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 The History of the Church in Japan
by Tomoko Onishi (member of Tokyo 1st Ward)
The church history in Japan goes back to 1901. On February 14 in 1901 President Lorenzo Snow
announced plans to open a mission in Japan, with Heber J. Grant(45), then an apostle, as president and three
other elders to serve with him. The three elders were Louis A. Kelsch(45), Horace S.
Ensign(29), and Alma O. Taylor, who was only
eighteen-year-old. Elder Grant dedicated Japan to the preaching of the gospel on September 1,
1901, at Yokohama. However, learning the language, customs, and traditions was so difficult that the new missionaries spent eighteen months studying
before they ventured out among the Japanese people.
Two Japanese newspapers in Tokyo made big stories about the newly arrived Mormon missionaries. One of them made a five-day
series stories about Elder Grant introducing his accomplishments as a businessman, his family and
polygamy practice, and God in the Mormon doctrines. There was a newspaper published in Osaka which printed
the full translation of the Articles of Faith.
The first translation of the Book of Mormon was done by Alma O. Taylor with a help from several Japanese Saints and a
non-member professional writer. When the translation work was completed in 1909, 5,000 copies were printed and complimentary copies were presented to
the Imperial family and influential figures in the government. Missionaries ran an ad for the translated book in the paper for four days and 650 copies
were sold in the first month. It was a good start considering the fact that the book was priced at \1, which was more than twice the monthly
newspaper subscription fee at that time. However, during the following six years, the
sales amounted to only 1500 copies.
The early Japanese Saints had a unique trial which was quite different from those faced by the American Mormon pioneers.
The church withdrew from Japan and the Japanese Saints were almost totally isolated from the church for over 20 years. Here is the historical
background. The Anti-Japanese Immigrant Bill was passed in the US and the new immigration law was established in 1924 to ban Japanese immigration to
the US. In return anti-American movement began in Japan and missionary work by American missionaries became extremely difficult. While the US practiced
the unChrist-like Anti-Japanese Immigration Law, it was very hypocritical for American missionaries to be preaching the American religion in Japan. At
the same time, the Japanese hatred toward Americans in Japan became so strong that it was not likely for the Japanese to accept what the American
missionaries were preaching. So the decision was made for the church to withdraw its missionaries from Japan. By that time about 170 Japanese
had been baptized since Heber J. Grant first came to Japan, but there were about two dozen who were still faithful when the mission was closed in 1924.
The mission was not reopened until 1948 after the World War II.
As the missionaries were leaving Japan, they did little to prepare the members, other than to give them general
encouragement. But the native priesthood holders were explicitly prohibited from functioning in that priesthood. They were specifically not allowed to
hold meetings of any type except Mutual Improvement Associations(MIA). What was fortunate for the small number of faithful Japanese Saints was that they had some very strong leaders among them and those
leaders worked very hard to keep the Saints together. They were Brothers Nara and Fujiwara and
Sisters Kumagai and Nachie.
Brother Fujiya Nara of Tokyo was ordained an elder by President Lloyd Ivie. A month after the closing of the
mission,
Elder Nara and a couple of other Saints gathered in Tokyo and officially established the Japan Mutual
Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They also discussed starting some sort of
publication to help hold the Saints together. In November 1924, the small Tokyo group published and circulated the names and addresses of all members
of the Japan MIA. They also started publishing a magazine. This included articles, editorials, correspondence, scripture
study and news of members. The magazine was sent to members in Japan and friends in Hawaii and America.
In Sapporo Sister Kumagai was holding weekly meetings. When the attendance became sporadic because members would move,
die or just stop coming, she kept inviting member friends for a gathering at least at Christmas time and other special occasions. These gatherings would
start with song and prayer, and would somewhat resemble Church meetings.
