The Contributions of British Female Missionaries and Japanese Bible Women to the Ministry of the Japan Evangelistic Band in the Early 20th Century

Women in Mission

The 19th century slowly brought a major change to women’s lives in the Western nations. Many women broke the cultural expectations to be submissive wives and daughters and demanded equality in jobs, politics and the home. Politically inclined women demanded suffrage while women concerned with social reform involved themselves in social work and many Christian women made churches the centres of activity. The growth of evangelicalism gave women an opportunity to explore new avenues of ministry in the church. They collected clothes and sent them to the under-privileged in poor countries, organised bazaars and raised funds for foreign missions. ² Lydia Huffman Hoyle notes that opportunities to invest in charitable causes did not quench ‘the fire of zeal’ for mission ‘that burned inside them’. ³ Not permitted to go for overseas mission in their own right, women accompanied their missionary husbands. Yet, they were not considered missionaries but as helpers to their husbands. Rufus Anderson, secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), ‘viewed the role of women in mission as limited to modelling the Christian family’. ⁴ He considered missionary wives’ presence in the mission field essential as they provided a home where their husbands could relax and the presence of a wife restrained the missionary from sexual immorality. Anderson recognised that women ‘endured “hardness” quite as well as their husbands and sometimes with more patience’, yet he considered that their primary duty was to take care of their husbands and children. ⁵ Although not considered missionaries, the women ministered to women in African and Asian cultures where male missionaries could not freely communicate with women.

From the early 19th century, mission organisations started sending single female missionaries as they realised that women free of domestic responsibilities could invest more time in ministry. Concerned about the safety of women in a foreign land, mission organisations sent women to places they did not consider dangerous. Until 1860, ABCFM appointed 80 percent of the single missionaries to North American Indian Mission. ⁶ Gradually mission organisations such as the Calcutta Normal School (1852) (which later developed into the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS) and the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission (ZBMM, 1880)), the Baptist Missionary Society (1854), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Ladies’ Association for the Promotion of Female Education in India and other Heathen Countries (1866) sent single female missionaries to work among women. Gradually, women became a major workforce as they established educational institutions and medical ministries among women and took leadership in evangelism. Yet, leadership in most mission organisations stayed firmly in male hands except for the few mission organisations such as ZBMM where men were accepted as workers in 1952. ⁷ Discussing gender relations in the London Missionary Society and the China Inland Missions, the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland, between 1865 and 1910, Rhonda Semple observed that even though female missionaries were able and intelligent and often out-performed their male counterparts, the leadership positions were always given to men. ⁸

Female Missionary Influence in the JEB

The JEB attitude towards women’s ministry was based on the previous 12 years of mission practice of Barclay Buxton, one of the founders of the Mission. ⁹ From 1890 to 1902 Buxton led a multidenominational team of foreign missionaries and Japanese evangelists in Matsue, Japan as a Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionary. Since the Buxton family took financial responsibility for all his work, Buxton had freedom to implement his mission policies. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while women in the UK were not given the opportunity to preach in the church or hold leadership positions, Buxton gave women on his team equal opportunities to speak in public meetings in Japan. Often male Japanese evangelists translated for the female missionaries. Unhappy with Buxton promoting female leadership, in 1891 Bishop Bickersteth of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK, the Anglican Communion in Japan). ¹⁰ objected to Buxton permitting ‘women taking part in public services which men attended’. ¹¹ Buxton, however, was not persuaded to change his practice. He informed the CMS and the Bishop that Japan was different from other Asian nations. Japanese churches welcomed women’s leadership. He believed in the priesthood of all saints and the equality of genders as stated in 1Peter 2:9 and Galatians 3:28. Buxton also suggested it was time missionaries abandoned their prejudice against women. Buxton refused to follow his leaders’ instructions, as he believed that he was right and he would rather have followed God than other Christians. ¹²

Buxton’s attitude towards female ministry was practised in the Japan Evangelistic Band from its foundation. In the summer of 1903, while praying with Barclay Buxton, Lord Radstock, Darlow Sargent and Paget Wilkes, ¹³ Annie E Wood, wife of Herbert Wood, an Anglican minister in Liverpool, felt God wanted the group to help Wilkes form a mission organisation to evangelise Japan. ¹⁴ She persuaded the men in the group to establish the JEB. Wood also found the Mission’s first missionary, Estelle Edmeades, to accompany Wilkes to Japan, and encouraged an elderly lady at the Keswick Convention to support Edmeades in Japan. ¹⁵ Wood raised support to fund ministry in Japan and invited WHR Tredinnick to join the Mission as the first paid secretary. In 1906, she formed a children’s prayer circle in her living room in Liverpool and called it the ‘Sunrise Band’. The children in the Band prayed and raised support for children’s ministry in Japan. ¹⁶

