Colorado's Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present

7: Adopting Christianity

A D O P T I N G C H R I S T I A N I T Y P A G E 58 In stories of the oldWildWest,a Christian clergyman is often in the background urging the rough frontiersmen to reject temptation and sin, worship God, and live clean lives. But in the earliest years of Japanese immigration to Colorado, the unattached young Japanese, as Buddhists, had nowhere to turn for spiritual guidance even if they had wished for it. It did not take long, however, for Christians to seek converts among the Japanese. Early in 1907 in Pueblo Rev. G. F. Porter, a Methodist, sought to reach out to the young Japanese in the nearby steel mills and coal mines. He quickly found language a difficult barrier . He wrote to Methodist missionaries in Japan, told them of his need, and asked for a native Japanese minister to be sent to Colorado. Rev. Hachiro Shirato arrived in August to work among Japanese in Pueblo and elsewhere in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. c h a p t e r s e v e n A D O P T I N G C H R I S T I A N I T Y A D O P T I N G C H R I S T I A N I T Y P A G E 59 In September of that same year Hamanosuke Shigeta, a Denver layman and devout Christian* who owned a small restaurant invited some friends to talk about founding a Christian church. Two men showed up. They met in a building in the 2100 block of Arapahoe Street. That is said to be the beginning of the California Street Methodist Church, now Simpson United Methodist Church in the Denver suburb of Arvada. By January 1908, Shigeta had drummed up enough support to bring out eighty persons, Japanese and Caucasian, to another meeting with Shirato also in attendance. By June the organizers felt confident enough to ask for membership in the Japanese Methodist Episcopal Mission, headed by Dr. Herbert B. Johnson, in California. Shirato was appointed pastor of both Denver and Pueblo area churches. A year after acceptance the Denver church took up residence at 1827 Park Avenue. During this period Mrs. Shirato organized the San-to (East of the Mountains) Fujinkai, or Ladies Aid Society. A booklet published by Simpson United Methodist Church in 1984 reports: Apparently there was significant interest in Christian ideals among Japanese in Denver in 1908, as the Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church reported that “Two hundred and fifty Japanese in the city met to welcome me and to hear me speak.” He further observed, “There are in and about Denver about one thousand Japanese, many of them representing a very desirable class. The conversion of a few hundred, or even tens, will mean much to the uplifting of Japanese society there in Denver.” Despite this optimism the work went slowly. At the close of 1909 the tiny church reported a membership of three with a Sunday school enrollment of 10. By 1912 the congregation had *It is not known how or why Hamanosuke Shigeta converted to Christianity. A D O P T I N G C H R I S T I A N I T Y P A G E 60 grown to 25 (still small but representing a 700 percent increase) and 25 Sunday schoolers. By December 1914 the congregation was large enough to take over the historic St. James Methodist Church building on West Colfax Avenue from a congregation that had outgrown it. A dedication service on Christmas Day was attended by more than two hundred. Shirato was assisted during this period by Revs. Sadao Nakanishi and Iwataro Arauchi, and Junzo Sasamori, a University of Denver graduate student in political science from Japan, who had been baptized in 1901. When Shirato returned to Japan in 1916, Sasamori was named acting minister. After completing his studies, Sasamori also went home to Japan. In later years he was elected to parliament, served as cabinet minister, and was considered a special friend among Denver Japanese. In 1919 the St. James building suffered heavy fire damage and the congregation moved to 2801 Curtis Street, which was a combination parsonage and church with services held in the living and dining rooms. These modest quarters were sufficient for a decade and a half. Then, a church history...