- 著者
-
村瀬 寿代
Hisayo Murase
- 雑誌
- 桃山学院大学キリスト教論集 = St. Andrew's University Journal of Christian Studies (ISSN:0286973X)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- no.37, pp.19-43, 2001-03-01
Guido Herman Fridolin Verbeck, a native of the Netherlands, was one of the first Protestant missionaries sent to Japan by the Dutch Reformed Church in America. From the time he arrived in Nagasaki in 1859 he gave lessons in foreign languages, taught Western sciences and technology and introduced Western constitutions to young Japanese in Nagasaki. He even had Bible classes for certain inquirers in the hope of introducing Christianity rightfully and legitimately to Japan. He soon became popular among Japanese who desired to get modern Western knowledge. After spending about ten years in Nagasaki, he was invited to Tokyo to work with the Japanese Government and to help establishing the present Tokyo University. It was at this period of time that he contributed in various ways to the modernization ofJapan. Verbeck's life and work was first introduced in his biography, Verbeck of Japan, published in the United States in 1900 by William Eliot Griffis. Griffis himself was invited to Japan as a teacher of chemistry and science by Verbeck, and because he stayed with Verbeck for a while in Tokyo, he actually observed how Verbeck worked for and served Japan and her people. Although Vbrbeck of Japan is one of the most important documentations for research on Verbeck,its author Griffismade many historicalmistakes and in some parts misunderstood the facts. Many historians seem to believe almost all the things Griffis said in his book and do not seem to question his comments. In this essay, I use many other historical sources to correct Griffis' errors, point out the mistakes the researchers made, and offer a more accurate view. During the period Verbeck stayed in Nagasaki, he taught at the Saga School which was financiallysupported by Prince of Saga.It is said that establishing the Saga School in Nagasaki is both Okuma Shigenobu and Koide Sennosuke's idea and it was they who invited Verbeck to their school as a director.Yet the details of the Saga School do not seem to have been told so far by any researchers. I try to clarify when and how Okuma and Koide tried to estahlish the Saga school. Although Verbeck went to a Presbyterian theology school and was ordained as a Dutch Reformed missionary, he was educated at the Moravian school in Zeist in the Netherlands and belonged to the Moravian Church until he entered Auburn Theology School in America in 1856. In my opinion, Verbeck was affected in many ways by the Moravian Church,as can be observed from the way he conducted mission work and preached the gospel. Since the Moravian Church has never been introduced to Japan, there are very few researchers on Moravian Brethren and practically nobody has studied the relation between Verbeck and the Moravian Church. It is necessary to take his original denomination into consideration to understand Verbeck's way of engaging himself in missionary work.