Oyu Orthodox Church

The Oyu Orthodox Church was once located in Towada Oyu, present-day Kazuno City, adjacent to Odate City, where our church is located. It existed until around the 1980s, suffering persecution due to wars and changes in social conditions, and using the homes of believers as churches.

 

”Metrika”

The title poem of the first poetry collection "Metrika", which won the 68th Mr. H Prize, by Antonina Tohko Toda, a native of Oyu, is "Metrika/МЕТРИКА".

МЕТРИКА is a list of baptized members of the Orthodox Church, which includes the date of baptism, name, date of birth, missionary, baptized person, surrogate father, surrogate mother, and notes (such as relationship). The "Rikuchu Oyu Evangelical Church Metrika" that Ms. Toda must have seen lists 158 baptized persons from 1879 to December 1990. Most of them were baptized in the Meiji and Taisho Eras, and only 5 were baptized after World War II.

 

Nicolai's arrival in Japan

Christian societies can be broadly divided into three categories. The Eastern Orthodox Church spread from Greek-speaking countries to Russia, the Roman Catholic Church spread to Western Europe, and the Protestant Church (neo-Christianity) split off from the Orthodox Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church is also called the Greek Orthodox Church because it was introduced to the Greek-speaking countries, but in Russia it is called the "Russian Orthodox Church" because it adopted the missionary style of "translating the Bible into the language of the country and performing services in the language of that country.

 

The Russian Orthodox Church was first introduced to Japan in 1861 by Nikolai, who came to Japan as a priest attached to the Russian consulate in Hakodate. Nikolai was 25 years old when he came to Japan, determined to evangelize Japan and volunteered to do so. He attended the cram school of Kensai Kimura, a doctor from Odate, and vigorously absorbed basic knowledge of Japan, including not only the Japanese language but also Japanese classics, history, Confucianism, and Shintoism.

Three of the first baptized members of the Orthodox Church were Takuma Sawabe, a cousin of Ryoma Sakamoto, from Jingu, Atsurei Sakai (real name Kawamata), a doctor from Kinnari, Sendai, and Daizo Urano, from Kanehama, Morioka. The baptism took place in April 1868, seven years after his arrival in Japan.
 

Mission to Kazuno: The Rise and Fall of the Oyu Orthodox Church

The missionary activities in the Tohoku region, which had been defeated in the Boshin War (1868-1868), began in Hakodate and spread to Aomori, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures, and the organization of the Japan Orthodox Harist Church was established.

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The first missionary to Kazuno was Stefan Esashiya, an assistant missionary.

He was baptized by Nikolai in 1872. In January 1877, he rented the second floor of Tetsutaro Yuse's house in Takada, Kemanai, and began preaching, and soon had Kiroku Aikawa, Hayami Sawade, and Ryuta Omori, all in their 20s, join the church. Sawade was living in a hut by the well of the family of Tojiro Meitoki, a samurai in Arakawa Village (present-day Ozaka Town), and Meitoki also became devoted to the Orthodox Church. The baptism was attended by 23 people, including the Mekoki family, the Sawade and Omori families, and Kiroku Aikawa.

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Later, in January 1877, Kurosawa Shigehachiro, 26, of Oyu, Chiba Sasoji, 22, and Saga Gengo, 50, were baptized in the Metoki family.

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Ichinosuke Hatakeyama, who built the Gospel Hall of Magata in Odate City, which is designated as a cultural asset by Akita Prefecture, was also baptized in the Metoki family in April 2012. The eldest son Kingo and the third son (Izumisawa) Shinkichi of Tojiro Metoki became priests and were active throughout the country.

 

The seeds of Orthodoxy planted in Kazuno were bearing fruit.

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On July 29, 1908, the evangelist Shogo Takahashi reported to the Governor of Akita Prefecture that "166 members of the Oyu Orthodox Church" had joined the faith.

On September 11, 1942, Suekichi Asai, the administrator of the Oyu Orthodox Church, reported to the Akita Prefecture Department of Home Affairs that the number of those qualified to receive the sacrament (those baptized) was "143, of which 56 in Oyu, 30 in Kosaka, 21 in Arakawa, 8 in Kemanai, 7 in Koedesashi, and 21 in Hanawa.

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It can be seen that the Oyu Orthodox Church covered the entire area of Kazuno.

 

In Oyu, young men who were inspired by Sasoji Chiba, an elementary school teacher, who had been born into a family that was a vassal of the Nanbu-Kita family and a master of swordsmanship, joined the church one after another. Sasoji soon resigned from the elementary school and later became a village councilor and then a county councilor, working energetically on issues such as smoke pollution from the Kosaka Mine and tourism promotion of Lake Towada, with Shougyo as his spiritual pillar.

Suekichi Asai (Syougyo), a student of Sasoji, was strongly influenced by him and entered a missionary school in Surugadai, Tokyo, and eventually became the superintendent of the Oyu Orthodox Church Preaching Center. Syougyo became famous as a haiku poet, and later made great contributions as a collector of local materials and the discoverer of the Oyu stone circles(now is the World Cultural Heritage).

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In the late Meiji period (1868-1912), Oyu Village had more than 20 houses of worship. The church, which had gained momentum after Nikolai's two visits to Oyu, declined rapidly after the Russo-Japanese War and the First and Second World Wars, as many members returned to Buddhism or became Catholics. In the past, wooden crosses stood here and there in the graveyard of Daienji Temple, but now they are rarely seen.

 

The words "Glory in Heaven, Peace on Earth" - these are still engraved on the gravestone of a family of believers.

 

Written by Irina Eiko Takagi

(Oyu Local History Study Group)