English Article　１　

COVER STORY (This article is found in the pages 16 - 19 of the monthly magazine, "Adventist World"  in the issue of July, 2007.  The cite is as follows.)

http://www.adventistworld.org/article/115/resources/english/issue-2007-1007/hero-of-faith

Hero of Faith
A Japanese Adventist pastor stands strong for God
in a time of war.*

By Tadaomi Shinmyo

August 2, 1944. Shinobu, the oldest child of Adventist Pastor Masaichi Imamura, hears knocking on the back door of the parsonage of the Fukuoka Adventist Church on Kyushu Island, one of the four major islands that make up the country of Japan. He wakes his mother (Masa Imamura), who, like Shinobu’s other siblings, was already in bed. Opening the door, Mrs. Imamura found a man with news about her husband, imprisoned for more than 10 months. The news was not good. Her husband was very sick; she must come immediately.

Mrs. Imamura left home, asking the children to pray for their dad.

It was in the midst of World War II, and Japan had been attacked by the Allied Forces, mainly the United States. To prevent further attacks, house lights throughout the country were turned down; and a black painted can covered the lamp in the sleeping room of the parsonage. There in the darkness, the Imamura children prayed earnestly for their father. As the time wore on, however, they fell asleep.

Awakened later by noise at the front door of the parsonage, Shinobu found his father being carried on a stretcher by his grandfather, his uncle, and his mother.

What Happened
Shinto had become the official doctrine of Japan during the war years, with the authorities putting tight controls on all other religions. The government’s slogan was: “Japan is the land of god … Shinkoku Nippon.”

When signs of Japan’s defeat became more explicit, government leaders appealed to the people to carry on the holy war. Using Shinto as a motivator, they argued that “since Japan is the land of god [kami], the divine wind [kamikaze] will inevitably blow away the enemy from the country.” In September 1943, the Greater Japan Religious Association for the Protection of the Country During War (Dainihon Senji Shukyo Hokoku Kai) was formed, and leaders were appointed for war-time religious indoctrination.

Almost all Buddhist organizations cooperated in the program, and became active even in missionary work among overseas troops and among Japanese civilians living in occupied territories. In addition, certain mainline Christian denominations also advocated Imperial Christianity (Kodo Kirisutokyo) in harmony with Shinto.

The few churches that did not always agree with the government were suppressed and victimized. The Holiness groups were accused in 1942; the Salvation Army was ordered dissolved in 1943; and the Seventh-day Adventist Church came under condemnation—also in 1943.


The Martyr's Wife

Masa was 37 years old when she became a widow. Remaining in Fukuoka City with her family, she witnessed the attack by the U.S. Air Force in June 19, 1945. The family was spared, fortunately, though their possessions, as well as the Fukuoka church building, were all burned. Two months later (August 6 and 9), the first atomic bomb in human history fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan finally surrendered to the Allied Forces.

After the war, the life of the Japanese people was simply miserable, with the food situation becoming worse and worse. In the midst of those dark times, Masa lost her second-born son, Mamoru, at the age of only two. Praying and thinking of the future life of the family, Masa decided to move to her husband’s hometown, Yamakawa Cho, in Kagoshima Prefecture, there to begin their new life with help from her husband’s relatives.

Her life continued to be one of dedication and service. As a volunteer missionary, she labored for tuberculosis patients at the National Ibusuki Sanatorium located near the town, a mission that eventually took her life, as she herself contracted the disease. She passed away at the age of 51, on March 8, 1958.These developments would eventually bring Pastor Imamuru to the attention of the authorities.

Dreams and Disappointments
Masaichi (Pastor Imamura) was born the first son in his family, January 9, 1901, in the southern part of Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu Island. Although he was not physically strong, he eagerly wanted to become a soldier. Later, however, he gave up the idea.

