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| James Curtis Hepburn |
“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
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