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JUDSON, Adoniram. b. Maldon, Massachusetts, 9 August 1788; d. at sea on the Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal), 12 April 1850. Judson, considered by many as the first American foreign missionary, spent almost forty years in Myanmar (Burma) where he translated the Bible into Burmese, published religious tracts in the indigenous language, completed a Burmese grammar, compiled a Burmese-English dictionary (published posthumously), established Baptist churches in Myanmar, and authored several...
WIANT, Bliss Mitchell. b. Dalton, Ohio, 1 February 1895; d. Delaware, Ohio, 1 October 1975. Wiant [Chinese name Fan Tian-xian] was a Methodist Episcopal Church [MEC] missionary from 1923 to 1951. He was an authority on Chinese music, a choral director, composer and arranger, hymnal editor, pastor, and teacher. His widely acclaimed settings of newly written indigenous Chinese Christian hymns to traditional Chinese melodies are an abiding contribution to 20th-century contextualized Chinese...
One does not immediately connect Christian hymnody with the country of Cambodia, whose population historically has been approximately 98% Buddhist and minority Christians have been mostly Protestant and Roman Catholic, whose tradition did not emphasize congregational singing.
The first Christian hymnal in the Cambodian language (Khmer) was published in July 1958 by the Rev Arthur Hammond (1898–1979), a missionary of the Christian Missionary and Alliance Church. Two thousand copies were printed....
Chinese Christian hymnody
Introduction: the Beginnings
The earliest Christian missionaries to China were Nestorians, who were active during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Their version of Christianity (so-called Jieng Jiao, Luminous Religion) was received warmly by Emperor Taizong (唐太宗,599-649) and flourished throughout China. One hymn from this period, 'Wushang zhu tian shen jing tan' ('All heaven worships in great awe'), was probably composed by Nestorian missionaries and thought to have been...
Come now, O Prince of Peace ('O-so-so'). Geonyong Lee* (1947- ), paraphrased by Marion Pope (1928- ).
This prayer for peace was composed in the context of the division between the north and south on the Korean peninsula. Geonyong Lee (Kōn-yong Yi) was born in Daedong, a city in South Pyongan Province now in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly called North Korea. Following the Korean War (1950-53), the family moved when Lee was six years old to what is now the Republic...
Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine. Adoniram Judson* (1788-1850).
'Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine' is the most widely sung of three hymns written by Adoniram Judson. This four-stanza hymn is extracted from Judson's seven-stanza baptism hymn 'Our Savior bowed beneath the wave'*. The original hymn, written ca. 1829 and first printed in Thomas Ripley's A Selection of Hymns, for Conference & Prayer Meetings, and Other Occasions, Second Edition (1831), appeared under the title 'Hymn written by Mr....
EACC Hymnal (1963). This pioneering hymnbook was published in 1963 for the East Asia Christian Conference. The general editor was Daniel Thambyrajah Niles*, and the music editor was John Milton Kelly, assisted by his wife Edna and by Shanti Rasanayagam. The book was printed in Japan.
The language used was English, the international language of Asia. The words and music were European/American for the first 'General Section' of 100 hymns (including 11 'Spirituals'), followed by an 'Asian Section'...
HONTIVEROS, Eduardo. b. Molo, Iloilo City, 20 December 1923; d. 15 January 2008. This Filipino Jesuit musician was educated at Manila High School and the San Jose Seminary (1939-45). He entered the Society of Jesus in 1945, took novice's vows in 1947, studied theology in the USA, and was ordained in 1954. He is known as 'the father of Filipino liturgical music'. In October 2000, Pope John Paul II conferred on him the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice bestowed on clergy and laypersons who have served...
MAQUISO, Elena G. b. Bohol, 9 July 1914; d. Dumaguete, 17 June 1995. She was educated in the Philippines and abroad. She earned the BA and BC degrees from Silliman University (located in Dumaguete City, the central Visayan province of Negros Occidental) before studying in the USA (Union Theological Seminary, New York City, Master's in Christian Education; Hartford Seminary Foundation, Connecticut, Doctorate in Religious Education). She returned to Silliman University, where she held several...
