Bahá'í Faith in Japan
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith in Japan begins after a few mentions of the country by `Abdu'l-Bahá
first in 1875. Japanese contact with the religion came from the West when was living in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1902 converted; the second being .
In 1914 two Bahá'ís, George Jacob Augur and Agnes Alexander
, and their families, pioneered
to Japan. Alexander would live some 31 years off and on in Japan until 1967 when she left for the last time The first Bahá'í convert on Japanese soil was in 1915. `Abdu'l-Bahá undertook several trips in 1911-1912 and met Japanese travelers in Western cities, in Paris, London, and New York. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá met Fujita in Chicago and Yamamoto in San Francisco.
`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, in 1916-1917 compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
but which was not presented in the United States until 1919. Fujita would serve between the World Wars first in the household of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and then of Shoghi Effendi. In 1932 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Tokyo and reelected in 1933. In all of Japan there were 19 Bahá'ís.
In 1937 Alexander went on Bahá'í pilgrimage
to return years later. In 1938 Fujita was excused from his services in Haifa out of fears for his safety during World War II
and returned to Japan until 1956. In 1942, back in the United States, the Yamamoto family lived at a relocation camp
during the war. Bahá'í Americans associated with the American Occupation Forces reconnected the Japanese Bahá'í community — Michael Jamir found Fujita by 1946 and Robert Imagire helped re-elect the assembly in Tokyo in 1948. In 1963 the statistics of Bahá'í communities showed 13 assemblies and other smaller groups.
In 1968 Japanese Bahá'ís began to travel outside Japan. In 1971 the first residents of Okinawa converted to the religion. In 1991 the community organized an affiliate of the Association for Bahá'í Studies in Japan which has since held annual conferences, published newsletters, and published and coordinated academic work across affiliates. The Association of Religion Data Archives
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 15,700 Bahá'ís in 2005 while the CIA World Factbook estimated about 12,000 Japanese Bahá'ís in 2006.
is with the Secret of Divine Civilization
written by `Abdu'l-Bahá
in 1875. It was written to try to enlighten Persia. It says:
in 1902, Philippines
by 1944, Taiwan
and Canton
in 1949, and Macau
in 1953. However, for the Japanese contact with the religion came from the West. Kanichi Yamamoto
was living in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1902 where a Bahá'í, Elizabeth Muther, introduced him to the religion. Yamamoto wrote a letter to `Abdu'l-Bahá
and enters the history books as the first Japanese Bahá'í — the second and third being Saichiro Fujita
and Kenzo Torikai. The first Bahá'ís to visit Japan were Mason Remey
and Howard C. Struve on December 27, 1909 who addressed an audience at a Tokyo YMCA
. D. T. Suzuki's wife, Beatrice, had multiple contacts with the Bahá'ís both in America and in Japan and was for a time considered a Bahá'í. Bernard Leach
lived in Japan from 1909-1920 working on the Mingei
arts and converted to the religion in 1940. Leach received awards for his continued work in Japanese folk arts in the 1960s and 70s. A few other Bahá'ís traveled through Japan in 1911 and 1914. But in 1914 two Bahá'ís, George Jacob Augur and Agnes Alexander
, and their families, pioneered
to Japan. Alexander would live some 31 years off and on in Japan until 1967 when she left for the last time and much of her work would be through Esperantist
s and connections with the blind
community of Japan. Meetings for the public were setup and talks and interviews were given including to Esperantist
audiences. The first Bahá'í convert on Japanese soil was Kikutaro Fukuta in 1915, followed by the blind Russian youth Vasily Eroshenko who later drifted to communism. Also in 1915, Martha Root
arrived for the first time in Japan and Tokujiro Torii converted to the religion. Torrii later served as president of the Japanese Blind Association and received an Imperial Citation, the Medal of the Third Order, for his work on behalf of the blind.
Cities where Bahá'ís traveled in this early phase include Kobe
, Kyoto
, Tokyo
, Hiroshima
and this period also saw the first observances of the Bahá'í Holy Days of Naw Ruz and the Declaration of the Báb. In the spring of 1916 Fukuta and Eroshenko made the first contributions towards raising the first Bahá'í House of Worship
being raised in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. In the summer of 1916 Eroshenko took a copy of Some Answered Questions
with him when he traveled to Siam and Burma. The first Japanese woman to convert to the religion was Yuri Mochizuki in 1919. Shortly before the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, Alexander and Oh Sang Sun made a trip from Japan to Korea, then under Japanese rule, for the first entry of the religion in that country. Alexander also spent time with Shibusawa Eiichi. Elsewhere Fujita served as a secretary to Bahiyyih Khanum
in communicating the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in late 1921. At a time when women speaking in public was rare, two women, a Miss Mochizuki and Haruko Mori, spoke at the memorial service of the death of 'Abdu'l-Bahá held in Japan.
