Arisima Takeo used to a devoted Christian. In 1901, when he was 23, he announced his faith in the Lord and became a member of the Sapporo Church. However, 10years later, he decided to apostatize from the Christianity and the church. People called him ...
Arisima Takeo used to a devoted Christian. In 1901, when he was 23, he announced his faith in the Lord and became a member of the Sapporo Church. However, 10years later, he decided to apostatize from the Christianity and the church. People called him "The Apostate Arisima Takeo". He is one of the many apostate writers in Japan.
The purpose of the article is to discuss way he had to renegate the Christianity. Especially, we attempt to give a detailed discussion of the way how he was introduced to the religion. The present paper will be a part of the intended work. First, we ask how the environment of his childhood, the early years of Meiji Era, affected his religlious life His parents put Arisima under a westen-style education It seems natural that he kept a contact with the Christianity, since he learned English from the missionaries and pastors whose native languages are English. Second, we discuss how Nitobe Inazo and Uthimura Kanzo influenced his religion. They were the frontiers of the Christianity in Japan. No one denies that the two people were very influential an leading Arisima Takeo to the Christianity. The current paper attempts to examine their relationships with Arisima carefully.