XAVIER, Francis. b. Xavier, Navarre, Spain, 7 April 1506; d. Shang Chuan, near China, 3 December 1552. He was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in a new castle ('Xavier' in the Basque language) belonging to his aristocratic family in the kingdom of Navarre: the kingdom was invaded and divided during his youth, and the castle was reduced in size by the order of Cardinal Cisneros (see 'Spanish hymnody'*). He was educated at the Collège Sainte Barbe in Paris (1525- ), where he met Ignatius...
FELICIANO, Francisco (Francisco). b. Morong, Rizal, Philippines, 19 February 1941; d. Manila, 9 September 2014. Feliciano came from a family steeped in music. He grew up literally breathing music, from his father's organ playing in the parish church to the brass band that the family owned where he played the clarinet as a young man. It was no surprise, therefore, that he took up formal studies in music, first at the University of the Philippines, majoring in composition, where he obtained his...
Lee, Geonyong. b. Daedong, South Pyongan Province, Korea (now North Korea), 30 September 1947. He was ths son of a minister, who moved with his family to South Korea at the end of the Korean War (1950-53). Geonyong Lee attended Seoul Arts High School (majored in composition, 1965), the College of Music, Seoul National University (BM, 1974; MM, 1976), the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (diploma in composition, 1978), and was a doctoral student in...
Golden breaks the dawn. (Qing zao qi zan-mei Shen). Tzu Chen Chao* (1888-1979).
First published in Mien ZhuengSheng Ge Ji ('Hymns for the People', Peking, 1931), it gained wider use from its inclusion in Pu Tian Sueng Zan (Hymns of Universal Praise (Putian Songzan, 普天頌讚) (Shanghai, 1936)*, a collection by six major Christian churches in China.. There are two translations, 'Rise to greet the sun', by Bliss Wiant* (1895-1975) and Mildred Wiant (1898-2001), in their small collection of Chinese...
Hana irodoru haru wo ('Spring, symbol of hope'). Mie Kamishima* (1961– ).
'Hana irodoru haru wo' is a unique contribution to Hymnal 21 (Sambika 21)*, the hymnal for the United Church of Christ in Japan. Written by on the subject of 'Memorial', it begins with a description of the each of the four seasons of life, one for each stanza: 1) spring, symbol of hope; 2) summer, symbol of brightness; 3) autumn, symbol of maturity; 4) winter, symbol of meditation. Each stanza concludes with a plea for...
KIM, Helen (née Kim Hwal-lan). b. Inchon, Korea, 27 February 1899; d. Seoul, Republic of Korea (South Korea), 10 February 1970. Kim was one of the most important Korean Methodists of the twentieth century and the first Korean Woman to earn a doctorate. Her life was devoted to the education of women within a Christian context. She began her higher education at Ewha College (now University) (BA, 1918) in Seoul. After establishing the national YWCA in Korea in 1922, she left in 1924 for advanced...
Here, O Lord, your servants gather. Tokuo Yamaguchi* (1900-1995), translated by Everett M. Stowe (1897-1979).
This hymn was composed for the 14th World Council of Christian Education Convention, held in 1958 in Japan. It was first published in the convention's program booklet, Christian Shimpo (Christian Faith, 1958), and included in the section on the church's 'Nature and Unity'. It then appeared in Hymns of the Church (Tokyo, 1963) published by the United Church of Christ in Japan. The...
Hsieh Fang-Lan. b. Taipei, Taiwan, 29 May 1949. She graduated from University of Chinese Culture in Taipei with a degree in voice performance (BA, 1974). Upon graduation, she received a scholarship from the University of South Carolina and graduated with a master's degree in music (1976) and a master's degree in library science (1978). After returning to Taiwan to teach at the church music department of Taiwan Presbyterian Seminary, she went back to the US to study at Louisiana State University...
Hymn Society in Japan
Influenced by the Hymn Explosion in English-speaking countries, many denominations in Japan began revising their existing hymnals and producing new ones in the late 20th century. Growing out of this development, the Hymn Society in Japan was founded in 2001 with the aim of fostering ecumenical studies, sharing new hymns and research both domestically and internationally, and promoting exchanges for further developments in Japanese hymnody.
Consisting of 150 members in 20...
Hymnal 21 (Sambika 21)
The Hymnal 21 (Sambika 21) was published by the United Church of Christ in Japan in February 1997. It was designed to reflect the fresh spirit and diversity of congregational songs for the 21st century.
