No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

One reason is that Kagawa was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, in
1954, 1955 and then again in 1956. Each time, however, another nominee wasselected. The reasons given were that during WWII, in Oct. 1944, Kagawa had
traveled to China and he was deemed to have co-operated with the Japanese military.
Likewise, in anti-American broadcasts that began in March 1945, Kagawa had
severely criticized the United States, and this weighed against his selection.
At the Assembly of the World Federalist Movement in February 1959, there was aformal endorsement for the Nobel Peace Prize from the American Churches, but
unfortunately, Kagawa passed away in April 1960, and so the opportunity for him toreceive this prize slipped away. If he had lived longer, he would likely have received
this coveted prize.
He was also nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1947 and 1948.

No. 4The second point is that along with Gandhi and Schweitzer, Kagawa is considered
one of the “3 Great Saints” of the 20th Century.
Gandhi (1968-1948) is considered to be the father of Indian independence. After
studying in London, he practiced law in the Republic of South Africa, and then after
returning to India, he led the People’s Congress Party and as a politician, he was aleader of the Indian National Movement. Operating on the principles of
non-resistance, non-cooperation and non-obedience, he developed the anti-British
independence movement, and was given the nickname, Mahatma (meaning “greatsoul”).
In Jan. 1939, Kagawa met with Gandhi in Bardoli, India and returned to Japan with aspinning wheel souvenir, the symbol of the Indian independence movement. That is
now displayed at the Kōbe Co-op Kyōdō Gakuen Museum.
Schweitzer (1875-1965) was a German theologian, doctor and organist. He was bornin Elsas (which is now the French territory of Alsace), and in 1913, he went toLambarene in Gabon, Africa, where for a half century, he devoted himself toevangelism and the medical care of the people. He was also famous as a Bachmusician, and he advocated a biblical hermeneutic based on a thoroughgoingeschatology.
The feature that all three of them shared was their dedication to the welfare of thepoor and the people they served.

No. 5* Setting up mechanisms for the poor and the weak
The basic concept behind the various projects Kagawa started was to set up “mechanisms” to enable the poor andweak to live with dignity as human beings.
• Settlements (bringing in upper/middle class young people into areas of poverty to help the local people):
Establishing lodges, medical clinics, nurseries, etc. to serve the local people and improve their lives. The firstsuch settlement was established in England as the result of the work of Arnold Toynbee (a British economist who
coined the term “industrial revolution.”)• Farmer Gospel Schools: Raising up leaders from among the poor sharecrop farmers, agricultural education
combined with the gospel (study of the Bible) to raise up exemplary farmers.
• Mutual Aid Mechanisms: Mutual cooperation among the poor is necessary for their survival. Kagawa began thesystems that undergird the modern social insurance system that covers sickness, injury and loss of job. Kagawa
began these mechanisms of health insurance, unemployment insurance, mutual aid societies, etc. in Japan.
• Mechanisms for attaining independence: Relief activities alone cannot lift the poor out of poverty, and poverty
simply increases over time. Unless there is a mechanism in place to help the poor achieve independence, they
will be unable to do much to improve their lives. Thus, Kagawa began the first co-operatives — buying
co-operatives, agricultural co-operatives, fishing co-operatives, etc.
Mechanisms for preventing poverty: Moving from relief operations to the roots of the problem by organizing poor
laborers to regain their human dignity. Through labor unions that Kagawa organized, laborers could band
together to negotiate with capitalists.
• Early childhood education: Based on the premise that children need to be able to be children, Kagawa
endeavored to improve their environment by establishing 6 articles of the rights of children. In 1935, he founded
the Yūai Children’s Day Care Center.
• Social Movements: Alcohol abstinence movement, Anti-prostitution movement, General suffrage movement.
• Peace Movements: World Alliance Movement, Anti-war Prayer Meeting• Christian Mission: Kingdom of God Movement, the Salvation of a Million Souls program, working together with
Iwasaki Takeshi of Lighthouse
Mechanisms for preventing poverty: Moving from relief operations to the roots of the problem by organizing poor
laborers to regain their human dignity. Through labor unions that Kagawa organized, laborers could band
together to negotiate with capitalists.
• Early childhood education: Based on the premise that children need to be able to be children, Kagawa
endeavored to improve their environment by establishing 6 articles of the rights of children. In 1935, he founded
the Yūai Children’s Day Care Center.
• Social Movements: Alcohol abstinence movement, Anti-prostitution movement, General suffrage movement.
• Peace Movements: World Alliance Movement, Anti-war Prayer Meeting• Christian Mission: Kingdom of God Movement, the Salvation of a Million Souls program, working together with
Iwasaki Takeshi of Lighthouse

No. 6

Left: The first medical clinic in Shinkawa. The doctor was Majima Yutaka, who
responded to Kagawa’s call for help in 1918 to open a clinic.
Right: The first excursion trip with the children, something the Kagawas often did. At
the time, only 6% of the area’s children were in school. They went to Suma, where
they treated the children to bento lunches at the station. The children’s smiles tell
the story. Kagawa felt that the most important aspect of childhood education was to
be in touch with nature, and so that was behind the founding of the “School in theForest.”No. 7After going to help in the disaster relief efforts after the Great Kantō Earthquake(1923), Kagawa returned from his Matsuzawa residence there in Oct. 1926 to Hyōgo
Prefecture to live in Kawaragi village, which is now part of the city of Nishinomiya.
There, in Feb. 1927, he founded the first “Nōmin Fukuin Gakkō” (Farmer Gospel
School) in the second story of his house in a room with no blackboard or desks, andso they just sat on the floor in a circle. From that humble beginning, similar schools
spread from Hokkaidō to Kyūshū. This picture was taken at the school inŌmihachiman in Shiga Prefecture.

No. 8

Co-operatives, or mutual aid societies, were formally organized after WWII, but their
beginnings were from the adoption of “Beginning of Life Insurance Project” at the 20th
general assembly of the Industrial Union in 1924. This was the beginning of the“Agricultural Mutual Aid Project.”
After WW2, the reorganization of this program began in Hokkaidō in 1948 and was
finalized in 1951 as the National Agricultural Co-operative Federation of Mutual Aid.
This movement began to spread among laborers in the cities as well, and in 1957, theNational Labor Co-operative Federation of Mutual Aid was organized. Kagawa
poured a great deal of his energies into consolidating the scale of these advances.
Today, JA Mutual Aid has 14,680,000 members, Kenmin Mutual Aid has 13,090,000,
National Labor Mutual Aid has 1,6420,000, and Co-op Mutual Aid has 5,910,000.
The JA Mutual Aid and National Labor Mutual Aid societies are the 2 largest suchorganizations in Japan and thus wield tremendous power.

No. 9Kagawa was particularly enthusiastic about early childhood education. Children
born into this world are so honest and cute, but the environment within which they areraised has a profound effect on them. He felt that whether they turn out good or bad
is greatly affected by their environment, especially that of their parents. Thus, thisearly childhood period is of utmost importance, and so in order to expose thesechildren to as many positive influences as possible, one of the first things Kagawa
would do was to establish kindergartens and nursery schools.
This is a picture of the Ichibaku Nursery School, founded in 1932. The name isrelated to the book Kagawa wrote, entitled “A Grain of Wheat.” It was built next to
the Farmer Gospel School in the Kawaragi district of Nishinomiya that was called“Ichibaku Ryō,” with the “Ichibaku” literally meaning “One Wheat (grain).” This
nursery school is still in operation and is a critically important institution in the local
community.

No. 10The practical outworking of Kagawa’s desire to promote “a society with no poor,”“economic activity based in love,” and “a society in which people had compassion foreach other” was the development of the Co-op. In fact, his life’s work can besummed up with the words, “Christianity, Peace, Cooperation.”
The organizations that first developed out of his philosophy were the Kōbe
Purchasing Union and the Nada Purchasing Union, both beginning in 1921. Theymerged in 1962 into the Nada-Kōbe Co-op, and then changed their name to thepresent Co-op Kōbe in 1991. Centering on the Hanshin area (Ōsaka-Kōbe), Co-op(pronounced “Kōpu” in Japanese) has been contributing to the improvement of thestandard of living of the people. Co-op became number one in sales in theprefecture, and is trusted by many people. Thus, the spirit of Kagawa lives on some
90 years later.

No. 11

For 11 months, from December 1935 to November 1936, Kagawa travelled toAmerica and Europe to promote reconstruction in America and the Co-op Movement.
The scene above is at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles.
Why is it that he drew such crowds? In 1920, he had published his best-sellingbook (4 million copies in Japan), “Shisen wo Koete,” which had been translated into
English (Across the Death-Line), among other languages such as German, Frenchand Swedish. Thus, his writings were being read around the world. It made such a
big splash that he was elevated to the level of Schweitzer and became world-famous.
So, wherever he went, he drew huge crowds of people. Within the Christian world,
he was deeply respected, and even considered an ambassador for Jesus.

