The Gist of Japan: The Islands, Their People, and Missions

by R. B. Peery

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN JAPAN

During Japan's period of seclusion, when no foreigner dared enter the country upon pain of death, many godly people were praying that God would open the doors, and some mission boards were watching and waiting for an opportunity to send the gospel to the Japanese. When, in the year 1854, treaties were made with Western powers, and it became known that Japan was to be reopened to foreign intercourse, great interest was at once manifested by the friends of missions in the evangelization of this land.

This same year the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America requested one of its missionaries in China to visit Japan and examine into the condition of affairs there, with the purpose of establishing a mission. At this time permanent residence of foreigners was not secured, and it was doubtless for this reason that no progress was made toward the establishment of a mission.

The country was not actually opened to foreign residence until the year 1859, and by the close of that year three Protestant missionary societies, quick to take advantage of the opportunity offered, had their representatives in the field. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States has the honor of sending the first Protestant missionaries to Japan. It transferred two of its missionaries from China, the Rev. C. M. Williams and the Rev. J. Liggins. Previous to this time a few missionaries had made transient visits from China to Kanagawa and Nagasaki, and found opportunity to teach elementary English; but this work accomplished little.

According to the treaty with England, the four treaty ports of Japan were opened July 1, 1859; according to that with America, July 4th. Mr. Liggins arrived in Nagasaki May 2d, two months before the actual opening of the port; he was joined by Mr. Williams one month later.

On, October 18th of the same year the first missionaries of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Hepburn, arrived at Kanagawa. A fortnight later the Rev. S. R. Brown and D. B. Simmons, M.D., of the Reformed Church in America, reached Nagasaki. The Rev. Dr. G. F. Verbeck, also of the Reformed Church, reached Nagasaki one month later. Thus it will be seen that missionaries were sent here as soon as the country was opened to foreign residence, the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches of America beginning the work almost simultaneously.

The example set by these boards was soon followed by others. The American Baptists began the work in 1860, the American Board (Congregationalist) in 1869, and the American Methodists in 1873. From time to time other boards also sent representatives.

Although the country was now open to foreign residence, it was by no means open to the propagation of the foreign religion. All that the missionaries could do was to study the language and teach English. In this early period many of them found employment in the schools of the various daimios and in those of the national government.

The first years were very trying ones. The missionaries were in imminent danger of their lives; attacks without either provocation or warning were very common. Foreigners, and especially those who wanted to teach the foreign religion, were everywhere bitterly hated. The lordly samurai walked about with two sharp swords stuck into his belt, and his very look was threatening. At their houses and when they walked abroad foreigners had special guards provided them by the government.

Great difficulty was at first experienced by the missionaries in employing teachers, because of the suspicion in which foreigners were held. Those who finally agreed to teach were afterward found to be government spies.

The government was still confessedly hostile to Christianity as late as 1869. Shortly before this time some Roman Catholic Christians who had been found around Nagasaki were torn from their homes and sent away into exile. The sale of Christian books was rigidly prohibited. The prohibitions against Christianity were still posted over all the empire, and were rigidly enforced. If a conversation on religious subjects was begun with a Japanese his hand would involuntarily grasp his throat, indicating the extreme perilousness of such a topic.

The following story shows what native Christians had to endure in some parts of Japan as late as 1871. "Mr. O. H. Gulick, while at Kobé, had a teacher, formerly Dr. Greene's teacher, called Ichikawa Yeinosuke. In the spring of the year named this man and his wife were arrested at dead of night and thrown into prison. He had for some time been an earnest student of the Bible, and had expressed the desire to receive baptism, but had not been baptized. His wife was not then regarded as a Christian. Every effort was made to secure his release; but neither the private requests of the missionaries, nor the kindly offices of the American consul, nor even those of the American minister, availed anything. Even his place of confinement was not known at the time. It was at length learned that he had been confined in Kyoto, and had died there November 25, 1872. His wife was shortly afterward released. She is now a member of the Shinsakurada church in Tokyo."

At this early period no distinction was made between Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and both were alike hated. There was no opportunity to do direct Christian work, and many of the supporters of missions at home were beginning to doubt the expediency of keeping missionaries where they were not permitted to work. Some boards even contemplated recalling their men. But the missionaries were permitted to remain and await their opportunity, which soon came. With the gradual opening of the country, and especially with the dissemination of a knowledge of foreign nations and their faith, the opportunities for work more and more increased and the old prohibitions were less and less enforced.

