GOVERNMENT OF TAIKOSAMA
By the sudden and unexpected removal of the keystone of the arch,
there was left a blank to be filled up. It may be said that on either
side was a stone ready for the purpose. On the one side, Hideyoshi, in
command of a powerful army, and he himself with a great reputation as
a leader and engaged, on the part of Nobu nanga, in a war with Mori,
prince of the ten western provinces; on the other, Iyeyas, firmly
seated as ruler over eight provinces, and hardly acknowledging any
submission to the executive at Miako, also in command of an army and
fighting on the side of Nobu nanga against Hojio, lord of Odawara. Had
the succession been left to the son or sons of Nobu nanga, there was
every prospect of a continuance of the same state of anarchy and war.
No one of the three was competent for the post. The eldest, indeed,
had perished with his father, leaving a son, a child, San hoshi.
The third, Nobu taka, was lord of the island of Sikok and its four
provinces. Nobu wo, lord of Owarri, the second son, took part with
Hideyoshi.
Iyeyas Mikawa no kami seems, during his career, to have occupied a
position apart in the empire. This is attributed by his countrymen
to a recognition by Nobu nanga and Hideyoshi of his great talents as
a general in command during war, they being always either jealous or
afraid of him. He had been nearly uniformly successful in war, even
when fighting against great odds. They had put him into dangerous
positions in the hope of getting rid of him, but he had always come out
of them with additional credit and invariable success. He was ready
to obey and equal to command. Unwilling to thrust himself forward, he
could bide his time, and was prepared for any emergency. He was born
of a good family, but had cut out for himself a position; and, in the
general scramble for landed possessions at this period, had laid a
solid foundation in the province of Suruga and Mikawa and some portions
of other provinces. He had already been advanced to high rank by the
Emperor. He resided at Hamamatz, in Towotomi, where he held over the
Kwan to supreme sway, with which Taikosama did not think it wise to
interfere.
Hideyoshi, as has been related, was of low origin, and his birth and
lineage a matter of obscurity; but in such estimation are some sorts of
pedigree held in Japan (as in other places) that he contrived to make
it appear that his mother was pregnant with him before she married his
reputed father, Kinoshta mago yaymong. According to his own accounts,
his mother was daughter of Motchihagee, a Koongay, and during the
troubles she was obliged to fly, and, falling into great distress,
married Kinoshta. She married a second husband, Tchikoo ami. Before her
second marriage, she one night dreamed that she had conceived by the
sun, and thence her child was called Hi yoshi maro. He was commonly
called Ko chikoo (small boy). His face was small, and he was like
a monkey, whence he got the nickname of Saru matz; and, even long
afterward, when he was Kwanbakku, he was called Saru Kwanja, or monkey
with a crown. When a child, he was very cunning and reckless, and lived
on the streets. A story is told of him lying asleep on a bridge in
Okasaka. Among others who passed was Hiko yay mong, a noted robber from
Owarri. He gave the boy a kick, and asked him his name. He said, “Saru
matz. This is the public road, and is as much mine as yours. Who are
you?” He said, “I am Hiko yay mong.” “Well,” says the boy, “Hiko is a
thief and a robber, and I have as good a right to be here as he.” He
long afterward made Hiko a Daimio--the family as Hatchiska existing to
the present time. He went, when ten years of age, to Hama matz, where
his master, observing the talent in the boy, recommended him to turn
a soldier. He afterward entered the service of Nobu nanga, and called
himself Kinoshta Tokitchiro. When he rose in military rank, he took the
name of Hashiba Hideyoshi Tchikuzen no kami. In 1583, upon the death of
Nobu nanga, he rose rapidly in imperial rank from lieutenant-general
to be Naidaijin and Kwanbakku. As it was unheard-of presumption in any
one not of the Fusiwarra family being Kwanbakku, he asked, extorted,
or adopted this family name from the Emperor. But he seems never to
have used it, and is known by that of Toyo tomi, given him by the
Emperor. In no long time after, he rose to be Dai jo dai jin. He was
Kwanbakku during seven years, when he retired under the usual title of
Taiko, given to that officer on retiring, and was known by the name
of Taiko sama, or the Taikosama. After the destruction of Azutchi,
the city of Nobu nanga, Hideyoshi fixed upon Fusimi and Osaka as his
places of residence, taking possession of the castle of Osaka, which
commands the town, adding to its strength by immense fortifications,
and building in the center a palace of great magnificence. This castle
had formerly belonged to one of the powerful Buddhist sects, and
had been wrested from them by Nobu nanga. By command of Taikosama,
immense canals were dug, and, by artificial means, smaller rivers were
led into that flowing past Osaka, by which, the importance of the
town as a commercial capital, as well as its strength as a fort, was
materially increased. In Miako he built another magnificent palace,
known as Jui raku; and had another at Fusimi, between Miako and
Osaka. He had married, during his youth, a woman of his own rank. He
afterward married the daughter of Fusi yee; and, thirdly, the daughter
of Gamo Hida no kami. His fourth wife was the daughter of Kio goku;
and the fifth, the daughter of Mayedda of Kanga; and, lastly, Yodo
hime dono, daughter of Azai Bizen no kami, of whom the Jesuit letters
speak as Kita Mandocoro “quæ est primaria Taici conjunx carissima
erat et conjunctissima.” But notwithstanding this plurality of wives,
it was never pretended that he had a son till his old age. He had a
stepbrother, Hide nanga, and a stepsister, who married Musasi no kami,
and had two sons, Hidetsoongu (who was adopted by Hideyoshi) and Gifoo
sho sho. Another stepsister had a son, Hide toshi, who was adopted by
Hide nanga. Hidetsoongu (nephew of Taiko by his stepsister), who was
afterward Kwanbakku, was first adopted by Miyoshi Yamashiro no kami,
and afterward by Taikosama. Taikosama also adopted Hideyuki kingo, son
of Kinoshta, the brother of his wife.
The following account of Taikosama is taken from the letters of the
Jesuits: “This man (Faxiba, or Hashiba), who was most certainly
immoderately ambitious, seeing his master dead, and with him his eldest
son, who had left only one child not full three years old; moreover,
finding the second son to be but a weak man, and the third destitute
both of fortune and strength to make head against him, he believed it
would be easy to content him by a donation of some government, and so
the way was fairly open for himself to step into the throne. To carry
on his design, he first sounded all the officers of his army, and
finding them tight to his interest, for a color of his ambition he took
upon him the title of tutor and governor to the young prince and heir
to the empire, and put him into a fortress with a train answerable to
his birth. Nobu nanga’s third son soon smelled out his design, and not
able to brook one of his father’s subjects in the government of his
kingdoms, he leagued with several of the lords who were grown jealous
of Faxiba’s power, and resolved to make it a trial of skill; but
Faxiba, who was an old experienced captain, and had good troops under
him, easily defeated them, and put all to death that durst oppose his
designs.” This is hardly correct, inasmuch as, though he marched into
the province of Mino in pursuit of Nobu taka, third son of Nobu nanga,
and defeated him, he was not so successful in his action against Nobu
wo, the second son, in the year 1584. This latter, without much talent,
had wit enough to ask Iyeyas to assist him. He came to his assistance,
and in the battles of Komaki and Nangakute, with greatly inferior
forces numerically, defeated, first, Hidetsoongu, Taikosama’s nephew,
and afterward Taikosama himself. Taiko thought it more prudent to make
a compact, and having done so, retired to Miako, which Iyeyas permitted
him to do without further action.
“Among the confederates of Nobu taka was one Shibata dono,
brother-in-law to Nobu nanga. He was besieged in the fortress of
Shibatta, and seeing no way of escape, he, having dined with his
friends, wife, and children, and retainers, set fire to the castle,
first killing his wife, his children, and the female servants; and his
friends, following his example, afterward committed suicide, ‘and lay
there wallowing in their blood till the fire kindled and burned them
to ashes.’” Some of the arms and clothes which were found unburned are
said to be all kept to the present day as they were found after this
catastrophe.
