiions. 155 
 
 To return to John Inutsuka’s visit in 1884. From Onodani 
 he went on to Kuchi-no-hara, where he arrived about 2 P.M. 
 on Sunday, June 29th. He was both surprised and delighted 
 to find “ three families assembled in the house of an energetic 
 inquirer, engaged in Divine worship, with Hymn Books, 
 Prayer Books, and New Testaments spread out before them.” 
 It was their custom thus to meet together on the Lord’s Day, 
 to read and talk over the hymns and portions of Scripture, and 
 to join in common prayer. John appeared amongst them as 
 one “ sent from God,” and by his exhortation and prayer they 
 were greatly comforted under persecution. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Mr. Tanaka, one of the catechumens, 
 came to Nagasaki and brought the good news that a police- 
 officer had appeared in the village, “and inquired why the 
 family of the bath-keeper were living in the cowshed, and 
 ordered the restitution of the bath-house. He also asked of 
 the headman the meaning of the high fences along the path 
 leading to Tanaka’s house, and ordered their removal. Thus 
 it was shown that the authorities are sincere in securing 
 freedom to the individual to worship according to conscience. 
 Of course they cannot go further, and make neighbours trade 
 with Christians against their will.” 
 
 Tanaka had really come to Nagasaki to ask for baptism. 
 Mr. Hutchinson thus speaks of his preparedness for this holy 
 Sacrament : — 
 
 “ I made a careful examination into Tanaka San’s case. He was with 
 me for about two hours on two successive days. I was indeed pleased 
 with his answers. Remember, he has only on three or four occasions 
 before this heard preaching during the last ten months. But he has read 
 the New Testament through prayerfully tuuice in that time. This, and 
 the Morning and Evening Prayers in the Prayer-book and the Catechism, 
 have been his study and comfort. We really feel that he has been taught 
 of God. Sin, the Atonement, the mediation of Christ, the unity in 
 Trinity, the resurrection, and eternal life, are to him realities. It did us 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 156 
 
 good to hear his voice in the Confession and Lord’s Prayer on Thursday 
 evening at our service. He has suffered much for Christ already, and 
 yet withal is so humble in his ways. I felt here was indeed an exceptional 
 case, and gladly granted him his request. 
 
 One unexpected but gratifying result of this visit and 
 baptism is thus referred to by Mr. Hutchinson : — 
 
 His coming and his object led one of whom we have long been hopeful 
 to make also the grand decision. Really a fruit of Mr. Andrews’ loving 
 labours, Sadakichi San has been kept back by a mistaken view as to 
 some sensible sign being required of the incoming of the Holy Spirit to 
 the heart of the believer. Bishop Poole’s address to the confirmees on 
 this point much impressed him, and at last he too has declared for Christ 
 openly. He has been for four years past the manager of our Sailors’ 
 Institute — a man of tried integrity. These two I had the great privilege 
 of baptizing on Sunday evening. 
 
 In the following November Mr. Hutchinson visited Kuchi- 
 no-hara and baptized other catechumens, so that at the close 
 of the year there were nineteen Christians in this village, the 
 fruit of seed sown by Mr. Maundrell and Watanabe San, and 
 watered by John Inutsuka San, and two of our students in 
 the long vacation.” 
 
 When Mr. Hutchinson spent a night at Kuchi-no-hara, in 
 July, 1885, he found the believers ‘Hull of joy,” “ all walking 
 earnestly and rejoicingly in the ways of the Lord.” In 
 returning home on this occasion he visited Hakata, a sea- 
 port thirty-three miles from Kuchi-no-hara, and baptized the 
 mother of one of the Nagasaki pupils. An interesting in- 
 cident connected with this baptism was the presence of 
 Takanabe, one of the Kuchi-no-hara Christians, who had 
 walked to Hakata to bring the headman of a neighbouring 
 village — an earnest inquirer. Of these two Mr. Hutchinson 
 wrote : — 
 
 Our inquirer was up with us again the next morning, earnestly asking 
 questions ; and with him the noble brother who had voluntarily taken the 
 
The CMS. Mission. — {III) Kiushiu Out-stations. 157 
 
 thirty-four miles the previous day to help on a soul towards the light of 
 the Gospel. Which of us does not feel reproved by such evidences of 
 love and faith ? 
 
 The work has now extended to Fukuoka, where, during his 
 visitation tour in Kiushiu, Bishop Bickersteth confirmed two 
 persons. With such evidence of spiritual life in the Chikuzen 
 Christians as the preceding narrative affords, may we not con- 
 fidently hope that He who has began a good work in them 
 will perform it until the day of Christ. The Saga catechist, 
 with several groups of Christians in Chikuzen to feed and 
 guide, and multitudes of heathen in his district to whom the 
 Gospekmust be preached, specially needs the prayers of the 
 Lord’s people. In the circumstances of his work we seem to 
 hear his voice saying to us, Brethren, pray for us, that the 
 word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even 
 as it is with you.” 
 
 3. KUMAMOTO. 
 
 Kumamoto, which is due east of Nagasaki, is some eight 
 or nine miles from the east coast of the Shimabara Gulf. It 
 is the capital of the province of Higo, the garrison town for 
 the southern portion of the Empire, and, from a native point 
 of view, second to no town in Kiushiu. Its importance, there- 
 fore, as a missionary centre cannot well be overrated. 
 
 Mr. Maundrell paid his first visit to Kumamoto in 1876, in 
 company with Bishop Bardon. His second visit, to commence 
 active missionary operations, was nearly four years later. 
 During the Christmas vacation of 1879 of the Nagasaki 
 students, Messrs. Mekata and 0 -Hara, visited Kumamoto and 
 did some quiet evangelistic work there. The result was an 
 earnest request from a few natives of the town for a resident 
 catechist ; in response to which Mr. Mekata was sent to com- 
 mence systematic work. On his arrival he secured a small 
 room where he had regular preaching, and when Mr. Maun- 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 158 
 
 drell visited Kumamoto in April, 1880, he was delighted to 
 find how well he had been getting on. There were no 
 baptisms during this visit, but inquirers were instructed, and 
 there was preaching every evening. One interesting incident 
 — the preaching at Yatsushiro, a town of 15,000 inhabitants, 
 about 30 miles from Kumamoto — is thus referred to by Mr. 
 Maundrell : — 
 
 Mekata San had made two or three friends at Yatsushiro. One 
 especially, , a local officer, though not a Christian, is deeply in- 
 
 terested in the welfare of his countrymen, both materially and religiously, 
 and he thinks rightly that their welfare could be best advanced by the 
 belief and practice of Christianity. This man, immediately on my arrival, 
 tried to find a room where I might preach. But, as he expected a large 
 audience, he could find no private building that would be suitable. He 
 accordingly made an agreement with a Buddhist priest, by which a part 
 of a temple was placed at my disposal. It was soon reported throughout 
 the town that a foreign Kiyoshi (teacher) was going to preach at this 
 temple in the evening. It was not the va 6 s, in which the image of Buddha 
 stands, that became for the time being our lecture-room, but a spacious 
 side chamber in which the Buddhist priests themselves often preach to 
 their people. On reaching this place I found three or four hundred 
 persons already assembled, and others pressing in. At the further end 
 of this chamber the priest had very kindly and considerately provided a 
 table, on which stood two large candles and a chair. Presently he him- 
 self came and made my acquaintance, bringing for me some tea and 
 cake. After this he retired to a smaller room close by, both visible and 
 within hearing. It was a novel situation — a Christian missionary admitted 
 to a Buddhist temple as a teacher of religion, with a congregation of 
 about 500 people, all curious to hear ‘‘ what this new doctrine is.^^ After 
 Mekata San had explained that the religion of Jesus was one inculcating 
 order, reverence of and submission to those in authority, and mutual love, 
 I preached for about an hour myself. Many of those present were of the 
 leading men of the town. Government officials, and school-teachers. No 
 doubt they were more curious to hear than eager to learn ; but the 
 circumstance fully shows how great a change is coming over their minds, 
 and how rapidly the hearts of the people, if not the country, are being 
 thrown open to the proclamation of the Gospel. 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations, 159 
 
 Already there were signs of the springing of the seed, and 
 when Mr. Maundrell again visited Kumamoto in July he had 
 the great joy of baptizing twelve adults and four children. 
 These first-fruits included a family consisting of three adults 
 and two children, another member of which had been in Mrs. 
 Goodall’s school more than three years, a Government In- 
 spector of village schools, a nurseryman who had heard the 
 gospel at Yokohama and Tokio, when he was there on busi- 
 ness, a widow sempstress and her daughter — the former of 
 whom was an old friend of Mr. Midzu-shina, the first catechist 
 employed at Nagasaki, and a native doctor and his two 
 children. 
 
 Later in the year Mr. Mekata’s health failed and he retired 
 from the work. Mr. John Inutsuka, another student, took his 
 place, and at the close of the year the work looked pro- 
 mising, as in addition to attending the Christian services and 
 preaching for the heathen, “ not a few came to the preaching 
 place to talk with the catechist.” 
 
 During the year 1881, the work was carried on in the midst of 
 opposition. Again and again was the preaching place stoned, 
 and once Mr. Inutsuka had to escape for safety at the back of 
 the house. But the Christians continued to meet for worship 
 on Sundays, and preaching to the heathen was carried on 
 regularly. Mr. Nakamura, one of the converts who had 
 formerly been an inspector of Government schools, rendered 
 real service to the mission. He started a tentative school for 
 young men in the hope of overcoming heathen prejudices, and 
 at the close of the year there were eleven under instruction. 
 Four baptisms during the year brought up the number of 
 Christians to twenty-eight, of whom seven were children, and 
 in addition there were three inquirers and one candidate for 
 baptism. 
 
 During 1882, John Ko, a married catechist, was in charge. 
 
i6o 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 He worked steadily and under much more favourable circum- 
 stances. Referring to the change, Mr. Maundrell says : — 
 
 There is a very numerous and influential body of advanced Liberals 
 amongst the upper classes who are strongly agitating for representative 
 institutions. Though not Christians themselves, they are not hostile, but 
 regard Christianity with favour, believing that it will serve their object. 
 Consequently there has been little or no demonstration of hostility 
 against the preaching-place this year similar to what I had to report last 
 year. During my last visit I noticed a great difference in this respect. 
 It is quite remarkable to see how the tables are turned. Last year it 
 was our lecture-room which was decried and stoned : this year the 
 persons who then stoned us and tried to suppress the preaching — the 
 Conservative and anti-foreign party — have themselves been stoned, and 
 their meetings attempted to be suppressed, because they are regarded as 
 obstructionists ! 
 
 One specially hopeful sign was the large sale of Holy 
 Scriptures — during the year more were sold at Kumamoto 
 than in all other parts of Kiushiu.” The school commenced 
 in the previous year was continued, and ten or twelve young 
 men from fifteen to twenty years of age lived with John Ko 
 as boarders at their own expense, and were thus constantly 
 brought under direct Christian influence. Mr. Hutchinson, 
 who accompanied Mr. Maundrell on a visit to Kumamoto in 
 October, 1882, thus speaks of John Ko’s household and the 
 school : — 
 
 One realised, at evening and morning family worship, the happiness 
 of being in a Christian household. Ko San’s wife and two little children, 
 with their servant and the schoolmaster, and eight youths who form the 
 school and sleep on the premises, made quite a daily congregation ; 
 their singing was very good. Three of the lads earnestly asked for 
 baptism during our stay, but it was felt best to encourage them to 
 persevere, and promise baptism on our next visit. Every day they 
 receive a certain amount of direct scriptural instruction from the 
 catechist, and this with the full consent of their parents. 
 
 In the same communication he mentions a Saturday even- 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — {III) Kiushiu Out-stations. i6i 
 
 ing prayer meeting which was attended by eighteen adults, 
 and thus describes the Sunday morning service : — 
 
 On Sunday morning twenty-three were present at service, of whom 
 seven besides ourselves partook of Holy Communion, which I was privi- 
 leged to administer, Mr. Maundrell taking the morning prayer and 
 preaching; after which he baptized the infant child of the catechist. In 
 these services, I should say that whilst a chair is provided each side 
 of the table for us as Europeans, the natives all sit round on the mats, 
 just as they do at the temples. In prayer they incline forwards till the 
 head nearly touches the ground. Those who use Prayer Books lay 
 ihem on the ground before them. 
 
 During 1883, the work seems to have gone on steadily. 
 
 In 1884, Mr. Hutchinson again visited Kumamoto, and 
 baptized ten persons — the fruit of John Ko’s earnest and 
 faithful work. The school was continued with an average 
 attendance of ten young men ; but two left to enter the local 
 medical school, and two were withdrawn by their parents 
 through fear of their becoming Christians. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson's next visit in May, 1885, was a still more 
 cheering one. He thus describes the new premises which had 
 just been rented for the mission : — 
 
 Really they are two houses thrown into one ; the left hand having a 
 European front, its ground floor being used as the preaching-place, and 
 the upstairs room forming the school ; the lower portion of the right 
 forms the catechist’s home, and the upper floor the place of meeting for 
 the Church members. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson was much cheered by the attendance at 
 the evangelistic services held for preaching to the heathen. 
 Referring to one held on the day of his arrival, he says : — 
 
 In the evening we had preaching to the heathen, Koba and Ko San 
 speaking for more than two hours. About seventy listened attentively. 
 A stone was thrown through the window, but that was the only inter- 
 ruption, and was not repeated. 
 
 L 
 
1 62 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Another feature of encouragement was the interest shown 
 by the Christians in these services. Referring to a service 
 held the following evening, Mr. Hutchinson says : — 
 
 The crowd was greater than before. I noticed that singing is a very 
 prominent element in the work at Kumamoto. The Christians come 
 to the evening preaching, and help with the opening hymn, which at 
 once attracts a crowd ; and prayer is always offered in presence of the 
 heathen for a blessing on the Word spoken, both before and after 
 preaching. 
 
 But the crowning joy of the visit was the admission of six 
 persons to the fellowship of Christ's flock by baptism. They 
 are thus referred to by Mr. Hutchinson : — 
 
 There was the same evidence of careful preparation on the part of 
 the catechist I noted last year, and there was much to cheer us in the 
 fact that now not only did Mrs. Ushishima come forward again, but 
 her husband also, and their son aged 15. Last year he threatened his 
 wife with death if she received baptism ; now he came confessing his sin 
 and his faith in the crucified and only Saviour. Another point of 
 interest is that the eldest son is a student at the Osaka College, at his own 
 charges; and the wife’s brother is the energetic student, Fujitomo San. 
 Besides these were a medical student, Ida Asakichi, aged 21 ; Uye- 
 mura Kahei, 20, a barber; Uchi Koga Saiyi, 26, a fishmonger, — young 
 men not ashamed to be known as Christians. These, with Dr. Sata’s 
 infant, I decided to baptize on Sunday afternoon, being exceedingly 
 pleased with the testimony they gave as to the grounds of their faith. 
 
 The subsequent progress of the work has been most 
 encouraging, and it was, under God, greatly helped by the 
 visits of Mr. and Miss Brandram in 1886. When Mr. 
 Brandram was there in March he found that the Christians 
 connected with the three missions represented in Kumamoto 
 “ were arranging for a series of united preaching." Four 
 meetings were held on two successive days, and audiences of 
 four or five hundred listened attentively for more than 
 two hours on each occasion. The success of this united 
 effort marks a new era in Christian work in Kagoshima. 
 
The CMS, Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations, 163 
 
 At the time of this visit Mr. Brandram baptized five adults 
 and one infant. The case of one woman is especially interesting. 
 Mr. Brandram thus refers to it : — 
 
 One was a woman sixty-four years of age, who had for some time 
 past been a most zealous Buddhist, going daily for five years to a temple 
 several miles distant. Her grandson, a medical student, died the year 
 before last. During his illness one of our Christians, a young doctor, 
 visited him, and spoke to him of Christ. The word thus spoken was 
 brought within reach of the grandmother, and after his death she came 
 to our catechist inquiring about Christ. She told me the day and hour 
 when she first heard. She is wonderfully earnest, and people, seeing her 
 happy face, have asked her the reason for her joy. She is most regular 
 in attending the services. Another grandson of hers, a schoolboy aged 
 fourteen, was baptized at the same time. 
 
 Mr. Brandram's second visit, this time accompanied by his 
 sister, extended over three months. There were numerous 
 openings for work. Miss Brandram ‘^taught knitting and 
 English to some ladies and children. Her classes were usually 
 closed with Bible-reading and prayer. Amongst those in 
 whom she was especially interested were the four children of 
 an officer belonging to one of the regiments stationed there.’' 
 
 Of his own work he thus speaks : — 
 
 On Sunday mornings Inutsuka and I preached alternately; in the 
 afternoon I took a Bible-class; in the evening I preached to the heathen. 
 On Monday evening we had preaching in our house ; on Wednesday, at 
 the catechist’s ; on Friday, a prayer-meeting in one of the Christian’s 
 houses. I had numbers of visitors : and before I left two young men 
 came. New Testament in hand, with difficult passages marked for me to 
 explain. 
 
 It was towards the end of this interesting and helpful visit 
 that the Bishop, accompanied by Archdeacon Maundrell, 
 visited Kumamoto and held a Confirmation. There were 
 twenty-four candidates. Mr. Brandram had the pleasure of 
 examining them — it was a real pleasure. Most of them were 
 
 L 2 
 
164 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 plainly showing by their lives that they wished to be Christ’s 
 faithful soldiers and servants unto their lives’ end.” During 
 the same visit thirteen more were baptized. 
 
 The Church at Kumamoto is the ‘'most active and flourishing 
 Church” connected with the C.M.S. Kiushiu Mission. With 
 its steady growth, it has manifested a spirit of manly self- 
 reliance, and its desire to become a self-supporting Church 
 seems to be very near realisation. Referring to this subject 
 in his Annual Letter for 1886, Mr. Hutchinson says : — 
 
 The Kumamoto Christians are making great efforts to become self- 
 supporting. They are intent on erecting their church, the fund for 
 which is nearly completed, and the site has already been purchased. 
 That and the residence for a pastor or catechist settled, there is nothing 
 to hinder them from energetically pushing on their pastorate fund. Mr. 
 Brandram, who has spent nearly three months at Kumamoto, tells of one 
 innkeeper who sets aside a fraction from the account of each guest for the 
 church, and of an earnest sister who devotes half the profit on every 
 article she knits and sells towards the church fund. 
 
 Another hopeful and encouraging feature of the Kumamoto 
 work is the gradual extension of its influence in the sur- 
 rounding neighbourhood. When Mr. Hutchinson visited 
 Kumamoto in May, 1885, he was privileged to gather in 
 some of the first fruits of these outlying places. He thus 
 speaks of a visit to a candidate for baptism and his family at 
 a place eight miles from Kumamoto : — 
 
 An attack of illness prevented his coming to meet me. He had come 
 in with his family on the previous Sunday in vain — Itsuno Shokiyo, 
 aged 54, a farmer; his wife, Omoju, aged 44; their daughter, 
 Tsunayo, aged 22; and her daughter, Matsumi, aged 3; constituted 
 this interesting family. I was much struck with a remark made by 
 Itsuno San. I thought,” said he, ^‘that God had sent me this illness 
 to keep me from coming in to be baptized because of my sins, which 
 have made me unworthy to join His family. ^ Yes,’ I said to myself, 
 ‘God knows I am not good enough to be a Christian.’” Of course it 
 was my privilege to point him to the Saviour’s own words, “ Come unto 
 
The CM.S. Mission , — (///.) Kiushiu Out-stations, 165 
 
 Me, all ye,” &c., and He ‘‘cleanseth us from all sin ; ” and to show that 
 not our loving Father but Satan it is who tries by all means to keep us 
 back from Christ. 
 
 In journeying from Kumamoto to Saga he visited Yamaga, 
 twenty miles from Kumamoto, and Oshima twenty-three miles 
 further on, at both of which places he found catechumens 
 waiting for baptism. Two were baptized at Yamaga, Mrs. 
 Nakamura, the wife of the governor of the prison, and 
 Sakamoto Sentaro, a cooper by trade — of whom Mr. 
 Hutchinson thus speaks: — 
 
 This latter is very earnest, and possesses a good memory. He fre- 
 quently preaches in the bath-house, and often gets pelted with the shingle 
 at the bottom of the bath. He is quiet in appearance, and very earnest 
 in his manner. May God bless him to his countrymen in Yamaga! 
 Mrs. Nakamura is a lady of exceptional mental ability, combined with 
 great humilit}\ She rejoices in the comfort and peace which are the 
 fruits of the indwelling Spirit. Her husband and his brother, also an 
 official, came to see me, but whilst keenly alive to the affairs of this 
 world, seemed to care nothing for the things which belong to the life 
 eternal. 
 
 Oshima, the next place visited, is described as one of many 
 villages that line the road by" the shore of the Shimabara gulf. 
 At many of these salt is manufactured on an extensive scale, 
 in a very primitive manner : firstly, by evaporation from the 
 sun’s rays ; and lastly, in small furnaces, heated with wood 
 fires. The inhabitants of these fishing villages seem very 
 poor, contented with the bare necessaries of existence. 
 Shrines and temples are rare, another evidence of poverty.” 
 
 Of the entrance of the Gospel to Oshima and the baptisms 
 then he adds : — 
 
 At Oshima, the host of yadoya ^ or inn, awaited us. He first heard 
 
 the Gospel from one of the converts at Kumamoto, whom I baptized last 
 year, who had come to Oshima on law business. He visited Kumamoto, 
 and invited Ko San to come and preach, which he has done sev^eral 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 1 66 
 
 limes; as a result, Kuroda San, aged 30; his wife, 24; and his 
 uncle, a fine old Shizoku, 72, presented themselves for baptism. 
 Kuroda San’s sister, aged 30, had also for a time received instruction 
 and given her name as a candidate ; but it seems the Buddhist priest 
 residing near had got hold of her, and effectually frightened her by tales 
 about Christianity being a very bad religion ; though why she could not 
 say, except that it would rob those who entered it of all their money. 
 
 Mr. Brandram visited both Yamaga and Oshima in the 
 spring of 1886, and administered the Lord s Supper to two or 
 three Christians at each place, and when Bishop Bickersteth 
 and Archdeacon Maundrell visited the district in the autumn; 
 two were confirmed at Yamaga and eight at Oshima. 
 
 Both in Kumamoto and the places visited from it, the 
 fields are ready for the reaper. “There are open doors on 
 all sides. The Christians are awake and at work.’’ ^^Just 
 now Kumamoto calls for our earnest prayers and help.” 
 A resident European missionary would, with God’s blessing, 
 do much for the consolidation and extension of the work. It 
 is for the Church at home to join in earnest prayer, and to 
 supply the means to enable the Society to give the vigorous 
 Church at Kumamoto the help that it needs. 
 
XIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (IV.) Osaka. 
 
 “Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line 
 upon line; here a little, and there a little.” — Isa. xxviii. lO. 
 
 HE Rev. C. F. Warren, the first C.M.S. missionary 
 to Central Japan, reached Kobe early in December, 
 1873, and on the last day of the year removed with 
 his family to Osaka. He was warmly welcomed by 
 the American Episcopal and American Board missionaries who 
 were already located there,, and shortly after his arrival was 
 cheered by witnessing some of the first Christian baptisms 
 in that city. During the first year of his residence he 
 visited Kobe fortnightly to conduct services for the English 
 community at that port, a duty of which the Rev. H. 
 Evington relieved him soon after his arrival in December, 
 1874. But the acquisition of the language was his chief 
 work, and in twelve months he had, by dint of hard study 
 and constant intercourse with the people, so far mastered it 
 as to be able to attempt preaching in his own house. The 
 first of a series of Sunday afternoon services was held on 
 January 3rd, 1875, and a few friendly natives whose acquaint- 
 ance had been previously made, or who were specially invited, 
 came together and listened to a simple statement of Gospel 
 truth. These services were carried on for three months with 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 1 68 
 
 an average attendance of about a dozen, and prepared the 
 way for a more public effort. 
 
 More than two years had elapsed since the withdrawal of 
 the edicts against Christianity, but it was still impossible to 
 procure buildings in the city of Osaka for Christian purposes, 
 except within the narrow limits of the district where foreigners 
 were allowed to reside, and it was determined to commence a 
 tentative work in a small building on the Foreign Concession 
 where there was no fear of interference from the native 
 authorities. Accordingly a small chapel or mission-room, 
 24 feet by 15, with a recess at- one end, 6 feet by 3 feet 
 6 inches, for a small Communion-table, was erected at the 
 back of Mr. Warren’s house. It cost .$300, about £60, all of 
 which with the exception of was subscribed in Osaka and 
 Kobe. 
 
 The opening service — if such it may be called — held on May 
 30th, 1875, was very encouraging. Sixty or seventy persons 
 filled the little building, and many more stood at the door 
 and windows. As there was not a single native Christian 
 or inquirer connected with the mission, the proceedings were 
 of an informal and evangelistic character, and Mr. Warren 
 gave an address on the purpose of the mission, of which the 
 following is an outline : — 
 
 OUTLINE OF THE FIRST SERMON PREACHED IN THE C.M.S, 
 CHAPEL AT OSAKA. 
 
 This is a place of worship. Why is it so called? Because here we 
 shall meet to worship the one living and true God. In Japan many gods 
 are worshipped, but not this one true God. Christians do not worship 
 many gods like the Japanese, because they believe in the one and only 
 God, the Creator and Preserver of all things. In ancient times, indeed, 
 we in England worshipped other gods ; but through God’s mercy the true 
 way was made known in our land, and we, having the knowledge of the 
 one true God, worship Him alone. This is the first article of our Creed, 
 
The C,M.S. Mission. — {IV.) Osaka. 
 
 169 
 
 “ I believe in God the Father,” &c., as our Lord Jesus Christ taught 
 (Mark xii. 28, &c.). We believe that He is the only object of worship, 
 as Jesus said to Satan (Matt. iv. 10). We follow the moral teachings of 
 the sages; we reverence parents and those in authority; but we pay 
 Divine honours to the one true God alone. 
 
