The Loochoo Naval Mission (1843-1861) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

mission society to provide Christian outreach to outlying

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, today part of Japan but a sovereign country during those times. The work of the mission was significant both in the history of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...

and as the first recorded

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and Protestant mission activity in the Japanese archipelago.

History

Begun in February 1842, by a small group of British Royal Navy officers led by Lieutenant Herbert Clifford and Commander Henry Downes, the fund was operationally independent from established

mission societies such as the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

and the

Church Mission Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

. Lieutenant Clifford had been a member of Captain

Basil Hall Basil Hall (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science. Biography Although his family home was ...

's 1816 Royal Navy expedition to the Ryukyu Islands. The mission's first lay mission leader, medical doctor

Bernard Jean Bettelheim Bernát Bettelheim or ''Bernard Jean Bettelheim'' ( ja, 伯徳令 ''or'' ; 1811, Pozsony, Hungary - February 9, 1870 Brookfield, Missouri, USA) was a Hungarian-born Christian missionary to Okinawa, the first Protestant missionary to be active ther ...

, landed in the Ryukyu Islands in on April 30, 1846. accompanied by his wife, his two young children, a tutor named Sarah Speight James, and a

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

translator.

Bettelheim's arrival was not a welcome development for the Ryukyuan authorities or much of the local population; when offered temporary shelter, he promptly took up permanent residence in the

Gokoku-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Tokyo's Bunkyō. History This Buddhist temple was established by the fifth shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, who dedicated it to his mother. It is notable for surviving the American air raids during World War II, w ...

temple and refused to leave for the next seven years. Bettelheim did provide medical care to local residents and made considerable progress in learning the local language, but was not reported to have made any Christian converts in the years he lived on the island. Bettelheim was eventually succeeded in 1854 by Rev. George Harman Moreton. The work of the Loochoo mission effectively came to a close in 1861 when the balance of funds were given to the Church Mission Society with the aim of financing further Christian outreach in Japan.

References

{{reflist Anglican Church in Japan History of Okinawa Prefecture Religious organizations established in 1843