. It was this occasion that 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote the only prayer he wrote for the Japanese. It says:
In New York he met several Japanese as well. On September 12, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá reached Chicago. Fujita attempted to connect with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá at Cleveland but caught up with him in Chicago. Fujita would accompany ‘Abdu'l-Bahá across many American cities including Kenosha, Wisconsin, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Denver and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Francisco and Stanford, California - Fujita would serve between the World Wars first in the household of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and then of Shoghi Effendi. On October 22, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá reached San Francisco where he met Yamamoto who arranged for a presentation among a Japanese audience in Oakland.
in 1916-1917 suggesting Bahá'ís take the religion to many places; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
but were delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
and the Spanish flu
. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. One tablet says in part:
. Moneys and letters of concern arrived from Bahá'ís in New York, Haifa, Kenosha, Wi., Brooklyn, Chicago, Somerville, Mass., Montreal, Canada among other places spreading encouragement and reporting on or actually sending funds Bahá'ís and others had marshaled for the relief effort. In 1927 Siegfried Schopflocher visited Japan and reported the religion was firmly established and progressing.
In 1932 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Tokyo. There was a preliminary election that corrected when Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, specified rules that needed to be followed for the election. The members of the community of Tokyo were (former Rev.) Sempo Ito; Yuri Mochizuki Furukawa; Otoe Murakami; Kanae Takeshita; Mr. Y. Kataoka (first name unknown); Keiji Sawada; Agnes Alexander; Antoinette Naganuma; Mr. Nakanishi (first name unknown); Hidehiko Matsuda; and Keiko Eito. The first nine names were elected to the provisional Local Spiritual Assembly but the later official election changed adding Mr. Matsuda, who took the place of Mr. Y. Kataoka, who asked to be relieved. The members included five women and two who were blind. The assembly was reelected in 1933. In all of Japan there were 19 Bahá'ís. In 1916 Daiun Inouye was a young Buddhist priest when he first heard of the religion. In 1932 he translated Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era and it was printed the following year. In 1937 he resigned from the priesthood and wrote that he would be free to spend his time propagating the Bahá'í Faith.
Starting in the 1920s, Alexander began various trips and coming contact with public figures in Japan and some publications reached a broader audience. In 1923 Alexander first visited Hong Kong and returned on several more over the next thirty years. Alexander also accompanied Root on one of her return trips to the area - this time on a trip to China and Alexander made contacts among the Chinese, especially from Canton and Shanghai, who visited Japan as well. In 1928 seven specially bound volumes of Bahá'í books were presented for the coronation of the emperor Hirohito
and were part of his library and at the Enthronement Ceremonies of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan three foreigners were invited to speak, including Alexander as a Bahá'í representative. In 1932 Esperantist Tadashi Watanabe invited Alexander to talk about the Bahá'í Faith and Esperanto first in Tomakomai, and then the then-village of Yamabe
, Hokkaido.
and, aware of the impossibility of returning to Japan during the Second World War, traveled to other countries. In 1938 Fujita was excused from his services in Haifa out of fears for his safety during the war and returned to Japan until circa 1956. In 1942 back in the United States the Yamamoto family lived at a relocation camp
during the war. Two children — one from Nagasaki and one from Hiroshima — later converted to the religion and have shared their story.
Bahá'í Americans associated with the American Occupation Forces reconnected the Japanese Bahá'í community — they were Michael Jamir, Lorraine Wright and Robert Imagire. Jamir in particular undertook trips to find Torii and Fujita circa 1945-6. Imagire arrived in 1947 and was given an address where Alexander had left her printed materials and found the only building still standing after the bombing still held two hundred copies of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era in Japanese. In 1948 Imagire helped re-elect the assembly in Tokyo. While all the Japanese members of the Assembly were new Bahá'ís and eventually drifted into inactivity the assembly itself was continually re-elected and remains today.
Alexander was able to return to Japan in 1950 after being sponsored by Lt. J.C. Davenport (USAF) and in 1951 four American pioneers were elected to the Tokyo Local Spiritual Assembly. The Japanese membership then was Miss Ichige, Mr. Kadota, Mr. Horioka, Miss Nakanishi and Mr. Yoshino. The Americans were Alexander, Lane Skelton, Barbara Davenport and Imagire. The assembly designated goal areas to take the religion — Yokohama, Sendai, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kofu and established eight committees with attention ranging from re-translating Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era to coordinating membership record keeping and the arrival of Persian pioneers. The Moghbel and Katirai Persian families arrived in 1953. In 1954 the community was 52 adults — 10 were Americans and 13 were Persians. Barbara Sims, one of the American pioneers, was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo in 1954 and served for many years on that body and authored several books on the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Japan.