“Faxiba, being now in peaceable possession of the Tense (or imperial
provinces), and all Nobu nanga’s other kingdoms, to give color to his
usurpation affected an affable sweetness, which charmed all that ever
saw or heard him. None, besides the Christians, could in the least
suspect the sincerity of his intentions; and not long after they, too,
were quieted of all their fears; for, knowing very well how respectful
they had been to Nobu nanga, either out of real affection, or for that
he had no mind to make himself new enemies, he began to caress them,
and gave them several particular instances of his favor. He knew the
Christians in his service to be famous, both for their piety and their
courage; and, above all, he showed a particular respect for Justo
Ucondono (properly called Takayama oo konyay no kami), to whom he had
been indebted for his good fortune.
“So when the fathers went to visit him, he treated them after the same
manner and with the same ceremony as Nobu nanga had done before him;
and for instance of his real intentions, he appointed them a place
for building a church and seminary (in Osaka), as was done before in
Anzuquiama. The Queen, his lady, had also several of the Christians
among her maids of honor, whom Faxiba particularly respected for their
singular modesty and piety. He permitted them to assist at mass and
sermons, and was pleased to show a liking when any of his subjects
became Christians, which emboldened them to preach and exercise their
other functions with greater liberty than formerly, to the great
increase of the faithful. Faxiba, who was advertised of it, far from
being displeased, declared he would embrace the Christian religion
himself were it but a little more indulgent to flesh and blood.”
Taikosama was feeling his way in the novel position in which he found
himself after Nobu nanga’s death. The Jesuits did not know how their
position might be affected. They had basked in the sunshine of court
favor for some years past; that might now be clouded over. The bozangs,
or native Buddhist priesthood, had been standing in the cold shade for
some years; they had everything to hope for in a change. There was not
much to be feared from Sanhoshi, the infant grandson of Nobu nanga,
as a claimant to the throne. Mowori in the west was quiet. Iyeyas in
the east was occupied in attacking Hojio of Odawara, who was supposed
to be in opposition to the government. Hojio was superior in the
number of his forces, but inferior in the ability of his commanders.
The proverbial saying of an “Odawara Hio jio”--that is, an Odawara
deliberation--took its origin in the councils of war of Hojio at
this time, which, with superior forces, were protracted till Iyeyas
attacked, defeated him, and took the Castle of Odawara.
In the year 1583 the Jesuit fathers prevailed upon the Christian
converts Arima and Omura and Owotomo Boongo no kami to send some
young lords on a visit to the Pope. Four were sent, two of them being
relatives of these lords, and the other two sons of nobles. They were
all four boys of the age of from fifteen to sixteen. They took letters
with them to Pope Gregory XIII. Leaving Japan on February 22, 1583,
they, going by Macao and Goa, reached Lisbon on August 10, 1584, and
after an interview with Philip at Madrid, arrived in Rome on March
20, 1585, where they were received by the Pope, and kissed his feet.
They re-embarked at Lisbon the last day of April, 1586, with seventeen
religious of the Society, reaching Goa on May 29, 1587, and finally
arrived in Japan in 1590, “eight years from their first setting out,”
bringing with them an Arabian horse, which had been presented to them
by the Viceroy of India.
In 1583 Taikosama finished the fortress of Osaka, a work which consumed
a great deal of money and occupied a great number of men, and which,
when finished, covered a much larger space of ground than that upon
which the castle now stands. During this year the island of Kiusiu
was the theater of war. Riozoji held an office, now done away with,
as governor of the island. He had formerly been a vassal of the small
lordship of Arima, but now had large landed possessions in the island:
and being too desirous of extending his own territory at his neighbors’
expense, they joined together and rooted him out.
In 1585 Taikosama received from the Emperor the family name of
Toyotomi. He called himself Fusiwara, and insisted on the Emperor
appointing him Kwanbakku. He had now had sufficient time to feel
himself settled in his position; but he thought the native monasteries
were still too powerful, notwithstanding the demolition of Hiyayzan,
the large monastery near Miako, and the slaughter of great numbers of
priests by Nobu nanga, together with the appropriation as a castle
of the large monastery in Osaka. The sect of Negoros [Negroes in
the Church of Japan] at Kumano, in the province of Kii, occupied a
very large monastery, to which the whole of the province belonged in
territorial right, the military retainers of the monastery being noted
for prowess and skill in fighting. Taikosama having found or made some
cause of quarrel moved against them, defeated them, and destroyed the
monastery. Most of these retainers were removed to Yedo, where to this
day they form part of the guard of the Shiogoon.
This year Taikosama sent Nobuwo to order Iyeyas to come to Miako. He
refused to come until it was arranged that Taikosama’s mother should
come to Yedo as a hostage during his absence, when Iyeyas went to pay
his respects to the Emperor. Mowori, lord of the western provinces, was
also ordered to come to Miako to acknowledge Taikosama as his superior,
an order which he found it prudent to obey. In 1586 Iyeyas married the
youngest sister of Taikosama.
A persecuting spirit showed itself among the Jesuits very soon after
the departure of Francis Xavier. “Sumitanda,” they write, “King of
Omura, who had become a Christian in accordance with a promise to
that purpose in case his wife should have a child, about the year
1562, or only thirteen years after the first arrival of a missionary
in the country, declared open war against the devils. He dispatched
some squadrons through his kingdom to ruin all the idols and temples,
without any regard to the bonzes’ rage.” All this, doubtless, was done
by the advice and at the instigation of his instructors; and “in 1577
the lord of the island of Amacusa issued his proclamation, by which all
his subjects--whether bonzes, gentlemen, merchants or tradesmen--were
required either to turn Christians or to leave the country the very
next day. They almost all submitted, and received baptism, so that in
a short time there were more than twenty churches in the kingdom. God
wrought miracles to confirm the faithful in their belief.”
All this time one of the most zealous as well as influential among
the Christian converts was he who was known as Justo Ucondono, or
Takayama oo konyay no kami. His seat was Takaski, in the province of
Setsu, where “he labored with a zeal truly apostolical to extirpate
the idolaters out of his states, where the number was now fallen to
30,000. He sent word that they should either receive the faith or be
gone immediately out of his country, for he would acknowledge none for
his subjects but such as adored the true God. This declaration obliged
them all to accept of instruction, which cut out work enough for all
the fathers and missionaries at Meaco.” Taikosama still continued
his wonted favors to the Christians, “saying one day, in a familiar
way, that he would willingly become a Christian himself if they could
dispense with him in polygamy.” In this way the Roman Catholics set
the example of intolerance, driving those opposed to them in religious
belief out of the country. True disciples, and breathing the spirit of
the Inquisition, then in full blow in Spain and Portugal, they would
not allow within their own states that freedom under which the tree
planted by them had taken root and was flourishing.
Takayama brought over as a convert, among others, the young admiral of
Taikosama’s fleet--Don Austin, as he is known to the Jesuits; Konishi,
Setsu no kami, Yuki Naga, as his title is in native history. He and his
father and mother were baptized in 1584.
