1st Edition

Japan as Seen by American Women in Christian Missions, 1913-1934 (ES 5-vol. set)

Edited By Rui Kohiyama Copyright 2014
    by Edition Synapse

    Published by Edition Synapse in Japan and distributed by Routledge outside Japan.

    This is the third set of the series which collects publications by Christian missionary women, both missionary wives and female missionaries, who worked in Japan from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

    Many Christian missionaries came to Japan after the Meiji restoration in 1868. Although they were not able to convert many Japanese, they played a significant role in the rapid Westernization of Japan. In particular, women missionaries took leading roles in activities relating to local women and children in Japan, and they left an important and indelible mark in the history of the education of Japanese women and children.

    This third and the last collection in the series includes fourteen works on Japan by American women in the missions who lived in the country in early twentieth century while Japan more or less completed the early modernization and tried to be a member of the western society. Authors of those books observed rapid changes in the society and not only reported the facts, but also gave detailed analyses of the background to them. Their observations illustrate these women’s great curiosity, genuine concern for the local society, and their positive attitude in trying to comprehend a very different culture. The contents covered by each book are broad, most of them refer not only to the missionary activities, but try to introduce Japan in general, as well as the historical and religious background, and the daily life of ordinary people and the situation of Japanese women.

    Volume 1:

    Garst, Laura DeLany

    A West-Pointer in the Land of the Mikado, New York: F.H. Revell, 1913, 310 pp.

    Madden, Maude Whitmore

    In the Land of Cherry Blossom, Cincinnati: The Foreign Christian Mission Society, 1915, 192 pp.

    Volume 2

    Burton, Margaret E.

    The Education of Women in Japan, New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1914, 270 pp.

    Montgomery, Helen Barrett

    The King's Highway : A Study of Present Conditions on the Foreign Field (Chapter V & VI: Korea & Japan, pp. 179-262 only), West Medford, Mass. : Central Committee on the United study of Foreign Mission, 1915, 84 pp.

    E. S. Strachan (Mrs.)

    The Story of the Years, A History of the Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada 1906-1916, Vol. 3 (Japan, pp. 97-171, only), Toronto: Woman's Missionary Society Methodist Church, Canada, 1917, 75 pp.

    Montgomery, Helen Barrett,

    Our Neighbor Japan : A Book for Adult Classes in the Sunday School, Brattleboro, VT : Vermont Print. Co., 1917, 62 pp.

    Volume 3

    Burton, Margaret E.

    Women Workers of the Orient, West Medford, Mass : Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1918, 275 pp.

    Osborn, Catherine M.

    From Dream to Reality: A Record of the Development of the Blackmer Girls' Home, Tokyo, Japan, Boston: Women's National Missionary Association of the Universalist Church, 1918, 195 pp.

    Volume 4

    De Forest, Charlotte B.

    The Woman and the Leaven in Japan, West Medford, Mass : Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, 1923, 280 pp.

    Erickson, Lois Johson,

    The White Fields of Japan, Richmond, VA.: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1923, 207 pp.

    Volume 5

    Lippard, Emma Gerberding

    Leaves from a Japanese Calendar, Philadelphia: Women's Missionary Society, 1923, 72 pp.

    Madden, Maude Whitmore,

    When the East is the West, New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1923, 153 pp.

    Seabury, Ruth Isabel

    Our Japanese Friends : A Course for Junior Boys and Girls, New York: Friendship Press, 1927, 145 pp.

    Lippard, Emma Gerberding

    Second Hand, A Story of Mission Work in Japan, Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1934, 157 pp.