September 2009

President Niwano Attends Anglican 150th Anniversary Celebration

On September 22, the 150th anniversary of Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan) was celebrated in a Tokyo hotel. Some 170 people attended, including Anglican residents of Japan and other invited guests. Rissho Kosei-kai was represented by President Nichiko Niwano and Rev. Takeshi Kawabata, director of the General Affairs Bureau.

After greetings by the Most Rev. Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, primate of Nippon Sei Ko Kai, President Niwano spoke as president of the Japanese Committee of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, expressing thanks for the efforts and cooperation of Rev. Uematsu as a director of Religions for Peace Japan and the Anglican Rev. Laurence Yutaka Minabe as vice-chairperson of the Disarmament and Reconciliation Committee of Religions for Peace Japan. President Niwano referred to the words of Rev. Michael Ramsey (1904-88), the 100th archbishop of Canterbury, who said when he visited Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in 1973, that people of faith should remember that religion's basic purpose is the salvation of humankind. President Niwano added that there is a saying that all roads have a foundation, meaning that people of faith must remember religion's main purpose. Rev. Niwano offered congratulations on the anniversary and said he prayed for the further development of Nippon Sei Ko Kai.

The guests at the reception, from both Japan and overseas, included the current archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, and, from Religions for Peace Japan, Rev. Eiin Yasuda, chief abbot of Yakushiji and chief priest of the Hosso sect of Japanese Buddhism; Ven. Gijun Sugitani, supreme advisor to the Tendai Buddhist Denomination; Rev. Munemichi Kurozumi, vice patriarch of Kurozumikyo; Secretary-general Keishi Miyamoto, leader of Myochi-kai; and Rev. Hironori Katori, chief of the International Sect Public Relations Center of Jinja Honcho (Association of Shinto Shrines).

The Anglican Communion has about 65 million members in 36 dioceses and 160 countries around the world. It has often been said that it embraces elements of both Catholicism and Protestantism. Missionaries from the Church of England and the U.S. Episcopal Church introduced Anglicanism to East Asia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1859 two American missionaries arrived in Japan, and Nippon Sei Ko Kai was established 1887. Today in Japan it has 11 dioceses and has been engaged in social welfare, environmental protection, human rights protection, and humanitarian aid. It established educational and medical facilities such as Rikkyo Gakuin, Momoyama Gakuin, and St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo.

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