James Curtis Hepburn

James Curtis Hepburn

by Sayuri Hama

Introduction

Hepburn is famous for Romaji [romanization; a way to write Japanese in the Latin alphabet - Ed] in Japan, but do you really believe that Romaji was invented by Hepburn? In fact, it is not true. I’m going to write about that later.

Background

Hepburn was born in America. His father was a lawyer, and his mother believed in Christianity. Thanks to smart parents, he was good at studying. He entered a college at 16 years old. He majored in medical and learned the Bible, which made him be interested in Christianity. After graduation from the college, he married Kurara who was Christian. Hepburn spent most his life in other countries to propagate Christianity with his wife.

Life in China for 5 years

Hepburn and his wife moved to China in spite of his parents’ objections. In China, they had many difficulties. At first, they faced a handicap in language. What is worse, Kurara had a miscarriage and next baby died soon after the birth. In addition, Hepburn and Kurara suffered from Malaria. They had to go back to America for treatment. Then Hepburn started a medical office and succeeded in it. He got a good reputation; however, he decided to leave America again to Japan for propagation.

Life in Japan for 33 years

Hepburn and Kurara arrived at Kanagawa prefecture. It took about 6 months to come to Japan. What surprised Hepburn at first was Japanese appearance. Men had a sword and a topknot. According to his diary, Japanese people were full of curiosity about foreign culture because Japan was closed for a long time. He tried to propagate Christianity but there was a serious problem. Christianity was illegal at the time. He once gave up doing that and opened a medical office. He learned Japanese through the work. His hospital became the most famous one in Kanto area. He got reputation also in Japan, but he wasn't satisfied with that because his purpose was propagation of Christianity. 

He decided to study Japanese but there was no dictionary in Japan at the time so he started to make a dictionary. Hepburn started to prepare a dictionary. He mastered vocabularies, grammar, and idioms. But there were other problem. Japan didn't have the technology to print millions of words or make suitable paper. So Hepburn asked Chinese factory to do that. Finally he completed making dictionary 7 years after he came to Japan. He built a church and the members reached 200, so after all he achieved his goal to propagate Christianity.

Romaji

Japanese people think that Romaji was invented by Hepburn. Actually Romaji was made by Portuguese long before Hepburn used it for the first time in dictionary. He was just the person who put it into practice.


Reference

Anonymous, (n.d.). Kanagawa no ijin, nihon no ijin [A great man in Kanagawa and Japan]. Retrieved January 20, 2015 from http://www.hebon.sonanda.net/

Life of James Curtis Hepburn

James Curtis Hepburn

By Haruka Matsuzaki

“Do for others what you want them to do for you”. James Curtis Hepburn greatly contributed to Japan in terms of medicine and education in the Meiji period (1868-1912) under this Christian belief. James Curtis Hepburn was a physician, translator, educator and Christian born in Milton, Pennsylvania in the U.S. in 1815. He went to a medical school and became a physician. After that he went to China as a Christian missionary and stayed there for five years. Then he came back to the U.S. and opened a medical practice in New York City. Even though he opened the clinic in New York City, he had been wishing to go to Japan as a Christian missionary for a long time. So, in 1859 he decided to go to Japan as a medical missionary and opened a clinic in Yokohama.

He made three major contributions: providing free medical treatment for Japanese people, creating the first Japanese-English dictionary (the invention of the Hepburn Romanization system), and the translation of the bible into Japanese. He provided free medical treatments for 9 years and saved many people’s lives. It is said that he provided treatments for 3,500 people in half a year. Therefore, he was praised as a person who established the foundation of contemporary medicine in Yokohama. While he was working on as a doctor, he also had wanted to contribute to spreading Christianity, therefore, he decided to translate the bible from English into Japanese. Before he started translating the bible, he needed to make a Japanese-English dictionary, so he decided to make the dictionary first. In 1864 his first dictionary was published, and later in 1880, he completed translating the bible (the Old Testament). In the dictionary's third edition, Hepburn adopted a new system for Romanization of the Japanese language (Rōmaji). This system is widely known as the Hepburn Romanization because thanks to Hepburn’s dictionary, it became popular.

