Ferris Girls' School
History
The institution began in 1870, when the first unmarried female missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church in Japan, Mary Eddy Kidder began teaching at a facility established by Clara Hepburn, wife of James Curtis Hepburn. The Hepburns had established their girls' school in 1862. Kidder established her "Miss Kidder's School for Girls" after the Hepburns left Japan. This was Japan's first mission-sponsored school, and the country's first higher learning institution for women. Initially Kidder's classes had boys, but in September 1871 she restricted her classes to girls only.
The school was named "Isaac Ferris Seminary" (フェリス･セミナリー Ferisu Seminarī), after the head of the Reformed Church Board of Foreign Missions Isaac Ferris, in 1875. That year, its school and residence facilities were built at 178 Yamate. It was renamed to Ferris Waei Jogakkō (フェリス和英女学校 Ferisu Waei Jogakkō; "Ferris Japanese-English Girls' School") in 1889. Mary Deyo of New York was a teacher at Ferris Seminary from 1888 to 1894.
During the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923 the headmistress, Miss Kuyper, died, and school buildings were destroyed. A building in the Yamate Campus named after Kuyper, Kuyper Memorial Hall, opened in 1929.
In 1941 the school was renamed Yokohama Yamate Girls' School (横浜山手女学院 Yokohama Yamate Jogakuin); this temporary name change occurred during an anti-English language sentiment during World War II era Japan. It was renamed Ferris Girls' School in 1951.
Notable alumnae
- Kashiko Kawakita
- Toshiko Matsuo
- Chiyo Sakakibara
- Masako Ōkawara
- Anna Ogino
- Izumi Nakamitsu
- Yuko Hara
- Shiho Fujimura
- Sayumi Horie
- Yurie Miura
- Mayumi Miyata
- Wakamatsu Shizuko
See also
References
- ^ "History of Ferris" (Archive). Ferris University. Retrieved on April 5, 2015.
- ^ Ion, A. Hamish. The Cross and the Rising Sun: The British Protestant missionary movement in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 1865-1945: The British Protestant Missionary Movement in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, 1865-1945. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, March 16, 1993. ISBN 0889202184, 9780889202184. p. 21.
- ^ Copeland, Rebecca (Washington University in St. Louis). "3. All Other Loves Excelling: Mary Kidder, Wakamatsu Shizuko and Modern Marriage in Meiji Japan" (Archive). In: Choi, Hyaeweol and Margaret Jolly (editors). Divine Domesticities Christian Paradoxes in Asia and the Pacific. Australian National University Press, 2014. ISBN 9781925021943 (paperback) 9781925021950 (ebook). Retrieved on April 5, 2015. "The following September, after the Hepburns had left for Shanghai to attend to the publication of his dictionary and the translations of the Gospel of Mark, Mary limited the class to girls. And thus the inauguration of "Miss Kidder's School for Girls," known as the first school of higher learning for women in Japan. In October 1871 she had twelve girls:[...]"
- ^ Eder, Elizabeth K. Constructing Opportunity: American Women Educators in Early Meiji Japan (Studies of Modern Japan). Lexington Books, January 1, 2003. ISBN 0739106406, 9780739106402. p. 179.
- ^ Ion, Hamish. American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan, 1859-73 (Asian Religions and Society Series). UBC Press, July 1, 2010. ISBN 0774858990, 9780774858991. p. 221.
- ^ Mehl, Margaret. Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline and Transformation of the Kangaku Juku (NIAS Monograph Series 第 第 92 号 巻, ISSN 1359-0421). NIAS Press, 2005. ISBN 8791114942, 9788791114946. p. 24.
- ^ Roth, Eric. "Mary Deyo Papers (ca. 1850 - 1932)". Historic Huguenot Street. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- ^ Ishii, Hayato. "Wartime naval cadet recalls the twisted history of English in Japan" (Archive). Kyodo News at The Japan Times. Retrieved on 5 April 2015.
External links
- (in Japanese) Ferris Girls' School
- "Middle Level Education for Girls" (Archive). Japan's Modern Educational System. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
