Background
Kanzo Uchimura was born on March 26, 1861 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a son of a samurai of the domain of Takasaki (present-day Gumma Prefecture).
鑑三 内村
Kanzo Uchimura was born on March 26, 1861 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a son of a samurai of the domain of Takasaki (present-day Gumma Prefecture).
Kanzo Uchimura started to study the English language at the age of 11. At age 13 he entered a foreign language school to continue to study English, and planned to pursue a government job. In 1877, Kanzo Uchimura gained admission to the Sapporo Agricultural College (present-day Hokkaido University), where English was the main language of instruction and became a Christian convert.
After graduating from college, he worked for a time in the Fisheries Section of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, but in 1884 went to America and entered Amherst College. After graduating from Amherst, he entered Hartford Theological Seminary, but withdrew shortly afterward and returned to Japan in 1888.
Kanzo Uchimura returned to Japan in 1888. After his return to Japan, Uchimura worked as a teacher, but was fired or forced to resign in several instances over his uncompromising position toward authorities or foreign missionary bodies that controlled the schools. Realizing that his religious beliefs were incompatible with a teaching career, he turned to writing, becoming senior columnist for the popular newspaper, Yorozu Chōhō. Uchimura's career as a journalist was cut short as well, largely due to his pacifist views and vocal opposition against the Russo-Japanese War in his newspaper columns, which came into conflict with the paper's official editorial views. He started publishing and selling his own monthly magazine, Tokyo Zasshi (Tokyo Journal) and later Seisho no Kenkyu (Biblical Study), and supported himself by addressing weekly audiences of 500–1000 people in downtown Tokyo in lectures on the Bible.
His writings in English include: Japan and the Japanese (1894) and How I became a Christian (1895), and reflect his struggle to develop a Japanese form of Christianity. In his lifetime, Uchimura became famous overseas. His major English-language works were translated into numerous languages. After his death, however, Uchimura's reputation grew more, as his followers produced an enormous amount of literature.
Kanzo Uchimura believed that God's truth can be revealed directly to each individual, so that an intermediary between God and people, such as a minister, priest, or pope, is not required. This argument led Uchimura to start the Mukyokai-shugi (Non-church), a denial of the institutional church.