by Andrew Hall

Chapter 1: The Early Church in Western Japan, 1911-1945.

     (Note: These chapters are just rough drafts. I look forward to any corrections or additions anyone could send me. My email is andrewrhall@hotmail.com. The information      in this chapter comes from "Members Without a Church: Japanese Mormons in Japan from 1924 to 1948", by J. Christopher Conkling, BYU Studies 15, Spring 1975, p. 191-214, "The Closing of the Early Japan Mission" by R. Lanier Britsch, BYU Studies, Vol 15, no. 2, Winter 1975, From the East: The History of the Latter-day Saints in  Asia, 1851-1996, by R. Lanier Britsch, Deseret Book, 1998, "Nihon Dendoobu no Kaisoo" by Takagi Tomigoro, Seito no Michi, 8-11, 1958, and Nihon Matsujitsu Seito Shi, 1850-1980, by Takagi Shinji and William McIntyre, Beehive Press, 1996.)

The missionary work in Japan during the 1901-1924 era was mainly focused in Eastern Japan. "Conferences" (similar to branches) were created in Tokyo, Sapporo, Kofu, and Sendai. The only conference in Western Japan was the Osaka conference. 

President Elbert D. Thomas (the fourth mission president in Japan, 1909-1912) and Elder Jay C. Jensen were the first LDS missionaries to travel to the western part of Japan. The number of missionaries in Japan had risen to 15 in 1911, and they went looking for a new area to open up. In March of that year they visited Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Matsuyama, and Kagoshima, and as a result decided to open Osaka as a proselyting area. The first missionaries, James A. Miller and Ronald Emmet (spelling?) arrived in Osaka in September 1911. They found a house to live in in Minami-ku, Tennoji (today's Tennoji-ku) and hired a cook. 

The key figure among the members in Osaka was Brother Katsura Tsuruichi. He was baptized in October 1913 by Elder James Scowcroft, and was the main pillar of the Church in that area while the mission was closed and the first decade after the work was reopened after the war. Another leading member was Brother Hamada Hisaichi, who was baptized in July 1913, also by Elder Scowcroft. In 1915 Katsura and Hamada were made Melchizedeck Priesthood holders, the third and forth in Japan, and the only active ones at the time. Other active Osaka members include Sister Nagao and Brother Watanabe Yoshijiro, an elderly ivory carver. The Britsch book includes a picture of the missionaries and Japanese members in Osaka in front of their meeting house in May 1917. There are five missionaries in the picture, three Elders and two Sisters. Two of them were probably President and Sister Simpson, the other sister was probably married to one of the Elders, as couples often served missions together in those days. Brother Katsura and three Japanese sisters are also in the picture. The sign on the wall says that the missionaries taught an English class every Tuesday, so apparently we inherited a long tradition of holding Eikaiwa. In December 1920 to January 1921 Elder David O. McKay visited Japan as part of his world mission tour. His trip included a visit to the Osaka conference. 

In September 1921 Elder Hilton Robertson and his wife Sister Hazel Robertson were transferred into the Osaka area. Elder Robertson was a farmer from Springville, Utah. The Robertsons were married in 1912, but were not blessed with any children. They were called as missionaries to Japan, and served there from 1921 to 1924. The last 9 months of their mission Elder Robertson served as the last mission president in Japan before the mission was closed. Because Elder Robertson's journal was available to William McIntyre, we have a pretty detailed view of the Osaka Conference during their time there. The Church in Osaka progressed considerably during that time, including 10 baptisms. (I'm not quoting the original journals, which I haven't seen. I'm translating back into English from the Japanese translation in the Takagi/McIntyre book. So there may be some mistakes.) 

Nov. 17th, 1921: A beautiful Sunday morning. 21 people attended Sunday School, and after a meal Elders Davis, Whittaker, and Payne went with Hazel and myself to visit the saints and other friends. At Sacrament Meeting Brothers Katsura and Hamada were ordained to the office of Elder. (I'm not sure why they were made Elders at this point, since they had been Melchizedek Priesthood holders since 1915). 

Elder Robertson actively gave the Japanese members callings, training them as leaders. The members were also active in helping with the missionary work. 

Nov. 3, 1921: In order to set our speakers for Sunday night, Brothers Katsura and Oohashi came to the Church tonight. We talked for a long time about the gospel. 

Dec. 6, 1921: Brother Katsura conducted in Sunday School. Many people attended. Brother Davis conducted the Sacrament Meeting. All in attendance gave strong testimonies. That night many attended the Proselyting Meeting (Dendo Shukai). After the meeting two investiagtors bought Books of Mormon. 

Aug. 8, 1922: We held a street meeting tonight, with Elders Katsura and Hamada speaking. They gave wonderful speechs in front of 200 listeners. We handed out 150 pamphlets, and sold three Books of Mormon and two Bibles. 

