Student of Sapporo Agricultural College in its second year, Christian thinker, missionary, founder of non-church Christianity
Uchimura was admitted to Sapporo Agricultural College in 1877 after studying at Preparatory School of the University of Tokyo (Tokyo Daigaku Yobimon). He converted to Christianity under the influence of Dr. Clark’s Covenant of Believers in Jesus, and joined the establishment of the Sapporo Independent Church. He devoted his life to research and the promotion of Christianity. “I am for Japan, Japan is for the world, the world is for Christians and all creation is for God” is the famous inscription on his gravestone.
The Uchimura collection, as would be expected, consists of Christianity-related literature and other books from a wide range of fields including philosophy, history and natural science. He seems to have read many of the books repeatedly, and some of them contain his handwriting.