Michiharu Mishima - Career - Scouting

Scouting

Mishima formed the nationwide Boy Scouts of Japan with Count Futara Yoshinori in 1922, with Shimpei Gotō at its helm. He was elected as Associate Board Chairman at age 25. He became the first president of the Boy Scout Association of Japan and also served as the head of the central training grounds. In 1941, he was awarded the Blue Ribbon Medal for philanthropy. He held a Scouting exhibition in February 1946, the first of its kind since the end of World War II. In 1950, he transferred the Boy Scouts Association of Japan headquarters to his villa and home in West Nasuno, Tochigi Prefecture. This site is now a permanent camping grounds for the Boy Scouts of Japan known as the Nasuno Camping Grounds. In 1951, he was elected to serve as the fourth Chief Scout of Japan at the National General Assembly. J. S. Wilson presented the Wood Badge to Mishima, which he had earned at Gilwell Park after the Austrian World Scout Jamboree. In 1953, he received the (きじ章 kijishō) from the Boy Scout Association of Japan for meritorious deeds and services. In 1961, he was awarded the Bronze Wolf by the World Organization of the Scout Movement for exceptional services to world Scouting. From February 25 to March 7, 1965, he wrote his serial Scout Jūwa (スカウト十話) for the Mainichi Shimbun, his final work. Mishima died on April 20, and a (日本連盟 Nippon Remmei) funeral service was held on April 24.

Mishima's handwriting can be found on the stone monument at 'Japan's First Boy Scout Camping Ground' on the banks of Lake Biwa in Omatsuzaki (Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture).