Yamamuro Gumpei

Yamamuro Gumpei

Yamamuro Gumpei ( Japanese 山 室 軍 平 ; born September 1, 1872 in Tetta (哲 多 町), Atetsu County (阿哲 郡), ( Okayama Prefecture ); died August 20, 1940 ) founded and led the Japanese branch of the Salvation Army .

life and work

Yamamuro Gumpei was born to a poor farmer and was adopted by his uncle at the age of nine. At the age of 15 he left home and moved to Tokyo where he worked in a printing company. He became a Christian in 1887, studied at the Dōshisha English School (同志 社 英 学校, Dōshisha Ei-gakkō), the forerunner of today's Dōshisha University , which he left without a degree.

When Edward Wright (* 1863) came to Japan from the English Salvation Army in 1895, Yamamuro helped found the Japanese branch. The following year he was named the first Japanese officer in the Salvation Army, and later made it to the rank of commander. With his wife Kieko (山 室 機 恵 子; 1874-1916) he fought for the abolition of public prostitution. At the same time he developed a social welfare program. Throughout his life he worked for the conversion of the working class and the poor to Christianity.

His most famous work among his writings is “Heimini no fukuin” (平民 の 福音) - “The good news for the people” from 1899. His writings (山 室 軍 平 選集) were published in ten volumes and a supplementary volume.

Yamamuro's grave is located in Tama Cemetery in Tokyo Prefecture.

Remarks

1. ↑ Today part of Niimi .

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Yamamuro Gumpei . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 763.

Web links

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Yamamuro is the family name, Gumpei the first name.