Taikosama, wishing to keep Takaski, gave Takayama in its stead another
estate, Akashi, in Harima; and as “soon as Justo had taken possession
of it, his first thoughts were to reduce it under the obedience of
Christ. The bonzes, smelling his design, with their idols went to cast
themselves at the Queen’s feet. The Queen, touched with an ardent
zeal for her religion, spoke to the King in their behalf. But Faxiba,
who was no bigot, answered her briskly that he had absolutely given
Justo that place in change of Tacacuqui; and for the rest, every
one was free to dispose of his own. Let the bonzes, if the idols be
troublesome, drown them in the sea, or dry them for fuel. Don Justo,
much pleased with Faxiba’s answer, took then a resolution to oblige
all his subjects to become Christians,” and thus first taught them
a lesson which they afterward practiced upon himself. Justo had the
merit, in his religious zeal, of being unconnected with any seaport
town. All the other lords who had been brought over to the Roman
Church were competing more or less for foreign trade--Boongo, Arima,
Omura, Firando, Grotto; and though some of them seem to have been
sincere converts, others wavered with the rise and fall of exports and
imports. Such, for example, may the King of Boongo be called, when
he returned the following answer to the bozangs: “These good fathers
have been thirteen or fourteen years in my kingdom. At their arrival
I had only three kingdoms; they are now swelled to five. My treasury
was exhausted; it now exceeds any other prince in all Japan. I had no
male issue to succeed me, but now Heaven has blessed me with heirs.
Everything has succeeded and prospered since they came among us. What
blessing did I ever receive from your gods since I began to serve them?
Begone! and never speak ill those I love and respect.” This Boongo
no kami on one occasion during war destroyed a most prodigious and
magnificent temple with a colossal statue, burning 3,000 monasteries to
ashes. “This ardent zeal of the prince is an evident instance of his
faith and charity,” says the Jesuit writer.
This year, upon the occasion of the arrival of the Father Provincial
of Japan at Osaka, Justo and Austin demanded an audience for him with
Taikosama. “To make the way more easy, he exposed, according to the
custom of the country, his presents for the King and Queen. He was
introduced (his majesty accepting the presents) to Taikosama seated
on a magnificent throne, and was received by him with the most marked
kindness and condescension. He commended them for taking so long a
voyage to publish in those parts the law of their God. He gave them
supper. After the collation he entertained them with a long discourse
about his government, told them he intended to make one-half of Japan
embrace the Christian religion, and that he had thoughts of passing
into China, not to pillage and plunder the country, but to reduce it
under the sweet yoke of his obedience. To this end he intended to put
to sea with a fleet of 200 men-of-war. Moreover (and this is the gist
of the conversation), he desired to hire upon any terms two stout ships
of Portugal, well armed and manned, and by means of the fathers made
himself sure of gaining this point. After the conquest of China, he
would build temples to the true God in all the cities and towns through
his empire, and withal oblige his subjects universally by public edict
to become Christians.
“He afterward conducted them through his palace to the ninth story of
a pyramidal building, whence they had a beautiful view of the country
around Osaka. He then alluded to the famous discussion between F.
Froes and the Buddhist high-priest, saying that at the time he was so
incensed at the brute, the insolent bozang, that if he had been in
power he would have taken off his head.”
At this meeting the Provincial put in a petition to Taikosama, which he
is said by the Jesuits to have granted; viz., “That it should be lawful
for them to preach the law of the true God through all his states, and
his subjects free to embrace it. That their houses should be exempt
from lodging soldiers. That, as strangers, they should be exempt from
all cesses and taxes which the lords do usually lay upon their vassals.
And he added to that, that he gave them license to preach, not only in
his kingdoms, but through all Japan, as lords and sovereigns of the
whole empire.”
Such being the inclinations and views of Taikosama toward the Jesuits
in the outset of his reign, by what means, it may be asked, was he
brought to a change? The statements of the Jesuits are the sole
authority for this part of history; but they seem to have played their
cards badly.
“Religion in Japan within this thirty-eight years past, when St.
Francis Xaverius sowed, the first seeds in that uncultivated soil,
has now grown so fair and flourishing that one might well compare it
to an orange tree loaded on all sides with fruits and blossoms. It
was a field cultivated by the workmen of the vineyard, and watered
with kindly showers from heaven, which gave fair hope of a rich and
plentiful harvest. It was a ship under full sail drove by the wind of
the Holy Ghost, discovering daily new places and countries.
“In the year 1587 they reckoned above 200,000 Christians in Japan,
among whom were several persons of distinguished merit--kings, princes,
generals of armies, principal lords of the court, and, in a word, the
flower of the Japonian nobility. Moreover, what by Cambacundono’s
[Taikosama’s] esteem of our religion, and kindness to the missioners
that preached it, and what by his contempt of the bonzes, whom he
persecuted with fire and sword, burning their temples and pulling down
their idols wherever he came--what, also, by vesting the Christian
lords in the most considerable places of the government, and indulging
liberty to all his court to receive baptism, over and above, by
erecting so many churches to the true God, and so particularly
countenancing the fathers of the Society--the number of them daily
increased. For, not content with sending frequently for the fathers to
his palace, he went one day himself to visit the Provincial on board
of his ship, and discoursed him after a familiar way for several hours
together. Not that he had any thoughts of religion, for he was so proud
that he pretended equality with Divinity itself, but by this had a mind
to gain a reputation among the princes of Europe.
“Nevertheless, these fair appearances put several of the principal
lords in a humor of being instructed, and the number of the proselytes
was so great that the fathers could rest neither day nor night.
They were taken up continually with preaching, baptizing, and
instructing such as earnestly desired this sacrament, among whom was
Cambacundono’s own nephew, a prince about nineteen years of age,
presumptive heir to the crown.
“While the Church was in this profound peace, the devil, foreseeing
an entire conversion of the whole empire must follow, raised such a
furious tempest as drove the ship of the Japonian Church upon the
rocks, and split it all to pieces.” So writes one of the Jesuit
fathers. He then looks about to find a reason for the foundering of
the vessel, and finds it anywhere but in the pilots or officers of the
ship. The unlucky merchants, whether the failure be ecclesiastical or
political, are sure to be made the first scapegoats. Their lives were
so dissolute that the immaculate Taikosama was horrified. This not
being completely satisfactory, it was further found that “the scandal
was so great that Cambacundono, who had notice of it, began to conceive
an ill opinion of the Christian religion, and concluded the fathers
only used it for a sconce to some underhand intrigue of reducing the
empire of Japan under the obedience of some Christian prince.” After
these two preliminary reasons, the father goes on to assign other
causes. “The first was his pride, which rendered him extremely sensible
of the least contradiction.” At his interview with the Provincial at
Osaka, above narrated, his object was to obtain some large foreign
vessels to transport troops to China. Hearing that one had “arrived
at Firando, he requested it might be sent round to Facata, in Boongo,
that he might see it. The captain said it was impossible, owing to the
draught of water of the vessel. Taikosama seemed satisfied, but the
same night he sent orders to the fathers to depart from Japan within
twenty days, and forbade them to preach the Gospel on pain of death.”
To justify himself, he gave out that “he did this because the Christian
faith was contrary to the received and established religion of Japan,
that he had long since designed to abolish it, and only deferred the
execution till he had conquered Ximo [Kiusiu], where the Christians,
being so numerous, might have formed a party against him.
“Besides,” says the father, “the main refusal, we discovered afterward
two main reasons that put him upon this edict. The first was a design
of ranking himself among the gods, by which he hoped to make himself be
adored by all his subjects as one of the chief conquerors of Japan. Now
knowing that none but Christians would dare to oppose him, he took a
resolution of exterminating them forthwith before they could have time
to make a party against him.
“The other cause of his aversion to religion was his own lewd life
and conversation. Because some of the Christian ladies of Arima had
rejected the proposal made by a bozang of entering his service, he
was enraged against the whole religion, and resolved to be revenged
on the whole body of Christians.” This bozang, Jacunin (or Shiaku),
had probably been a resident on the estate of Takayama, or Justo
Ucondono, at Takaski, or at Akashi, and had smarted under the severity
of the treatment by Justo, in turning out of house and home every one
not of his way of thinking. This priest is said to have directed his
master’s wrath against Takayama. “All the forces in the empire being
in his power as general, and he the greatest bigot of the sect, it
was well if, under the mask of religion, he did not underhand form a
league against the state.” The consequence was, that a dispatch was
immediately forwarded to Takayama, confiscating his estate, depriving
him of his offices, and reducing him at once to beggary. Takayama on
the occasion seems to have displayed great magnanimity, and acted from
a deep Christian feeling. He might have temporized and dallied till the
wrath of Taikosama had cooled down, or he might have committed suicide,
as a native noble would have done, and preserved his name as a hero and
his estate to his son. After prayer, the whole family--his father and
mother, men, women, children, and servants--immediately put themselves
on their way, with what little baggage they could carry. They found a
retreat in the territory of Setsu no kami, Don Austin.