Women were also nominated to the Mission’s councils in the UK and in Japan. Female missionaries worked in churches with Japanese male evangelists. They spoke at evangelistic meetings and led Bible studies. They supervised the work of junior staff members, male and female, and trained Bible women. ¹⁷ In 1977, Kogo Shotaro, a JEB evangelist, recalled that Dorothy Hoare, although not a pastor, led evangelistic meetings and taught and advised him. Hoare pioneered several churches that started with a children’s ministry. She opened her home to children with behavioural problems. The change in children’s attitudes led parents to church. ¹⁸ Hoare also took the initiative to train Japanese Christian women for ministry. Another female missionary, Amy Burnet, sponsored by Glynn Vivian Miners’ Mission, was in charge of work among miners. Later she left the JEB to establish her own mission organisation, the Central Japan Pioneer Mission. The JEB emerged out of the Holiness Movement in Britain, and therefore the Mission prioritised transformation of the soul over social transformation. From its foundations, the Mission’s constitution stated that the JEB did not engage in social work; however, female missionaries could not ignore the social concerns of the day and persuaded the Mission to engage in this work.

The Meiji Restoration and Women Working in Factories

Similar to most cultures, Japanese culture too considered the home to be a woman’s place. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1600–1868) held the Confucian worldview of sanju (three submissions/obedience) and shitoku (four virtues). A woman should be submissive and obedient to her father before marriage, her husband after marriage and to her son if she was a widow. The first virtue for a woman was futoku (morality); she should be gentle, sincere and obedient. Second, Fuyô (appearance); she should always wear clean clothes. Third, fugen (speech); she should speak when spoken to and use polite language. And finally, fuko (skilful); she should be good at sewing, spinning, cooking, playing musical instruments, tea ceremony and flower arrangement etc. As the successive Meiji government (1868–1912) modernised Japan, rapid industrialisation brought opportunities for women to work outside their homes.

Traditionally, poor women had contributed to the family income by spinning, weaving or farming at home. The emergence of factories had an adverse effect on the cottage industry, resulting in the poor searching for employment outside the home. While the middle class adapted to social and economic changes by sending their daughters to school, the poor sent their daughters to work in factories to supplement their income. Since single girls were culturally obliged to obey their parents’ wishes, their opinion was not sought and their income was sent directly to their parents as a major source of income. As the economy deteriorated after 1907, most poor parents took an advance on their daughters’ income from factory owners before sending their illiterate daughters to work. Although the family got immediate financial help, such deals bound the girls to the factory owners until the debt was paid. Since most of the girls were illiterate and resided in dormitories attached to the factories, the managers and factory owners easily exploited them. They took advantage of very loose labour laws and made the girls work long hours. The girls were strictly monitored and were not given enough rest. They lived in poor accommodation and were malnourished. By 1910, young girls became a major workforce and constituted 71 percent of the labour force in private factories. ¹⁹

In 1916, the government brought in legislation to regulate working hours in factories. The new law reduced women’s working hours to 12 hours a day. Women were banned from working at night and factory employers were prohibited from hiring children below the age of 15. Even though the working hours were regulated, the laws were implemented 18 years later. ²⁰ When the factories were forced to follow the legislation, instead of giving the girls freedom, the factory owners and managers debated about how to keep the girls occupied when they were not working or sleeping. Elyssa Faison, in her book on women’s labour in Japan, argues that the factory owners and managers felt responsible for protecting the chastity of the girls, so they were stricter with them than with men working in factories. ²¹ They were concerned that free time could tempt the girls to live immoral lives. To protect the girls from immorality and for the efficient use of their free time, managerial decisions were made to provide healthcare and education for the women. The JEB reported that some Christian factory owners and managers started Bible studies and prayer meetings at their factories before labour laws came into effect. Investment in the spiritual lives of the girls resulted in efficient work and an increase in production. The positive results of prayer meetings encouraged some non-Christian factory owners to start classes on moral education at their factories. As the doors to the factories opened, missionaries took advantage and offered their services as educators.

JEB Female Missionary Work Among Factory Women

Taking advantage of open doors in factories, the JEB female missionaries and Bible women volunteered to teach moral education. Contact with the girls made the missionaries aware of their plight. A report submitted to the JEB Home Council in London by a female missionary named Holland stated that she had observed the lives of the girls carefully and was concerned for their well-being:

The superintendents had but one wish for the girls, – that they should sleep all the time they were not at work, so that more could be got out of them; often forcing them to work 18 hours out of 24.

