A Flower with Roots: The Story of Mary D. Jesse and Shokei Girls’ School

By Roberta Lynn Stephens and Komei Sasaki

You are about to read a book with a double storyline with many intertwining segments. Mary D. Jesse, a woman from a family of means, abandons everything to follow her vision to help lift the burden of Japanese girls during a time when education was a privilege and not a right. She is a model of faith, perseverance, and leadership, who discovers God's guidance in difficult experiences. Already a school with history, Shokei Girls' School begins its walk with Jesse as she and other missionary colleagues share their Christian faith--the flower--their love for the students, and Christ's love as it is--rooted--in their daily living. Mission, culture, and character intersect here at Shokei, leading to changed lives. At the same time, the drama of misunderstanding, misery, and pain leads to forgiveness and rebuilding. The story of Shokei Girls' School is a compelling account of the resiliency of a mission school, where you will see the love and loyalty of the students for their school while the school leadership was experiencing endless drama in management and personal relations. A Flower with Roots will take you on a journey you won't forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Feb 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532634314

Roberta Lynn Stephens

Roberta Lynn Stephens is a retired American Baptist missionary to Japan. She served at Shokei Gakuin, Sendai, Japan as a teacher and board member for twenty-nine years. She is the author of Nezuita Hana in Japanese (2003), and co-authored An Invitation to Kokeshi Dolls (1981).

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A Flower with Roots

The Story of Mary D. Jesse and Shokei Girls’ School

Roberta Lynn Stephens

Afterword by Komei Sasaki

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A Flower with Roots

The Story of Mary D. Jesse and Shokei Girls’ School

Copyright © 2018 Roberta Lynn Stephens. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-3430-7

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-3432-1

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-3431-4

Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/17/15

Excerpt(s) from THE GENESEE DIARY: REPORT FROM A TRAPPIST MONASTERY by Henri Nouwen, copyright © 1976 by Henri J. M. Nouwen. Copyright renewed © 2004 by Sue Mosteller, CSJ, executrix of the Estate of Henri J.M. Nouwen Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1: From the Beginning

Chapter 2: Not Just An Ordinary Teacher (1911–1919)

Chapter 3: Divine Guidance—Visible and Invisible (1919–1926)

Chapter 4: Hopes for a New Start (1926–1930)

Chapter 5: Interlude (1930–1937)

Chapter 6: Clouds on the Horizon (1938–1941)

Chapter 7: Engulfed in the Storm (1941–1947)

Chapter 8: Welcoming Free And Brighter Days (1947–1950)

Chapter 9: Destinations and New Beginnings (1950–1952)

Afterword

Appendix 1: Glossary of Japanese Words

Appendix 2: Alphabetical List of Letters/Annual Reports and their Origin

Appendix 3

Bibliography

This book is dedicated to Shokei Gakuin in Sendai, Japan, and to all those there who have continued to urge me on to finish this book.

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Mary D. Jesse

Preface

I did not begin writing with the idea of publishing a book. My journey in research and writing began as part of a research project for the editorial committee of Shokei Jogakuin’s 100 Year Anniversary History Book . Shokei, pronounced show-kay, is located in Miyagi Prefecture in northeast Japan along the eastern seaboard about three hundred sixty miles from Tokyo. As the American Baptist missionary representative on this Japanese Christian school committee, I was assigned to research the period of school history from 1921 – 1929 , when American Baptist missionary Mary Daniel Jesse served at the school. Born in 1881 , Jesse’s missionary career began in 1911 and spanned more than forty years. As I researched and wrote, Aiko Kouchi—the alumna representative on the committee and a former student of Jesse’s—began translating my writing into Japanese for the committee and connected me to more primary information.