 But why come here to w'orship? Is this the only place where God can 
 be approached and worshipped ? God is omnipresent — can be worshipped 
 everywhere, as Jesus said (John iv. 20, 21). Now, where two or three 
 meet, Jesus is in the midst of them (Matt, xviii. 19, 20). We can pray 
 alone everywhere — in secret, where none but God can hear (Matt. vi. 5, 
 6). When we meet with our families, we can meet in our houses; but 
 when we come from different families, it is meet that we should have a 
 place for united worship. Hence, whilst places of worship are not the 
 only places where God can be sought, they are necessary. 
 
 But where is the representation of our God, or the symbol of His 
 presence, such as the Japanese have? We need neither. God has no 
 form (John i. 18). God has forbidden any representation or symbol 
 (2nd Com.). God is a Spirit. Must be worshipped in spirit and truth 
 (John iv. 24). How shall we worship this true God? What offerings 
 shall we offer? Not food and drink, for God needs none of these things ; 
 but with a penitent, believing, obedient heart we shall praise and worship 
 Him. Our prayers will not be vain repetitions, like the vain repetitions 
 of the heathen {\\\o^ N amu Amida butsu of the Buddhists being instanced) 
 (Matt. vi. 7) ; but we shall confess our sins, and seek pardon and grace 
 to be holy and good. 
 
 Here, too, we shall read and preach God*s Word. His message of 
 love to man — to all men — written for ourjearning. From this we shall 
 teach the way of truth : that God is one eternal, almighty, omniscient, 
 omnipresent, merciful and good. Maker and Preserver of all things. We 
 shall teach that man, created pure and holy, has sinned — ought to be 
 punished; that God, to save man from punishment, sent His dear Son 
 Jesus Christ; that Jesus Christ came, lived, and died to atone for man’s 
 sin ; that all who believe in Him shall be saved — have sins forgiven and 
 eternal happiness (John iii. 16). 
 
 If it be asked why we came to Japan with this new way, we reply — (i) 
 because Jesus commanded His disciples and us (Mark xvi. 15, also Matt, 
 xxviii. 18, &:c.); (2) because God is the Creator of all, and Jesus came 
 to save all men (i John ii. 2) ; (3) because there is no other Saviour from 
 sin and its consequences (Acts iv. ii). 
 
170 
 
 Japan arid the Japan Mission, 
 
 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and hear the good news from 
 time to time. 
 
 The little chapel at once became the centre of systeniatic 
 efforts to disseminate the knowledge of Christ. On 
 Wednesdays and Fridays there was public preaching to 
 small congregations, sometimes less than a dozen, but 
 generally between twenty and thirty being present. Larger 
 congregations assembled on Sunday afternoons ; and almost 
 daily inquirers were received and passers-by conversed with. 
 Sometimes one or two, and frequently twenty, thirty and even 
 fifty entered the chapel or stood at the door, and were spoken 
 to individually or collectively in a single day. Copies of 
 single Gospels in Japanese, which were the only portions of 
 the New Testament then published, were frequently lent to 
 those who appeared to be interested in Christianity, and many 
 more, as well as copies of the Old and New Testament, and 
 other Christian books in Chinese were sold to visitors. 
 
 Whilst these efforts were being made to scatter the good 
 seed far and wide, line upon line teaching was provided for 
 those who professed to have some interest in Christian truth, 
 by commencing services of a devotional character with Bible- 
 reading. This is illustrated by the following account of a 
 Sunday’s work from Mr. Warren s journal : — 
 
 First Service for Inquirers. 
 
 Sunday^ June 13M, 1875. — This morning carried out my intention of 
 commencing a service and Bible-reading for inquirers. In addition to 
 my teacher, there are several who have expressed a desire to know the 
 way of God more perfectly, and I felt that it would be well to make such 
 a beginning at once. My purpose (D.V.) is to have the morning service 
 somewhat shortened, with a hymn and Bible-reading on Sunday morn- 
 ings, and a Bible-reading with prayer and singing on Thursday even- 
 ings. When we commenced this morning, there were two Japanese 
 present ; but another young man, who had promised to be with us, came 
 
The C.M.S, Mission. — (/K) Osaka. 
 
 171 
 
 in later. I trust that the Lord was with the two or three thus meeting in 
 His name. Having sung a hymn at the close of the morning prayer, 
 the chapel door was thrown open, and before we had proceeded far 
 quite a number came in, and paid great attention to the Word spoken. 
 At 3 P.M., opened the chapel for preaching. There were about twenty 
 inside and quite as many more at the door and windows. I preached 
 on the Resurrection of Jesus, the subject having been suggested by an 
 article which appeared in a native newspaper, written to prove that the 
 Resurrection of our Lord was not an historical fact. In speaking on the 
 subject, I quoted largely from the Gospels, and was followed most 
 eagerly by those who were supplied with books. The whole party, with 
 the exception of two, who left just as I was concluding, remained and 
 listened most attentively to the end. I am thankful to observe some of 
 the same faces again and again at these preaching services. God grant 
 that the interest they feel may grow, and ripen into faith in the one 
 name given under heaven amongst men, whereby we must be saved. 
 One young man who was present— he is a student in the Imperial College 
 here — expressed his determination to come to the Bible-readings, so 
 that he might hear the matter from the beginning to the end. 
 
 During the year ending June 30th, 1876, there were held in 
 the chapel 228 public services, beside which there were 209 
 attendances for conversation with inquirers and visitors, and 
 thousands heard something about the true God, and the gift 
 of eternal life in Christ Jesus, and carried away small tracts 
 containing elementary statements of Christian truth. 
 
 By the beginning of 1876 there was a little class of avowed 
 candidates for baptism, and on June 25th, eighteen months 
 after the first service held in his own house, and thirteen after 
 the opening of the chapel, Mr. Warren had the joy of admitting 
 six persons into the Church by baptism. One of them, his 
 own teacher, was baptized with some hesitation, as although 
 his faith was apparently sincere, it was a faith rather of the 
 head than of the heart, and he afterwards had to be excluded 
 from the Church. Of the rest, Mr. and Mrs. Aratani were 
 fruits of the chapel work, and the other three were led into 
 
\J2 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 light in the way detailed hi Mr. Warren’s interesting account 
 of them : — 
 
 Mrs. Kumei, an old lady of fifty years of age, was, I believe, the first 
 of the party known to me, and the first Japanese to whom I administered 
 
 THE MISSIONARIES AT OSAKA AND THE FIRST SIX CONVERTS, 187b. 
 
 baptism. She first visited our chapel in the summer of 1875, after 
 attending a few services, quite settled down as a member of our congre- 
 gation. It will interest you to know how she was first introduced to 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — {IV.) Osaka. 
 
 173 
 
 Christian truth and teaching, as it shows how wonderfully God overrules 
 all things for the accomplishment of His gracious purposes in leading the 
 blind to Himself by a way that they know not. Japan, as you well know, 
 has during the last few years opened her gates to the commerce, science, 
 and civilisation of the West. This has necessitated the employment of 
 many foreigners by the Government, both imperial and local. Too fre- 
 quently, I grieve to say, they do not help but hinder the missionary in 
 his work; for their impure lives, their indifference to all religion, and in 
 some cases their avowed infidel principles, too often prejudice the natives 
 against, and repel them from, Christianity. But there are noble ex- 
 ceptions — Christian men and women, lights lit up of Christ, who let their 
 light shine before men, and by holding forth the Word of Life as they 
 have opportunity, endeavour to lead souls to Him Who is “a light to 
 lighten the Gentiles,” the “true light which ’ lighteth every man who 
 cometh into the world.” Two of these witnesses for Christ, a lady and 
 gentleman from America, engaged in school-work at the garrison town 
 of Kumamoto, in Kiushiu, whilst pursuing their ordinary calling, have 
 made efforts to teach the truth as it is in Jesus. Here we have the instru- 
 ments God would make use of to plant the first seeds of Christian truth 
 in Mrs. K.’s heart. But she was not a native of, nor was she resident at, 
 Kumamoto, and had therefore, in the providence of God, to be brought 
 thither. This came about as follows : — After the death of her husband, 
 which happened many years ago, she had her son — I believe her only 
 son — educated for the medical profession under Dutch physicians. Ulti- 
 mately he became a surgeon in the army, and in the ordinary course of 
 duty was sent to the garrison of Kumamoto. Thither his mother accom- 
 panied him, and was there introduced to the lady and gentleman already 
 mentioned, and by intercourse with them learned to care for the things of 
 God. A short tract. Easy Introduction to Christianity ^ by Dr. Hepburn, 
 written in an easy style, and a translation of the Peep of Day^ were 
 amongst the earliest books placed in her hands. Here she learnt her first 
 lessons in the kingdom of God. Both the mother and son appear to have 
 been impressed, and to have had a desire to learn of Christ and to become 
 Christians. Last year Mrs. K. came on to Osaka, it being the intention 
 of her son to follow her as soon as possible, and to join her in seeking 
 admission to the Church of Christ. On reaching Osaka she found her 
 way to our chapel, as I have already noted. After a time she was put 
 under a regular course of instruction, with a view to baptism. The old 
 lady has given many proofs of her earnestness and sincerity. She has 
 
174 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 seldom been absent from any of our Christian services, and has often 
 attended the preaching services held for the benefit of those who know 
 nothing about Christianity. She has learned to value the Lord’s Day, 
 and has not been ashamed to confess her regard for it before her heathen 
 neighbours. She has made efforts, too, to lead others to the truth. For 
 presentation to some she has purchased portions of the Holy Scriptures 
 and Christian books. She has invited many to come and hear the Word, 
 and has not unfrequently brought her friends with her. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Nakanishi, aged 49 and 35 respectively, I have not 
 known so long as the rest of the party, but after a careful consideration 
 of all the circumstances of the case, I felt that their baptism ought not to 
 be delayed. Mr. N.’s case is one, too, of some interest, as showing how 
 the changes going on in this country are not without their influence even 
 in the conversion of souls. You are aware that the opening of Japan has 
 necessitated the sending to Europe and America of a number of persons 
 for education and other purposes. One gentleman, now at the head of 
 an important department of the administration, who was formerly in 
 America, in writing to his friends, gave his impressions of Christianity, 
 and stated that he was convinced that sooner or later it must become the 
 religion of Japan. Whether that gentleman has pursued his studies in 
 Christian truth further, and is not only not far from, but actually within, 
 the borders of the kingdom of God, I know not ; but certain it is that his 
 statements were not without their influence on the mind of Mr. N. He 
 at that time was an officer in the same department, and by the state- 
 ments just referred to, had his mind directed to Christianity. Although 
 a Buddhist of the most influential and popular sect in the country, he 
 determined, more than a year ago, to cleanse his house from idols, and 
 accordingly did so, leaving only the ancestral tablets before which to 
 worship. These, as further light dawned upon his mind, he ultimately 
 removed. Finally, he found a Christian tract in his house, not knowing 
 by what means it had been brought there. After reading this most 
 carefully he determined to seek instruction, that he might the better 
 know what he ought to do. In this interesting state of mind he came to 
 me. I found that he had not only put away what he knew could not 
 profit and help him, but was praying to the one living and true God, so 
 far as his light and knowledge enabled him to do so. I found him a most 
 intelligent and earnest inquirer, and as time went on he showed himself 
 desirous of leading his friends to the truth. 
 
 His wife, who was baptized at the same time, is a nice little woman. 
 
The C.M,S. Mission. — {IV) Osaka, 
 
 175 
 
 They have two daughters, aged about fourteen and eight respectively. 
 It was interesting to notice the spontaneous desire of the parents for the 
 baptism of their children as soon as they themselves were numbered 
 amongst the followers of Christ. The young people were baptized on 
 August 20th. 
 
 These six converts were all confirmed by Bishop Burdon on 
 July 23rd in the same year, during his first visitation, and on 
 August 20th — the day when Mr. Nakanishi’s two daughters 
 were baptized — they received the Holy Communion at the 
 first Japanese Communion Service ever held in connection with 
 the C.M.S. Osaka Mission. 
 
 A touching remark respecting their first converts occurs in 
 Mr. Evington’s journal. “One soon learns,” he says, “that 
 there is nothing to fear from repeating over and over again 
 the same thing to those who are anxious to learn. They like 
 to hear ‘ the old old story ’ ‘ slowly ’ and ‘ often', that they may 
 * take it m! ” 
 
 Mr. Warren was now no longer working single-handed. 
 Mr. Evington, who since his arrival in December, 1874, had 
 relieved him of the English work at Kobe, was now similarly 
 relieved by the timely arrival of two S.P-G. missionaries, who 
 settled at Kobe in August, 1876. He had made good pro- 
 gress in the language, and commenced to assist Mr. Warren 
 early in 1876, especially in the work of receiving visitors and 
 inquirers in the chapel ; and now the weekly Bible-class, which 
 had for some time been held before the Sunday afternoon 
 service, was divided, and Mr. Evington regularly took the 
 junior portion. Thus these true yokefellows, with one heart 
 and united effort, devoted themselves to the task entrusted to 
 them, and waited for fresh openings for aggressive evangelistic 
 work. 
 
 The attitude of the local authorities was still uncertain, and 
 it was doubtful whether the public preaching of Christianity 
 
i;6 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 would be allowed in the heart of the city ; but as there was 
 apparently no objection to a missionary or native Christian 
 meeting a few persons in a private house, the newly-baptized 
 Church members placed their houses at the disposal of the 
 missionaries, and made efforts to gather little companies of 
 people to hear the Gospel. Mr. Aratani was the first to move 
 in the matter. He offered Mr. Warren the use of his cottage, 
 and then, once a fortnight for nearly a year, little companies 
 of eight, ten, or a dozen met to hear and talk over the Word 
 of God with Mr. Warren or Mr. Evington. In February, 1877, 
 Mr. Nakanishi similarly opened his house for evangelistic 
 work, and meetings, often quite public, were regularly held 
 there until September, when he removed to the neighbourhood 
 of the Foreign Concession. Mrs. Kumei also arranged for a 
 fortnightly meeting at her house from October, 1877, until 
 she left Osaka in the June following; she also secured the 
 loan of a room in another house, where meetings were held 
 either weekly or fortnightly from February to August, 1878. 
 Meetings were also held at the houses of two professed 
 inquirers; but, sad to say, one of them subsequently joined the 
 Roman Catholic Church, and some years later died, it is to be 
 feared, without any Christian faith whatever ; whilst the other, 
 an ex-Buddhist priest, eventually returned to his old profes- 
 sion, and quite recently was in charge of a temple a few miles 
 from Osaka. 
 
 These meetings, which were one of the chief features of the 
 Osaka work all through 1877 and a good part of 1878, showed 
 that the native Christians were not ashamed of their Lord, 
 and that they desired to do all in their power to hold forth 
 the Word of Life to their fellow-countrymen. They worked 
 heartily and zealously with the missionaries, bore all the 
 expense of lighting and warming their rooms, and generally 
 provided tea and cakes for refreshment ; and as the efforts 
 
The C.M,S. Mission, — {IV) Osaka, 
 
 177 
 
 gradually became more public, lanterns were in most cases 
 suspended at their doors when meetings were going on, bear- 
 ing the notice, '' Preaching of the doctrine of the true God. 
 Come in and listen.’^ 
 
 The following account of the first meeting at Mrs. Kumei s 
 house, from Mr. Warren s journal, will show the character of 
 many of these meetings : — 
 
 October 12th, 1877. — In the evening went to Mrs. K.’s for a meeting 
 for the first time. She has recently taken quite a large house in antici- 
 pation of her son’s return from the seat of war — he being a surgeon in 
 the army — and has asked me to hold a meeting there once a fortnight. 
 Gladly have I consented, and to-night our first meeting was held. There 
 were fifteen of Mrs. K.’s neighbours present, and five of our native 
 Christians and inquirers. I spoke for about an hour on the one living 
 and true God, and of His love to man. Our good friend Aratani, who 
 was present, followed me in an admirable address just suited to the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 This meeting, whatever may be its results, shows that at least one 
 of our Christians is letting her light shine — not a solitary instance, I 
 hope. Mrs. K. does not, I feel sure, hide her candle under a bushel. 
 She must speak to many, as she frequently purchases portions of the 
 Scriptures and other books for those who have been led to desire them 
 through her conversations with them. The meeting to-night is the 
 result of her personal efforts. Her house does not stand on a thorough- 
 fare, but behind. All, therefore, who were present were invited by her. 
 May God own and bless her efforts ! 
 
 Whilst most of these meetings were of an evangelistic 
 character, some of them were devotional. Mr. Warren thus 
 describes one held at Mr. Nakanishi's house on November 
 3rd, 1877:— 
 
 In the evening, went to Mr. N.’s house by appointment. There most 
 of the Christians and inquirers met for united prayer. I have suggested 
 to our people that they should thus meet once a week, and unite in 
 singing, reading, mutual exhortation, and prayer. I purpose (D.V.) 
 attending only occasionally — perhaps once a month — the evening before 
 our monthly Communion service. I want our Christians to feel that they 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 are to stand alone, and not to lean upon us for everything. May God 
 enable them to lean upon Him ! The meeting was pleasant and profit- 
 able. I gave out a hymn and offered prayer, and, after reading a few 
 verses and saying a few words, I threw the meeting open. N. N. offered 
 prayer. A. proposed that we should sing “Jesus loves me, this I know,^^ 
 a translation of which was in the book we were singing from, and then 
 prayed. Aratani followed with a few appropriate remarks, and concluded 
 with prayer. After another hymn I pronounced the benediction. Mr. 
 Evington was present, but took no part, as we felt it would be better to 
 leave it as much as possible to our native brethren. I thank God that 
 this step has been taken, indicating, as it does, further progress in the 
 development of our work. The Lord add His blessing ! 
 
 Attempts were also made to carry the Gospel into some of 
 the villages in the Osaka plain. Short journeys were made 
 on foot, extending over two or more days, and groups were 
 addressed at the way-side tea-houses, and when possible 
 companies of people were gathered for preaching in the inns 
 where the nights were spent. The following extract from 
 Mr. Evington’s journal will suffice to show the character of 
 this work : — 
 
 November 20th, 1877. — We got away about ten o’clock this morning, 
 going across the fields from Osaka westward, intending, at the time, to 
 take the line of villages below the railway, on our way to Nishi-no-Miya, 
 and to return by the coast. Passing through Yebiye, I spoke to an old 
 woman, who was spreading out her rice to dry, and collected about 
 twelve or fifteen people, besides several children, to whom I spoke of the 
 True God, the Giver of all mercies. We then crossed the Juso-gawa, 
 into a large village called Nejima (about 1,000 houses). When we 
 came to the first resting-place, I found the old woman’s finger bleeding, 
 and offered to bind it up with court-plaster. The operation was sufficient 
 to attract a crowd, and, during the address which I gave, some sixty or 
 seventy people, if not more, including children, came together. We 
 then walked through the town, and went into a chaya"^ to have some 
 lunch, and quite a crowd collected round the door; and when I had 
 finished my rice, I addressed fifty or more in the street. From this 
 
 * Tea-house. 
 
The CMS. Mission.— {IV',) Osaka. 
 
 1/9 
 
 place we passed on to Owada, and in the middle of the village there I 
 must have had more than 150 grown-up people and children round me. 
 At all these places I spoke chiefly of God as the great Creator of all 
 things, and the only One who could give pardon of sin and true happi- 
 ness. Both I and my teacher spoke on the same subject at Tsukuda to 
 fifteen or twenty people. In the evening we stayed at Ama-ga-saki, and 
 the hotel people brought in their neighbours to the number of thirty. 
 May the Lord bless the word spoken to-day ! We must have addressed 
 over 300 of different ages, and may we not look for the Lord’s promise 
 to make the seed bring forth fruit in His own good time ? 
 
 An unusual number of inquiring visitors were received by 
 the missionaries in the chapel, and at their homes, during 1877. 
 Daily, and at all hours of the day for several months, they were 
 much occupied in this way. It was the year of the Satsuma 
 rebellion, and among the inquirers were many convalescent 
 soldiers from the over-crowded temporary military hospitals... 
 One case deserves special mention. The man, Fujita by 
 name, came for conversation, and purchased a copy of St. 
 Luke’s Gospel in Japanese. He subsequently visited the 
 missionaries for instruction, and finally declared his determi- 
 nation to become a servant and soldier of Jesus Christ. He 
 manifested much zeal for the good of his comrades, and took 
 small tracts, for which he was willing to pay, to distribute- 
 among them. In this way many were induced to come to> 
 the Mission House for conversation, and to purchase New 
 Testament portions. Fujita San was subsequently removed 
 to Tokio, and later sent back to his native province. All 
 along he persevered in his search after truth, and he was 
 eventually baptized by a native pastor in Shikoku, connected 
 with the American Board Mission. He has proved a faithful 
 and zealous Christian, and as lately as 1885 was employed in 
 the store of the National Bible Society of Scotland, at Yoko^ 
 hama. 
 
 It was in this year too that a special effort was made to 
 
 M 2 
 
i8o 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 reach and instruct the women. Mr. Warren thus wrote of it 
 in his Annual Letter : — 
 
 In July I commenced a weekly class for women. The average attend- 
 ance has been from eight to ten. Lessons on fundamental truths, chiefly 
 based on the Apostles’ Creed, have formed the course of instruction. 
 Mrs. Warren always joins us. Some of the meetings have been very 
 interesting. One one occasion I asked each of them to bring a text that 
 had particularly struck them. One gave, “ God so loved the world,” 
 &c. Others gave, Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy,” &c. ; 
 “ Except a man be born again,” &c. Blessed are ye when men shall 
 revile,” &c. ; “ Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath 
 eternal life.” These texts were paraphrased by the women who brought 
 them. The remarks of the woman who mentioned the last text struck 
 me most. They were somewhat as follows ; Jesus Christ is the Son of 
 God. He became flesh, and in the flesh suffered, shed His blood, and 
 died for sinners and all who believe that He came down and died, 
 making His incarnation and death their only hope of salvation, the food 
 of their souls, will have everlasting life.” 
 
 The class steadily grew, and during 1878 the average 
 attendance was about a dozen. Mrs. Warren commenced a 
 class for needlework, and the class for women followed. 
 Among its members there were several illustrations of the 
 beneficial effects of Christianity in addition to its direct 
 spiritual help. When some of them became Christians they 
 could scarcely spell out a word ; some time afterwards they 
 could read the New Testament with comparative ease, and 
 could turn to well-chosen passages in illustration of the subject 
 under consideration. 
 
 Whilst these and other efforts were being made to win souls, 
 and to build up the little flock of believers, the tiny room or 
 chapel which had been erected in 1875 proved too small for 
 the expanding work, and was replaced by a larger building 
 about 45 feet long and 22 wide — the portion fitted up for 
 Divine service being 36 feet by 22, the remainder forming a 
 class room. It was opened on August 23rd, 1877, just two 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — {I Vi) Osaka, 
 
 i8i 
 
 years and three months after the opening of the building it 
 replaced. The need of a larger building was in itself a mark 
 of progress, but the opening service indicated what a real 
 
1 82 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 advance had been made since June, 1875. Then there was 
 not a single convert or catechumen, and those who attended 
 the opening service (or rather preaching) were for the most 
 part there out of curiosity. Now there was a congregation of 
 eighty persons, a fair number of whom were either Christians, 
 catechumens, or hearers of the Word ; a native Christian read 
 the Lesson, and the singing and responding were such as 
 ‘‘ would put to shame scores of well-attended churches in our 
 own favoured land.'’ Then there could be no communion 
 service. Now six converted Japanese united with the mis- 
 sionaries in commemorating the Lord’s death. Then Mr. 
 Warren could only deliver an elementary statement of 
 Christian truth, and explain the object of his coming to 
 Japan. NoWy addressing the Christian converts, he could 
 take for his text, Ye are the light of the world,” and remind 
 them that it was their duty to reflect the light of truth, 
 purity, and love as lights lit up of Christ. 
 
 The year 1877 was thus one of expanding influence and 
 growing opportunities, but the infant daughter of Mr. 
 Nakanishi was the only one received into Christ’s flock by 
 baptism. Yet, the year closed with many signs of the 
 springing of the seed, and during 1878 seventeen adults and 
 three children were added to the Church. Fully half of these 
 were relations and friends of Christians, no uncertain proof 
 that they had been witnesses to Christ in their homes and 
 among their friends. 
 
 The second visit of Bishop Burdon, in 1878, strengthened 
 and encouraged the now growing flock. He preached at the 
 usual morning service on Trinity Sunday, Mr. Warren, inter- 
 preting, and in the evening he dedicated the little church — 
 thenceforth called Holy Trinity Church. On the following 
 Thursday, June 20th, he held a Confirmation, when seventeen 
 Japanese and one European were presented. They went up 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — {IV.) Osaka, 
 
 183 
 
 as much as possible in family groups, husband and wife, parent 
 and child, kneeling side by side to receive the imposition of 
 hands. At the Communion with which the service closed, 
 twenty-four native Christians — three of them belonging to the 
 American Episcopal Mission — knelt with nine Europeans at 
 the Lord's Table. The number of communicants was now 
 increased to twenty-two, as against six at the first Communion 
 less than two years before. There was, too, progress in other 
 respects. Messrs. Nakanishi and Aratani, two of the first six 
 converts, and Mr. Kimura, who received some of his first 
 lessons in Christian truth from Mr. Warren during his stay 
 at Kioto in 1875, rendered valuable assistance at the various 
 services and meetings, and began to receive regular instruction 
 with a view to increased efficiency in such work. 
 
 At Easter a Church Committee had been formed, and later 
 in the year resolutions were passed providing for the establish- 
 ment of prayer meetings, and for visiting the sick and other 
 absentees from public worship, as well as for the collection 
 and disbursement of Church funds. In this way it was sought 
 to promote brotherly sympathy among the Church members, 
 and united action in all things affecting the welfare of the 
 Church, and to lay the foundation of a strong, vigorous, 
 aggressive, and self-supporting Christianity. 
 
 It was in this year, too, on Feb. i6th, that the first C.M.S. 
 preaching-room was opened, in which fifty-one preaching ser- 
 vices were held during the year with an average attendance 
 of fifteen, exclusive of Christians, and at the book-store con- 
 nected with the preaching-room nearly ^50 worth of Bibles, 
 tracts, &c., in Chinese and Japanese were sold. 
 