No. 12

In 1916, while a student at Princeton University, Kagawa witnessed a demonstration
by 60,000 workers in New York City. This led him to the conclusion that in order forpoor workers to be able to make headway in dealing with capitalists on equal footing,they needed to use this tool of orderly demonstrations. After returning to Japan on
May 4, 1917, he joined forces with Suzuki Bunji and the “Yūaikai” (Friendship
Association) he had founded. In April 1919, he worked with Suzuki Bunji, Hisatome
Kōzō and others to form a new organization entitled “Yūaikai Kansai Rōdō Dōmeikai”(Friendship Association, Kansai Labor Alliance), and became the head of the board of
directors.
In 1921, Kagawa took the lead in organizing labor strikes at the Kawasaki and
Mitsubishi Shipyards in Kōbe, and walked at the front of the demonstrations.
However, as the Labor Union Movement began to take on a decidedly leftist bent that
led to violent demonstrations, Kagawa pulled back from further participation.

No. 13

His birthplace was about 1 km south of the present JR. Kōbe Station in a place just north of
the Central Wholesale Market. Presently, a storehouse for the Ishikawa Company stands on
the spot. A hundred years ago, this was the center of the city of Kōbe. The former
prefectural capital location was close by, and this is where the Chamber of Commerce was
begun. It is also where the grave of Taira Kiyomori was located.
His father died when Kagawa was only 4 years old. His father imported indigo dye from
Tokushima and sold it on the mainland. It apparently was a well-to-do family, and in fact,
Kagawa’s birth mother was not the legal wife but a concubine. One theory is that her father
was the financial secretary of the Wakayama fiefdom. Then, after the abolishment of the
feudal system at the beginning of Meiji, her father was without a job and somehow she
became attached to Kagawa’s father. At any rate, she died in the year following Kagawa’s
father’s death. After both his parents died, he was taken in by his father’s relatives inTokushima, and there he was raised in a household that expressed little affection.
Thus, from the time he was 4 years old until he was 17, Kagawa led a life filled withloneliness and many sad experiences. However, he was a very bright child who wrote his
own fairytale at age 7 and was studying the Chinese classics at age 10. For some reason,
he began elementary school a year ahead of the normal age, and so in his school pictures, healways looked smaller than the others. But he had exceptional intelligence.
At age 13, he was diagnosed with a lung disease, and at 15, the Kagawa family wentbankrupt. The oldest son Tan’ichi inherited the company from their father Jun’ichi, but heran it into the ground. As a result, the family in Tokushima had to sell off all of their farmland,
and Toyohiko’s family ended up living in the barn. Toyohiko later lived with his uncle for atime.
Thus, he was raised in a family that showed little love and was in financial difficulty, and so
his childhood and youth were not easy.

No. 14

No. 15

No. 16

His father Jun’ichi was born in 1849 as the 3rd son in the Isobe Family, which operated
a sake brewery. He was adopted into the family of his bride, the oldest daughter,and thus became a member of the Kagawa Family, living in Higashi Umadzume.
They had 2 children, but both died in their infancy. Jun’ichi was only 15 when heentered the Kagawa Family, and later, he distinguished himself as a leader in the
Democratic Freedom Movement and moved to Tōkyō. There, he served in the legal
branch of the old pre-Meiji government as a bureaucrat, and after leaving that post, hewent back to Takamatsu in what was then called Myōtō Prefecture (now Tokushima
Prefecture) to work for a time in the government there, and then he operated ashipping company in Kōbe until he died at the age of 44.
His mother Kame is said to have been a geisha working under the name Masue that
Jun’ichi first met at a dinner party. Her real family name was composed of two
Chinese characters that can be read either Kaō or Sugaoi. She is said to have beena mild-mannered beautiful woman, and judging from the letters she wrote that still
remain, she was a cultured and kind person. Between Jun’ichi and herself, she gavebirth to 5 children, Tan’ichi, Ei, Toyohiko, Yoshinori and Masuyoshi. When Toyohiko
was only 4 years old, she soon followed her husband in death.

No. 17In April 1900, Toyohiko entered Tokushima Middle School, a prestigious school that now goesby the name of Jōnan High School. He was able to get in a year earlier than normal, and so
he was the smallest student in his class. It was his first experience in living in a dormitory
setting, and he found the going rough. So, after the first year, he had the opportunity to livewith the English teacher at the school, Katayama Seikichi. There, he developed deepfriendships with several others, including his cousin Niii Itaru. Although he had a weak
constitution, he nevertheless excelled and both his studies and in sports.
During his time there, he developed a voracious appetite for knowledge and was constantly
reading. He studied many books in English, and was particularly enamored with the English
thinker John Ruskin and the Russian literary master Tolstoy.
Incidentally, he translated Ruskin’s “Sesame and Lilies” and in 1906, he published a seriesof 17 installments entitled, “Ruskin’s view of Women’s Education” in the “Tokushima Mainichi
Newspaper.” Likewise, he published a dissertation entitled “The Armed Crab” in the
publication “Uzu no Oto” (The Sound of the Whirlpool), a publication put out by the graduatesassociation of the Tokushima Middle School.
Shortly before his graduation in March 1905, Toyohiko was involved in an incident during an
outdoor military drill. He declared he didn’t want to have anything to do with such an
exercise, threw his rifle on the ground and laid down. The leader of the drill, an army captain,
flew into a rage and kicked him. The nation at that time was building up to theJapanese-Russian War, but Toyohiko had been influenced by Christian pacifists at the school,
Dr. Charles A Logan and Dr. Harry W Myers. He also deeply resonated with Tolstoy’s
anti-war stance, and so took his own public stand.
He told his uncle, Mori Rokurō, that he wanted to go onto a Christian school. His uncle,
however, who had been financially supporting him in his elite schooling with the intent of that
helping to restore the fortunes of the Kagawa family, was livid, and refused to offer any more
tuition aid. Nevertheless, Toyohiko had made up his mind, and so he was unmoved in his
determination to lead a pietistic life as a Christian.

No. 18

Both Logan and Myers were Presbyterian missionaries from the southern US, related
by marriage, as Myers’ elder sister was Logan’s wife. They were both very talented
individuals who took a strong liking to Toyohiko, with his unfortunate background, andtreated him like their own child. The Myers home was always open for Toyohiko, andthe provided a desk for him. Together with his wife Grace, Myers accepted him,
inviting him to share meals. Toyohiko was so impressed with their kindness andwondered what made them so generous and kind. He thanked God for the love of
these people and place his faith in Christ, accepting baptism. This was the first suchencounter that deeply affected Kagawa Toyohiko’s life.

No. 19

Revs. Logan and Myers taught him English and paid his tuition at Meiji Gakuin
University. They took care of him when he was ill, and when Kagawa began his workin Shinkawa, they continued to support him financially. They likewise gave him
support as he studied at Princeton University. Without the support of these two
benefactors, it is no exaggeration to say that the great works that Kagawa
accomplished would not have even got started.
The picture on the left was taken in 1951, when Kagawa was 63. The picture on theright with Myers was taken when Kagawa was about 40.

No. 20

Despite his relative’s objections, Kagawa entered the theological preparation course
at Meiji Gakuin, and with the help of Dr. Myers, continued his education. Meiji
Gakuin had one of the few libraries in the nation that included numerous westernbooks, and so Kagawa, who wasn’t satisfied with just his classwork, devoured thesebooks, which included works on religion, philosophy, sociology, and the naturalsciences. Thus, he read books on a wide variety of subjects. He was especially
moved by Bowne’s “Principles of Metaphysics” and “Pure Philosophical Principles,”and was deeply affected by his religious philosophy of personalism. He later said,“After reading Bowne, I was able to remain steady in my thoughts, and able to basemy future progress in that religious philosophy of personalism.

No. 21

During his second year, he had made several strong friendships, including Katō
Kazuo ,Tamura Shirō , Sasaki Hō, Nakayama Masaki, Tomita Mitsuru and Okino
Iwasaburō. “I never studied so hard in all my life as that last year at Meiji Gakuin,
together with the 2 years I had at Princeton. But I suppose it was because of myyouth that even more than at Princeton, what I learned then stuck with me.” Thus,
this was a time in which his intellectual development heavily influenced the rest of hislife. In line with Kellogg’s “Natural Diet of Man,” he embarked on a simple diet. But
together with lack of sleep due to his hard study schedule, his health suddenly
worsened and he developed severe tuberculosis.