Nov. 18, 1922: We held a street meeting that night. Elders Hamada and Katsura spoke, and a great crowd listened with great concern. After the meeting we gave out more than a hundred pamphlets, sold one Book of Mormon and Bible each, as well as 15 other books. 

On Sundays they held Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting in the morning, and a Proselyting Meeting at night. The attendance at Sunday school was usually around 30 to 40, probably mostly children. The Sacrament Meeting was for members, and attendance seems to have been around 10 people. 125 members, investigators and friends attended the 1921 Christmas party. Lets look at the content of some of these meetings. 

Sept. 25, 1921: At Sacrament Meeting Brother Katsura gave a wonderful testimony about the truth of the gospel, the progress of the work in Japan in the future, and how well the work will progress when the saints grab hold of it firmly. 

March 6, 1922: We held a conference with the saints who could attend. All gave their testimonies of the Church, and showed their desire to continuously push ahead the work. They all promised to diligently help more than they have before. That loyal brother, Brother Katsura, joyfully spoke of the happiness that has come to his like through the efforts of teaching the gospel. 

In 1922 there were frequent baptisms. 

Feb. 14, 1922: In the afternoon Elder Davis baptized Kashima (Michio), with Elder Katsura, Brother Oohashi, and myself as witnesses. That night I confirmed him a member. 

March 19, 1922: In the afternoon we went to the Yodo River, where I baptized Ueda Yasaburo. Twenty people attended . . . 

July 30, 1922: It is a happy day. Brother Mori and Sister Katsura were baptized. 

Oct. 20, 1922: This afternoon I was happy to baptize Matsumoto Masaji. 

Dec. 3, 1922: 53 people attended Sunday School this morning. Many attended the Fast Meeting. In the afternoon we went to the Yodo River, where I baptized Sister Matsumoto Tamiko, a maid . . . Brother Watanabe brought his daughter to see it. 

This Brother Watanabe refers to Watanabe Yoshjiro, an ivory carver who was baptized in Tokyo. Robertson wrote this about him. 

Oct. 26, 1922: Brother Watanabe came here from Tokyo to work in Nara. His is a truly great ivory carver, with his work on display representing the Japanese government at the recently opened exposition in England. His is among the most faithful saints in Japan. 

On Oct. 18th Brother Watanabe was ordained an Elder by President Ivie. He lived in Nara for a while, and often attended the Osaka services. 

The famous Japanese author Shiga Naoya once wrote a story about Brother Watanabe called "Kijin Datsuya". The story mentions his membership in the Church, and Shiga tells how he came across Watanabe one day walking in Nara Park with a tall Westerner, who he fond out was a visitor from the Mormon Church headquarters. This probably refers to Elder Robertson. 

Besides Osaka, a branch in "Ono Machi" existed for a few months in 1923, staffed by a missionary couple. It is not clear where this was. It could refer to an area in present day Izumi and Izumiotsu Cities, south of Osaka. But it appears to have been a more urban area, and the missionary records speak of shopping in Kobe, and visiting foreigners. So it probably refers to the area which is now Ono-shi in Hyogo-ken, between Miki and Nishiwaki. There was also missionary activity in Tsurubashi and Ikeda. 

While there was some success in Osaka, the rest of the mission remained very unsuccessful. Baptisms were few, and the activity rate in most branches were very poor. Robertson commented in 1923 on the lack of spirit and numbers in the Tokyo Conference. While Osaka averaged 12 members a week at Sacrament meeting in 1922 and 1923, Sapporo averaged 8-10, and Tokyo only 4. Osaka also average about 37 at Sunday School and 25 at evening meetings. 

The lack of success was probably a major reason the mission was closed in 1924. Another reason was the growth in anti-American feeling in Japan after the United States Congress passed the Exclusion Act of 1924, which banned any further immigration from Japan. Brother Takagi Tomigoro has also noted that many of the most active members, because of their "pioneer spirit", left Japan during these early years, perhaps because of their desire to live somewhere with greater freedom. Some went to the United States, while others went to Japanese colonies in the south seas, China, and Korea. 

In June 1924 the missionaries in Osaka were instructed to close up the work there and return to Tokyo. On August 2nd, President and Sister Robertson went to Osaka to encourage the Saints there to 'live up to their duties.' Then they boarded the SS President Pierce in Kobe, sailed to Yokohama, where they picked up the rest of the missionaries, and sailed from Japan on August 7, 1924. This marked the closing of the early mission of the Church to Japan. 

After the closing of the mission, Brother Katsura of Osaka felt, "said and lonely, as though he had lost a brother or a sister." 