In consequence of this death rate was very high. Doctors said that even if the Osaka girls could survive 3 years of this work they could simply be invalids for life. Consumption swept off a great many. Some even seemed to put off their factory clothes – they had lived as slaves, & were often knocked out [sic] & brutally treated.

The deceptions practised on the girls with regard to their correspondence are almost inconceivable. Many could not read, so had their letters read to them, (presumably) & things were suppressed and altered at the will of the reader. For instance, a request would come for a girl to return home when her time had expired. It was read that the girl was to stay on earn a great deal of money, & not come home yet.

Even a request of a dying parent to see her child once more, was translated as ‘all well at home.’ Consequently when the girl did not return home, the door was shut in her face, as being a most undutiful daughter.

Guards were placed at railway stations, & landing stages, & any girls who tried to run away were caught and punished for the attempt. ²²

In the report, Holland stated she had been working with the factory girls for ‘thirteen or fourteen years’. In her years of work, she had observed a change in conditions except for long working hours. However, she did not state how they were changed. It is surprising to note that this report still did not inspire anyone to question the Mission’s policy of not fighting for social justice. It is also interesting to note that the reports of factory work published in the JEB magazines never mentioned the living conditions of girls. This undated report was sent to the UK JEB office along with the instructions:

Mr Wilkes wishes me to ask you to be very careful that this does not get into print in any way, as it might put an end to work in factories throughout Japan. He thought you might like to use it on Deputation work; & possibly send it to Prayer Circles, with the caution on no account to allow any of it to be printed. It is on these conditions only that it is being sent home to England. ²³ (Underlining in original)

Although concerned for the girls, the Mission’s policy not to engage in any social work prevented them from intervening in the girls’ working and living conditions. The JEB’s primary aim was to transform the girls’ spiritual condition, therefore contact with the girls was essential. They were concerned that the government or the factory owners would deny access to the girls if they found out the Mission was publishing about conditions inside the factories. To an extent, this strategy was successful. In her report on factory work, Rose Bazeley wrote about a Christian factory manager who asked her to hold weekly meetings at his factory. When the girls put their faith in Christ, the owner of the factory, who was not a Christian, became very hostile. However, a few months later, he became friendly. Although the man did not explain the reason for a change in his attitude, his wife testified:

Since the girls had become Christians everything was very different. Before they used to grumble, but now they sang as they worked, and not only so but they had been doing their work so much better that they are getting better prices for the silk. Beside doing much more each day, so that the girls were also earning more money. She finished up saying, ‘we are all so happy because they have become such good children’. ²⁴

The above account may be perceived as the JEB enabling the factory owner to exploit the girls, but it may also be considered as a sign of God’s work in the lives of factory girls. Their spiritual transformation had resulted in bringing change to their working conditions. It was perceived as evidence of the girls’ testimonies of permanent change in their behaviour that resulted in transforming the factory owner. The girls’ change in attitude towards work improved the factory owner’s attitude towards the girls and his perception of Christianity. The factory owner’s wife’s reference to the girls in her employment as ‘children’ affirms Faison’s view that the owners considered girls their responsibility. They perceived female workers as women, a weaker sex that needed guidance, and not labourers. For this reason, the management forced the women to live under a strict discipline. Although the intention of some of the owners may have been good, the manifestation of their care resulted in difficult lives for their workers. The Mission’s policy of not doing social work, and the fear of access being denied to the girls, prevented the missionaries from getting involved in bringing social justice for these girls; yet the missionaries were able to help a few. A small number of factory girls left their work and joined the Mission. They received training to work as Bible women and some married evangelists in the Mission.

JEB Female Missionary Effort to Save Little Girls from Prostitution

In 1618, Shogun Hidetada Tokugawa (1579–1632) established Yoshiwara, the first official red light district, in Edo (now Tokyo), because he thought brothels maintained public order and reduced urban crime. ²⁵ He reasoned that if travellers, often merchants and samurai, were occupied in entertainment districts, they would have less time and inclination to commit crime. The success of Yoshiwara inspired him to create similar establishments in Osaka and Kyoto. Hidetada’s legalisation of prostitution led to three centuries of degradation for poor women. Impoverished parents sold their daughters to brothels for monetary gain. The practice became so integral to Japanese culture that it survived the Meiji transformation. The Meiji politicians chose to abandon the feudal system and abolish the classes, but they reorganised legal prostitution. The government redefined prostitution as a contract between a prostitute and a brothel owner. Licences were issued to women who desired to work in this profession. All the women in this business were required to register with the local police, pay monthly taxes and undergo periodic health examinations. The new rules did not prohibit parents from selling their daughters. However, the daughters were free to leave the brothel after they had worked to repay the money given to the parents. Hane Misiko asserts that by the Meiji period, the selling of daughters by impoverished families had become acceptable. It was promoted as filial piety. Young girls were conditioned into thinking it was a daughter’s duty to financially help her parents by becoming a prostitute. ²⁶ The women were forced to work until they had repaid their parents’ debts. Those who wanted to leave found themselves trapped as the contract signed with the parents required the parents to immediately repay the loan. Those women who had repaid the loan by working were often trapped in the brothels because they did not know the law. The women who tried to escape were forced by the police to return, as the brothel owners had papers stating that the women were their property. The politicians justified prostitution by reasoning that industrialisation brought many single men to cities. Brothels were necessary to keep the wives and daughters of ‘refined families’ safe from frustrated young men. Unsympathetic to the government’s reasoning, the Salvation Army’s Yamamuro Gunpie (1872–1940) ran a campaign against legalised prostitution. He helped the women escape their captors and established many safe houses for them. Other Christian organisations such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) also worked to rehabilitate former prostitutes. The selling of daughters and prostitution were finally made illegal in 1956.

