Toyohiko Kagawa
Toyohiko Kagawa was born in 1888, the son of a wealthy
businessman and a concubine. Both
parents died when he was four years old and the young boy bounced between relatives
who didn’t seem to actually want him.
His childhood was very lonely.
As a teenager, he took some English classes through some
Presbyterian missionaries and was converted to Christianity. His conversion resulted in his extended Buddhist
family disowning him and his having to move in with the missionary families. As a young man, he enrolled in Tokyo
Presbyterian college and later in a local Seminary. He went to Princeton University for further
studies from 1914-1916. His theological
studies, while beneficial, left a bad taste in his mouth. He was turned off by all the discussion and
debate over theological fine points and the relatively minor discussion over
how to apply those doctrines, and the Christian faith in general, to a
struggling world – pointing often to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
He returned to Japan, in the city of Kobe, and moved into
a 6x6-foot shack in order to minister to the poor there. Japan at the time was going through an
internal struggle with its attempt to adopt Capitalism as an economic system, and
the poor ended up suffering greatly. As
a result of being immersed in this suffering, Toyohiko advocated a form of
Socialism based on Christian principles – an alternative to State-run
Socialism, Capitalism, and Communism he called “Brotherhood Economics.”
Toyohiko was a driving force in organizing labor strikes
and forming the first labor unions in Japan.
For these activities, he was arrested twice: in 1921 and in 1922. During his time in prison, he wrote two
novels, the second of which detailed his life among the destitute of Kobe.
In 1923, a devastating earthquake hit Tokyo, leveling
much of the city. He moved there,
sensing an opportunity to minister to those affected. From here, he advocated for universal male
suffrage in Japan, which he succeeded in achieving, and made great strides in
universal female suffrage.
With the rise of militarism in Japan in the 1930s,
Toyohiko advocated for Pacifism. After Japan
invaded China, he gave a speech in China where he apologized on behalf of the
Japanese people for the invasion. This led
to his arrest in 1940. He was released
in early 1941, and he traveled to the United States to advocate for peace. He spent the duration of World War 2 in the
United States, returning to Japan soon after its defeat, then achieving his
long-held goal of universal women’s suffrage.
He continued to write on social issues, receiving a nomination for the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947 and in 1948 and later a nomination for the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1955. All
this time, he continued to evangelize the forgotten poor of Japan. He established hospitals, schools, credit unions
and churches.
Though evangelism was the primary impetus for his works,
he is better known as a Christian social reformer. Toyohiko died in 1960, at age 71, of heart
failure. His final words were from his
deathbed, “Please do your best for world peace and the church in Japan.”
Quotes:
[to Emperor Hirohito in 1946] “Whosoever will be great
among you…shall be the servant of all. A
ruler’s sovereignty, Your Majest, is in the hearts of the people. Only by service to others can a man, or
nation, be godlike.”
“I read that in a book that a man called Christ went
about doing good. It is very
disconcerting to me that I am so easily satisfied with just ‘going about’.”