During the closed period, the Japanese Saints and the Church in Utah were able to communicate a little through Brother Nara
and Brother Alma O. Taylor. In the fall of 1927 President Franklin S. Harrins of Brigham Young University came to Japan on an excursion around
the world and visited Japan as a representative to the Pan Pacific Congress of Arts and Sciences. As a result of Brother Nara's letter to Brother
Taylor, President Heber J Grant gave President Harrins a commission to meet with the Japanese Saints and more officially organize the MIA. While in
Japan President Harris visited Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo to accomplish his mission. President Harris wrote in his journal about the time he was in
Japan. "I was busy with official things till 9 p.m. so my meetings with the Japanese Saints began at that hour and continued till
midnight. They clung onto me as if I were the only old friend they had." He also wrote, "As we
passed through Sapporo last night there were four members of the church there to meet me. One of them had come 200 miles to see
me. As we only remained at the station a few minutes, the Saints asked to ride a few
stations with me, so we went into the dining car and they stayed with me till 1 am when they went off. The Japanese Saints were
tremendously
hungry for someone from Utah and there were so many things they wanted to ask about.
President Harris met Brother Fujiwara on his visit to Japan at that time and invited him to come to BYU to study.
Brother Fujiwara went to America at the invitation and obtained his master's degree from BYU. As he became very fluent in English and was a very strong
member of the church, he was set apart as Presiding Elder and a special missionary by President Grant. When he came back to Japan, he was sent $35 each month from Salt Lake to travel and communicate with the other Saints in
Japan. For the next nine months Brother Fujiwara did everything humanly possible to restore the faith and activity of the members. But it's not hard
to imagine the difficulties he faced in this endeavor because some Saints were badly hurt by the sudden withdrawal of the church from Japan.
In January of 1936 Brother Fujiwara at age 29 died of pleurisy and possibly tuberculosis and Japan went into the Dark Age until 1945 with no leader who
is both physically and spiritually strong enough to carry out the necessary duties. But a few remained faithful in the church.
While the church was getting so little done in Japan during that time, they decided to reestablish the Japanese
Mission with headquarters in Honolulu this time. Sister Tsune Nachie deserves much
credit for the initiation of the missionary work among the Japanese in Hawaii. She moved to Hawaii in1923 and went out each morning with her Church
books and a few pamphlets in the Japanese language and visited diligently among the Japanese and preached the Gospel to them. The environment,
results, characters and condition of the mission in Hawaii were very different from those in Japan. With fewer language and social barriers, the
Japanese in Hawaii had a different attitude towards Mormonism and the mission there was immediately successful. More missionaries were sent and
baptisms increased until the war came and missionaries had to be withdrawn. This success in Hawaii helps a lot in Japan after the World War II. Among
the Saints converted in Hawaii were Adney Komatsu, Russell Horiuchi, Sam Shimabukuro and Chieko Okazaki.
When the war ended in 1945 a few members in Japan had been waiting for 21 years for the reestablishment of the mission. In the meantime in Hawaii, Japanese people had been joining the church in exciting
numbers. When the war ended, it was then time to join these two elements together and start a new era of missionary work among the Japanese people.
LDS servicemen, who began entering Japan in late August 1945 along with occupation forces, immediately began
sharing the gospel with the native Japanese they met. Edward L. Clissold also entered
Japan as a member of MacArthur's staff in 1945, and ran an ad in the Mainichi newspaper asking all Tokyo Saints to come and meet him at the
Dai-ichi Hotel. Brother and Sister Nara and Sister Watanabe met with him and requested the restoration of the mission.
By the time Clissold left Japan later in 1945, local servicemen, especially nisei like Brothers Komatsu and
Horiuchi, had begun aiding the Saints and conducting small Sunday Schools in their homes.
The Saints in Hawaii were sending a lot of goods to help destitute Saints in Japan. On March 6, 1948, Clissold returned to
Japan as mission president, and the mission was officially reestablished. Because of his particular assignment on MacArthur's staff, he did not
particularly enjoy at that time, he had the exact connections he needed to get the Church going again. They got a permanent building in April 1948
which was a partially burnt house in Azabu. Renovation began in May, and on Thanksgiving Day the building was dedicated. The mission in Japan was to be permanent this time.
The first group of five missionaries arrived on June 26, 1948 and they were helped by LDS service personnel in the postwar
mission. Among the US servicemen was Boyd K. Packer. He with three other fellow servicemen taught the gospel to Brother Tatsuo
Sato, who later translated the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and
retranslated the Book of Mormon first done by Alma O. Taylor. By the end of that year there were 17 missionaries (6 nisei), 22 baptisms, and several
different Sunday Schools being held with over 900 attending in various areas throughout Japan.
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