Yoshi Kajiro

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Yoshi Kajiro
上代 淑
Portrait of Yoshi Kajiro
Yoshi Kajiro, from a 1907 publication.
Pronunciationかじろ よし
Born1871
Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture
Died1959 (aged 87–88)
Alma materMount Holyoke College
Yoshi Kajiro, from a 1907 newspaper article.

Yoshi Kajiro (1871–1959) was a Japanese educator, the longtime principal of the Sanyō Girls' High School [ja] in Okayama.

Early life[edit]

Yoshi Kajiro was born in Matsuyama, in Ehime Prefecture, the daughter of Kajiro Tomoyoshi (1852–1921), a Christian convert who later established a Japanese church in the Kakaako district of Honolulu.[1] She was educated at Baika Girls' School, which was founded by Japanese Christians.[2]

At Mount Holyoke College[edit]

Sponsored by American missionaries, she attended Mount Holyoke College in the United States, to train as a teacher.[3] She was the third of four women to attend Mount Holyoke from Japan in the 1890s.[2] She was required by the mission board to wear western clothing while attending Mount Holyoke as a student, though she wore a traditional kimono for demonstrations.[4] Her opinion on the First Sino-Japanese War was reported by a New York newspaper in 1894, while Kajiro was a student on summer vacation in Honeoye, New York.[5]

Career[edit]

After graduating from Mount Holyoke in 1897,[6] she returned to Japan and her work as "lady principal" of the Sanyō Girls' High School in Okayama.[7] "The glory of Miss Kajiro's work is that it is not western work supported from Boston; but it is one of those glorious developments of large Christian work outside of missionary control, bearing the lamp of life where no missionary could go, and helping make a Christian atmosphere for the homes of hundreds of girls, and for the city in which she is a great moral power," reported one American publication in 1914.[3]

In 1906, Kajiro's school was described as having 270 students,[8] and by 1920 more than 300 girls studied under her leadership.[9] In 1907 she made a ten-month sabbatical visit to the United States and Europe to study,[10] and to publicize her work.[11][12] She served as the school's head for 28 years.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Untitled death notice, The Friend (January 1922): 5.
  2. ^ a b Sally Hastings, "Mount Holyoke College: Teachers to Japan, Students from Japan" Asian Cultural Studies 38(2)(2012): 17-29.
  3. ^ a b Charlotte Burgis De Forest, The Evolution of a Missionary: A Biography of John Hyde DeForest, for Thirty-seven Years Missionary of the American Board, in Japan (F. H. Revell Company 1914): 139.
  4. ^ "Journeying from Japan" Omaha Daily Bee (May 28, 1893): 7. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  5. ^ "China and Japan" Democrat and Chronicle (August 9, 1894): 3. via Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  6. ^ "Group of students sitting outside, with Yoshi Kajiro, Class of 1897, in front center, and possibly Hana Oshima '95 in back right - front" Five College Compass Digital Collections.
  7. ^ James H. Pettee, "Japan" Life and Light for Woman (February 1893): 139.
  8. ^ Rev. J. H. DeForest, "Six Wonderful Weeks in Japan" Missionary Herald (February 1906): 73.
  9. ^ Michi Kawai, "Education and the Japanese Woman" Student World (July 1920): 112.
  10. ^ "General Notes" Mission News (April 15, 1908): 112.
  11. ^ "The Women's Meeting" The Story of the Seattle Convention (United Society of Christian Endeavor 1907): 111-112.
  12. ^ "Japanese Women Fear Danger Lurks in Frisco" Washington Times (December 27, 1907): 3. via Chronicling AmericaOpen access icon
  13. ^ "A History Through Letters" MHC Alumnae Association | Mount Holyoke College

External links[edit]

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