The Bible in Imperial Japan, 1850-1950
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository THE BIBLE IN IMPERIAL JAPAN, 1850-1950 Yumi Murayama-Cain A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St. Andrews 2010 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1717 This item is protected by original copyright T B I J – Yumi Murayama-Cain Ph.D. thesis th March Declarations D I, Yumi Murayama-Cain, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately , words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work car- ried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in September ; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between and . D: S : Yumi Murayama-Cain I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. D: S : Prof. Mario I. Aguilar In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regula- tions of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electron- ically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have ob- tained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow ii such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to Printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the Univer- sity of St Andrews. D: S : Yumi Murayama-Cain D: S : Prof. Mario I. Aguilar Abstract 要 This thesis undertakes to apply some of the insights from postcolonial criticism to understand the history of Christianity in Japan, focusing on key Christian thinkers in the period since Japan’s national isolation ended in the mid th century. 旨 It studies these theologians’ interaction with the the Bible as a “canonical” text in the Western civilisation, arguing for a two-way connection between Japan’s re- ception of Christianity and reaction to the West. In particular, it considers the pro- cess through which Christianity was employed to support or criticise Japan’s co- lonial discourse against neighbouring Asian countries. In this process, I argue that interpretation of the Bible was a political act, informed not simply by the text itself, but also by the interpreter’s positionality in the society. The thesis starts by reviewing the history of Christianity in Japan. The core of the thesis consists of three chapters, each of which considers the thought of two contemporaries. Ebina Danjo (–) and Uchimura Kanzo (–) were two first-generation Christians who converted to Christianity through missionaries from the United States, and responded to Japan’s westernisation and military ex- pansion from opposite perspectives. Kagawa Toyohiko (–) and Yanaihara Tadao (–) spoke about the country’s situation in the years preceding the Asia-Pacific War (–), and again reached two different conclusions. Nagai Takashi (–) and Kitamori Kazo (–) were Christian voices immedi- ately after the war, and both dealt with the issue of suffering. Each chapter explores how the formation of their thoughts was driven by their particular historical, eco- nomic, and social backgrounds. The concluding chapter outlines Christian thought in Japan today and deals with the major issue facing Japanese theology: cultural essentialism. iv Contents D ii A iv P: A L F ix A xii N xiii C – I: C, P, C J The History of Christianity and Colonialism The Bible as the Book of the Empire Who Are the Readers and Commentators? C – J C H: H B I I Francisco de Xavier and the Jesuit Missionaries Hideyoshi Toyotomi and his Policy on Kirishitans The San Felipe Incident and the Twenty-six Martyrs Tokugawa Bakufu and Kirisitans The End of National Isolation The Return of Missionaries The Meiji Government and The Restoration v Social Background of the Japanese Christians in the th Century Emergence of the Japanese Protestant Theologians Ebina Danjo Uemura Masahisa Uchimura Kanzo The Constitution, the emperor System, and Christianity Uchimura Kanzo’s Lese-Majesty Incident Liberal Theology, Karl Barth, and the Churches in Japan Japanese Theologians and the Annexation of Korea March First Independence Movement The Churches in the Time of War Shinto Shrine Worship in Korea The Resistance of the Korean Christians After the War The Church and War Guilt Christianity and the Imperial Institution Today Conclusion C – T S C: T F-G P Ebina Danjo (–) Uchimura Kanzo (–) Russo-Japanese War (–) Ebina and Uchimura on Japan and Japanese Imperialism Samurai Colonialists: Ebina and Uchimura in History C – P T: K T Y T Kagawa Toyohiko (–) Kagawa in the Slum Labour Movement and Christian Socialism The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Kingdom of God Movement Kagawa and the Bible Yanaihara Tadao (–) Non-Church, Colonial Studies, and Japan’s Expansionism “Let the Prophet Stand in Japan” Yanaihara and the Bible Kagawa and Yanaihara during and after the Asia-Pacific War C – I R F: K K N T Nagai Takashi (–) The Victims and Survivors Nagai and the Bible Nagai’s Legacy Kitamori Kazo (–) The Theology of the Pain of God () Kitamori and the Bible Kitamori’s Legacy Nagai and Kitamori on the Issue of Pain C – M C M C: P-B P “Japan” as a Category of Social Anthropology The Roots of Nihonjinron Nihonjinron Nakane Chie, Japanese Society and Doi Takeo, The Anatomy of Dependence A Critique of Nihonjinron: Essentialist and Ahistorical A Critique of Nihonjinron: Japan as a Homogeneous Nation A Critique of Nihonjinron: East and West Dichotomy Deconstructing Nihonjinron Conclusion B Preface: A Letter to Friends 序 One of my regular correspondences with my friends who live in the United States, written in June 2009. Dear Ryan and Marina, Hello. It’s nice to wake up to an interesting email! I was much intrigued by your description of the Orthodox service you began to attend. Though I have been always attending church services wherever: Japan, the United States, Scotland, and Portugal, your description of the Orthodox church in Detroit sounds very different from any of my experience. You are right: the Catholic mass I attend is about minutes long, at the most. It is almost exactly the same as the Episcopal liturgy I know from the Scottish Episcopal Church. The confession, the Gloria, and the creed are identical. There are minor differences: for example during the Eucharist liturgy, they have a song they sing while holding hands. The same song every week, but I think that may be unique to this particular church. The first time I went to the church I gasped when the priest drank all the blood of Jesus, because I was not used to it. The mass is said very fast, and the homily is short. I would not like the long Protestant homily ever again, but the Catholic service does feel a bit rushed. It was good last time though because the church was completely full, and I was standing, with the wrong kind of shoes and my back was hurting towards the end of the service. In any case, that we, who met in a evangelical protestant seminary in the States are now attending Catholic and Orthodox services, I think, says something about the state of Christianity in the world today. I agree about the danger of idealising the primitive church, and I am reluctant to criticise the Orthodox church’s relation with the state because it’s in the distant past… a past that does influence me, unlike th century imperialism and today’s neo-colonialism and their ties with Protestantism. But even then, I would be very cautious using the concept of providence, exactly because I am afraid of the same concept and logic being used to justify the racism, massacre, and exploitation that ix the Protestant churches were a part of in the past two centuries. Pointing out the Church’s sins does not make the Church sinless, and neither does modernising or redesigning the Church. But I insist that German Protestantism’s repentance about their support of Nazism was necessary, and the Japanese churches’ confession of sins over their support of militarism during the Asia-Pacific war and further in- vestigation of what happened during the time were vital for the life of the Church. I also think that Christians in the United States should AT LEAST confess the sin of the Church over the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, which was a Christian city. It’s Catholic, so maybe it was not good enough.