At this time Taikosama issued the following proclamation: “Being
informed by the lords of our Privy Council that certain foreign,
religious were entered into our states, where they preach a law
contrary to the established religion of Japan, and impudently presume
to ruin the temples of the Camis and Fotoquis, though this attempt
deserve the very utmost severity, yet out of our royal clemency we do
only hereby command them upon pain of death to depart from Japan in
twenty days, during which time it shall not be lawful for any one to
hurt them; but if afterward any of them shall be found in our states,
our will and pleasure is that they be apprehended and punished as in
cases of high treason. As for the Portuguese merchants, we give them
free leave to traffic and reside in our ports till further order; but
withal we do hereby strictly forbid them, on pain of having both their
ships and merchandises confiscated, to bring over with them any foreign
religious.”
That this change should sooner or later have come is not to be wondered
at. That it should have shown itself so suddenly is in accordance with
Japanese ideas of policy and the character of the Japanese mind. The
empire had been for years, almost ages, torn by internal divisions
among small chiefs. The object of Nobu nanga had been to bring them all
into one under himself. His lieutenant, Taikosama, totally illiterate,
though perhaps not more so than those around him, had been imbued
with his master’s views. The Buddhist monasteries had been hotbeds
of sedition and foci of disturbance, being at the same time large
political and military powers of perhaps the second rank, and they had
made themselves obnoxious on different occasions by marked insolence
to the generals, and even to Nobu nanga himself. They had not even the
justification of having preserved (as monasteries did of old in Europe)
the literature of the country, not one priest being able to read, or
teach the rising generation the rudiments of the written character.
When the Jesuits appeared with meek and lowly appearance, Nobu nanga
was charmed with the prospect of establishing them as a counterpoise
to the haughty and insolent Buddhists. He nourished them, showering
favors upon them, and in every way encouraging them, more especially
borne, as they were, on the wings of wealth and trade. They found
Japan, so far as religions went, a free country, where all religions
were tolerated so long as they did not become aggressive. But they did
not come from a free country. Their ideas were not those of religious
tolerance. By a decree of Gregory XIII., January 28, 1585, all priests
and religious whatever except Jesuits were prohibited from going to
preach in Japan. This was confirmed by Clement VIII., March 14, 1597;
and Philip II. of Spain wrote soon after to his viceroy in the Indies
to see the order punctually obeyed. This monarch was wielding the
power as King of Portugal. No priest could come to Japan without his
sanction. He had the power of putting his veto on the appointments made
by the Pope. The fires of the Inquisition were blazing. The wish of
the Jesuits was, that those who differed from them in religious views
should be burned as heretics, to be damned; their hope was that they
themselves, holding the true faith, might be burned as martyrs, to
be beatified. Doubtless the archives of Simancas could unfold many a
letter breathing such thoughts written from Japan, possibly noted by
Philip’s own hand.
They had hitherto sailed with a fair wind. It may be believed, without
going to the full length of taking everything in their letters for
truth, or, on the other hand, accepting all that is said against them
in the work “La Morale pratique des Jesuites,” or “L’Esprit de Mons. S.
Arnauld,” that they had done some good. Many had been won over from a
state of brutishness to submission in their daily walk and conversation
to the precepts of the Gospel. Some had gone through severe trials and
persecutions, and had stood firm to their professions. Each of the
lords of Boongo, Arima and Omura had suffered more or less for the
faith they professed. Though the fathers themselves give us a weapon
to attack their conversions when they at one time assure us that “to
win the favor of Taikosama put several of the principal lords in a
humor of being instructed, and the number of proselytes was so great
that the fathers could not rest day or night preaching, instructing
and baptizing such as earnestly desired this sacrament” (among whom
was Cambacundono’s own nephew, Hidetsoongo), it might be asked, What
sort of converts were these? and how could these fathers abuse this
sacrament in baptizing persons to win the favor of such a master?
But these fathers appear to have looked upon the bozangs as their
personal enemies. They thought that it was their special mission to
root them out. They would not let the tares and the wheat, as they
looked upon the respective parties, grow together. They attacked these
priests wherever they met them. Francis Xavier, at the commencement of
his missionary life in Japan, visited these “bonzes, with the design,
if it were possible, to convert them to Christ, being persuaded that
Christianity would make little progress among the people if they who
were generally looked upon as oracles of truth opposed the preaching
of the Gospel.” He declared himself much astonished that in Japan the
people “have a profound respect for the bonzes; for though they be
conscious of their hypocrisy and debaucheries, yet at the same time
they worship them like deities, and pay them all imaginable submission.”
One of the first duties of a missionary should be to learn thoroughly
the religion of the people of the country to which he is sent. An
acquaintance with Buddhism, and its tenets and principles, would have
been a very powerful weapon to convince or to condemn these priests,
without trying to hold them constantly up to the scorn of their own
people and followers. From the commencement of the Romish missions a
continued aggressive action appears to have been kept up against the
Buddhist priesthood as individual men. The lives and the morals, or the
want of morals, of these men seem to have been the constant theme of
the Jesuit addresses to the people.
It cannot be wondered at that a body which was politically strong
enough to cause uneasiness to the monarch of a country like Japan
should not sit quietly under such attacks. We have no objection to
you making converts, they may have said; but when it came to breaking
down temples and destroying the images, a spirit of intense opposition
was aroused. But when to this a system of persecution was added--such
as that pursued by Don Justo in his territories, when every one not
of his religion was driven out, when the property of the temples was
taken from them, and perhaps given to their opponents--only one end
can be looked for; viz., that one party should be victorious over the
other, and that by a war to the knife, a struggle of life and death.
The Buddhists were roused. They could live alongside of Confucianism,
or of Taouism in the Yamabooshi, or of the different sects among
themselves; but with the new sect, this Roman Catholicism, which broke
its neighbor’s temples down, abused him to his face, and then turned
every one out wherever it had the power of doing so--the only method
with it was to use its own weapons and turn it out--to root it out of
the country.
This Inquisition mode of dealing could have ended in no other way.
Japan was not Spain, as the Jesuits found out.
The Buddhists felt that they were worsted on both sides--by the
military power on the one side, which had defeated their soldiers,
burned their monasteries, confiscated their lands, and appropriated
their temples; by the Jesuits, who had seduced their people, abused
themselves, robbed them of their tithes and offerings, broken down
their gods, and burned the temples, and were now attempting to make
converts in the palace itself, being in such favor as to be received by
Taikosama as he received no other.
Taikosama was probably a proficient in the Japanese art of dissembling.
At first he was doubtful to which party to incline; but when he had
once made sure, after his defeat of the Negoros and seizure of their
territory in Kii, that the Buddhists were thoroughly subdued, there
could be little doubt, knowing the man, but that he would not give it
to that which was threatening to be the cause of renewed disturbance
in the empire, and whose emissaries thought they had a right to reprove
him whenever it pleased them to do so. But it was Japanese policy to
flatter them, to amuse them, to dissemble with them till the moment
of making the spring. Inflamed by the Buddhist priests around him, he
made up his mind that the new sect must be rooted out. In the year
1586 Nagasaki was taken from the Prince of Omura by Taiko, and made a
government port and property. At that time, native history tells us,
Satsuma and Owotomo were fighting. To this war Taikosama put an end.
Some “battereng,” or padres, came to Tsikuzen to see Taiko. He did not
like Roman Catholics. He found that two of his own servants were of
that faith; they were speared at the temple of Hatchimang at Hakazaki.