Research of that period assigned to me not only revealed an interesting story of this woman’s life, but showed that she had great influence before 1921 and certainly in the twenty years following 1929. By this time, the editorial committee began to realize that Mary Jesse had been a major but forgotten figure in the growth and development of the school, so they encouraged me to research the rest of the story. In 1991 and again in 1996, the committee allowed me to gather materials at the American Baptist Historical Society (ABHS) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (currently in Atlanta, Georgia). ABHS houses the largest collection of historical records from missionaries and Baptist churches in the United States and around the world. From the time of my first visit, the staff at ABHS played a major role in supplying documents and guidance in research and writing. After both visits, I returned to Japan with a large cardboard box full of articles copied from mission magazines from 1910 to 1953, and pertinent correspondence from the personal files of Mary Jesse and other missionaries serving with Jesse.

Although we are looking back in time from a present-day vantage point in this book, I wanted to try to see Shokei School and Jesse not only through her own eyes (fifty personal letters are specifically cited in this work), but through the eyes of the other missionaries. I discovered the intricate and sometimes very emotional heart and spirit covering four decades of leadership in the school. We can see how varying degrees of American and Japanese spiritual leadership, decisions of a foreign denominational mission board, economics of two countries, generosity of American Baptist churches and, of course, the diverse personalities of the school’s American and Japanese staff affected the development and character of the school. It is this kind of drama that needed expression in a longer work than a few paragraphs in an anniversary book. So, I continued to do research, and the resulting book, Nezuita Hana, or A Flower with Roots, was finally published in Japan in 2003. There was a time gap between the 2003 publication in Japanese and this publication. Delay allowed me to find additional valuable material, aided by the internet, that would have been impossible before.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in Japan, development of education in a Christian (mission) school, a denominational mission board’s efforts in women’s education on foreign soil, the life of missionaries in a past era, the effects of the Pacific War on a Japanese Christian school, or the movement of God in the lives of individuals.

Although this book has been translated and published in the Japanese language, Japanese words set off in italics are used when the translation leads to awkward wording in English. These words are defined when they first occur and in a glossary at the end.

Throughout the book, the names referring to the school vary. Sometimes the name reflects a status given to it by the government. At other times, it is a name used by missionaries, the Japanese, or by a name known to the American Baptist churches’ membership during that time period. The following terms refer to the school in various eras: Ella O. Patrick Home, Sendai School, Shokei School, Jogakko, Shokei Girls’ School, and Shokei Jogakuin (jo = female, gakkou = school, gakuin = private school); and lastly, since 2003 the school’s name became Shokei Gakuin, because male students were added to the school, so the word jo, for female, needed to be removed.

Acknowledgments

Many people have helped me write this book. First and foremost are the many people in Japan at Shokei Gakuin who encouraged me and continued to provide resources for additional research. I recall Reverend Akihiro Shishido (Chancellor of Shokei) and his office staff at Shokei’s administration offices who endlessly typed and retyped the material on word processors. Alumna, including Aiko Kouchi, as a resource and translator into Japanese, and Junko Tsuruma, who gave me the final impetus to get the Japanese version published. Professor Mochizuki, Budget Director of the Board of Managers of Kanto Gakuin provided the data for converting yen mentioned in the book into current values. Rev. Yoshio Oshima has been advising and patiently teaching me Japan Baptist history. While these people were busy helping me in Japan, friends at the American Baptist Historical Society were of invaluable help in teaching me how to write and do hands-on research. They include Beverly Carlson, Executive Director and Betty Layton, Archivist. Carlson’s successor in the initial research phase, Deborah Van Broekhoven along with Layton read the manuscript and suggested revisions for more clarification in the later phase. Many others helped with formatting and word changes: some of them are Ashley Whitaker, David Kelley, Dr. Paul Aita, the late Dr. Robert Fulop, Ron Schlosser, and Rev. Dr. Reid Trulson.

For the newest section, chapter 1 of the English version, many thanks go to Mary Beth Brown of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection of the University of Missouri as well as the staff and volunteers of the Mary Ball Washington Museum of Lancaster, Virginia for their invaluable help with information on Mary Jesse’s family and the geography of her birthplace.

