Kanamori's life-story

by Paul M. Kanamori

This Bible reading was the preparation for a powerful revival which soon broke out in that school. This was the first revival in modern Japan, or rather it should be called the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit, because there was nothing yet to revive. We did not know that it was a revival of religion. We had neither heard nor read of such things. We had not seen a single missionary. No missionary had ever visited that part of the country. We were so ignorant of the Christian world outside of us that we did not even know the modern institution of church and pastor. We did not know that the minister who preaches the Gospel can be supported by the church. We thought if we were going to preach the Gospel we must do as Paul did,—working with our own hands and preaching the Gospel. All we knew were Bible truths and Bible personages. We knew Jesus Christ and how he died upon the cross for us. We knew Paul and Peter and John and James, and how they were filled with the Holy Spirit and what mighty works they did. And we boys simply tried to imitate those great apostles.

Without knowing that it was a revival of religion, we had it, and that, too, a powerful one. It happened on this wise. When the winter vacation was over, all the boys returned to school. These boys were quite young. I was one of the oldest among them, and I was only eighteen. When the younger boys returned to the school, we older boys who had read the Bible during vacation were now so full of it that we could not help talking about it to these younger students. These students now became very much interested in hearing Bible stories, and they also began to read the Bible themselves. So we formed Bible classes and taught them. The whole school was thrown into such a fever of Bible reading that, although the new term had already commenced, the school could not resume its ordinary work because nobody cared to read any other book but the Bible, Bible, Bible. Everybody was reading the Bible, and everywhere Bible classes were going on. Consequently, for the whole of the first week of the term the regular studies were suspended, and the school was given over to Bible reading. We thought at one time that the whole school of one hundred boys was going to be converted at once. Conversion after conversion occurred. There was a boy about fifteen years of age who preached so powerfully among his fellow-students that as a result many were converted.

The revival did not confine itself within the school walls. We were not satisfied with the conversion of the schoolboys alone. We went out of the school, preaching the Gospel in our own homes, to our parents, relatives, and friends. We even went to our former Confucian teachers, and told them the new truths we had learned from the Bible. We were all Confucianists, and brought up in the Confucian school before we entered Captain Janes’ school. There were quite often very hot discussions between those old teachers and the newly converted Christian boys. But always these boys were able to confound those old Confucian scholars. As they could not withstand nor gainsay these boys’ arguments, they were enraged at them. One day I called on my old Confucian teacher, who loved me as dearly as one of his own sons, and I was also very much attached to him; but as I told him the new truths which I had learned from the Bible there arose a hot discussion between us. When he saw that I would not obey his command to renounce the Christian faith, he was greatly enraged, and said, “You must never come back again to my house to see me.”

I was almost driven out of his house, and I did not see him again before his death. But I am happy to tell you that not long after his death his widow became a Christian, and one of his grandsons is now the pastor of a Christian church.

In the midst of such a sweeping revival a great enemy appeared. Persecution broke out, not by the government, but by the families, parents, relatives, and friends of the young converts. At the instigation of the Confucian teachers, the parents and relatives tried to persuade their boys to renounce their Christian faith, and to return to the Confucian teaching.

You know that the first missionaries in Japan were Roman Catholics, sent about five hundred years ago, but the Japanese Government, as well as the people, had for many centuries bitterly persecuted these Roman Catholics. Any one who professed to be Christian was in danger of bringing capital punishment upon himself and his family. People looked upon Christians as traitors to the country, and feared that they would become the tools of the foreign nations represented by the missionaries. So the Christians were looked upon by the country at large as very detestable people, dangerous to the safety of the country.

I remember that when I was a little boy we used to see the Government’s notice boards set up everywhere with this statement: “The belief in the evil religion of Jesus is strictly forbidden by order.” In some places, sometimes, the following statement was added: “If any one knowing a believer in this religion of Jesus will inform the authorities, he shall be rewarded by the Government.” These rewards were given in money.

My grandfather was an officer of some position in our provincial government. At one time he was appointed chief officer over a large district. It was the duty of such officials to examine the religion of the people over whom they were placed. For this purpose he used to call all the people of his district once a year to his official residence. The day of such a gathering was counted among the great days of the year. It was called the “Feast of Picture Trampling.” I remember my grandfather had a small iron crucifix, such as the Roman Catholic priests carry with them. This crucifix was put in a small box, which was covered with an iron grating, so that the figure within might be seen from the outside, and this box was placed in a small hole dug for the purpose, in the middle of a large courtyard, where usually the criminals were examined. Then the people were called in, one by one, by name, in the presence of the Government officers, all dressed in their official robes, with swords and spears to guard against emergencies. The people of each township, headed by the mayor, were called in by themselves, and when they came to the place where the box was placed they trampled upon it and passed on. To this feast all people, men and women and even children, were ordered to come. When the women came into the yard, after they themselves had stepped on the box, they put down their children and made their little feet touch the crucifix, thus testifying that they were not of this religion. If any one refused to trample upon the cross he was arrested at once, and put into prison on the charge of being a Christian. My grandfather had a prison in which to put such men.

Once when I was watching those country folks trampling upon the box I asked my grandfather, “What is that figure in the box, on which these people are treading?”

He turned to me and said: “Oh, that is an unclean worm! if it is not put in that box and trampled upon by the people, it will creep out and do immense mischief to the country.”