Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda

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Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda
Personal details
Born(1862-02-22)February 22, 1862
Died16 April 1928(1928-04-16) (aged 66)
Tokyo, Japan

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.

Education and Church Ministry[edit]

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[edit]

  1. ^ General Alumni Catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, 1922. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. 1922. p. 393.
  2. ^ "Japanese Bishops Historical Event". The Sydney Morning Herald. Reuters. 6 December 1923.
  3. ^ 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.

See also[edit]