Masayoshi Oshikawa

Who They Were

Masayoshi Oshikawa (押川方義, おしかわ まさよし) was a Japanese Christian evangelist, politician, and educator who lived from 1850 to 1928. He was born in the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain, a feudal domain on the island of Shikoku that corresponds to parts of modern-day Ehime Prefecture. His life spanned the final years of the Edo period (1603–1868) and the rapid modernisation of Japan under the Meiji era and beyond.

Oshikawa was a man of many roles: he served as a teacher, a pastor, and a politician. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Imperial Diet established under the Meiji Constitution. He was also the founder and first president of Tohoku Gakuin University, a major Christian institution in the city of Sendai.

Life and Career

Oshikawa was born on 7 January 1852, in the fifth year of the Kaei era (嘉永). The Kaei era ran from 1848 to 1854, a period of intense foreign pressure on Japan as Western powers demanded trade access. His birth in the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain placed him within a samurai-class society, though the details of his early upbringing are not recorded in the available sources.

His career took shape during the Meiji period (1868–1912), when Japan opened to the West and Christianity, long banned under the Tokugawa shogunate, began to spread among intellectuals and reformers. Oshikawa converted to Christianity and became an evangelist, dedicating himself to spreading the faith in a society still largely unfamiliar with it. He also worked as a teacher, combining education with his religious mission.

In 1886, Oshikawa founded Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai. The institution was established as a Christian school, and Oshikawa served as its first president. Tohoku Gakuin would grow into one of the leading private universities in the Tohoku region of northern Japan, and it remains in operation today.

Oshikawa’s activism extended into politics. He was elected to the House of Representatives of Japan, becoming one of the few Christian politicians in the early Imperial Diet. His political work reflected a broader movement among Japanese Christians who sought to shape the new nation’s moral and social direction.

Oshikawa died on 10 January 1928. His son, Shunrō Oshikawa, followed in his footsteps as a writer and journalist, becoming a notable figure in early Japanese science fiction and adventure literature.

Why They Matter

Oshikawa matters because he bridged three worlds that were usually separate in Meiji Japan: evangelical Christianity, national politics, and higher education. At a time when Christianity was a tiny minority faith in Japan, he built an institution that would outlast him and a political career that gave religious voices a place in the new parliamentary system.

His founding of Tohoku Gakuin University is his most enduring achievement. The university became a centre for Christian education in northern Japan, a region far from the main centres of missionary activity in Tokyo and Kyoto. By making education the vehicle for his faith, Oshikawa helped establish a model of Christian social engagement that influenced later Japanese educators and reformers.

His election to the House of Representatives also matters as an early example of a clergyman in Japanese politics. The Meiji Constitution of 1889 guaranteed freedom of religion, but Christians remained a small and sometimes suspect minority. Oshikawa’s presence in the Diet demonstrated that a Christian could hold public office and participate fully in national life.

The Name in Japanese

The name in Japanese is 押川方義.

The kana reading is おしかわ まさよし. In romaji, this is Oshikawa Masayoshi.

The surname comes first in Japanese order, as is standard. Here is the breakdown of each kanji:

• 押 (おし, oshi): This character means "to push" or "to press." It is the first character of the surname and gives the reading oshi in this word. The character is composed of the hand radical 扌 and the phonetic element 甲.
• 川 (かわ, kawa): This character means "river." It is a simple pictograph of a flowing stream. Together with 押, it forms the surname 押川, which literally suggests "pushing river" but functions as a place-derived family name.
• 方 (まさ, masa): This character means "direction," "side," or "person." In given names, it frequently carries the reading masa and conveys a sense of correctness or uprightness. It is the first character of the given name.
• 義 (よし, yoshi): This character means "righteousness," "justice," or "duty." It is one of the most common characters in Japanese given names, often read as yoshi. It carries strong moral connotations, fitting for a man who devoted his life to religious and political service.

The full name, 押川方義, thus reads as "Oshikawa Masayoshi," with the given name meaning something like "righteous direction" or "upright person."

Legacy

Oshikawa’s legacy is most visible at Tohoku Gakuin University, which continues to operate as a private university in Sendai. The institution’s Christian identity, rooted in Oshikawa’s founding vision, remains part of its character more than a century after his death.

His son Shunrō Oshikawa carried the family name into Japanese popular culture. Shunrō is remembered as a pioneer of Japanese science fiction, writing adventure stories that imagined future technologies and naval battles. The father’s evangelical and educational work and the son’s literary imagination together represent two strands of Meiji-era ambition: moral reform and imaginative expansion.

In the broader history of Japanese Christianity, Oshikawa stands as a figure who combined faith with institution-building. He did not merely preach; he founded a school, entered parliament, and raised a family that continued to shape Japanese culture. His life demonstrates the paths available to a Christian in Meiji and Taishō Japan, and the ways one man could leave a mark across religion, education, and politics.