Frontier of International Exchange

Expressing Honor Leads to Loyal Education

Takatoshi Sato (Graduate of 1967)

\ Impressive excavation of unknown predecessors of Doshisha in Iwate \

  The population of Iwate Prefecture is 1,400,000 with latitude 40‹ (same as New York). Many famous forerunners were born and raised in Iwate Prefecture. The population of Morioka City is 300,000 and is known as the capital of Iwate Prefecture. It also serves as the central city for Aomori, Akita, and Northeastern parts of Japan.
  The aim of the International Understanding Project is to foster and train personals so that they will have a global mind, which will enable them to serve their home country and contribute to world peace. The fruit of the project should be mentioned and emphasized. Paying respect to prominent forerunners of the international exchange program is indispensable. Let me introduce four distinguished forerunners in the field of international exchange programs: Noe Fuchizawa, Tamenori Yamazaki, and Seiji Katagiri and his son, Tetsu.
  First of all, Noe Fuchizawa (1850 ` 1936) was born and raised in Ishidoriya-Cho, Iwate-Prefecture. She was an educator and was known as gThe mother of womenfs education in Koreah. In spite of her unfortunate childhood, Noe Fuchizawa studied abroad in the States and studied Christianity at Doshisha. She went to Korea at the age of fifty-five and devoted the latter half of her life to womenfs education in Korea. She worked hard with a Christian mentality and was able to find her own way of life. She eventually established a famous womenfs college, Sunmyon Womenfs College, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
  The society of local women in Ishidoriya began to recognize Fuchizawafs contribution to the Korean society. Therefore, members of the womenfs society decided to start a project to honor Ms. Fuchizawa. The society sent delegates to Korea and they were very much impressed by her contributions to the Korean society. After coming back to Japan, the delegates began a project to honor Ms. Fuchizawa with support from the local government and Board of Education in Ishidoriya. With their support, many lectures about Noe Fuchizawa were given at elementary schools and junior high schools in Isidoriya. Thus, Noe Fuchizawafs fame gradually spread throughout the local community by bathing in the light of local TV and newspapers, which featured a story about her life.
  The children at Yaehata Elementary School in Ishidoriya dramatized Fuchizawafs life and made it into a play. One child acted as the bearded Doctor, Jo Neesima, which rejoiced the audience. The audience was pleased with the play. Syukuko Murakami, a member of the womenfs society, published the book, gThe Life of Noe Fuchizawah with the preface written by Dr. Yosinori Matsuyama, a former Chancellor of the Doshisha. Kan Bon Sikku, a professor at Iwate Prefectural University read Murakamifs book and was so impressed by the book that he translated the book into Korean and is selling well in Korea today.
  Secondly, Tamenori Yamazaki (1857 ` 1881) was born in Oshu City, which used to be Mizusawa City. He was also an educator and was considered to be one of gthe three geniuses from Mizusawah along with Shimpei Goto and Makoto Saito. He was affiliated with a Christian Association gKumamoto Bandh and entered Kaisei School (the present Tokyo University). He then transferred to Doshisha University.
  Although Mr. Yamazaki was considered to be the successor of Dr. Jo Niijima, he died at the young age of 24 years old due to an illness. He was highly honored by great efforts of Mitsuo Takahashi.
  After retiring as a high school teacher, he began to show interest in Christianity. Mr. Takahashi was also a Christian and was a member of Mizusawa Christian Church, which was founded by Yamazakifs peer and Doshisha English School graduate, Seiji Katagiria. It is known that the church has a history of 124 years. Mr. Takahashi was the first person to enthusiastically research on Mr. Yamazaki in Japan.
  In February 2001, Mitsuo Takahashi was awarded gThe Neesima Prizeh for his books on Tamenori Yamazaki by Doshisha University. When he received the prize, Mr. Takahashi was overjoyed and stated, g My work has been acknowledged by research scholars. I have never been happier in my life.h
  Risa Yoshida, a junior high student at Doshisha, read gThe Biography of Tamenori Yamazakih a year before and she was deeply moved. She wrote an essay on the biography and turned it in for a contest that commemorates the anniversary of Neesimafs 165 th birthday. Her essay was chosen as one of the most excellent essays and was awarded a prize last year. When I met Mr. Takahashi, he proudly showed me a thank you letter from Ms. Yoshida, which amazed me how well she had written for her age. I still remember how Mr. Takahashi couldnft help smiling while showing Ms. Yoshidafs letter.