Abbreviations

ABFMS American Baptist Foreign Mission Society

ABHS American Baptist Historical Society

ABMU American Baptist Missionary Union

BIM Board of International Ministries

IJEC International Journal of Early Childhood

IM International Ministries

UCC United Church of Christ

WABFMS Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society

Introduction

This book is about a very special person in history, Mary Daniel Jesse, whose passion it was to create a fine Christian educational institution in Japan through which girls could reach their full potential, becoming poised young women and followers of Jesus Christ. Her capability, determination, and faith in God were assets which saw her through times of adversity and intense anguish. This book is also about a special school, Shokei Gakuin. With Christ as its model, living together in peace with others has always been its base and motto for educating not only the intellect, but the inner spirit and heart. The school has repeatedly gone through the cycle of growing, falling, and rebounding, but its top priority has always been the students. However, this story is not limited to only these two themes. It is a keyhole view of a period of history ( 1911 – 1952 ) in which two different cultures converge to make one story. The story is a combined effort of many heroines, not just one. They are missionaries who had a passion for living, a passion for telling others about their faith in Jesus Christ, and a passion for educating Japanese young women. Their desire was to plant a flower with roots that would keep blooming year after year. It is from their letters and reports that we can see both the raw human and the divinely inspired sides of their personalities. I focus mainly on Shokei Gakuin during the period that Mary Jesse served as missionary-principal, teacher, and president. Before proceeding, I would like to briefly describe the sending organization, Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, and how its staff related to the missionaries they sent out from such a great distance. This description will be helpful to understand why problem-solving was so exasperatingly difficult before there were telephones, fax machines, and the internet! How were missionaries supported? How did their organization develop and what impact did it have on them, personally? The answers are important to understanding this unique story.

A Bit of Organizational History. In the 1700s, scattered Baptist churches were always wary of organizing for fear of losing the autonomy of the local church. However, Adoniram and Ann Judson, who left the United States as Congregational missionaries in 1812, became Baptists before they arrived in India, and were baptized by William Carey prior to fleeing to Burma. Their colleague Luther Rice shared their compelling story far and wide. This gave the impetus to the formation of the Triennial Convention or the General Missionary Convention in 1814, and was the first nationwide Baptist missionary-sending body to form in the United States. This organization was the predecessor to the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, or the current International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches of the United States. The tumultuous years before the Civil War also affected Baptist churches. The Free Baptist Missionary Society broke off and organized independently in 1843, and soon after, in 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed. Also in 1845, the Triennial Convention was renamed the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU). It continued to manage the well-being of missionaries and funding for work in foreign countries. The Missionary Union was independent of any Baptist church denominational structure, and therefore did its own fundraising for missionary couples and single men, but not single women. Its Board of Managers governed the sending and funding of missionaries for nearly one hundred years before becoming affiliated with the new Northern Baptist Convention established in 1907.

There was considerable resistance to the appointment of single women missionaries, and few were sent until the formation of the Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (WABFMS) in 1871. Eventually, two regional societies were established, with headquarters in Boston and Chicago, and later a third in 1874 in San Francisco. When communication and transportation in the United States had greatly improved, all three societies merged into one society in 1913. Their governing board (here referred to as the woman’s mission board or mission board) was separate from the ABMU. The woman’s mission board made its own appointments subject to approval by the ABMU, and administered its funds by mutual agreement. In 1908, the ABMU reorganized and adopted the name American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS). In 1955, the WABFMS officially merged with the ABFMS. On a practical level during the intervening years, the couples, single men (ABFMS), and single women of the WABFMS served side by side in their respective country, but after the merger they served under a unified organization. The mission boards were dependent on mission offerings from American Baptist churches in the United States to pay the salaries of missionaries and fund the schools overseas.

By 1900, ABFMS and WABFMS boards, through their missionaries, managed nearly one thousand one hundred forty schools worldwide with the help of indigenous people. Shokei Gakuin was one of these, and one of multiple mission schools in Japan. The investment in schools around the world was truly great. Shokei was dependent on funds from US churches for over fifty years. When economic conditions in the United States wavered, or when Americans became hostile toward foreigners because of immigration or war, offerings in churches for foreign missions decreased. These events had a crippling effect on Shokei and other schools like it.

