Setsuzo Kotsuji
Setsuzo Kotsuji · Converts to Judaism
Japanese Hebraist, son of a Shinto priest, who helped thousands of Jewish refugees in Kobe and Shanghai and spoke against Nazi propaganda in Japan; converted to Judaism in 1959
1899, Kyoto, Japon — 31 octobre 1973, États-Unis ; inhumé au Har HaMenouhot, Jérusalem
Japon, Chine et Israël
Setsuzo Kotsuji is recognized among Jewish contributors to Converts to Judaism — Japanese Hebraist, son of a Shinto priest, who helped thousands of Jewish refugees in Kobe and Shanghai and spoke against Nazi propaganda in Japan; converted to Judaism in 1959
Origins and early life
Abraham Setsuzō Kotsuji was born in Kyoto into an aristocratic Shinto family — his father was a kannushi, a Shinto priest, in a long line of them. As a teenager he read the Bible in Japanese, became a Presbyterian and began learning Hebrew; he studied philology in the United States and took a doctorate in Hebrew and Jewish studies at Kyoto, published a major grammar of Hebrew in 1937, founded a faculty of Bible and Hebrew at a Tokyo university and tutored Prince Mikasa, the emperor's younger brother.
Work and career
Appointed an adviser on Jewish affairs after Japan took Manchuria, he grew close to the Jewish community of Harbin. When more than 4,600 refugees, many carrying Sugihara transit visas — among them the whole Mir yeshiva — reached Kobe between 1940 and 1941 with their papers about to expire, he used his standing with foreign minister Yōsuke Matsuoka to have their stays extended, mediated with the authorities and helped arrange their passage to Shanghai.
As antisemitic agitation spread in wartime Japan he lectured and wrote against it, was arrested in late 1942 on suspicion of helping the enemies of Japan and questioned about a supposed Jewish world conspiracy, and was released only when a senior officer who knew him intervened. In October 1959, on a visit to Israel, he was circumcised and converted to Judaism in Jerusalem, with the encouragement of Rabbi Zerach Warhaftig; the men of the Mir yeshiva held a reception for him. His memoir From Tokyo to Jerusalem appeared in 1964, and he is buried on Har HaMenuchot.
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Source: Wikipedia — Setsuzo Kotsuji
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Japanese Hebraist, son of a Shinto priest, who helped thousands of Jewish refugees in Kobe and Shanghai and spoke against Nazi propaganda in Japan; converted to Judaism in 1959
Source: Wikipedia — Setsuzo Kotsuji
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