 During the following year, 1879, aggressive work was some- 
 what interrupted by a cholera epidemic, which necessitated 
 the discontinuance of meetings for a time. In October a 
 second room was opened in the city, the Christians taking 
 
184 
 
 Japan a7id the Japan Mission. 
 
 the financial responsibility, though Mr. Warren and Mr. 
 Evington guaranteed $2 a month towards the expenses for a 
 year. This arrangement was modified in 1883, when the 
 Christians undertook larger responsibilities in connection with 
 the Church of the Saviour. Another forward movement was 
 the opening of a boarding and day-school for girls by Miss 
 Oxlad, of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the 
 East, particulars of which are given on a subsequent page. 
 
 Early in 1880 Mr. Warren left Osaka on a flying visit to 
 this country. Pie returned to Osaka in the autumn, and 
 resumed his work before Christmas. During Mr. Warren’s 
 absence, Mr. Evington and the native Christians shared the 
 work in and around Osaka. Eight adults and one child were 
 baptized. Three of these were the first fruits of Mr. Evington’s 
 preaching-room work, and one was from a. village in the 
 Osaka plain which Mr. Evington had frequently visited when 
 itinerating. 
 
 In February, 1881, Mr. Evington returned to England for 
 a brief furlough, and Mr. Warren was left single-handed. 
 Shortly after Mr. Evington’s departure the Rev. G. H. Pole 
 arrived. He was well known to the Osaka missionaries, 
 having been formerly engaged as a civil engineer under the 
 Japanese Government. He returned to England in 1876, and 
 went to Cambridge to study with a view to taking Holy 
 Orders. Whilst at Cambridge he offered himself to the 
 C.M.S. for work in Japan, and after spending a year at 
 Tunbridge Wells as curate to Canon Hoare, he went to 
 Japan as a C.M.S. missionary. 
 
 The year was one of marked progress. In Osaka fifteen 
 adults and eight children, and at Tokushima, the first out- 
 station of the Osaka centre, which was opened this year, 
 three adults, were baptized. One of those baptized in Osaka 
 was Dr. Kumei, the son of one of the first six converts. He 
 
The C.MS. Mission . — (/F.) Osaka. 
 
 185 
 
 had been an army surgeon, and was at the time of his baptism 
 residing in Osaka, practising as an ordinary physician. The 
 hope that he would become one of the most substantial and 
 influential members of the Church in Osaka was not realised, 
 as he subsequently removed to his native province, and there 
 died in 1886. But the year’s increase included two whose 
 names will, it is hoped, be long known in connection with 
 Christian work in Osaka and its out-stations. Mr. Yamashita 
 was baptized on Easter Day, and received the name of Paul. 
 He was a custom-house officer, and was sometimes on duty 
 on the foreign concession. In passing the door of the church 
 he stopped to listen to the word which was eventually to bring 
 light, joy, and strength to his soul. He was at that time a 
 sorrowful man — worse than a widower, for his wife had to be 
 put away for unfaithfulness — and he drank in the truth. His 
 New Testament, well-worn and marked from reading and 
 searching, showed how earnestly he sought to know the way 
 of the Lord. In 1882 he joined the theological class just 
 then started by Mr. Warren, and since 1883 he has been 
 engaged in evangelistic work at Tokushima, Fukuyama, and 
 in Iwami. 
 
 Mr. Terasawa was baptized oil Trinity Sunday. He was 
 in Osaka waiting for official employment, and spent as much 
 of his leisure as possible in studying Christianity. After he 
 received an official appointment he spent alternate days in 
 teaching Mr. Pole. In the following year he joined the theo- 
 logical class, and was one of the first students admitted to the 
 Osaka Divinity School. From November, 1884, whilst con- 
 tinuing his studies for the ministry, he performed the duties of 
 pastoral catechist in connection with Holy Trinity Church, for 
 which he received Bishop Poole’s licence, and on March 6th, 
 1887, was admitted to Holy Orders by Bishop Bickersteth. 
 
 Another sign of progress was the removal and enlargement 
 
i86 
 
 Japan and the Japari Mission. 
 
 of Holy Trinity Church. This building, like its predecessor, 
 was moved bodily across the road to its new site. The 
 enlargement was effected by throwing the class-room into the 
 body of the church and adding a chancel. A school-room 
 was added, and matted in native fashion for prayer meetings, 
 Sunday-school, &c. The church in its enlarged form was 
 re-opened on Christmas Day, i88i, and Mr. Evington, who 
 had just before returned to Osaka with Mrs. Evington, 
 occupied the pulpit. He was struck by the signs of advance 
 which he saw, and especially by the increased numbers of 
 communicants, for on that day thirty-four knelt at the Lord’s 
 Table. 
 
 With the beginning of 1882, a station committee was formed 
 for directing the growing work at the station, and a daily 
 prayer meeting was also commenced. Thus, whilst the desire 
 was to do everything with order and system, it was not for- 
 gotten that the secret of all harmony and success is in the 
 presence and power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The year was not without its trials. One of the native 
 helpers was entirely laid aside, and Mr. Warren’s health was 
 much impaired for more than six months. Still the work 
 went on, and a second out-station was opened, in the province 
 of Iwami, under circumstances of great interest. It was not 
 a year of remarkable ingathering, for the total number of 
 baptisms was only fourteen, and of these nine were at the out- 
 stations — the net gain in Osaka being only three — and the mis- 
 sionaries were saddened by the coldness of two who neglected 
 the means of grace, and were removed from the communicants’ 
 roll. Thus is the evil ever mingled with the good in the 
 Church, and the wheat and tares grow side by side. 
 
 A regular theological class was commenced in June, and 
 placed in Mr. Warren’s charge ; and Messrs. Terasawa and 
 Yamashita entered as the first students, and were accommo- 
 
The C,M.S. Mission. — (/F.) Osaka. 
 
 187 
 
 dated in spare rooms in Mr. Warren’s house, who was then 
 living quite alone, as Mrs. Warren and the rest of his family 
 had returned to England. 
 
 The year 1883, though one of abounding mercies, was not 
 without its trials. The illness of Mr. Kimura, who was for 
 some time a catechist, continued, and his name had to be 
 struck off the list of workers. Mr. Aratani, who had been 
 working for more than two years at Tokushima, returned to 
 Osaka in August, and shortly afterwards retired from the 
 work. It was a grievous disappointment that one who by his 
 early zeal had given such promise of usefulness, drew back, and 
 this disappointment has been aggravated by his subsequent 
 unchristian conduct. But it was, perhaps, well that both 
 these trials came when they did, for they led the Osaka 
 missionaries to rely less on paid agents, and more on 
 voluntary helpers, and to push the theological students to 
 the front. 
 
 Among the mercies of the year, mention must first be made of 
 the showers of revival blessing which fell on the Lord’s people 
 in Osaka, as in other places in Japan. From the beginning 
 of the year the first droppings had been felt in the neighbour- 
 hood of the capital, but the copious shower was given later. 
 The unity of the Protestant missionaries had been con- 
 spicuous at the General Conference held in Osaka, and the 
 unity of the native Christians was equally shown at a general 
 meeting of Christians and Christian workers held in Tokio. 
 Was not the shower of blessing which followed a token of 
 God’s presence in the midst of His united people } In Osaka 
 the movement began with a few brethren who daily met to 
 pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of 
 prayer gradually extended, and soon pervaded the whole of 
 the Churches in Osaka, and united prayer meetings were held 
 every evening in one or other of the church buildings. There 
 
i88 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 was no excitement, but intense fervour and definiteness, both 
 in prayer and exhortation. Whilst these meetings were being 
 held, news of the blessing experienced at Tokio was sent by 
 the delegates from Osaka. One short telegram simply said 
 
 The Holy Ghost has descended. Pray for us.’' When the 
 delegates returned they were like new men. They had 
 evidently received fresh light, grace, and power from on 
 high. Speaking of this time of refreshing, Mr. Warren 
 wrote : — 
 
 During the whole of my ministerial experience of nearly twenty years, 
 whether in China, England, or Japan, I never before witnessed such 
 manifest tokens of the presence and power of the Spirit of God. It was 
 a blessed time of refreshing, and, thank God, the results have not been 
 transient. 
 
 From that time Christians connected with the different 
 missions in Osaka were drawn together in closer union. The 
 deep sense of a common need had drawn them together to 
 pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and now, when 
 His fuller indwelling was realised, their hearts were aglow 
 with mutual love ; and when the daily prayer meetings 
 ceased, it was unanimously agreed to hold a united weekly 
 meeting for prayer and exhortation. This was the more 
 remarkable in that whilst the week of prayer in January had 
 been annually observed with profit, no attempt to hold united 
 prayer meetings periodically throughout the year had been 
 successful. 
 
 Nor was the union only one for prayer, for the strength of 
 the different Churches was united in special evangelistic 
 efforts in public halls and theatres. This unity was never 
 more conspicuously manifested than at the meeting held at 
 Osaka to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth 
 of Martin Luther. It was entirely organised by the native 
 Christian workers — v/as presided over by a native, and the’ 
 
The C.M.S, Mission. — (/K) Osaka. 
 
 189 
 
 only foreign missionary who spoke on the occasion was the 
 Rev. C. F. Warren of our C.M.S. Mission. 
 
 But remarkable as the year was, there were only nineteen 
 persons baptized in connection with the C.M.S. Osaka centre, 
 and of these only eight adults and three children were living 
 in Osaka. But the spiritual life of the Church was deepened. 
 There was a manifest growth in brotherly love, in power to 
 witness for Christ, and in zeal for His glory ; and the year 
 closed with the conviction and believing expectation, that 
 God who had revived and strengthened His dear children, 
 would ere long through them bring blessing to others. 
 
 One of the principal events of the year — the opening of the 
 Church of the Saviour in the city of Osaka as a new centre of 
 Christian worship and work — has yet to be noticed. It has 
 already been stated that Mr. Evington commenced evan- 
 gelistic work in a hired house in February, 1879. In less 
 than two years this house had to be vacated. Another house 
 was taken, but in a less eligible position, and early in 1882 yet 
 another move became necessary. As considerable difficulty 
 had been experienced in renting buildings in the city, the native 
 Christians agreed to ask the C.M.S. to grant them 1,000 
 as a loan, to purchase and fit up a suitable building for 
 Church and mission work, and they engaged to refund the 
 money by instalments. The request was granted, and the 
 Church of the Saviour — a dwelling-house internally fitted up 
 as a mission church — was opened on Sunday, October 14th, 
 with a service and the Holy Communion. All the C.M.S. 
 Osaka Christians attended, and the three resident missionaries 
 divided the service — the Rev. C. F. Warren preaching the 
 sermon. Two of the first six converts — Mr. and Mrs. Naka- 
 nishi — and seven other communicants and several children 
 now severed their connection with Holy Trinity Church and 
 formed the nucleus of a new congregation. This was a real 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 190 
 
 step forward, and placed new responsibilities on the Christians. 
 The now separate congregations are still one in sympathy 
 and effort; they have a united monthly meeting for con- 
 ference, mutual exhortation and prayer ; and their division 
 into two bands was the occasion of forming the first Church 
 Council for the Osaka district, delegates being sent from both 
 congregations to confer on all matters where joint action and 
 responsibility are concerned, and to administer all common 
 funds. 
 
 The year 1884 opened with promise. Bishop Poole’s 
 arrival, and his first visit to Osaka in January, encouraged the 
 Christians. On Sunday, January 13th, he preached at the 
 morning service in Holy Trinity Church. In March he con- 
 firmed nineteen at the same church, and a few weeks later twelve 
 at the Church of the Saviour. The work at both the churches 
 in Osaka, and at the out-stations, showed a very decided 
 advance, and altogether sixty-two souls — forty-two in Osaka 
 and twenty at the out-stations — were added to the Church by 
 baptism. Of the Osaka baptisms thirteen were at the Church 
 of the Saviour, the congregation connected with which thus 
 doubling itself during the first fifteen months of its existence. 
 
 Whilst the spiritual work of the mission was thus prospering 
 an important addition was made to its machinery by the 
 erection of Holy Trinity Divinity School, which, although 
 located at Osaka, is the central college for the C.M.S. Japan 
 Mission. Particulars of this institution, as well as of the day- 
 school for boys, opened about the same time, will be found on 
 subsequent pages. 
 
 But another movement, dating from the autumn of 1884, 
 has yet to be noticed. At the beginning of the year there 
 was no regularly-appointed catechist at Osaka. Mr. Yama- 
 shita was acting in that capacity at one of the out* stations, 
 though nominally still a member of the theological class ; Mr. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — (IV.) Osaka. 
 
 191 
 
 Nakanishi, whose salary was paid from a local fund, was 
 working regularly in connection with the Church of the 
 Saviour; and Mr. Terasawa, another of the students, ren- 
 dered valuable assistance at Holy Trinity Church. 
 
 During the year the Home Committee intimated that 
 instead of appropriating money for the direct support of 
 catechists at Osaka, they would make a grant to the pastorate 
 fund of the Osaka Church Council. This necessitated a for- 
 ward movement, and threw more financial responsibility upon 
 the Christians, which their action proved they were not 
 unwilling to assume. It was ultimately decided to appoint 
 two lay pastoral agents — Mr. Terasawa to Holy Trinity, and 
 Mr. Nakanishi to the Church of the Saviour — and to engage 
 Mr. Yamashita as an evangelist. In addition to paying all 
 current church expenses as before, the Holy Trinity congre- 
 gation undertook to provide the whole of their pastoral 
 agent’s salary, and the younger and smaller congregation at 
 the Church of the Saviour made itself responsible for half the 
 amount needed for the same purpose, whilst the Church 
 council, representing both congregations, guaranteed 40 per 
 cent, of the evangelist’s salary and expenses. Bishop Poole 
 cordially approved of the arrangements made, and licensed 
 the agents employed by the council. 
 
 At the close of 1884, the Rev. G. Chapman arrived at 
 Osaka to join the mission. But in March, 1885, Mr. Warren, 
 the senior missionary, was compelled to return to England, 
 and his connection with the work in which he had taken so 
 large a share, terminated. In addition to the general work of 
 the station, Mr. Warren acted as Secretary of the Japan 
 Mission from the close of 1880. He also took an active part 
 in the translation of the Book of Common Prayer, and gave 
 considerable time to other literary work. 
 
 On Mr. Warren’s departure, as Mr. Pole was very fully 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 192 
 
 occupied with his college duties, and could only assist at 
 Sunday services, and as Mr. Chapman was only a student 
 missionary, almost the whole of the general work of the 
 station and its out-stations devolved on Mr. Evington and 
 his native helpers. But in spite of the numerical weakness 
 of the staff available for aggressive work there were many 
 encouraging signs of progress during the year, although there 
 were fewer baptisms by fifteen than in 1884. Fukuyama, 
 first visited the previous year, was occupied as an out-station, 
 and its first-fruits gathered. Work was commenced at 
 Matsuye in Idzumo — the province north of Iwami, in Western 
 Japan, and at Matsubara, a village some ten miles to the 
 east of Osaka, under the hills that skirt the plain ; and in 
 both these places there have since been baptisms. 
 
 The year 1886 witnessed a larger ingathering than any 
 previous one. Altogether ninety-eight adults and forty-six 
 children were baptized at Osaka and its out-stations, of whom 
 sixty-two adults and twenty-one children were baptized in 
 Osaka. This remarkable increase is the more gratifying 
 because it is the result, under the Divine blessing, of the 
 efforts of the native brethren Nakanishi and Terasawa, and 
 the more earnest members of their congregations. 
 
 Holy Trinity Church labours under the disadvantage of 
 being on the Foreign Concession, which in the altered cir- 
 cumstances of the country is less suitable as a missionary 
 centre than in former years, when it was difficult to secure 
 buildings in the city. But in spite of this the congregation 
 continues to grow, and is still the larger of the two connected 
 with the Society in Osaka. At the close of 1886 its member- 
 ship was nearly 150, including forty children, and the com- 
 municants were seventy-six. The congregations on Sundays 
 are larger than ever, and they include an average of nearly 
 forty from the Boys’, Girls’, and Divinity Schools. On 
 
The CM.S. Mission.— (IV.) Osaka. 
 
 193 
 
 Christmas Day there were 132 present, and more than fifty 
 received the Lord’s Supper.* 
 
 At the Church of the Saviour the number of baptisms was 
 exceptionally large in 1886 — forty-seven of the adult and 
 fifteen of the infant baptisms having been administered there 
 out of a total of ninety-eight and forty-six respectively for 
 the Osaka centre. The average attendance at the Sunday 
 morning service was more than fifty, and at the afternoon 
 service forty. At the close of the year the total baptized 
 membership was eighty-one, and the communicants were 
 fifty-six. 
 
 Both congregations are alive to the importance of self- 
 support and self-extension. The year 1 885, with its disastrous 
 floods, a cholera epidemic, and the great depression of trade, 
 was a trying one. The contributions of the Christians were 
 seriously reduced, and sometimes Mr. Terasawa received from 
 his congregation 6 Yen instead of 10 Yen a month. There 
 was a great improvement in 1886, and the Holy Trinity con- 
 gregation, in addition to raising sufficient for their pastoral 
 agent’s salary, and current Church expenses, made a small 
 contribution to evangelistic work. The total amount of the 
 contributions of this congregation in 1886 was Yen 201*23, 
 only some 16 cents more than the year before, but allowing 
 for the decrease of contributions from foreigners, students, 
 and others, and the discontinuance of a monthly offering of 
 2 Yen from the catechist, the actual increase from the congre- 
 gation was 50 Yen. Ever since the arrangement was made in 
 the autumn of 1884, the congregation of the Church of the 
 Saviour have paid the moiety of their pastoral agent’s salary 
 and the whole of their church expenses, in addition to con- 
 tributions towards the Evangelistic Fund of the Church 
 
 * Whilst these pages are passing through the press, we hear that Holy 
 Trinity Church has been taken down to be re-erected in the city. 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 Council. The total amount of their offerings in 1886 was 
 Yen iiri8. In his report for 1886 Mr. Nakanishi thus 
 speaks of the prospect of the second church becoming self- 
 supporting : — 
 
 The number of believers has greatly increased, still the greater 
 portion of the people are poor, many have removed to a distance, and 
 the number of separate families is small, so that we are not yet able to 
 stand alone; nevertheless by degrees, through the mercy and love of 
 God, I trust that within the next year we shall be able to free the hands 
 of the mother society, whence we have received so much help, and to 
 walk alone. 
 
 The congregation of Holy Trinity Church look upon the 
 room rented by the Society in the city as their evangelistic 
 outpost, and they also make the work at Matsubara, ten 
 miles from Osaka, their special care. This latter place has 
 been visited by Miss Caspari, as well as by the catechist, 
 students and others, and in 1886 two adults and one child 
 were baptized there. 
 
 The Church of the Saviour, being in the heart of the city, 
 is well situated for preaching to the heathen, and this is 
 regularly carried on every Sunday and Friday evening, and 
 on other stated days of the month. The congregations vary 
 from twenty to fifty. The pastor and members of this con- 
 gregation also conduct evangelistic meetings for their non- 
 Christian fellow-countrymen at Moriguchi, a village five miles 
 from Osaka in the direction of Kioto. Thus whilst the two 
 congregations are being built up in their holy faith, they are 
 striving to be ‘‘ lights in the world, holding forth the Word of 
 Life." 
 
 These two congregations are now ministered to by native 
 clergymen : Messrs. Terasawa and Nakanishi, who, together 
 with Mr. Terada for the Hakodate station, were admitted to 
 deacon’s orders by Bishop Bickersteth on March 6th, 1887. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — {I Vi) Osaka. 
 
 195 
 
 The ordination took place in Holy Trinity Church, which was 
 matted in native fashion for the occasion. Mr. Evington 
 preached the ordination sermon from 2 Tim. iv. 5 and i Thess. 
 V. 13. Mr. Pole read the Litany, the Rev. W. J. Edmonds 
 (formerly connected with East Africa, who reached Osaka in 
 December, 1885) the Epistle, and Mr. Nakanishi the Gospel. 
 The total congregation was 320, of whom 276 were in the 
 body of the church, and about forty in the schoolroom beyond 
 the chancel, the windows between being thrown open. Six- 
 teen foreigners, including the Bishop and clergy, and one 
 hundred Japanese received the Holy Communion. 
 
 Less than eleven years before, Mr. Warren baptized the 
 first six converts at Osaka, and now one of them, Mr. 
 Nakanishi, has been ordained as pastor of the congregation 
 of the Church of the Saviour, which he has been mainly 
 instrumental in gathering since October, 1883 ; whilst Mr. 
 Terasawa, who received many of his early lessons in Christian 
 truth from Mr. Nakanishi, has become the ordained pastor of 
 Holy Trinity Church. What hath God wrought ! I planted, 
 Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase. So then neither 
 is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; but 
 God that giveth the increase.'’ 
 
 But one or two branches of work in Osaka must be specially 
 mentioned before the out-stations are dealt with. The esta- 
 blishment of a boarding and day-school for girls has been 
 already mentioned as one of the forward movements of 1879. 
 It was opened in June, and at the end of the year there were 
 three boarders and eleven day-scholars connected with it. 
 Miss Oxlad’s house was small and inconvenient for a boarding- 
 school. The little chapel, built in 1875, had been removed 
 bodily to a site behind Miss Oxlad’s house, and was available 
 for a school-room ; but even when a small room had been 
 added to it, and additional accommodation was provided for 
 
Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 196 
 
 boarders, there was but little room for expansion. Yet there 
 was steady growth, and in 1883 nineteen boarders and sixteen 
 day-scholars were under instruction for a longer or shorter 
 period ; and at the beginning of 1884, fourteen boarders and 
 ten day-scholars returned to resume their studies. But the 
 building was already overcrowded, and all further development 
 absolutely stopped. Matters grew worse in 1885, when less 
 eligible premises had to be taken, and so they continued until 
 the beginning of 1886, when, through the kindness of a lady 
 visiting Japan, it became possible to rent a better house. 
 From that time the school, whi'ch had been merely existing 
 for two years, began to grow again, and there are now some 
 fifty girls connected with it, about half of whom are boarders. 
 Since Miss Oxlad s return to England in October, 1884, Miss 
 Boulton, who joined her in December, 1883, has been in 
 charge, and she is now assisted by Miss Hamilton, who reached 
 Osaka in the spring of 1886. A new school building, as recom- 
 mended by the C.M.S. Japan Conference, is to be erected at 
 a cost of i^i,5oo,* and will be called “The Bishop Poole 
 Girls’ School,” in memory of the short but helpful episcopate 
 of the first English Bishop in Japan. Although the building 
 will be the property of the C.M.S., and the school will be 
 carried on as heretofore under the supervision of the Society’s 
 missionaries, the Society for Promoting Female Education in 
 the East will still be responsible for the teaching staff and the 
 current expenses. 
 
 The mental, moral, and religious training afforded by this 
 school is now bearing fruit. Three of the former pupils are 
 now engaged in Christian work — a substantial proof that one 
 object aimed at in establishing the school is being attained. 
 Already one of the first pupils, a bright and promising girl, 
 
 * Of this amount ;^900 has been contributed, and the building will be erected 
 as soon as the remainder is forthcoming. 
 
The C.M.S, Mission, — {IV) Osaka, 
 
 197 
 
 has been taken to be with Christ, whom she early learnt to 
 love and follow. She was the daughter of Mr. Nakanishi, and 
 one of the first two children baptized in Osaka. Not only did 
 
Japan arid the Japan Mission, 
 
 198 
 
 she give proof of conversion to God, especially from 1883, but 
 her death and its attendant circumstances in a missionary 
 hospital in 1885, so influenced one of the female patients in 
 the same ward, that she and her husband have since become 
 Christians, and are now members of Mr. Nakanishi’s congre- 
 gation. 
 
 Not only has the work of the ladies just referred to been 
 useful to the girls and women, but it prepared the way for the 
 establishment of a school for boys. For some time Christian 
 boys had been allowed to attend the girls’ school, and when 
 this was no longer possible after* the summer vacation of 1884, 
 it became necessary to decide whether the children of Chris- 
 tians should be left to the purely secular influences of a 
 Government school, or have some provision made for their 
 education on Christian principles. The latter course was 
 adopted, and a school was opened in the room at the rear of 
 Holy Trinity Church on September 4th, with eleven boys, 
 and at the end of the year there were twenty-six. To accom- 
 modate this school, and to make room for a few boarders, a 
 building was purchased, re-erected, and adapted for the pur- 
 pose, the entire cost being met by funds raised locally and 
 private help from home. Mr. Pole has taken the oversight of 
 it from its commencement, and opens it every morning with 
 prayers. The Japanese studies are in the hands of duly 
 qualified native teachers, and the students of the divinity 
 school give the Scripture lessons week by Aveek in turn. 
 English has been taught several hours each Aveek, and in this 
 work Miss Carpari — who was formerly in Sierra Leone, but 
 was transferred to Japan in 1880, and joined the Osaka 
 station in 1883 — has rendered valuable assistance. Mrs 
 Edmonds also assisted during the first half-year of 1886 ; and 
 now the Rev. T. Dunn, who reached Osaka in December, 
 1886, and Miss Dunn, have taken over the responsibility of 
 
The C,M,S, Mission. — {IV) Osaka. 
 
 199 
 
 the English classes. The school has steadily grown, and at 
 the close of 1886 there were forty-two boys on the roll, of 
 whom fifteen were boarders. They are for the most part the 
 children of Christians, all pay their own fees, and there are no 
 “charity^' scholars on the list at all. 
 