The padres were sent away. Thirteen churches were destroyed. At that
time the province of Tsikuzen belonged partly to Owotomo and partly to
Satsuma. Taikosama took it from both, and gave all Hizen and Tsikuzen
to Nabeshima, formerly a servant of Riozoji, and whose descendants hold
it to this day. He now fixed that Nagasaki was to be the only place
where foreign trade was to be permitted.
The proclamation of 1587 caused the greatest dismay in the minds of
the Christians. The heads of the church determined that they would,
at all hazards, keep their posts. They took refuge in the territories
of Boongo, Arima, Omura, Firando and Amacusa, alleging that they
were waiting until a ship was ready to take them away. When the time
arrived, and the ship ready, the captain excused himself from carrying
the fathers this year, as his ship was already over-laden, sending a
letter to Taikosama, which did not reach him for several months. He was
very angry, and took down the churches in the neighborhood of Miako. At
the same time he ordered Don Austin to exchange his lands near Miako
for others in Kiusiu.
A meeting was held in Firando in August, 1587, at which the heads of
the church decided that the proclamation of Taikosama was not to be
obeyed, but that prayers were to be offered up, and that Christians
were to keep quiet, in the hope that the storm might blow over.
The following character of Taikosama is given by one of the Jesuit
writers: “He reigned in profound peace, and to conserve it he observed
these rules in his government. First, After subduing his enemies, and
an act of pardon, he never put any one to death, as Nobu nanga, his
predecessor, had done, who never spared any of the great ones, which
rendered his government odious and cruel; but Taikosama not only spared
their lives, but further assigned them sufficient pensions to live on,
which made them easy and well content.
“Secondly, He forbade all quarrels and private heats, on grievous
penalties, and whoever were found transgressing in this kind were
punished with death. If any of these fled, they punished the relations
in his place; and in default of relations, his domestics; and in
default of these his next neighbors, who were all crucified for not
preventing the disorder. No doubt great injustice was committed by this
means, and several innocent people suffered. But yet the fear of death
made all zealous and careful to stifle these animosities and heats in
their very birth, and forced them to live quiet.
“Thirdly, Though he was a tyrant, he would have justice done
immediately on all criminals, without regard to birth, quality,
services or any alliance whatever; and the party, upon the first
conviction of his crime, was put to death out of hand, though he were
one of his own relations and of the very blood-royal itself. He was
most lewdly addicted to women, nevertheless he pretended that none had
a right to use these debauches but himself, and expressly forbade any
of his subjects to keep a concubine.
“Another means of preventing troubles was to keep both soldiers and
gentry busy employed; for he put them upon building palaces, raising
fortresses, etc., knowing very well that the humor of the great ones is
always restless and unquiet if their thoughts are not taken up about
other business. As for the soldiers, lest idleness should effeminate
them, he kept them always employed about his works.
“Moreover, besides the pensions allowed them for life, he also
maintained them in the field, which kept them in submission and
dependence. As for kings, lords and governors, he made frequent
alterations and changes to break their measures, and hinder them from
growing popular. Above all, he studied the humor and genius of his
subjects; and if any were found to be of a turbulent nature, he secured
them, and by that put them out of the possibility of revolt in his
absence.
“In fine, what rendered his government so peaceable, was his immense
treasures; for by these riches he bound all his subjects tight to his
interest, keeping all in hopes, though he never intended them any
favors. These were his principal ways and means of maintaining peace in
his governments.”
A very little consideration of the position in which Taikosama, as
ruler of Japan, was standing to these foreigners must lead to the
conclusion that he could take no other step than that which he had
taken. They had come to the country uninvited. They had found the
country in the possession, so to speak, of a religion which had never
shown a persecuting spirit. They had come in their own vessels. From
the very outset they had displayed a hard, persecuting spirit, with a
tendency to re-embroil the country in war, out of which it was only
now emerging. They had insisted on every one coming into subjection
to them, with the alternative of leaving house and home in case of
refusal. They were, as usual, now calling in the assistance of the
temporal power to force the yoke of their priestly supremacy on the
people of Japan. Had Taikosama been able to send them away in vessels
of the country, he would no doubt have done so. But having no vessels,
he gave them the alternative of living peaceably in the country,
or of leaving it. They forced the ruling powers of Japan, by their
encroachments and persecuting system, to retaliate upon themselves, and
then gloried in considering themselves martyrs. They were, in short,
constituting themselves and their flocks, over whom they, as priests,
had no political authority, an _imperium in imperio_. They were
teaching them to be rebels to their own government, and the priests
themselves were obliged to end in the spirit in which they ought to
have commenced--a spirit of meekness among their enemies. It would
seem, from old as well as from recent experience, that, for Christians
to live among heathens, it is necessary to have an “exterritoriality”
power; but that is equivalent to saying simply that the Christian power
is the strongest, and it means to enforce what it thinks right.
According to the resolutions of the meeting at Firando, the Roman
Catholics kept quiet and in retirement in the several provinces in
which they were settled.
The first of the line of Owotomo began as personal servant of Yoritomo;
and a portion of Satsuma’s territory was given to him, after which the
family rose to greatness during the wars between the Emperors of the
North and South. About 1374 they acquired a large territory in the
northeast of the island of Kiusiu, covering the whole of Boongo and
parts of Boozen and the adjoining provinces--Tsikugo and Tsikuzen. In
the middle of the sixteenth century this territory included nearly
one-half of the island. The family was ruined in the persecution of the
Roman Catholics. The principality of Arima covered, at one time, the
greater part of the province of Fizen. The territory, as was often the
case with small proprietors in feudal times, was at different times
enlarged and contracted. Latterly, it seems to have included only the
peninsula on which the town of Simabarra stands, and but little more.
Omura is the name of a town which stands on the land-locked bay of the
same name, in the province of Fizen, about twenty miles from Nagasaki;
and the territory held by the lord of that name included a strip of
ground round the city, and the greater part of the peninsula on which
Nagasaki stands. The family seems to have been an offshoot from Arna,
and never to have been of any great power until the rise of Nagasaki,
which no sooner became of any value than it was taken from the lord by
Taikosama, and has ever since remained government property.
The lord of Boongo, who had patronized the Jesuit priests (“our
Mæcenas,” as they call him), and afterward had been converted and
baptized, had died in the year 1587. He had abdicated in favor of his
son, but at one time resumed the reins; but before his death had the
pain of witnessing the diminution of the family estates by powerful and
rapacious neighbors. His son, after losing part of his estates and the
favor of Taikosama, thought to regain both by showing some activity
in acting up to the recent proclamation. He was the first to commence
the persecution of his father’s friends. Meantime, Taikosama returned
to Miako, and seems to have forgotten his edict and the Christians
altogether. Probably the truth is, that during all this time, though he
was annoyed by the Jesuits and their proceedings, he was working out in
his own mind the means of making an attack upon China. He saw in the
foreign ships easy means of transport, and, knowing the influence the
priests exerted over the merchants, his hopes lay in keeping in with
the former to obtain the assistance of the latter in his design. Some
time after the promulgation of the edict, he received most graciously
Father Valignan, Provincial of Japan and the Indies, as embassador from
the Viceroy of India, and as associate with the four young embassadors
who had returned from Europe.
The annexation of Nagasaki by government in 1590 was a great blow to
the Jesuits, inasmuch as it had been a source of wealth, through the
lord of Omura, who was a Christian; and also, inasmuch as hitherto the
governor had always been a Christian, and he was now exchanged for two
heathens. The place had increased rapidly from the time the Jesuits
first went there, probably about 1575, when there were only 500 houses
in the place, till 1590, when there were 5,000 families resident,
besides merchants and tradesmen who came there in June from all parts
on the arrival of the fleets.