The first center owned by the Bahá'í assemblies in Japan was in Amagasaki in 1953. The Tokyo assembly bought a house and it became the second Bahá'í Center in 1954. The third one was in Osaka
. In 1956 there were eight assemblies in Japan and the community had marshaled resources to publish a Japanese language Bahá'í Geppo (monthly newspaper) which was also read in Korea. In 1957 Sims was elected to the first regional National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia, and Alexander was appointed as one of the Hands of the Cause
, a position which she held the rest of her lifetime.
Toshio Suzuki became a Bahá'í near 1963 and would later serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan and his brother, Hideya Suzuki, serve as the first Japanese Continental Counselor. In 1965 Alexander fell and broke her hip. She convalesced in Japan for two years and returned to Hawaii where she died in 1971. The first Bahá'í Cemetery — a division of a larger cemetery — was established in 1958. The first burial there was in 1964 and represented a departure from socio-Buddhist norm of cremation. In 1968 Masaaki Ushibata traveled outside Japan for Bahá'í purposes and in 1975 became the first Japanese pioneer — to the Eastern Caroline Islands. In 1969 the Japanese Bahá'ís arrange for the first National Youth Conference in Jogashima
. In 1971 the first residents of Okinawa converted to the religion. There were some marriages between Japanese Bahá'ís and other nationalities which sometimes faced racism in Japanese society.
American pioneers continued to play a role in Japan into the 1990s. In 1974 Sims was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Japan, serving until 1993. Sims also had contact with Ainu
Bahá'ís including notably chief Takeichi Moritake (1902–1976) and son Kazutomo Umegae (1924–1992).
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived.
Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The modern Bahá'í community of Japan has grown and developed strength in diverse interests. The Japanese census does not have questions regarding religion however the Association of Religion Data Archives
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 15,700 Bahá'ís in 2005 while the CIA World Factbook estimated about 12000 members in 2006. In 2005 there were 31 delegates to the National Convention to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan.
In 2000 Japan rose in support of a United Nations human rights resolution about concern over the Bahá'ís in Iran as well as taking steps to further document conditions.
, Sapporo, Tokyo
, Yokohama
, Yamaguchi
, and Kyoto
. Several Bahá'ís work with the University of Maryland University College
in Asia (UMUC-Asia). Ruth Lattimore is the mathematics academic director living in Yokota base in Tokyo. Irene Chung is assistant to UMUC-Asia’s area director for Korea and was a Continental Counselor for Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Richard Dowling is an associate professor for UMUC–Asia teaching modern American and European history living in mostly in South Korea, but with some time in Guam, Japan, and Australia. Nicholas Mayer is an elementary school teacher at Nagoya International School in Japan.
spoke on 4 September 2005 after a week-long celebration of the role played 100 years ago by a prominent US Bahá'í, Sarah Farmer, who held a conference in 1904 which closed with a program dedicated to the resolution of the Russo-Japanese War
by the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth
.
Representatives of Japanese Baha'i Community visited the Risshō Kōsei Kai
headquarters in Tokyo where the President Nichiko Niwano
and the representatives spoke of the importance of interreligious cooperation. The Filipino Bahá'ís
hosted a regional conference of Bahá'ís in 2008 including over 300 Bahá'ís from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands attending
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
first in 1875. Japanese contact with the religion came from the West when was living in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1902 converted; the second being .
In 1914 two Bahá'ís, George Jacob Augur and Agnes Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander was an American author and leader of the Bahá'í Faith.-Life:Agnes Baldwin Alexander was born July 21, 1875 in Honolulu when it was the Kingdom of Hawaii. Her father was educator William DeWitt Alexander and mother was Abigail Charlotte Baldwin...
, and their families, pioneered
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to Japan. Alexander would live some 31 years off and on in Japan until 1967 when she left for the last time The first Bahá'í convert on Japanese soil was in 1915. `Abdu'l-Bahá undertook several trips in 1911-1912 and met Japanese travelers in Western cities, in Paris, London, and New York. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá met Fujita in Chicago and Yamamoto in San Francisco.
`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, in 1916-1917 compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
but which was not presented in the United States until 1919. Fujita would serve between the World Wars first in the household of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and then of Shoghi Effendi. In 1932 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Tokyo and reelected in 1933. In all of Japan there were 19 Bahá'ís.