Predecessors of Sambika 21
The first interdenominational hymnal in the history of Japanese hymnody was published in 1903, marking a new development in Japan. The 1903 edition contained 459 hymns with additional service music, including settings of the Gloria and...
Hymns of Universal Praise (Putian Songzan, 普天頌讚) (Shanghai, 1936; Hong Kong, 1977, 2006)
The first edition of Hymns of Universal Praise (hereafter HUP) (Shanghai, 1936) was a project led by Chinese theologian and hymnwriter Timothy T'ing Fang Lew* (Liu) (劉廷芳) (1891–1947) and edited by Methodist missionary Bliss Wiant* (1895–1975). It was published in China as a joint project of six colonial denominations who had established mission work in pre-Communist China. Andrew Granade and Anping Wu...
Introduction
Indonesia is a large archipelago of more than 10,000 islands, extending from east to west as far as the distance from Moscow to the west coast of Ireland and covering three time zones. Hundreds of languages and cultures are united in the present-day Republic of Indonesia, proclaimed in 1945 after a centuries-long history of trade relations (with Arab, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese and English merchants), domination and colonisation (since the 17th century by the Dutch East India...
KOIZUMI, Isao. b. Osaka, Japan, 3 November 1907; d.1992. Koizumi studied composition and organ privately while also studying for a degree in economics from Osaka University of Commerce (1952). He was a lecturer at the university and an organist in Tokyo until 1942. Active in church music, he studied choral music with Hitoshi Nagai and composition and organ with Toraji Onaka. Following the war, he served as minister of music at the United States Far East Air Force Chapel Center in Tokyo in 1951...
LOH, I-to. b. Tamsui, near Taipei, Taiwan, 28 September 1936. He was the son of a Presbyterian minister, Loh Sian-chhun (1905-84) and Ang Bin (1909-2002). Loh Sian-chhun also taught New Testament Greek at the Taipei Seminary. After the World War II, he taught the Bible and Church Music at Tamsui Christian High School. He quit the position and went to serve the Tribal people in Taitung area in late 1947. Sian-chhun's pioneering missionary work had a profound influence on Loh. He was educated at...
Japanese Hymnody.
The Legacy of Roman Catholic Missionaries.
The Dawn of Christian hymnody in Japan goes back to 1549 when the Jesuit priest St Francis Xavier* came to Kagoshima to teach Christianity: there is some evidence that the Mass was celebrated with music in the next decade. Music was one of the major emphases in seminary education, and the students celebrated Mass every Sunday with plainchant accompanied by the organ, cravo, viola, and other string instruments. The political leaders of...
Nalam, Jean (née Cuanan). b. Bislig City, Surigao del Sur, Philippines; 3 May 1976. Nalam is an Assistant Professor of Church Music at Silliman University (Dumaguete City, Philippines), where she has taught church music classes in the Divinity School since 2002. She is a composer and church musician, serving as a choir director in congregations in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). She received degrees from Silliman University (BM in Music Education, 1996; MM in Music...
Jesus, Savior Lord, lo to you I fly ('Saranam, saranam'). Traditional Pakistani, translated by Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
Asian hymns are perhaps the most neglected repertoire in Western hymnals. Hymns that are available in Asian musical idioms are rarer. The normative practice in Asian churches is to sing Western classic hymns in translation or use contemporary Christian music. Because of their experience with many Western missionaries who did not encourage composition in Asian...
Hymnody of the Catholic Church
The first hymn poems in Korean, called ChunjooGasa (Chunjoo means 'Lord of Heaven', and Gasa is the traditional narrative song of Korea), are the 'Ten Commandments Song' written by YakChun Chung and two scholars, and 'Praise Song for the Lord of Heaven' by Byuk Lee written in 1779, over one hundred years before the Protestant hymn was introduced. Chunjugasa's metrical pattern is usually 4.4.4.4, a kind of Long Metre in terms of Western poetry. It is a confessional...
Lim, Swee Hong (林瑞峰).b. Singapore; 11 June 1963.