After the mission was closed, the remaining church members were left without any Priesthood structure. Brother Nara Fujiya, a 25 years old member from Tokyo, was eventually called, by letter, as the presiding elder in Japan. He published a small newsletter called "Shuro" (The Palm), which he distributed to the members between 1925 and 1929. Brother Katsura in Osaka assisted Nara with the newsletter. 

The church in Japan received encouragement when in the Fall of 1926 President Franklin S. Harris of Brigham Young University, on an excursion around the world, visited Japan as a representative to the Pan Pacific Congress of Arts and Sciences. As a result of Nara's letter to Taylor, President Heber J. Grant gave Harris a commission to meet with the Japanese Saints and more officially organize the MIA. By the time Harris left Japan in November 1926, he had visited and organized the Saints in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo. He visited Osaka on September 24, making Brother Katsura the President, Brothers Watanabe and Hamada the Councilors, and Sister Nakayama Kinue the Secretary of the Osaka MIA. Brother Nara, The Tokyo MIA president, presided over the others. 

Throughout 1927 monthly meetings were held in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo. Meetings varied in content, ranging from Book of Mormon study, singing and talking, to mountain climbing. MIA meetings seemed surprisingly healthy by the end of 1927. Tokyo and Sapporo Christmas parties were each attended by twenty people or more, and Osaka wrote to say that they had officially sustained Nara and had even sent some donations to Salt Lake. Meetings in Osaka were held the first Saturday of each month at 7:00 PM at members homes. 

In spite of this period of rejuvenation, the support of all but the most faithful gradually declined. In 1928 all we know is that a few members met briefly with some visiting students from Utah; in November Brother Nara visited Brothers Katsura and Watanabe in Osaka and discussed the Church organization; and in December
a small Christmas party was held in Tokyo. 

(The next page is taken directly from J. Christopher Conkling's article. I basically am copying what he wrote word for word, with a few small additions). 

Little is known about what happened to the Church between 1929 and 1933. Brother Nara appears to have been stretched to his limit, and as a result stopped publishing the newsletter and sending reports to Salt Lake. In 1933 he moved with his wife to the Japanese occupied part of China called Manchuria because of a job opportunity. Brother Nara returned to Japan in 1945, however, and again became a main pillar of the Church in Tokyo during the postwar period. He would serve as Branch President, High Councilmen, and Patriarch. He served faithfully until his death in 1992. 

Nara was replaced in 1934 by Japan's second Presiding Elder, Takeo Fujiwara, a student from Hokkaido. He had gone to BYU in 1927, and returned to Japan in 1934. If Nara had run the Church on his own and received his appointment almost as a surprise or afterthought, sustained and set apart by mail (if that's possible), with a load of somewhat foreign instructions thrust upon him, Fujiwara received the actual "laying on of hands" by the First Presidency, had lived and been trained in the heart of the Church, and had received explicit instructions which he fully understood. 

For the next nine months Fujiwara did everything humanly possible to restore the faith and activity of the members. He experienced both failure and success--ex-members hiding from him and his vigorous restoration activity campaign as well as a new mission magazine and the first priesthood ordinances in the ten years since the closing. During this time Elder Watanabe Yoshijiro (formerly of the Osaka MIA Presidency, but now moved back to Tokyo) and his daughter Tazuko were Elder Fujiwara's constant companions and greatest supporters. He called Brother Watanabe as the new Presiding Elder in Tokyo. 

Within just two months Fujiwara had visited all four cities with members in them. On his first visit to his home, Sapporo, a welcome home party had to be cancelled because no one attended. On the other hand, seven members attended the first Osaka meeting at Elder Katsura's house, and Fujiwara learned some valuable information--Nara had never reinstated priesthood functions, and MIA meetings were still being held every month or two. At this and other meetings Fujiwara asked for the raising of the right hand to release Nara and sustain himself. 

By March 1935, Fujiwara had located six Sapporo members who agreed to help in varying degrees, and he organized a branch there. Nine attended an April sacrament meeting in Kofu. Also in April Osaka held its first testimony and sacrament meeting in over ten years. 

In May, the first and last issue of Hattatsu (The Progress)--a magazine fashioned after Shuro--was published. It was printed in both Japanese and English, so that friends in Hawaii and America could be made aware of the happenings in Japan. The issue included messages of thanks to Brother Nara from seven members, including Brother Katsura and Sister Nakayama in Osaka. 

Unfortunately, this new start had a sudden end, when Fujiwara died of pleurisy (and possibly tuberculosis) on 27 January 1936. 

It would be interesting to know the details of this period when there was no presiding elder, for the Brother Katsuras and Watanabes may prove to be the real heroes of this period. They were never the great initiators, but they endured through it all humbly and faithfully, giving constant support to whomever the leaders might have been. As Alma Taylor once described Watanabe, "he has always confessed his membership in the Church and one who had, in this feeble way, supported every movement attempted for the Saints since the closing." 