No. 22In March 1907, after finishing his 2 years at Meiji Gakuin, he transferred to the newly
formed Kōbe Seminary, where Rev. Myers had just taken up a teaching position.
During the break between then and the beginning of the new school in September,
after he went to Okazaki, he transferred to Toyohashi Church (near Nagoya), andthere he met Rev. Nagao Maki, an encounter that changed his life. He was deeply
inspired by Rev. Nagao and began to enthusiastically engage in street evangelism.
He did this for 40 days, but on the 41st day, he suddenly developed a high fever as his
tuberculosis worsened, and he fell into critical condition. But he experienced being
bathed in light and was miraculously healed. Kagawa later said, “The minister I
received inspiration from in Japan more than any other Japanese minister was Nagao
Maki.” Thus, this second great encounter that shaped his life was at the Toyohashi
Church.

No. 23

Nagao Maki was born as the second son to Nagao Hachiemon, a wealthy retainer in the Kaga Daimyō.
Hachiemon was reported to be known for his virtuous character. He had been overseeing theestablishment of new farmland using the labor of 556 “hidden Christians” (underground Christians who
had kept their faith during the Edo period when Christianity was outlawed). These Christians werevery poor and had endured much abuse, but they maintained their integrity, loving and supporting eachother, and Hachiemon had witnessed their exemplary behavior. Thus, he wanted to find out if thisforbidden religion was really the awful thing it had been portrayed as, or if in fact it was the opposite,and so he began attending a “lecture hall” (the predecessor to Christian churches in Japan). He
became convinced that this was the true way to salvation, and in April 1880, he was baptized, be
considered the “first fruits” of the Hokuriku mission. Missionary Thomas Winn arrived in June andbegan his evangelistic work. Nagao Maki also began attending the lecture hall at the urging of his
father, and indicated that he too would like to be baptized. He received baptism at the age of 29 from
Dr. Winn that June.
The Hokuriku area of Japan is one where the Buddhist faith is particularly strong. Christians werepersecuted as traitors to the nation, and it was in that context that Nagao Maki felt called to be anevangelist. He was 32 and had a daughter to take care of, but in 1884, he entered the theologicaldepartment of Hokuriku Eiwa School. In 1887, then, he began his evangelistic work in Tōyama, goinglater to serve in Kanazawa, Daishōji and Komatsu before moving down to the Toyohashi Church.
During his time in Hokuriku, he endured considerable persecution, and in the midst of that, he took inorphans and abused children, caring for 10 all together in a big family. He and his wife likewise
entertained beggars in their humble home, feeding them the best white rice. Normally, their meals
consisted of barley and potato gruel, and so the children were happy when a beggar came, as they
could get some delicious white rice. His wife Matsue is reported to have said, “When beggars went toother houses, they were only given old leftovers, and so we wanted to give them a nice warm meal they
could fill their stomachs on.”On Jan. 4, 1959, when Kagawa gave his last sermon at the “Iesu no Tomokai” (Friends of Jesus
Association) at the Ichibaku Kindergarten, he spoke with the title of “Learning from Nagao Maki.” Thereport on that meeting recorded that several times during his talk, he broke down sobbing with emotion,
once having to pause for 5 minutes to regain his composure.

No. 24

Here are the basic points.
“I have visited Beethoven’s house in Vienna, Austria. He was renting a room on the second floor. A
great man is not necessarily born into a rich household, as great and exceptional art can be born out ofa rented room.
I have also discovered great and exceptional art in a destitute evangelist named Nagao Maki. In thisworld, he had no wealth or status, but was only a destitute Christian pastor. Pastors in Japan are allpoor, of course, but I’ve never seen one as destitute as him. But he seemed to happily accept his
destitution. In Meiji 40 (1907), I went to Toyohashi to help him in his evangelism, and due to my lungdisease, I slept in his dilapidated house in a dilapidated room on the second floor, where I was cared
for so graciously.
Now, his father had been the feudal administrator for the Kanazawa fiefdom, and was indeed aremarkable character. In fact, I think that Maki received more spiritual inspiration from his father thanfrom missionary Winn. Brother Lawrence is well-known for his humble service in cleaningmonasteries, and I think that Nagao Maki was Japan’s Brother Lawrence. Decades from now, evencenturies from now, Japanese will be able to learn much from Nagao Maki. He was a great warrior for
Christ who had been trained through following in Christ’s footsteps through poverty and persecution. I
have never known anyone who had so much persistence. Following the Great Kantō Earthquake, at
my suggestion, he organized an early morning ecumenical prayer gathering in Nagoya. For the nextten years, that continued, with he being the only one that participated the entire time. … During his 49
years of life of faith, there were some 2500 Sundays, and there was not a single Sabbath day that hedid not observe. Even while in poverty, I never heard him utter a complaint, and I never saw him getangry even once.
Thus, this individual is the one human being by whom I have been most inspired. There is adifference between being helped by someone and learning from someone. As to whom I am mostindebted to, it is American missionaries, but as to whom I have learned the most from, it is Nagao Maki.
I give thanks to God for him having raised up such an evangelist in Japan. I think the mostappropriate tribute to his memory is that Nagao Maki was a “hidden saint intoxicated with God.”
The main reason that I threw myself into service in the slums of Shinkawa in Kōbe was that I had
learned from Nagao Maki.”No. 25

After enrolling in Kōbe Seminary, his illness worsened, necessitating hospitalization at
the Akashi Hospital. After 4 months of treatment there, he rented a small house in afishing village in Gamagōri, Aichi, where he spent 9 months recuperating. There, hewrote a kind of autobiographical novel entitled “Imitation of a Dove” that was later
rewritten into his novel “Crossing the Death-line.” He sent it to his mentor at Meiji
Gakuin, Shimazaki Tōson, but he didn’t think much of it. During this time, with all its
illness, poverty, loneliness and seeming hopelessness, Kagawa experienced his
greatest trials in life.
In Sept. 1908, he returned to Kōbe Seminary, but in October, he had to have an
operation to remove pus next to his lungs, and again was critically ill. During
January of the following year, there was even a movement at the seminary to exclude
those with lung disease. It was also at this time that Kagawa was deeply impressedfrom reading a biography of John Wesley.

No. 26

Kōbe Seminary was founded in 1907, built mostly with funds raised by Rev. Myers’
mother, who was head of the missions committee at her church in Lexington, Virginia.
Samuel Peter Fulton (1865-1938) served as the first head of the school. Kagawa
must have walked up the steep slope for 20 or 30 minutes each day until his
graduation. The seminary was closed in 1942, and burned down during the war.
The land it stood on in Chūō-ku is now a park in the Kumochi 1-chōme district, andthere is a plaque telling that this was the location of the seminary.
Among the teachers at the seminary was Aoki Chōjūrō , the pastor at Kōbe Church
who officiated at Kagawa’s wedding. Together with his spiritual father in Tokushima,Rev. Myers, the two were great supporters of Kagawa’s work. In his diary called“Overflowing Blessings,” Kagawa recorded such things as “Dr. Myers sent me 2boxes of toys. Thanksgiving,” showing the deep fellowship he had with them.

No. 27

This is a drawing Kagawa made of the room he stayed in from Jan. to Sept. 1908 torecuperate. During this time, he also apparently visited a sanitarium in a mountainvillage on the border with Nagano operated by the Yamazaki family, which had
operated the medical facilities of the local fiefdom during the Edo period. It was
based on these experienced that Kagawa wrote his classic, “A Grain of Wheat.”
During this time, Kagawa experienced much affliction and disappointment, but inNovember, he was deeply moved from reading John Wesley’s biography and together
with the love of Myers and the example of Nagao Maki, he decided that if he only had
3 months to live, he wanted to live those last days serving the poor.

No. 28

At that time, the population of Kōbe was about 420,000, with the Shinkawa section
having a population of about 10,000, almost all of whom were day laborers. They
were the refuse of society who had been forced to live there because of various
reasons, such as becoming disabled due to sickness or injury.
The social situation at that time was one of numerous younger sons of farming
families pouring into the industrial cities to find work, which in Kōbe particularly meant
working in the shipyards of Mitsubishi and Kawasaki. The Sino-Japanese War of
1894-95, followed by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, was an impetus in this,and because Japan had used up twice its national budget in the first war and then 8times its national budget in the second, they had to apply special war taxes on
everything, including daily necessities. Likewise, there were no safety net social
programs as there are today, and so if one was laid off or could not work because ofillness or injury, the usual consequence was falling into poverty. It was those people
who congregated in the Shinkawa slum, and it was to those people that Kagawa went.
He worked diligently among those people, feeling their pain and crying over what hewitnessed, such as people being exploited by loan sharks, fights, intimidations andjust so many sick people. So, he worked to solve one problem after another as theypresented themselves to him.
Caring for the sick, providing free funerals, giving financial aid, counseling, providing
free lodging and cheap meals, job placement, starting a Sunday School for children
and taking them on day trips or arranging for stays at a foster parent for a day; thesetogether with evangelism were what he was daily engaged in. But no matter how
hard he worked at it, the poor people of Shinkawa didn’t decrease in number, butinstead continued to increase. Simply giving them relief by itself didn’t seem to help
them get back on their feet.