Lim, Swee Hong is a Singaporean church musician, composer, and educator. Born into a Chinese Christian family, Lim inherited the faith of his maternal heritage as a fourth-generation Christian. His father (Baptist) and mother (Presbyterian) instilled the value of service to God. Along with his siblings, Lim was encouraged by his mother to serve the church through music-making. Lim began to learn musical instruments at an early age, planting the...
Lonely the Boat. Helen Kim* (1899-1979).
This was composed in the Korean language in 1921. It is Helen Kim's best known text. It appeared in the Korean language for the first time in ShinJung Chansongka, a revised and expanded ecumenical hymnal (Seoul, 1931). The translation, with the Korean original, appeared first in Hymns from the Four Winds (Nashville, 1983). The versification was prepared for UMH.
The Korean text was translated in 1980 by Hae Jong Kim (b. 1935), the first Korean United...
Lü Xiaomin (吕小敏). b. Fangcheng, Nanyang, Henan Province, China; 1970.Lü Xiaomin (Xiao Min) was born to a poor family of farmers belonging to the Hui minority group. She grew up at a village in Fangcheng, Nanyang, Henan Province. Dropping out of school during the first year of junior high due to severe sinusitis and other health issues, she stayed at home to help on her family farm (“Xia Min,” n.d., n.p).
Xiaomin became a Christian when her aunt shared the gospel with her. Later, she joined a...
Location and Population
Malaysia comprises two separate regions, the Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah). It is a pluralistic community, comprising of several racial groups, cultures and religions. It has a population of about 28 millions. Malay is the predominant group that makes up about 50.4% of the population, and by the Malaysian Constitutional definition, all Malays are Muslims. The ethnic Chinese make up 23.7% of the population. They are economically active in...
FRANCISCO, Manuel ('Manoling'). b. Quezon City, Philippines, 26 October 1965. Educated at the Ateneo de Manila High School, he grew up playing keyboard, and trained for a career in classical piano. After his uncle, his mother's first cousin, Benigno Aquino, was killed in 1983, Francisco became a student activist. At the age of 20, while in his second year in college, he entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Novaliches. Ordained in 1997, his first assignment was as a priest and school director of an...
GAN, Mary Yoke Thue. b. Jasin, Melaka, Malaysia, 14 November 1954. A teacher, conductor, church musician, and hymnal editor, Mary Gan is the fifth of nine children, growing up in a family with a strong Methodist tradition. Her maternal grandfather was a Methodist preacher and paternal grandfather was an active lay leader in the Jasin Chinese Methodist Church, Melaka.
Sacred Music Education
In 1973 Mary first started her music education study in the Malaysia Conservatory of Music, Kuala...
KAMISHIMA, Mie. b. Ehime Prefect, Japan; 1961. Mie Kamishima was baptized at Matsuyama Church, a congregation in the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ) and is the wife of UCCJ pastor Kazutaka Kamishima. She submitted the hymn, 'Hana irodoru haru wo*' ('Spring, symbol of hope'), during the open competition for new hymns in Hymnal 21 (Sambika 21)* with a tune written by her father. The hymnal committee adopted the text with slight changes and commissioned a new tune by music professor...
Our Father God, who art in heaven. Adoniram Judson* (1788-1850).
This Common Meter paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer first appeared in an undated letter to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Judson offered it for publication in the Board's magazine as 'The Lord's Prayer versified in the shortest compass'. He included the place and time of the writing: 'Prison, Ava, March, 1825' (Music and Richardson, 2008, p. 171).
The hymn was published as early as 1837 in Select Hymns:...
Our Savior bowed beneath the wave. Adoniram Judson* (1788-1850).
These are the first three stanzas of a hymn by Judson in seven stanzas that first appeared in Thomas Ripley's A Selection of Hymns, for Conference & Prayer Meetings, and Other Occasions, Second Edition (1831) under the title 'Hymn written by Mr. Judson, Missionary; and sung at the baptism of several soldiers, at Maulmein, British Pegu' (Music and Richardson, 2008, p. 170). For the text of the first three stanzas, see the entry...
PARK, Chai-hoon (Jai-hoon) 박재훈. b. Gimwha County, Gangwon Province, Korea (now North Korea), 14 November 1922; d. Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 2 August 2021. Park was a composer and the foremost Korean hymnodist. His music-making and life influenced and shaped the development of Korean church music. He grew up in a Christian family, a rarity in that era, the youngest of the four sons from nine siblings. All four brothers became ministers later, a pledge that his mother had made to God. An...
