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
Omihachiman,
Shiga Prefecture, in 1908 he was dismissed from teaching job because his Bible Classes had attracted over one third of his class among others who were aligned with local Buddhist temples. Vories had been asked to inspect the construction of an Omihachiman
YMCA office building in 1907, which became his first work as an architect in Japan. He opened his office for architectural design in 1908 and in the following year, he founded "Vories & Co." along with Lester Chapin, an architect, and Etsuzō Yoshida, his English class student. They held it initially in
Kyoto and moved to
Ōmihachiman to accommodate for their success. 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. As many as 1,600 buildings can be credited to Vories' designs. In 1918, he founded the Omi Mission, and devoted his efforts to Christian missionary work and education. In 1919, Vories married the daughter of
viscount Suenori Hitotsuyanagi, . He established Omi Sales Company in 1920, to promote an ointment called
Mentholatum to earn funds to support his missionary work. In 1934, the Omi Mission was renamed to . Vories also loved music, and is credited with introducing the
Hammond Organ into Japan. The collective of schools which were founded by the Omi Brotherhood, known as Vories Gakuen, maintain usage of the Hammond organs supplied by Vories. In 1941, just before the attack on
Pearl Harbor, Vories was naturalized as a Japanese citizen and took the name of Mereru Hitotsuyanagi as required by the Japanese law, pledged his allegiance to the nation of Japan and to the Emperor
Hirohito. In September 1945, the former Prime Minister
Fumimaro Konoe asked Vories to convey a message to the
SCAP on the Emperor's behalf. Vories also shared the idea of the Emperor renouncing claims of divinity and declaring his humanity. He would later go on to meet the Emperor four times. ==Death==