No. 29

This plan was prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1919. This was thesituation with “Long Houses” ten years after Kagawa began his work there. EachLong house contained 10 or 20 tiny apartments, with the entire building being divided
down the middle lengthwise by a partition. Each apartment consisted of 3 tatami
mats plus the dirt-floor area next to that, and 2 or 3 families lived in each one. There
was one toilet for about each 60 apartments. There were no doors. In the entire
area, there were only 3 or 4 public baths, and so the hygiene was very poor.
Kagawa petitioned for improvements to be made, and in 1927, a bill to improve
substandard housing was approved and the construction of 4-story ferroconcretebuildings was begun. However, it took until about 1980 for all of the old “longhouses” to be replaced by new buildings.

No. 30This event occurred just one year after Kagawa began his work in Shinkawa. In the
biography of Kagawa written by Robert Schildgen, there appear the following words:“He was heckled, beaten, robbed and menaced by knife-wielding gangsters. When hegave away his last clothing, he was forced to wear a woman's kimono borrowed froma destitute neighbor. But he stayed on, fearless and seemingly invincible, evenmaking converts to the new religion. Those who first thought him insane began tobelieve he had supernatural powers. Those who laughed would come to call him
Kagawa Sensei.”So, after a year had passed, the people of Shinkawa knew they could rely on
Kagawa Sensei, for so many people gathered for his event.

No. 31

Only about 6 percent of the children in Shinkawa were able to attend elementary
school. Thus, for most of the children in this picture, it was likely their first such
experience. They probably ate their very first bento lunch and really enjoyedthemselves.
Kagawa’s philosophy for childhood education included the importance of being intouch with nature. Thus, there were numerous references in the records of him
having taken children out into the countryside. Students from Kwansei Gakuin andother such schools often volunteered to help in these efforts.

No. 32

The children of Shinkawa
Picture on the left: a street in front of the “long houses”.
Picture on the right: Kagawa and his children.
Kagawa was of the opinion that children are “pure” and that they become either goodor bad depending upon their environment. That is why he put so much effort into
improving their environment and into childhood education.

No. 33

A new house and Dr. Majima Yutaka
In order to expand his activities, Kagawa bought a new building. The first floor
could be used for a sanctuary and the second floor was a medical clinic. The personin the center is Dr. Majima Yutaka .

No. 34

Kagawa Haru and the children
Kagawa’s wife Haru was born in 1888, in the same year that Kawaga was born.
She was such an integral part of his ministry that without her, he could not haveaccomplished his life’s work. He was the one up front, but without her support in the
background, he could not have continued, and so they were a beautiful combination.
She regularly treated the children with eye medicine for trachoma. She herself
contracted the disease and ended up having to have operations on both eyes to try tosave her sight. It was successful in one eye, but she lost sight in her other eye.
She lived to the ripe old age of 94, always thinking of others before herself, and so
she was a true saint.

No. 35

While at Princeton, Kagawa received both a Master of Arts in Experimental
Psychology and Biology and a Bachelor of Divinity degree. There he learned about“co-operatives,” which formed the foundation for his own philosophy and gave
direction to his life’s work.
He came to the realization that the “survival of the fittest” doctrine of Darwinism, with
its constant struggle for survival, was a very skewed understanding. Individuals in a
species being able to co-operate with each other was at least as important ascompetition in overall survivability. He transferred this understanding into the worldof humans, which became his answer to social Darwinism.

No. 36

He came to the realization that relief work by itself could not solve the problem ofpoverty among workers, and so he was searching for an answer. That came in theform of him witnessing a mass demonstration in New York City of 60,000 garment
workers. As he saw the sight of these masses of people marching down the street,
he realized the power of laborers working together towards a goal, and took this idea
back to Japan, determined to organize labor unions.
“Here comes the demonstration! Sixty thousand garment workers marching down
the street 16 abreast! It takes them an hour and a half to march by. The capitalists
in Manhattan have locked out 60,000 workers at 450 garment factories in the East
Side district. Now, under the hot August sun, these Italian workers, Jewish workers,
Bohemian workers, workers from practically the whole world are marching together.
“Are these all the poor people? These are all! And just these people are fighting
against the 450 as their common enemy! So, relief work by itself is meaningless!
This is a workers’ union! This is a workers’ union! The only way forward is for theworkers to band together to be their own salvation! When I return to Japan, I’m
going to start a workers’ union!” This is what Kagawa was thinking as he watch thedemonstrators march by.

No. 37

In May 1917, Kagawa returned to Kōbe, where the economy had suddenly improved due tothe demand for naval and other manufacturing that WWI had generated. Kawaga’s thinking
had now matured. He now realized that no matter how valiant an individual’s acts of charity
were, they could not in themselves root out the pervasive hopelessness and poverty rampant
in Shinkawa. “If we are to eradicate poverty as it is today, we cannot depend on principles ofcharity alone. Through such examples as how religious charity from ancient times actuallycreated beggars and how the anti-poverty law implemented in England failed, we can showthat principles of charity alone cannot solve the problems of the increasing poverty we see
today. As I see it, labor issues are at the very root of the problem and must be incorporated
into any efforts to bring true relief. Thus, while various systems of thought, such as socialism,
social engineering and nationalism make their own claims, when these are applied to thepresent situation in Japan, there is no more important goal to accomplish than the formationof healthy labor unions.”
Nevertheless, Kagawa did not advocate for a revolution in Japanese society. He was apacifist, and so he could not work together with those who were advocating a violent
overturning of the present order. Kagawa had studied the French Revolution and had heard
the news of the bloodshed in Russia, and so compared with the option of peaceful means, he
was convinced that a revolution would bring about untold violence and the loss of many lives.
Thus, he placed his hope in the ability of labor unions to bring about improvements in wages
and working conditions and even beyond the work place to bring about improvements insociety itself. He also was able to contribute to the efforts of voting rights revision so that all
males 25 and over were given voting privileges. Up until that time, only those males who
paid more than 3 yen in taxes were given the right to vote, and so this increased the votingbase from 3 million to 12 million people. He believed that together with labor unions andco-operatives, giving labors and consumers the right to own and control main industries andto spread out the profits instead of concentrating them into the hands of only a few could
make Japan’s economy into one that could serve as a model for improving the world
economy.

No. 38

The “Yūaikai” (Friendship Association) was founded by Suzuki Bunji, a Christian socialist, in
1912, and by 1917, when Kagawa came back from Princeton, it had 30,000 members
nationally. There were 1220 members in the Kōbe branch. Suzuki had envisioned theorganization to be one of education and mutual aid. Kagawa was invited in Sept. 1917 togive a presentation, and he soon became a leader in the movement. With the recession thattook place after the end of WWI in 1918 (when the economic bubble burst), the life of labors
became even more difficult. The flames of labor strife finally arrived at Kagawa’s doorstep,
particularly at the shipyards of Mitsubishi and Kawasaki. The workers were demanding
wage increases and the right to freely organize unions, but society’s answer was to fire theunion leaders.
On July 10, 1921, supporters from Ōsaka joined workers from Kōbe into a demonstration ofover 30,000 in Kōbe. Organized by Kagawa and other leaders, this demonstration
proceeded in an orderly and spirited march, with citizens along the way applauding them.
The voices of 30,000 protestors brought fear in the hearts of company officials, and so
officials in charge of public order requested that military police and army troops be sent in toquell the disturbance.
Following that, such mass demonstrations were forbidden, but on July 29, 1921, over 10,000
demonstrators marched under the pretext of going to a Shintō Shrine to worship. On theway, some of them got into a major battle with officials, and so as a result, 240 leaders,
including Kagawa, were arrested and charged with rioting. The number of workers fired
reached 1300. With that, then, this 35-day uprising ended with an admission of defeat on
Aug. 12. From prison, Kagawa continued to send money to his family, who had sacrificed
much for the cause, from royalties received on his book, “Beyond the Death Line.” Likewise,
he began to sense that the day of liberation for the workers was getting close, but he also
realized that the tendency towards violence in the workers’ movement needed to be reigned
in, and so he promoted non-violent resistance, gradualism and brotherly love. However,since his advocacy for these principles was not accepted, he ended up separating himself
from the labor union movement.

