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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67—16,349 YAMAMOTO, Masaya, 1929- IMAGE-MAKERS OF JAPAN; A CASE STUDY IN THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONARY MOVEMENT, 1859 - 1905. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1967 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc.. Ann Arbor, Michigan © -Mfisaya, Ymmmmnfn 1&67 All Rights Reserved IMAGE-MAKERS OF JAPAN: A CASE STUDY IN THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONARY MOVEMENT, 1859 - 1905 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Masaya Yamamoto, Bungakushi (B.A.), M.A. ****** The Ohio State University 1967 Approved by Adviser Department of History FOREWORD We present here a study of the image of Japan in the United States created by the American Protestant foreign missionary movement up to the close of the Russo- Japanese War in 1905. Aside from diplomatic and economic relations, the American Republic's main contact with the Mikado's Empire in the nineteenth century was through the missionary movement. Since this developed on a person-to- person basis, it covered a much wider range than did any other relationships. The Christian missionary enterprise in Japan was, and still is, dominated by American churches. Almost all Christian denominations in the United States have carried on evangelistic work in Nippon. Representatives of all Christian bodies operating in the Empire periodically wrote to their home boards, and their letters and reports were printed in their respective journals. These communications created a definite image of Japan in the minds of church members in the United States. ii The situation was more favorable for the American churches In Nippon than In China, because the former was willing to change herself and develop, while the latter sought, at all times, to maintain the status quo. Harmo nious missionary relationships proved an Important factor In shaping a favorable Japanese Image In American society. Even during the critical period of Amerlcan- Japanese relations, from the Treaty of Portsmouth In 1905 through the close of the Pacific War In 1945, the average American as an Individual had a basically favorable mental picture of Nippon. This bright Image led to a "second- honeymoon" period after the Second World War. It was natural that American missionaries In Inti mate contact with their Japanese church members were highly sensitive to the changes and progress under way In the Empire of the Rising Sun. Their personal letters and formal reports consequently provide fairly accurate Infor mation on Nipponese development and stand In sharp contrast to the writings of journalists and lay travelers emphasiz ing the country's exoticism. Ill Missionary magazines and numerous annual reports of the mission boards have been investigated during the course of this study. The main source of information, however, has been the papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The oldest, as well as one of the largest and most influential of all such societies in the United States, this Board was the strongest Christian body tilling the religious field in Japan. In addition to such materials, attention has been given to books and articles written by missionaries and their friends in various private capacities. Special attention is accorded the writings and diary of William Elliot Griffis, the foremost American Japanologist in the nineteenth century and a friend of missions, whose name became famous through his classic. The Mikado's Empire, published in 1876 in New York. A critical comparison has been undertaken between Griffis and Lafcadio Hearn, another distinguished creator of the Japanese image in America, who pictured an exotic nineteenth-century land where tradition still lay deeply intrenched despite the dominant current of change. IV Our study embraces seven chapters. The first two are devoted to the mission movement background in the United States, with a survey of the Japanese field in the corresponding period. Both contain statistical reports on the American churches, their general overseas undertakings and their activities in Nippon in particular. The next four chapters are chronological. They discuss in turn such significant events as the de facto toleration of Christianity in 1873, the de jure recognition accorded it by the Imperial Constitution of 1889, the first rise of Japanese nationalism in 1895 following victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War and, finally, a second height of spirit attained by Nippon in 1905 when she became a world power through her triumph over Russia. The last chapter presents a summary of the Japanese image as ultimately shaped in the United States through the American Protestant foreign missionary