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328 The Church of England, in conjunction with the Episcopal Churches of America and Canada, has missions collectively designated by the title of Nihon Sei Kōkwai, or the Church of Japan. The origin of this church goes back to the year 1859, when two American clergymen settled in Nagasaki. The missions in Tōkyō, both American and English, were started at the same time, in 1873. There are now six bishops—two American and four English,—some 64 foreign and 50 Japanese priests and deacons, and 87 foreign lay workers of both sexes, besides a large body of Japanese catechists and school-teachers, and over 11,000 baptised persons on the roll. The increase in numbers has been steady during the past few years, as has also the amount contributed from native sources for self-support. The affairs of the Church are managed by a synod consisting of the bishops and of delegates from the clergy and laity, both foreign and Japanese. These delegates are themselves elected at the local synods, which are presided over by their respective bishops, and held annually in the various jurisdictions of North and South Tōkyō, Kyōto, Ōsaka, Kyūshū, and Hokkaidō, into which the whole country has now been divided. The general synod meets once in three years. The aim of the Church is to be in communion with, but not in subjection to, the Churches of England and America,—in fact, to occupy in Japan much the same position as the Anglican Church occupies in the United States. The Japanese Prayer Book is based, with necessary modifications, on those of the Anglican and American Churches.

In 1859, shortly after the arrival of the earliest Anglican missionaries, representatives of the American Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed Churches landed in Japan, and the Protestant missions have ever since continued to be chiefly in American hands. The first baptism took place in 1864, the first native church was organised at Yokohama in 1872, and the first church building was consecrated in 1875. In 1872 the work of Biblical translation, till then hindered by want of sufficient familiarity with the language, was vigorously