Confusion to Conviction: The Representative, Multilingual Religious Journey of Takakura Tokutarō (1885-1934)

Takakura Tokutarō (1885‒1934) was a second-generation Protestant Christian theologian in modern Japan.1 Born into a merchant family of True Pure Land Buddhist religious heritage, Takakura was formally educated in Meiji Japan’s still-new national school system. As a university student he embraced Christianity under the preaching of perhaps Meiji Japan’s most infl uential Protestant church leader, Uemura Masahisa (1857‒1925). Takakura then vociferously read Englishand German-language theology in coming to his own particular Christian convictions. Takakura Tokutarō’s religious experience, as well as the development of his thought, exemplify the confl uence of many streams of the dizzying social-political and religio-philosophical changes fl owing through Meiji (1868 ‒1912), Taishō (1912‒1926), and early Shōwa (1926‒1989) Japan. This study seeks to examine this important leader’s experience and thinking, particularly as he formulated his convictions through the interaction of multiple languages. This analysis of Takakura should cast fresh light on the dynamism inherent to modern Japan’s rapid and multifaceted transformation through the fascinating years of the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa Eras.