Huh, Paul Junggap. b. Seoul, South Korea, 20 March 1962. Paul Junggap Huh is a fourth- generation Presbyterian. His maternal grandfather was the first Christian in the family living in North Korea. Rev. Kyung-Chik Han was the family pastor at Second Shineujoo Presbyterian Church; the church members fled to Seoul and started Young Nak Presbyterian Church in 1945.
When he was 14, his family immigrated to United States and was baptized in 1976 by his uncle, Rev. Henry Inho Koh, who was the pastor...
This entry is by Francisco F. Feliciano, apart from one section by Arnel de Pano
Before the 20th Century
Spain colonized the Philippines in the 16th century, and the Catholic faith with Latin liturgy was introduced to the Filipinos. For the next 400 years, the music of the liturgy was western: Gregorian chants, polyphonic masses and motets, and hymns in Latin. By the 20th century, the Latin liturgy, however, had proved inadequate to express the Catholic faith of the native Filipino. Alongside...
MORTENSEN, Ralph. b. Mankato, Minnesota, 29 January 1894; d. Southington, Connecticut, September 1986. Mortensen attended Augsburg College and Seminary, Minneapolis, Minnesota (BA 1913), the University of Oslo, Norway, and Hartford Seminary, Hartford Connecticut, (STM 1918, PhD 1927). He was a Lutheran (American Synod) missionary in China and Hong Kong (1918-58), and the organizing chairperson of the Hymnbook and Tunebook Revision Committee that produced Hymns of Praise [頌主聖詩 (Hong Kong?,...
Sarawak hymnody in the Chinese Methodist Church in Malaysia
Introduction
This article focuses on the development of hymns in a particular region of Malaysian hymnody*. The Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Malaysia (SCAC) began with the arrival of Foochow immigrants in Sibu on 16 March 1901. The immigrants, predominately Christians from the Methodist Episcopal Church, were led by the Chinese headman (港主), Wong Nai Siong (1849–1924), from Foochow, China. On Sunday,...
Send your Word. Yasushige Imakoma* (1926–2013), paraphrased by Nobuaki Hanaoka* (1944– ).
Yasushige Imakoma (1926–2013) prepared this text in 1965 for Pentecost Sunday to be sung by congregation he served in Kawasaki. Taiwanese educator and ethnomusicologist I-to Loh* describes the origins of this hymn:
The poet believes that the crisis and wars of the world are caused by the lack of verbal communication, as shown by God's interference in the building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1–9)....
KOYAMA, Shōzō. b. Nagaeno-ken, Japan, 3 October 1930; d. Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, 2017. Koyama is the composer of the tune MIKOTOBA, taken from the first word of the hymn in 'Mikotoba o kudasai' in transliterated Japanese by Yasushige Imakoma*. The English paraphrase, 'Send your Word'*, was prepared by Nobuaki Hanaoka*.
Koyama learned Christian hymns during his student days during family worship in Nakano Prefecture. Following his baptism and graduation from Kunitachi College...
Sound the Bamboo: CCA Hymnal (2000). The CCA Hymnal was published in 1963 by the East Asia Christian Conference, hence the original title EACC Hymnal. The text editor was Dr Daniel Thambyrajah Niles*, one of the founding fathers of the EACC and then the General Secretary, a famous theologian, a prolific writer and poet. The music editor was Professor John Kelly, then an American Missionary in Japan. The EACC Hymnal contained 200 hymns, among which 97 were written by Asians and 103 were...
Still, I search for my God. Francisco Feliciano* (1941-2014).
This hymn was composed in 1977 and first published in the United States in Hymns from the Four Winds, edited by I-to Loh* (Nashville, 1983), a supplemental collection of Asian hymns produced by the United Methodist Church. It appeared in the Christian Council of Asia hymnal Sound the Bamboo* (Manila, 1990) and again in the second edition of Sound the Bamboo (Hong Kong: 2000), both edited by Loh.
The hymn expresses the mysticism of...