Even though the JEB did not engage in social work, in 1915 it entered into a partnership with WCTU missionary Christine Penrod’s (1864–1922) Jiaikan (House of Mercy and Love). ²⁷ In 1917, the Mission assigned two missionaries, Irene Webster-Smith and Adelaide Soal, to the Home. Most women at the Jiaikan had been sold into prostitution as young girls. When they left their brothels, they had neither homes to return to nor any skills with which to earn a living. The Home provided the women a shelter, and taught skills such as sewing and knitting so they could learn how to earn their livelihood. ²⁸ After Penrod took over the Home, she raised funds in the US and extended the work of the Home by adding a maternity house to the building. She also added a laundry business and grew tea and vegetables. Although not self-sustaining, the project generated income. The women working there were paid a small amount from the income. The rest of the money went towards their maintenance.

In 1920, however, Penrod broke partnership with the JEB without much explanation. The misunderstanding between Wilkes and Penrod, representatives of the two organisations, is discussed in detail in Maxton (2017: 192–196). The Mission withdrew their missionaries Webster-Smith and Soal from Jiaikan and decided not to engage in social work again as they thought that it did not ‘seem to be exactly in line with our original commission’. ²⁹ Webster-Smith, however, could not ignore the plight of the women sold into prostitution as infants. The work experience at Jiaikan taught her that it was difficult for former sex workers, set in their ways, to transform their lives without a spiritual conviction. Years of abuse had emotionally scarred them, and they found it difficult to do physical labour or follow a work schedule. Even missionaries helping them had to endure physical and emotional abuse from the brothel owners who arrived at Jiaikan with the police. The women were forced to leave the shelter because the men legally owned them. The missionaries were left frustrated and helpless. Therefore, Webster-Smith decided to open an orphanage for girls. She reasoned that if she could prevent the girls being sold to brothels she could educate them in faith and train them in a profession that could help them earn their living. An orphanage would also provide poor parents an alternative place to send their daughters instead of selling them to brothels. ³⁰ Webster-Smith was familiar with the work of Amy Carmichael (1867–1951) in south India. ³¹ She decided to give Japanese girls a similar opportunity to that which Carmichael had given to south Indian girls. The JEB Home Council in England did not want to discourage Webster-Smith, but at the same time they did not want the Mission to engage in social work. They decided that the Mission ‘could not start preventive work’, but suggested Webster-Smith concentrate on evangelism and take two or three children ‘who might be in dangerous circumstances, thus commencing a preventive Home which might grow into a larger work but not calling it by that name’. ³² Annie Wood, who was also a Council member, came to Webster-Smith’s assistance. She convinced the Home Council that opening an orphanage was a good cause, and suggested the Sunrise Band raise support for the orphanage in Japan. Persuaded by Wood and Webster-Smith, in March 1922 the Home Council decided to permit Webster-Smith to open her orphanage.

The Field Council in Japan, however, was ‘unanimously opposed to the Band taking up such work’. There could be two reasons for the Field Council’s refusal. Firstly, the Japanese members, who were a majority in the Field Council, grew up in a society where selling daughters was a cultural practice; therefore, they were more accepting of the practice than the foreigners. Secondly, the Japanese members of the Field Council were former members of the Matsue Band (Buxton’s team when he worked with the CMS in Matuse, Japan) who were trained under Buxton to concentrate only on evangelism and, therefore, could not perceive social work as a form of ministry to Christ. Determined to keep unity between the two councils, the Home Council changed their mind. In 1923, they instructed Webster-Smith, who had already started a Home, to either hand over her work to the Japan Rescue Mission or keep her work on a small scale. ³³ Indecision in the Home Council is indicative of the moral conflict in their hearts. The Council members were not in conflict about hard working factory women but their conscience did not permit them to ignore the plight of innocent young girls sold into the flesh trade. The Home Council found a way to help Webster-Smith without opposing the wishes of the Field Council. They gave her permission to run an orphanage but consider it her personal ministry.

