A Japanese Encounter with Christianity

Ch. Takeda Kiyoko (1917-2018), better known as Takeda Kiyoko, was a remarkable woman, whose life-course defied the stereotypes of modern Japanese women. Her memoirs focus on encounters-with the individuals whom Takeda met in her travels to Asia, the United States and Europe; through her involvement in organisations such as the YWCA and World Student Christian Federation (WSCF); and with the progressive Japanese thinkers that were the focus of her research (the response of thinkers of the modern period (from 1867) to Christianity). Some of these encounters were fleeting, others were more sustained. Regardless, the influence was enduring., Takeda Kiyoko's intellectual world expanded through her involvement with Christian organisations such as the YWCA and the WSCF, and when she went to the United States as an exchange student and worked at WSCF headquarters. Her involvement with the World Council of Churches also entailed extensive travel in Asia as well as Europe, and much engaged discussion on the future of ecumenicism. In the 1950s, she contributed to unofficial diplomacy between Japan and other Asian nations and to restoring friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japanese and other Asian people, including Chinese, Filipino, and Indian.

Takeda Kiyoko was co-founder of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, where she was based from 1953. She received a PhD in Literature from the University of Tokyo in 1961 and became a professor emerita after her retirement in 1988. Over the course of her career, she published extensively on Christianity in Japan and held leadership positions in ecumenical organizations in Japan and globally. Through involvement in international ecumenical organizations, she contributed to restoring friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japanese and other Asian peoples after the Second World War. She was President (Asia-Pacific) of the World Council of Churches (1971-1975). Vanessa Ward, the translator, is an independent researcher based in Wellington, New Zealand. She has a PhD in East Asian History from the Australian National University and her research focusses on intellectual life and culture in twentieth-century Japan (especially the fifteen-year period after the end of the Second World War).

Note on Transliteration and Translation,List of Illustrations, Foreword, Translator's Acknowledgements, Translator's Introduction, Prologue: Encounters, 1. My Home Village and Mother, 2. My Schooling, 3. The First International Conference of Christian Students, 4. Europe at the Outbreak of War, 5. Student Life in America, 6. Wartime Japan, 7. The Intellectual Atmosphere after the War, 8. My Encounter with Ch. Yukio, 9. New Friendships in Postwar Asia, 10. The Beginning of the World Council of Churches, 11. Towards the New International Christian University, 12. China after the Revolution, 13. Recollections of the Japan America Committee for Intellectual Interchange, 14. Christianity and Japanese Culture (1)-Toward a History of Modern Japan, 15. Christianity and Japanese Culture (2)-Protestants and the Elevation of Women's Status, 16. Christianity and Japanese Culture (3)-Research on the Emperor System, 17. Christianity and Japanese Culture (4)-The Idea of Something Beyond Oneself, 18. Hidden Patterns of Japanese Culture, 19. Memories of Europe, 20. Farewell to Ch. Yukio, Conclusion: Gratitude for the Blessing of Encounters, Afterword,Takeda's Principal Publications, Bibliography, Chronology, Glossary, Index.