No. 39The Ōsaka Labor School
In Aug. 1918, while continuing his Yūaikai activities, Kagawa also began the firstnewspaper in Japan that was produced by and for workers. Working together with
Hisatome Kōzō and others, they first called it “Shin Kōbe” (New Kōbe) but thenchanged its name to the “Workers’ Newspaper” in December. Kagawa served as thehead of the newspaper and wrote the opening column until the following year, when
he turned that role over to Andō Kunimatsu. Likewise, during this time when thelabor movement was being oppressed and radicalized, he came to the realization thatin order to properly ground this movement, education of the workers was a must.
Thus, in 1922, he founded the Ōsaka Labor School. Among the graduates of thisschool were several future leaders of the labor and socialism movements, including
Nishio Suehiro and Sugiyama Motojirō. Kagawa contributed 5000 yen from his
royalty income from “Beyond the Death Line” to this school.

No. 40

Where is it that the vast majority of poor workers that made up the population of
Shinkawa came from? The poverty of the farming regions of Japan was similar tothat of developing countries today. Sickness, famine, chronic debt andsharecropping were the common fate of farmers in Japan. As Kagawa longed forreformation in Japanese society, he did a thorough survey in Jan. 1919 andannounced his findings, which included the fact that, with the exception of thewretched slum he worked with, the areas with the lowest standard of living wherefarming villages.
The people who were producing Japan’s food were themselves starving. Due todebt, increasing sharecropper fees, repossession of mortgaged items and other such
issues, after poor sharecroppers paid their rice quotas to the land owners, they had
nothing left, and had to buy rice themselves, resulting in a vicious cycle. So, on April
9, 1922, Kagawa called together 150 representatives from farming families at the
newly opened Kōbe YMCA and established the Farmers’ Union.
Farmers were attracted to the practical lecture program and the Farmer School(including a research group to gather data concerning life and working conditions).
Over the next few years, Kagawa founded “Farmer Gospel Schools” and Farmer
Centers that gave thousands of farmers practical and religious training.

No. 41

Sugiyama Motojirō and the Farmers’ Union
Kagawa considered his own role in the Farmers’ Union to be that of being a conduit
for financial aid and evangelism, and so he was looking for an appropriate person tobring to fruition the dreams of the farmers of the nation. He found a pastor,
Sugiyama Motojirō, who had experience with studying agriculture. As a base for
agricultural reform, the town of Odaka, Fukushima Pref. was chosen.
Just as Kagawa had done in the cities, Sugiyama was a Christian who endeavored
to work through a broad range of activities to improve the lot of sharecroppers,
including improving agricultural techniques and the daily lives of sharecroppers. (Hewas multi-talented, and as he also had studied dentistry, he also used those skills toimprove their lives.) He promoted the concept of turning poorly producing ricepaddies into orchards and fields for other crops. He also led a well-publicizeddemonstration of sharecroppers against Fujita Farms, which owned 2000 hectares in
Okayama. Sugiyama was elected to the Lower House 7 times, and in 1955, he waschosen as the vice speaker of the Lower House. He served as the first head of theFarmers’ Union and also worked with Kagawa as a joint leader in the “Iesu no
Tomokai” (Friends of Jesus Association).
This picture is of the first Farmer Gospel School, which was established in Kagawa’s
home in Kawaragi in Nishinomiya in 1927.

No. 42

Kagawa invested his resources and talents in many projects, but among those many,
the areas he had the greatest impact on Japanese society were in the co-ops heestablished for consumers and for farmers. The Association of Co-operatives inJapan was established by Kagawa in 1951. It consisted of 660 co-operatives with awide range of interest, including food, consumables, insurance, medical, housing andforeign trade. These co-operatives have memberships totally 24 million people, andemploy 57,000 people with a net value of 684.2 billion yen (as of 2007).
These co-operatives are the driving force behind the consumer movement as well as
the peace movement in Japan. They have lobbied politicians to win stricter
standards on food safety; they have opposed price increases for basic consumables
and campaigned against environmental pollution; and have spread the word aboutprotecting the environment. They fought against welfare benefits being declined andagainst tax hikes that penalize those with low income. The larger organizations haveproduct testing centers and promote the development of food products with fewer
artificial additives and new products that are easy on the environment.
Likewise, from activities ranging from grassroots activities to the parliament, they
have promoted education and peacemaking by such things as participation in world
congresses on the abolishment of nuclear weapons. By participating in all of these
activities related to social responsibility, they have passed on the legacy of the“Kagawa Spirit” of promoting a peaceful society with improving standards of living.
The “Kyōekisha” was the first co-operative that Kagawa directly founded. It wasestablished in 1920.

No. 43

Kagawa had an all-encompassing vision concerning co-operatives. He believed thatthe development of co-operatives was not only the main factor that would bringeconomic reform but also that it would be the key to world peace, and heenthusiastically promoted this view. The management of co-operatives would be a
democratic process by the members themselves, and the “profits” would, instead ofbeing concentrated in the hands of a few, would be spread to all of the members, andso this would be a means to economic reform. In other words, Kagawa considered
co-operatives to be a means to fight poverty in Japan and humanize the economy. It
was his hope that in the long run, the world economy itself would become one based
in a co-operative-type structure.
The cause of war is economic imbalance and the intense economic struggle among
nation states that revolve around resources and markets. He argued that what wasneeded is a system in which the main motivation of seeking profit is replaced by oneof service. A consumer co-operative is an organization in which profits are notsimply accumulated for the benefit of only industrialists and their investors, but where
the purpose is to offer products and service to all its members as a mutual benefit
business. Thus, Kagawa felt that fostering this motivation of service as opposed to
profit-making was the ideal. (Robert Schildgen)No. 44

The Historical Background
The Japanese government used up 8 times its yearly budget during the
Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, bankrupting the nation. As a result, daily life forthe average citizen became very difficult due to the increased taxation on necessities
on top of the special emergency taxes. However, as a result of WWI in Europe, withthe wartime demand it created for military hardware, especially in Russia, by 1919,
Japan had turned itself from a debtor nation into a creditor nation.
However, while the wartime prosperity had resulted in many profiteering in the
shipbuilding and steel industries, with the collapse of the “war bubble” that resulted ininflation and the loss of jobs, the average citizen was really hurting. Likewise, theFebruary 1917 revolution in Russia resulted in the rice riots in Japan, since merchants
had bought up much rice in the anticipation of Japanese troops being sent to Russia,
which caused the price of rice to skyrocket. So, this was the societal background inwhich co-operatives began.
On the other hand, the “Taishō Democracy” came about as the result of the efforts at
economic restoration and the fashionableness of socialism around the world. So, it
was an age in which the waves new social changes were washing over Japan.

No. 45

The beginnings of the Kōbe Buyers’ Co-op
In 1919, Aogaki Zen’ichirō, who was a worker at the Kawasaki Shipyard, joined withothers to plan the “Kawasaki Buyer’s Co-op” to counter the inflation going on at thetime. He first came to discuss this with Kagawa, who was then the head of the“Yūaikai” (Friendship Association), which in turn evolved into the labor unions.
Kagawa had already been thinking that the way to help the poor and the weak was
not simply through philanthropy, and it likewise was not through violent struggle.
The best way was to form an economic self-help organization that valued each humanlife and showed respect for each person. That, of course, became the co-operative,
the philosophy of which can be summed up in the words “love and cooperation.”
Needless to say, their common thinking resonated with each other, like they had been
waiting for each other. Kagawa’s advice was that rather than limit the co-op to justone company, it would be better to open it up to all of the citizens. Kagawa took thelead by offering his home in Shinkawa for an office and beginning in the fall of 1920,
he began giving a lecture every Saturday, borrowing an elementary school or church
as a venue. He totaled more than 50 such lectures in giving PR to the movement.
Later, Aogaki reflected back on Kagawa’s work in admiration, saying, “Kagawa wasreally enthusiastic as he went from place to place, and he began pulling us into thecampaign as well. When I look back on the frenzied activities of Kagawa at the time,
I think that without him, the movement would not have gotten off the ground, or if it did,it would have likely fizzled out.”