Irene Webster-Smith and the Sunrise Home, 1922–1939

In 1922, Webster-Smith with the help of a Japanese Christian doctor named Saki, who brought the first girl child to her home, established the Sunrise Home. The child’s mother had died of cancer in hospital. Gradually, the number of girls increased; however, the exact number of girls living in the Home is not known because the Sunrise Home’s records did not survive the Second World War. Pictures published in the Sunrise Band magazine and the JEB magazine often show no less than 15 girls standing outside the Home. Webster-Smith educated the children at a local school and taught them music and Bible studies at the Home.

Since the Home was considered Webster-Smith’s personal ministry, she was also required to fulfil her responsibility towards the JEB. She was responsible for the evangelistic ministry among children and adults. In 1933, the JEB magazine reported that through Webster-Smith’s ministry ‘quite a number have been saved and she has been able to assist in opening up neighbouring villages founding little groups of believers here and there’. ³⁴ She also assisted Soal with training the Bible women. In fact, the Sunrise Home hosted the women’s Bible School until a new building was built in 1930 near the men’s Bible School. ³⁵ To cope with the work, Webster-Smith employed a Japanese woman who the girls called okaasan (mother). The first Japanese Mission worker to assist Webster-Smith was assigned by the Field Council in 1932.

Until 1938, the JEB and the Sunrise Home had an ambiguous relationship. The two councils in the UK and Japan could not decide if they wanted to recognise the Sunrise Home as a JEB ministry. In 1928, the Field Council again refused to recognise the Home as such. ³⁶ However, from 1924, the Mission’s magazine started publishing photos and reports about the children. ³⁷ The Sunrise Band magazine also published stories on the lives of girls living in the Sunrise Home. ³⁸ Even though the Field Council refused to accept the orphanage as their ministry, in 1932 they assigned Arai, a graduate of their women’s Bible School, to work at the Home. ³⁹ Arai, however, had no influence over the work or future of the Home. She was not a member of the Field Council, nor held any positions of authority in the Mission. All leadership in the JEB was in male hands and no Japanese man was ever assigned to work at the Home. The Mission’s lack of initiative to involve the Japanese in social work portrayed to the Japanese workers that social work was of female missionary interest and their responsibility. Eventually, in 1934, the Field Council recognised the Sunrise Home as ‘an integral part of the JEB’ under their administration. ⁴⁰ The following year, the Home Council set their seal of approval on the Field Council’s decision. ⁴¹ Yet, the Field Council did not get directly involved in the running of the Home. They never assigned any male Japanese staff member to the work. Only two missionaries, Tipton Williams and his wife, worked at the Home. Webster-Smith invited Williams to work with her because he was not considered good at evangelistic work and struggled at relationships in the Mission. ⁴² Even after the Mission had recognised the Sunrise Home as their ministry, they did not supervise the finances. ⁴³

The official status of the Sunrise Home had changed on paper in 1934, but not in practice. In 1938, as the political environment was changing, the Field Council decided:

In the light of the fact that it is impossible for a single ‘foreigner’ to adequately educate and train Japanese children according to Japanese ideas; also that the Government are contemplating a stricter control over all such philanthropic efforts with the intention to bring them under complete Japanese control (which could mean end of the ‘faith’ principles as well as a limitation of the Christian foundation); further because of the necessity of guarding the reputation of the Home; it was felt desirable that while Miss [Webster-] Smith [sic] retains the position of ‘Encho’ (head of the home), a Committee be appointed to cooperate with her in running of the Home, this Committee to embrace Japanese Members. The point was made clear that any such Committee must be approved by the Field Council and would be entirely subject to the Field Council. ⁴⁴

By late 1930s, the political environment of Japan was turning against foreigners. The government resented foreigners as leaders and administrators over their citizens. The Council observed the rise in nationalism in the country and from the signs concluded that the Japanese government preferred organisations in Japan to be under Japanese leadership. The government did not think a foreigner was able to teach Japanese children Japanese traditions and culture. In the late 1930s, the government had started insisting on Emperor worship, which a foreigner and a Christian would not or could not teach Japanese children. The Japanese historical dislike of Christianity put all missionaries, Japanese Christians and their ministries under the government’s scrutiny. The Field Council was concerned a government take-over of the Sunrise Home would mean an end to Christian teaching for the residents; therefore, they decided to form a committee of Japanese who would officially be the head of the work. Webster-Smith was still in charge of the everyday running of the Home, but Japanese presence in the Home would give the Japanese government confidence that Japanese children were being looked after by Japanese.