He studied commerce after this, but that did not sufficiently interest him. Then it was on to Tokyo to take up law studies, working at a public office during the day and studying law in the evening at Nihon Daigaku University. He got sick from hard work and study, however, and so was forced to quit just before his graduation from law school. Returning to his hometown to recover his health, he kept a regulated daily lifestyle with natural treatments.

One day a Lutheran young man introduced him to the Bible, the study of which not only brought him hope but also spiritual light and healing. After struggling in bed for four years, he was at last free from illness.

Thereafter, his spiritual journey took him through the Methodist church (even if it was a Lutheran friend who’d led him to God) to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Becoming a member of the Kagoshima Adventist Church, he was thrilled to discover the treasures of the Bible. Accepting the three angels’ messages and firmly believing that the Adventist church was the true church, he was baptized by Pastor Tokutaro Kobayashi at Isono Beach in Kagoshima on November 4, 1930.

After his baptism, a call came to become a literature evangelist, and he moved from his hometown to Kagoshima City. Here he visited from shop to shop in the downtown area. He also called from house to house in the slums, seeking suffering souls. He even posted a map of the city on the wall of his room, marking off areas with red ink that he’d visited. Sales were not high, but he was able to support himself financially and make contact with people seeking truth.

Masaichi focused much of his efforts on the poor, every day visiting the slum town of Shioya Cho, not skipping a single house, however wretched, and whether or not they could afford to buy. Some days, not selling anything, he practically went hungry. Nevertheless, the Kagoshima church grew in membership, in large part because of his work.

Marriage and Call to Pastor
December 28, 1932, was a big day at the Kagoshima church. That’s when Masaichi married Masa Tadamatsu from the Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu Island. Masa, who once worked for an insurance company, later took up literature evangelism.


WEDDING BELLS: Masa and Masaichi Imamura,
on the day of their wedding in December 1932,
faced a future that was to be both exciting
and tragic. But their hopes were set on
realities beyond the present world.
Right after their marriage, in January 1933, Masaichi was appointed pastor as well as literature evangelist at the Moji church on (the same) Kyushu Island. In September of the same year, they dedicated a beautiful church building, the work of his predecessor, Pastor Kajiyama, and of the local believers; and in May of the following year, their little church was privileged to host the second session of the Kyushu Mission.

Pastor Imamura kept busy holding meetings both in the church and in people’s homes—giving Bible studies and doing literature evangelism. Giving Bible studies to enthusiastic truth seekers was his passion, and the pastor couple went to Oosato seaside several times to conduct baptismal ceremonies.

After studying at Saniku Gakuin (Japan Missionary College) for six months, Pastor Imamura returned to Moji in August to prepare to move to the big city of Fukuoka on Kyushu Island. At Moji, where the couple had spent seven and a half years, God gifted them with one son and two daughters.

The family arrived at the Fukuoka church and joined Pastor Eikichi Seino and Sister Moyo Hamasaki to work for the city’s 300,000 inhabitants. But after the departure of Pastor Seino in February 1942, and the illness and departure of Sister Hamasaki, the Imamuras worked on alone. Their second son was born that year—on their tenth wedding anniversary.

Arrested
“In mid August 1943,” wrote Masa, “we held a youth retreat for three days together with church families, and enjoyed a program of praising God and sharing fellowship. This joyful and blessed day, however, became our last memory of fellowship with the church members.”

In the early morning on September 20, 1943, Pastor Imamura was arrested by the police and charged with breaking Japanese law. Though he’d anticipated that moment, it came earlier than he’d expected. Be faithful to the end, he told Masa as he was being taken away.


Remembered by
Their Children

The eldest son, Shinobu, saw his mother as a “woman of the Meiji Era—a woman of endurance, perseverance, patience, and a hard worker.” “She did not live a wonderful life,” he said, “but she lived a heroic life.” And the eldest daughter, Junko, wrote: “After the death of father, mother did not show a sad face to her four children, instead she loved us in a way that included our father’s love and told us about her faith in him throughout her life....