As soon as he started providing free treatments in Yokohama, he started providing education too. The school was called “Bara-juku” which later developed into “Meiji Gakuin University”. The university has been passing down a Christian belief, whose principles Hepburn had put into practice, “Do for others what you want them to do for you”, as its university mission.

Summary of discussion

Based on the presentation of Hepburn’s life, we discussed two questions. The first discussion question was “why do you think he dedicated himself so much to helping people in Japan and to translating the bible from English into Japanese?” All members concluded that it is because of his Christian belief. They concluded that he especially valued the belief “do for others what you want them to do for you” because he saved a lot of Japanese people’s lives for free. Without this belief, he would not have done those things. One interesting answer is that he might have loved Japan and Japanese people, so that is why he stayed in Japan for 33 years to contribute to Japanese people in medicine, education and so forth. It is true that he loved Japan because he mentioned that he never forgot the years he spent in Japan in his last speech in Meiji Gakuin University.

The second discussion question was “Hepburn came to Japan leaving his father and son, who was only 14 years old, in order to spread Christianity and help people in Japan. If you were Hepburn, would you go to Japan or overseas to spread Christianity (or your belief) even though you leave your family back in your country?” All group members concluded they would not leave their family behind because for them, family is more important than their belief. In addition, some group members answered that they would bring their family overseas because they would like to be with their family. One group member mentioned that it is hard to believe for her that Hepburn left their family behind the U.S. and came to Japan as a missionary, because she said she does not have any strong belief like him. It would be great if I could ask the same question to those who have strong belief in their religion.

Reflection on James Curtis Hepburn and project

Before I worked on this project, I had not known Hepburn, however, after the project, now I am very grateful for what he has done for Japan. I was impressed with his Christian belief “do for others what you want them to do for you”, and he actually put this belief into practice by providing free medical services, creating a Japanese-English dictionary and contributing to Japanese education. At the same time, however, it was difficult for me, as a non-Christian or non-religious person, to understand what drove him so strongly to help people overseas even though he sacrificed his family. The project was a great opportunity for me to learn about non-Japanese people who came to Japan and contributed to Japanese development in Meiji and Taisho period. Like me, many Japanese people do not know about those foreigners, including Hepburn. However, without their contributions, Japan would not have developed this much. Therefore, I am really grateful to them.


References

Meiji Gakuin Daigaku no rekishi to ima (n.d.) [The history and presence of Meiji Gakuen University] Retrieved from http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/guide/history.html

Meiji Gakuin Rekishi Shiryokan (n.d.) [Meiji Gakuin Archives of History] Retrieved from http://archive.today/1s4D0

William Smith Clark

William Smith Clark

by Kotone Kikuchi

Have you ever heard the famous phrase, Boys be ambitious? These are the words of William Smith Clark. These words are very famous, but his life is not so famous, so I would like to explain about his life easily.

<Summary of his back ground>

He was born in Massachusetts in America in 1826, and he studied hard about chemistry, botany, and zoology at Amherst College. After graduating from Amherst College, he went to study abroad to Germany, and got a doctor's degree of chemistry. Then, he went back to Amherst College as a professor of chemistry, and started to teach his major subject, especially chemistry. In 1863, he established Massachusetts Agricultural School, and then in 1873, he became the 3rd president of Massachusetts Agricultural School. At the same time, in Japan, Meiji government wanted to establish the modern type of Agricultural School in Hokkaido, and also they wanted to develop the land of Hokkaido. When he got this order, he thought that if he could succeed in developing a new land in Japan, he would get a high evaluation for Massachusetts Agricultural School from other people. In 1873, he went to Japan, and became the first assistant principal. Also he taught natural science, botany, and Christianity in English. He did not only teach, but also made an effort to develop new land of Hokkaido. He spent in Japan only less than 1 year, but his achievement was big.

<Discussion>

I had two discussion questions. One was “Why do you think he made a big effort for Hokkaido?” My opinion was he wanted to get high evaluations from other people through developing new land. Yuta said that “He likes agriculture, so Hokkaido is very suitable place for him.” I agree with his idea. Certainly, he liked studying natural chemistry, or other subject like botany, so Hokkaido was suitable place for him. The next question was “Do you think his phrase ‘Boys be ambitious’ was only for students, or for all of people who lived in Hokkaido?”. My opinion was that Clark said not only for students, but also people who live in Hokkaido. Misato’s opinion was “When he said the word, Boys be ambitious was just for students, but after that this word made an influence for people who live in Hokkaido.” When I heard her opinion, I agreed with her, so my opinion changed.