Webster-Smith suggested a committee of four women, two missionaries and two Japanese. The Field Council asked two male members of the Council, Jones and Sawamura, to join the committee. The JEB was established to work with the Japanese as equal partners in ministry but this was the first instance of a Japanese leader involved with social work by the Mission. The lack of male Japanese leadership in the Sunrise Home resulted in the Japanese not developing an interest in the work of the Home. When asked to make a decision about the Sunrise Home in the Field Council, Sawamura, Higuchi and Ojima, the Japanese members of the Council, left the responsibility to the missionary committee and promised to abide by whatever the missionaries decided. ⁴⁵ Their response is indicative of the Japanese lack of interest in the Sunrise Home’s work.

Webster-Smith initially expected the committee to act ‘as a kind of prayer band for her aid’. ⁴⁶ When she realised the Field Council wanted to take over the administration of the Home, she was not pleased. As she had laid the foundations of the orphanage and had independently run it for 15 years, along with doing evangelistic work for the Mission and training Bible women; she did not wish to hand over the orphanage to anyone. The ambiguous relationship between the Sunrise Home and the JEB, and the lack of enthusiasm of the missionaries and the Japanese members of the Mission, gave room for Webster-Smith to regain independent control over the Home. In November 1938, Webster-Smith returned to England on furlough and requested the Home Council to return the Sunrise Home to the previous arrangement, ‘her being a J.E.B. member, but engaged in the special work of the Sunrise Home, for which work the J.E.B. will then have no further responsibility’. ⁴⁷ The Home Council complied with Webster-Smith’s request without any hesitation. ⁴⁸ Respecting the Home Council’s decision, the Field Council dissolved the committee while Webster-Smith was still in England. ⁴⁹ Even though Webster-Smith was not in Japan, the Sunrise Home successfully ran with the help of Adelaide Soal, Arai (the Bible woman assigned by the Field Council) and the Japanese woman the children called okaasan (mother).

Between November 1938 and July 1940, ⁵⁰ while Webster-Smith was on furlough in England, the world had completely changed. Britain was at war with Germany and Italy, and Japan had passed the Religious Organisation Law that prohibited any foreigner from the leadership of any Japanese institution. The JEB had handed over their buildings and Japanese staff to the Nihon Iesu Kirisuto Kyokai (NIKK), a church established by the JEB Japanese staff. The NIKK were now requesting the missionaries leave the country. Since the Sunrise Home was not the Mission’s responsibility, the JEB Field Council did not ask the NIKK to take over responsibility for the Home. As the Japanese were not involved with work at the Home, the NIKK did not offer to help as they were suddenly responsible for paying the salaries of the JEB’s Japanese evangelists. On her return to Japan, Webster-Smith was required to make decisions about the future of the Home and the children. After consultations with the new Field Director, Maurice Garrard, and missionary friends from other denominations, Webster-Smith decided to close down the Home. ⁵¹ All her missionary friends advised that if the Home was not closed, the government would take it over as they would not permit a foreigner to raise Japanese children. They would erase all Christian influence from the Home, install a butsudan (Buddhist prayer shelf) and make the children visit shrines. Yamakawa, the matron of the Home, and Arai suggested ‘the best disposal of the children’ was to find good homes for them. ⁵² Since Garrard wanted all the missionaries to leave before the end of December 1940, in two months Webster-Smith had to find homes for all the children, which she did. Christian families took in younger girls and the older girls found jobs. After the war, Webster-Smith returned to Japan and looked for the girls. Some girls had died due to sickness, but most had managed to survive the war. ⁵³

The Female Missionary Initiative to Train Japanese Female Leadership

One of the aims of the JEB was to raise Japanese leadership that promoted holiness teaching in Japan. In 1906, within three years of establishing the Mission, they established a training school for men. However, raising female leadership was not considered. ⁵⁴ In 1917, after his return from Japan, Buxton informed the Home Council in London about the need to raise female leadership; however, his concern failed to evolve into a plan to train female evangelists. ⁵⁵ Training for women evolved unofficially as female missionaries discipled young Christian women.

Dorothy Hoare arrived in Japan as a JEB missionary in January 1920. While learning the language in Osaka, Hoare made friends with Fukuda, a girl from a Christian family who wanted to learn English. The language exchange led to Fukuda deciding to enter Christian ministry. Hoare started training Fukuda through Bible studies and participation in evangelistic activities. Soon a few more young Christian women, eager to enter Christian ministry, joined Hoare’s classes. The women were so keen to study that at the end of Hoare’s language study, they moved with her from Osaka to Zoshigaya, a suburb of Tokyo, assigned to Hoare by the Field Council. Here the demand for Hoare’s classes increased and more women joined. ⁵⁶ In 1922, after observing the popularity of Hoare’s classes and their benefit to the Mission, the Field Council in Kobe and the Home Council in London passed a resolution to recognise Hoare’s training of Bible women as part of the JEB ministry. The Home Council approved, ‘provided that Miss Hoare is herself assured that this is God’s work for her’. ⁵⁷ Even though the Mission approved of Hoare’s work, official plans were never made to train Japanese Christian women for ministry. The Home Council was raising funds to build a men’s Bible School, yet they did not consider providing the same facilities for women.

