Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda
Rt. Rev. Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda D.D. (22 February 1862 – 16 April 1928, 元田 作之進) was the first Japanese born Bishop of Tokyo in the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, the Anglican Church in Japan.
Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | February 22, 1862 Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Died | 16 April 1928 (aged 66) Tokyo, Japan |
Education and Church Ministry
Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda was ordained in America in 1893. He studied variously at Kenyon College, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Motoda obtained a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1895 and was granted a Doctorate in Divinity from the Philadelphia Divinity School in 1916.[1]
Motoda later became the first person of Japanese heritage to become an Anglican Bishop, when he was consecrated as Bishop of Tokyo on December 7, 1923.[2] Motoda advocated for the education of a native ministry and for an increasingly autonomous national church in Japan.
During the course of his studies and church ministry, Motoda travelled extensively. A frequent visitor to the United States, Motoda also travelled with the Rev. Tasuku Harada in 1905 to India as a guest of the Indian YMCA.[3] During a visit to England in 1928 he preached at Canterbury Cathedral.
Motoda also served as President of St Paul's College, Tokyo.
References
- General Alumni Catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, 1922. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. 1922. p. 393.
- "Japanese Bishops Historical Event". The Sydney Morning Herald. Reuters. 6 December 1923.
- Leith, D. G. M. (May 1906). The Delegates from Christian Japan in India (PDF) (Vol. XVII no 5. ed.). The Harvest Field. Retrieved 6 February 2015.