<Reflection>

I would like to write reflection about how to research, the presentation, and discussion. First, I would like to write how to research about him. The reason why I chose him for presentation task because I have heard his famous word “Boys be ambitious”, but I did not know about him. Also, I like Hokkaido, so I want to know about him. He is a famous person, so there is a lot of information on web sites. I looked at only web site, so if I have an opportunity of doing presentation like this, I will read books about my focus person. Next I'll mention the presentation. Through looking at feedback form, bad points were written by my class mate that I made some English mistakes, lacked his back ground information, so I should research more detail, and review my script and slide after make it. Finally I'll mention the discussion. Lacking leadership skill is my weak point, so I could not make a good discussion. I was given an advice about discussion from my class mates, for example, using “How about you?” or “What do you think?”, so I will use these words from this time on.

<References>

http://www.hokudai.ac.jp/ July 6, 2014

http://www.pockyboston.com/ July 7, 2014

John Batchelor

By Student A

John Batchelor and Ainu people

Introduction

From the end of Edo to Meiji Era, Japanese people started accepting a variety of western cultures and ideas that were inspired from Europe like the UK. Later these western cultures and ideas had a great impact on things such as governmental system, foods, fashion or education in Japan. Although westerners impacted on many things in Japanese society, the governmental system was one of the most affected aspects because it led Japan to get the idea of imperialism like the UK in this time.

While the big western wave was coming to Japan, a Japanese ethnic group, Ainu, who lived in Hokkaido, was facing difficulties. At that time, John Batchelor, a Christian missionary from England came to Japan. Batchelor spent his life in Hokkaido as a missionary and he saw the difficulties that Ainu were facing; although he was not Japanese, he wanted to help Ainu. Finally, people called him “Father of Ainu”.

Why did he dedicate himself to saving their cultures? What happened in Ainu communities in Hokkaido in this time? In this report, I would like to discuss the reason why Batchelor wanted to help the Ainu ethnic group and how he contributed to protecting Ainu people and their culture.


Ainu’s suffering

To know about Bachelor’s works I will explain what happened to Hokkaido and Ainu. After Meiji Restoration [1868], government introduced new polices to develop Hokkaido because they government felt the need for stronger national defense and the territorial extension against powers like China or Russia. Hokkaido became a place of national land development. The government wanted to develop Hokkaido because Hokkaido was a big island and it had a lot of natural resources.

Hokkaido Development Commissioners started to cultivate the land, Non-Ainu people recognized that Ainu ethnic group was not “Japanese” and considered them to be inferior beings. Ainu people were discriminated against and they faced difficult and awful environments.

Because hunting and fishing were banned, Ainu people faced inadequacy of food because they got their foods from nature. They needed to work to get “money” to survive. They started to work under government, however local public officers foully abused them. In addition, by losing Ainu’s traditional ways to survive, Ainu people became very poor and physically weak because of weakening of resistance to get through the hard winter. For those reasons a lot of Ainu people passed away and got serious diseases.


Why did Batchelor come to Japan, Hokkaido?

After Batchelor finished studying theology in seminary in England, he moved to Hong Kong as a Christian missionary to witness people.

However, he got endemic diseases there. By doctor’s advice, he moved to Japan to cure his illness. Japanese weather was like England's, and Hong Kong’s one did not fit him. He arrived in Yokohama at first and took medical care. After that, Batchelor moved again on medical specialist’s advice and next place was Hokkaido. The doctor thought that cold place like Hokkaido was good for medical care. Finally Batchelor came to Hokkaido but until this time he hadn’t known what Ainu was.


Why did Batchelor focus on “Ainu”?

By Meiji governmental policy, Ainu people lost their land and culture for the reasons above. After Batchelor came to Hokkaido and cured his disease, he started missionary activities locally. He got a great shock from the hard discrimination against Ainu people by non-Ainu people. Batchelor started to want to save their hearts by Christian idea gradually.