In the early 20th century, Christian women in the West witnessed through volunteering at church and through overseas missions, whereas Japanese Christian women were still struggling to find their place in a new Japanese Christian world. According to the Confucian social hierarchy, they were inferior to men. Christianity gave them a new identity in Christ that was equal to men. However, similar to the Western church, Christian women still did not enjoy equality in the church. As the Japanese church was still developing, the women could not go on overseas missions, but they wanted to contribute to the ministry of the church. It is not clear how many women wrote to the JEB Field Council requesting theological training, but an increase in the number of applications persuaded the Council to consider starting a training school for women. In 1925, more than two decades after establishing the JEB:

The Field council [sic] members testified to the continual applications received from women wanting to be trained as workers. The Field Council therefore decided to solicit definite prayer for a suitable Japanese matron. This is to be taken as indication of God’s will that we organise a Bible Women’s Training School. ⁵⁸

The number of applications received for training for Bible women forced the Field Council to accept that it was a need they could no longer ignore. Even though the need was recognised, the Field Council needed persuasion by Japanese women to address the need for Japanese female leadership. Finally, in mid-1926, after receiving approval from the Council in Britain, ⁵⁹ the Field Council appointed a committee of Adelaide Soal, Sawamura Goro, Horiuchi Bunichi and James Cuthbertson to oversee the training for Bible women. ⁶⁰ Interesting to note here is that although the training was for women, only one woman was chosen to be on the committee. The three men, who were members of the Field Council, included Soal in their committee because she was given charge to train the Bible women.

Unlike the male Bible School students, the women were not provided with a building with teaching facilities. In 1926, the men’s Bible School was running in a recently bought building in Mikage. The women, on the other hand, were asked to live and study at Irene Webster-Smith’s Sunrise Home. The Home was in Maizuru near Kyoto City about 130 kilometres from Kobe, the JEB head office in Japan. Soal and Smith were given additional responsibility for training the women, apart from looking after the children’s Home and evangelistic ministries. In June of 1926, seven women lived and received training at the Home. ⁶¹

Gradually, the Mission recognised the contribution Japanese women made to the ministry and the importance of training them. In 1929, when the Mission constructed a new building in Shioya, another suburb of Kobe City, they also moved the women’s training to the same place. The men lived on Shioya campus but the women’s living facilities were built in Tarumi, a few minutes’ walk from the Bible School. In 1930, the Field Council reported that 13 men and six women were studying at the Bible School. ⁶² The 1930 Prayer Calendar reporting work at the women’s Bible School stated: ‘Like the men students they have lectures and also practical training by going out day by day to conduct Sunday Schools in the surrounding villages’. ⁶³ Finally, by 1930, the Japanese women had persuaded men in the Mission to recognise the importance of their ministry.

Christianity and Changes in Japanese Women’s Lives

The Meiji government took advice from David Murray (1830–1905), an American educator, and announced equal educational opportunities for women. The government opened educational institutions for women. Christian educational institutions provided Japanese girls with education, as well as contributing to changes in Japanese attitudes towards women. In 1931, Soichi Saito, General Secretary of Tokyo YMCA, presented a study of the influence of Christianity upon Japanese culture at the Institute of Pacific Relations. ⁶⁴ His paper acknowledged that contact with Christians had brought a change in Japanese attitudes towards women. Similarly, in 1957, Natori acknowledged that Christian educational institutions for women contributed immensely to the change in the Japanese mind-set. ⁶⁵ Helen Ballhatchet, in her study, observes that the first generation Christian men treated their wives with the respect not often given to Japanese wives. ⁶⁶ However, such changes also brought their own challenges. Iida suggested that changes in Japanese women’s thinking made it much harder for graduates of Christian institutions to adapt to their contemporary culture as the society still held onto old morals and customs. ⁶⁷ Contrary to Japanese culture, Christianity taught the equality of men and women. Even though such equality was not practised in Western church leadership, the Christian teaching encouraged Japanese Christian women to recognise self-worth and expect respect and equality from their husbands.