During the period of forced inactivity the missionaries were busily engaged in a study of the language and in the writing of various useful books and tracts. At first Chinese Bibles and other Christian books were extensively used, the educated classes reading Chinese with facility. The first religious tract published in Japanese appeared in 1867. One of the most important of the literary productions of the missionary body, Dr. J. C. Hepburn's Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary, appeared in this same year. It was a scholarly work, the result of many years of hard, persevering labor. The first edition was speedily exhausted, and a second was issued in 1872. The translation of the Holy Scriptures was also begun and gotten well under way in this period. Several separate portions of the Scriptures from time to time appeared. The first was the Gospel of Matthew, translated by the Rev. J. Goble, of the Baptist mission, and published in 1871. Dr. S. R. Brown had previously prepared first drafts of some portions of the New Testament, but unfortunately they were destroyed by fire. Translations of Mark and John, by Drs. Brown and Hepburn, were published in 1872.

This irregular, piecemeal method of translation was not satisfactory; so in order to expedite the work, and to elicit an active interest in it on the part of all the missionaries in the country, a convention on Bible translation was called to meet in Yokohama on September 20, 1872. As a result of this convention the Translation Committee was organized. At first it consisted of Drs. Brown, Hepburn, and Greene. Other names were afterward added. This committee was ably assisted in its work by prominent Japanese Christian scholars. The great undertaking was brought to a successful conclusion in 1880, when an edition of the whole Bible was published in excellent Japanese.

We have anticipated matters somewhat. Let us now go back a few years and take up the thread where we left off. The work of the missionaries for a long time was fruitless, but the day of reaping was near. The first Protestant convert of Japan was baptized in Yokohama by the Rev. Mr. Ballagh, in 1864. Two years later Dr. Verbeck baptized two prominent men in southern Japan. In 1866 Bishop Williams, of the Episcopal Church, baptized one convert. Who can tell the joy of these missionaries when, after so many years of hard work, they were permitted to see these precious fruits? From time to time others were baptized, but for many years accessions were rare. The first church was organized in Yokohama in 1872. It was left to draft its own constitution and church government, and was a very liberal body.

During all this time the prohibitions of Christianity were still posted over all the land, and the government had never officially renounced its policy of persecution. But the infringement of the laws was permitted, and gradually they became a dead letter. Many Japanese of influence and of official position traveled abroad, and learning of the status of Christianity in the countries of the West, and particularly of the attitude of the chief nations of the world toward the persecution of Christians, exerted their influence to have these prohibitions rescinded. Especially did the strong stand taken by some Western governments influence Japan in favor of toleration. Our own Secretary of State in Washington plainly informed the Japanese committee then visiting there that the United States could not regard as a friendly power any nation that persecuted its Christian subjects.

As a result of various influences, the edicts against Christianity were removed from the signboards in 1873. This was an event of the utmost importance to Christian work, for, although the infringement of the edicts had been for some time winked at, their very existence before the eyes of the people had a great deterring effect. The government announced that this action did not signify that the prohibition of Christianity was now abrogated. It declared that the edicts were removed because their subject-matter, having been so long before the eyes of the people, "was sufficiently imprinted on their minds." And yet their removal conveyed the idea to the people at large that liberty of conscience was henceforth to be allowed, and this virtually proved to be so. Persecutions ceased and the work was allowed to go on untrammeled. The object for which the church abroad had waited and prayed, and for which the missionaries on the ground had longed and labored, was at last realized. Joy and hope filled the hearts of the workers. The cause of missions had received a new and powerful impulse, which ere long made itself felt in a wide enlargement of its operations.

The work now went on much more rapidly. Soon a great pro-foreign sentiment sprang up. With the rapid adoption of Western civilization there grew up not only a toleration, but an actual desire for the Western religion. It became rather fashionable to confess Christ. Some statesmen even went so far as to advocate as a matter of policy the adoption of Christianity as the state religion.

In this happy time Christian schools, which had sprung up like mushrooms over all the land, were filled with eager students; the churches and chapels were crowded with interested listeners; and large numbers were annually added to the church.

