Kanzo Uchiyama

, also known with his Chinese name , was the proprietor of the Uchiyama Bookstore, whose frequent visitors were both Chinese and Japanese intellectuals before World War II. Uchiyama was a Christian.

Biography

Early life Kanzō Uchiyama was born in 1885, in the village of Yoshii in Shitsuki District, Okayama. His father was the village headman and a member of the village assembly, while his mother also came from a scholarly family, and he was the oldest among four brothers and three sisters.

At the age of 12, he was sent out for his apprenticeship to Osaka. To make a living, Uchiyama did many physically demanding jobs in Osaka, doing part-time work at factories and delivering goods for shops. The bookstore has size of eight-mat room, roughly 144 square feet, about the size of a single undergraduate’s unadorned room; it had a tiny attached kitchen and a second floor with an eleven-mat room. This bookstore is nominal to Japanese people living in Shanghai at the time, for there were only 3 other Japanese-run Bookstore in Shanghai: Nihondō, Shinkōdō, and Shiseidō. Additionally there were no stores specifically carrying Christian books written in Japanese, so the Uchiyama Bookstore became popular among Japanese Christians residing in Shanghai. As word spread, Chinese and Koreans who read Japanese visited the store. Uchiyama Shoten has not only been a platform for the growth of new culture in China, but has also contributed to the development of the Chinese and Japanese editing and publishing industries, and has become an important link for book publishing and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Pioneers of Japan-China friendship As a Christian, Uchiyama's worldview and behavior contrasted sharply with that of his fellow Japanese. Fogel quotes "I am often tempted—but only tempted—to suggest that their friendship may have been based solely on Uchiyama’s extraordinary help in protecting Lu Xun (and Xu Guangping and their child) on numerous occasions, even at the potential risk of his own life, and Lu Xun’s equally extraordinary sense of gratitude."

Later years Uchiyama celebrated thirtieth wedding anniversary with wife Miki on January 9, 1945. Uchiyama celebrated his 60th birthday on the 11th, his kanreki, meaning to start life again at 60 in Japanese. Miki died just 2 days later on the 13th. Uchiyama felt grieve and ponder through the next phase of his life. Seeing his friend in grief, Tsukamoto Suketarō, one of his close friends suggested Uchiyama build a double grave so that he and Miki would be buried together. Uchiyama had epitaph inscribed. After Japan's surrender in August, Uchiyama Bookstore remained open until October 23, 1945. Uchiyama deported back to Japan in 1947. The same year, Uchiyama married Kato Masano from Moji, a port city connected with Nagasaki. Masano is Miki’s friend, they were former women of the entertainment district. After their marriage, Uchiyama and Masano moved in Kyōdō kita area of Tokyo’s Setagaya ward. They join the United Church of Christ near their home, with Murata Masasuke, Uchiyama’s old friend in Shanghai being the Pastor.

Death and burial

On September 21, 1959, Kanzō Uchiyama died in Beijing. He is buried in the Shanghai Wanguo Cemetery. At his funeral, attendees included Ouyang Yuqian, and others, among whom Tian Han was also present.

Notable works "Thirty Years" 1947

Friends with the Same Blood Running Through (Onaji chi no nagare no tomo yo) 1948

China’s Past and Present (Heikin yūsen: Chūgoku no konjaku) 1955

Recollections from the Past (Kakōroku)