To understand Ainu, he stayed at a local Ainu community leader’s house for over 3 months at first and tried to learn Ainu language. Gradually, Batchelor knew Ainu’s holding idea for God and nature; he recorded what he learned from them. He respected Ainu culture and thought deeply how they can find the joy of life in this suffering situation.


Batchelor’s achievements

Batchelor was called “Father of Ainu” by local Ainu people. He became the first Ainu culture keeper. There are two main big achievements about Ainu. I will introduce Batchelor’s ethnological study achievements in here.


Study achievement

Batchelor deeply studied Ainu and he conducted his mission telling about Christianity by Ainu language. At the same time, he focused on saving poor Ainu people with charity works like building hospitals, a children’s home for girls who lost their parents. Many local Ainu people witnessed Batchelor’s attitudes, and then those people become Christian.

During his mission, he published “Today and past story in Ezo” (蝦夷今昔物語) in 1884. It was about Ainu culture customs and life styles. He knew true Ainu’s things by local Ainu, not local non-Ainu who make a border for Ainu. Also Batchelor could tell for public true Ainu and their beautiful and respectable culture in nature.

A dictionary named “Ainu, Japanese and English dictionary”(蝦和英三対訳辞書) was published in 1889, and finally he published part of the New Testament in Ainu while he was in England temporarily to do dedication works in the local church in 1890.

It is difficult to decide if Batchelor’s missionary activities were good for local Ainu, because even though they had their local nature faith in Hokkaido, introducing western religion changed this local faith. However, the new idea of God and faith saved part of the Ainu people's damaged hearts.

Also Batchelor left a lot of studying and communication records like diaries or books. Those materials are very valuable today. We can know how local Ainu people spent their life and how they lived with hard nature in Hokkaido. Bachelor cultivated new study fields in Hokkaido historical culture and he expanded the being of true Ainu. Batchelor retired in 1923. He spent over 46 years in Japan and dedicated his life to trying to save internal and external Ainu culture.


References

『HOMAS (北海道マサチューセッツ協会)　日本語版ニューズレター 』

No64北海道開拓の基礎を築いた指導者たち⑲　

「アイヌ民族保護を訴え続けたジョン・バチェラーの生涯と業績」

2011年12月10発行記事　北海道マサチューセッツ協会　



『近代アイヌ差別の発生についての考察』　

上野昌之著

　早稲田大学大学院教育学研究科紀要　別冊　19号―2　

2012年3月　早稲田大学大学院

James Curtis Hepburn

By Hansol Lyu

Have you heard the name of James Curtis Hepburn? I had never heard this name before the class. In this semester, I researched about James Curtis Hepburn for my presentation then I became interested in his life. Thus, I will explain about his life in Japan.

He was born in 1815 in Milton, Pennsylvania. His father was a lawyer and his mother was daughter of minister of chapel. He entered the Princeton University, when he was 16 years old. After graduating, he entered again the University of Pennsylvania. Then, he studied medical science. At this time, he became interested in Christianity, because he was influenced by his grandfather who was a minister of chapel.

After graduating the University of Pennsylvania, he married Clara Mary Leete. In addition, in 1858, the United States start to trade with Japan. In this period, American’s Greek missionaries thought this was chance to impart thinking of the Christianity in Japan. The Christianity association decided to send missionaries to Japan. Hepburn had strong interest in Eastern Christianity, so he often checked the magazine and newspaper of missionary. Then he founded the article decision of the Christianity association and he applied for that. Therefore, he and his wife went to Japan to spread the Christianity in 1859.

　

James Curtis Hepburn & Clara Mary Leete

Hepburn arrived Japan in 1859 at Kanagawa prefecture. In 1859, the thinking that Japan was a closed country still remained. Many thought that foreigner should be killed or forced out Japan. This thinking was called “Jyoiron (攘夷論)”. In addition, Japan prohibited Christianity. If people did not follow the law, they might be killed by government. He was afraid of this situation. Thereby, Hepburn could not move freely and spread the Christianity. He decided to open the hospital at Soukou temple in Japan. He studied about medical science in the university, and he was famous doctor when he lived in America. He did surgery and ophthalmology treatment for Japanese. Also, he did not get the money from patients and he could treat about 3,500 people. However, the hospital closed in just 5 months because even though the hospital became famous, he was worried about the eyes of the people to have thinking of “Jyoiron (攘夷論)”. 