No. 46

Kagawa and Nasu
In 1921, after having made a lot of money in the business world in Ōsaka, a man by
the name of Nasu Zenji decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his life helping
society somehow. He consulted with a leader in the Sumiyoshi Kannonbayashi Club
named Hirao Hachisaburō, who advised him to pay a visit to a young, but dependable
person in Shinkawa by the name of Kagawa Toyohiko. So, at the age of 55, hevisited Kagawa (then aged 33) together with a young man from his same hometownby the name of Tanaka Shunsuke (age 27, who later became the 4th president of the
co-op).
Tanaka Shunsuke recalled that meeting, saying “Mr. Nasu first told Kagawa what hehad in mind, and then asked Kagawa for his opinion. Kagawa described theimportance of getting a consumers’ co-op started in order to improve society, and hecontinued to urge Nasu to put his energies into that.”“Kagawa tirelessly spread his conviction of the efficacy of the consumers’ union, now
called the Co-op, saying, ‘In today’s Japan, the old pattern of giving alms simply
doesn’t do any good. It’s kind of like poison circulating in the body. You can’t
simply treat the body with ointment when puss comes to the surface with any success.
You have to have a program to get the body itself well first. When it comes to society,this can only be accomplished by the people themselves coming together in a
co-operative. Although a co-operative is not very flashy, and it takes time to getgoing, because it is the people themselves who are coming together and realizing
their power to stand on their own feet, it is a fundamental movement of societal
improvement.” (Reported by Tanaka Shunsuke in the Christian Newspaper.)No. 47

Nasu and Hirao: Nasu’s Determination
Nasu went to report to Hirao on a cold night in Feb. 1921. As they stood in front of ablazing stove in the study at Hirao’s house, Hirao listened to Nasu’s report, and thenin a strong, emphatic voice encouraged him, saying, “I completely agree with
Kagawa’s explanation. I think a consumers’ union is exactly what we need in today’ssociety. Managing such an enterprise, however, is no simple task. You have to put
aside your own ambition and be someone of excellent character who will work for thegood of others. But in order to be successful, you also have to be someone withgood business sense who can persevere without hogging the spotlight. In order tofind such a person, Nasu san, you need to find someone like yourself to pursue thistask. If you do it, I’m confident that you will succeed.” His encouragement further
cemented Nasu’s resolve to pursue this dream.
He replied saying, “I suspect that I will run into a lot of opposition if I begin such a
union. But no matter how many obstacles they put in my way, I will see it through tothe end. I will dedicate my life to the cause of society, following Buddha’s teaching of
not sparing one’s life for a worthy cause.”
So, Nasu was imbibed with the spirit of the co-operative as taught him by Kagawa,and strengthened by the encouragement of Hirao.

No. 48

Hirao’s Diary
When Nasu began his activities, he first sought out the cooperation of members of
the Kannonbayashi Club (Sumitomo Kichizaemon, Nomura Gengorō, Hirose
Suketarō, Takeda Chōbei, Abe Fusajirō, Mutō Sanji, Kotera Gengo, Ataka Yakichi,
Nomura Tokushichi and Kuhara Fusanosuke, along with Hirao Hachisaburō). Hirao
recorded the situation in his diary as follows:“March 4, 1921, fair and cold.
Last night, at the Kannonbayashi Club, we discussed the proposal Nasu Zenji madeconcerning the Nada Buyers’ Co-operative. Nasu worked for more than 20 years asa stockbroker, but he has taken an early retirement and decided to dedicate the restof his life and resources to the public good. So, he came to seek advice from mesome time ago as to what kind of activity to get involved in, and I suggested that inorder to achieve public tranquility among the general population, he needed to help
them get a stable supply of the necessities of daily life at a low price. However, tosimply collect contributions to subsidize the price they pay for such items would becounterproductive and promote laziness among them. Thus, it is important to help
them be able to procure such items at a low price with their own efforts. I told himthat the most effective way to do that is through the formation of a consumers’
co-operative. After that, Nasu was able to enlist the support of a certain Mr. Tanaka,
who was from the same hometown and who shared a passion for social service. He
became the administrative head, while Nasu spent his energies in running thebusiness. As these preliminary preparations were being made, they continued togather support and held an open forum for all interested parties.”

No. 49

The establishment of the Nada Buyers’ Co-op and the Kōbe Buyers’ Co-op
On that evening at the Kannonbayashi Club, the bylaws for the new organization
were decided on, and 2 days later on March 6, they held a meeting at the Sumiyoshi
Elementary School to publicize the establishment of a buyers’ co-operative. They
asked Kagawa to give a speech, along with a researcher on social enterprises named
Ogawa Shigejirō. Hirao recorded that Kagawa’s speech, entitled “Buyers’
Co-operatives and the Improvement of Daily Life,” left a deep impression on those inattendance and caused “me to want to help the fledgling movement in anyway I could,
as I was so much in agreement with Kagawa’s thinking and inspired by the resolve of
Nasu.” As a result, they bought a piece of land of about 1500 m2 and a house in the
Chaya-chō section of Sumiyoshi, and after receiving legal recognition as the “Limited
Liability Nada Buyers’ Co-operative,” they held an organizing meeting on May 26,
1921 at the Kannonbayashi Club.
The Kōbe Buyers’ Co-operative was able to garner 1000 members by Feb. 1921, as
they widely publicized the effort, and on March 16, the office was moved from
Kagawa’s home to a building in Yahatadōri 5-chōme. It was officially organized on
April 24 at the organizing meeting, where the officials were elected.
Thus, the Kōbe group began as an outgrowth of the labor union movement, while the
Nada group began within the context of the Sumiyoshi community, but they both were
infused with Kagawa’s spirit and thinking, and after overcoming numerous difficulties
over the years, they merged into one organization in 1962, changing the name to its
present name “Kōpu Kōbe” (Kōbe Co-op) in 1991.

No. 50

Following the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, Kagawa put his efforts into organizing
students’ consumer unions. Beginning in May 1928 and using the Honjo ChristianIndustrial Youth Organization building as an office, he gained the cooperation of suchleaders as Abe Isoo, Maruoka Shigeaki and Matsuura Takeo. The first branch wasorganized at Waseda University with the help of the Waseda University Social Work
Research Lab, and that was followed by branches at Takushoku University and Meiji
University, where they opened stores handling various school supplies and cafeterias.
Next were Tōkyō University and Meiji Gakuin, but they soon became embroiled inradical student movements and faced severe pressure from the authorities, who
forced them to disband in 1940. The postwar movement to found student consumer
unions was not directly connected with these prewar institutions, but the effects of that
history had numerous influences on that movement.
In order to get both labor unions and consumer unions back on their feet again,
Kagawa led in the formation of the “Japan Co-operative Alliance” in 1945 and became
its chairperson. There were not only representatives from the former buyers’
co-operatives present, but there were also representatives from agriculture, forestry
and fishery industries, as well as medical personnel and students. This alliance led
to the formation of agricultural co-operatives, consumer co-operatives and other suchorganizations, along with the adoption of new laws related to those entities. In 1951,
the “Japan Alliance of Consumer Unions” was formed with Kagawa service as the firstchairperson, and this organization, then, joined the International Co-operative Allianceto form relationships with other countries. Thus, Kagawa was not only the father of“Kōpu Kōbe” but also the father of co-operatives in general.

No. 51

The Co-operative Enterprises of the Honjo District
Following the Great Kantō Earthquake, Kagawa and his cohorts focused their relief
efforts in the Honjo area, first establishing the Kōtō Consumers’ Union in 1927 and the
Nakanogō Pawn Co-operative in 1928. The purpose of this latter enterprise was toallow victims of the earthquake to pawn items to borrow money at very low interest,and even if they could not return the money within the allotted time frame, they would
not lose their rights to the pawned items. By establishing such a co-operative thatthey operated themselves, this has been able to continue into the present as the“Nakanogō Credit Union.” With the collapse of the economic bubble in recent times,
this has continued to serve the local people and their small businesses through thespirit of mutual aid and support.

No. 52

Tōkyō Medical Buyers’ Co-operative
In order to help poor people have access to inexpensive medical care, Kagawa
joined forces with Nitobe Inazō and others to form the Tōkyō Medical Buyers’
Co-operative in 1931. It obtained government recognition the following year, andlater developed into present-day Nakano General Hospital. This movement spreadthroughout the nation, and numerous other similar facilities were founded. Therewas some opposition by the doctors’ medical association, but it was welcomed by the
many villages around the country that didn’t have their own doctor.

No. 53

Matsuzawa Kindergarten and its children
Kagawa was passionate about children’s education. In Shinkawa, he had seen
firsthand how children in poverty were unable to go to school and had to grow up in
deplorable conditions, and so he had taken these children on outings to places like
Suma and Akashi to expose them to nature. In 1931, he founded a kindergarten at
the Matsuzawa Church in Tōkyō and in 1932, he began the Ichibaku Kindergarten in
Kawaragi (Nishinomiya). This was followed by the establishment of numerous otherfacilities for young children, and now there are over 50 such kindergartens andchild-care facilities that are part of Kagawa’s legacy.

No. 54

On Sept. 2, 1923, right after Kagawa first heard about the Great Kantō Earthquake, hegathered with friends from the Kōbe Church and the Kōbe YMCA to discuss thesituation, and he immediately got on a boat to go to Tōkyō. He arrived in Yokohama
on the 4th and went partway by train, walking the rest of the way to Shinagawa, where
he spent the night. On the 5th, we went to the Tōkyō Disaster Center, walking
through still smoldering embers, to gather information. As he climbed the hill
overlooking Ueno and beheld the burned out city below, he was beside himself in grief,and said he felt like “demanding an apology from God.” He returned to Kōbe on the
7th, but the shock of what he had witnessed made it difficult to sleep. He wrote apoem about the “Phoenix rising again from the ashes,” and began a furious campaign
to raise relief funds.
In order to garner support, he travelled all over western Japan from Ōsaka to Kyūshū
and Shikoku making more than 40 appearances for appeals in less than a month.
He gathered 7500 yen (which in today’s money is about 10,000 times that much) for
relief funds and returned to Kōbe on Oct. 5. On the 7th, he headed back up to Tōkyō,visiting the Interior Department and the Tōkyō City Hall. He found that the greatest
need was for clothing and bedding for the upcoming winter, and so he returned toKōbe on the 13th to gather such supplies, returning with a boatload full on the 16th.
He also sold a thousand and several hundred western language books, among otherpersonal items, to raise and addition 1500 yen, and put this together with 5000 yen
from the endowment for the Iesu Dan (Jesus Band) to use for relief funds.

No. 55

As Kagawa surveyed the area around Honjo and Fukagawa that was so devastated,
he decided to set up his relief operations base in Honjo Matsukura Chō. Just as hehad done in Kōbe, where he had lived among the people in the worst-off area, herealized that he could only really relate to the pain the victims were suffering by living
together with them. And so in order to be a “good neighbor” to them, he set up asettlement there and began the work. His aim was to help them towards
independence both economically and psychologically, and the center of that work,
then, was the Honjo Christian Youth Association. Kagawa used this opportunity tomove the center of activity for that from Kōbe to Tōkyō.
Such volunteer work again came to the fore following the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake(in 1995). Kagawa had already been using the English word “volunteer” andimported that into the Japanese language as early as 1926, and indeed, he was apioneer in volunteerism in Japan. Beginning with his work in the slums at the age of21, and then his relief work following the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923, there wasalso the relief work after the Okutango earthquake (1927), the Sanriku earthquake
and tsunami (1933) and the wind damage in Kansai in 1934. Following theHanshin-Awaji earthquake, the influence of Kagawa and his work was once again
looked at, and there is much that we can learn from the records of his relief activities
following the Great Kantō Earthquake that applies to our age as well.

No. 56

The period in Japanese history leading up to the time that Kagawa began his work in
Shinkawa was one of monumental change. It was only 50 years since Japan ended
its self-imposed isolation and opened itself to the world, and it was a time when
European powers were targeting Asia with their colonization through military might.
Human alienation and the growing rich-poor divide resulting from industrialism andcapitalism together with the influx of socialistic and communistic ideas led to a
confusing time. These intertwined trends led to the Sino-Japanese andRusso-Japanese wars, along with the economic bubble brought on by WWI and its
subsequent collapse, all resulting in very difficult living circumstances in society.
Thus, it was a far more fluid era than in more recent times.
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5, the Japanese government used twice its
annual budget, and this was followed by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, wheresome 8 times the annual budget was used, resulting in national bankruptcy. They
had to apply special war taxes on everything, including daily necessities, and so thisresulted in daily life becoming increasingly difficult. With the outbreak of WWI in July
1914, however, the demand for exports increased, yielding a limited prosperity, andby 1919, Japan was able to shift from being a debtor nation to a creditor nation.
While the wartime prosperity had resulted in many profiteering in the shipbuilding andsteel industries, with the collapse of the “war bubble” that resulted in inflation and theloss of jobs, the average citizen was really hurting. Likewise, the February 1917
revolution in Russia resulted in the rice riots in Japan, since merchants had bought upmuch rice in the anticipation of Japanese troops being sent to Russia, which caused
the price of rice to skyrocket. So, the society at that time was one in turmoil indeed.
During this same period, under the influence of socialism around the world, the“Taishō Democracy” movement took place, and so this added to the great socialchange that was going on at the time.

No. 57

Kōbe was a shipbuilding town. By about 1900, both Mitsubishi Zōsen (shipbuilding)and Kawasaki Zōsen had become independent companies. Due to the financial
collapse of Japan resulting from the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, there
were in 1908 some 800,000 workers who became unemployed, and by 1909, thestock market had collapsed. The younger sons of farming families in Shikoku,
Chūgoku, San’in and other regions began to flood into Kōbe looking for work. Thus,
the city was overflowing with unemployed. The same situation resulted from thecollapse of the “bubble” following WWI. It was somewhat similar to what is going on
today in Beijing and Shanghai in China.
The situation was very similar in England when the first co-operative was established.
That was in 1844 in the town of Rochdale, a textile manufacturing town near Liverpool,which was made famous by the Beetles. With the invention of the steam engine byJames Watt in the late 18th Century, industry was transformed from one based inhandicraft to a mechanized upgrade, and with that came a vast improvement inefficiency. The demand for laborers caused many to flock to these developing
industrial centers. The society of the time was based in pure capitalism, which
resulted in there being a few wealthy industrialists among a vast throng of poor
laborers. It was these poor laborers who then pooled their funds to make the very
first co-operative, which was called, “The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.”
The first Japanese co-operatives were born out of essentially the same societal
situation.

No. 58

Global Activities
Even before the publication of the English translation of Kagawa’s book “Across the
Death-Line” in 1921, Kagawa’s selfless devotion to the work in Shinkawa had became
well-known among Christians involved in social activities around the world. However,with the publication of that book, his fame in particularly North America and Europe
grew and he was inundated with speaking requests.
The following points are the foundational points he raised in his emphasis on
Christian neighborly love:•Relief activities towards the weak in society based in the spirit of love and mutual aid.
•Organization of co-operatives and unions in various economic spheres, including
production, consumption and financial, in order to build up a mutually beneficial
economic system in a nation or region.
•Establishing eternal world peace through the building up of a world federation ofstates.
•Putting emphasis on the importance of education in order to increase the spirit oflove for peace, friendship and mutual support, and also to learn from the bounty ofnature.

No. 59

Chronology of Overseas Activities
1914.8.2 - 1917.5.4 Study at Princeton Seminary (2 yrs and 9 mo.)
1920.mid-August - 9.15 Speaking tour in Shanghai, China area
1922.2.9 - 3.10 Trip to Taiwan with his wife
1924.11.16 - 1925.7.22 Trip to the US at invitation of the Association of American
Universities, via Europe and Israel
1927.8.16 Participation as Japan’s representative in the Shanghai Christian
Economics Conference
1928.11.29 - 12.24 Evangelistic tour of Manchuria with Kuroda Shirō
1930.7.19 - 8.3 Visit to China with Secretary Helen Topping
1931.1.13 - 2.13 Visit to China with Secretary Helen Topping
1932.7.10 - 11.12 Visit to Toronto Canada at invitation of the YMCA’s world
convention
1932.3.5 - 3.20 Visit to Taiwan with Kuroda Shirō
1934.2.1 - 3.14 Visit to the Philippines and China at the invitation of the Christian
Alliance
1935.2.18 - 7.30 Visit to Australia to participate in the centennial celebration of thefounding of Australia; followed by a trip to New Zealand and Hawaii (5 months)
1935.12.5 - 1936.10.12 Trip to the US at the request of the Federal Council ofChurches
1938.5.23 - 6.30 Evangelistic campaign in Manchuria and tour of Korea
1938.11.15 - 1939.3.18 Participation as a speaker in the World Mission Conferencein India; entering India via Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

No. 60

1939.11.7 - 11.24 Evangelistic tour of Korea
1940.5.14 - 6.18 Evangelistic campaign in Manchuria
1941.4.5 - 8.17 Participation in Christian Peace Mission to the US
1942.8.21 - 9 Evangelistic campaign in Manchuria
1949.12.22 - 1950.12.28 Evangelistic campaign in Europe and America at theinvitation of the World Mission Associates, the World Conference of Christian
Educators and the British Bible Society.
1953.1.28 - 6.25 Evangelistic campaign in Brazil
1954.7.1 - 10.25 Participation in the World Christian Conference in Evanston(Illinois) at their invitation
1957.1.22 - 2.22 Evangelistic campaign in Thailand
1958.1.17 - 1.29 Participation in the Southeast Asia Conference of the International
Co-operative Alliance held in Malaysia
Kagawa made a total of 7 trips to America, 13 to China and Taiwan, among trips tomany other lands as well, to campaign for world peace.

No. 61

Ōya Sōichi said the following:“If the top ten figures in Japanese history during the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa Eras
(1868-1988) were rated on their influence on Japanese society, Kagawa Toyohikowould be one of them. He might even be in the top three. We could list suchpeople as Saigō Takamori, Itō Hirobumi, Hara Takashi, Nogi Maresuke, Natsume
Sōseki, Nishida Kitarō and Yukawa Hideki, among others, but the things they did werein much narrower ranges of activities. When looked at from this perspective, while
Kagawa’s influence may have begun and ended with religious influence, his influencespread to almost every other aspect of modern society. It is no exaggeration thatessentially every movement relating to the livelihoods of ordinary people, from newpolitical movements, social movements, union movements, farming movements,
co-operative movements and the vast majority of any other aspect that the word
“movement” can be applied to, had its roots in the work of Kagawa.”
Likewise, the various social safety nets we depend on for financial security in today’ssociety, such as health insurance, unemployment insurance, etc., grew out of those
14 years Kagawa spent working with the people of Shinkawa.