In 1937 Alexander went on Bahá'í pilgrimage
Bahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
to return years later. In 1938 Fujita was excused from his services in Haifa out of fears for his safety during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and returned to Japan until 1956. In 1942, back in the United States, the Yamamoto family lived at a relocation camp
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during the war. Bahá'í Americans associated with the American Occupation Forces reconnected the Japanese Bahá'í community — Michael Jamir found Fujita by 1946 and Robert Imagire helped re-elect the assembly in Tokyo in 1948. In 1963 the statistics of Bahá'í communities showed 13 assemblies and other smaller groups.
In 1968 Japanese Bahá'ís began to travel outside Japan. In 1971 the first residents of Okinawa converted to the religion. In 1991 the community organized an affiliate of the Association for Bahá'í Studies in Japan which has since held annual conferences, published newsletters, and published and coordinated academic work across affiliates. The Association of Religion Data Archives
Association of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 15,700 Bahá'ís in 2005 while the CIA World Factbook estimated about 12,000 Japanese Bahá'ís in 2006.
Early period
The first mention of Japan in Bahá'í literatureBahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
is with the Secret of Divine Civilization
Secret of Divine Civilization
The Secret of Divine Civilization is a book written in 1875 by `Abdu'l-Bahá, addressed to the rulers and the people of Persia. It is considered to be part of the authoritative religious text of the Bahá'í Faith....
written by `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
in 1875. It was written to try to enlighten Persia. It says:
…the government of Japan was in the beginning subject to and under the protection of China, and that now for some years, Japan has opened its eyes and adopted the techniques of contemporary progress and civilization, promoting sciences and industries of use to the public, and striving to the utmost of their power and competence until public opinion was focused on reform. This government has currently advanced to such a point that, although its population is only one-sixth, or even one-tenth, that of China, it has recently challenged the latter government, and China has finally been forced to come to terms. Observe carefully how education and the arts of civilization bring honor, prosperity, independence and freedom to a government and its people.
Firsts
Bahá'ís moved across Asia from the turn of the century. Bahá'ís were in ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 1902, Philippines
Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines
The Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines is a community of Filipinos, who like their fellow Bahá'ís living in other parts of the world, view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity...
by 1944, Taiwan
Bahá'í Faith in Taiwan
The Bahá'í Faith in Taiwan, 巴哈伊教, began after the religion entered areas of China and nearby Japan. The first Bahá'ís arrived in Taiwan in 1949 and the first of these to have become a Bahá'í was Mr. Jerome Chu in 1945 while visiting the United States. By May 1955 there were eighteen Bahá'ís in...
and Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in 1949, and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
in 1953. However, for the Japanese contact with the religion came from the West. Kanichi Yamamoto
Kanichi Yamamoto
Kanichi Yamamoto was the first Japanese Bahá'í. He joined the religion in 1902. Some of his children also decided to join the Bahá'í Faith...
was living in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1902 where a Bahá'í, Elizabeth Muther, introduced him to the religion. Yamamoto wrote a letter to `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
and enters the history books as the first Japanese Bahá'í — the second and third being Saichiro Fujita
Saichiro Fujita
Saichiro Fujita , a native of Yamaguchi Prefecture, was the second Japanese to become a member of the Bahá'í Faith from Japan. He was also distinguished by serving for many years at the Bahá'í World Centre through many of the heads of the religion from the time of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, the...
and Kenzo Torikai. The first Bahá'ís to visit Japan were Mason Remey
Mason Remey
Charles Mason Remey was a prominent and controversial American Bahá'í who was appointed in 1951 a Hand of the Cause, and president of the International Bahá'í Council...
and Howard C. Struve on December 27, 1909 who addressed an audience at a Tokyo YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. D. T. Suzuki's wife, Beatrice, had multiple contacts with the Bahá'ís both in America and in Japan and was for a time considered a Bahá'í. Bernard Leach
Bernard Leach
Bernard Howell Leach, CBE, CH , was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery"-Biography:...
lived in Japan from 1909-1920 working on the Mingei
Mingei
', the Japanese folk art movement, was developed in the late 1920s and 1930s in Japan. Its founding father was Yanagi Sōetsu .-Origins:In 1916, Yanagi made his first trip to Korea out of a curiosity for Korean crafts...
arts and converted to the religion in 1940. Leach received awards for his continued work in Japanese folk arts in the 1960s and 70s. A few other Bahá'ís traveled through Japan in 1911 and 1914. But in 1914 two Bahá'ís, George Jacob Augur and Agnes Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander was an American author and leader of the Bahá'í Faith.-Life:Agnes Baldwin Alexander was born July 21, 1875 in Honolulu when it was the Kingdom of Hawaii. Her father was educator William DeWitt Alexander and mother was Abigail Charlotte Baldwin...