 The Osaka Divinity School is one of the several training 
 institutions in China and Japan which owe their existence to 
 the munificence of the late William Charles Jones, by whom 
 the China and Japan Native Church and Mission Fund, which 
 bears his name, was established. As soon as the location of 
 the proposed institution was decided on, the committee of 
 this fund made a grant of £2,000 for the building. A site 
 was secured at the end of 1883, and building operations were 
 at once commenced. The corner-stone was laid by Bishop 
 Poole shortly afterwards. It bears the simple inscription — in 
 Japanese on one side, and in English on the other — To the 
 glory of God this corner-stone was laid, March 3rd, 1884,'' a 
 testimony to the fact, as the Bishop remarked on the occa- 
 sion, that the college was erected not for the glory of the 
 Church of England, or of the Church Missionary Society, or 
 of the munificent donor of the fund from which the building 
 grant was made, but for the glory of God alone. In a few 
 months the building was ready for occupation, and on Sep- 
 tember 29th it was formally opened. Bishop Poole, who was 
 just leaving for California, presided at the opening ceremony, 
 and subsequently made the following entry in the Visitors' 
 Book : — 
 
 On September 29th, 1884, St. Michael and All Angels’ Day, I pre- 
 sided at the opening ceremony of the Holy Trinity Divinity College;. 
 There was a large attendance of Japanese Christians, and their hearty 
 singing, and the readiness with which they joined in the responses, as 
 well as their attention to the speeches, was very striking. At the conclu- 
 sion of the meeting Mr. Warren conducted me through the building, and 
 it is pleasant to record that it is substantial, well-fitted, and admirably 
 
200 
 
 Japan and the Japa^i Mission. 
 
 arranged for its purpose. It reflects great credit on the hon. architect, 
 the Rev. G. H. Pole. The term, I understand, will begin with six or 
 seven students. If their training is as substantial and thorough as the 
 building, they will be a great power for good in the native Church. 
 
 The Rev. H. Evington, who had been in charge of the theo- 
 logical class since the previous January, at once entered upon 
 his duties as Principal pro tern. Ultimately the Committee 
 appointed Mr. Pole to the principalship, and he took charge 
 of the college at Christmas. At the close of 1884 there were 
 seven students, Nagasaki and Hakodate each contributing 
 two, and Osaka three. There are now some fifteen students 
 under training, and two of the seniors — Mr. Terasawa, of 
 Osaka, and Mr. Terada, of Plakodate — together with Mr. 
 Nakanishi, who attended the divinity lectures, have been 
 ordained. Mr. Pole has spent an immense amount of time 
 and labour in the preparation of his lectures. They have all 
 been carefully written out both in Japanese and Roman 
 characters, so as to be available for those who may sooner or 
 later share or take up his work, and to form the basis of text- 
 books on Bible History, the Creeds and Articles, the Prayer 
 Book, Christian Evidences, Church History, &c. 
 
 Whilst every effort has thus been made to render the train- 
 ing thorough and solid, the students have been kept in 
 constant touch with practical mission work. Even during 
 term-time they teach in the boys’ school, and give evangelistic 
 addresses as their help is needed and can be utilised without 
 interfering with their studies ; and during the vacations they 
 are frequently sent out two and two to evangelise in districts 
 where there are openings for work. This will account for the 
 frequent allusions to their presence and work at the out- 
 stations. 
 
 From the year 1877, when Mr. Warren commenced a special 
 class for women, work amongst the females has been sys- 
 
The C.M,S, Mission. — {IV.) Osaka. 
 
 201 
 
 tematically carried on. The wives of the missionaries, the 
 ladies connected with the Female Education Society, and, 
 since the beginning of 1885, Miss Caspari, have taken part in 
 it. Miss Caspari took over the responsibility of carrying on 
 Mr. Warren’s class, and in addition to this and other gather- 
 ings for women in the city, she has frequently visited Matsu- 
 bara and other places doing similar work. The door is now 
 open for making enlarged efforts in this direction, and the 
 call for more lady workers is loud and urgent. Who will 
 respond, saying, “ Here am I, send me ” ? 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (V.) Osaka Out-stations. 
 
 “So that ye were ensamples to all that believe. . . . For from you sounded 
 out the word of the Lord.” — i Thess. i. 7, 8. 
 
 I. TOKUSHIMA IN SHIKOKU. 
 
 HE important town of Tokushima, formerly the 
 seat of a Daimio, and now the capital of the 
 Tokushima Keiiy with a population of about 
 seven thousand, was the first C.M.S out-station 
 occupied from Osaka. It is in the island of Shikoku, near 
 its north-eastern coast, and is distant from Osaka sixty or 
 seventy miles, in a south-westerly direction, whence it is 
 reached by steamer under favourable circumstances in six 
 or seven hours. It stands on one of the four streams of the 
 delta of the Yoshino river, two of which form the ‘Hsland of 
 Virtue ” (Tokushima) from which the town takes its name. 
 Immediately behind the town on its eastern side there are 
 mountains, and near its western suburb there is a solitary hill, 
 rising like an island from the alluvial plain^ which once formed 
 the fortified stronghold of the feudal lord of Awa. The massive 
 granite walls raised for its defence, the foundation stones of 
 the residences within the fortified enclosure, and the artificial 
 rock-work and miniature bridges which formerly adorned 
 some of the gardens, may still be seen. ^‘Castle hill” is 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — {Vi) Osaka Out-stations. 203 
 
 well-wooded, and is now a public park ; and from its summit 
 may be seen the town and its suburbs, and the numerous 
 villages with which the plain is thickly studded, forming 
 together a grand field for missionary work. 
 
 In September, 1880, Mr. Evington spent a few days at 
 Tokushima for change and rest. He was visited by a number 
 of the local officials, and by some of the members of the 
 Greek Church, of whom there were about thirty in the town, 
 and to these and others he had numerous opportunities of 
 speaking the Word. Early in the next year (1881) one of 
 the Greek Christians came to Osaka, and in the name of 
 several others requested that some one might be sent to teach 
 them. Mr. Evington was just leaving for England, and it was 
 determined to send Mr. Aratani, one of the first six Osaka 
 converts, to commence work if there appeared to be an opening. 
 He had the benefit of the counsel and advice of Mr. Thomson, 
 the agent of the National Bible Society of Scotland, who went 
 to visit Tokushima at the same time. There appeared to be 
 an open door, and a house was secured and work commenced. 
 In March and June Mr. Warren went over, and on the latter 
 occasion spent six days there, and was much cheered by the 
 evident signs of interest in the Gospel and progress in the 
 study of it. On three evenings quiet services were held, each 
 of which was attended by a dozen professed inquirers, and 
 on two other evenings there were open meetings for public 
 preaching, one of which was attended by fifty persons. 
 Among the most pleasant reminiscences of this brief visit 
 were the seasons spent in the homes of the people. Evidences 
 were afforded of a careful study of the Word of God, and the 
 greatest interest was shown in turning over the pages of the 
 New Testament ; and there was an evident unwillingness to 
 allow the conversation to proceed until texts which had been 
 quoted or referred to had been found verified. 
 
204 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Among those who showed interest in the Gospel were Mr. 
 Kodama, a photographer, and his father and mother, of whom 
 Mr. Warren thus wrote : — 
 
 Mr. Kodama is an earnest and intelligent inquirer. He is married, 
 and his father and mother and one of his sisters live in the same house. 
 The father, Mr. Fukui, has not advanced so far as his son, but light seems 
 to be breaking in upon his mind, whilst Mrs. Fukui seems to be quite at 
 one with her son, and considerably in advance of her husband. I paid 
 more than one visit to this family, and was privileged to direct their 
 attention to many things in the written Word. All that passed on these 
 occasions showed a deep thoughtfulness and earnest spirit of inquiry on 
 the part of Mr. Kodama, and a gradual advance towards the truth on the 
 part of his parents.* 
 
 But before the first-fruits were baptized there was trial. 
 The Greek Christians, who had been mainly instrumental in 
 moving the Osaka missionaries to attempt work at Tokushima, 
 caused disappointment. For personal reasons, as it appeared, 
 they were unwilling after a time to receive instruction from 
 Mr. Aratani, the acting catechist, and on the arrival of a 
 Baptist missionary from Tokio, they joined themselves to 
 him, and were shortly afterwards re-baptized. The rite was 
 administered publicly in the river. This led to determined 
 opposition to Christian work on the part of the Buddhist 
 priesthood and their followers, and disturbances were created 
 at the preaching rooms of the Baptist and Greek missions. 
 The room in which the work of the C.M.S. had been carried 
 on had to be vacated, and for a time the enemy appeared to 
 triumph. But the inquirers remained steadfast, and in October 
 three of them were baptized. Mr. Kodama was one, but his 
 father and mother held back, as they were apparently afraid 
 that further attacks would be made on the Christians. The 
 
 * Some years before the son had become the foster-child of a Mr. Kodama, 
 and, according to Japanese custom, had taken his name, and hence the differ- 
 ence of name between parents and son. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — (V,) Osaka Out-stations. 205 
 
 fear of man thus hindered them, and their want of decision 
 was a cause of their son's stumbling ; for, during the next 
 year, he and another of the converts — both of them photo- 
 graphers — were engaging in business on the Lord’s Day. 
 Faithful and loving admonition on the part of Mr. Evington — 
 who returned to Osaka in December, 1881, and took charge of 
 the Tokushima work — recalled both to their duty and privi- 
 lege ; and Mr. Kodama had the joy of seeing his father and 
 mother baptized in August. It was serious illness, which 
 terminated fatally a fortnight after his baptism, that led Mr. 
 Fukui to repent of procrastination and indecision. He con- 
 fessed his sin, but was told that this would not suffice unless 
 he brought forth fruit worthy of repentance. Among other 
 things it was suggested that he should close his shop on the 
 Lord’s Day, which he promised to do, and the Sunday after 
 his baptism it was duly closed, and a notice affixed to the 
 door stating that it was a rest-day. When he died, a few days 
 later, the family had to bear the reproach of being Christians 
 in connection with his burial. Of this Mr. Evington thus 
 wrote : — 
 
 A grave had been already purchased in the grounds of a Buddhist 
 temple, but the priest refused permission to bury, closing the gates and 
 offering to return the money. A Shinto priest was then applied to, but 
 it was not till after a night and a day had been spent in running hither 
 and thither, and a promise not to specially mark the grave, that a grave 
 was obtained. The service was performed in the house, and the priest 
 simply acted as registrar. ... A paragraph relating their troubles was 
 inserted in the local paper, doubtless with a view to ridicule. 
 
 There was another baptism before the close of 1882, and 
 several more in the early part of 1883, but the work was 
 marred by a want of unity and hearty friendliness among the 
 few native Christians ; and especially by a gross act of in- 
 discretion on the part of the catechist in charge, which was 
 made the occasion for two of the first three converts to join 
 
206 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 the Greek Church, though laxity in regard to the observance 
 of the Lord’s Day, which is allowed by the Greek Church, 
 was probably one of the chief reasons for the transfer of 
 allegiance. 
 
 Mr. Aratani returned to Osaka, and his official connection 
 with the mission was soon afterwards closed. To supply his 
 place Mr. Terasawa, one of the theological students, spent 
 his summer vacation at Tokushima, and in September, Mr. 
 Yamashita, another member of the theological class, took 
 up the work. These changes were beneficial, and at the 
 close of the year the outlook was more encouraging than it 
 had ever been before. The attendance of heathen at the 
 preaching services was larger ; there were several interesting 
 inquirers ; whilst the Christians manifested greater earnest- 
 ness, more love and unanimity amongst themselves,” and 
 were more regular in their attendance at the means of grace, 
 one man walking quite seven miles to church on the Sunday, 
 and returning in the evening. 
 
 From the beginning of 1884 Mr. Evington took charge of 
 the Osaka Theological Class, and the practical oversight of 
 the out-stations devolved on Mr. Warren. He visited Toku- 
 shima in January, and spent a very happy week in inter- 
 course with the native Christians and inquirers, and on 
 Sunday, January 27th, he had the joy of baptizing four 
 adults, and three children of parents previously baptized. 
 Two of the adults were Mr. Mori, a local Government official, 
 and his friend Mr. Miyaki, an elementary school teacher. The 
 day after their baptism they showed their colours by inviting 
 their friends and neighbours to a meeting, which was held in 
 Mr. Mori’s house, to hear addresses from Mr. Warren and 
 two of the native brethren. Mr. Mori is now a student in the 
 Osaka Theological College, and gives promise of future 
 usefulness. 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (F.) Osaka Out-stations. 207 
 
 In the following May Mr. Warren spent another week at 
 Tokushima, and, in addition to other interesting work, pre- 
 pared some of the Christians for Confirmation. Thursday, 
 May 13th, was a red-letter day in the history of the little 
 Church. Bishop Poole arrived early in the morning. After 
 breakfast he received a number of the Christians, and in the 
 afternoon met the Church committee, which had been formed 
 earlier in the year. From the first the duty of self-support 
 had been inculcated ; but a year before the Bishop's visit the 
 Church expenses were not fully met by the contributions of 
 the native Christians. A little temporary help was sent from 
 Osaka, and when this ceased at the beginning of 1884 the 
 catechist in charge contributed a small sum monthly ; but 
 from March the Christians decided to contribute the necessary 
 sum — ^2 50c. a month — without any such assistance. The 
 Bishop was much pleased with the progress thus shown, and 
 urged and encouraged the Church committee to go forward 
 in their work. 
 
 The Bishop had much pleasant intercourse with the 
 Christians in their homes, and at the inn where he stayed ; 
 but the principal event of the visit was the Confirmation, 
 which in true apostolic fashion took place in an upper 
 room" on the evening of May 13th. Owing to the removal 
 of three adult Christians to Osaka, where they were subse- 
 quently confirmed, and the absence from home of two others, 
 seven, instead of twelve, were presented to the Bishop. 
 
 During a part of the summer vacation, Mr., Yamashita was 
 assisted in his evangelistic work by one of the theological 
 students. Mr. Warren paid another visit in August, and 
 baptized four more adults, making for the year a total of 
 eight adults and three children. Owing, however, to changes 
 and removals, there was not that apparent growth in the con- 
 gregation which is so desirable in the infancy of a mission. 
 
2o8 
 
 Japan a7id the Japan Mission. 
 
 Stiil the year had been one of decided progress, and but for a 
 dark cloud which appeared just at its close — the reported 
 immorality of two of the Christians — the outlook would have 
 been most cheering. When Mr. Evington visited Tokushima 
 in January and March, 1885, the shadow of this cloud was 
 making itself felt, and the little band of Christians was further 
 weakened by the removal of another — one of the most con- 
 sistent of the number — to Tokio. Since the commencement 
 of the mission there had been altogether eighteen adults bap- 
 tized. Of these two, as already noticed, had joined the Greek 
 Church, one had died, and eight had removed to Osaka and 
 elsewhere, and of the remaining seven only four regularly 
 attended the services. Mr. Yamashita and others continued 
 their evangelistic efforts during 1885, and since March, 1886, 
 Mr. Makioka, formerly of Niigata and Tokio, has been work- 
 ing zealously. But during 1886 there were no baptisms, 
 though at its close there were three catechumens under 
 instruction. Tokushima has proved a difficult field. The 
 people, as Mr. Makioka remarks, are shallow and wanting in 
 moral strength,” and their customs are very loose, and 
 lewdness and impurity are rampant.” 
 
 The American Baptists have closed their work at Toku- 
 shima, and several of their converts and one or tw^o from 
 other places have in some measure repaired the loss by 
 removals. At the close of 1886 there were, including these, 
 twelve baptized Christians and eight communicants. 
 
 But if the progress in Tokushima has been tardy, a very 
 encouraging commencement has been made at Tomioka, 
 some fourteen miles distant. Both Mr. Yamashita and the 
 students who helped him in their vacations, and Mr. Evington, 
 visited this place in 1885. A doctor with whom Mr. Eving- 
 ton came in contact, and who professed to be interested, told 
 him of his wife’s father who had “ read the New Testament 
 
The C.M,S, Mission, — {V,) Osaka Out-stations. 209 
 
 through seven times, and rejoiced to find himself beginning 
 to understand the meaning/' The case of this man, who is 
 living at Kotajuna-mura, a village between two and three 
 miles from Tomioka, is thus given by Mr. Makioka : — 
 
 This man is forty-nine years of age and very peculiar. Seven or 
 eight years ago he was a policeman, and afterwards became ‘^kocho ’’ 
 (head of the village. — H. E.). Whilst kocho he bought a copy of the 
 New Testament in Chinese, with diacritical marks to assist in the read- 
 ing, and by degrees perceived that he ought to worship Christ. From 
 this time he gave up his whole time to the study of the Scriptures, and, 
 finally (dreadful to relate), placing bread and wine upon a shelf after 
 assembling his family, brake the bread and said, ‘‘ This is Christ’s 
 flesh,’’ then taking the wine, he said, This is Christ’s blood.” He 
 then caused his family to eat and drink. He punished his wife because 
 she did not believe in the true God, and told her that such as she were 
 unfit to live, rather she ought to have a mill-stone tied to her neck and 
 be drowned. For five years he gave up his work and made the reading 
 of Scripture and prayer his duty ; latterly, however, he has perceived his 
 mistakes, and grieved over them, and has received baptism. 
 
 How marvellously was this man led from darkness into 
 light ! \\nd how beautifully in his case was the promise 
 realised, If any man willeth to do His will he shall know of 
 the teaching." Not only has he received Christ himself, ^^but 
 he has led his wife and family, a neighbour and his family, 
 and his married daughter with her husband and family, to 
 the truth," so that the year 1886 closed with seventeen bap- 
 tized Christians — five men, five women, and seven children*— 
 and one catechumen in Tomioka and its neighbourhood. 
 
 2. IWAML 
 
 Iwami is one of the provinces at the western extremity of 
 the main island, and to reach its coast district from Osaka a 
 journey of several days is necessary. The usual route is by 
 steamer down the Inland Sea to Hiro-shima (Broad-island), 
 on the coast of Aki, a voyage of from twenty-four to thirty 
 
 O 
 
210 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 hours, and thence by road across Aki'and Iwami, both moun- 
 tainous provinces, a walking journey of two or three days. 
 Another route is sometimes taken from Hiro-shima, a day's 
 jinrikisha ride to Miyoshi, and thence by boat for some fifty 
 miles down the river to the coast. There are some rapids in 
 the river, though not of such a character as to cause much 
 excitement, and the mountain scenery through which the 
 river flows the entire distance is most charming. Hamada, 
 the chief town of Iwami, may be reached by steamer direct 
 from Osaka in the summer months, but the dates of sailing 
 and delay en 7 ^oicte are uncertain, and it is generally more 
 expeditious to travel by one of the routes just mentioned. 
 
 The Osaka missionaries were led to commence work in 
 Iwami under deeply interesting circumstances. Mrs. Kubota, 
 a widow, one of the Osaka Christians, who ever since her 
 conversion in 1878 has been a humble but earnest worker for 
 Christ, became a shampooer, and she chose this occupation 
 because, whilst it enabled her to earn something towards the 
 maintenance of herself and her two daughters, it gave her 
 opportunities of placing the Gospel before strangers who 
 might employ her in the Osaka inns. 
 
 In the spring of 1882 she in this way made the acquaint- 
 ance of a young medical man and his wife, who were spending 
 several weeks in Osaka. From what she told them they 
 became interested in Christianity, and at her invitation subse- 
 quently attended the Sunday services at Holy Trinity Church. 
 By this means their interest was deepened, and they purchased 
 the New Testament and other Christian books, and began to 
 study them. When the time came for them to return to their 
 village home in Iwami, they expressed their determination to 
 renounce idolatry, and serve the living and true God. Com- 
 munication was kept up with them by letter, and soon they 
 wrote to say that others to whom they had spoken, and shown 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — (K) Osaka Out-siations. 2\i 
 
 the Christian books, were equally with themselves desirous of 
 receiving instruction in Christian truth. 
 
 During the summer vacation, Messrs. Terasawa and Yama- 
 shita, two of the Osaka theological students, spent several 
 weeks in Iwami, and as it seemed desirable to follow up the 
 work that had been commenced, one, Mr. Terasawa, remained 
 until December. Mr. Evington then paid his first visit, of 
 which he gives the following account in his Annual Letter for 
 1882 
 
 I found eight or ten people taking a greater or less interest in the way 
 of salvation, six of them looking forward to baptism. My visit extended 
 over ten days, during which time I preached, &c., in Gotsu, Watadzu, 
 and Kawanobori,* as well as visiting for conversation at their own homes 
 those whom the acting catechist had put forward as ready for baptism. 
 These were the doctor, his wife, and grandmother, and a man named 
 Noda, with his wife. I was very pleased with the earnestness of Dr. 
 Santo and his wife, who do not seem to hide their light under a bushel, 
 and instead of being moved by the opposition that was raised their faith 
 became strengthened. I baptized them, with their grandmother, an old 
 lady of about seventy, on December 17th. Noda’s case is an interesting 
 one. He was originally a Buddhist priest of the Jodo sect, but had 
 resigned his office and married some ten years ago ; since then he has 
 been engaged in trade. When Terasawa and Yamashita first arrived in 
 Watadzu he came forward to oppose them ; . . . seeking to argue 
 
 and cavil. However, before he had become an inquirer, not more than 
 three days after their arrival, when they were obliged to leave their hotel 
 because of the landlord’s fears, he offered them shelter under his own 
 roof. Since he has become an earnest inquirer we have had testimony 
 from all around to the change in his character. His rough, boisterous 
 manner towards both his wife and others has wonderfully toned down, 
 and he is willing to listen and be taught. He, with his two children, 
 were baptized on the same day with Dr. Santo. His wife, I felt, had 
 not sufficient knowledge and personal interest to justify her baptism at 
 present, although she partly expected it ; she feels the power that it has 
 had over her husband. 
 
 * Gotsu is on the left, and Watadzu on the right bank of the river Go, not 
 far from its mouth, and Kawanobori some distance higher up the river. 
 
 O 2 
 
212 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 At the time this interesting opening occurred it was impos 
 sible to locate an evangelist in the district, and the Christians 
 were instructed to meet on the Lord’s Day, and at other 
 times, for united prayer and mutual exhortation and instruc- 
 tion, and do what they could to win their neighbours to 
 Christ. 
 
 The faith of one of this little band — Mr. Noda — was soon 
 severely tested. Mr. Evington thus refers to it : — 
 
 He was summoned by his relatives to his home, and his mother, who 
 is now an old woman, expressed her grief upon hearing that he had become 
 a Christian. She begged him to recant, saying that if he would she 
 would give him a certain amount of land ; his brother also offered him a 
 house as an additional inducement. The old lady further added, that if 
 he would continue his connection with Christianity, though she was aged, 
 and the parting would be an immense grief to her, she should neverthe- 
 less cease to have any communication with him. After a moment or 
 two’s hesitation, he told them that he had been brought out of darkness 
 into light, and that even if he lost the property and his relatives he could 
 not go back to darkness. 
 
 Nor was this all, for on his return home he was turned out 
 of his house by the landlord, and another house he was de- 
 sirous of renting was refused to him, solely because he was 
 a Christian. These trials not only failed to move Noda San, 
 but they were the occasion of an expression of practical sym- 
 pathy on the part of the Osaka Christians for their perse- 
 cuted brother, to whom they sent a sum of money to help 
 him in his difficulty. 
 
 Mr. Evington visited the district twice in 1883 — in May and 
 November — and Mr. Tsuda and Mr. Yamashita, two of the 
 students, spent their summer vacation of two months there, in 
 teaching the Christians and preaching in the neighbouring 
 villages. On the occasion of Mr. Evington’s November visit 
 he baptized the innkeeper at Watadzu, and his wife and 
 child. This man had been interested in the Gospel some 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — (F.) Osaka Out-stations. 213 
 
 months, and had allowed the use of his upper room for the 
 regular meetings of the Christians without charge, and now 
 having given proof of his decision for Christ by removing 
 every vestige of idolatry from his house, he was received as a 
 member of the little flock. 
 
 There was another most promising catechumen, well 
 acquainted >vith the Scriptures, but as his father was opposed 
 to his becoming a Christian, and refused to allow him to rest 
 from his ordinary occupation on the Lord’s Day, his baptism 
 was deferred. This young man — Mr. Sakata — was, however, 
 baptized during Mr. Pole’s visit to Iwami at Easter, 1884, 
 when Mr. Noda also had the joy of seeing his wife received. 
 
 Mr. Evington’s November visit was, however, chiefly charac- 
 terised by some interesting work at Hamada, the important 
 town already mentioned, which is about fifteen miles from 
 Watadzu. In the evening of the day of his arrival he preached 
 to forty persons assembled in two adjoining rooms — thrown 
 into one by the removal of the paper sliding screens by which 
 they were separated — in the inn where he was staying. Of 
 the next day’s preaching, Sunday, November 25th, Mr. 
 Evington thus wrote : — 
 
 In the evening, for want of a preaching-place, I was obliged to stand 
 and preach in the open air. Kowari, the servant of a society which had 
 its ofifices in the back of my hotel, rendered us considerable service, by 
 securing permission to use a piece of open ground, and then fixing up 
 table and lanterns for pulpit and light. Quite 100 people stood and 
 listened, in spite of the cold, and, with the exception of a few cries of 
 “ Yes, yes/’ No, no,” and their Japanese equivalents, no disturbance 
 whatever was made. 
 
 On three other evenings similar audiences were addressed. 
 On the first occasion the place of preaching was the inn — the 
 people, numbering about 100, being accommodated in two or 
 three small adjoining rooms, or standing outside. On the 
 second and third evenings, as the landlord of the inn refused 
 
214 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 to open his house in the same way again, other arrangements 
 had to be made. Mr. Evington thus speaks of them : — 
 
 We were going outside to preach in the open air again, in spite of the 
 cold, when an old man said we should have either his son’s house or his 
 own. We were soon afterwards conducted to the house, taking our audi- 
 ence with us. When the preaching commenced, the three rooms of the 
 house, thrown into one, were filled with loo people. I took for my text 
 Rom. vi. 23, and was listened to with attention. The day following we 
 repeated the experience of this evening. Both Noda and I addressed a 
 full house. 
 
 Several incidents of the visit afforded evidence of the spread 
 of Christian truth in remote parts of the country, among those 
 who are outside the Christian Church. One young man, a 
 lawyer, spoke loudly in favour of Christianity.” Another 
 who had “received Christian instruction” at Nagasaki, and 
 knew Mr. Maundrell, though having some difficulties about 
 the Trinity, said “ that he read his Bible and prayed.” Several 
 others were “ in possession of the Scriptures, and partly con- 
 vinced of the need of Christianity for Japan,” whilst many had 
 taken in, at any rate intellectually, “ the Idea of the unity of 
 God the Creator, and also the substitution of Jesus Christ for 
 the sinner.” Sad it is to add, that in the midst of so many 
 apparently feeling after truth, a baptized Christian was met 
 who was hiding his light, and who was subsequently reported 
 to be “ quietly opposing the truth.” 
 
