In 1874, Niijima Jo graduated from Andover Theological Seminary.1 Ten years earlier he had left Japan, intrigued by Western civilization and its philosophical foundation: Christianity. After being educated at Amherst College and Andover Seminary, U.S.A., he was ready to evangelize his native country: “I will go back to Japan and persevere to turn the people to Jesus from Devil.”2

Niijima left a nation led by the Tokugawa Shogunate, a governmental system marked by isolationism and a strict class hierarchy (rule by a collection of powerful, feudal lords). Although born into this structure as a samurai, one of Japan’s elite, Niijima’s position in society did not ensure privilege; he was forced to serve as an assistant to a corrupt local authority. After encountering Christianity, a religion long persecuted by Japanese authorities, Niijima fled to America in search of physical and spiritual freedom. While he was absent, in 1867 the Tokugawa Shogunate collapsed and the era of the Meiji Restoration began: power was “restored” to the emperor; the policy of isolationism was rescinded, and Japan embarked upon a quest for its own national identity. Niijima returned as a missionary to a land ripe for change.3

His evangelistic strategy was simple: establish a school to attract bright young students, present them with the truths of Christianity, call them to the faith, and send them into the mission field. In 1875, Niijima founded Doshisha College in Kyoto. Only eight students enrolled in the opening class, all unbelievers. By 1888, 670 were enrolled. From Doshisha College “emerged the Japanese Christians who took over the pulpits of foreign missionaries. . .” Their “intellectual commitment and passion attracted the attention of the community.”4 Their students sacrificed promising careers to evangelize with Niijima as their teacher and model.5

Niijima transformed the minds of young believers poisoned by an anti-Christian ideology.6 The Confucian worldview, in which Japan had been saturated for centuries, was one of Niijima’s greatest obstacles. The Japanese were taught that society was best served when individuals absolutely submitted to their “political and social leaders.”7 In short, filial duty was the chief end of man. To Niijima, such a mindset was tyrannical and not in society’s best interest. He argued that Japan would benefit most by the work of citizens who loved what he termed “the magnanimous and virtuous Gospel of Christ.”8

For Niijima, conversion meant submitting to Jesus Christ, first, and earthly leaders, second. He made the case, in words and deed that such an order would bless a culture. For example, his interest in the welfare of prisoners led to the reformation of Japan’s entire penal system.9 Other Christians in his era established training programs for the blind, opened orphanages, fought prostitution, helped defend the dignity of laborers who were treated poorly during the period of industrialization by advocating workers’ rights, and, in general, cared for the “moral welfare” of their country.10 This reform movement demonstrated that the health of a nation can be strengthened by the salvation of even a small portion of its citizens.11

Partly due to Niijima’s efforts, Christianity increasingly became seen as a religion that gives back to society. The Encyclopedia of Japan reports that by the early decades of the twentieth century “the churches . . . sponsored a variety of social and medical projects, such as hospitals, sanatoriums, leprosariums, and orphanages; the popular image of Christianity is often associated with such work.”12 Numerically, Christianity never took Japan by storm: both Protestants and Catholics combined totaled only one million in a 1990 census—0.7% of the overall population. Further, Christianity will likely continue to labor under the stigma of being a “foreign religion” for the foreseeable future. But through believers like Niijima Jo, whose work has provided visible elements of common grace to the nation, the Christian faith in Japan has achieved a hard-won affirmation necessary to any advance for the gospel in culture: credibility.
 
Footnotes:
 
1  Irwin Scheiner, Christian Converts and Social Protest in Meiji Japan (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1970), 168.
 
2  Ibid., 146.
 
3  Only a year before Niijima’s return, in 1873, religious freedom was officially granted to the Japanese people.
 
4  Ibid., 102-104. In 1880, Niijima baptized twenty-seven. In 1884, a revival on campus led to the baptism of 200 students. By 1888, over a quarter of the students were in the school of theology.
 
5  In addition to his evangelistic activities, Niijima planted a church in his hometown. Charles W. Iglehart, A Century of Protestant Christianity in Japan (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1959), 54.
 
6  He helped establish and presided over the first, national conference of Congregationalists in Japan. He was also the closing speaker at a non-denominational conference of Christians in Tokyo in 1883. Ibid., 55, 72.
 
7  Richard Henry Drummond, A History of Christianity in Japan (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971), 185.
 
8  Niijima Jo explained, “Since I have learned well the great principle of one True God, namely the magnanimous and virtuous Gospel of Christ, I would like to teach this principle to men willing to learn and teach them what is love of a nation, benevolence for the people, and the morals to allow oneself to be true to one’s conscience.” Being true to one’s conscience for Niijima meant following God rather than men. Scheiner, 137.
 
9  Drummond, 222.
 
10  Scheiner, 109-110. Regarding the social activity of Christians, The Kondansha Encyclopedia of Japan reports that Christians gave animus to the trade union movement in the early 20th century which resulted in the Social Democrat Party. A Christian named Suzuki Bunji founded the Yuikai Foundation in 1912, an organization which later became the Japan Federation of Labor. See Michael Norhoff, “Christianity in Japan,” (Personal Website of Michael Norhoff, n.d.) quoting the The Kondansha Encyclopedia of Japan, http://www.baobab.or.jp/~stranger/mypage/chrinjap.htm (accessed September 5, 2004)/ See also, Iglehart, 84; Drummond, 220-24; and David Marshall, “Can Jesus Save Islam: The Promising Effects of Christ on Other Cultures,” Touchstone (November 2002), 37.
 
11  The same point is made well by Sumiya Etsuji, “Public life when devoted to the nation was separated from the individual’s private life . . . For Christianity, if man is bad as a private individual, his public success means nothing. The stimulus and idea of unifying public and private life came from Christianity. The idea that in order to rescue the nation the individual must be saved and become healthy came from Christian thought.” Scheiner, 121.
 
12  Norhoff

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