Essays on the Modern Japanese Church: Christianity in Meiji JapanEssays on the Modern Japanese Church (Gendai Nihon kyokai shiron), published in 1906, was the first Japanese-language history of Christianity in Meiji Japan. Yamaji Aizan’s firsthand account describes the reintroduction of Christianity to Japan—its development, rapid expansion, and decline—and its place in the social, political, and intellectual life of the Meiji period. Yamaji’s overall argument is that Christianity played a crucial role in shaping the growth and development of modern Japan. Yamaji was a strong opponent of the government-sponsored “emperor-system ideology,” and through his historical writing he tried to show how Japan had a tradition of tolerance and openness at a time when government-sponsored intellectuals were arguing for greater conformity and submissiveness to the state on the basis of Japanese “national character.” Essays is important not only in terms of religious history but also because it highlights broad trends in the history of Meiji Japan. Introductory chapters explore the significance of the work in terms of the life and thought of its author and its influence on subsequent interpretations of Meiji Christianity. |
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Page 27
... Japan . Essays owes a great deal to the personal experience of Yamaji Aizan . Yamaji was a member of the second Shizuoka Chris- tian Band , which developed from the Young People's Group ( sei- nenkai ) at the Japan Methodist Church in ...
... Japan . Essays owes a great deal to the personal experience of Yamaji Aizan . Yamaji was a member of the second Shizuoka Chris- tian Band , which developed from the Young People's Group ( sei- nenkai ) at the Japan Methodist Church in ...
Page 30
Christianity in Meiji Japan Aizan Yamaji. evangelists and pastors in the Japan Methodist Church were ex- tremely poorly paid , and it was particularly difficult for married pastors to make ends meet . Yamaji's opportunity to move into ...
Christianity in Meiji Japan Aizan Yamaji. evangelists and pastors in the Japan Methodist Church were ex- tremely poorly paid , and it was particularly difficult for married pastors to make ends meet . Yamaji's opportunity to move into ...
Page 31
... Japan Methodist Church during the 1890s , he resigned his position at Gokyō in 1897 and moved to Nagano . This did not mark the end of his dealings , however , with either Canadian missionaries or the Japan Methodist Church , for these ...
... Japan Methodist Church during the 1890s , he resigned his position at Gokyō in 1897 and moved to Nagano . This did not mark the end of his dealings , however , with either Canadian missionaries or the Japan Methodist Church , for these ...
Contents
Yamaji Aizan and Essays on the History of the Modern | 3 |
Essays and Meiji Protestant Christian History | 25 |
Introduction | 45 |
Copyright | |
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advocated became believed Buddhist Canadian Methodist Chris Christ Christian church Christianity in Japan Confucian conservative reaction criticism Daigaku domain Eiwa English Essays established faction faith foreign missionaries freedom Fukuzawa Yukichi Gakkō heaven human idea Imperial Inoue Tetsujirō intellectual world Itō Itō Hirobumi Japan Methodist Church Japanese Japanese Christians Japanese church journal Katō Katō Hiroyuki Keiō Keiō College kenkyū Kirisutokyō Kokumin no tomo Kozaki Hiromichi Kumamoto Kumamoto Band Meiji Japan Meiji period Meiji Restoration Mori Arinori Nakamura Nakamura Masanao Nihon Purotesutanto Niijima Jō Ogyū Sorai person political Popular Rights Protestant Protestantism reason regard religion religious Rikugō zasshi samurai Satsuma scholar shakai shinbun Shinkyō shisō Shizuoka shogunate so-called social society spirit statist education taught teacher teachings theological theory of evolution things thought tian tianity tion Tokugawa Tokyo University Tōyō trend Uchimura Uchimura Kanzō Wang Yang-ming Western wrote Yamaji Aizan Yokoi young Zhu Xi