10 Facts About Tamaki Uemura

Tamaki Uemura was a YWCA executive, pacifist, and Christian pastor in Japan.

Tamaki Uemura attended a women's college in Tokyo, then Wellesley College in Massachusetts from 1911 to 1915, on a four-year scholarship.

Tamaki Uemura was appointed as the national director of the YWCA in Japan in 1937, and she served as the vice-director of the International YWCA from 1938 to 1951.

Tamaki Uemura taught at Tsuda College and other institutions, and was principal of the Tainan Presbyterian Girls' School in Taiwan in the 1930s.

In 1946, Tamaki Uemura became the first Japanese civilian to visit the United States after the war, when she accepted an invitation from a national women's organization in the United Presbyterian Church.

Tamaki Uemura toured speaking at local churches across the United States.

Tamaki Uemura's appearances sparked a controversy over the question of women serving Communion, and renewed calls for ordination for women pastors in the American denomination.

Tamaki Uemura was decorated with the Second Class of the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1965.

Tamaki Uemura married Shuzo Kawado in 1918; they had daughter, Machiko, and a son.

Tamaki Uemura was widowed very young, and her son died from polio in 1923.