Owa Hutterite Colony
Ōwa Hutterite Colony (Japanese: 大輪) is a Hutterite colony of the Dariusleut branch in Japan. It is located near Ōwa village in Nasu District, Tochigi. The members of the colony are ethnic Japanese.
History
Buddhists have a long tradition of communal living and there are several Buddhist communities in Japan. Therefore, the idea of communal living was not totally uncommon for Japanese Christians. The founders of Owa Community wanted to establish communal living modeled after the Buddhist Ittōen (jap. 一燈園) commune, but based on Christian principles.
In the 1950s a group led by Isomi Izeki began communal living in Koryama City. Because they lacked a model for the practical organization they studied Kibbutzim in Israel, but later they found out about the Hutterites. The Ōwa Hutterite Colony was then created in 1972 under the leadership of Izeki Isomia and with assistance from the Wilson Siding Hutterite Colony near Lethbridge, Alberta.[1]
Population
In 1971 the group that would form Owa Community had 19 members (4 men, 11 women and 4 children). In 1981, at its peak, there were about 30 members. In 1989 there were 24 and since then the number of members has steadily declined. Children born in the Owa Community did not join. In 2010 there were 9 members, mostly elderly people.[2]
References
- Lehr, John C.: Owa: a Dariusleut Hutterite colony in Japan in Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays (Vol: 13), Winnipeg 2010, pages 30-32
- Lehr, John C.: Owa: a Dariusleut Hutterite colony in Japan in Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays (Vol: 13), Winnipeg 2010, page 32.
Literature
- Shimazaki, Hiroshi Tanaka: The Emergence of Japanese Hutterites, Japan Review, 2000, 12, pages 145-164.
- Lehr, John C.: Owa: a Dariusleut Hutterite colony in Japan in Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays (Vol: 13), Winnipeg 2010, pages 30–38.