Relating to State-Side Management. Resources for the material of this book, to a large degree, came from correspondence between the missionary in Japan and the secretary on the home board in the United States, sometimes referred to as the Foreign Secretary (currently called Area Director). The corresponding secretary for the WABFMS was the bridge between the missionary and the mission board. She was responsible for corresponding with the missionaries about their needs, problems, and desires, and even reprimanding them when the missionaries’ actions or attitudes warranted it. She also had the difficult job of interpreting board policy and advocating for the missionary. During Mary Jesse’s tenure, she corresponded with Mabelle Rae McVeigh, Minnie Sandburg (later, Mrs. Charles H. Sears), Grace Maine, Ethel M. Humphreys, and Hazel Shank, all of whose names will appear in this book. Because Jesse corresponded with each foreign secretary in such detail, it was possible for me to knit together the details she wrote about along with Shokei’s recorded history, revealing a more complete and personal story of how Shokei journeyed toward becoming a healthy, reputable school.

With the financial burden of so many schools and other work around the world, a topic often discussed in letters between missionary and corresponding secretary was finances. As the number of educational institutions increased and funds decreased, mission administrators at the home office in the United States began to encourage the missionaries to help the institutions become financially independent and cut back on costs. Yet, the board wanted the missionaries to stay involved enough in the school administration to keep an eye on spending and investments in buildings and programs so that they did not fail because of poor management. Jesse often got two contradictory messages from her foreign secretary: guard the finances of the school, and take less responsibility for administration. But she never could understand how to do both at the same time successfully. Guarding the mission board’s investment in the school meant having to be involved in the management of the school. Both resulted in the school’s dependence on American money and the presence of missionaries. The home board’s resources were often stretched to the breaking point while the school remained tied to the apron strings of its benefactor.

Relating to the Mission Organization in Japan. In 1873, Jonathan and Eliza Goble and Nathan and Charlotte Brown were the first Baptist missionaries to arrive in Japan. From that time until 1901, nearly eighty American Baptist missionaries (couples and singles) spent time serving in Japan. They did not have a formal organization amongst themselves except for purposes of fellowship. They would continue as a family with close-knit ties with each other. But they were each directly responsible to their home board. By 1900 it became necessary to begin to coordinate the work in relation to each other, because their work became interconnected with the formation of a growing Japanese Christian denomination. The Reference Committee was formed as the unifying force. It had subcommittees, including a women’s committee which dealt exclusively with women’s issues and the girls’ schools. Then, in 1922, the All-Japan mission meeting was hailed as opening a new era with the establishment of the Joint Committee. More and more Japanese were becoming Christians, and leaders were emerging who needed experience in management. The Joint Committee gradually took over many duties of the Reference Committee. It was made up of six American missionary men and six Japanese men. The women, however, resisted giving over responsibilities for their schools to the Joint Committee, because it meant that men would have too much power over the girls’ schools. Boards of Trustees in the schools were gradually given more and more responsibility for the schools, but until that time, issues regarding women missionaries and girls’ schools were handled by the women’s committee and the Reference Committee.

Shokei Gakuin. The school marks its official beginning in November 1892 with the arrival of Miss Annie S. Buzzell. But prior to Buzzell’s arrival, four missionaries in rapid succession had done the groundwork for a girls’ school by taking seven little girls into their home. These girls became Christians in the thoroughly Christian atmosphere, receiving their grounding in English while attending a public school. They became a tremendous help to these new, inexperienced missionaries. In particular, Miss Lavinia Mead (1890) incorporated a thorough training program to teach the Bible, singing of hymns, and prayer to the girls, and they in turn accompanied the missionaries to the outskirts of town, where they assisted in Sunday schools and home visitation, because the foreign missionaries lacked language and cultural sensitivities. Although this practice did not originate in Sendai, what these girls did became known as the work of Bible Women who eventually underwent specialized education and became salaried workers.