 The work thus initiated was followed up by Mr. Pole, Mr 
 ' TerasaWa, and Mr. Warren. Mr. Pole paid a second visit in 
 November, and in addition to interesting preaching services in 
 Mr. Kowari’s house, he had the joy and privilege of adminis- 
 tering baptism to Kowari and four others. If the unfaithful- 
 ness of one baptized Christian was calculated to discourage 
 the inquirers, the earnest and patient efforts of another, who 
 w^as detained in Hamada for some time on business, did much 
 to help them forward. This was Mr. Hori, a member of the 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — {Vi) Osaka Out-stations. 215 
 
 Presbyterian Church, who did everything in his power to assist 
 the C.M.S. missionaries during their visits, and to lead on the 
 catechumens in the way of truth. 
 
 In May, 1885, Mr. Evington baptized three more adults and 
 one child ; and during his visit a Church Committee was 
 formed, and it was agreed that each family should make a 
 monthly contribution, to defray any expenses connected with 
 Christian worship or evangelistic services. 
 
 Bishop Bickersteth visited Hamada in October, 1886, and 
 confirmed five persons, and on the day following they met at 
 5 A.M. for Holy Communion, before the Bishop and Mr. 
 Evington left for Misumi. 
 
 The Iwami province is comparatively thinly populated, and 
 as it has not been possible so far to keep a catechist steadily 
 at work there, the growth of the work has been comparatively 
 slow. Evangelistic efforts have, however, been made from 
 time to time not only in Watadzu and Hamada and the 
 neighbouring villages, but also at Masuda, twenty-five 
 miles south-west of Hamada, which was first visited by Mr. 
 Pole in November, 1884, and Misumi, midway between the 
 two places, which was first visited by Mr. Warren in the 
 summer of the same year, and several other places. But 
 the harvest is yet future. 
 
 3. MATSUYE, IN IDZUMO. 
 
 The chief feature of interest in the work in the far west of 
 the main island in 1885, was its extension to Matsuye in 
 Idzumo — the province adjoining Iwami on the north-east. 
 Mr. Evington thus describes the position of Matsuye : — 
 
 Matsuye is situated on an inland sea about twenty-seven miles in 
 length, and in most places from twelve to fifteen miles wide. It is entered 
 from the Japan Sea by a long but narrow channel. At Matsuye, which 
 is built about the centre of this sea, it becomes so narrow that it can be 
 crossed by a bridge, and the town lies on either shore. 
 
2I6 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 It is the seat of Government for the Shimane Keiiy which 
 includes the provinces of Idzumo, Hoki, and Iwami, and is 
 the largest town in the prefecture, having a population of 
 about 30,000 or 40,000, and being better built and to all 
 appearances more prosperous than Hamada, the chief town of 
 Iwami. Among its principal buildings are several Govern- 
 ment offices, the building occupied by the normal and middle- 
 schools, and a public lecture-hall, called the Ko-do-kuwan. 
 The remains of the former [daimio’s castle are very pictu- 
 resque, chiefly on account of the trees, which have grown to 
 a great size within its massive stone walls.'’ There are good 
 shops of every kind,” well stocked with native and foreign 
 articles.” 
 
 It was from Iwami that the Word of the Lord sounded out 
 into Idzumo, and reached Matsuye. In the autumn of 1884, 
 when Mr. Pole was in Iwami, ‘‘ quite a little company, who 
 expressed a desire to know something of Christianity, 
 offered to meet him half-way, if he would go to them.” This 
 was not then possible, and the proposed meeting did not take 
 place. In January, 1885, one of the Iwami Christians — Mr. 
 Noda, a Bible colporteur — met these people, and found that 
 most of them were influenced by mixed motives, being de- 
 sirous of pecuniary help to buy some land. Further communi- 
 cations were received subsequently both by letter and telegram, 
 and eventually in the spring of 1885 two native Christians — 
 Mr. Arato, a theological student, and Mr. Hara, a colporteur 
 — visited Matsuye. On their arrival they arranged with those 
 who were interested in their visit to have a week’s preaching 
 in the Ko-do-kuwan — the public hall already mentioned. Mr. 
 Evington joined them the day after the first meeting was held, 
 and on the remaining six nights of the week they preached to 
 crowded audiences. On each of the first two nights 600 were 
 crowded into the room of sixty mats, equal to a room 30 feet 
 
The C.MS. Mission, — (F.) Osaka Out-stations, 217 
 
 by 16. On one wet night the geta (clogs) or shoes showed that 
 at least 700 were present, and on several nights it was neces- 
 sary to close the doors, and many were unable to get in at 
 all'"' These meetings, which were times of broad-cast seed- 
 sowing, were followed by quieter and more private gatherings, 
 for the few who appeared to be really interested. Out of at 
 least eleven who assisted in making arrangements, only three 
 were found among the special inquirers. Eventually seven 
 altogether promised to meet on the Lord’s Day for prayer 
 and reading the Scriptures. They were visited and instructed 
 by one of the theological students during the summer vaca- 
 tion of 1885, and in the spring of 1886, on the occasion of Mr. 
 Evington’s second visit, six adults and four children were bap- 
 tized. In November Bishop Bickersteth visited Matsuye, and 
 held a Confirmation for the adult Christians. The town is an 
 important educational centre, and the Bishop gave two 
 addresses to some of the students, “ seventy of whom attended 
 and listened with interest.” ‘‘ The number of inquirers 
 steadily increases,” and there is a prospect of a large in- 
 gathering of souls. 
 
 4. FUKUYAMA, 
 
 Fukuyama is a town in the province of Bingo, a few miles 
 distant from O-no-michi, a port on the Inland Sea. The 
 Rev. G. H. Pole was the first of the Osaka missionaries to 
 visit this town. On his way to Iwami, in November, 1884, 
 he spent a night at the house of his teacher’s father, who was 
 residing there, and had an opportunity of addressing some 
 twenty persons who assembled to hear him. In returning 
 from Iwani he paid a similar visit, and from 200 to 300 
 attended the preaching. An interest was created, which was 
 deepened and extended by the visit of Mr. Evington and 
 three of the theological students in the following spring. All 
 
2i8 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 four in turn addressed a large meeting of 400 persons. Two 
 of the students left on the day following for Iwami a:nd 
 Matsuye respectively, but the third, Mr. Kodama, and Mr. 
 Evington remained. They preached to another large audience 
 in the evening. On Sunday, April 12th, quiet services were 
 held in the room which Mr. Evington occupied at the inn 
 where he was staying. In the evening there was a further 
 meeting for the inquirers at the house of a Dr. Kamegawa. It 
 took the form of a prayer meeting, and Mr. Evington and his 
 native associate again exhorted those present. On this occa- 
 sion nine asked for baptism. Mr. Evington left for Matsuye 
 two days later, but Mr. Kodama remained, and during the 
 fortnight he continued his efforts three more catechumens 
 were added to the number. The Rev. G. Chapman, who was 
 staying at Fukuyama for some time during the progress of 
 this interesting work — though only as a student-missionary, 
 for he had only reached Japan in December, 1884 — no doubt 
 did much by his presence and teaching to help and encourage 
 the catechumens. Mr. Kodama subsequently spent his 
 summer vacation there, and in September Mr. Nakanishi 
 and Mr. Chapman went down (Mr. Evington being unable to 
 go owing to some difficulty about his passport), and after 
 examination, Mr. Chapman baptized ten adults. Two others 
 would have been included in the number, but one was 
 removed by death shortly before, and the other had gone to a 
 distant town in Government service, where, however, he 
 attached himself to a body of Presbyterian Christians. 
 
 Mr. Kodama, whose name will ever be associated with the 
 foundation of the Fukuyama Church, and who gave promise 
 of being most useful in building it up, was taken by the 
 Master to a higher sphere in the spring of 1886. He was 
 one of the first three baptized at Tokushima in October, 1881, 
 and in the spring of 1884 he removed, with his family, to 
 
The C.M.S, Mission , — {Vi) Osaka Out-stations, 219 
 
 Osaka to join the theological class. His wife died in the 
 summer of 1885, and he followed her a few months later, 
 leaving his v/idowed mother and two children behind. A 
 passage from a simple English letter which he wrote to the 
 Rev. C. F. Warren in October, 1885, may well follow our 
 brief notice of this promising young worker. 
 
 In April I went to Fukuyama with Mr. Evington, and remained there 
 three weeks and preached. Many persons came there ; and everyday 
 many of them came to my hotel to hear the Gospel. Some Sunday 
 about twelve of them told me they wished to be baptized, and I preached 
 to them about baptism. After that they always met in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, and they are greatly comforted. In the summer vacation 
 I w’ent there again and remained two months. All brothers are faith- 
 ful to the Lord. 20th September ten brothers were baptized by Mr. 
 Chapman, and they are therefore the beginning of the Fukuyama 
 Church. 
 
 The work has since spread to the village of Yera, six miles 
 distant from Fukuyama, and the small town of Fuchiu, 
 apparently a little further off, as Yera-mura is spoken of as 
 the half-way house where the Christians of the three places 
 sometimes hold united meetings. Rooms for Christian 
 worship have been secured in all three places/' and the 
 Christians are not backward in giving of their substance to 
 the Lord.” 
 
 The movement towards Christianity,” in Fuchiu, has 
 been specially encouraging.” Mr. Chapman, who spent the 
 autumn of 1886 at Fukuyama, says of the Fuchiu work : — _ 
 
 The Christians are all of the better class and are all very earnest, 
 especially an influential merchant. He has opened a school for the 
 teaching of English, and would almost give all his possessions to get 
 some resident English teacher, which at present seems impossible. 
 There have been six baptisms here, and two have been admitted as 
 catechumens. 
 
 Among the Christians at the village of Yera is one man 
 
220 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 baptized in January, 1886. He is a farmer of no special 
 education/’ Before his baptism he used to drag his heavy 
 cart over the bad roads to Fukuyama on Saturday, spend 
 Sunday with the Christians, and return home on Monday 
 morning. He is now the peacemaker — “the great settler of 
 disputes for the village/’ Referring to this, Mr. Evington 
 says : — 
 
 It was related of him in my presence, a few days ago, that instead of 
 doing as the ordinary middlemen do, going to the house of each and 
 speaking ill of the others, he gets the disputants together and sits 
 between them, then laying open the New Testament, explains to them 
 their duty of being reconciled to one another, with the general result 
 that a true understanding is come to, and the cause of trouble removed. 
 
 Bishop Bickersteth visited Fukuyama in October, 1886, 
 and confirmed “ten persons of all ages in the back room of 
 the Japanese inn, and afterwards gave them their first Com- 
 munion,” and in a few days later another was confirmed at 
 Fuchiu. 
 
 At Fukuyama there were six catechumens at the end of 
 1886, and two more asked for baptism early in 1887. Mr. 
 Chapman says : — “ The outlook is promising, as many out- 
 siders are now interested in our religion and wish to know 
 more about it.” God grant that these “ Churches ” may have 
 rest and be edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and 
 in the comfort of the Holy Ghost may be multiplied. 
 “ Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run 
 and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 
 
XV. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (VI.) Tokio. 
 
 ‘‘Ye shall be gathered one by one.” — Isa. xxvii. 2. 
 
 HE first C.M.S. Missionary to Tokio was the Rev. 
 J. Piper, who with Mrs. Piper, reached Yokohama 
 in April, 1874, and shortly afterwards removed to 
 the capital. A little later they were joined by 
 the Rev. P. K. Fyson and Mrs. Fyson. We do not think of 
 missionaries in civilised Japan having to undergo much per- 
 sonal privation, as in Africa and North-West America, but 
 the experience of our first missionaries to Tokio shows that 
 discomforts were not unknown even there. Mrs. Piper thus 
 describes their first dwelling : — 
 
 There is a corner or bit of land near the sea, outside the city proper, 
 which has been allotted to foreign residents ; this is the only place where 
 they are free to buy, build, or rent houses. The place is called Tsukiji. 
 My husband found one place, and only one, where we might live in Tsukiji. 
 Several of our friends who have seen the house since we left say, How 
 did you live in such a place ? and indeed I often wonder how we did 
 pass two hot summers in such a close, low dwelling. The house was half 
 a house, if I may use such a contradiction of terms. There were eight 
 rooms all under one roof, all the rooms exactly alike — twelve feet square, 
 no kitchens, no outhouse, nothing but walls and floors. Four of these 
 rooms were occupied by a Scotch missionary, and Mr. Piper secured the 
 other four rooms for our first residence in Japan. 
 
 Of course we must have a kitchen of some sort. My husband engaged 
 
222 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission 
 
 a carpenter to make us one, which when completed looked more like a 
 large packing-case at the side of the house than a kitchen ; no windows 
 and no chimney, for the place was too small to hold a foreign cooking- 
 stove. We used nothing during the year and a half we lived in that 
 house but Japanese charcoal and native fireplace, for there no chimneys 
 are made; the smoke goes where it can, or where the wind drives it to. 
 
 We spent many happy days in that funny little house, and often now 
 we recall the first evening spent there, the joy we felt at having a home 
 of our own ; and after five years in Japan we think of our first home with 
 great satisfaction. 
 
 BAY OF YEDO (tOKIO). 
 
 During the eighteen months that Mr. and Mrs. Piper 
 occupied this humble cottage residence their chief work w'as 
 the study of the language. But time was found for numerous 
 other occupations. Visitors were received and acquaintances 
 formed, and in 1875, a Bible-class for natives was commenced. 
 Besides, Mr. Piper as secretary of the Japan Mission, had 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — {VI) ToJdo. 
 
 223 
 
 much business of a general character to attend to. He also 
 took a leading part in forming local committees of the British 
 and Foreign Bible and Religious Tract Societies, of which he 
 continued one of the most active members during the whole 
 of his residence in Japan; and he and Mr. Fyson, in the 
 absence of an English chaplain at Yokohama, carried on the 
 English services there for more than a year, and also con- 
 ducted services for the officers and men belonging to the 
 British Navy who were employed as instructors in the Naval 
 Training School at Tokio. In the autumn of 1875 Mr. Fyson 
 was transferred to Niigata; and from that time until May, 
 1879 — nearly four years — Mr. Piper was the only C.M.S. 
 missionary at the capital. 
 
 Whilst the residence of foreigners is by the Treaty of 1858 
 limited to the settlements at the open ports. Government per- 
 mission has often been obtained for them to reside elsewhere. 
 In this way many foreigners, either directly employed by the 
 Government as professors, teachers, or in some other capacity, 
 or engaged by companies or individuals for educational, 
 manufacturing, or commercial purposes, reside beyond the 
 limits of the settlements, and in other places than the open 
 ports. Missionaries desirous of getting into the country and 
 extending their influence have sometimes made engagements 
 to teach in schools or families in order to obtain this privi- 
 lege. It was in this way that Mr. Piper was able to rent and 
 occupy a more suitable house some distance from the foreign 
 settlement, to which he moved towards the close of 1875. 
 Preparation was now made to commence active and aggressive 
 work. A portion of the premises, which had formerly been 
 used as a shop, was fitted up as a mission-room, and became 
 the centre of the Society’s Tokio work for more than two 
 years. The year 1876 was one of hopeful beginnings. On the 
 Feast of the Epiphany, the first public service was held in the 
 
224 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 newly occupied premises ; on Whit Sunday, June 4th, a young 
 man who had attended the Bible-class commenced by Mr. 
 Piper in the previous year was baptized; on October ist 
 there were four more baptisms, and on the same day the first 
 Confirmation was held by Bishop Burdon ; on October 15th 
 the Holy Communion was administered for the first time to 
 the Christians ; and on Christmas Day the first informal 
 Church Committee was formed. Mr. Piper having thus 
 early invited the converts to consult with him on the affairs 
 of the Church and the work of the mission. 
 
 During 1876, preaching and other services and Bible-classes 
 were regularly held, and good congregations assembled from 
 time to time to hear the Word of God. These efforts were 
 continued in the following year, although the congregations 
 were not so large, owing in part to the diversion of traffic 
 by the closing of a bridge for some months for repairs, but 
 chiefly in consequence of the Satsuma rebellion having un- 
 settled men’s minds. There were, nevertheless, good audiences 
 nearly every time Mr. Piper preached. 
 
 The work was extended by renting a second room for 
 evangelistic services, and then Mr. Piper preached regularly 
 during the latter part of 1877. He also made several ex- 
 cursions into the suburbs, “ distributing tracts, and telling of 
 Jesus.” These public efforts were frequently followed by 
 private intercourse with individuals, some of whom appeared 
 to be near the Kingdom of God, but afterwards discontinued 
 their visits, and were lost sight of. 
 
 During 1877, five adults and three children were baptized, 
 one of whom was Mr. Fuyeki, a builder and contractor, who 
 continued faithful until he fell asleep in 1885, 
 
 In reviewing the work of the year Mr. Piper thus speaks of 
 the “ little flock ’’ : — 
 
 There are two features in our little flock which especially encourage me 
 
The C.MS. Mission, — iVI) Tokio. 
 
 225 
 
 to hope for and believe in its permanency and growth, (i) They begin 
 to associate with and visit each other because of their common faith. (2) 
 The majority of our married Christians, both husband and wife, have 
 embraced the truth — thus they help each other. As an instance of this 
 mutual help I may mention that only last Sunday a young man who was 
 baptized last year, told me that if he forgets to say “ grace before meat,” 
 his wife looks at him and says, “ You have forgotten.” 
 
 Towards the close of 1877 the Government, for some reasons, 
 seemed to be desirous of reducing, as far as possible, the 
 number of foreigners residing outside the. foreign settlements 
 
 MISSION CHURCH AT TOKIO. 
 
 and the permission granted to several missionaries to live m 
 different parts of Tokio was withdrawn. Mr. Piper was 
 affected by this action, and was compelled to seek a residence 
 on the Tsukiji Settlement. He was fortunately able to 
 secure suitable premises, which from the spring of 1878 
 became the centre of the Society’s Tokio work. A neat little 
 church was erected on the corner of the mission lot, the entire 
 cost of which, exclusive of old material which was available 
 
 p 
 
226 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 for the building, was |r,200 — say;^240 — all of which was con- 
 tributed by friends on the spot or in England. The labours 
 of our Tokio brethren amongst the English residents both there 
 and at Yokohama have been already referred to. Some of 
 those who appreciated their ministrations manifested great 
 interest in the erection of the church. To their generous and 
 loving gifts Mr. Piper thus refers : — 
 
 In justice to some who have sent me sums without asking, it may be 
 said that one gentleman handed me a cheque for $ioo (;^2o), and a 
 like sum was put into my hands by a British seaman, for some time in 
 the service of the Japanese Government, and who was really brought to 
 Jesus through the means of a Bible-class carried on by Mrs. Piper, and 
 an English service which Mr. Fyson and I used to hold whilst we were 
 studying the language. This seaman, who is now in England, and writes 
 to Mrs. Piper, wished to show his gratitude to Almighty God, and felt 
 that he could not do it in a better way than helping His cause in the land 
 where his own soul had been savingly converted. $25 (j^5) were sent 
 to me some time ago by an English nurse in Yokohama, through the 
 chaplain at that port, in remembrance (as she said) of my services during 
 the time there was no chaplain there. 
 
 The new church was dedicated on May 5th, 1878, by 
 Bishop Burdon. Mr. Piper thus wrote respecting it : — 
 
 The church will seat 150 persons comfortably, and many more might 
 find room on special occasions. 
 
 We held the first service in it on Sunday, April 7th, when four persons 
 were baptized, and the Holy Communion was adminstered. It was a day 
 of great joy to Mrs. Piper and myself, and to all our Christians, now 18 
 (ie., baptized) in number. 
 
 On May 2nd Bishop Burdon came up from Hong-Kong to be present 
 at our C.M.S. Conference, and on Sunday (May 5th) we had a Dedication 
 Service in English. I commenced our ordinary Japanese service at 9 a.m., 
 an hour earlier than usual ; and at its close we had the Holy Communion. 
 At eleven o’clock the English service commenced. It was well attended 
 by the English and American residents, among whom were Sir Harry 
 and Lady Parkes, and the American Minister and his wife. The Bishop 
 preached an appropriate sermon, after which a collection was made 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — ( VI.) Tokio. 
 
 227 
 
 -amounting- to §ioo (;£'2o), and thirty- five persons stayed for the Holy 
 Communion. 
 
 In the afternoon of the following Sunday (May 12th) we had a special 
 service in Japanese, inviting all the members of the American Episcopal 
 Church and S.P.G. to join with us. There were at least 120 Christians 
 present, and about 100 others, mostly heathen. The church was crowded, 
 and the whole service, which lasted three hours, was a joyous sight, and 
 will not be easily forgotten by those who were present. 
 
 In addition to the services and meetings in the new church, 
 evangelistic services were held in the room which Mr. Piper 
 had secured in the city before the close of 1877. Three times 
 a week the Word was preached to good congregations, and 
 much precious seed was sown by the distribution of small 
 tracts at the close of the services. In making full use of both 
 these means of disseminating Christian truth Mr. Piper 
 showed much commendable zeal. He was contented to be a 
 sower,’' knowing that if he himself did not reap, fruit to God’s 
 glory would be found in due time. 
 
 In 1878 there were fewer baptisms than in the previous year, 
 but the case of Mr. Tsurumoto was a particularly interesting 
 one. Mr. Piper thus wrote of him : — 
 
 He was a policeman in this city, with a very slight knowledge of 
 English. He was led to think and inquire about Christianity by a few 
 sentences in (I think) Peter Parley’s book. He came to see me first at 
 the close of 1876, and, as usual with inquirers, I proposed that we should 
 read a Gospel together. He expressed his willingness to do so, and we 
 commenced reading that of St. Matthew in the Japanese language, as 
 his knowledge of English was very limited indeed. He came very regu- 
 larly, as his duties would permit him. We read as far as the twelfth 
 chapter in the course of a few months, during which time he manifested 
 a thoughtful and anxious interest. In March, 1877, soon after the Sat- 
 suma rebellion broke out, he suddenly disappeared. Of course I felt 
 anxious to know what had become of him. I had become very much 
 drawn towards him, and looked upon him as one not far from the 
 kingdom of God.” About two months passed away without our hearing 
 a word from or of him, when, to my thankful surprise, a short letter came 
 
 P 2 
 
228 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 from him, written amidst the scenes of the civil war. He therein told me 
 that he had been suddenly ordered to the south, and had no time to* 
 come and tell me. He further said he had not forgotten the truths he 
 had learned with me — indeed, they had comforted him amidst the 
 dreadful scenes through which he was passing. 
 
 Three months more passed over, and further tidings came from him. 
 Again, at the end of that time, I received a few lines from him, informing 
 me that he would like to come and see us, but was unable because he 
 was suffering from a bullet-wound received in the war, and had been 
 brought back to Tokio, and was in a hospital some two miles from our 
 house. One of our Christians and I took an early opportunity of finding 
 him out at the hospital where he was .lying. We found him cheerful, 
 and with the Gospel by his bedside, not afraid of speaking of Christianity 
 in the presence of his fellow-sufferers. We visited him several times, 
 and he seemed to be gradually improving, when, to our sorrow, at our 
 next visit, we saw him in a separate room in a state of madness! His 
 wife and child were there, but he did not know her or us. The dreadful 
 sights at the seat of war had so told upon him, and the wound was so 
 severe, that madness ensued. The next time we went to see him he was 
 still raving, and even worse than before. 
 
 We came away feeling certain that he would soon die, and our hearts 
 were very sad. You can imagine the feelings of gratitude and utter 
 astonishment which came over us one morning at breakfast, when the 
 servant came and announced the presence of this very man, restored, and 
 “in his right mind ” 1 He had come as soon as he could to thank us for 
 all our kindness, and to ask that he might soon be baptized. His lame- 
 ness, and the strange, somewhat wild, look on his face, excited in our 
 hearts mingled feelings of sorrow and praise to God. After a short time 
 I baptized him in our new church on Sunday, May 26th, rejoicing with 
 all our Christians that this our brother, whom we had two or three times 
 given up as “ dead,” “ was alive again,” and the more than once seem- 
 ingly “ lost ” “ found.” It was meet that we should be “ merry ” in the 
 highest sense. In our estimation his case is a deeply interesting episode 
 connected with the great Satsuma rebellion. 
 
 Tsurumoto became an intelligent and earnest Christian, 
 and his conduct did much to commend the Gospel to his 
 heathen relatives. When he first became interested in Chris- 
 tianity his wife and most of his relatives were devoted 
 
The C.M.S, Mission, — ( Vli) Tokio, 
 
 229 
 
 idolaters, and nothing seemed less likely than that they — 
 especially his wife and father — would become Christians. 
 But, by God’s mercy, it was otherwise. His wife was the first 
 to be won, and she was baptized in December, 1879. It was 
 mainly through his influence, combined with the teaching at 
 a Bible Class held by Mrs. Piper at his father’s house that 
 Tsurumoto’s father, aunt, elder brother, and sister, were led 
 to Christ. They were baptized in 1880, some two years after 
 Tsurumoto’s conversion. 
 
 Although he never fully recovered from the wound he 
 received in the war of the Satsuma rebellion, Tsurumoto was 
 always a zealous worker for Christ in connection with the 
 mission. He frequently assisted at the preaching services 
 in the Mission-room, and did excellent work as teacher of 
 the mixed school, presently to be noticed. After a faithful 
 and consistent course of more than four years he entered into 
 rest on the 12th September, 1882. Mr. Williams, who was then 
 in charge of the Tokio work, thus wrote of his funeral : — 
 
 The day after his death, the Christians of our own and other missions 
 assembled to pay the last mark of respect to all that remained of their 
 departed brother. Bishop Williams, of the American Episcopal Mission, 
 was present ; and it was very touching to see assembled the school 
 children for whose good poor Tsurumoto had so patiently laboured. 
 After the first part of the service was ended many of those present 
 followed the corpse to the cemetery in the suburbs; and there, in the 
 grounds of the Buddhist temple, we committed the body of our brother 
 to the earth with Christian rites, in “ sure and certain hope of the resur- 
 rection to eternal life.” He was in many respects a most estimable 
 man, and his death has been a great loss to us. 
 