After closing the hospital, Hepburn’s wife Clara founded Hepburn cram school. At this time, Hepburn was busy making Japanese-English dictionary, so his wife was in charge of the cram school. She wanted to teach English to Japanese women. This cram school became the Ferris University now.

This picture shows Ferris University

Hepburn published the Japanese-English dictionary in 1867. He thought the dictionary is necessary to convey a correct meaning of the Bible, so he made the Japanese-English dictionary by using Romaji [Editor’s note: Japanese is a pictorial language – romaji is a system of writing it phonetically using the Latin alphabet]. Thereby, Americans were able to pronounce Japanese. 20 years later, he completed translation of the Bible.

In 1873, he could establish a church, his dream achieved 17 years after he came to Japan. Maybe, the church is one of the ways to spread the Christianity for him.

He related with various things in Japan. Firstly, he treated a lot of Japanese patients. Secondly, Hepburn and his wife tried to supply food education’s environment for Japanese. Finally, he made an effort to spread the Christianity in Japan and he attained it. I felt his love for Japan. He was always afraid of the Jyoiron (攘夷論), but he did not escape from Japan. Rather, he helped Japanese. I was really impressed by his action and thinking.


References

No name.(n.d).Retrieved January 13,2014 from A great man of Kanagawa- a great man of Japan(神奈川の偉人-日本の偉人) web site: http://www.hebon.sonanda.net/990hebon.html

Seiji, N.(2011). The James Curtis Hepburn’s achievements-宣教医、教育者として日本社会に貢献したアメリカ人-, The University of Tokyo Ariakeiryou, Tokyo. website: http://www.tau.ac.jp/outreach/TAUjournal/2011/06-nakayama.pdf#search='%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B1+%E3%83%98%E3%83%9C%E3%83%B3'

Tsuda Umeko

Tsuda Umeko

By Anonymous

Many people know Tsuda Umeko as an educator for Japanese girls. However, there are few people who understand her background. She surely spent a strange life compared with other people at the time, but it is the fact that all her experience made her strong as an independent woman. Therefore, we couldn’t speak about girls’ education without Tsuda Umeko, and she is one of the most important women in Japan.

Tsuda Umeko was extremely inspired by American society system through studying abroad. She was in the U.S. for 11 years when she was a child. Originally, this project was held under Kuroda Kiyotaka who was impressed by high position of women in the U.S. There were few people who thought to let their lovely daughter go, but Tsuda Sen, Umeko’s father, had a flexible idea about it. Umeko grew up in traditional Christian family, so she also became a Christian perfectly because she was really smart and noble (www.yomiuri.co.jp). In short, she spent her school days in the U.S., so she became a completely Americanized woman.

She was really surprised at a gap between men and women when she came back to Japan after her long life in the U.S. She was so excited to come back to her mother country even though she couldn’t speak Japanese. According to a letter to her friend Shige (Tsuda, 1882), Umeko was looking forward to living in Japan and thought it was like a dream. However, she was shocked, against her expectation. Of course, she understood Japanese and their culture gradually, but she didn’t understand why the position of Japanese women was low compared with men. Her feeling then made her stand up for Japanese women. It was also a big challenge to conservative Japanese society at the same time. Gender gap was a good opportunity to make a new woman for Umeko.

It was Umeko’s life project that she made an effort to modernize and improve the status for Japanese women. After she learned biology at Bryn Mawr College, she came back to Japan again. Professor Iino Masako (2009) mentioned that Umeko had both awareness about a favor against the government and what she should do (www.yomiuri.co.jp). By the way, her goal for girls’ education was not just to produce noble women. She wanted Japanese women to contribute Japan by helping men intellectually and mentally. She thought that it was true contribution to society to play an active part inside and outside the house. To realize it, she suggested that it was a good idea to mix traditional Japanese values and American ones. Then, she used “All Round Woman” when she opened Girls English School (present-day Tsuda Juku University) in 1900. It means every woman should learn English and other major subjects and broaden her range wider. Her wills took over Tuda Juku students now. It would not exaggeration even if we say that her ambitious dream almost became the reality.