But the pendulum had swung too far. About 1888 a reaction set in, caused largely by the impatience of the Japanese at the refusal of Western nations to revise the treaties on a basis of equality. A strong nationalism asserted itself. Everything foreign was brought into disrepute. Christianity was frowned upon as a foreign religion, and the old native religions again came into favor. Attendance at Christian schools fell off almost fifty per cent.; the churches and chapels became empty; and few names were added to the church rolls. A sifting process began which very much reduced the membership. When Christianity was popular many had hastily and as a matter of policy joined the churches, who in this time of disfavor fell away. This reactionary feeling has lasted uninterruptedly down to the present, and in recent years the losses numerically have almost equaled the gains. This reaction has in some respects worked good to the churches. The former growth was too rapid. Many unconverted men came into the bosom of the church. Such have fallen away; the church has been pruned of her old dead branches, and is now a livelier, healthier body.

In the judgment of some, this reactionary period is now on the decline. The recent growth and progress of Japan have been recognized by the West; treaty revision on a basis of equality has been granted her, and the cause which brought about the reaction has thus been largely removed. For these reasons we may look for a gradual breaking down of the prejudice and opposition toward foreign institutions and religion, though such a pro-foreign wave as swept the country during the eighties will not probably be experienced again.

In order to give a correct idea of the work now being done by the various missions in Japan, It will be well to give a short sketch of each one separately. We will consider them in the order of their size and influence.

American Board Mission

This mission is conducted by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (organized on an undenominational basis, but now Congregational), and has met with great success. Begun in 1869, it is younger than either the Episcopalian, Reformed, Presbyterian, or Baptist missions, but has exerted a greater influence than any of them. It has for years enjoyed the distinction of having more adherents than any other Christian body at work here. But there has been a large falling off in its membership, and during the past year or so very few new names have been added to its rolls. At the close of 1895 the Church of Christ in Japan (Presbyterian) was only about 62 members behind this body, and by the close of 1896 will in all probability be ahead.

This mission was especially fortunate in reaching a wealthy, influential class of people, which has given it a position and prestige superior to the other missions. In the number of self-supporting native churches it has led all other denominations.

The first missionaries of the American Board to Japan were Dr. and Mrs. Greene. They arrived in Yokohama November 30, 1869, and, with the usual intermissions for rest, have labored here continuously since that time. Three years later the Rev. O. H. Gulick and wife, and the Rev. J. D. Davis and wife, joined the mission. Since that time the number of missionaries has been rapidly increased until now it reaches 74. The membership of the native church is about 11,162. There are 60 ordained native ministers and 54 unordained. There are four boarding-schools for girls, with 863 students. The most advanced of these is the Girls' School of Kobé, with a curriculum as high as that of most female colleges in America. There is also one school for the training of Bible-women.

The chief educational institution of this body is the Doshisha University, in Kyoto. This school is largely the result of the labors of Dr. Neesima, easily the first Christian preacher and teacher Japan has yet produced. It is a large school, beautifully located and well housed. Last year only 320 students were in attendance, a great decline from former years. Unfortunately this institution does not now exert the positive influence for Christianity that it formerly did. Higher criticism and speculative philosophy have largely supplanted Christian teaching. The school is now entirely in the hands of the trustees (all natives), and the mission has no control over it whatever. Recently all of the missionaries of the American Board who were serving as professors in the Doshisha have, because of dissatisfaction with the policy of the school authorities, resigned. The trustees affirm that it is their intention to keep the school strictly Christian, but they refuse to define the term "Christian." Such vital matters as the divinity of Christ and the immortality of the soul are not positively affirmed. The rationalism which has emanated from this school has perhaps done as much in recent years to impede the progress of Christianity as any other one cause. It is very sad to see an institution, built up at great expense by bequests of earnest Christian people, intended by its founder to lead the evangelical Christianity of this country, thus turned aside from its original purpose. We trust that a gradual growth of a deeper Christian consciousness and a more positive faith in the hearts of the trustees and professors may yet lead them to make of this school a positive force for evangelical Christianity.

