Along with Joseph Hardy NEESIMA (Joe NIIJIMA), one of the founders of the Doshisha, and Masanao NAKAMURA, a liberalist professor of the University of Tokyo, he was known as one of the three pillars of the Christian world.
同志社大の創始者新島襄、人間の自由と平等を説いた東京大学教授の中村正直とともに、"キリスト教界の三傑"とうたわれた。