Bishop Yanagihara of Osaka Dies
Diocesan Press Service. December 6, 1973 [73258]
OSAKA, Japan -- The Rt. Rev. Peter Sadajiro Yanagihara, retired Bishop of the Diocese of Osaka, of the Nippon Seikokai (Holy Catholic Church in Japan), died here recently at Yodogawa Christian Hospital, of heart failure at the age of 88.
Born on September 1, 1885 in Sakai City, Osaka, Bishop Yanagihara was graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1910, and from Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1917. He was ordained to the priesthood the following year. In 1948 Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va., conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
In 1940 he was consecrated Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Osaka and became the Diocesan in 1947. After his retirement in 1962, he wrote six books, the last of which, Christianity and the Present Crisis -- Memoirs and Sermon Selections, was published three weeks before his death. This was his twenty-first book.
A week before his death, Bishop Yanagihara participated in the 50th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service of the organizing of the Diocese of Osaka.
He is survived by his widow, the former Katsumi Naide, daughter of the first Bishop of Osaka, a son, the Rev. Dr. Hikaru Yanagihara, a daughter, Mrs. Tsuneiichi Kashida, and three grandchildren.
The Diocesan funeral service was held at Kawaguchi Christ Church, Osaka.