Japan honours Shropshire bishop

A service was held at Bishop Poole's grave in Shrewsbury

Staff and former students from a Japanese university have unveiled a plaque in Shropshire to honour a Shrewsbury clergyman.

Poole Gakuin University is named after Arthur Poole from Shrewsbury who was the first Anglican Bishop of Japan.

A church school was founded in Osaka in 1879 and went on to become the university which has 1,000 students.

To mark its 130th anniversary a slate memorial has been placed at Bishop Poole's grave in Shrewsbury Cemetery.

A service was held at the bishop's grave, led by Reverend Sugiyama, a chancellor of the university in Japan.

The fact that he's more than remembered - his name is immortalised in the university - is just wonderful Ian Senior

He said: "He spread his words of God in our country."

Ian Senior, Bishop Poole's great grandson, said he had not realised the school had grown so much.

He said: "The fact that he's more than remembered - his name is immortalised in the university - is just wonderful."

Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two main religions, while Christianity is a minority religion.

Poole Gakuin University's governors include Christian leaders and the campus has a chapel and a Christian Centre.

A former pupil from the school said Bishop Poole was only in Japan for a few months, but without him she would not be the person she is today.

The school, based in Sakai in southern Osaka, was given university status in 1995.