Mead, who is considered the founder, preceded Annie Buzzell by only two years. Discussion continues today as to whether she or Buzzell should be considered the first principal, but the two worked together side by side, differing in their philosophy, at times, as to whether the girls should be given a general Christian education or should be educated specifically as Bible Women. Buzzell won out. In 1901, Mead left to work in another part of Japan and eventually founded a woman’s seminary in Osaka to train Bible Women exclusively. The first official government recognition of Shokei school came in 1896 with the construction of the first missionary residence/school building. The inclusion of a foreign religion as a regular subject in the curriculum prevented the little school from gaining any higher status, but missionaries were not willing to relent on this point. Buzzell worked hard to make it an excellent school. When the Bible was removed from the official curriculum, and the period of study was increased from four years to five years in 1910, the school received accreditation from the Japanese government. The staff continued to teach Christianity and study the Bible through other methods, such as through their residential dormitory program. It was not until 1942 that it became an educational institution with legal standing under Japanese law.

The name Shokei was created early on by Buzzell. The origin lies in Chinese characters meaning a plain linen cloth coat which covers a beautiful kimono to conceal its beauty. In simple words, rich on the inside but modest on the outside. Buzzell thought that this idea matched the Bible verses in 1 Peter 3:3–4: Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (NIV). This concept and the scripture remain with Shokei Gakuin to the present day.

Now meet Mary Daniel Jesse, who envisioned the role education could play in raising the status of young women who would understand that inner beauty is of great value in the sight of God. Embark on a journey with me to another era and another world to experience the passion of many women giving their lives to planting seeds of faith with prayers that the roots would grow deep to produce a flower of unfading beauty.

1

From the Beginning

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Epping Forest—Mary Ball Washington & Mary Daniel Jesse’s Birthplace (courtesy of Judy Jesse McCarthy- Dexter Press, Pearl River, N. Y.)

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

—Natalie Sleeth

¹

We left Kilmarnock, Virginia, on that sultry Sunday heading north on Highway 3, known in years past as the Kings Highway of the Northern Neck of Virginia. Our tour bus was filled with Japanese high school girls, and we were on a pilgrimage of sorts. I think I was the only one whose heart was beating rapidly out of excitement rather than the oppressive heat!

The driver turned left onto a gravel road. I asked the bus driver to stop so that we could read the large white sign standing at the edge of the road. It said, The Historic Home of Mary Ball Washington, then in smaller letters, The Mother of President George Washington. Although it was truly a privilege to visit the birthplace of the mother of the first president of the United States, we were looking for another Mary whose name was not written on the sign. This was also the birthplace of Mary Daniel Jesse, the second Missionary-Principal of Shokei Girls’ School (Shokei Gakuin) in Sendai, Japan.

As we drove deep into the large tract of land called Epping Forest, we were surrounded by acres of maturing corn. Looming in the distance was a large white colonial frame house surrounded by scattered oak and cedar trees. In the background a thick forest wrapped itself around the edges of the cornfields.

Could it be true that after eleven years of research I was finally able to pinpoint this grand house and meet Mary D. Jesse’s relatives? Furthermore, was it not a dream to be able to share this moment with students who were experiencing the very legacy left by her at the mission school where she poured out her heart for forty years, planting a flower with deep roots? Today, in honor of her, the students changed into their bright summer kimonos and gave a concert in front of this grand old plantation house. The time was too short to explore, but it was the start of another pilgrimage for me to find out what the early years of this Mary’s life might have been like.

Namesake

We are all made up of the stuff that has come before us. And so it was with Mary. She was born of tough but elegant Virginia stock. Although her mother and grandmother were both named Mary, her namesake was different. Not only was she named after Mary Ball Washington, she was born and raised in the same house and, according to tradition, born in the very same bedroom as Mary Ball.² Parents hope that we will live up to our namesake, and surely this was true for Mary Jesse.

Mary Ball Washington’s grandfather, Colonel William Ball, was a seventh generation Ball. He emigrated from England sometime between 1646 and 1649.³ From 1677 and 1693 he acquired some adjacent parcels of land between the Rappahannock River and Chesapeake