In October,
after an absence of ten years, Neesima left New York for his native land. The
changes that had taken place there seemed to him almost incredible. He found a
national line of steamers, lighthouses at all important coast points, a general
telegraphic system, a postal service, an organized navy, and a railway between
Yokohama and the capital. In the treaty ports small Protestant churches had
been established ; but in visiting his parents at Annoka, directly after his
arrival in Japan, Neesima was the first to carry the gospel to the interior,
and here he founded one of the most genuinely Christian communities in Japan.
Neesima
arrived at Osaka, the home of the American Board Mission, Jan. 22, and here he
planned to establish a Christian school with a broad collegiate course ; but
meeting with opposition, he gave up the project, and turned his steps towards Kyoto. Here he met
with many and varied difficulties, but by persistent effort opened, Nov. 25,
1875, the Doshisha, with eight pupils. The winter of 1875 was one of hardship and discouragement; but assisted by the Rev.
J. D. Davis, D.D., he maintained the school, which constantly increased in
numbers.
On Jan. 2,
1876, Neesima was married to the sister of the counsellor to the Kyoto Fu. She
had been a teacher in the government school for girls, but her engagement to a
Christian caused her discharge. After her marriage she entered fully into her husband's
life-work ; and in their house, provided by Mr. J. M. Sears of Boston, services
were constantly held, and Christian teaching promulgated.
From 1876 to
1884 Mr. Neesima's life was filled with trials, and obstacles of every kind
threatened the very existence of the Doshisha. The fact that the school, while
nominally a Japanese company, was in reality supported from foreign means,
caused an attack which compelled Mr. Neesima to write to the Prudential
Committee for a permanent endowment ; and in November, 1879, he received the
joyful tidings that the year's appropriation of eight thousand dollars would
soon be placed under his direction for the educational work in Kyoto. The keynote of true
teaching was struck by Mr. Neesima's effort to disseminate Christianity through
an educated ministry. In 1880 he writes: "Try to send out choice men,
Christians must not be charged with being ignoramuses, or we shall be ridiculed
for our lack of learning as well as for our faith. We need the broadest culture
and Christian spirit to counteract the downward tendency of our educated
youth."
Through all
his work Mr. Neesima entertained the hope born at Andover of a Christian
university at Japan, and determined to raise endowments for history,
philosophy, political economy, law, and
medicine. His personal activity in this direction was
incessant ; but, his health failing, he accepted in 1884 an invitation for rest
and change from the Board, and visited Europe and America. During this trip he
everywhere inspected schools and colleges, and noted in detail methods and
results, and made plans of buildings and apparatus.
He arrived in
Boston, Sept. 27, 1884; but even there he was not freed from care and
responsibilities. The outlook in Japan was broadening, and the demand great to
place the Doshisha upon a university basis ; and he was looked upon as the medium
between Japan and the source of its supply.
In December it
became necessary for him to go to Clifton Springs, N.Y., for rest at the
Sanitarium. He left there in March, 1885, somewhat better in health, and
cheered by the news that fifty thousand dollars had been appropriated for the Japan mission. He
arrived at Yokohama Dec. 12, 1885, "and found five hundred friends,
students, teachers, relatives, and prominent citizens," assembled there to
meet him. The day after this the tenth anniversary of the Doshisha was
celebrated, and the corner-stone of two new buildings laid. The school was in a
flourishing condition ; and the Japanese boy of long ago was now, by
acclamation of its faculty, president of the college.
Two years later
Amherst College conferred upon Neesima the degree of doctor of laws. May 17,
1887, an income of not less than twenty-five hundred dollars per annum was
assured to the Doshisha by the American Board. In April, 1888, a meeting was held in
the great Buddhist temple of Chionin in Kyoto, to consider the question of a
university endowment. In July a dinner was given to Mr. Neesima by the late
minister of foreign affairs, that he might present this question to
distinguished Japanese guests. At this dinner Mr. Neesima fainted, worn out by
his efforts. The result of the meeting was a pledge of thirty thousand dollars
to the university. In the summer of 1888 he was told by his physicians that he
had not long to live, and by their advice was taken to a mountain
resort (Ikao) ; here he was cheered by the gift to the Doshisha of a hundred
thousand dollars from Mr. J. N. Harris of New London, Conn. Writing to Mr.
Harris, Mr. Neesima says, " A donation like this is unknown and
unprecedented in our country."
During the
summer months of 1889 Neesima's health seemed to improve ; and after seeing the
foundation for the new science building laid, he went to Tokyo to work for the
endowment fund ; but rest was again advised by his physicians, and he went to
Oiso ; and here, Jan. 23, 1890, he died. On the news of Mr. Neesima's dangerous
illness, the students of Doshisha were with difficulty restrained from
proceeding in a body to his bedside. On Jan. 24 the body was taken to Kyoto,
where the funeral services took place, Jan. 27, in presence of the school,
graduates from all parts of the empire, city authorities, and representatives
of foreign missions. In the procession (a mile and a half in length) was seen a
delegation of priests bearing the inscription, " From the Buddhists of
Osaka." Truly no private citizen ever died in Japan whose loss was so
widely and so deeply felt as that of Mr. Neesima.
On the plain below Kyoto stands his outward
monument, the Doshisha, from whose walls have come the most powerful factors in
the civilization of new Japan ; but in the lives of the men about him is
written the endurance of his influence, the divinity of his soul.
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