 Mrs. Piper’s zealous labours not only helped Individual 
 souls towards the kingdom of God, as in the case of the 
 members of Mr. Tsurumoto’s family, but they led to the 
 establishment of the Sunday and day schools which are still 
 carried on. Towards the close of 1878 she commenced a 
 
230 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 little Sunday-school in the city preaching room. In the 
 following February Mr. Piper, with the assistance of one or 
 two of the native Christians, commenced another in the 
 church. In March the two were amalgamated, and the 
 united school was carried on under Mrs. Piper's superin- 
 tendence. From that time, whether carried on under Mr. 
 and Mrs. Piper and their successors, or, as in 1884, by Mr. 
 Makioka, the pastoral catechist in charge, the great and fun- 
 damental truths summarised in the Creed, Lord's Prayer,, 
 and Ten Commandments were systematically taught, and 
 many important passages of Holy Scripture Avere committed 
 to memory by the children. The attendance has varied from 
 twenty to fifty. 
 
 How the mixed day-school, which has proved one of the 
 most successful vernacular educational efforts in connection 
 with the C.M.S. Japan Mission, was commenced, will appear 
 from the following extract from one of Mr. Piper's letters : — 
 
 From a small sewing class which my wife formed in 1878, the idea of a 
 day-school arose, and in September last (1879) — after circulating notices 
 in our neighbourhood — we used the vestry behind the church as a school, 
 till we could ascertain whether we should be justified in going to the expense 
 of building one. The plan more than answered our expectations, and con- 
 sequently we have built a small school adjoining the church which will 
 seat fifty or sixty scholars. It was built and furnished with funds which 
 we had received from friends in England, The native Christians spon- 
 taneously gave yen 15 — somewhat more than ^2. The new building 
 was opened on December ist, and now there are thirty-one scholars on 
 the books. The teaching is all in the vernacular. The man who* 
 was wounded in the Satsuma rebellion, and of whom I spoke at some 
 length in my last year’s Report is the teacher. In addition to the ordi- 
 nary subjects which are taught in Japanese schools, Mrs. Williams and 
 Mrs. Piper give instruction in knitting and sewing ; and religious teach- 
 ing, with singing and prayer, form a part of every day’s work. 
 
 In 1 880 the attendance improved to between thirty and 
 forty, and later it rose to nearly fifty, and in 1 886 to between 
 
The C.M.S, Mission, — (F/.) Tokio, 
 
 231 
 
 fifty and sixty. The value of such schools is shown by two 
 interesting incidents, mentioned in Mr. Fyson’s Annual 
 Letter for 1885. The son of Mr. Tsurumoto, the late master 
 of the school, is the first boy referred to. Mr. Fyson 
 says : — 
 
 A boy about six years old, son of the former master of the school, is 
 now living with his grandfather at the other side of the city and attends 
 a day-school there. Last year the teacher of his class was one day 
 explaining to the pupils that the person called “ God in the text-book, 
 and described as the Ruler of all things, was the sun-god whom all 
 Japanese have been accustomed to worship. This boy said, No : it 
 meant the True God; that his father and uncle had taught him so. 
 The teacher maintained that it was the sun-god, and the boy stuck to 
 his point that it was the One True God ; but he was of course silenced 
 by the teacher, and went home. The next day the teacher called at the 
 grandfather’s house and half-apologised for the way he had treated the 
 boy, and added that he did not know but what the boy might be right ; 
 and after this he adopted the boy’s explanation, and taught his class 
 that ^^God” meant the One True God. 
 
 The other incident is that of a young lad, a former pupil of the school, 
 now an apprentice in a bookseller’s shop. His fellow-apprentices, 
 observing that he held his head down for a short time before beginning 
 his meals, asked what he did that for, and also wanted to know the 
 reason why he did not pay reverence to the Kamidana (god-shelf) as 
 they and the rest of the household did every morning. The lad replied 
 that he always said grace to God before his meals, and that he believed 
 in the One True God, the Creator ; he had learned that at school, and 
 that it was foolish to worship a Kamidana. They jeered at him for for- 
 saking the gods of his country and worshipping the foreigners’ GoU; 
 but they have so far come round to his way of thinking, that they have 
 given up paying reverence to the Kamidana, and the master of the 
 house himself is half-ashamed of doing so. The lad’s grief is that his 
 master will make him work on Sundays as well, but he means to be bap- 
 tized when he gets a bit older. There are no doubt more cases like 
 these that we never hear of. 
 
 In May, 1879, the Rev. J. Williams was transferred from 
 Hakodate to Tokio. Additional strength was now thrown 
 
232 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 into the work. Mr. Williams, whilst continuing his studies 
 in the language, shared the preaching at the city preaching 
 room with Mr. Piper, and Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Williams 
 worked together in the day and Sunday-schools. During the 
 year seven adults and five children were baptized. 
 
 On December 26th, 1879, ^ terrible fire broke out about a 
 mile from the mission premises. It spread with alarming 
 rapidity, and destroyed thousands of houses in its onward 
 march until the mission property was threatened. The 
 buildings belonging to some other missions in the vicinity 
 were burnt to the ground ; but the houses, church, and 
 schoolroom of the C.M.S. Mission were all spared. Allusion 
 is made to this calamity because it was the occasion of an 
 exhibition of the practical benevolence of Christianity. Two 
 years before, when a great fire took place, the missionaries 
 undertook relief work ; but on this occasion the relief was on 
 a more extensive scale, and in the four months which followed 
 the fatal day on which thousands were deprived of all that 
 they possessed, Mr. Piper received from European residents 
 in Tokio and Yokohama, and distributed amongst the 
 sufferers, about ;^i,6oo. Mr. Matsuda, who was then Governor 
 of Tokio, thanked Mr. Piper for his conspicuous services in a 
 highly complimentary letter ; and Mr. Piper wrote : — 
 
 The beneficence of foreigners shown through the missionaries has 
 produced a profound impression on the minds of many Japanese in 
 favour of Christianity. May it result in some souls being eternally 
 saved so as by fire.’^ 
 
 The year 1880 was not characterised by any large accession 
 to the little flock at Tokio, for only five adults received bap- 
 tism. One of these was the fruit of seed sown in Osaka ; the 
 other four were the members of Mr. Tsurumoto’s family 
 already referred to. But the slowness of the Church's growth 
 did not interfere with the discharge of the missionary's first 
 
The C.M.S. Mission , — ( VL) Tokio. 
 
 233 
 
 duty to “preach the Gospel to every creature''; and the 
 Tokio brethren continued their efforts in church, and school, 
 and mission-room with unflagging zeal — thankful for “the 
 great privilege of unfolding ‘ the old, old story,' and urging 
 large numbers to cast away idolatry and indifference, and 
 turn to the living God." 
 
 Towards the close of 1880 the Tokio station lost its first 
 missionary workers by the return to England of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Piper, through the failure of the latter's health. In 
 taking leave of them a few words must be said about Mr. 
 Piper’s literary work. As a member of the Tokio Committee 
 of the Religious Tract Society he did much to promote the 
 creation of Christian literature in Japanese. Amongst his 
 small tracts for general distribution may be mentioned one 
 on “The True God," and another on “The Resurrection," 
 which have been circulated by tens of thousands. He also 
 prepared a “ Life of Christ in the Words of the Evangelists," 
 after the plan of a little book compiled and arranged by a 
 lady in America, of which an edition of 10,000 was printed. 
 Before the appointment of the Prayer Book Translation 
 Committee in 1878, Mr. Piper joined with Bishop Williams 
 and other Episcopal missionaries in Tokio in preparing a 
 translation of the Morning and Evening Prayer and Litany, 
 which were the first portions of the Prayer Book ever pub- 
 lished in Japanese. After the General Conference of Epis- 
 copal Missionaries in 1878 he was appointed a member of 
 the Prayer Book Committee, and shared in the work of pre- 
 paring and revising those portions of the Prayer Book which 
 were printed in 1879, brought into general use on Christ- 
 mas Day in that year. In the translation and circulation of 
 the Holy Scriptures he took an active interest. As a member 
 of the Revising Committee he offered a number of valuable 
 suggestions on some of the Books of the New Testament. 
 
234 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 He joined with several other missionaries in preparing and 
 publishing the first three, and later the first eleven chapters 
 of Genesis ; and his translations of Jonah, Haggai, and 
 Malachi were the first complete books of the Old Testament 
 ever published in Japanese. But his chief Biblical work was 
 the Japanese Reference New Testament, which contains 
 12,000 references taken from the “Revised English Bible” — 
 a book of immense value to the Church of Christ in Japan. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Piper left Tokio just at a time when their 
 presence seemed so necessary to develop and strengthen the 
 work they had comm^enced. But- the work is the Lord’s, and 
 it is with unerring wisdom that He orders the movements of 
 His servants. Mr. and Mrs. Williams now assumed respon- 
 sible charge of the work which they had for some time shared 
 with their former colleagues. In i88i Mr. Williams bap- 
 tized two somewhat remarkable women — Mrs. Ozaki, the 
 sister of Mr. Ito, who was the first convert baptized by Mr. 
 Dening at Sapporo several years before — and Mrs. Hada, the 
 wife of Dr. Hada, now one of the most influential members 
 of the Church of Christ in Tokio. 
 
 Mrs. Ozaki was at Sapporo in June, 1880, and met Mr. 
 Dening there. She was then expecting shortly to leave for 
 Rome to join her husband. She did not leave Japan, but 
 returned to Tokio, where she made the acquaintance of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Williams, and from November she attended the 
 services and meetings to get instruction in the truths of 
 Christianity. On the last Sunday in May, 1881, she was 
 baptized, and Mr. Williams wrote of her as follows : — 
 
 She is the most intelligent Japanese woman I have met, and, like her 
 brother, possesses great force of character, so that I hope she will become 
 a really useful member of the Church of Christ. She and Mrs. Williams 
 seemed to take to each other from the first, and my wife says that she 
 feels that she has quite a companion in her. It is a real pleasure to 
 
The C.M.S, Mission, — (F7.) Tokio, 
 
 235 
 
 explain a passage of Scripture to her, she seems to catch your meaning 
 at once, and to grasp the gist of the matter almost instinctively. She 
 had renounced idolatry in its grosser forms before she came to me for 
 instruction, but still retained the ancestral tablets. I pointed out to her 
 that any act of worship performed before these was really idolatry, and 
 it was not long before she returned the tablets to the Buddhist priest, 
 telling him that she had no further use for them, though I am glad to 
 say she thought the matter out for herself, and did not simply take my 
 ipse dixit for it. She wished to be baptized some time ago, but I advised 
 her to write to her husband and obtain his permission before taking the 
 step. She acted on my suggestion, but said that she had fully made up 
 her mind to be a Christian whether her husband were favourable or not. 
 Fortunately she was not called upon to act in opposition to her husband’s 
 wishes; in due time the reply came, and was all that a fond wife could 
 wish. She told me some time before she heard from Rome that she 
 prayed night and morning that God would dispose the heart of her 
 husband to grant her request, and I need not say that we earnestly 
 united our prayers with hers. Her brother, Mr. Ito (who has been in 
 Tokio for some time on official business) was present when she was bap- 
 tized, and his presence with us at such a time lent peculiar interest to 
 the service. 
 
 Mrs. Ozaki’s influence for good was seen shortly after her 
 baptism in the reconciliation of two Church members, whose 
 differences threatened a serious breach in the congregation. 
 She “ Worked hard to reconcile the offenders. Her social 
 position entitled her to the respect of both, and gave her an 
 advantage which none of the other Christians enjoyed. At 
 no little inconvenience to herself she visited both of them in 
 their own homes, and ultimately they consented to meet each 
 other at her house.” The result was a complete reconciliation. 
 
 It was also owing to the exertions of Mrs. Ozaki that hei 
 friend Mrs. Hada was won to Christ, and before the close of 
 the year — Mr. Ozaki having returned from Rome — these two 
 Christian wives had the joy of seeing their husbands meeting 
 Mr. Williams from time to time to read the Bible, and draw- 
 ing near to the kingdom of God. 
 
236 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 In the following year, 1882, Mr. Williams baptized five 
 adults and two children — two of the former being Mr. Ozaki 
 and Dr. Hada. In their final decision to serve the Lord 
 Jesus, they were much helped by a native pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church. Mr. Williams thus appropriately refers^ 
 to this circumstance : — 
 
 For some time doubts about the resurrection of Christ alone prevented 
 them from applying for baptism ; but they happened to meet a native 
 pastor of one of the Presbyterian churches in Tokio, and mentioning 
 their difficulties to him, he entered with full sympathy into their case, and 
 put the matter before them in such a. way that their doubts were com- 
 pletely dissipated, and they soon after expressed to me their wish to be 
 baptized. I think that purposely to keep His servants humble, God so 
 works that scarcely any one, singly and unaided, can claim to have led a 
 single soul to Christ. There has been some previous work of preparation, 
 or there are a variety of concurring conditions and circumstances, which, 
 if honestly taken into account, would ever lead the successful Christian 
 worker to form a very humble estimate of himself and his work. 
 
 The introduction of such men and their wives to the Church 
 tended to raise its tone and character. With intelligence 
 there was spiritual power, and this was specially seen in Dr. 
 Ilada’s case. From the first he was a great help and comfort 
 to Mr. Williams, and subsequently by his deep spiritual tone, 
 untiring zeal, open-handed liberality, and whole-hearted con- 
 secration, he has done much for the cause of Christ in Tokio. 
 In February, 1886, Mr. Fyson wrote of him : — 
 
 Dr. Hada continues to be the most zealous of all, and the most liberal 
 contributor to all Christian objects. He is the only one who can be 
 termed well-to-do, but I do not hesitate to say that his personal zeal and 
 earnestness are of more value for the welfare of the congregation than 
 his pecuniary support. I remember on one occasion when he was exhort- 
 ing every one to do his or her best for the welfare of the congregation, he 
 said, “ If I find I have not time to do my duty to the congregation I will 
 make time ; make time by curtailing my other business. Professional 
 and business men in England, hear and consider ! 
 
The CM.S. Mission . — {VI) Tokio. 
 
 237 
 
 In September, 1883, Mr. and Mrs. Williams were compelled 
 to return to England, and Mr. Fyson, who had been residing 
 at Yokohama for more than a year for Old Testament trans- 
 lation work, removed to Tokio to take the oversight of the 
 work. Mr. Makioka, who had worked as a catechist for 
 several years at Niigata, was now transferred to Tokio, and 
 threw himself heartily into the pastoral and evangelistic work 
 of the station. Mrs. Fyson helped in the day and Sunday- 
 schools, and Mr. Fyson’s preaching and intercourse with the 
 Christians did much to foster and develop in them the spirit 
 of self-support. In March, 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Fyson left 
 Japan, and it was arranged for Mr. Makioka to continue his 
 work as the Society’s agent, under the superintendence of the 
 Rev. C. F. Warren, of Osaka. Bishop Williams, of the 
 American Episcopal Mission, kindly undertook to administer 
 the Sacraments and other rites of the Church between Mr. 
 Warren’s visits. It was a critical time. The Society’s Tokio 
 work had suffered considerably from the depressing forebod- 
 ing that the Committee might withdraw their missionaries 
 from the capital, and still its fate was trembling in the balance. 
 A solid foundation of real work had been laid. In spite of 
 some losses, a little congregation of thirty-five souls — most of 
 them full of zeal for Christ — remained, and had a claim on 
 the C.M.S. ; and it was for many reasons desirable that their 
 connection with the Society should be maintained. The 
 importance of the capital as a field of labour was emphasised, 
 and it was urged that, in the interests of Christianity in 
 Japan, the C.M.S. ought to be represented there. The lead- 
 ing missionaries of other denominations earnestly deprecated 
 the withdrawal of the Society’s missionaries. On the other 
 hand the ecclesiastical position of the clergy of the English 
 Church in Tokio was uncertain and ill-defined, and the C.M.S. 
 Japan Conference all but unanimously recommended the 
 
238 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 relinquishment of the work there, unless more missionaries 
 could be sent to strengthen the expanding work at Osaka 
 and Nagasaki. 
 
 When Mr. Warren visited Tokio in March, 1884, just as 
 Mr. Fyson was leaving, it was evident that the minds of some 
 of the Christians were unsettled, and as Mr. Makioka was a 
 comparative stranger to them, it was by no means certain 
 that he would prove acceptable to the congregation after Mr. 
 Fyson’s departure. Trouble was therefore anticipated, and 
 before the next visit, in June, it was rumoured that some of 
 the most zealous members of the congregation contemplated 
 seceding. The outlook was discouraging. ‘‘ With much 
 prayer for guidance,” wrote Mr. Warren, and supported by 
 the prayers of my colleagues and the native Christians at 
 Osaka, I set out confident that the Lord would make His 
 will plain, and overrule all for His own glory and the advance- 
 ment of the work of His kingdom.” At the first meeting of 
 the Christians on Friday, May 30th, opinions were divided, 
 and Dr. Hada openly declared his intention of leaving the 
 congregation. He explained that this was from no want of 
 desire to co-operate with the Society’s missionaries, but 
 because the bulk of the congregation were apparently unwill- 
 ing to work heartily for the self-support of the Church, and 
 that it would be better for him to join another congregation 
 where a different spirit prevailed. The following Lord’s Day, 
 June 1st, was Whit-Sunday. The morning congregation was 
 encouraging. There were thirty present, and eighteen C.M.S. 
 Christians and one stranger partook of the Lord’s Supper. 
 The sermon was on the words, Be filled with the Spirit,” 
 and what was said seemed to produce a deep impression. In 
 view of the important questions to be discussed and decided 
 during the week, a special prayer meeting in the evening was 
 suggested, and some fifteen came together to plead earnestly 
 
The C.M.S, Mission, — (VI.) Tokio. 
 
 239 
 
 with God for His guidance and blessing. Of this meeting, 
 and the monthly united prayer meeting of Episcopalians, 
 held the day following, Mr. Warren thus wrote : — 
 
 There was much in that little meeting of a dozen or fifteen to inspire 
 hope. The earnestness and fervency of the prayers, the simple reliance 
 upon God which they expressed, and the deep conviction that it was by 
 the Spirit of the Lord alone that any good could result from our confer- 
 ences on the work of the Church, or from that work itself, which seemed 
 to have possession of every heart, were tokens that the Lord was with us ; 
 and yet the dark cloud of a possible secession from the congregation 
 still overshadowed us. On the next day there was a united prayer meet- 
 ing of members of the Episcopal Church, which was held at St. Paul’s 
 (the C.M.S. church). Dr. Hada was present, and offered an earnest 
 prayer. As his intended secession from the Episcopal Church was an 
 open secret, allusion was made to it by Mr. Makioka, and all were invited 
 to pray that he might be guided aright. After the meeting I asked Dr. 
 Hada to come into the vestry, and found that he was not without anxiety 
 about the step he was contemplating. I told him that our Church needed 
 every Christian zealous for God and anxious to promote the self-support 
 of the native Church ; and that the efforts of the C.M.S. were intended, 
 with God’s blessing, to create and build up congregations of such persons. 
 There would always be much in the Church we should heartily deplore, 
 but instead of leading us to secede from it, this should rather strengthen 
 our determination to remain, so that we might overcome the evil, and help 
 those less conscious of their duty and privileges rightly to estimate them, 
 and so bring glory to our Lord and Master. 
 
 The next day, Tuesday, June 3rd, a meeting which lasted 
 nearly three hours was held, and the pastorate of the congre- 
 gation, the Sunday and other services, the need of a preach- 
 ing-room in the city, the day-school, and the self-support of 
 the Church, were talked over in succession. After this pro- 
 longed meeting the native Christians held another, to discuss 
 the financial position of the congregation. On the following 
 day a second meeting was held, and formal decisions were 
 registered. Dr. Hada declared his intention to remain. The 
 congregation requested that Mr. Makioka might continue to 
 
240 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 act as their pastoral agent. Arrangements were made for 
 increasing the number of services. The financial question 
 was solved most satisfactorily. The catechist was then receiv- 
 ing yen 15 a month, and it was at first arranged that the 
 congregation should pay fifty-six per cent, of this sum during 
 the remainder of 1884, sixty-seven per cent, during 1885, and 
 eighty-four per cent, during 1886, the balance in each case 
 being paid by the C.M.S. But at a second meeting it was 
 resolved, that instead of asking the Society for a grant to 
 supplement their contributions, any deficiency should be met 
 from their own pastorate fund, which then amounted to some 
 200 yen. “ And thus,’' wrote Mr. Warren, “ with God’s bless- 
 ing we reached the position which the more zealous members 
 of the Church had longed and prayed for, and yet which only 
 a week ago seemed very far distant.” When this action had 
 been taken Mr. Makioka, in acknowledgment of God’s good- 
 ness to the Church, .and as a practical proof of his earnest 
 desire for the self-support of the congregation, requested that 
 his salary might be reduced from 15 Yen to 12, thus volun- 
 tarily relinquishing twenty per cent, of his moderate income. 
 Well might Mr. Warren conclude the letter communicating 
 these facts with the words, The Lord hath done great things 
 for us, whereof we are glad.” 
 
 From that time the little congregation took a fresh start. 
 May we not believe, must we not acknowledge, that with 
 renewed consecration there has been the reception of fresh 
 power to do the Master’s will and work ? From Whitsuntide,. 
 1884, to the following January, ten adults and seven children 
 were baptized, four of them being members of Dr. Hada’s 
 household — his adopted son, his maid-servant, and two of his 
 pupils. There was growth, too, in other respects. For some 
 reason several of the Christians of some standing, amongst 
 whom were Dr. and Mrs. Hada, had not been confirmed. 
 
The C.MS. Mission . — ( VL) Tokio. 
 
 241 
 
 This was the case, too, with Mr. Makioka, who had recently 
 come from Niigata, where he had had no opportunity of 
 receiving the rite. They were consequently viewed by some 
 of the members of other Episcopal congregations as wanting 
 in fidelity to the Church of their baptism. At Mr. Warren’s 
 next visit in September the matter was talked over, and a 
 desire was expressed for Confirmation. Bishop Williams was 
 appealed to, and he kindly offered to hold a Confirmation 
 when a convenient day could be fixed. On January i8th, 
 1885, he confirmed fifteen candidates, and afterwards ad- 
 ministered the Lord’s Supper to these and five others. Thus 
 the unsettled feeling in regard to this and other Church 
 questions gave place to a thoroughly loyal and hearty ad- 
 herence to the edifying order of our Church as embodied in 
 the Book of Common Prayer. 
 
 The liberality of the congregation went forward with a 
 bound. In the previous year Bishop Poole, while reporting 
 that the contributions of the C.M.S. and S.P.G. Christians in 
 Japan amounted to £84y or an average of 3s. a head, noted 
 that one congregation was in advance of the rest, having given 
 at the rate of 7s. gd. a head. This was the C.M.S. Tokio 
 congregation. In 1884 the increase was nearly four-fold,’[as 
 will be seen from the following list of contributions for the 
 year furnished by Mr. Makioka : — 
 
 Pastorate Fund 
 
 Communion Alms 
 
 Native Missionary Society 
 
 Evangelistic Meetings in Theatre... 
 
 Singing Master 
 
 Old Testament Translation 
 
 Yen Sen £ S. d. 
 
 120.55 = say 24 o o 
 
 IQ -54 n 3 18 O 
 
 27.12 „ 580 
 
 33.00 ,, 6 12 o 
 
 4.15 „ o 18 o 
 
 3.00 ,, O 12 O 
 
 O 12 O 
 
 Yen 207.71 = say j^4 1 8 o 
 
 Q 
 
242 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 This was at the rate of /"i 9s. 6d. for each baptized member 
 of the Church, ox £i 14s. 6d. for each adult member. 
 
 The congregation were zealous in general evangelistic work. 
 Not only did they contribute to the native Episcopal Church 
 Missionary Society of Tokio — a society which embraces 
 Christians of the C.M.S., S.P.G., and American Episcopal 
 Missions, and which is managed by a representative committee, 
 of which Bishop Williams is chairman — but they took part in 
 a special effort to bring Christianity before the public mind in 
 Tokio. Mr. Warren thus refers to it in his Annual Letter for 
 1884: — 
 
 The congregation took a warm interest in, and liberally subscribed 
 towards the expenses connected with the holding of meetings on two 
 consecutive days in the principal theatre in Tokio. . . . Every difficulty 
 was surmounted, and large audiences listened on each of the two days to 
 definite statements of Christian truth. Dr. Hada was one of the chief 
 promoters of this movement, and he worked hard to make ^he meetings a 
 success. 
 
 From June, 1884, work in the city was resumed, and 
 preaching was held twice a week in a house rented by the 
 Society for the purpose. The burden of this work devolved 
 on Mr. Makioka, but he was constantly assisted by Mr. Fuyeki, 
 and several other members of the congregation. 
 
 In March, 1885, after an absence of twelve months, Mr. 
 Fyson returned to Tokio to resume his translational labours, 
 and to take a general oversight of the Tokio congregation. 
 His report for 1885 was full of encouragement, and showed that 
 the hope of further growth and development inspired by the 
 events of 1884 began to be realised. The following causes for 
 thankfulness are especially noted : — 
 
 I. The Christians have maintained their position of a self-supporting 
 congregation, which as you are aw^re, they adopted about the middle of 
 1884. They have paid the salary of their pastor and all Church expenses, 
 and have received no money whatever from the Society’s funds. It is 
 
The CMS. Mission.— {VI) Tokio. 
 
 243 
 
 hardly necessary to say that the interest which they take in all that con- 
 cerns the welfare of the congregation, now that they feel that they have 
 something which belongs to themselves, and for which they are directly 
 responsible, is double and treble of what it used to be. I am glad to say 
 there is an evident determination to maintain this position of entire 
 independence of foreign pecuniary help. I put this cause of thankfulness 
 first, because I think this question of self-support is of the greatest 
 importance. 
 
 2. I ought also to mention that in addition to the payment of the pastor’s 
 salary and all Church expenses, this little congregation also subscribes 
 liberally to the Episcopal Home Mission, to the support of the Old 
 Testament Translation Committee, and to the erection of a Christian 
 hospital, besides paying about half the salary of an evangelist whom they 
 set to work in the city. Last year they raised altogether about yen 375 : 
 this includes a handsome donation from one member to the Christian 
 hospital just mentioned. 
 
