My Book Ⅰ
Written by Hiroyuki Ikeda
［No.33］ Yae, Jo and Me 10/29/2013
NHK’s drama ”Yae’s Sakura, Cherry Tree” is a story that follows the wife of Niijima Jo, the life of Yae. Speaking of Niijima Jo, he is known for building the foundation of Doshisha University and he served as a missionary of Christianity in the new era of Meiji. I myself graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto in March 1963 and I got my job at Kansai TV the same year. In Doshisha, I enjoyed playing music in the Doshisha Orchestra club and had many concerts. As I am a Christian, of course, I also participated in college chapel every Wednesday morning where I learned the words left by Niijima Jo, namely "That which occurs comes of strong people who have whole body consciousness.” 良心の全身に充満せる丈夫の起り来らんことを
I stribed to live up to it and was encouraged by it.
Yae was born in the house of samurai of the Aizu clan. She sharpened her gun skills from an early age, cutting her hair like a man and barricaded and fought in Tsuruga Castle. In the time of the Boshin War in 1868, Yae fought against government forces and finally Aizu had lost the war. After the war she divorced her husband and moved to Kyoto where her brother Kakuma Yamamoto lived. Then Yae met Jo Niijima. She married Jo in response to protestant baptism in 1876. By the way, in Tempo14, 1843, Jo was born in Edo mansion of the Annaka clan and at the age of 21, he was smuggled out of Japan by an American ship from Hakodate, Hokkaido and entered Boston. Local devout Christians Mr. and Mrs. Hardy loved Jo and they helped Jo, not only financially. Jo entered Philips Academy and was baptized at 23 years old. In addition, he studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary and returned to Japan in 1874. He was busy trying to chase his dream of making a university and doing Christian missionary work and Jo founded Doshisha Univesity. However, mid way through his dream, Jo died at the young age of 46. After the death of Jo, Yae joined the Japanese Red Cross Society and she served as a nurse in the Nisshin war, between Japan and China, and in Nichiro, between Japan and Russia. She died at the age of 86 in 1932. I think their life has been described well on TV, For example, Yae and Jo’s house was compromise between East and West and there was Western Toilet in Yae’s and Jo’s wooden house. They seemed to enjoy Western-style life. In old-thinking Kyoto, they have overcome the difficulty that two people are terrifying. As a Doshisha graduate, I was taught a lot by Jo and Yae’s aggressive life . They taught me how was western culture in early Meiji Era.
Doshisha : http://www.doshisha.ac.jp/information/history/educational_ideal.htm
Yae-no Sakura : http://www9.nhk.or.jp/yaenosakura/
