Wilbraham & Monson Academy

Count Ayskeh Kabayama
Wesleyan Academy
Class of 1885
by Stacy Jagodowski ’98

In a letter written by Count Ayskeh Kabayama in April of 1941 to his roommate at Wesleyan Academy, George E. Manchester, he referred to his time at Wesleyan as “my happiest and perhaps [the] most fruitful years of my life.” In that same letter, he mentions his continued efforts at striving for peace between the two countries,“I have been fearfully busy in my cultural activities, trying to serve the mutual cultural interests of our two people.”

Count Ayskeh “Kobe” Kabayama came to Wilbraham in 1880 to study in an American institution and graduated from Wesleyan Academy in 1885. He continued his education at Amherst College, and after completing his studies there went on to study at both Cambridge University in England and The University of Bonn in Germany, where he concentrated on political economy and European history. Count Kabayama later became a member of both the Japanese House of Peers and the Upper House [Senate] of the Japanese Parliament. He was chairman of the largest steel company in Japan. Throughout his life, he took an active part in struggles for peace, particularly between Japan and America.
In October of 1935, Count Ayskeh Kabayama returned to his alma mater to speak to the graduating class. He spoke about the history of Japan and the struggle for unity between Japan and America. His return to the campus was an event widely covered by the press. Newspapers published various articles announcing his return and covering his address.
On January 6, 1940, Count Kabayama addressed the United States in a radio broadcast of New Year’s greetings. He expressed his hopes for the year to be a “turning point to peace, reconciliation, and reconstruction.” Kabayama referred to himself as “a Japanese by birth and an American by education.” He took business relations between the two countries seriously and believed that the two countries had reached a point at which economic issues made their alliance a necessity.
While his endeavors to ensure peace proved ultimately unsuccessful, Count Kabayama took a long view of history. In a letter to classmate George W. Gardiner in June 1947, he wrote, “What about this disgraceful defeat of Japan? Yes, it’s [a] complete defeat but it had to come [in order] to revolutionize [once and for all], and to re-educate, and to operate on [the] ‘Cancer’ of militarism and feudalism. In other words the defeat was only the road to salvation to our country and hereafter you may see in the Orient a new and perhaps the best form of democracy as dreamed by Plato, at least I hope so.”
Count Kabayama left a lasting impression on this community. He continued his contact with the Academy for many years, and seventy-one years after Count Kabayama had entered Wesleyan Academy, his grandson, Noritsugu ’53W, became a student at Wilbraham Academy.