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History of the Rotary Club of
Kyoto, Japan
The Fifth Club in Japan
A Part of Our History of
Rotary in Asia
In 1918 Umekichi Yoneyama(1868-1946), President of Mitsui Trust Company, visited the US as a member
of a Japanese financial delegation.
In Dallas he was introduced to Rotary by a member of the Dallas Rotary Club, Kisaji Fukushima
(1881-1946), the director of Dallas branch of Mitsui Trading Co. ltd.
Yoneyama was deeply impressed with the Rotary Spirit, "Service, not self".
Fukushima returned to Japan in January 1920 on a mission to organize Rotary Club in Japan, which
unfortunately ended unsuccessfully.
But Yoneyama and Fukushima established the
Rotary Club of Tokyo
(the first rotary club in Japan) successfully on October 20, 1920.
A charter was granted on April 1 the following year (Charter No 855).
Fukushima then moved to Osaka and the 2nd Rotary Club was organized there in November 1922.
On September 1, 1923 the strong earthquake occurred in the central part of the main island
of Japan and Tokyo area was severely damaged.
Then US ambassador S. E. Woods immediately reported this tragedy to the US government and within 60
hours after occurrence of the Kanto earthquake the USS Destroyer appeared in Tokyo Bay to
start rescue activities.
It is said that Japanese Rotarians in Tokyo were so impressed with the effective and immediate
action of the US navy that they decided to meet every Wednesday so that they could also start
meaningful activities for others.
Yoneyama was appointed as RI SC (Special Commissioner) and supported the Kobe Club (the 3rd
Club in Japan) and the Nagoya Club (the 4th Club in Japan) to organize in December 1924.
In Kyoto Tojiro Takegami, Ihei Hiro-Oka met to organize a rotary club in Kyoto under
sponsorship of the Tokyo Club with other 18 people on July 22, 1925 and to select the 25 charter
members on September 19th, the same year.
The preparatory meeting was held on September 25th at Kyoto Hotel with attendance of Pres Isaka,
the mother club, Tokyo RC, to elect the directors of Kyoto RC as
- President
- Goichi Takeda (Prof. Kyoto Imperial University)
- Vice Pres.
- Tojiro Takegami (Pres. Takegami Raw Silk Co.Ltd.)
- Secr'y
- Takeo Inouye (Prop. Kyoto Hotel)
- Tres.
- Gisuke Miyamoto
- SAA
- Kiyoshi Shiomi
- Directors
- Sobei Kinkozan, Bunzo Shitsukawa, Shotaro Shimomura, Ihei Hiro-Oka
The Opening Ceremony of the Kyoto Club (New President Goichi Takeda, New Secretary Takeo Inouye)
was held on September 25,,
1925 with attendance of Takeshi Isaka (President, Tokyo Club), Shozo Murata (President, Osaka Club),
Shigehiko Ikoma (President, Nagoya Club). The Congratulatory Banquet was held on October 28th with
the Special Commissioner Yoneyama and many distinguished guests including A Cooper from Hawaii.
The RI charter was granted on December 24th the same year (No. 2184).
It was such a surprising event for Kyoto Club members to unexpectedly greet Prince of Wales from
Britain as the Royal Guest on the weekly meeting on May 7th 1926. This news remarkably highlighted
Rotary Club as an international organization for ordinary people to recognize. The First
District Meeting of RID 70 was held on April 27 to 28, 1929 at the Kacho Hall of Chion-in Temple
in Kyoto chaired by the Governor Umekichi Yoneyama.
In February 1935 Paul Harris, his wife Jean Harris and RI President Robert E Lee Hill made a
major journey to the Pacific region. They arrived at Yokohama on "the S.S.
President Coolidge". As the bad weather prevented Harris'
party from landing for a couple of days, they were unable to
attend the normal meeting of the local Rotary Club. But
instead they went to a splendid special banquet, presided by
Yoneyama. Then it was off to Kobe, Kyoto and Osaka.
In 1940 there were 48 clubs and nearly 2,000 Rotarians
in Japan. As they took the attitudes against the coming war,
the political pressure was brought on Japanese Rotary
affiliated to RI Headqurarter in US by the then Government
and right wingers but the ideals of the Rotary movement were
kept alive. In 1937 ~ 38 a study group of national emergency
(pro-nationalist group) was formed however in Kyoto Club
with no record left for their activities. There appeared
severe confrontation among KRC members whether KRC should
continue or discontinue its activities. On August 21st 1940
the President Mochizuki declared to disband the Rotary Club
of Kyoto and "Wednesday Club" was started on August 28th. On
September 19th 1945, soon after Japanese surrender to the
Allied Powers of World War II, the Kyoto Hotel was so
requisitioned by the US Occupation Forces that the Kyoto
Wednesday Club had to change its meeting location to the
dining floor of the Daimaru Department Store in Kyoto.
Within almost a year after the World War II the two
founders of Rotary Clubs in Japan passed away, U Yoneyama
(April, 1946) and K Fukushima (September 1946). And Paul
Harris also passed away in Chicago in January 1947. We
should note a truly great Rotarian, Sir Angus Mitchell, who
was the first Australian to be elected as the RI president
for 1948-49. He was a very close friend of Paul Harris and
is credited with the re-establishment of Rotary in Japan
after the end of World War II.
In September 1948 George R Means (the RI secretary general
for Asia) visited Japan and he devoted himself to make
Japanese comeback to the international society. His devotion
resulted in the restart of rotary activities in Kyoto.
 The
Restarting Ceremony of Rotary Club of Kyoto was held on
March 23rd 1949 where George R Means attended and the RI
charter was re-granted on April 5th 1949 with the same
charter number as before, (No. 2184). The rotary clubs in
Japan formed then the new RID 60 and the postwar first
district conference was held at the Eiko Building, Doshisha
University in Kyoto on April 8th 1950 where Sir Angus
Mitchel (IPRI) attended in behalf of the RI President.
On October 16~17 1954 the 60/61 District Conference was held
at Kyoto International Exhibition Hall (now Miyakomesse) to
celebrate the 50th anniversary, particularly highlighten by
the lecture of the Japanese first Nobel Prize laureate,
Professor H Yukawa and by the message of RI President
Herbert Taylor delivered by Sir Angus Mitchel.
Two members of Kyoto Club, Genshitsu Sen (in 1988-90)
and Ryuichi Kotani (in 1998-2000) served as RI Directors. On
May 23 to 26, 2004 the RI's largest convention with 45,381
attendees was held successfully in Osaka, chaired by Dr.
Genshitsu Sen and on May 22nd the Kyoto-Day, the pre-event
of RI Osaka Convention, was jointly hosted by 23 Rotary
Clubs in Kyoto to present Japanese culture, art and
tradition through the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites.
On June 19 to 22, 2005, 39,460 Rotarians celebrated
centennial in Chicago, Illinois and on October 12th the
Rotary Club of Kyoto celebrated the 80th anniversary at
Kyoto Hotel Okura with attendance of distinguished guests,
number of Rtns and Rtnns from our sister clubs. PP Kenzo
Tomita is now DGE (as of October 2008) to serve as RID 2650
Governor in 2009-10.
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