The influence of American culture on the modernization
of Japan has become a recognized subject for investigation.
British cultural influence was also an important factor,
especially in the later nineteenth century, but has received
less attention. This holds particularly true for the study
of Christianity and Christian missions. It is generally
understood that Christianity contributed to the formation
of the intellectual tradition of the Meiji era. Yet all
studies, both in Japan and in the West, treat Christianity
as identical with American Protestantism. It is the thesis
of this study that another type of Christianity, which came
from England, also existed in Meiji Japan. Its relation to
society was less dialectical. Where American Protestantism
challenged, Anglicanism affirmed traditional institutions.
Although never attaining the public recognition given the
American type, Anglicanism furnished an early example of a
group which recognized and practised cultural and intellectual
pluralism. It is therefore important for the
understanding of modern Japanese society. The examination
of this tradition also provides an insight into the general
differences between the British and American approaches to
Japanese culture.
This investigation follows the careers and writings
of three early Anglican missionaries who lived in Japan
between 1873 and 1900. Their writings have been related to
the main social and intellectual currents of their day.
Where possible their family background, education and attitudes
have been compared with other leaders in the church
and in secular affairs. Each missionary was found to
represent a particular aspect of upper and upper-middle class
English life. Their views and the ways in which they related
to the culture of Meiji Japan were seen to express certain
general English ways of relating to foreign cultures.
The missionaries views on three important areas of
Meiji society--education, politics and the Emperor-system--pointed
to certain clear, though tentative, conclusions.
Anglicanism was part of the general ideology of the old
English land-owners whose dominant position in society was
being taken over at this time by the industrial middle class.
As a ruling class it was naturally opposed to sudden change.
Its view of culture was broadly humanistic, and this humanism
was reinforced by the Anglo-catholic theology of the missionaries. Social and theological factors combined to produce a
generally affirmative attitude toward certain foreign cultures
with which the missionaries came in close contact.
In Japan the missionaries identified with the institutions
of their adopted land. The aristocratic society of
their own land was passing away, but something approximately
like it still existed in Japan. The leaders of Meiji
society trusted the Englishmen for their conservatism,
while lower-class Japanese felt safe with them because of
their paternalistic sense of responsibility. Consequently,
although the Englishmen still maintained their personal
identity as foreigners, they felt secure enough to affirm
the Japanese way of life,.
Finally, the corporate and organic nature of the
missionaries thinking led to the formation of a church in
which Englishmen and Japanese could work together. Within
the framework of a hierarchical relationship Anglicanism
became a basis for coexistence between individuals of two
distinct cultures. In the process of work together, the
British missionaries and their Japanese colleagues associated
creatively with one another in a way that was quite
distinct from the American pattern. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/42423 |
| Date | January 1968 |
| Creators | Powles, Cyril Hamilton |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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