In January, 1875, he was baptized with his wife Hatsu by Julius Soper, an American Methodist Episcopal missionary, as the first Japanese Methodist.
明治8（1875）年1月、米国メソジスト監督派教会のジュリアス・ソーバー宣教師により日本初のメソジスト派第一号信者として妻の初と共に洗礼。