In the year 1592, Taikosama carried out the project he had long been
thinking on, viz., the invasion of Corea and thence of China, called
in the letters “a foolish and temerarious enterprise, infinitely
hazardous, if not morally impracticable.” It is difficult to see what
motive existed for this invasion. Being a man of war from his youth,
and knowing nothing else, he perhaps longed for new conquests. The
Jesuit writers attribute it to a wish to use up the Christians in the
island of Kiusiu, as well as to get rid of--Uriah-like--some of the
best generals of his army, who were believers in the new doctrines.
Another reason they give was his wish to rival the greatest hero of the
empire, now worshiped as the god of war--Hatchimang--who had conquered
Corea through his mother. He made great preparations, giving out that
he was going to lead the army himself. He handed over the power he held
in Japan to his nephew, Hidetsoongu, giving him, through the Emperor,
the title of Kwanbakku. He appointed four generals of the army, two of
whom were Christians, Don Austin and Kahi no kami, son of Don Simon;
the two other generals were Toronosuqui and Aki no kami. Under the two
former were several Christian lords, Arima, Omura, Amacusa, Boongo,
Tsussima, Don Austin’s son-in-law, and others, with an army of 40,000
men. The total number of men collected, including seamen and tradesmen,
was said to have been 300,000, a large number to supply with food, and
only possible with an army fed nearly wholly upon rice. One-half of the
army, after a council of war, set sail from Nangoya in Fizen, and was
landed at Fusancay or Fkusan, at the southern extremity of Corea. Don
Austin commanded this division. In no long time he repeatedly defeated
the Corean army and captured several fortresses. Taikosama ordered
Toronosuqui and his half of the army to follow into Corea without
delay. He came up to the support of Don Austin, but, according to the
Jesuits’ account, treacherously held back his men that Don Austin
might be defeated before he came to his support. The Coreans seem to
have shown no capacity for war, and in no long time nearly the whole
fortresses of the kingdom were in possession of the Japanese.
Taikosama, according to the Roman Catholic authorities, still jealous
of the body of Christians, especially after Don Austin’s success,
collected 150,000 men out of Kiusiu, and sent them over to Corea,
ordering the commander-in-chief to return the vessels immediately in
order that he might follow in the spring. This is said to have been a
ruse to shut off their return.
Meantime the large force in Corea was being neglected; they were left
without provisions or ammunition. Their men, deserting, were taken and
killed, and at length Don Austin was forced to fall back, and, after
several engagements, signed an agreement with the Coreans by which the
latter were to send two embassadors to Taikosama, and the Japanese
were to retire, and only to occupy twelve forts on the sea-coast.
The Japanese army was computed to have lost 150,000 men. A truce
was concluded, and embassadors accompanied Don Austin to Japan. The
following demands were made: 1. That eight provinces of Corea be handed
over to Japan; 2. That the Emperor of China give one of his daughters
to Taikosama; 3. That there should be a free trade between the two
countries, and that China and Corea should pay Japan a yearly tribute.
In 1592, Lupus di Liano, a Spanish envoy, was dispatched from Manila to
lay complaints against the Portuguese before Taikosama. He was lost on
his return with the vessel in which he sailed.
In 1593 the governor of the Philippines sent over another envoy. He
took over with him four religious Recollects of St. Francis. These were
the first arrivals in Japan of any other order not of the Jesuit, with
the exception of one Dominican, who accompanied the previous Spanish
envoy. Among the presents was a Spanish horse richly harnessed. Among
the presents brought by Father Valignan had been an Arab horse. The
blood of these presents has probably influenced the breed in Japan.
At an interview with Taikosama these Franciscans asked to see his
palace. “With all my heart, provided you do not preach in my states.”
The religious, being resolved not to obey him, gave no promise, but
made a low reverence. Shortly after, the governor of Miako sent to the
Jesuit fathers to tell them to go on with their work of piety, but with
privacy and prudence. In consequence of this they hired a house and
met privately, none appearing in public except two. “But the fathers
of St. Francis thought not themselves obliged to such condescendence.
Their ardent zeal made them believe that such deference to the order of
the sovereign was contrary to the liberty of the Gospel, and that they
ought to preach the faith despite of all laws to the contrary.” They
went to Taikosama and asked for some place away from secular people
to build a little house for their own private convenience. He did not
carry his edict into execution against them, but referred them to the
governor of Miako, who assigned “them a very sweet seat without the
walls of Miako, commanding that they should neither preach nor hold
assemblies of Christians, according to Taikosama’s orders. But the
fathers, without regard to either the governor’s advice or Taikosama’s
orders, built immediately both a church and a convent with a wall about
it. Even the wise and more prudent among the Christians advised them to
be seriously careful of what they were doing. The governor, hearing of
it, sent and requested them to shut up their church.” He was obliged
to inform Taikosama, saying, “He feared that these religious, who call
themselves embassadors from the Philippines, intend to preach like the
rest.” “They won’t,” replied he, in a passion, “if they be wise; for if
they do, I’ll teach them to laugh at me.”
These Franciscans, thinking they were most successful, wrote to Manila
for others to come over to assist them. They opened a church at Osaka,
and designed to erect a third at Nagasaki. To this end they desired
the governor would obtain leave of Taikosama for two sick to change
air. The governor said in case of health they were free to go where
they pleased. Upon this two went to Nagasaki, and began to say mass and
preach publicly without any regard to the Emperor’s mandates.
The Jesuits were much surprised that these Franciscan fathers should
fix a residence in their jurisdiction without their consent; while
the lieutenant-governor, having received strict orders not to permit
any service in the town, was in doubts what to do. He referred to the
governor, and he, being alarmed for himself, ordered a note to be taken
of every one who disobeyed the law, but said he would apply for further
instructions to Taikosama himself. Hearing from Miako that these men
had asked and received permission to go to Nagasaki on the plea of
sickness only, he ordered them out of his jurisdiction, which seems to
be a very lenient course of treatment, considering the trouble that had
already arisen out of this preaching.
The success of Konishi (Don Austin) in Corea seems at first to have
operated in his favor. Taikosama was delighted; but as soon as this
first feeling was over, alarm at thinking he was a Christian, and as
such could command the services of a very large body of his countrymen
at a word from the Jesuit priests, seems to have been the most
prominent feeling in his mind. He knew by experience that the Buddhist
priests had been able to keep the armies of Nobu nanga at bay for
several years. He therefore dissembled, and in the meantime he recalled
Justo to court, and gave him a large pension.
At this time, however, another circumstance occurred which occupied
his mind for a time. Hidetsoongu, his nephew, had been acknowledged as
heir, and power was delegated to him as regent while Taiko should be
away in Corea. Of this young man a somewhat extraordinary account is
given in the Jesuit letters. In 1587, when Taiko chose to make a great
show of favor to the Roman Catholics and the missionaries, the fathers
were taken up continually with preaching, baptizing and instructing
such of the principal lords as desired earnestly this sacrament, among
whom was Taiko’s own nephew, and presumptive heir to the crown.
“Hidetsoongu was a young man of three-and-thirty years of age, endowed
with all the qualifications that can be desired in a young prince. He
had a quick and penetrating wit, an excellent judgment, and withal
a most courteous and obliging behavior. He was wise, prudent and
discreet. He abhorred the vices of his country and loved learning, and
took pleasure in it. For this reason he was delighted in the company of
the fathers, and knowing that our religion set value on virtue and good
manners, he took a particular affection to it.
“But all these good qualities were quite obscured by a strange and
most inhuman vice. He took a strange kind of pleasure and diversion in
killing men, insomuch that when any one was condemned to die, he chose
to be executioner himself. He walled in a place near his palace, and
set in the middle a sort of table for the criminal to lie on till he
hewed him to pieces. Sometimes, also, he took them standing, and split
them in two. But his greatest satisfaction was to cut them off limb by
limb, which he did as exactly as one can take off the leg or wing of
a fowl. Sometimes, also, he set them up for a mark, and shot at them
with pistols and arrows. But what is most horrid of all, he used to rip
up women with child to see how the infants lay in their mother’s womb.