  In March 2010, another book by Takahashi, gThe Life of Tamenori Yamazakih will be published. Last year, Mr. Takahashi was seriously sick 2 times and since he has been physically weak, he told me that he wasnft going to live long. He also stated that, gMy work is to write about Tamenori Yamazaki and I put all my energy into it.h I remember his words being full of energy and that it didnft show any sign of physical weakness.
  Lastly, Seiji Katagiri (1856 ` 1928) and his son, Tetsu Katagiri (1888 ` 1982) were both born in Oshu City (the former Mizusawa City). Seiji Katagiri supported Dr. Jo Neesima in the early stage of Doshishafs foundation. His son, Tetsu Katagiri devoted his life to womenfs education in Doshishafs modernizing era. Seiji founded Mizusawa Church in Mizusawa, which will celebrate its 125th year of its foundation. He was the first pastor of Mizusawa Church and was also a pastor at Sendai Kita Church. He devoted his life to evangelical missionary work in the Tohoku area.
  Tetsu Katagiri was the President of Doshisha Womenfs College for a long period of time. He was a theologian and an authority in Hebrew. He was also known as the gfather of Doshisha Glee Clubh, which is a famous male choir at Doshisha.
  In October 2007, the Iwate Doshisha Alumni Association managed to find a memorial monument honoring Reverend Seiji and Tetsu Katagiri. The monument was completed in the sixth year since the project started. Doshisha alumni from all over Japan supported the project financially. Thankfully, the gracious monument honoring Seiji and Tetsu Katagiri was completed. The memorial ceremony held on October 13th included 20 family members, Doshishafs provost, chairman of the Board of Trustees, and other alumni. It was the biggest gathering since Iwate Doshisha Alumni Association started. Later, I received good news from beraved families that separated families came together due to the memorial ceremony being held. They also stated that they have gathered annually in front of the memorial monument, which is good news to the Iwate Chapter of Doshisha Alumni Association.
  One usually says it takes 100 to 200 years to realize truly good education. We should move onward step by step to establish good education. For this purpose, we should never retrogate or blunder. It is our duty to inherit our predecessorfs idea and dream to the next generation. By honoring our predecessors, we can truly educate the youngsters of the next generation. I can see that youngsters are gradually taking part in honoring their predecessors and I am quite sure that the spirit of predecessors abides in their hearts deeply. These four unknown predecessors were neither aggressive nor egocentric. They were unselfish predecessors and they are probably smiling shyly upon my comments. I hope they continue to watch over us now and always.

  Suggestions for the international exchange programs
  1. International exchange program should be based on deepening global understanding, nurturing global mind, helping one another, and world peace.
  2. We have to make our community a friendlier place to live.
  3. The adults are responsible for educating youngsters of the next-generation so that they contribute generously to the community.
  4. We should do our best to attain success, happiness and world peace.
  5. Thoughtfulness of others should be at the root of global understanding.
  6. Today, not many youngsters have a chance to learn about the forerunners who have sacrificed their lives to global understanding. Those forerunners achieved their dreams and goals by having a global way of thinking, which also enabled them to study abroad and come up with international exchange programs. Hence, itfs important to teach the youngsters about their forerunners.
  7. I believe there is a strong connection between those forerunners and global understanding.
  8. The people of the small towns in Iwate work hard toward international understanding. They cooperate and encourage each other toward the future. International understanding should shed light in the dark society.
  9. Its a good idea to talk about the forerunners mentioned above to enlighten the society.
  10. The people of the small towns in Iwate earnestly devote themselves to international exchange programs to promote global understanding. They are supportive of youngsters who are interested in international exchange programs.

  11.   (Reprinted from gthe Cross Culture News No.9 on December 3, 2009)
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