No. 62

Public Service Record
1917 Temporary employee of Hyōgo Prefecture Relief Union
1924/4 Member of Imperial Conference on the Economy
Member of Committee for Improving Defective Housing
1924/5 Member of Central Job Placement Committee
1925/3 Member of Imperial Endowment Foundation Council
1929/7 Temporary employee of Tōkyō Social Affairs bureau（at request of Mayor of Tōkyō
Horikiri Zenjirō）
1932/4 Member of Central Job Placement Committee (at request of (Prime Minister’s)
Cabinet)1932/5 Member of Investigation Committee for Social Insurance (at request of Cabinet)
1934/4 Member of Central Job Placement (at request of Cabinet)
1934/5 Member of Imperial Endowment Foundation “Saiseikai” Council (by Saiseikai
President Imperial Prince Taijin)
1934/12 Temporary member of Worker’s Compensation Insurance Investigation Committee(at request of Cabinet)
1935/7 Temporary member of Social Insurance Investigation Committee (at request of
Cabinet)1945/4 Temporary member of Health Bureau (at request of Ministry of Health and Welfare)
1945/7 Counselor of Imperial Endowment Foundation War Damage Compensation
Association (at request of President of War Damage Compensation Association)
1945/8 Counselor of Higashikuninomiya Cabinet (at request of Cabinet)
1945/9 Chief Director of National Nourishment Society (by Ministry of Health and Welfare)
1945/9 Advisor of Ministry of Health and Welfare (at request of Cabinet)
1945/10 Advisor of Kōbe City
Member of Council on Representative Government (at request of Cabinet)No. 63

1946/2 Member of Council on Food Strategy (at request of Cabinet)
1946/3 Member of House of Lords (at request of Emperor)
Director of Imperial Endowment Foundation Compatriot Relief Association (atrequest of Tokugawa Iemasa Chairman of Compatriot Relief Association)
1946/5 Vice chairman of Tōkyō Branch of Imperial Endowment Foundation Compatriot Relief
Association
1946/7 Member of Social Insurance Investigation Committee (at request of Cabinet)
1947/5 Counselor of Kōmyō Empress Association
1947/6 Member of Prison Law Revision Investigation Committee
1947/7 Member of Central Committee on National Parks (at request of Prime Minister
Katayama Tetsu)
1947/10 Member of Committee for Overseeing Tōkyō Co-operative
1948/6 Member of Central Prison Committee (at request of Ministry of Justice)
1948/7 Member of Committee for Overseeing Tōkyō Co-operative (at request of Tōkyō Pref.)1948/9 Member of Central Child Welfare Committee
1949/6 Member of Population Problem Council
1949/7 Member of Committee for Overseeing Tōkyō Co-operative
1949/7 Member of Central Council on National Parks
1955/2 Advisor of Amagasaki City
1955/11 Temporary member of Hyōgo Pref. Social Security Council
1955/12 Member of Population Problem Council
1956/10 Member of Kōbe City Board of Education
1956/10 Member of Central Eugenic Protection Council
1957/10 Member of Central Child Welfare Council
1957/12 Member of Council on Local Business Improvement of the Minister of Health andWelfare1958/10 Member of Kōbe City Board of Education

No. 64

Famous People Kagawa met
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
This English philosopher and peace activist came to Japan in 1921, and gave alecture in Kōbe to laborers, with Kagawa acting as translator.
Gandhi (1869-1948)
On his visit to India in January 1939, after attending the World Mission Conference,
Kagawa met with Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss issues surrounding India’s
independence, the problem of poverty and the issue of Japanese military aggressionin China.

No. 65

British Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937)
In 1924, while visiting England, Kagawa met with MacDonald, who was head of theLabor Party at the time, to discuss issues of the day.
German President Theodor Heuss (1884-1963)
Heuss became the first president of the Republic of Germany in 1949.
met with him in 1950 to discuss the German recovery from the war.

KagawaNo. 66

Rev. Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)
German pastor who resisted Hitler and was imprisoned for a long time. While
visiting Germany in 1950, Kagawa met him when he came to hear Kagawa in a
lecture in Frankfurt, and they had a long discussion.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Born in Germany, Einstein escaped to the US and became a citizen there. As atheoretical physicist, he is most famous for his theory of relativity. He visited with
Kagawa when he came to Japan in 1922.

No. 67

John D Rockefeller (1839-1937)
An American oil baron and philanthropist who funded various cultural projects.
Kagawa was invited to have lunch with him in 1925 while in the US.
Hu Shih (1892-1962)
Chinese literary theorist, philosopher and educator.
China in 1927 and discussed issues of the day.

Kagawa met him while inNo. 68

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers during the occupation of Japan. After
MacArthur set up his headquarters in Japan, Kagawa wrote him an open letter making
certain requests concerning occupation policies, and he met with MacArthur todiscuss them. There clearly had an effect on the development of such policies.
From an article in the Aug. 30, 1945 issue of the “Yomiuri Hōchi (News)” entitled“Approaching Supreme Commander MacArthur”: “Your Excellency, Supreme
Commander MacArthur. As a conqueror, your country must act with a wide andcompassionate heart. Japan is now attempting to launch out as a respectablecountry in the world in accordance with the imperial edict. … We request of you,your excellency, that you make use of the characteristics of the Japanese people toencourage them to move forward into a new world and not to oppress the people withpower.”
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
On his visit to India in January 1939, after attending the World Mission Conference,
Kagawa met with Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss issues surrounding India’s
independence, the problem of poverty and the issue of Japanese military aggressionin China.

No. 69

The love showed by Rev. Myers was an important factor in the development of that
Kagawa spirit, as it taught him compassion and kindness. Likewise, other examples
that influenced the formation of the foundation of that spirit included the dedication of
Nagao Maki in his service to others, the dedication of John Wesley to evangelize thelost and the passion Arnold Toynbee showed for his relief work among slum dwellers.
Kagawa’s absolute trust in Jesus Christ was based in his complete belief in Jesus.
On top of this base, then, it was his study of Bowne while at Meiji Univ. that gave himan unshakeable philosophy of faith. Through this, Kagawa resolved to learn fromChrist’s example to work for the good of other people, and he put that resolve into
practice. That’s why, for instance, he developed the habit of washing other people’sbacks when in the public baths, something he became well-known for. Foot washing
was performed in the YMCA, but Kagawa washed people’s backs.
Whenever he encountered people in dire circumstances, he was impelled to attempt
to do something about it. That’s why he entered the slums to live with people in suchcircumstances in order to somehow help them out of those horrendous circumstances.
But he learned through living with them for 14 years that simple acts of charity alone
could not accomplish this goal. He learned that without developing mechanisms ofself-help, there would be no real progress. Thus, he began developing suchself-help programs that became the means by which poor people could achieve alevel of independence, and these programs became the foundations upon which all of
the basic social welfare programs we all depend on were built. Starting with the“Jesus Band,” child education programs and “settlements,” he developed self-help
programs that continue to exist as “Zenrōsai” (National Workers’ Mutual Aid
Co-operative), “JA Kyōsai” (agricultural mutual aid society), various consumer,
agricultural and fisheries co-operatives, and such things as health insurance andunemployment insurance.

No. 70

Kagawa’s thinking was based in the concept of “love.” He himself wrote on coloredpaper the phrase, “Love is my all.” He said that love is thinking of others more thanyou do yourself.
The basis of thinking, or rather of living, for both he and his wife Haru was to live forothers. This is the foundational thinking that we inherit from them as their legacy.

No. 71

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Mutual Benefit: Building mutual prosperity and happiness by working together todevelop benefits that increase the standard of living through health, welfare andsecurity.
Human-centered Economics: Building an economy that focuses on human dignity
rather than the pursuit of profit alone.
Shared Capital: Everyone pooling their capital together. A co-operative depends
on everyone’s participation and the sharing of both responsibility and benefits.
Non-exploitive: Creating a society in which everyone is equal and shares together
in benefits.
Dispersed Authority: Avoiding the concentration of power in the hands of a few by
having each individual become aware of their personal autonomy and act with
self-reliance.
Multi-Party Politics: A co-operative is based on an alliance of individuals that goesbeyond party affiliations. It is not about political agendas but about pooling
resources for everyone’s benefit.
Education Centered: Education is critical to increasing the awareness needed tofoster the development of a prosperous society that values human life.

No. 72

No. 73