Japan Special Collection: Hawaii Japanese Language School Textbook Collection: Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society

  In 1907 Prince Fushiminomiya Sadanaru (伏見宮貞愛親王) arrived in Honolulu on his return trip to Japan after visiting England. The Japanese in Hawaii gave him a warm, enthusiastic welcome, and to show his appreciation, Prince Fushiminomiya gave a gift of $200 to the welcoming committee. The committee members decided to spend the donation on Japanese language education for Japanese immigrant children and founded the Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society in July 1907.

Textbooks published by the Japanese Ministry of Education were used during the early years of the Japanese school. After 1910, an anti-Japanese campaign grew and the schools were accused of keeping the immigrant children from becoming Americanized. 

In 1915, representatives from the Japanese schools organized an educational committee. The committee decided to abolish the textbooks of the Japanese Ministry of Education and instead compile textbooks in Hawaii, and the Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society Fund was used to help pay for this project. The Society's members includedJukichi Uchida (内田重吉) and Takie Okumura (奥村多喜衛), and they each donated $300 in February 1915. In 1916, the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu also donated $10,000 to the Hawai Kyoikukai (布哇教育会) to help with the textbook project. Dr. Yaichi Haga (芳賀矢一) from Japan was invited to help compile and edit the textbooks. The Fushiminomiya Scholarship Society held the copyright on the textbooks.