Japan Will Turn Ablaze!

In the spring of 1912, in Tokyo, Viscount Shibusawa, an honored banker and financier, together with President Jinzo Naruse, the founder of the first Women’s College in Japan, and Dr. Masaharu Anesaki of the Imperial University formed a nucleus of a movement called “Concordia”. Its object was to try to find a common ground on which all nations could harmonize. President Naruse then undertook a journey around the world in the interest of the movement. He carried with him an autograph book in which he collected expressions of good-will from prominent people in the different countries he visited. On his return to Japan these were translated into Japanese and published.

In London in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s secretary recorded the following: “A distinguished Japanese, the president of the Women’s University in Tokyo, who has been in the United States for many months, came to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and showed Him an article on the Concordia movement in Japan which appeared in the Oriental Review. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke to him about the principles of the Bahá’í Cause and how we are in need of Divine Power to put these principles into practice. He said, ‘Just as the sun is the source of all light in the solar system, so today Bahá’u’lláh is the Center of unity of the human race and of the peace of the world.’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote a beautiful prayer in the autograph book and earnestly pleaded with him to go back to Japan and spread these lofty ideals.”

The prayer follows: “O God! The darkness of contention, strife and warfare between the religions, the nations and peoples has beclouded the horizon of Reality and hidden the heaven of Truth. The world is in need of the light of Guidance. Therefore, O God, confer Thy favor, so that the Sun of Reality may illumine the East and the West.”