NEWS

In memory of Professor Kiyoko (Takeda) Cho, my mentor of life

Update: July 6, 2018

ICU Professor Emeritus Kiyoko Cho devoted herself to educating students since the foundation of
ICU in 1953 to 1988, during the formative stage of the university, and embodied the vision for ICU
to pursue. I am surprised anew to find that so many of her students who were influenced by her
austere but warm teaching are now active in various fields of the world. In her book, "Higher
Education for Tomorrow: International Christian University and Postwar Japan" she shows how
much pride the university administration and faculty take in the graduates of ICU.

In her young days, Prof. Cho studied in the U.S. under such eminent scholars as Reinhold Niebuhr
and Paul Johannes Tillich, but returned to Japan on a repatriation boat when the war broke out
between Japan and the United States. Soon after the war ended, she participated in the publication of
"Shisō no Kagaku (The science of thought)" and started her career as a historian of thought, who
studies what she calls "hitobito no tetsugaku (common men's philosophy)." She established her own
methodology (Takeda's methodology) of studying the history of thought from the viewpoint of
encounter between Christianity and traditional Japanese culture, by examining the process from
encounter of intrinsic thinking and foreign thinking (foreign culture) to consequent transformation of
thought within specific persons. The Imperial System, deeply rooted in the values of Japanese
people, is another theme that Prof. Cho pursued throughout her life. Her book, "The Dual-Image of
the Japanese Emperor" is listed among the most basic literature for studying the Japanese imperial
system.

She was also active in making comments on social issues. She consistently stood firm for democracy
and peace. Participation in the Scientists' Council on Peace shortly after the war and her article
"Zettai-heiwashugi to Genjitsushugi (Absolute pacifism and realism)" show her strong commitment
to peace. With regard to democracy, she always argued that Japanese democracy is not something
that was given to us as a result of losing the war, but that there was a lineage of democracy that was
intrinsically grown from within the Japanese. She worked hard to establish the ICU Institute of
Asian Cultural Studies, which I believe comes from the bitter experience she had had with Chinese
and Korean Christians. In practice, she supported education in the province of Ningxia, China as the
director of the Japanese SCL Memorial Foundation. She used to maintain close friendships with
people like Jawaharlal Nehru (former leader of India) and Xu Guangping (writer and wife of Lu
Xun). She vividly recalls interesting episodes with people she met at home and abroad in a book she
wrote in later life, "Deai - Hito, Kuni, Sono Shiso (Encounter with people, countries and their
thoughts)."

Our club Liberte, a group of students and supporters of Prof. Cho, was not just a club for enjoying a
get-together. After being proposed by Prof. Cho, it had become customary for a member of
the club to make a speech on a specific theme. At the "History of Thoughts Seminar," which
Prof. Cho started when she was already 90 and lasted for 8 years, about 10 ICU graduates would
gather to report on recent research and engage in serious discussions. Her life spanning 100 years
was that of a thinker, a continuous journey of a person who could not but question the contradictions
of society and humans. We have known her and followed in her footsteps for 65 years since the
foundation of ICU. She is literally our mentor of life. We are planning to hold a farewell gathering in
September to express our gratitude.

Morio Kuwagaya
(Mr. Morio Kuwagaya was one of the first students who graduated from ICU and former
headmaster of ICU High School)