 3. I am also very thankful to be able to report a good increase — I may 
 say a large increase — in the numbers of the congregation. During the 
 year twenty-four were baptized, viz., nineteen adults and five children.* 
 The number in connection with this congregation is now fifty-four, a few 
 of whom are in the country. The new converts were brought in, I think 
 I may say entirely, by individual members of the congregation. One of 
 the oldest members, baptized by Mr. Piper, died during the year, and a 
 few withdrew. 
 
 4. The weekly prayer-meeting has been well and regularly attended. 
 Indeed there is little doubt that the continued interest and zeal of the 
 congregation may be ascribed mainly to their prayerfulness. To give one 
 or two instances of their earnestness in this particular : last September I 
 found that they were meeting every evening in the church for united 
 prayer, and when I inquired the reason I was told that they felt afraid 
 that they were growing cold and lifeless, and so had arranged for a week 
 of prayer to stir themselves up. I also learned that one member came 
 early every morning to spend an hour by himself in prayer, and that 
 another did the same in the evening, and later on in the year I found that 
 several met in the church every morning for prayer at half-past five. 
 How many congregations in England adopt the same means for reviving 
 themselves ? 
 
 * These probably include several baptized in January, 1885, mentioned on an 
 earlier page. — C. F. W. 
 
 Q 2 
 
244 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 The progress still continues, as the following passages from 
 Mr. Fyson's Annual Letter for 1886 shows ; — 
 
 There were twenty-four baptisms — twenty-three adults and one child — 
 and at the close of the year the number of adherents, including a few not 
 resident in Tokio, and ten candidates for baptism — was about seventy. 
 Number of communicants thirty. Average congregation between forty 
 and fifty. Average number of communicants a little over twenty. Total 
 amount of contributions for Christian work of all kinds about yen 230. 
 
 Four names were removed from the register of members, two on account 
 of immorality, and two as having ceased to attend any Church services. 
 But the congregation, as a whole, has grown in strength and spiritual life, 
 and has exhibited a good deal of zeal, both for the spiritual welfare of its 
 own members, and for the evangelization of those without. In addition 
 to defraying all its own Church expenses — no money whatever being 
 received from foreign funds — it has also provided the principal part of 
 the support of two of its number specially engaged in evangelistic work. 
 Perhaps the most encouraging feature is its zeal in prayer. The week- 
 day prayer-meetings are most regularly attended and evidently much 
 enjoyed; and to give a single special instance, after the usual week of , 
 prayer at the beginning of the year, held conjointly with other bodies of 
 Christians, this congregation resolved to have a second week of prayer by 
 itself, and the last meeting on the Saturday was the best attended of all, 
 almost an average Sunday congregation being present. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Williams returned to Tokio in December, 
 1885. Their presence will, no doubt, do much to strengthen 
 the hands of the Christians, as well to make the day and 
 Sunday-schools more efficient. But their chief work is to 
 break up fresh ground. Mr. Williams has opened two 
 preaching-rooms in the city, and in the evangelistic work 
 he is carrying on there he has received very efficient help 
 from some of the Christians. One of his most zealous helpers 
 is Mr. Fuyeki, who was baptized by Mr. Piper some years 
 ago, and subsequently did excellent work as a colporteur of 
 the British and Foreign Bible Society. For several years he 
 was the most successful colporteur in Japan, and sold thousands 
 
The C.MS, Mission.— (VI.) Tokio. 
 
 245 
 
 of copies of New Testaments and portions. Dragging his 
 well-stocked hand-cart to some open space in the city, or to 
 towns and villages at a distance, he used to stand up and 
 •speak of the Book he loved and of the glad tidings it contains. 
 In this way crowds often listened to his statements of Gospel 
 truth, and many were induced to purchase portions of the 
 sacred volume. In 1884 he felt constrained to relinquish this 
 work, which frequently took him away from Tokio, in order 
 that he might work for and with the Tokio congregation. He is 
 now one of the two evangelists employed by the native Church. 
 He is very zealous, 'Tias a fluent tongue, and is specially use- 
 ful for working amongst the poorer classes.” 
 
 Thus God is using the gifts, and blessing the efforts of our 
 European missionaries and the native Christian workers, and 
 the little flock is steadily growing, and is being edified in purity 
 and love. With such evidences of a Divine work our brethren 
 may go forward trustfully. ‘‘ Being confident of this very 
 thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will 
 perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” 
 
XVI. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me .” — John x. 27. 
 
 |T this northernmost treaty-port, in the island of 
 Yezo, the Rev. Walter Dening arrived in the 
 summer of 1874. As he was accompanied by Mr. 
 Futagawa, a Nagasaki Christian, he was able to 
 begin services at once ; and the first baptism took place on 
 Christmas Day in that year. Two disappointments, however, 
 ensued : Mr. Futagaw^a left the mission, and the new^ly 
 baptized person fell back. The second convert,’ Mr. Ogawa^ 
 has proved a valuable helper and active evangelist among 
 his countrymen ; and the large numbers that from the first 
 attended the preaching of the Gospel — reckoned by hundreds 
 instead of by tens as at Osaka and elsewhere — seemed 
 to give promise of an abundant harvest hereafter. 
 
 A very interesting account of Mr. Ogawa, and of the 
 promising commencement of work in a building in the main 
 street of the town was sent by Mr. Dening, dated June 24th^ 
 1875 
 
 On the 9th of May I opened a service in what was formerly a larger 
 shop, in the main street of the town; about 150 attended in the morning, 
 and 200 in the afternoon. I preached both times on Matt. xxii. 2 — 13. 
 On the following Sunday ( Whit-Sunday) I baptized, in the presence of a 
 
The C.M.S. Mission.— {VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 247 
 
 large crowd, Ogawa, a young convert of whom I will speak presently. 
 Since their commencement these services have been held regularly twice 
 every Sunday and once in the week. Considering the opposition en- 
 countered, I am surprised that the numbers keep up as well as they do. 
 We generally get about seventy or eighty on Sunday morning, and from 
 100 to 150 in the afternoon ; the Wednesday evening service varies very 
 much. 
 
 And now for the opposition. The Governor and other local authorities 
 were excessively annoyed that I had obtained the use of a house in the 
 main street. Hitherto all Christian services have been carried on in 
 somewhat obscure quarters of the town— usually in the missionary’s 
 house. This is the first time that Christianity has been exposed to 
 public view, as it were, in Hakodate. The young convert Ogawa, who 
 took the house on my behalf, was called up by the authorities, again and 
 again threatened, and charged not to allow any teaching or speaking in 
 the name of Jesus in his house. He informed them he could not obey 
 their commands, that he believed in Christianity himself, and wished it 
 to be made known to others, and he could not interfere with my work. I 
 have reason for believing that the whole matter was referred to Tokio; 
 but no steps have been taken to carry the opposition further. But the 
 Governor forbad the people to attend the service, frequently sent spies, 
 and once came himself to see who were present. 
 
 About a month ago, six Buddhist priests came to call on me, and spent 
 most of the morning in arguing about Christianity. I have been visited 
 from time to time by ones and twos, but never had been attacked by six 
 at one time. They evidently came with the idea of proving, if possible, 
 that Buddhism was very similar to Christianity, if only rightly under- 
 stood. I, seeing this, endeavoured to draw out, as clearly as possible, 
 the difference between the two systems. The Japanese are so excessively 
 polite in argument that it is quite a pleasure to agree with them. 
 
 Ogawa (literally “ little river ”) is a young man who commenced 
 attending the Bible-class last September, and since that has rarely 
 missed, and has proved himself a steadfast believer in the Lord Jesus. 
 Since Bible truths apprehended him (to use St. Paul’s expression) I have 
 not seen any sign of indecision in him. He has been scoffed at and 
 persecuted in numerous ways. He receives all opposition most bravely, 
 simply smiling at his adversaries. He endeavours to explain Christianity, 
 as far as he understands it, to others. I heard him the other day, much 
 to my delight, telling a dear old grey-headed man of seventy-four about 
 
248 
 
 yapa7i and the Japan Mission 
 
 the fall of man and God’s anxiety to rescue poor fallen man from hell. 
 The dear old man was struck with wonder at the story of the Cross, and 
 kept uttering expressions of profound surprise at such a salvation. He 
 asked, before he left, what was the name of Him who died upon the 
 cross for sinners. 
 
 It is, under God, owing to the boldness and decision of Ogawa that I 
 have succeeded in holding the house in the main st^.et. Please to pray 
 that the waters from the little river ” may flow into thirsty spots, making 
 the desert to blorsom as the rose. 
 
 HAKODATE, TREATY-PORT IN THE ISLAND OF YEZO. 
 
 During the remainder of 1875, and all through the follow- 
 ing year, the work was continued with the same vigour as 
 characterised its commencement. Early in 1877 Mr. Dening 
 returned to England, and was absent from his station until 
 May, 1878. During this interval the Rev. J. Williams, who 
 had joined Mr. Dening in 1876, was in charge, and he was 
 ably assisted by Mr. Ogawa and other natives. 
 
 In addition to work in the town regular evangelistic efforts 
 were made in several villages near Hakodate. Work was 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — {VII) Hakodate, 
 
 249 
 
 commenced at Ono, a village twelve miles from Hakodate, 
 with a population of about 2,000, in September, 1876. In 
 March, 1877, Mr. Williams procured a house in Arikawa, a 
 village seven miles distant, the centre of a population equal 
 to that of Ono, where a little later weekly preaching was 
 commenced. After Mr. Dening’s return to Hakodate, Nanaye, 
 another village, was occupied. Its population was about 400, 
 but it w^as deemed a place of some importance, as there were 
 some intelligent young men there, connected with a model 
 farm started by the Colonization Department, who were 
 admirers of everything foreign, and who had shown consider- 
 able interest in Christianity. 
 
 These three preaching out-stations were thus occupied 
 before the close of 1878, and in 1879 a fortnightly meeting 
 was started at Kikiyo, a small village of twenty or thirty 
 houses between Hakodate and Nanaye. This was in response 
 to the invitation of a man who was in charge of the Govern- 
 ment branch farm, and who offered the use of his house, and 
 promised to gather the people together. These out-stations 
 were regularly visited from Hakodate, and for some time Mr. 
 Ogaw^a resided^at Ono ; and congregations, smaller or larger 
 — sometimes in the larger villages they numbered 150 or 200 
 — listened to the preaching of the Gospel from the lips of the 
 European missionary or the native evangelist. 
 
 One of the principal events of 1878 was the erection of a 
 commodious] Mission Church. The foundation stone was 
 laid by W. J. Eusden, Esq., Her Majesty’s consul at Hako- 
 date, on August 14th, and the building, which was a strong 
 framework of timber, with thick walls of mud and plaster, a 
 tiled roof, and windows fitted with iron-sheathed shutters, 
 capable of holding 300 persons, was opened on November 
 24th. During the erection of the church a convenient place 
 was secured for preaching services, and good congregations — 
 
250 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 frequently numbering 200 persons— were addressed three 
 times a week. This work was transferred to the church on 
 its completion. The opening of the church was an occasion 
 of great interest and rejoicing. 
 
 In 1879 Mr. Williams was transferred to Tokio. But the 
 year was one of no less abundant labours. In addition to 
 
 C.M.S. MISSION HOUSE AT HAKOD.VTE. 
 
 the regular work in and around Hakodate two native 
 evangelists spent the month of August in itinerating. One 
 of them visited Matsumaye, a town with a population of 
 some 16,000, about sixty miles from Hakodate, which was 
 formerly the residence of a Daimio ; the other went to 
 Yesashi, about the same distance — the whole of their expenses 
 being borne by the native Christians. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — (VII.) Hakodate. 251 
 
 Mr. Dening spent much time in translational work. He 
 also made special efforts to reach the better educated classes 
 by preaching courses of sermons on special subjects. 
 
 The next two years showed continued progress, and several 
 converts were baptized. One of them was an ex-Government 
 official, well-known and much respected in Hakodate for his 
 scholarship and force of character, and his conversion made 
 
 C.M.S. PREACHING PLACE AT HAKODATE. 
 
 a great stir in all the neighbourhood. A Shinto priest, intro- 
 duced by this man as a Chinese teacher, was baptized at the 
 same time. At the close of 1881 the baptized Christians 
 numbered thirty-seven, and there were twelve catechumens 
 under instruction. 
 
 But trial was at hand. In October, 1882, Mr. Dening 
 came to England, and in January, 1883, he ceased to be a 
 
252 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 missionary of the Society. The Society’s Annual Report for 
 that year thus referred to this matter : — 
 
 The Society’s missionary staff in Japan would have remained the same 
 as last year, but for one circumstance, which has caused the Committee 
 much anxious concern — the disconnection of the Rev. Walter Dening-. 
 The work in the Island of Yezo, with which he has been identified from 
 the first, has had its own features of peculiar interest ; and the Committee 
 would have rejoiced if they could have looked forward to its being still 
 carried on for many years to come by so energetic a missionary. But 
 being challenged to give their explicit sanction to the public and dogmatic 
 teaching, in Japan, of novel views regarding some of the most profound 
 and solemn theological questions, they felt, while desirous in no way to 
 abridge the reasonable liberty of the Society’s missionaries on minor and 
 doubtful points, that they had in this case no alternative but to lose the 
 services of a zealous agent rather than consent to the demand which his 
 letters distinctly made upon them. 
 
 This was a severe blow to the Hakodate work, and one 
 from which it has not yet fully recovered. Mr. Dening’s dis- 
 connection was not only the loss of a laborious and painstaking 
 missionary possessing a good knowledge of the language, and 
 able to use it with fluency and good effect, but it resulted in 
 the temporary secession of the senior catechist and the bulk 
 of the Christians. It was quite providential that Mr. Andrews, 
 whose health had suffered at Nagasaki, had, in the previous 
 May, been transferred to Hakodate, and the changed aspect 
 of the mission cannot be better given than in his words written 
 at the close of 1883 : — 
 
 The Lord has been so good to us this year. As you know, at its com- 
 ^nencement there was much to fear, and the clouds were very dark ; but 
 all praise be to the great Head of the Church, who has ruled everything 
 for the glory of His name, notwithstanding the imperfection of us. His 
 agents. Our number of Christians stands as it did when Mr. Dening’s 
 followers left us. We have also two Christians from Nagasaki in our 
 employ. It does seem a small band, but thank God, there is real life 
 
The C.M.S. Mission. — (VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 253 
 
 amongst the members ; the adults are earnest readers of their Bibles, 
 and are trying to live consistently before their heathen neighbours. The 
 number all told is ten, including three children. 
 
 The second church, which was built in 1880, after a 
 disastrous fire in the previous December, had to be taken 
 down early in March, 1883, owing to a dispute about the title 
 to the land on which it was built, and the reduced band of 
 Christians met at the mission-house for worship, whilst preach- 
 ing to the heathen was carried on regularly in places secured 
 for the purpose in the native town. During the earlier part 
 of the year twice a week, and during the latter months every 
 evening, except Saturdays, meetings were held, and were 
 well attended, and at the close of the year several promising 
 inquirers were under instruction. 
 
 It was at this time that Mr. Terata came more to the Dont. 
 He had done good service as junior catechist, but more 
 responsibility was now thrust upon him by the changed 
 circumstances of the mission, and Mr. Andrews wrote of 
 him : — 
 
 I cannot speak too highly of Terata San. He works most actively, 
 and I feel sure is only actuated by love to the Master. Every day he 
 has people in his house talking about Christianity, and he is of the 
 greatest assistance to me in the work here. 
 
 He continued to work with Mr. Andrews as catechist until 
 the autumn of 1884, when he entered the Osaka Divinity 
 School to prepare for Ordination. Besides pursuing his studies 
 he worked zealously both in the neighbourhood of Osaka and 
 in its out-station districts, especially during the vacations. He 
 was ordained to the diaconate on March 6th, 1887, and has 
 now returned to Hakodate for pastoral and evangelistic 
 work. 
 
 From the time of the division amongst the Christians 
 already referred to everything was done to minimise its evils. 
 
254 
 
 Japan and the Japaii Mission. 
 
 and it augured well for a future reconciliation when Mr. 
 Andrews could write at the close of 1883 • — 
 
 We live on excellent terms with those who have separated themselves 
 from us. Besides our monthly united prayer-meeting we meet together 
 on the second Sunday of each month to partake of the Lord’s Supper. 
 On Christmas Day it was most cheering, and made one inwardly rejoice 
 to see them all thus worshipping together. 
 
 After his separation from the Society Mr. Dening took up 
 his residence at Tokio, and but little progress was made by 
 his followers in his absence. In December, 1883, Bishop 
 Poole reached Japan, and in the following spring he under- 
 took the responsibility of guiding and supporting the work of 
 the seceding party. When the Bishop visited Hakodate in 
 June, 1884, he arranged that the seceding Christians should 
 unite with the C.M.S. Christians in the same Sunday morning 
 services. A year later, when lying ill at Shrewsbury — it was 
 one of his last acts as Bishop of the English Missions in 
 Japan — he wrote a letter urging them to consider carefully 
 their altered circumstances, and to seek full reconciliation 
 with the Society’s Mission. This letter, and another which 
 accompanied it from the Rev. C. F. Warren, who had visited 
 Hakodate in March, 1883, and was therefore known to some 
 of the Hakodate Christians, had the desired effect, and the 
 following letter signed by fourteen of the seceders was 
 subsequently received by the Society : — 
 
 We respectfully write and present this letter to the honourable gentle- 
 men of the English Missionary Society. You have already clearly 
 understood that when in a former year, in firmly guarding our honour, 
 we separated ourselves from the Society, there were circumstances which 
 necessitated our doing so. Subsequently we were indebted to Bishop 
 Poole for his kindness, and as he approached his end he gave us some 
 earnest instruction, and with this Mr. Warren sent us an earnest letter. 
 In advising us they both spoke of our uniting again with the believers 
 connected with your Society. Having fuhy considered the matter we 
 
The C,MS. Mission. — {VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 255 
 
 feel that it is most fitting that we should again join your Society, and we 
 desire to do so. If you will favourably regard our wish, and put us in 
 the lowest place amongst the believers connected with your Society, we 
 can have no greater joy. 
 
 Thus the unhappy division was healed, and the Yezo Mis- 
 sion took a fresh start forward. On Christmas Day, 1885, 
 six weeks after the above letter was written, a small mission 
 church, erected with funds raised by Mr. Andrews, was 
 opened, and the interest of the occasion was deepened as well 
 by the baptism of the first Aino convert in connection with 
 our mission, as by the fact that the Christians met as a united 
 body. 
 
 There were two Japanese adults and one child baptized 
 during 1885, making a total of 73 baptisms since the estab- 
 lishment of the mission in 1874. Mr. Andrews gives the 
 following account of this number : '‘Only 44 remain in Yezo. 
 Of the remaining 29 three have renounced Christianity, four 
 have died, six have gone to other places, eight have joined 
 other Churches, three are in Osaka, and five cannot be 
 traced.” Of the 44 in Yezo at the close of 1885 only thirteen 
 (eight men, two women, and three children) were in Hakodate, 
 the rest being distributed as follow : Four at Nemuro, six at 
 Tate, five at Ono, six at Manage, four at Okawa, five at 
 Kamida, and one at Sapporo. 
 
 During 1886 four adults and three children were baptized, 
 and through the efforts of Mr. Ogawa, the catechist, two 
 backsliders — one of those baptized seven years ago — have 
 been brought to repentance. Bishop Bickersteth visited 
 Hakodate in the summer and confirmed eight of the Chris- 
 tians. His visit was much appreciated by the little flock. 
 The five families of Christians living in the town have 
 promised to pay the rent of a house for the newly ordained 
 deacon, Mr. Terata, in addition to defraying all the expenses 
 
256 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 connected with public worship. One of the out-stations, 
 
 Kushiro, about 200 miles from Hakodate, promises to be 
 flourishing. There are two families of Christians there and 
 about ten inquirers.” 
 
 Such then is the present position of the Society’s Japanese 
 work in Yezo. Compared with the southern stations excep- 
 tional difificxdties have had to be encountered. A wide area, 
 with a scattered population, consisting chiefly of immigrants 
 from the south, would hardly be likely, even under the most 
 favourable circumstances, to become so fruitful a field as more 
 settled and populous districts. The division of interests 
 among the Christians for nearly three years, and that just at 
 a time when their united action seemed to be so essential to 
 the growth of the work, checked its progress, and has left it 
 still halting. And, then, whilst the distribution of the Chris- 
 tians, some fifty in number, in several villages may eventually 
 be for the furtherance of the Gospel, for the present it retards 
 united congregational action such as is possible where larger 
 numbers of Christians reside in the same place. But God’s 
 ways are manifold, and with patient and earnest labour, 
 carried on in faith and in simple dependence on His Spirit, we 
 may confidently await their development, assured that He 
 will gather a people for His name, to show forth His praise in 
 Yezo. 
 
 WORK AT SAPPORO. 
 
 In the foregoing narrative no mention has been made of an 
 interesting work done at Sapporo, a town near the west coast 
 of Yezo, and north of Hakodate. This is a place of con- 
 siderable importance as the centre of the operations of the 
 Colonization Department,* and has now a population of 
 
 * Since Feb., 1882, Yezo, which was previously altogether under the control 
 of the Kai-taku-shi, Colonization Department, has been divided into three 
 and its government assimilated to that of the rest of the Empire. 
 
The CM.S. Mission.^ {VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 257 
 
 from 10,000 to 12,000. Here among other Government in- 
 stitutions there is an agricultural college, in which a number 
 of young men receive ‘‘a good general education, with in- 
 struction in the English language and in agriculture and 
 horticulture, civil engineering, chemistry, botany and other 
 subjects.” For about a year it was in charge of Mr. Clark, 
 an American Christian gentleman, who had recently entered 
 upon his duties when Mr. Dening first visited Sapporo in 
 July, 1876. Previous to this Mr. Ito, one of the fifty students 
 then in the college, had heard of Christ from Miss Dennis, 
 an English lady who had for a time been in charge of a girls’ 
 normal school. On visiting Sapporo Mr. Dening found him 
 leading a humble and simple life of faith quite alone, and on 
 August 2nd he baptized him. 
 
 During Mr. Clark’s tenure of the Principalship of the 
 college his influence was felt among the students, and when 
 Mr. Dening visited Sapporo in September, 1878, he found 
 that no less than seventeen of them were Christians, brought 
 to the knowledge and profession of Christianity through the 
 quiet influence and holy example of that one man : — 
 
 1 found out that most of them were led to embrace the Christian faith 
 through the instrumentality of Mr. Clark, the late Principal of the 
 College, a man whose twelve months’ connection with these young men 
 has left an impression on their minds in reference to Christianity, which, 
 I trust, will never be erased. From the time of his arrival to the day of 
 his departure, his daily life'iand conversation seem to have shown forth 
 the praises of Him who called him out of darkness into His marvellous 
 light ! On being remonstrated with by the Japanese authorities for 
 teaching Christianity, and recommended to teach morality in its stead, 
 he held up the Bible and said, “ If I teach morality, here is my text- 
 book ! ” He then went on to tell them that morality cannot be divorced 
 from religion. 
 
 In his secular profession, as a teacher of theoretical and practical 
 agriculture, he was a man of untiring activity, ingenious in devising 
 schemes for improvement and development in all departments of the 
 
 R 
 
258 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 work. He took the young men out on exploring tours, and taught them 
 how to endure hardships and overcome difficulties, and, by a thoughtful 
 and economical use of existing means, accomplish the ends they had in 
 view. He took journeys through snow, and put up with all kinds of dis- 
 comforts, when occasion called for it, in order to show the young men 
 that faint-hearted, ease-loving men will never make good colonists — just 
 the lesson the Japanese need to learn. The Christians of the college 
 seem to have caught his spirit of enterprise and perseverance, for it is 
 said they are always the first to volunteer when any exploring or survey- 
 ing work involving difficulty and hardship has to be done. 
 
 He commenced his teaching with reading the Scripture and prayer, 
 preached on the Sunday, and taught Christian truth during his lectures 
 in many indirect ways. As a result of this life and teaching, added to 
 Ito’s influence in the college, by far (according to the testimony of the 
 present professors) the most intelligent portion of the college has become 
 Christian. 
 
 A noble example indeed of what, by the blessing of the 
 Most High, a Christian use of secular opportunities may 
 accomplish ! 
 
 Another was added to the little band of Christians — raising 
 the total number to eighteen — by the baptism of Mr. Arato, 
 who was then teaching in a Government elementary school. 
 
 Arato, like his friend Mr. Ito, became and still continues a 
 zealous Christian. When in Hakodate, he frequently assisted 
 in evangelistic work, and was looked upon as likely to prove 
 useful as a Christian worker. When Bishop Poole visited 
 Hakodate in June, 1884, he arranged to have him trained in 
 the Osaka Divinity School. Mr. Arato was then one of the 
 seceding party, but he is now a C.M.S. student, and shows 
 great zeal in such evangelistic work as he takes up under the 
 Osaka missionaries. 
 
 The little church in Sapporo is still flourishing, and has 
 about eighty members, but of these only one was baptized 
 by a C.M.S. missionary. In August, 1885, Mr. Batchelor was 
 present at the dedication of a new Church building, which cost 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — {VII.) Hakodate. 
 
 59 
 
 $1,300, the whole of this sum, except $140, having been sub- 
 scribed by Japanese Christians. Bishop Bickersteth, Avho 
 visited Sapporo in September, 1886, speaks of their fervent 
 missionary zeal in the past, and now of their exposure to 
 Unitarian error. During his stay he had some pleasant inter- 
 course with them, and administered the Holy Communion to 
 fifty of their number. Although there is no direct connection 
 between the Church at Sapporo and the Society’s Hakodate 
 Mission, the Christians there, to whose conversion and growth 
 in knowledge and faith the instruction of C.M.S. missionaries 
 has contributed, and who now shine as lights in the world, 
 holding forth the Word of Life,” may well claim an interest 
 in our prayers, that they may continue in the grace of God 
 and persevere in the work of winning souls to Christ. 
 
 R 2 
 
XVII. 
 
 THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY’S MISSION. 
 
 (VIII.) The Aino Mission. 
 
