Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the theological reflections of Uchimura Kanzō 内村鑑三 (1861-1930) on the Ashio Copper Mine Incident. It will seek to suggest that the theology that Uchimura developed was grounded in the concept that pollution was a human problem - created by and detrimental to humanity.

Paper long abstract:

The Ashio Copper Mine Incident (J. Ashio Kōdoku Jiken 足尾鉱毒事件) was the first large-scale, industrial disaster in Japanese history. The long unprofitable copper mine became a beacon of Japan’s Meiji Period (1868-1912) industrialization following its acquisition by Furukawa Ichibei 古河市兵衛 (1832-1903) and subsequent transformation into one of Japan’s most profitable mining facilities, however, as the mine was developed issues of pollution in the Watarase 渡良瀬 and Tone 利根 Rivers and deforestation near the mine began to affect local, and eventually regional, populations. The pollution led to the decimation of plant and animal life north of the mines, widespread flooding and resultant soil infertility downstream, and the abandonment of several villages. Scholars exploring religious and theological responses to the Ashio Copper Mine Incident have tended to focus on the work of Kinoshita Naoe 木下尚江 (1869-1937), Kōtoku Shūsui 幸徳秋水 (1871-1911), and the Christians and Buddhists who kept the company of Tanaka Shōzō 田中正造 (1841-1913). This historiographical paper will explore the theological reflections of Uchimura Kanzō 内村鑑三 (1861-1930), whose work on the Ashio Copper Mine Incident has yet to receive widespread attention. It will seek to show that Uchimura’s theological explorations of the incident, which depicted the pollution as a human problem both in terms of its genesis and its impacts, hinged on four primary and interrelated ideas:

1. Environmental damage and pollution are the result of social and political sin and inequity.

2. Environmental damage affects the commoners, who are loved by God.

3. God will bring about punishment for societal sin using Nature or the commoners as his vehicle for change.

4. The adoption of a Western moral system will quell societal ills and lead to reforms that will stay the negative influence of environmental damage on the peasants.