It was April of 1912(Meiji 45) when we finally had our grand opening ceremony for the new school. We had a total roster of thirty new students. I asked the principals of the elementary schools in town and the chief priests of the Buddhist temples if they would like to teach a subject. I was the school principal and head of arts and crafts. I also used part of my house for classrooms.

After two years, our enrollment had surpassed thirty, and after three years, the number had increased to about fifty. We were pleased that fortune was finally smiling upon us. Given the situation, it was impossible for me to teach arts and crafts all by myself, so I requested teacher referrals from my alma mater, Tokyo Girls’ Sewing School, and we were subsequently happy to welcome Ms. Sakakibara, a graduate from their normal course.

We needed to construct a campus, so we decided to set out to raise 300 yen for 30 tsubo(99.17m²). First of all, we were lucky to join a mutual financing association organized at a temple in Kawashima, Sakurai Village. We joined immediately in order to start the funding process. The price was 200 yen, but we needed joint signatures from two nominated guarantors to borrow the money. The proposed guarantors were big landlords, in competition to be the first and second in the village, and with whom we had no close relationship, so I was worried about how they might accept our proposal.