By Sister Anne Miriam Kimura, SSND, Iwakura Community, and Sister Dominica Sento, SSND, Archivist and Translator, Kyoto, Japan
Four School Sisters of Notre Dame and Sister Evangela Wagner, Provincial Leader, arrived at the airport in Tokyo, Japan, on November 28, 1948. On November 30, the Maryknoll Sisters in Kyoto, Japan, welcomed them warmly and shared their house in Matsugasaki in northern Kyoto. The Maryknoll Sisters were a great support and helped the SSNDs prepare for their ministry in Kyoto.
Maryknoll priests showed the sisters an old mansion as a possible suitable place for their convent. In the chronicles from that time, Sister Vivienne Hazlett wrote that shortly after December 24, a contract with the Fujii family, owners of the house, was drawn up for its purchase. The house was quite modern and built in a semi-western style with a splendid view expanding to the west. The water of a stream flowing down from the mountain was very clean and fresh. There was a stone bridge with its name "Toyosato-bashi" carved on the head stone. A large wild cherry tree was on the property and was always in bloom at the beginning of April. Each room of this house was filled with memories of the Fujii family. The gate to the property featured a big wooden sign that said "Wachu-an," ("House of Peace"), a title perfect for the first convent.
A Japanese-style room opened onto a western-style building with an inner parlor that served as a reception hall. The SSNDs moved into the Shishigatani (Valley of the Deer) Convent on January 15, 1949. The next day, Father Michael McKillop, Maryknoll Missionaries, offered Mass in the chapel and then blessed the house.
A large Japanese-style room with its tatami (rice mat) floor, fondly called the Goten (palace), had been changed into a large dormitory with a wooden floor, but both the special alcove and the sliding screens were kept. The structure remains unchanged today, but tables and chairs have replaced the beds. A western-style extension to the convent was built in 1961, but the Goten still remains with its special atmosphere.
The number of missionaries gradually increased. Japanese members joined SSND, the school ministry began, and mission places were developed, all starting from Wachu-an.
Although the Shishigatani Convent became the property of Notre Dame Jogakuin School Corporation in 2008, the school authorities preserved Wachu-an as much as possible. Students and graduates continue to sing of the SSND spirit that has been passed on to them in various ways. For SSNDs, this was a very blessed beginning. The feelings and spirits of so many people who once resided here and prayed for world peace still lives on.
The dedication to education also lives on in the history and culture of these pioneers. Truly, this was the birthplace and development of interculturation.