We can see God’s grace even in her death. Dedicating her life to the Lord, according to His will, mother was finally delivered from a long suffering of disease. Our parents taught us the way of truth, united us with God, and left us the best (invisible) inheritance.”

Postscript: the eldest son, Shinobu (above), served as treasurer of the Japan Union Conference before his retirement. Eldest daughter, Junko (above), served as a nurse at Tokyo Adventist Hospital and later married an Adventist pastor. And the second eldest daughter, Kazuko, became a nurse, and also served at the same hospital.

By the grace of God, the children bore the fruits of the faithful lives of their parents.Pastor Imamura was not the only police victim that day. At 6:00 that morning, the thought-control police had swooped down upon the homes of all Adventist ministers and leading laypeople throughout the country, north to south. Altogether 42 leaders were thrown into prison because of the Peace Preservation Law. And all their books, diaries, and letters were confiscated. They were charged with preaching the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, and with teaching that the sovereignty of God was above the sovereignty of the emperor. Church services were prohibited and many church members were forced to sign a statement that they would hold no more meetings.

Life in Prison
Masa was able to visit her husband in Fukuoka Prison three times a week, but sometimes was not allowed to see him. Masaichi told her that he actually enjoyed jail life because he was able to witness to special people. However, because of the poor sanitation in the prison he suffered from a severe skin disease all over his body.

When Masa visited him at the end of December (to provide clothes for him since he was being transferred to another prison) they had a chance to talk, through the kindness of a prison officer. While eating lunch together, they talked about the church, about their family, about their future. Following that occasion it became difficult for Masa to see him weekly, and sometimes they had to communicate by postcards. Throughout his time in prison Pastor Imamura remained faithful, constantly struggling against the prosecutors, as he confessed to his wife, to defend the truth of the Bible.

For a while, his skin disease seemed to be healing. On July 16, 1944, for example, when Masa visited him to talk about getting an attorney, it had almost healed, and he was told he’d be able to take a bath soon. (He’d not been able to bathe for the past 10 months.) But 17 days later, he suddenly died in prison.

Martyr for the Lord
Reflecting on the night she was called to her sick husband’s prison, Mrs. Imamura confessed: “Thinking of how to give him treatment, I consulted with a medical doctor about my husband’s condition. Then, he said to me, ‘He would survive [only] until tomorrow morning.’ Therefore, I decided to take him home…. [Not being able to secure a car], I borrowed a stretcher…. It was 10:15 p.m. [And], unfortunately, I was told ‘It is too late. Your husband died at 9:45 p.m.’

“I regretted that I had not been able to take care of him before his death. In the meantime …, the reason for his release … was changed from sickness to death. His death was due to acute inflammation of his kidneys, as stated in the death certificate. While it was so sad for me to see his weakened face, I was very thankful to see a peaceful sleep on his face after fighting his battle as a faithful servant of the Lord.”

“I don’t complain,” Masa wrote further, “because this is a silent triumph of a soldier of Christ. I will shout ‘Hallelujah!’ I do not regret not seeing him at the moment of his death in the prison. Oh, no. God did not allow me to enter … so that I would not remember the dark and awful impression of the prison and the miserable picture of my husband laid down in a cold cell. Let’s thank God! This was one of His great plans. Praise the name of Jehovah! Masaichi Imamura, 43 years old, is sleeping peacefully in the holy hands of the Lord and is waiting for Jesus’ Second Coming….

“Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’” (Rev. 14:12, 13).

*Information for this article (and for its sidebars) was drawn from Masa Imamura, “Remembering the Loved One Who Did Not Come Back,” Shimei (Fukuinsha), March 15, 1946, and Junko Fukushima, “Memory of Mother,” Adventist Life (Fukuinsha), September 15, 1994.

Tadaomi Shinmyo is the director of the departments of public affairs and religious liberty, stewardship, and trust services of the Japan Union in Yokohama, Japan.