Yoshi Kajiro (1871–1959) was a Japanese educator, the longtime principal of the in Okayama.
Early life Yoshi Kajiro was born in Matsuyama, in Ehime Prefecture, the daughter of Kajiro Tomoyoshi (1852–1921), a Christian convert who later established a Japanese church in the Kakaako district of Honolulu.Untitled death notice, The Friend (January 1922): 5. She was educated at Baika Girls' School, which was founded by Japanese Christians.Sally Hastings, "Mount Holyoke College: Teachers to Japan, Students from Japan" Asian Cultural Studies 38(2)(2012): 17-29.
At Mount Holyoke College Sponsored by American missionaries, she attended Mount Holyoke College in the United States, to train as a teacher.Charlotte Burgis De Forest, The Evolution of a Missionary: A Biography of John Hyde DeForest, for Thirty-seven Years Missionary of the American Board, in Japan (F. H. Revell Company 1914): 139. She was the third of four women to attend Mount Holyoke from Japan in the 1890s. She was required by the mission board to wear western clothing while attending Mount Holyoke as a student, though she wore a traditional kimono for demonstrations."Journeying from Japan" Omaha Daily Bee (May 28, 1893): 7. via Newspapers.com Her opinion on the First Sino-Japanese War was reported by a New York newspaper in 1894, while Kajiro was a student on summer vacation in Honeoye, New York."China and Japan" Democrat and Chronicle (August 9, 1894): 3. via Newspapers.com
Career After graduating from Mount Holyoke in 1897,"Group of students sitting outside, with Yoshi Kajiro, Class of 1897, in front center, and possibly Hana Oshima '95 in back right - front" Five College Compass Digital Collections. she returned to Japan and her work as "lady principal" of the Sanyō Girls' High School in Okayama.James H. Pettee, "Japan" Life and Light for Woman (February 1893): 139. "The glory of Miss Kajiro's work is that it is not western work supported from Boston; but it is one of those glorious developments of large Christian work outside of missionary control, bearing the lamp of life where no missionary could go, and helping make a Christian atmosphere for the homes of hundreds of girls, and for the city in which she is a great moral power," reported one American publication in 1914.
In 1906, Kajiro's school was described as having 270 students,Rev. J. H. DeForest, "Six Wonderful Weeks in Japan" Missionary Herald (February 1906): 73. and by 1920 more than 300 girls studied under her leadership.Michi Kawai, "Education and the Japanese Woman" Student World (July 1920): 112. In 1907 she made a ten-month sabbatical visit to the United States and Europe to study,"General Notes" Mission News (April 15, 1908): 112. and to publicize her work."The Women's Meeting" The Story of the Seattle Convention (United Society of Christian Endeavor 1907): 111-112."Japanese Women Fear Danger Lurks in Frisco" Washington Times (December 27, 1907): 3. via Chronicling America She served as the school's head for 28 years."A History Through Letters" MHC Alumnae Association | Mount Holyoke College
References
External links Mara Petessio, "Women getting a ‘university’ education in Meiji Japan: discourses, realities, and individual lives" Japan Forum 25(4)(2013): 556-581.