Similar to women in the West, Japanese Christian women became a major workforce in the church. Indigenous Christian women in ministry were called Bible women. Their knowledge of the local languages made their ministry essential for church growth as they were able to communicate better and visit homes that were off-limits to foreigners. Thomas Winburn equates the Bible women to male evangelists. Similar to missionaries, they instructed at Sunday schools, prayer meetings and Bible studies and visited homes. Yet, since most Bible women accompanied female missionaries, they gained the reputation of being servants to missionaries. ⁶⁸ A similar idea is affirmed by Ruth Tucker who believes the reason indigenous women’s contribution to the propagation of the gospel and building the church was not recognised in the area of world evangelism was because Bible women’s status was generally considered lowly. ⁶⁹

JEB Bible Women: A Major Work Force

The JEB paired the Bible women with female missionaries. ⁷⁰ The Japanese women were part of a team and, therefore, seldom given separate credit for their work. Official reports rarely mention Bible women by name. Prayer calendars usually grouped the women together. ⁷¹ One exceptional Bible woman, H Odaki, is the only Japanese woman who wrote ministry reports and has a specific mention in the prayer calendar. Her first name is unknown as the JEB preferred to follow the Japanese custom of addressing people by their family name. In conversations with the present senior JEB members and Nakajima Nobumistsu, the pastor and JEB history teacher at Kansai Bible School, I realised her contributions are still unknown to the Mission. ⁷²

Odaki was a survivor of the 1923 Tokyo earthquake that devastated the whole city and killed many people. It is unknown when and how she converted to the Christian faith or when she joined the Mission. From her reports, we deduce that by 1927 she was considered a senior member. Her reports also give a glimpse into her life and an understanding of the lives of Bible women. Odaki’s work expanded beyond the ministry among women. She ministered to men and even to Buddhist and Shinto priests. ⁷³ Before a tent-meeting, Odaki visited homes and invited adults to the meetings and children to Sunday school held before the tent-meetings. She continued to maintain contact with the enquirers after the tent-meeting team left. She visited the sick and comforted them. Odaki wrote how much joy the gospel brought to a man on his deathbed even when he was alone and rejected by his family because of tuberculosis. Odaki was so enthusiastic to share the gospel that she took advantage of heavy snowfall to visit homes as it made people housebound and easier to contact. ⁷⁴ Other Bible women did similar work as Odaki. They maintained contact with the new enquirers and converts after the tent-mission team returned to their base. They taught Bible studies and Sunday school, led prayer meetings and visited the sick. ⁷⁵

Although the Mission was not diligent in recording the individual achievements of Bible women, they were concerned for their welfare. The Field Council assigned Odaki extra money to cope with the severe winter. The Mission paid a salary to Tomita’s widow after he died in the Tango earthquake. ⁷⁶ Wilkes arranged financial support for Sasao Tetsusaburo’s (a JEB associate) young widow after his death in 1914. They gave her employment among the police wives so she could support her children. ⁷⁷ Buxton even sent personal gifts to Sasao’s family for six years. In 1920, when Buxton could not afford to send her financial aid, he asked the Mission to make sure the family had sufficient funds. ⁷⁸

In 1940, as the possibility of Japan entering the Second World War became imminent, the JEB went through organisational restructuring. Since the government did not want any foreigner in leadership over a Japanese citizen, the Mission transferred all Bible women along with their male counterparts to Nihon Iesu Kirisuto Kyokai (NIKK) with a promise to assist with finances. ⁷⁹ However, a few months later the government restricted any Japanese from receiving financial aid from foreign agencies. Unable to financially support all their employees as well as those transferred from the JEB, the NIKK terminated the services of all Bible women except Odaki. ⁸⁰ The Church also closed women’s training. Since NIKK records did not survive the Second World War, it is not possible to know the reasons why the leaders chose to close down all the women’s ministries rather than reduce them to an equal number of male and female workers and students. Even though the Bible women were no longer JEB responsibility, the Mission cared for their welfare. The Mission paid all their former female employees three months’ salaries and tried to find employment for the students who could not graduate because their Bible School had been shut down mid-term. ⁸¹

Conclusion

In the 20th century, women, especially single women, emerged as a major work force in mission field, yet they did not hold any positions of authority. Where women in positions of authority were concerned, the JEB was not much different from its contemporaries. However, unlike most mission organisations, the JEB was established by a woman’s initiative. The Mission gave women equal opportunity to preach, lead prayer meetings, train evangelists and establish churches. Such freedom to engage in ministry gave the JEB female missionaries the tenacity to continue their passion to bring social reform even though the male leadership in Japan did not approve. Female missionary ministry among the factory girls did not result in social reform but it did provide many girls emotional relief, and jobs as Bible women for some. The missionary initiative in training Japanese Christian women resulted in raising a generation of female leadership that laid the groundwork for establishing churches in Japan.