Okumura Takie
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The Makiki Christian Church, established by Okumura in 1904. This building, inspired by late Sengoku or Edo period castle architecture, dates to 1932.
Rev. Okumura Takie was a Christian missionary active in Hawaii in the early years of the 20th century. He played a prominent role in the origins of the Japanese Christian community in Hawaii, as well as in establishing or supporting other aspects of the Japanese community in the islands.
A graduate of Dôshisha University in Kyoto, Okumura arrived in Hawaii in 1894. In 1896, he established the first Japanese-language school in the islands, and in 1904, became the head of the Japanese Christian Church in Nu'uanu, establishing a second mission in Makiki at that time.
Okumura also established the first Japanese baseball team in Hawaii in 1901, consisting of students from his boarding school.[1]
References
- Franklin Odo and Kazuko Sinoto, A Pictorial History of the Japanese in Hawaii 1885-1924, Bishop Museum (1985), 77.
- ↑ Odo and Sinoto, 78-79.
