21 Facts About Toyohiko Kagawa

Toyohiko Kagawa was a Japanese Evangelical Christian pacifist, Christian reformer, and labour activist.

Toyohiko Kagawa advocated for women's suffrage and promoted a peaceful foreign policy.

Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Kobe, Japan to a philandering businessman and a concubine.

Toyohiko Kagawa was sent away to school, where he learned from two American missionary teachers, Drs.

Toyohiko Kagawa learned English from these missionaries and converted to evangelical Protestant Christianity after taking a Bible class in his youth, which led to his being disowned by his remaining extended family.

Toyohiko Kagawa studied at Tokyo Presbyterian College, and later enrolled in Kobe Theological Seminary.

Toyohiko Kagawa believed that Christianity in action was the truth behind Christian doctrines.

In 1909 Toyohiko Kagawa moved into a Kobe slum with the intention of acting as a missionary, social worker, and sociologist.

Toyohiko Kagawa was arrested in Japan in 1921 and again in 1922 for his part in labour activism during strikes.

Toyohiko Kagawa organized the Japanese Federation of Labour as well as the National Anti-War League in 1928.

In May 1936, during a visit to the United States, Toyohiko Kagawa participated in an assembly held in St Louis where he addressed 100,000 people, mostly black, with a speech against Italian imperialism.

In 1940, Toyohiko Kagawa made an apology to the Republic of China for Japan's occupation of China, and was arrested again for this act.

Toyohiko Kagawa then returned to Japan to continue his attempts to win women's suffrage.

Toyohiko Kagawa was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.

Toyohiko Kagawa was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 and 1948, and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1955.

In Osaka, March, 1955, Toyohiko Kagawa suffered collapse from his deteriorating heart, and remained bedridden for 2 weeks.

Toyohiko Kagawa continued writing, preaching, overseeing projects, and hosting guests, despite concerns from his family and associates.

Toyohiko Kagawa's condition worsened throughout the years, and he was hospitalized again, for 3 months in 1959, at Saint Luke's Hospital in Takamatsu.

Toyohiko Kagawa remained bedridden at home for most of his time in Matsuzawa.

Toyohiko Kagawa advised that they could receive further benefit if they planted crop trees, such as quick-maturing walnuts, to provide feed for their pigs.

Toyohiko Kagawa was a forerunner of modern forest farming and an inspiration to Robert Hart who pioneered forest gardening in temperate climates.