Naosaku Takahashi

Naosaku Takahashi, age 16, is the third person from the left in the back row, his hands on his waist. Professor Kazumasa Yoshimaru in suit and tie, 30 years old, is in the front row. (Tokyo, 1903)

Naosaku Takahashi (髙橋直作 [or 高橋直作], birth name: Naosaku Yamanaka [山中直作], pen name: Shimbi Takahashi [高橋真美]) was a social worker, a novelist in his youth, and a minister (at first the Salvation Army and later the United Church of Christ in Japan).

Early life Naosaku Takahashi was born on July 25, 1886, at 1071 Sugeya in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. (Tsuchiura is now an eastern suburban city in the Greater Tokyo Area.) His father was Bunzayemon Yamanaka and mother, Kon. He completed an eight-year elementary school program and an informal 3-year preparatory study in classical Chinese for secondary school. When he was 16, Takahashi journeyed to Tokyo and was accepted as a "schoolboy" of the Shuyojuku, a private boarding home for self-help working students established by Professor Kazumasa Yoshimaru (吉丸一昌)., a poet and instructor of Japanese literature at the Tokyo Music School (now Department of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts).

In 1905, Takahashi worked briefly for the newly established Tokyo Toden tramcar company, He served in the army from 1906 to 1908 joining the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division (Imperial Japanese Army) which was garrisoned in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture. After being discharged from the military in 1909, he worked for Hakubunkan, a publishing company and concurrently attended Rinzo Yuki's (結城林蔵) lectures on photography at the Tokyo Higher Technical School (now Tokyo Institute of Technology) as a non-degree student. It was there that he resolved to pursue a Christian life. The first marriage ended shortly thereafter with the death of Hide. Following his wife's death, he became a full-time soldier in the Salvation Army and worked as a staff member in their publishing department. In 1918, he was accepted to the Salvation Army College for Officer Training in Tokyo and graduated in 1920 with the rank of lieutenant.

As an officer of the Salvation Army Headquarters in Tokyo, he engaged in relief activities following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in September, 1923. After serving as the chief officer of Hamamatsu Squadron and then Osaka Squadron, Takahashi was appointed the commander of the Hokkaido Regiment, Sapporo, in 1928 and promoted to major. As a newly appointed commander with the rank of Major, Takahashi proposed planting trees in Hokkaido. Subsequently, Takahashi, his wife (Lt.) Yukino, and their co-workers planted 17,000 trees. a pioneer of modern Japanese social work and a scholar of the history of social work, planned to establish a paid-retirement home for the first time in Japan. Takahashi assisted in its planning. On May 24, 1950, Takahashi acquired the mansion of a declining baronial family at Omori Sanno, Ota-ku, Tokyo, and started moving in from August 18. Namaye, then aged 82, was its first director, with Takahashi, aged 64, as its manager. Takahashi concurrently served as the pastor of Keiairyo Chapel.

The baron's residence however gradually became overcrowded because of the limited space in the urban area. Takahashi was forced, by law, to relocate the Keiairyo to a suburban area. Finally, in 1959, he was able to purchase land in Yamato City, Kanagawa, which was four times larger than the previous premises. The new facility was inaugurated in 1960 and still exists at the same address as the non-profit corporation "Keiaikai" (Keiai no Sono). Namaye died in 1957 before the relocation, and Takahashi resigned from his post as manager and pastor at the age of 72 after the purchase of the new land in 1959.

Personal life On April 4, 1914, Takahashi married Hide, the daughter of Mantaro Takahashi, and changed his surname from Yamanaka to Takahashi. Although his wife Hide died soon after marriage, he continued to call himself "Takahashi" for the rest of his life. The tragedy of his wife's death was the motivation for his dedication to the Salvation Army.

In 1918 Takahashi married his Salvation Army colleague, Yukino (father: Wajiro Mizushina, mother: Yuki). She was from Aoki, Ueda, Nagano. They had four sons and five daughters. Among the children, the eldest son and the fifth daughter helped Takahashi's social work after their completing graduate study at the one-year graduate course of the Japan College of Social Work. His second son and his fourth daughter worked for Takahashi's social work projects on a part-time basis. The second son assisted as a medical doctor (M.D. and Ph.D. from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University); he later became the director of the Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, 東京都立駒込病院. The fourth daughter helped as a licensed nutritionist (B.S. from the Jissen Women's University, 実践女子大学).

Takahashi spent most of the rest of his life in Niiza, Saitama with his wife, Yukino. At the age of 72, he resigned as minister of the United Church of Christ in Japan, but continued his involvement in various social work programs as a Christian. He died on January 22, 1976, at the age of 89 in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture.

Major works Takahashi wrote several books under the pen name, Shimbi Takahashi: Shimbi Takahashi "Kanashimi no Uchiyori (A Novel: From the Abyss of Grief)" Tokyo: Keiseisha, 1918 小説 高橋真美『悲しみの裡より』（東京：警醒社、1918年） Naosaku Takahashi "Shikan no Kenko Mondai (Health Problems among Officers)" in Kyuseigun Shikan Zasshi 22(1933): 282-287 論文 高橋直作「士官の健康問題」『救世軍士官雑誌』22巻（1933年）：p. 282－287（東京：救世軍出版及供給部刊） Shimbi Takahashi "Kanashimi no Uchiyori (From the Abyss of Grief): Revised and Enlarged" Tokyo: Taishindo, 1971 小説 高橋真美『改訂・増補 悲しみの裡より』（東京：待晨堂、1971年） Shimbi Takahashi "Watashi no Shinyaku: Hachijyu-Hachinen no Shogai ([Autobiography] My New Testament: Eighty-eight Years of My Life)" Tokyo: Isamu Takahashi (private edition), 1973 自伝 高橋真美『私の新約 八十八年の生涯』（東京：髙橋勇 私家版、1973年）