Place In Memoriam - Akasaka Church

赤坂病院内部で持たれていた礼拝会が、基督友会所属の教会を経て、現在の日本キリスト教団赤坂教会となりました。その軌跡を年鑑などの史料からたどります。

from Directory1908 , p.519

The Akasaka Hospital respected cure of souls, as well as of bodies. In the waiting room a short meeting was held each morning for the patients and hospital staff. Meetings were also held on Sundays and Bible Class on Wednesday evenings. The following image is from Japan Sunday School Year Book, published in 1924, which including Akasaka Hospital Sunday school.

日本日曜学校協会編『日本日曜学校年鑑』日本日曜学校協会 1924

http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/969650/63

　赤坂区のリストに、「赤坂病院日曜学校」が入っている。

責任者は堀口昌雄

After stopping their medical activities, this spiritual congregation became a  ホイトニ記念赤坂福音会 Whitney Memorial Akasaka Evangerical Meeting in 1921, then 基督友会赤坂福音会 Akasaka Evangerical Meeing of the Society of Friends (Quakers) on December 1939.

東京市赤坂区編『東京市赤坂区勢要覧 昭和12年版』1937
http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1463053/43
区内の基督教会リストに

「フレンド派　ホイトニ記念赤坂福音会」が見える
信徒数は67名

上記の資料は1937年の段階で「フレンド派」＝基督友会に帰属していたことを示している。ただし、財産を法的に移行したのは1939年12月のことで、『基督友会五十年史』には「基督友会社団は赤坂病院清算人よりホイトニー記念赤坂福音会及び医療事業の為め、土地建物並に基金の希望条件付譲渡を受く」とある [p.153]。また、 『基督教年鑑 昭和16年版』の「日本基督友会」の項目には、以下のような説明がある。

昭和十四年〔1939年〕度特殊情勢の一は赤坂福音会の合併なり。赤坂福音会は明治十九年以来、ドクトル・ホイトニー氏のが赤坂病院医療伝道として経営したるものなるが、同病院閉鎖後、その財産の一部を赤坂福音会伝道寄金として、基督友会社団に委託し、其の事業を継続したるが、今基督友会赤坂福音会として、名実共に基督友会に合したるものなり。[新字・新かなに直して引用。出典は p.56 ]

 ↑『基督教年鑑 昭和16年版』日本基督教聯盟年鑑部 1941

http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1139414/87

日本基督教団成立直前の1941年4月に出た年鑑。

都内の基督友会は聖坂と赤坂の2箇所

Then the day of 24 June 1941 came. Almost all of Japanese Protestant religious bodies including the Friends, were forced to merge making one union by the Japanese government. As result of merger, the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ or the Kyodan, 日本基督教団) born. 赤坂氷川町教会 Akasaka Hikawa-cho Church had to belong to them.

『日本基督教団年鑑 昭和18年版』日本基督教団出版局 1943

http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1115887/44

東京教区・東京第一分教区に

赤坂氷川町教会が掲載。教役者は「工藤てい」師 ↓

教団に所属したおかげで、戦争中の教勢がわかります。

関心のある方はクリックしてご覧ください ↓

（同じ友会の聖坂も同一ページに掲載）

http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1115887/92

After the war, many churches defected from the UCCJ to reestablish their prewar denominational identities. However, Akasaka Hikawa-cho Church chose to remain the UCCJ, which is still the largest Protestant organization in Japan. This means they are the Friends no more.

↓ キリスト新聞社『キリスト教年鑑 1948年版』

http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1123634/118 

日本基督教団・東京教区第五分区に

赤坂氷川町教会の名前が見える

教役者は戦前と同じく「工藤てい」師

The church dropped Hikawa-cho from their name in 1966, when the geographical names changed in this area, and the town-name Akasaka Hikawa-cho disappeared. As for the church building, it was burnt down by the air raid on 25 May 1945. It was rebuilt in 1952, and the present building was constructed in 1982. 　