Tsuda Umeko is one of the women who changed Japan, and she got stronger thorough the three life turning points. Study abroad made her not only good English speaker, but also created Christian base. The gap between men and women made her confused, but she found the way to educate girls at the same time. Finally, she succeeded in founding the girls’ school and in telling them how important the woman's independence is. This smart woman moved Japan and came to be handed down as an advanced educator for Japanese girls.

References

Minako Oba. (1990). Tsuda Umeko. Asahi Newspaper Co.

Nobori Kiuchi. (2013, May 19) Tsuda Umeko; be sophisticated in any environment, from Japan Economy Newspaper Web. http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFE2201F_Q3A510C1TY5000/

Yomiuri Online. (2009, April 25) Tsuda Umeko and America; the background of founding “Girls’ English School”. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/tokyotama/feature/hachioji1267517640969_02/news/20100302-OYT8T00872.htm

Hannah Riddell

By Jaimie Natsuki

Hannah Riddell

Hannah Riddell was an English women who devoted her life to leprosy victims in Japan. Leprosy is a serious chronic disease which destroys the flesh and nerves. From 1907 to 1996 in Japan, leprosy victims had serious discrimination problems. For example, they were treated cruelly by people, government, and even by hospitals.

However, in 1895, Hannah Riddell made a hospital called “Kaisyun hospital” in Japan, and she made a great contribution to the Japanese policy of leprosy, but if she were not inflexible person, deepen people’s understanding of leprosy was not easy. In this paper, I will focus on the reasons why she came to Japan, her achievements, and the two sides of her character.

Hannah was born in 1855 in London, and her family were Christian. She and her mother managed a women's school, and even though she was only 20 years old at that time, she could teach all the subjects. Her parents were quite old and she had a brother’s little nephew and niece to bring up, because he died of pneumonia. Hannah had to work to live, and she had no choice except being a teacher.

When she came to Japan as a missionary, she met a little boy suffering from leprosy at Honmyou temple in Kumamoto, and that made her decide to take care of leprosy victims for her whole life.

In 1895, finally she was able to build her ideal hospital, “Kaisyun hospital”, but it was not so easy. She had to negotiate with many top class people, and solicit funds. She had a bad relationship with middle echelons, and because of her character, she made many enemies on the church organization committee, so she had to manage without their help. However, that made it easier to collect funds. In 1905, she held a nationwide conference and her proposal for a nonprofit hospital was accepted.

Also, she cared about the location and hospital name too. The location was peaceful, and had beautiful nature, and moreover it was easy to go to the city, but was not too close. The outside of house did not look like a hospital. The design was a mix of western and oriental style. Hannah did not want to get image of “revival” and “regenerate”, so she choose the name very carefully. In English, it means “Resurrection of Hope”, but in Japanese, her concept of “revival” and “regenerate” is well expressed in appropriate language.

Hannah believed that leprosy is a hereditary disease, and was convinced that men and women should live separately, even though in 1873, a doctor proved it is bacterial disease. Here is her opinion: “Leprosy victims should not live in the same house, and if it is possible, the house should be as far as possible, and the best way to avoid this disease is to ban a marriage in two generation. It might sound little bit hard, but still it is possible to learn the happiness and joy, and they will understand that they just do not have choice to get married.” She strongly believed the best way to avoid leprosy is to control passions and desires, but in fact, just keeping a clean and noble life was not helpful. Her knowledge was too scanty, even though she devoted her life to leprosy.

Some victims felt “Kaisyun hospital” is like a religious house because sometimes victims felt pleasure to become Christian. However, even though the hospital was like a religious house, it was overwhelming popular to enter, especially for serious cases.

To build up the medical treatment of leprosy took a long time, but following all of her efforts, in 1910, Japanese authorities recognized leprosy as a social problem. Nowadays Hannah’s opinion is accepted and respected from some Japanese top class people, and patients had their love and respect for her.


<References>

Boyd, J. (1995.11.16). Hannah Riddell: an English woman in Japan, Charles E. Tuttle Company.