Toyohiko Kagawa

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Toyohiko Kagawa (賀川豊彦 Kagawa Toyohiko, 10 July 1888–23 April 1960) was a Japanese pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist.

Kagawa was born in Kobe. Son of a philandering businessman and a concubine, his parents both died while he was still young and he himself nearly died of illness while a youth. He was sent away to school, where he learned there was love and tenderness in the world, from two American missionary teachers, Drs. Harry W. Myers and Charles A. Logan. They took the lonely youngster into their hearts and homes, teaching him that all men were created by a God of love, and that any person devoting themselves to serving his fellow man, could work tremendous changes for good. Kagawa's life was the outworking of this lesson.

Having learned English from these missionaries, he became a Christian after taking a Bible class in his youth. Kagawa studied both in Japan at the Tokyo Presbyterian College, and in the United States. He later enrolled in the Kobe Theological Seminary. While studying there, Kagawa was troubled by the seminarians' endless concern for technicalities of doctrine. Christian ethics to him meant Christianity in action. Impatiently he would point to the parable of the Good Samaritan and demand, "What is there to discuss?" And off he would go to Kobe's infamous Shinkawa slums to serve the needy.

After returning to Japan, Kagawa was arrested in 1921 and again in 1922 for his part in labour activism. While in prison he wrote the novels Crossing the Deathline and Shooting at the Sun. After his release, Kagawa assisted in bringing universal adult male suffrage to Japan in 1925. He also organized the Japanese Federation of Labour, as well as the National Anti-War League in 1928. Throughout this period, he continued to evangelize to Japan's poor and push for women's suffrage and a peaceful foreign policy.

In 1940, Kagawa made an apology to the Republic of China because of Japan's occupation of China. He was arrested once again. After his release, he went back to the United States in a futile attempt to prevent war between that nation and Japan. He then returned to Japan to continue his attempts to win women's suffrage.

At the end of the war, Kagawa was part of the transitional Japanese government that offered surrender to the United States. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1955. After his death, Kagawa was awarded the second-highest honor of Japan, induction in the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Over 150 books were written by Kagawa throughout his career, most of the royalties therefrom being used to support his labour reform efforts.

[edit] Brotherhood Economics

Kagawa's economic theory, as expressed in the book "Brotherhood Economics," advocated that the Christian Church, Co-oeprative Movement, and Peace movement unite in a 'powerful working synthesis' to provide a workable alternative to capitalism, State Socialism, and Fascism.^[1]

[edit] Famous Quotes

• On the morning of 1946, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, before Emperor Hirohito, "Whosoever will be great among you...shall be the servant of all. A ruler's sovereignty, Your Majesty, is in the hearts of the people. Only by service to others can a man, or nation, be godlike."
• Communism's only power is to diagnose some of the ills of disordered society. It has no cure. It creates only an infantile paralysis of the social order."

[edit] References

1. ^ Kagawa, Toyohiko, “Brotherhood Economics”, New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1936.

• Kagawa Toyohiko. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 15, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online [1]
• BookRags Biography on Kagawa Toyohiko. BookRags. Retrieved 15 December 2005, from the World Wide Web. [2]
• Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese Original. 2001. Christian History Institute. Retrieved December 15, 2005. [3]
• Unconquerable Kagawa. 1951. Reader's Digest. pg.29-31