, and their families, pioneered
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to Japan. Alexander would live some 31 years off and on in Japan until 1967 when she left for the last time and much of her work would be through Esperantist
Esperantist
An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...
s and connections with the blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
community of Japan. Meetings for the public were setup and talks and interviews were given including to Esperantist
Esperantist
An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...
audiences. The first Bahá'í convert on Japanese soil was Kikutaro Fukuta in 1915, followed by the blind Russian youth Vasily Eroshenko who later drifted to communism. Also in 1915, Martha Root
Martha Root
Martha Louise Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously...
arrived for the first time in Japan and Tokujiro Torii converted to the religion. Torrii later served as president of the Japanese Blind Association and received an Imperial Citation, the Medal of the Third Order, for his work on behalf of the blind.
Cities where Bahá'ís traveled in this early phase include Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
, Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and this period also saw the first observances of the Bahá'í Holy Days of Naw Ruz and the Declaration of the Báb. In the spring of 1916 Fukuta and Eroshenko made the first contributions towards raising the first Bahá'í House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship
A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
being raised in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. In the summer of 1916 Eroshenko took a copy of Some Answered Questions
Some Answered Questions
Some Answered Questions was first published in 1908. It contains questions asked to `Abdu'l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, by Laura Clifford Barney, during several of her visits to Haifa between 1904 and 1906, and `Abdu'l-Bahá's answers to these questions.Prominent among the topics...
with him when he traveled to Siam and Burma. The first Japanese woman to convert to the religion was Yuri Mochizuki in 1919. Shortly before the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, Alexander and Oh Sang Sun made a trip from Japan to Korea, then under Japanese rule, for the first entry of the religion in that country. Alexander also spent time with Shibusawa Eiichi. Elsewhere Fujita served as a secretary to Bahiyyih Khanum
Bahiyyih Khánum
Bahíyyih Khánum the only daughter of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and Ásíyih Khánum. She was born in 1846 with the given name Fatimih Sultan, and was entitled "Varaqiy-i-'Ulyá" or "Greatest Holy Leaf"...
in communicating the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá in late 1921. At a time when women speaking in public was rare, two women, a Miss Mochizuki and Haruko Mori, spoke at the memorial service of the death of 'Abdu'l-Bahá held in Japan.
`Abdu'l-Bahá meets
The Japanese Ambassador to Spain was staying in Paris when `Abdu'l-Bahá stayed there on his 1911 trip to the west and they met and had a prolonged conversation. In London in 1912, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá came in contact with the President of the Japan Women's UniversityJapan Women's University
is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities. The university was established in 20 April 1901 by education reformist .The university has around 6000 students and 200 faculty...
. It was this occasion that 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote the only prayer he wrote for the Japanese. It says:
O God! The darkness of contention, strife and warfare between the religious, the nations and the people has beclouded the horizon of Reality and hidden the heaven of Truth! The world is in need of the light of Guidance! Therefore, O God! Confer Thy favor so that the Sun of Reality may illumine the East and the West.
In New York he met several Japanese as well. On September 12, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá reached Chicago. Fujita attempted to connect with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá at Cleveland but caught up with him in Chicago. Fujita would accompany ‘Abdu'l-Bahá across many American cities including Kenosha, Wisconsin, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Denver and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Francisco and Stanford, California - Fujita would serve between the World Wars first in the household of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and then of Shoghi Effendi. On October 22, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá reached San Francisco where he met Yamamoto who arranged for a presentation among a Japanese audience in Oakland.
`Abdu'l-Bahá writes to Japan and Korea
In all `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote 18 tablets to Japanese living in Japan, and the last one was to the Koreans dated November 5, 1921. Eighteen of the nineteen Tablets were addressed to young people, and seven of these to girls of Tokyo. It is remarkable that the only Tablets to women in Asia were to three Japanese girls: Yuri Mochizuki who received three Tablets, Haruko Mori and Mikae Komatsu, each received one, and the group of girls who were sent two Tablets. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá made mentioned especially to the blind of Japan. He addressed five Tablets to three blind men.`Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan
`Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1916-1917 suggesting Bahá'ís take the religion to many places; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
but were delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. These tablets were translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb was a Persian-American author and Bahá'í who co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, and was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.-Early life:...
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. One tablet says in part:
O that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and, raising the call of “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá” in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it.…
…if some teachers go to other islands and other parts, such as the continent of AustraliaBahá'í Faith in AustraliaThe Bahá'í Faith in Australia has a long history beginning with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, in 1916 following which United Kingdom/American emigrants John and Clara Dunn came to Australia in 1920. They found people willing to convert to the Bahá'í Faith in...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Tasmania, also to Japan, Asiatic Russia, KoreaKoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, French IndochinaFrench IndochinaFrench Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
, Siam, Straits SettlementsStraits SettlementsThe Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...
, India, Ceylon and AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, most great results will be forthcoming.
Growth to WW II
The Bahá'ís in Japan were witness to, and participated in the relief effort of, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
. Moneys and letters of concern arrived from Bahá'ís in New York, Haifa, Kenosha, Wi., Brooklyn, Chicago, Somerville, Mass., Montreal, Canada among other places spreading encouragement and reporting on or actually sending funds Bahá'ís and others had marshaled for the relief effort. In 1927 Siegfried Schopflocher visited Japan and reported the religion was firmly established and progressing.
In 1932 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Tokyo. There was a preliminary election that corrected when Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, specified rules that needed to be followed for the election. The members of the community of Tokyo were (former Rev.) Sempo Ito; Yuri Mochizuki Furukawa; Otoe Murakami; Kanae Takeshita; Mr. Y. Kataoka (first name unknown); Keiji Sawada; Agnes Alexander; Antoinette Naganuma; Mr. Nakanishi (first name unknown); Hidehiko Matsuda; and Keiko Eito. The first nine names were elected to the provisional Local Spiritual Assembly but the later official election changed adding Mr. Matsuda, who took the place of Mr. Y. Kataoka, who asked to be relieved. The members included five women and two who were blind. The assembly was reelected in 1933. In all of Japan there were 19 Bahá'ís. In 1916 Daiun Inouye was a young Buddhist priest when he first heard of the religion. In 1932 he translated Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era and it was printed the following year. In 1937 he resigned from the priesthood and wrote that he would be free to spend his time propagating the Bahá'í Faith.
Starting in the 1920s, Alexander began various trips and coming contact with public figures in Japan and some publications reached a broader audience. In 1923 Alexander first visited Hong Kong and returned on several more over the next thirty years. Alexander also accompanied Root on one of her return trips to the area - this time on a trip to China and Alexander made contacts among the Chinese, especially from Canton and Shanghai, who visited Japan as well. In 1928 seven specially bound volumes of Bahá'í books were presented for the coronation of the emperor Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
and were part of his library and at the Enthronement Ceremonies of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan three foreigners were invited to speak, including Alexander as a Bahá'í representative. In 1932 Esperantist Tadashi Watanabe invited Alexander to talk about the Bahá'í Faith and Esperanto first in Tomakomai, and then the then-village of Yamabe
Yamabe Station
is a railway station of the JR Hokkaido Nemuro Main Line located in Furano, Hokkaidō, Japan. It opened on December 2, 1900....
, Hokkaido.
Crisis of WW II
In 1937 Alexander went on Bahá'í pilgrimageBahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
and, aware of the impossibility of returning to Japan during the Second World War, traveled to other countries. In 1938 Fujita was excused from his services in Haifa out of fears for his safety during the war and returned to Japan until circa 1956. In 1942 back in the United States the Yamamoto family lived at a relocation camp
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during the war. Two children — one from Nagasaki and one from Hiroshima — later converted to the religion and have shared their story.
Bahá'í Americans associated with the American Occupation Forces reconnected the Japanese Bahá'í community — they were Michael Jamir, Lorraine Wright and Robert Imagire. Jamir in particular undertook trips to find Torii and Fujita circa 1945-6. Imagire arrived in 1947 and was given an address where Alexander had left her printed materials and found the only building still standing after the bombing still held two hundred copies of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era in Japanese. In 1948 Imagire helped re-elect the assembly in Tokyo. While all the Japanese members of the Assembly were new Bahá'ís and eventually drifted into inactivity the assembly itself was continually re-elected and remains today.
Alexander was able to return to Japan in 1950 after being sponsored by Lt. J.C. Davenport (USAF) and in 1951 four American pioneers were elected to the Tokyo Local Spiritual Assembly. The Japanese membership then was Miss Ichige, Mr. Kadota, Mr. Horioka, Miss Nakanishi and Mr. Yoshino. The Americans were Alexander, Lane Skelton, Barbara Davenport and Imagire. The assembly designated goal areas to take the religion — Yokohama, Sendai, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kofu and established eight committees with attention ranging from re-translating Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era to coordinating membership record keeping and the arrival of Persian pioneers. The Moghbel and Katirai Persian families arrived in 1953. In 1954 the community was 52 adults — 10 were Americans and 13 were Persians. Barbara Sims, one of the American pioneers, was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo in 1954 and served for many years on that body and authored several books on the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Japan.
The first center owned by the Bahá'í assemblies in Japan was in Amagasaki in 1953. The Tokyo assembly bought a house and it became the second Bahá'í Center in 1954. The third one was in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. In 1956 there were eight assemblies in Japan and the community had marshaled resources to publish a Japanese language Bahá'í Geppo (monthly newspaper) which was also read in Korea. In 1957 Sims was elected to the first regional National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia, and Alexander was appointed as one of the Hands of the Cause
Hands of the Cause
The Hands of the Cause of God, Hands of the Cause, or Hands were a select group of Bahá'ís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Bahá'í Faith...
, a position which she held the rest of her lifetime.
Post-War growth
In 1963 the statistics of Bahá'í communities showed 13 assemblies, 9 groups of Bahá'ís, and 31 isolated Bahá'ís.| Assemblies: 13 | ||||
| Akashi Akashi -People:*Akashi Ken*Akashi Momoka*Akashi Morishige*Akashi Motojiro*Akashi Shiganosuke*Akashi Yasushi-Places:*Akashi, Hyōgo*Akashi Station - Japanese railroad station on the Sanyō Main Line*Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge*Akashi Castle*Akashi Domain-Other:... |
Ashiya Ashiya Ashiya may refer to:* Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan* Ashiya, Fukuoka, Japan* Ashiya, a subcaste of Charans from Rajasthan, India-People with the family name Ashiya:* Mizuki Ashiya, the lead character in the manga series Hana-Kimi... |
Hiroshima Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M... |
Kobe Kobe , pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka... |
Kyoto Kyoto is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:... |
| Nagasaki Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District... |
Nishinomiya | Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... |
Sapporo | |
| Shiraoi Shiraoi Shiraoi may refer to:* Shiraoi, Hokkaidō, a town in Hokkaido* Shiraoi District, Hokkaidō, a district in Hokkaido... |
Takarazuka Takarazuka Takarazuka can refer to* Takarazuka, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan* Takarazuka Revue, a popular all-female acting troupe in Japan that takes place in Tokyo Takarazuka Theater.* Takarazuka Eiga, a film production company from Takarazuka Revue theater... |
Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family... |
Yokohama Yokohama is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu... |
|
| Groups: 9 | ||||
| Amagasaki | Fukiage (now merged) | Fukuoka Fukuoka, Fukuoka is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by... |
Itami | Musashi Musashi Musashi may refer to:* Japanese corvette Musashi * Japanese battleship Musashi* Musashi , a 1935 novel by Eiji Yoshikawa* Musashi's, a Japanese feline musical group* Brave Fencer Musashi, a 1998 Playstation video game... |
| Nagoya | Takamatsu Takamatsu, Kagawa is a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and is the seat of the prefectural government. It is designated a core city by the Japanese Government. It is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea, and is the closest port to Honshu from Shikoku island... |
Takasago Takasago Takasago may refer to:*Takasago, Hyōgo, a city located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan*Takasago International Corporation, a company producing chemical flavorants and fragrances*Takasago , a Noh play by Zeami, or one of the lead characters in it... |
Tonosho Tonosho Tonosho may refer to:*Tōnoshō, Chiba, a town in Chiba Prefecture, Japan*Tonoshō, Kagawa, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan... |
Toshio Suzuki became a Bahá'í near 1963 and would later serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan and his brother, Hideya Suzuki, serve as the first Japanese Continental Counselor. In 1965 Alexander fell and broke her hip. She convalesced in Japan for two years and returned to Hawaii where she died in 1971. The first Bahá'í Cemetery — a division of a larger cemetery — was established in 1958. The first burial there was in 1964 and represented a departure from socio-Buddhist norm of cremation. In 1968 Masaaki Ushibata traveled outside Japan for Bahá'í purposes and in 1975 became the first Japanese pioneer — to the Eastern Caroline Islands. In 1969 the Japanese Bahá'ís arrange for the first National Youth Conference in Jogashima
Jōgashima
is a Japanese island of the municipality of Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, off the southernmost and western tip of Miura Peninsula, facing Sagami Bay.It is home to the Jōgashima Lighthouse, the fourth oldest western style lighthouse to be built in Japan....
. In 1971 the first residents of Okinawa converted to the religion. There were some marriages between Japanese Bahá'ís and other nationalities which sometimes faced racism in Japanese society.
American pioneers continued to play a role in Japan into the 1990s. In 1974 Sims was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Japan, serving until 1993. Sims also had contact with Ainu
Ainu people
The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
Bahá'ís including notably chief Takeichi Moritake (1902–1976) and son Kazutomo Umegae (1924–1992).
Modern community
Since its inception, the religion has had involvement in socio-economic developmentSocio-economic development (Bahá'í)
Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and...
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived.
Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The modern Bahá'í community of Japan has grown and developed strength in diverse interests. The Japanese census does not have questions regarding religion however the Association of Religion Data Archives
Association of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 15,700 Bahá'ís in 2005 while the CIA World Factbook estimated about 12000 members in 2006. In 2005 there were 31 delegates to the National Convention to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of Japan.
In 2000 Japan rose in support of a United Nations human rights resolution about concern over the Bahá'ís in Iran as well as taking steps to further document conditions.
Academics
In 1991 the community organized an affiliate of the Association for Bahá'í Studies in Japan which has since held annual conferences, published newsletters, and published and coordinated academic work across affiliates. In the 1999 Yerrinbool Report on Scholarship various Japanese academics are noted: Landegg Academy had a faculty member, Seinan Gakiun, from the University in Japan, Nozomu Sonda published a revision to an introductory book in Japanese, Mary Noguchi who chaired the 8th conference, Tsunoi Hiroshi who chaired the 2008 conference, Sandra Sims Fotos chaired several of the conferences, physicist Stephen R. Friberg, several of whom also worked on the University Club Committee. The conferences have been held in places like Waseda UniversityWaseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
, Sapporo, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi
is the capital city of Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.As of February 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 198,971 and a population density of 194.44 persons per km²...
, and Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
. Several Bahá'ís work with the University of Maryland University College
University of Maryland University College
The University of Maryland University College is located in the unincorporated community of Adelphi in Prince George's County, Maryland in the United States. Serving over 90,000 students worldwide, UMUC is the largest 4-year public university in Maryland and one of the largest distance learning...
in Asia (UMUC-Asia). Ruth Lattimore is the mathematics academic director living in Yokota base in Tokyo. Irene Chung is assistant to UMUC-Asia’s area director for Korea and was a Continental Counselor for Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Richard Dowling is an associate professor for UMUC–Asia teaching modern American and European history living in mostly in South Korea, but with some time in Guam, Japan, and Australia. Nicholas Mayer is an elementary school teacher at Nagoya International School in Japan.
Arts
There are a number of Bahá'í artists who have done work who lived in Japan.- John Kavelin (deceased 2009) has done set design and contributed elements of sets including San Francisco Bahá´í Peace conference, 1986, the main stage of the 1992 Bahá'í World CongressBahá'í World CongressThe Bahá'í World Congress is a large gathering of Bahá'ís from across the world that is called irregularly by the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá'ís...
at both the Javits Convention Center as well as several of the satellite hotel venues. - Janet Sono has acted, directed and been a playwright for a number of plays she's done in Japan.
- Kathleen Hite Babb has written articles and books. The Persian is a historical fiction novel about the intellect vs. the heart in terms of empirical thought vs. faith and spiritual experience.
- Barbara Casterline is a NihongaNihongaor literally "Japanese-style paintings" is a term used to describe paintings that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials...
and Sumi-eInk and wash paintingInk and wash painting is an East Asian type of brush painting also known as ink wash painting. Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations....
painter. - Yuichi Hirano has done a design of the yet-to-be-built Japanese Bahá'í House of WorshipBahá'í House of WorshipA Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár ,is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith...
.
Diverse involvements
Ambassador Ryozo KatoRyozo Kato
is a Japanese lawyer and career diplomat who served as the Japanese Ambassador to the United States from 2001 to 2008. He is now the Commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball....
spoke on 4 September 2005 after a week-long celebration of the role played 100 years ago by a prominent US Bahá'í, Sarah Farmer, who held a conference in 1904 which closed with a program dedicated to the resolution of the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
by the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth
Treaty of Portsmouth
The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905 after negotiations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine in the USA.-Negotiations:...
.
Representatives of Japanese Baha'i Community visited the Risshō Kōsei Kai
Rissho Kosei Kai
is a Japanese Buddhist lay movement founded in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma.-History:Rissho Kosei-kai was founded on March 5, 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma, both former members of the Buddhist sect Reiyūkai. Rev. Niwano met Ms. Naganuma while he was engaged in missionary work...
headquarters in Tokyo where the President Nichiko Niwano
Nichiko Niwano
Nichiko Niwano is the eldest son of Risshō Kōsei Kai founder Nikkyo Niwano, and the current President of Risshō Kōsei Kai.-Early life:...
and the representatives spoke of the importance of interreligious cooperation. The Filipino Bahá'ís
Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines
The Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines is a community of Filipinos, who like their fellow Bahá'ís living in other parts of the world, view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity...
hosted a regional conference of Bahá'ís in 2008 including over 300 Bahá'ís from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands attending
External links
- Japan Bahá'í Network Official Webpage of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Japan
- Association for Baha’i Studies Japan
- On-Line Baha’i Library Japan
- Light of the East
- Youth service opportunities in Japan & overseas
-
- Local Spiritual Assembly of Machida and other communities contact info