The mission of the American Board has experienced more trouble in recent years than any other, especially in the attempt properly to adjust the relations between the native and foreign workers, and in the matter of mission property. Most of the valuable property of the mission has passed into native hands, and in some instances has been perverted from its original purpose. The missionaries are regarded with jealousy by many in the native church; they are entirely excluded from the church councils, and are being gradually pushed out of the most important positions, and their places filled with Japanese. It is a question just how far the policy adopted by this mission from the beginning is to blame for this unfortunate state of affairs. This policy has been to push the native workers to the front, to give them the important positions, and to allow them perfect freedom in all church matters. As a consequence, that which was at first granted as a concession is now demanded as a right. As a teacher in one of their own schools has comically put it, the mission said in the beginning—in Japanese phraseology—to the native brethren, "Please honorably condescend to take the first place," and they are just doing what they were bidden to do. Other boards, with a different policy, have fared better. The Episcopal Church of Japan, which is one of the most active, vigorous bodies at work here, is governed by foreign bishops, and nearly all the positions of importance are filled by foreign missionaries, and yet the relations between the native and foreign workers are, on the whole, cordial and harmonious. The Methodist Church is governed by foreign bishops, and nearly all the presiding elders are foreign missionaries, yet complete harmony prevails between the native and the foreign ministry. The Presbyterian Church, with a policy somewhat resembling the Congregational, is encountering the same difficulties in a milder form. These facts seem to indicate that, at least in part, the policy of the mission is itself responsible for the position in which it now finds itself.

But in nearly every mission field, as soon as a strong native church is developed, misunderstandings and friction between the native and foreign workers have arisen. Questions regarding the position of the native church and its relation to the foreign boards and missionaries almost inevitably arise. Therefore what the American Board has encountered may be partially encountered by all as soon as a stronger native church is developed. Perhaps the national characteristics of the people are to some extent responsible also for this trouble and friction.

The Church of Christ in Japan

This body represents an attempt at church union on a large scale. It is composed of all the Presbyterian and Reformed churches working in Japan. These are the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the Reformed Church in America, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Reformed Church in the United States, the Presbyterian Church in the United States (South), the Woman's Union Missionary Society, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. All of these bodies are engaged in building up one and the same native church—the Church of Christ in Japan. Yet each has its own field and is doing its own individual work.

The growth and success of this body have been phenomenal. It has 11,100 members, 60 ordained native ministers, 113 unordained catechists, and 146 missionaries. Its leading educational institution is the Meiji Gakuin, in Tokyo, with both an academic and a theological department. This is a large, well-equipped school, with a good faculty.

In connection with this Church of Christ there is a good academic and theological school in Nagasaki, known as Steele College, and supported by the Dutch Reformed and Southern Presbyterian missions. This school is as thoroughly evangelical and positive in its teachings as any to be found in Japan.

There are besides these five boarding-schools for boys, with 376 students, and sixteen boarding-schools for girls, with 795 pupils.

The representatives of the Church of Christ are found throughout the length and breadth of the land and are doing a good work. It is likely that this church will take the lead in the future.

Methodist Churches

There are five branches of the Methodist Church at work, namely, the American Methodist Episcopal, the Canadian Methodist Episcopal, the Evangelical Association of North America, the Methodist Protestant, and the American Methodist Episcopal (South). There is no organic union between these bodies, but harmony and fraternity prevail. Efforts at union have been made time and again, but have been as yet unsuccessful. We hope the future Methodist Church of Japan will be a united body.

At present each one of these different bodies supports its own schools; their efficiency is thus impaired, and great loss of men, time, and money entailed. In the whole Methodist Church there are five boys' boarding-schools, with 329 scholars; sixteen girls' boarding-schools, with 970 scholars; and five theological schools, with 60 students.

There are 143 missionaries, 115 native ministers, 116 catechists, and 7678 members.

The Methodist missions have had a rapid, substantial growth and are exerting a strong influence. They surpass all other bodies in annual contributions per member, and I think it may be said that the native Methodist churches have shown less of self-seeking and more of self-sacrifice than the others. The emotional character of Methodism adapts it to the taste of the people.

Episcopalians

The five branches of this church working in Japan are laboring unitedly for the establishment of one native church, called Nippon Sei Kokwai. These five bodies are the American Protestant Episcopal Church, the Church Missionary Society (English), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (English), the Wyclif College Mission (Canada), and the English Church in Canada. The united body has 149 missionaries, 30 native ministers, 124 unordained helpers, and 5555 communicant members.