 ‘‘ Doth He not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and 
 seeketh that which is gone astray? ’’ — Matt, xviii. 12. 
 
 N occupying Hakodate the Society had in view the 
 commencement of a mission among the Ainos, 
 the remnant of the aborigines of the Japanese 
 islands, now found only in Yezo. They generally 
 live in small villages in the mountainous regions, and on the 
 sea coasts of the island, and chiefly subsist by hunting and 
 fishing. They are a very hairy race, and their features, ex- 
 pression and aspect are European rather than Asiatic.” 
 They have no written language, and very few traditions, and 
 have left no impression upon the land from which they have 
 been driven.” Although low in the scale of human intelli- 
 gence, and leading a life not much raised above the necessities 
 of animal existence,” they are said to be “ truthful, and on the 
 whole chaste, hospitable, reverent, and kind to the aged.”* 
 Their religion is ‘The rudest and most primitive form of 
 nature worship,” its whole sum being “ a few vague fears and 
 hopes, and a suspicion that there are things outside themselves 
 more powerful than themselves, whose good influence may be 
 obtained, and whose evil influence may be averted by libations 
 
 * Unbeaten Tracks in Japan ^ Vol. II., pp. 10, 73. 
 
The C.JI.S, Mission. — (VI II.) The Aino Mission. 261 
 
 of sakel^^'- Although they often talk of '‘the God who made 
 the world,” " they deify all the chief objects of nature, such as 
 the sun, sea, fire,” and birds, beasts, and fishes, such as “ the 
 owl, the salmon, the fox, the wolf, and the hare,” whilst the 
 bear, “which is the strongest, fiercest, and most courageous 
 animal known to them,” is constantly spoken of “ not by one 
 of its numerous proper designations, but as God.” f Their 
 great festival is the “ sacrifice of the bear,” which is thus 
 described by Mr. J. J. Enslie, formerly H.B. Majesty's Consul 
 at Hakodate, in the Leisui'e Hour of April, 1863 : — 
 
 The savage denizen of ihe forest destined to be exalted to the position 
 of a god is reared from a cub by the village chief, and the female most 
 distinguished in rank and beauty enjo}'s the honour of being its wet- 
 nurse. As soon as the bear is two years old, he is carried in a cage to an 
 eminence (previously consecrated for the ceremony), amid shouts of joy 
 and the most inharmonious concert of various noises ever heard; while 
 from time to time, the bereft nurse utters the most piercing and heart- 
 rending cries, expressive of her poignant grief. After this uproar has 
 continued for some time, the chief of the village approaches the bear, and 
 with an arrow gives him the first wound. The animal, previously maddened 
 by the din around him, now becomes furious, the cage is opened, and he 
 springs out into the midst of the assemblage. Then, at a signal given by 
 the children of the nurse, everybody in the crowd wounds him with the 
 various weapons they have brought with them, each one striving to inflict 
 a wound ; as all believe that he who fails to wound the bear has no claim 
 to any favour from the new Kami, or god. As soon as the poor animal 
 falls down exhausted from the loss of blood, his head is cut off, and the 
 arrows, spears, knives, sticks, in fact all the weapons by which he has 
 been wounded, are solemnly presented to the headless trunk by the 
 village patriarch, who requests the bear to avenge himself upon the 
 weapons by which he has been insulted and slain. The severed head is 
 then affixed to the trunk, and the dead bear is carried to the altar, where 
 the Rama Matsouri (the sacrifice of the bear) commences amid various 
 
 * Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Vol. II., p. 95. 
 
 t Paper by B. H. Chamberlain, Esq., in Memoirs of the Literature College, 
 Imperial University of Japan, No. I., pp. 12, 35, 36. 
 
262 
 
 Japan and the Japaji Mission. 
 
 solemnities, such as singing, music, and offerings consisting of everything 
 the Ainos most esteem. The nurse, meanwhile, deals blows with the 
 branch of a tree upon every one who has taken part in the bear’s death. 
 The flesh is then distributed among the people, and the head is placed 
 upon a pole opposite the hut of the chief, where it is left to decay. 
 
 The Ainos entertain great fear and profound respect for strength and 
 courage ; and this is the cause of their veneration for the bear — the 
 strongest and fiercest animal known to them. Their most energetic 
 comparison is the bear. A man is “ strong as a bear,’’ ‘^ fierce as a 
 bear,” &c. The bear is the burden of their national songs, and in a 
 word, this animal is the symbol of everything they think worthy of 
 respect. To compare an Aino with a bear is the surest plan to gain his 
 friendship ; and it must be acknowledged that the merit the Ainos attach 
 to the bear is more or less deserved, as the Yezo bear is the finest specimen 
 of his species. 
 
 According to one of their traditions, the Japanese hero 
 Yoshitsune, of the twelfth century, came amongst them, and 
 having obtained possession of their treasures and books by a 
 fraud, fled, carrying all with him. To this they attribute their 
 ignorance of the arts of civilised life ; and when interrogated 
 on any point they cannot answer, they say, ‘AVe do not know, 
 for we have no books. Those that our ancestors had were all 
 stolen by Yoshitsune.’' According to some writers the Ainos 
 pay special reverence to this Yoshitsune. This however seems 
 to be a mistake. ‘‘Mr. Batchelor asserts that the Ainos tell 
 him that they never worship Yoshitsune." On the other hand 
 Mr. Chamberlain “was told that they do worship him, but 
 not often." ^ 
 
 It was during a tour in 1876 that Mr. Dening first visited 
 the Ainos in their villages. He lived for some weeks in an 
 Aino hut, winning the confidence of the people, learning their 
 language, and endeavouring in a simple way to give them 
 
 * Paper by B. H. Chamberlain, Esq., in Memoirs of the Literature College, 
 Imperial University of Japan, p. 37. 
 
The C,MS, Mission, — [VIII) The Aino Mission. 263 
 
 some notion of the Gospel. Other districts were visited 
 during a second tour in 1878. But although much information 
 was gained and the way prepared for further efforts, not much 
 
 AIXOS, ABORIGINES OF JAPAN. 
 
 was effected in a strictly missionary sense. It was subse- 
 quently arranged that Mr. John Batchelor, a lay agent of the 
 Society, should devote himself to work among the Ainos. Mr. 
 Batchelor was originally sent to Hong-Kong to prepare for 
 
264 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 missionary work in South China under Bishop Burdon, but on 
 his health failing, he was transferred to the Japan Mission, and 
 took up his residence at Hakodate. There, while continuing 
 his other studies, he vigorously applied himself to the ac- 
 quisition of the Japanese language, in which he made speedy 
 and excellent progress. In 1878 he began to preach occa- 
 sionally, and later took a regular part in evangelistic work 
 both in Hakodate and at the village out-stations. In this 
 way he rendered much efficient help to the ordained mission- 
 aries. In 1880 he accompanied Mr. Dening to Sapporo, and 
 made his first visits to the Aino settlements in that district 
 and began to study the Aino language. During 1881 he paid 
 two visits of two months each to Piratori — the old Aino capital, 
 where Miss Bird spent two or three days in the hut of Chief 
 Penri, in 1878 — and, whilst continuing his linguistic studies, 
 made his first attempt to preach the Gospel. Early in 1882 
 it was arranged for him to return to England to complete 
 his studies at the Islington College, but owing to the diffi- 
 culties that arose in the mission he returned to Hakodate in 
 the spring of 1883. After some weeks he started for the 
 Aino country and remained there six months. His Aino 
 friends had not forgotten him. They manifested great 
 pleasure at his return, ‘'almost whole villages turning out to 
 welcome him, and their chiefs expressing the hope that he 
 would remain amongst them for a long time. He located 
 himself with Chief Penri at Piratori, who lent him a corner of 
 his hut. The study of the language was resumed, a vocabulary 
 of about 6,000 words collected, an Aino grammar compiled, 
 and some translational work attempted.* Of his evangelistic 
 work during this visit Mr. Batchelor says : — 
 
 In the way preaching the Gospel I hold services at Piratori in chief 
 
 Mr. Batchelor’s Grammar of the Ainu Language has been published in 
 Memoirs of the Literature College^ Imperial University of Japan^ No. I. 1887. 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — (F///.) The Aim Mission, 265 
 
 Penri’s hut, and do a good bit of visiting and itinerating. The work is 
 always very encouraging indeed, for it may be literally said that whole 
 villages came together to listen, and sometimes very good questions are 
 asked by the congregations. Penri always accompanies me in my 
 preaching tours, and the services are always held in the hut of the chief 
 who resides at the village where preaching is held. I have visited some 
 ten or twelve villages this summer, where I have always been received 
 with the greatest goodwill. 
 
 His visits were evidently much appreciated, for several chiefs 
 of villages which he was then unable to visit came to ask him 
 to visit and preach to their people. 
 
 The Ainos, though quiet and gentle, are much addicted to 
 drunkenness. Beastly drunkenness is the highest happiness 
 to which these poor savages aspire.” After careful inquiries 
 in many Aino villages, Mr. Batchelor estimates that ninety 
 per cent, of the men are drunkards, and that the women also 
 drink to excess whenever they have opportunity. 
 
 This vice, connected as it is with their worship, is one of the 
 greatest obstacles in the way of their receiving the Gospel. 
 Referring to this, Mr. Batchelor wrote in November, 1883 : — 
 
 The chief thing one has to contend against is the supremely inveterate 
 drunkenness of the Aino race. The use of strong drink (Japanese sake^ 
 i,e., rice wine) forms part ot all their religious worship; and in all 
 ceremonies, religious or profane, it is considered indispensable, and the 
 state of drunkenness is regarded by the Aino as a state of supreme 
 earthly joy. Offerings of wine are from time to time placed upon the 
 graves of the dead. How’ God can be acceptably worshipped without 
 wine is a puzzle to the poor Aino, so intimately connected in his deluded 
 mind are wine and worship. The Christian injunction against intemper- 
 ance offends him, and I see, even now, the beginnings of a hard struggle 
 between strong drink and religion. 
 
 The case of chief Penri sadly illustrates the power which 
 this terrible vice has over the poor Aino. Mr. Batchelor in 
 the same letter thus refers to it : — 
 
 Chief Penri himself takes a very great interest in fhe religion of Jesus, 
 
266 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 and does all he can to assist me. But drunkenness is his great stumbling* 
 block. He has tried twice to give up his drink, but each time he has 
 failed. On the first occasion he was sober for a whole month, and on the 
 second for nearly three. He is now having another try to conquer his old 
 enemy, but this time, however, calling upon the name of Jehovah to help 
 him. I have, therefore, now greater hope of his success than I ever had 
 before, and I earnestly hope and pray strength will be given him from 
 on high, and he will become a conqueror of self and a true follower of 
 Jesus. 
 
 So far this hope has not been realised. The Japanese 
 Government seems to be desirous of protecting the Ainos and 
 improving their condition by education. But unscrupulous 
 traders, as in so many similar cases, have done much to hinder 
 Mr. Batchelor’s work. Of these he says : — 
 
 My next difficulty is with the Japanese merchants who trade with the 
 Ainu. These merchants are all wine-vendors. They come here to buy 
 the skins of animals from the Ainu, and they love to pay for them in wine, 
 rather than money. It is to the advantage of these wine-vendors to keep 
 ihe’poor Ainu in a state of ignorance, and that their taste for wine should 
 be encouraged as much as possible. But they begin to see what effects 
 Christian teaching would have upon the Ainu, therefore they are 
 bringing all their forces to bear upon Christianity and myself. Chris- 
 tianity is said to be rotten, therefore useless, and not to be believed in. 
 And as for that ‘^rascal of a hairy Chinaman!” (meaning myself), he 
 has come here to gain the confidence of the Ainu, learn their language, 
 deceive them with a false religion, and, in the end, to seize the country 
 and people. 
 
 For some time during 1884, owing to the misrepresenta- 
 tions of these men, Mr. Batchelor was unable to obtain a 
 passport, and consequently could not visit the Aino districts, 
 but he invited chief Penri to Hakodate, and there continued 
 the study of the language. Later in the year he procured a 
 passport, and, accompanied by Mrs. Batchelor, sister of the 
 Rev. W. Andrews, to whom he was married at the beginning 
 of the year, spent some time in the Aino villages. The 
 
The C.M.S. Mission.— {Vlllh, The Aino Mission. 267 
 
 .greatest caution was necessary, lest some technical difficulty 
 should be raised to prevent them from remaining, and they 
 were compelled to lodge at a Japanese inn. 
 
 In 1885 they left Hakodate in May, hoping to spend six 
 months among the Ainos. In this, however, they were disap- 
 pointed, as the state of Mr. Batchelor’s health necessitated 
 
 .MXO WOMAN. 
 
 their return to Hakodate in August. During this visit they 
 stayed at Poropet Kotan, of which Mr. Batchelor says : — 
 
 Poropet Kotan is a particularly good centre for our work, for it is 
 nearly mid-way between the Saru and Usu districts. From it, in good 
 health, I could easily keep up close communication between half the 
 Ainu race. In this village there are about 150 Ainu all told. 
 
 During the greater part of the time he was confined to the 
 inn by frequent attacks of fever and other ailments, which 
 interfered much with intercourse with the Ainos, as they ‘‘ can 
 hardly be induced to enter a Japanese house, and the 
 
268 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 Japanese do not like them to sit on their mats/’ Of the 
 gatherings for instruction he wrote : — 
 
 We were seldom able to collect more than six Ainu together in the 
 hotel at any one time, but when well enough to preach in an Ainu hut 
 we were generally much crowded, the congregation never numbering 
 less than thirty. All congregations, whether Japanese or Ainu, were 
 always largely attended when it was known that my address was to be 
 illustrated by the magic-lantern (the magic-lantern was kindly lent me 
 by the Rev. W. Andrews for the summer, and I found it of the greatest 
 use). 
 
 If the year had its drawbacks .and discouragements it had 
 also some features of a cheering character, and before it closed 
 the first Aino convert in connection with the mission was bap- 
 tized at Hakodate. Mr. Batchelor thus refers to him in his 
 Annual Letter for 1885 : — 
 
 At Poropet Kotan we soon became acquainted with a young Ainu 
 named Kannari Taro, son of the village chief. He is a good Japanese 
 scholar, and holds a schoolmaster’s certificate. I have engaged him as 
 m}^ teacher of the Ainu language in place of poor old Penri, who has, I 
 am sorry to say, entirely given himself up to strong drink, and is utterly 
 unreliable. Kannari Taro, even before I engaged him as my teacher, 
 early showed a great interest in Christianity. We are perfectly satisfied 
 with him, and are thankfully rejoicing that one Ainu at least has at last 
 been brought to the knowledge of his Saviour, and is about to take the 
 outward sign of baptism. 
 
 This man was duly baptized by Mr. Andrews, at Hakodate, 
 on Christmas Day, 1885 ; and two more — husband and wife — 
 who were then inquirers, were baptized with their adopted 
 Japanese daughter by Bishop Bickersteth on August 29th, 
 1886, when he was visiting the Aino country. Other inquirers 
 are coming forward. In his Annual Letter, written in Novem- 
 ber, 1886, Mr. Batchelor mentions two who appear to be very 
 earnest. Of one of them he says : — 
 
 The woman is the mother of our female (Christian) servant. She was 
 brought to a saving knowledge of her Redeemer by her daughter and 
 
The C.M.S. Mission, — {VI IT) The Aino Mission. 269 
 
 son-in-law. Her age is seventy-five. I often pay her a visit, and have 
 made it a special rule to spend one hour every Sunday afternoon in 
 teaching her of Christ, the Lamb of God. Nothing delights her more 
 than to hear the “ Old, old, yet ever new, story of Jesus and the Cross. 
 Her last testimony is : Tane anakne apun no ku mokoro ; tane, ratchi- 
 tara ku shini eashkai ne. Now I can sleep quietly ; now I can rest in 
 peace.” 
 
 Mr. Batchelor has numerous hearers at the services he 
 holds, and he has found a magic-lantern helpful in impress- 
 ing Scripture truths upon the minds of the people.*' “ Mrs. 
 Batchelor has started a singing-class for girls," which is 
 attended by twelve. “ These children are also learning to 
 read and write. At present, being able to do neither, they 
 have to be taught the hymns by heart, and almost any day a 
 passer through the village may hear a child singing ‘Jesus 
 loves me,' or ‘ There is a happy land.' " 
 
 Several adults are also learning to read. With his Annual 
 Letter for 1885 Mr. Batchelor sent home a copy of the Apostles’ 
 Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and the hymn, “Jesus loves me" — “the 
 first things ever printed in the Aino language, and printed 
 with a little press bought with money sent by the children 
 of Jesus' Lane Sunday-school, Cambridge.” Since then the 
 translation of St. Matthew’s Gospel has been proceeded with, 
 and in November, 1886, seven chapters were ready for the 
 press. Thus a new language is being reduced to writing, and 
 the Word of God is being translated into it. 
 
 But the Aino race is dying out. Year by year its members 
 decrease, and in spite of the laudable efforts of the Japanese 
 Government to preserve it, its extinction seems inevitable. 
 But if the race perishes, a precious remnant, won to Christ, 
 will abide for ever. Aboriginal tribes have always had a 
 peculiar share in C.M.S. sympathies, as the Maories of New 
 Zealand, the Red Indians of North America, and the Arrians 
 and Santals of India, might well testify. And among these 
 
270 
 
 yapan and the Japan Missio//. 
 
 races the Gospel has won its greatest triumphs. Again and 
 again has the Church Missionary Society proved the truth of 
 the late Sir Donald Macleod’s pregnant words : — 
 
 It is highly worthy of attention that in many parts of the world, where 
 the labours of the missionary have been exercised among these primitive 
 races, they have been attended with the most encouraging success. 
 Whether in the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, on the Plains of Africa, or 
 amid the hills and forests of Hindustan, they have been found alike free 
 from those bonds which lay so fatal a hold upon the victims of other 
 idolatries. No venerated literature records the deeds or characters of 
 their deities ; no powerful and sagacious priesthood holds them in a state 
 of mental or moral vassalage ; but led simply by feelings of mysterious 
 awe and dread, which sin has given us as our heritage, to deprecate, by 
 sacrifices and mystic ceremonies, the supposed wrath of an unknown 
 god, they have ever evinced a disposition to listen to the soothing 
 assurances of the Gospel, and to return the most ardent gratitude to 
 those who have turned aside with Christian affection to raise them in the 
 scale of being.* 
 
 That the Ainos of Japan may prove a fresh and bright 
 example of the readiness of primitive races to receive Him 
 who has pictured Himself as the Shepherd, leaving the ninety 
 and nine in the wilderness and going after that which is lost 
 until He find it, will surely be the prayer of every reader of 
 these lines. 
 
 Lake’s Memoir of Sir D. Macleod^ P* 47- 
 
XVIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 “ Behold, now is the day of salvation .” — 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
 APAN is fully open to the Gospel. The foundations 
 of the Church are being laid. The leaven of living 
 Christianity has been introduced and is working. 
 Will it leaven the whole lump ? Will Christianity 
 spread so far as to affect the whole course of the nation’s life ? 
 If so, will it be Protestant Christianity, or will some other 
 form be adopted or framed to suit the national taste ? These 
 are questions which it is impossible to answer, but it will be 
 well, nevertheless, in this concluding chapter to mark some of 
 the prominent features of the outlook. 
 
 Enough has been already said to show that Protestant 
 Christianity is manly, vigorous, and aggressive, and that it is 
 growing rapidly. The words of Mr. Griffis, written more than 
 ten years ago, read like a prophecy in course of fulfilment. 
 He says: ‘‘A new Sun is rising upon Japan. Gently but 
 resistlessly Christianity is leavening the nation. In the next 
 century the native word inaka (rustic, boor) will mean 
 heathen.” If, indeed, the conflict were only [between Pro- 
 testant Christianity and the effete systems of religion which 
 have been hitherto dominant in the country, the progress of 
 the past six years, steadily maintained some thirty years 
 
272 
 
 yapan and the Japan Mission, 
 
 longer, would result in Japan becoming a nominally Christian 
 country. 
 
 But other forms of Christianity are in the field and have so 
 far registered more converts, though their rate of increase 
 during the last few years appears to have been considerably 
 below that of the Protestant Churches. Thus in July, 1883, 
 the converts of the Russo-Greek Church Mission were 8,863, 
 nearly 2,000 more than the registered Church membership of 
 the Protestant missions at the close of the same year ; whereas 
 in 1886 they were only 12,500, or more than 2,000 less than 
 the body of Protestant Christians. The number of Roman 
 Catholic converts in 1881 was 25,633, more than 22,000 being 
 in the southern part of the Empire, where thousands of the 
 descendants of the Christians of the seventeenth century have 
 been received into the Church. If the growth of 1881 and 
 1882 has been maintained, the number of Roman Catholics 
 in Japan at the close of 1886 was about double that of 1880, 
 whereas the Protestant Christians were twice doubled during 
 the same period. With such rivals in the field, will Protestant 
 Christianity eventually commend itself to the national mind, 
 or will the marvellous changes now in progress result in the 
 adoption of a less pure form of Christianity — a mere name 
 without life 
 
 Whatever answer the future may give to this question, it 
 is a well-attested fact that the current of public opinion is 
 steadily setting in the direction of Christianity of some 'form. 
 There are multitudes still bent on maintaining the old re- 
 ligions — especially Buddhism — but in spite of the strenuous 
 efforts of the priesthood, Christianity is advancing, and Chris- 
 tian literature is even being studied (no doubt with hostile 
 intentions) in Buddhist Colleges. Some, like the writer of the 
 article quoted in the C,M, Intellige^icer for January, 1882, may 
 still consider Christianity a national injury, and for various 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 273 
 
 reasons deplore its progress “ like a fire sweeping over a plain, 
 which constantly increases in power/' Many more, especially 
 among the educated classes, following the Atheists and 
 Agnostics of Europe, may regard Christianity as unnecessary 
 as all religions. But in spite of all the forces hostile to the 
 Gospel, it has become popular to advocate the adoption of 
 Christianity as the national religion. Mr. Evington, in his 
 last Annual Letter (1886), says that there has been ‘‘an 
 unmistakable growth of public opinion in favour of the truth 
 and even the necessity of Christianity," and that it is now 
 acknowledged by unbelievers “to be the only religion that 
 can hold its own in the enlightenment of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, and, what is more, the only one that can produce the 
 necessary moral change in the hearts of the people." 
 
 But the motives which prompt the advocacy of the adoption 
 of Christianity by the nation in the most influential quarters 
 are mainly political. The Japanese are a high-spirited and 
 patriotic people, and they very naturally chafe under the 
 invasion of their sovereign rights as a nation, by the clauses 
 of the existing treaties which deprive their Courts of Justice 
 of jurisdiction over the subjects and citizens of Treaty Powers. 
 With the advances they have made they claim that the time 
 has come when this extra-territorial jurisdiction should be 
 abolished. They are now anxious to assimilate themselves 
 as much as possible to European nations in every respect, 
 religion included, and hence the advocacy by some of their 
 leading men of the adoption of Christianity as the national 
 religion. Mr. Fukuzawa’s article in the Tokio Times in 1884 
 may be quoted to illustrate this. With him it is not a question 
 of the truth or falsity of Buddhism or Christianity. He 
 frankly confesses that he is not a partizan of either system, 
 and that as a personal matter he takes little or no interest 
 in religion. He only discusses the desirableness of making 
 
274 
 
 Japan and the Japan Mission. 
 
 Christianity the national religion as a question affecting the 
 welfare of the country, especially in its international relations. 
 He says : — 
 
 In the eyes of aliens, a people who cherish institutions, customs, 
 religions differing from their own are looked upon with disdain, and as 
 though they could not be treated as civilised nations. It may be due 
 to this fact that international law has never yet been made to apply to 
 Oriental lands. . . . 
 
 If we desire to maintain our intercourse with Western nations on 
 the basis of international law, it is first of all absolutely necessary that 
 we remove completely the stigma from our land of being an anti- 
 Christian country, and obtain the recognition of fellowship by the 
 adoption of their social colour. . . . 
 
 As an absolutely necessary preliminary, however, the Christian religion 
 must be introduced from Europe and America, where it is propagated 
 with the utmost enthusiasm. The adoption of this religion will not fail 
 to bring the feelings of our people and the institutions of our land into 
 harmony with those of the lands of the Occident. We earnestly desire, 
 therefore, for the sake of our national administration, that steps be taken 
 for the introduction of Christianity as the religion of Japan. 
 
 Whatever the motive for this change of front on the part 
 of leading politicians in Japan, the fact remains ; and whilst 
 we heartily thank God for it, we must not forget that here, 
 as in all such crises, there is a great element of danger. One 
 leading newspaper, at least, has openly advocated bap- 
 tizing the Emperor and a few of the nobles, that Japan may 
 be considered a Christian nation.” If this should be resolved 
 on as a political expedient, whatever form of Christianity 
 might be adopted, there would be a large accession of merely 
 nominal converts to the Christian faith. The influence of the 
 Church of Rome would certainly be felt in such a crisis, and 
 if Roman Catholicism should be adopted as the State religion, 
 or religion of the Court, the bulk of Japanese Christianity 
 might become a name and form rather than a power and life. 
 
Conclusion, 
 
 275 
 
 But the future is in God’s hands, and it is for us to recognise 
 the duties and responsibilities of the present. It is the day 
 of Japan’s visitation. Most emphatically do the words apply 
 to her, Now is the day of salvation.” 
 
 The changed attitude of the country towards Christianity — 
 twenty years ago bitterly hostile, then passively neutral, now 
 openly tolerant and friendly — the many open doors, the 
 manifold tokens that God is with His servants in the work He 
 has entrusted to them — all with united voice call us to work 
 while it is day. If to Japan this is a day of salvation, it is 
 for the Church of Christ to strain every nerve to proclaim the 
 word of salvation throughout her Empire. It is a solemn 
 thought that upon our realisation of the greatness of the 
 opportunity and our readiness to seize it prayerfully and 
 vigorously, may, in the mysterious providence of God, 
 depend the future of the Japanese people. God grant that 
 upon the Land of the Rising Sun may speedily arise the Sun 
 of Righteousness, with healing in His wings. 
 
London : 
 
 Printed by J^3. Truscott & Son, 
 Suffolk Lane, E.C. 
 
M