Father Froes, who had seen and conversed with him, describes him as you
have seen.” This account is corroborated by native history.
For many years Hidetsoongu had been looked upon as his uncle’s heir.
He had three children; but about this time one of Taiko’s wives had a
son, who was thought by many to be supposititious. “Be it as it will,”
write the fathers, “he made great rejoicing for it all over Japan, and
insisted on his nephew adopting the child as his son.”
The consequence was that uncle and nephew became jealous and
distrustful each of the other. In the “History of the Church” a full
account is given of their meetings in Miako. “Taikosama sent to his
nephew to say he would invest him with full power. Hidetsoongu prepared
a magnificent feast. The day was settled, but the uncle was afraid
to trust himself within the palace of Juraku, where the nephew was
waiting for him. At last he was persuaded to go, and went with great
magnificence in a triumphal chariot (a closed box) all laid with gold,
drawn by two large oxen with gilt horns. The procession lasted from
morning till two in the afternoon. All this time Taiko minded more
the security of his own person than all the entertainments. He placed
guards all about his apartments, and advised his nephew to lodge in
another palace. The nobility generally believed that Hidetsoongu would
never let slip so fair an opportunity of avenging the injuries he had
received, and therefore every one took care of himself. But no attempt
was made on Taiko’s life. Appearances were kept up for some days; but
the nephew, disgusted with his uncle’s treatment, secretly began to
make the preparations which had been expected of him long before.” But
he was betrayed by the first of the nobles to whom he applied--probably
Mowori (known as Choshiu), who gave Taiko information. In no long
time Taiko brought the matter to a point by asking explicit answers
to plain questions, and in the meantime collected troops about Miako.
When he thought he was safe, he sent to his nephew and ordered him off
instanter to his father’s territory. He was then ordered to enter the
monastery of Koga, used as a retreat by exiled nobles. He marched,
accordingly, all night. The prisoner was treated as badly as possible;
and in August, 1795, an order came from his uncle that he and his
servants should rip themselves up. Hidetsoongu paid the last attention
one friend can pay to another in Japan, and cut their heads off after
they had stabbed themselves. He himself repeatedly stabbed himself, and
one of his esquires took his master’s saber and cut off his head, and
then stabbing himself, fell on his body. Father Froes seems to have
been on the spot at the time.
Taikosama, in the whole of this affair, showed a spirit of extreme
cruelty and vindictiveness. He, not satisfied with the life of his
nephew, put to death all his friends, and then, collecting his family,
sent his wives and children, the eldest five years of age, his own
grand nephews and nieces, to execution; with savage atrocity sending
for his nephew’s head that it might be shown to them at the scaffold.
They were all beheaded to the number of thirty-one ladies and three
children, and their bodies thrown into a hole in Sanjio Street, over
which a sort of erection or tomb was built, and on it the inscription,
Tchikushozuka, “The tomb of bitches,” which remains to this day. A
temple has been built close by, and is named Tchikushozuka no dera.
Taikosama had long set his heart upon the hope of prevailing upon
the Emperor of China to send an embassy to Japan, and, to his own
surprise, his ambition was gratified. Don Austin, according to Jesuit
accounts, by working upon the fears of the officers of the Celestial
court, induced them to send two men to Corea, who were ordered to pass
over into Japan. Taikosama made preparations to receive this embassy
with great magnificence, but in the end treated the envoys with marked
insolence and rudeness.
In August of 1596 a comet was visible for fifteen days in Japan, and on
the 30th of the same month a frightful earthquake is recorded to have
occurred. By this the greater part of the buildings recently erected
at great expense at Osaka and Fusimi were completely demolished.
Recurring at midnight of the 1st of September with awful violence, all
the magnificent buildings raised by the Taiko were in a moment thrown
down--two lofty eight-storied buildings, visited by the fathers, being
destroyed. Stones, each of which had required the united efforts of
1,500 men to put in their places, were hurled out. The heavy roofs of
temples and buildings, subsiding _en masse_, buried many under them,
and, as usual in Japan, the fires which arose carried death to those
buried under the wood. The occasion is used by one of the fathers, in
his letter, to indulge in a sneer against the Buddhist priesthood. In
doing so, he gives some insight into the tenets inculcated in their
sermons by these Buddhist priests. “He was preaching on the evening
prior to the earthquake with such a torrent of eloquence as to bear
all before him, and the main drift of his discourse was the mercy
and bounty of his god toward his clients, particularly at the hour
of death. He enlarged upon his charity to mankind, showing that he
would have all men to be saved, without distinction or exception of
persons, exhorting them to cast themselves on his mercy. So soon as
he had made an end of speaking, the people cried out with a general
voice, ‘Our god, be merciful to us!’ But Amida was probably asleep,
for that very night the temple fell to the ground, the idol was
broken, and the preacher narrowly escaped with his life.” By this
convulsion the immense copper figure of Buddha at Miako was broken. The
Jesuit accounts state that seventy women about the palace at Fusimi
were killed, the Taiko himself narrowly escaping to a mountain top,
where he dwelt in a reed hut, for fear of being swallowed up in the
chasms of the earth. Saccay, the richest and most voluptuous city of
Japan, suffered, at the same time, greatly from one of those fearful
incursions of the sea consequent upon a temporary depression or bending
downward of the crust of the earth.
In the meanwhile Taikosama’s passion began to cool, and the fathers
“had grounds to hope that religion would be re-established, as he
was rather pleased at their obeying his edict, and keeping quiet in
deference to his wishes.” He still took pleasure in occasionally
receiving the bishop, and winked at the fathers remaining in the
capital. But when everything was again promising of fair wind, another
storm arose, and again the origin is attributed by the Jesuits, not
to the Japanese, but to the same Franciscan fathers who had recently
arrived from Manila. The Jesuits’ letters say, “The Recollects of the
regular observance of St. Francis, who were lately settled at Miako,
being now conversant in the language of the country, began to preach
publicly in the churches, to hear confessions and baptize the infidels,
without any regard to the Emperor’s orders. Had religion been on
the same footing as heretofore, the zeal and labor of these holy
men would have wrought wonders, but the design was so ill-concerted
at this juncture, that, instead of reaping any advantage by it, as
was expected, it drew a bloody persecution both upon themselves and
the other Christians. For being newly established in Japan, little
acquainted with the genius of the people, and less with Taikosama’s
designs, they gave full scope to their zeal without regard to the
Emperor’s threats, or even to the advice of their friends, who
counseled them all along to act in concert with the other religious,
who by their prudence and wise conduct had counted so many thousands
of souls in this mission. But nothing was able to stop this torrent
of zeal. Designing well, they believed themselves obliged to overlook
all human respects, and this persuasion made them jealous of friends’
advice as savoring of jealousy and envy. The Christians, not at all
satisfied with their conduct, begged of them to moderate their zeal;
but being men that undervalued their lives, and in a persuasion
that the Emperor would never offer any rudeness to persons of their
character that bore the name of embassadors from one of the greatest
monarchs of the world, they continued their functions with new fervor
and zeal. The natives said, ‘These men neither regard our counsel nor
the Emperor’s orders, but one day they’ll repent it.’”
But still, notwithstanding these infractions of the recently published
edict, there was no ill-will shown to these men. Four new governors
of state had been appointed. These governors, hearing of the friars’
rashness, sent to them privately to admonish them of their danger,
telling them that if it came to Taiko’s ears he would certainly put
them all to death. This information only added new life and vigor
to their zeal, so desirous were they of suffering martyrdom for
Christ. The viceroy sent for two of these friars to the palace, and
reprimanded them severely for slighting the Emperor’s desires. This
notwithstanding, they went on with their functions. The superior of
the Jesuits, F. Organtin, hearing of those complaints by the governor,
as well as the Christians and heathens, sent to Friar Baptist to lay
before him the danger himself and his family, as well as the whole
Church of Japan, was in if he did not (so far as reason, conscience
and zeal of God’s glory would permit) study to give the governor
satisfaction, and yield a little to the times. “I do not find,” says
the writer, “what answer was given, but this is certain, they both
preached and administered the sacraments after that more publicly than
before.”
These men, under the quality of embassadors, had come to the country,
and under the same name were remaining in Japan to insult the supreme
power, and to irritate the government into taking the only means in its
power of supporting its own dignity; viz., putting them out of the way.
“Guenifoin” (probably Kio no kami, or governor of Miako), “who had all
along favored the Christians, foreseeing the ill-consequences of this
refractory humor, suspended still the execution of his threats, and did
not so much as hint at it either to the court. However, the business
was discovered at last, and the friars were betrayed by their friend
Faranda, the person who invited them over from the Philippines.” They
intrigued with this man, who seems to have used his knowledge of the
Spanish language and his acquaintance with the Roman fathers of the
Church for his own advancement. “At first they had some difficulty in
accepting his invitation (in the name of Taikosama) to visit Japan,
as contrary to the decree of Gregory XIII. forbidding all priests
(the Society excepted) to preach in Japan. All the able men whom they
consulted agreed that embassadors were not included in this decree; and
Sextus Quintus having given leave to the religious of St. Francis to
preach the Gospel through the East Indies, the islands of Japan fell in
course as part of the whole.”
The conduct of these men would in any country have exposed them to the
notice of the government. There is little need for drawing into the
question of the treatment of these embassadorial fathers the conduct
of the captain of a rich Spanish galleon wrecked upon the southern
coast of Sikok. This man lost his ship, and the treasures were seized
by Taikosama. “Upon being examined, he pointed out on a map the
territories belonging to the King of Spain, and added that the way
in which he obtained such extensive possessions was by first sending
missionaries; and so soon as they had gained a sufficient number of
proselytes, the King followed with his troops, and, joining the new
converts, made a conquest of the kingdoms.”
Upon the conduct of these Franciscan fathers being brought to the
notice of Taikosama, he at once ordered them to be executed. At first
the Jesuits thought that all Christians were included in this order;
but the Giboo no sho wrote to Nagasaki to the governor, in the name of
Taikosama, to see that no affront was offered to the Jesuits, whom he
was pleased to have reside there on condition that they did not preach,
or baptize, or hold assemblies.
The Father Provincial of the Jesuits, considering this condition
opposed to the law of God, resolved to take no notice of it, but wrote
to those under him to extend the empire of Christ, but still by such
ways and means as might not give the Emperor cause of complaint. These
five Franciscans were sent down from Miako to Nagasaki to be there
executed, under the following sentence:
“Seeing that these men have come from the Philippine Islands in the
quality of embassadors, yet have continued residing at Miako to spread
the Christian law, which I some years ago prohibited, I command that
all of them, together with those Japanese who have enrolled themselves
under this law, be arrested, and let the whole twenty-four undergo
the punishment of the cross at Nagasaki. And once more I prohibit the
foresaid doctrine in time to come. Let all know this, and, further,
that it be carried into execution. But if any one will not obey my
edict, he, with all his family, shall be punished.”
The punishment of the cross is inflicted by tying the criminal to a
cross and transfixing the lungs and heart with two sharp spears. The
twenty-four were thus executed at Nagasaki on February 5, 1597. The
religious of St. Francis, together with the three Jesuits, were all
placed in the Catalogue of Saints by Urban VIII., in the year 1627.
These men were punished by the Taiko not on account of their religion,
but as contumelious persons, defying his laws. He appreciated the
benefits of foreign trade, he valued the presents brought to him,
and he admired the learning of the Jesuits; but he now saw a new
doctrine being adopted by his subjects which would tolerate no
other near it. The followers of this doctrine were becoming a great
political power in the state, and more particularly in Simo or
Kiusiu. Several of his principal military officers adhered to this
new sect. Some of the highest nobles in the land had, according to
the accounts of the Jesuits, favored it. The bishop, to whom no
doubt extraordinary external reverence would be shown by the Roman
Catholics, was an occasional visitor at Taikosama’s court. F. Rodriguez
was apparently in constant attendance as interpreter. The desire to
continue to participate in the advantages of foreign trade was being
counterbalanced by the probable dangers of the ascendency of such a
power in the state, and Taikosama was becoming alarmed. There was
a strong party opposed to the Roman Catholics--those who had been
expelled from their lands, or who had been obliged to conform to retain
them; those who were envious or jealous of the rise of such men as
Konishi from a comparatively low position to a high military command;
the priests, whose flocks were being withdrawn, and their incomes
thereby diminished; and all that numerous class whose interests are on
the side of things remaining as they are--all these were pressing that
something should be done to overthrow the political structure which
these foreigners were attempting to raise.
During the life of Taikosama these men, with their native associates,
were the only sufferers for disobedience to his edict.
While Taikosama seemed every day becoming more timid and afraid of
what steps might be taken by the Christian party, an embassy arrived
from Manila, to whose demand he replied that “he put to death the
Franciscans because they preached the Christian religion in his empire
contrary to his express command.” But he did not pursue his harsh
measures any further. He wished to get rid of such disturbers of the
empire; and “hearing that Spain and Portugal were now under one prince,
he became jealous to the last degree that the Jesuits of these two
nations concerted together, under the color of religion, to bring Japan
under the same yoke.” He determined, therefore, while all the Christian
princes were in Corea, to send away by ship all the foreign priests.
But still he allowed a few to remain in Nagasaki, on condition that
they did not stir out of town, nor preach.
He ordered Terasawa, governor of Nagasaki, to assemble all the Jesuits
and ship them off by the first convenience to China. This, in truth,
seems to have been the only resource left to him if he wished to
retain the government of the country, or to preserve it from once more
undergoing all the horrors of a civil war. If he had heard of the
doings of Philip II. in the Netherlands during the few years since
the first arrival of these foreign priests in Japan, he might have
learned lessons of more decided measures for refractory subjects, and
have carried out his wishes in ridding Japan of them by a more summary
method of persecution.
During the summer of 1598 Taikosama was attacked by dysentery, and
was so ill that his life was despaired of. His son (real or supposed)
was then about six years of age. He saw that, in all probability, the
power, after leaving his own hands, would fall into those of Iyeyas,
now ruler of the eight provinces around Yedo. He therefore determined
to strike up a family alliance between his son and the granddaughter of
Iyeyas, thinking he would thereby induce the latter to throw his whole
weight into the scale on behalf of his own grandchild and her husband,
and that thus the power would descend to his own family. The marriage
was immediately celebrated; and Iyeyas swore that he would turn the
government over to Taiko’s son so soon as he was able to rule by
himself. Still further to strengthen the party of his son, he appointed
five governors of the country (as Gotairo), and four others, to be
about the boy, with instructions to obey Iyeyas, to acknowledge his
son as sovereign so soon as he came of age, to continue all the lords
in their places as he had appointed, and to oppose all innovations on
the laws now established. To strengthen the position of his son still
further, he appointed boards of officers, Tchiuro and Goboonyo, or five
rulers.
On his deathbed, such little animosity as he may have had toward the
foreign priests seems to have been mitigated, as he sent for, or
allowed, Father Rodriguez to visit him, when he thanked the father
for the trouble he had taken in visiting him in health as well as in
sickness.
A temporary amendment enabled him to rouse himself, when his chief
thoughts ran upon strengthening the citadel of Osaka, where 17,000
houses were pulled down to build the wall, which was a league in
circuit. He only survived a few days, dying upon September 15, 1598;
all his nobility, according to the fathers, “being much better pleased
to see him on the list of dead gods than in the land of living men.”