movement. The im pact of missions upon the Mikado's Empire is also examined in relation to the Nipponese immigration problems on the West Coast and the "war scare" involving Japan, both of which Immediately followed her spectacular victory over Russia. Here we must turn our attention to terms being used in this study. Since some denominations' official names are confusing because of similarity between them, unof ficial designations, as noted below, are employed in the interests of clarity. NAMES USED IN THIS STUDY THE ACTUAL OFFICIAL NAMES The Dutch Reformed Church The Reformed Church in America The German Reformed Church The Reformed Church in the United States The Northern Methodist The Methodist Episcopal Church Church The Southern Methodist The Methodist Episcopal Church Church, South The Northern Presbyterian The Presbyterian Church in Church the United States of America The Southern Presbyterian The Presbyterian Church in Church the United States The Disciples of Christ's The Foreign Christian Mission Missionary Society VI VITA January 27, 1929 B o m - Sendai, Japan 1953 ........ Bungakushi (B.A.)» Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Japan 1953-1955 . Teacher, Kwansei Gakuin High School, Nishinomiya, Japan 1957 ........ M.A., Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 1957-1962 . Teacher, Kwansei Gakuin High School, Nishinomiya, Japan 1962-1965 . Graduate Assistant, Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1965-1967 . Instructor, Alaska Methodist University, Anchorage, Alaska PUBLICATIONS "America Gasshukoku no Kaigai Hatten ni okeru Ichi Sokumen: American Board no Seiritsu Jijo - I" (One Aspect of American Overseas Expansion: The Emergence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - I), Kwansei Gakuin Shigaku (Nishinomiya: Kwansei Gakuin University, December, 1961), No. 6, pp. 114-129. "1893 nen no Hawaii Seihen to sono Haikei ni tsuite no Ichi Kosatsu" (A Study of the Background of Hawaiian Revo lution in 1893), Shirin (Kyoto: KyOto University, May, 1962), No. 3, pp. 121-141. vii "America Gasshukoku no Kaigai Hatten ni okeru Ichi Sokumen: American Board no Seiritsu Jijo - II" (One Aspect of American Overseas Expansion: The Emergence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions - II), Kwansei Gakuin Shigaku (Nishinomiya: Kwansei Gakuin University, November, 1964), No, 8, pp. 53-68. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: American History Studies in American History. Professors Francis P. Weisenburger and Robert H. Bremner Studies in American Diplomacy. Professor Foster Rhea Dulles Studies in European Expansion. Professor Lowell Ragatz Studies in Far East M o d e m History. Professor Jerome B. Grieder Studies in Religious Sociology. Professor Russell R. Dynes viii CONTENTS Page FOREWORD .......................................... ii LIST OF T A B L E S .................................... xi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS........................... xiii Chapter I. A SURVEY OF THE HOME GROUND, THE UNITED STATES ............................... Introduction General Characteristics of the American Protestant Foreign Mission Movement The Rise of Missionary Spirit in the United States The Growth and Dispersion of the Missionary Spirit II. THE FIELD, JAPAN IN P E R S P E C T I V E ........ 38 The Nipponese Field in Perspective Western Contact with the Isolated Empire The Opening of Nippon's Door The Beginning of Christianization Statistical Survey of Japan Field III. THE PREPARATORY PERIOD, 1858-1873 .... 104 The First Japanese Mission to the United States The Beginning of Missionary Activity in Japan Griffis in Fukui The De Facto Recognition of Christianity ix Chapter Page IV. THE FLOWERING YEARS, 1873-1889 ......... 143 The Promising Start Joseph Hardy Neesima Griffis in Tokyo and in the United States Japan's Modernization The Satsuma Rebellion Cries for Equality The Mission Apogee V. THE ERA OF REACTION, 1889-1895 ......... 203 "Japan for the Japanese" Lafcadio Hearn in Japan "Evangelization of the World in This Generation" The Rise of Nationalism The Sino-Japanese War VI. THE AGE OF READJUSTMENT, 1895-1905 . 255 Japan and America at the Turn of the Century Progress of the World Evangelization Program The Road to "Mixed Residence" Nippon's Participation in the Boxer Rebellion The Russo-Japanese War Vll. CONCLUSION............................. 316 The Immigration Problems Various Pictures of Nippon The Synthesized Image of Japan APPENDIX ........................................ 348 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 369 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. A List of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Organization .............................. 20 2. Development of Per Capita Foreign Mission Expenditures in