This church conducts five boarding-schools for boys, with 169 scholars; eight boarding-schools for girls, with 263 scholars; and four theological schools, with 52 students. This body has done a great deal of hard, substantial work, and has enjoyed a fair degree of the popular favor. During these late reactionary years, when other missions have made little progress, its growth has continued uninterruptedly. The Nippon Sei Kokwai is presided over by five bishops, four of whom are English and one American. Two are located in Tokyo, one in Hokkaido, one in Osaka, and one in Nagasaki.

Baptists

There are four Baptist societies doing mission work in Japan: the Baptist Missionary Union (United States), the Disciples of Christ, the Christian Church of America, and the Southern Baptist Convention. There is no organic union between them, but the first- and last-named bodies work together. The four bodies unitedly have 92 missionaries, 14 native ministers, 68 native catechists, and 2327 members.

They have one boarding-school for boys, with 14 students; six boarding-schools for girls, with 205 students; and two theological schools, with 21 students.

The Baptist missionaries laboring in Japan are an able, hard-working, evangelical body of men, and there are some good, strong native Baptist ministers.

Lutherans

The Lutheran Church began mission work in Japan only four years ago, and as yet her mission is small. It is supported by the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South (United States). The Lutheran Church in the United States has occupied a peculiar position. A large per cent. of the emigrants from the Old World are of Lutheran antecedents. Hundreds of thousands of them have come over and settled in the West, and the energies of the American Lutheran Church have been largely expended in caring for these unhoused and unshepherded sheep of her own flock. It seems that Providence has allotted to her this special work. No other church in America is carrying on home mission work on so large a scale, among so many different nationalities, and in so many languages. Because of the great home mission work that has naturally fallen into her hands and demanded her men and money she has not engaged in foreign work as extensively as some other American bodies.

And yet the American contingent of this old mother church of Protestantism has a foreign-mission record of which she is not ashamed. She has supported for many years a mission on the west coast of Africa, at Muhlenberg, that is by universal consent the most successful mission in West Africa. She is also supporting two large and successful missions in India.

The Lutheran mission in Japan was begun as a venture. The after development of the work has amply justified the wisdom of the undertaking. It is not the purpose of the Lutheran Church to antagonize any of the bodies now at work in Japan, but rather to stand, amid all the doctrinal unrest characteristic of Japanese Christianity, for pure doctrine, as she has always done. It is her purpose to teach a positive, evangelical Christianity.

The working force of the mission consists of 2 missionaries and their wives, 2 native helpers, and 1 Bible-woman. The field occupied is small. There is only one station, and that is in the city of Saga, on the island of Kyushu. Much work is done in the surrounding villages and towns from Saga as a center. It is not the purpose of this mission to use large numbers of men and great quantities of money, as some others have done. It purposes working intensively rather than extensively. It attempts to devote all of its time to evangelistic work, and does not engage in educational work further than theological instruction.

Although the missionaries came to Japan in 1892, the station was not opened until 1893. Since that time about 55 converts have been baptized.

There are numerous small Christian bodies at work, such as the Scandinavian Japan Alliance, the Society of Friends, the International Missionary Alliance, the Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association, and the Salvation Army. There are also three liberal bodies working here, generally classed as unevangelical: the Evangelical Protestant Missionary Society, the Universalist mission, and the Unitarian mission.

The English and American Bible and tract societies have ably seconded these missionary bodies by the circulation of large numbers of Bibles, tracts, and various kinds of Christian books. The value of their work can hardly be estimated. The American Bible Society, the National Bible Society of Scotland, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the London Religious Tract Society have all had a part in the work.

Such is a brief enumeration of the Christian forces at work in Japan. With so large a body of consecrated workers and so much missionary machinery, it seems that the work of evangelization ought to go on rapidly. A great deal has already been accomplished, as the figures given above show. A native church of 40,000 people is no mean prize; but this is only the smallest part of the work of the missions. They have created a Christian literature, disseminated a certain knowledge of the gospel among the people, and in a hundred different ways indirectly influenced the life of this nation. Japanese missions have been a brilliant success.