William Merrell Vories

Merrell Hitotsuyanagi (一柳米来留, Hitotsuyanagi Mereru; October 28, 1880 - May 7, 1964), born William Merrell Vories, was an educator, architect, entrepreneur, Christian lay missionary, and founder of the Omi Mission. Born in the United States, he later became a naturalized Japanese citizen.

Merrell lived and worked mainly in Shiga prefecture in Japan. With only limited formal training as an architect, he founded an architectural office in Shiga which employed over thirty professional staff and was responsible for the design of well over 1000 residential, commercial, and church structures in Japan and occupied Korea, prior to the Second World War.

Vories was born in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1880. He graduated from Colorado College in 1904. At first he hoped to be an architect, although he came to Japan in 1905 as an English-language teacher, with an intention to engage in Christian missionary work. While working as a teacher in Omi Hachiman, Shiga prefecture, in 1908 he was dismissed from teaching job because of his Bible Classes attracted one third of his class among people with Buddhist faith. Vories had been asked to inspect the construction of Omihachiman YMCA office building 1907, that eventually became his first work as an architect in Japan. He opened his office for architectural design in 1908 and the next year in 1909, founded "Vories & Co." along with Lester Chapin, an architect, and Etsuzō Yoshida, his student at English class. They held it initially in Kyoto and moved to Omihachiman to accommodate successful business.

Through YMCA activities in Japan, Vories became acquainted with many American and Japanese people, and received numerous commissions to design houses, churches, schools, hospitals, and YMCA facilities near and far, up to 1,600 buildings.

In 1917, Vories married the daughter of viscount Suenori Hitotsuyanagi, Makiko Hitotsuyanagi (一柳満喜子, Hitotsuyanagi Makiko^?, 1884-1969). He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1941, taking his wife's family name of Hitotsuyanagi.

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