On the foundation stone of the church building it reads:
定礎
日本基督教団赤坂教会
ホイットニー記念　1982.1

Akasaka Church, the United Church of Christ

Whitney Memorial, January 1982

The church is located where Akasaka Hospital used to be - 17 Hikawa- Cho, Akasaka-Ku, Tokyo. It is a visible memorial of the Hospital.

Akasaka Church

6-9-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku

Tokyo, 107-0052 Japan
[ Official site http://www.akasakachurch.com/ ]
* photos of the foundation stone and church building taken by the editor

Images from books are cut out and processed by the editor.

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.

Last updated 10 Jan. 2015

Place In Memoriam - Aoyama Cemetary

青山霊園外人墓地にある、ウィリスの母アンナのお墓の話題です。

ウィリスの記念碑もここにあります。

Willis' mother, Anna Lavina Whitney sleeps in Aoyama Cemetery in Minato Ward, Tokyo. The grave located on the section N1-i1 (北1種イ1側), facing the center road.

It is pity that the sepulchral inscription of the front side has been almost obliterated. Even in the 1970s, it was hard to read. TEZUKA Tatsumaro wrote “since the inscription on the grave has been worn away in these last few years” in 1971 [*].

* 手塚竜麿「ウイリス・ホイットニーと赤坂病院」～ 『日本近代化の先駆者たち』吾妻書房 1975, p.92.

According to Shibusawa [p.98], it reads:

骸化土霊帰天

ホイト子ー氏親友　勝安芳拝誌

 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: 

and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 

[Ecclesiastes 12:7]

presented by KATSU Yasuyoshi, friend of Mrs Whitney.

As for the inscription on the gravestone, a web page of the Library of Hitotsubashi University gives us helpful information （click here）. The above image was made by me, based on their information, and what I actually saw. The yellow rectangle shows the space which could decipher anything no more. I can add about Willis' son, Isaac Braithwaite Whitney. He was born on 19 Mar. 1889 in Tokyo, and died on 21 Feb. 1890, followed his twin brother John Norton, who died on 26 Nov. 1889. Poor brothers. 

On the other side, it reads

  

義人必由信而得生

録聖書之語

 The just shall live by his faith. 

[Habakkuk 2:4]

from the Bible 

Anna was born in 1834, died 17th April 1883 in Tokyo, aged 49. It was said that she was the second foreigner who buried in Aoyama Cemetary (the first one was a French soldier, Albert Charles Du Bousquet, died in 1882)*. KATSU Yasuyoshi was another name of Count KATSU Kaishū (1823-1899), a Japanese notable statesman and the guardian of the Whitney family.

 * A guide book of Aoyama Cemetary published by the Bureau of Construction, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, says that a German Karl Anton Bruck カール・アントン・ブリュック (1839-1880) was the first buried non-Japanese.

Willis was NOT buried here, as some people misunderstood. His widow set up his memorial on the bottom of his mother's grave, when she revisited Japan in 1925  [Reminiscences, pp.168-69].

In Loving Memory of

WILLIS NORTON WHITNEY M.D.

Oct. 26 1918

who rests at Banbury, England

Well done good and faithful servant

The last phrase is from Matthew 25:21.

宜いかな、善かつ忠なる僕（マタイ25:21）

[ First Section for foreigners, N1-i1, Aoyama Cemetery ]

A: Anna Lavina Whitney (1834-1883)

B: Memorial of Dr W. N. Whitney

C: George Braithwaite (1855-1931) and his wife Letitia (1876-1932) 

D: Alice Louisa Neitz (1852-1892), wife of Rev. F. C. Neitz

E: Frederick C. Krecker  (1843-1883)

George Braithwaite was brother-in-law and a great supporter of Willis. I shall write about him and his wife later on.  

Rev. F. C. Neitz and Dr Krecker was missionaries of Evangelical Church of North America. Dr Krecker, a patient of Dr Willis, died of typhoid fever just nine days later of Mrs Whitney's.

All photos taken by Yagitani, November 2014.

* Aoyama Cemetary Guide  from Japan Talk site 

Last updated 14 March 2015