Elder Nara later called this period (1936-1945), "the absolute dark ages" ("Mattaku sono ju nen wa ankoku no jidai de atta"). But a few Saints in each city had been meeting somewhat regularly before Fujiwara's death, and there is no reason to suppose that these meetings stopped, at least for two or three years. Sister Kumagai in Sapporo still held her meetings, and at least one member, Brother Ono, came for a while. 

Missionary work among the Japanese living in Hawaii began in 1937, when the Japanese Mission there was opened, with Hilton A. Robertson (the last President of the Japan Mission in 1924) as the Mission President. This Mission was quite successful, and many future missionaries and mission presidents who would serve in post-war Japan, like Adney Komatsu, Sam Shimabukuro, and Edward and Chieko Okazaki, were baptized in this Mission 

In April and May of 1939, President Robertson made an official visit to Japan on behalf of the Church. With only inaccurate addresses, he began searching for Nami Suzuki, an old sister who had once lived in and cooked for the mission home. Of all the millions in the Tokyo-Yokohama area, a young girl emerged from a public bath, saw the foreigner and asked what he wanted. When Robertson told her, she said, "That's my mother." She took him right to Sister Suzuki's, and Robertson got other addresses from her. He visited the Tokyo, Sapporo, and Osaka Saints, and assured them that they had not been forgotten and that missionaries would return some day. 

On his visit to Osaka, Robertson wrote, (April 21, 1939) "When I got off the train I met with Sister Watanabe. . . who came on another train and waited for me to go find Brother Katsura's home . . . We left from the hotel to try to find Brother and Sister Katsura, and found it without to much trouble. They were excited to hear about the progress of the work in Hawaii. After eating sukiyaki we went together to visit the site of the old church in Mahoin-cho. Then we went to Yon Tennoji. When we returned, Sisters Nakata and Nii were waiting." The next day President Robertson met with Hisata Susumu, a dentist who had been baptized in 1922, and his wife. "He is unchanged in his actions and his faith. He has continued to wait with anticipation for the return of the Elders . . . He says he has not smoked or taken a single drink." That same day he visited the home of Teranishi Soji, who ran a cosmetics factory, and who was baptized in 1919. He spoke to his children about baptism. On the 24th he went to Kobe and met Brother Hori, who had become a very successful businessman. On the 25th he went with the Katsura and Teranishi families to a "river on the outskirts" (probably the Yamato River on the border of Osaka and Sakai, near Abiko) and baptized four of the Teranishi children and the Katsura's daughter. In the morning President Robertson had gone all over Osaka looking for white pants, but hadn't found any, so he performed the baptisms in white pajamas. Brother Katsura confirmed the five children. One of those baptized that day was Sister Samukawa Masako, who currently (1989) is a member of the Osaka Stake Sekime Branch. 

On April 27th President Robertson visited Brother Oohashi Ichitaro, who ran a shoe polish canning factory near the docks in Osaka. The next day he ordained him to the Melchizedek Priesthood and the office of Elder. President Robertson said, "Brother Katsura and I spoke about how after the death of Elder Hamada, he was the only Elder left in Osaka, and how we felt there should be another, considering the demands for different kinds of ordinances. We felt that Brother Oohashi Ichiraro, who has been a Deacon, should be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. We went to his house, and talked to him about it. At first he refused, saying he didn't feel that he was worthy. But after talking to him for a while he accepted, and determined to value it as much as he was able. We called his wife in, and after talking about the priesthood, I ordained him an Elder. After eating sukiyaki, we went home." 

After a busy time in Osaka, President Robertson left Osaka for Sapporo on April 29th. After visiting Tokyo again, he left for Hawaii on May 11th. 

This was the last contact Church leaders in the United States had with Japanese members until the end of the war. "Whatever the Church activities there were during these years, they probably ended with the war. Cards and letters were exchanged, but formal meetings were not allowed. Police precautions were very strict. It would be interesting to know the thoughts of the Saints during the war--how they resolved the conflict that may have arisen in their minds when they found the country they loved fighting against a country closely aligned with the Church they loved. Sister Kumagai, at least, claims there really was no conflict. She thought that both the Japanese and Americans fought because they loved their countries, and therefore had no hatred for either side. Her only prayer during that time was for peace and the reestablishment of the mission. She also said that all who worked with her at a local newspaper knew of her Christian affiliation, but never gave her any persecution or abuse because of it. Thus the members sat out the war years without any outward activity or signs of Church membership." (Conkling) 

At least two former missionaries in Japan served in important positions in the American government during the war. Elbert D. Thomas served as a United States Senator, and is said to have helped save Kyoto from bombing. Joseph H. Stimpson worked for the FBI, and worked as a translator at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal