was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese educator of the Meiji era, the founder of Doshisha University

Doshisha University

, or is a prestigious private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university has approximately 27,000 students on three campuses, in faculties of theology, letters, law, commerce, economics, policy, and engineering...

 and Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts

Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts

is a private women's college in Kyotanabe, Kyoto, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1876, and it was chartered as a university in 1949.-External links:*...

.

Neesima was born in Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 (present-day 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...

), the son of a retainer of the Itakura clan

Itakura clan

The ' is a Japanese clan which came to prominence during the Sengoku period. The family claimed descent from Shibukawa Yoshiaki, the son of Ashikaga Yasuuji, a relative of the Ashikaga shoguns...

 of Annaka

Annaka Domain

The ' was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Kōzuke Province.The Meiji-era educator Joseph Hardy Neesima was the son of a retainer of the Itakura clan of Annaka.-List of lords:*Ii clan #Naokatsu#Naoyoshi...

. His childhood name was .

In 1864, laws on national isolation

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

 were still in effect in Japan, and Japanese people were not permitted to travel overseas without government permission. However, Neesima had read extensively on various rangaku

Rangaku

Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...

 topics, and was determined to come to America. At the age of 21, he entreated Captain William T. Savory,of Salem, Massachusetts, commander of the brig, Berlin, for safe passage to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, in order to further study Western science and Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. Captain Savory agreed to help him, so long as Neesima came on board at night, without assistance from the ship's crew. Knowing Neesima could be executed if apprehended, Savory hid Neesima from customs officials in his stateroom. He then secured Neesima's passage from China to the United States on the Wild Rover, commanded by Captain Horace Taylor of Chatham, Massachusetts. The Wild Rover was owned by Alpheus Hardy.

When he arrived in Andover

Andover, Massachusetts

Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, he was sponsored by Alpheus and Susan Hardy, members of Old South Church, who also saw to his education. He attended Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 from 1865 to 1867 and then Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 from 1867 to 1870. Upon graduating from Amherst, Neesima became the first Japanese person to receive a degree from a western college.

In the meantime, in 1866, he was baptized and from 1870 to 1874 he studied at the Andover Theological Seminary. In 1874, he became the first Japanese to be ordained as a Protestant minister.

When the Iwakura Mission

Iwakura mission

The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji period. Although it was not the only such "mission", it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period...

 visited the United States on its around-the-world expedition, he assisted as an interpreter.

Neesima attended the 65th annual meeting of the Congregational church

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 in Rutland

Rutland (town), Vermont

Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,054 at the 2010 census. Rutland completely surrounds the city of Rutland, which is incorporated separately from the town of Rutland.-History:...

, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 in 1874, and made an appeal for funds to start a Christian school in Japan. With the support and funding received, he returned to Japan, and in 1875 founded a school in 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:...

, which grew rapidly and became Doshisha University

Doshisha University

, or is a prestigious private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university has approximately 27,000 students on three campuses, in faculties of theology, letters, law, commerce, economics, policy, and engineering...

. He was assisted by his wife Neesima Yae and brother-in-law Yamamoto Kakuma

Yamamoto Kakuma

was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who went on to become an educator and politician in the Meiji era.-Biography:A native of Aizu, Yamamoto claimed descent from the famed military strategist Yamamoto Kansuke. A child prodigy, he could read at age four, and recite Chinese Jueju poetry at...

, who were also active with the local Christian community in Kyoto.

In 1889, Amherst College honored him with an honorary doctorate, the first ever awarded to a Japanese person. He died in Oiso

Oiso, Kanagawa

is a town located in Naka District, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the town had an estimated population of 32,725 and a density of 1,910 persons per km². The total area was 17.18 km².-Geography:...

, Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

, and was buried in Kyoto.

In 1907, He was honored as six great educators of Meiji era　in the assembly of educators of entire nation held by Imperial education conference, education conference of Tokyo prefecture and Tokyo city board of education.

He was honored on a Japanese postage stamp

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

 in 1950.

In his honour, was founded. It is a private

Private university

Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

 junior college

Junior college

The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

 in Takasaki, Gunma, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Similarly, there is Niijima Gakuen Senior College, which has close links to Doshisha University

External links

• Life and Letters of Joseph Hardy Neesima, by Arthur Sherburne Hardy; Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1894.