Christian mission in Taiwan began in 1865; the early missionaries brought with them hymns in a collection from Amoy China, entitled Iong-Sim Sin Si, which were either translation of Western hymns or written by anonymous Amoy Christians or missionaries. The first Taiwanese hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) was edited by William Campbell in 1900, but without music, and without any Taiwanese contributions. The Taiwanese hymn known to the world today 'Chin Chu Siong-te cho thi-toe'...
The great love of God. Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
Published in the EACC Hymnal (1963), with the note 'the Thai original is a chorus, which here is the first verse'. That first verse was written by Charoen Vijaya, of Bangkok, and set to music by him to a tune that he called THAILAND. Niles translated the chorus and added three stanzas to make what has become his best known hymn outside East Asia. He entitled it 'The Love of God in Jesus'. In Australia it was in WOV (1977) and...
The Saviour's precious blood. Tai Jun Park* (1900-1986), translated by William Scott and Yung Oon Kim.
This hymn, 'Yu Yesu hul lin pi', was written in May 1949. It was written for a Korean student, who was attending an international youth rally in India and who wanted a Korean hymn to take with him. It was then printed in Cantate Domino (1951), with the English translation by Dr Scott and Miss Kim, and with further translations in French and German. The first book in England to print it was...
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour. Frank Houghton* (1894-1972).
Some of the church's most fluent songs have been born in scenes of struggle and hardship; this may be no surprise in view of the 'stable floor' events celebrated in this hymn. It is certainly true of much of the verse of Frank Houghton, written during his often dangerous and laborious travels through the rural mountainous areas of West China, as he served with what was then the China Inland Mission, later the Overseas...
LEW (LIU), Timothy T'ing Fang. b. Wenchau, Chekiang, China, 1891; d. Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 5 August 1947. He was educated in China before going to Columbia University, New York (BA 1914, MA 1915, PhD 1920) Yale University(BD 1918), and Union Theological Seminary, New York (1915-17). He was ordained in the Congregational Church, New York City, 1920). He was professor of religious education and psychology,Yenching Theological Seminary (1920-24), and held numerous posts in the school of...
YAMAGUCHI, Tokuo. b. Nagasaki, Japan, 13 July 1900; d. 1995. Yamaguchi was educated at the Aoyama Gakuin Theological Seminary (1924) and became a minister in the Methodist Church. After serving several Methodist churches, he became pastor of the Toyohashi Church in 1937 which became part of the United Church of Christ in 1941. He served the congregation until his death in 1995. Yamaguchi won an official commendation from the Christian Literature Society of Japan in 1983 for his translation of...
CHAO, Tzu Chen (Zhao Zichen). b. Deqing, Chekiang, China, 1888; d. Beijing, 21 November 1979. From a Buddhist family, he was educated by Christian missionaries at the Methodist Dongwu University, Soochow. He was baptized in 1908. He undertook further study at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (1914-17; MA, BD). Returning to China, he taught at his old university before moving to Peking (now Beijing) in 1926 as Professor of Theology at Yenching University. He was Dean of the School of...
Brief History of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines
The end of Spanish rule in the Philippines in 1898 marked the end of the Roman Catholic Church's exclusive control over religious affairs, creating opportunities for Protestant mission* churches from the United States to establish their work in the country. (See Philippine hymnody* for a detailed account of Roman Catholic contributions.) The initial wave of Protestant churches — Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregational, Disciples,...
YOKOSAKA, Yasuhiko (横坂康彦). b. Noheji, Aomori Pref., Japan, 5 February 1956. Born to the parents of the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ) ministers, 'Yoko' was educated at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas (BA, 1978), Vienna International Music Center in Vienna, Austria, Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Connecticut (MM, 1981) and Columbia University Teachers' College in New York City (Ed.D., 1985). While at Columbia University, he worked as Administrative Secretary for...
IMAKOMA, Yasushige. b. Tokyo, 10 March 1926; d. Tokyo, 2013. Imakoma is the author of the hymn 'Mikotoba o kudasai' in transliterated Japanese. The English paraphrase, 'Send your Word'*, was prepared by Nobuaki Hanaoka* and set to music by Shōzō Koyama*. Imakoma became a Christian after World War II in the aftermath of Japan's defeat. He began his studies at the Seminary for Rural Ministry in 1952, continuing his theological training at Japan Biblical Seminary. He began his ministry in a...