HISTORY TO THE EXPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY
This termination of the sixteenth century was in Japan one of the most
notable time-marks in the history of the empire. It was an era at which
a long series of intestine broils and of civil war came to an end, and
gave way to an unexampled period of peace and happiness. Indirectly,
Japan was affected by changes of greater ultimate results which had
commenced long before at the opposite side of the world.
Portugal, in the zenith of its maritime glory and power, had hitherto
retained in her own hands the navigation and the trade of the East.
Bold as these early navigators were, the accounts given of their
proceedings show them to have conjoined, in strange recklessness,
religion with war, trade with piracy--“the sweet yoke” of their own
ideas of government with ferocious cruelty to every one opposed to
them. Perhaps this was to some extent necessary, when the health and
prowess of a few men, not easily replaced in case of loss, were opposed
to the climate and weight of numbers whose losses could easily be
recruited by others equally useless and contemptible as foes. Grotius
says of Englishmen of that time, that they obey like slaves and govern
like tyrants. Toward the latter part of the century, the bigotry of
Philip II. was raising powers against him in Europe, before which
the then colossal but unwieldy empire under his rule was destined to
crumble to pieces. The same intolerant policy which his emissaries
in Japan were pursuing was being carried out by the old man, in the
conscientious belief that he was furthering and hastening the kingdom
of heaven, by fierce persecution and diabolical atrocities. The dreams
which led men to undertake long voyages to America in the pursuit of
a Utopia, infused a new spirit of boldness and adventure into the
navigators of maritime countries. At the same time, the Reformation
and the changes in the religious ideas among the people of Europe, and
especially in Holland, England, and for a time in France, tended to
throw contempt on the concessions and grants and privileges given by
the Pope to Portugal, and by which their trade to the East was up to
that time hedged in.
In 1577 Sir Francis Drake broke in upon this monopoly; and the
Spaniards complained of the English infringing their rights, granted by
the Pope, by sailing in the Eastern seas.
The Portuguese vessels which traded with the East had hitherto carried
their produce to Lisbon or Cadiz, and thence it was carried to the
coasts of Europe by the Dutch and English. But when war broke out
between these countries, Philip, thinking to clip the wings of his
enemies, interdicted this trade. This compelled them to take a longer
flight and seek Eastern commodities at the fountain-head. The navies
of the Dutch and Portuguese came into collision on the Eastern seas,
and the former were victorious, and one after another of the large
Portuguese carracks fell to the English and Dutch privateers.
In 1599 the East India Company of England was set on foot, and
commenced operations, after being nearly arrested by the English
government to please the Spaniards, by acknowledging their rights in
the Eastern seas; and in 1598 the Dutch fleet sailed, of which William
Adams of Gillingham was pilot.
According to native accounts, in the sixth year of Kay cho English
vessels came to Ike no oora; but one of these was wrecked during a gale
in the Sea of Segami. A message was dispatched from Yedo to order the
crew to be sent there. Among them was Adams. He remained in Yedo, but
the others returned.
The vessels belonging to the East India Company sailed from England
upon the eighth voyage, under the command of Captain Saris, in 1611,
with the intention of opening a trade with Japan. There seemed at this
time every prospect of the Portuguese monopoly being broken up, and
of the trade of this distant country being thrown open to the Western
world. Amid the broils and quarrels with which Japan was torn, whether
among the lords, or between the Buddhists and Roman Catholics, or the
natives and Portuguese merchants, or the Portuguese and Dutch and
English, it is curious to see the practical and sound good sense of one
man, putting him into a position of eminence and trust, when all around
him was deceit and jealousy. Rising, after five years of obscurity
and hardship, on the ground of his simple strength of character and
practical training, William Adams seems to have become the trusted
confidant and referee of Iyeyas on foreign questions. Residing in
Yedo, at the southwest corner of the Nihon bashi, or bridge of Japan,
the street where he lived retains to this day the distinguishing name
of “The Pilot’s,” or Anjin. He seems to have afterward removed to the
street Yaiyossu, in close proximity to the castle moat.--Both Anjin and
Yaiyossu may be corruptions of the name Adams. In Cantonese dialect,
an cham is a word for a compass, and “Adams” might be written with
these characters.--Here his knowledge of geometry, navigation and
mathematics, with some acquaintance with shipbuilding, brought him
under the notice of Iyeyas, by whom he seems to have been employed as
interpreter, shipbuilder, and general confidant on foreign affairs. He
was ultimately raised to the position of a small Hattamoto, or lesser
baron, with ground equal to the support of eighty or ninety families,
besides his own rental. This estate is said, in one of the letters
from Japan, to be in Segami, and to have been named Fibi, and situated
in the neighborhood of Ooraga, the port of Yedo, and must certainly
be known to the Japanese government as having belonged to the English
officer.
Doubtless, by all these changes, the position of the Portuguese and
of the Roman Catholic priests was changed in Japan. The converts of
Nagasaki would see foreigners coming who paid no respect to the priests
and bishops whom they had been taught to reverence. The powers in
the country would begin to see that the profits of the trade could
be enjoyed without winking at the coercion of their own people to a
foreign religion, and which placed them at the disposal of a power
exterior to the state. The English and Dutch tried to loosen the hold
which their rivals had in the good opinion of their customers; and
the eyes of the Japanese were thus opened to the evils of admitting
to their shores foreigners who were likely to prove centers of
disaffection and to instill ideas of freedom and lawlessness among the
subjects of the empire.
The letters of the Jesuits throw their own light upon the state of the
Roman Catholic Church in Japan at the different points where churches
or seminaries had been erected, and it may thence be gathered in what
manner they treated their neighbors, or those over whom they could
pretend to assume any power. On the other hand, from the narratives
given by Cocks and Saris, some idea of the position of the seafaring
communities at Firado and Nagasaki, and other ports, may be obtained.
These seaports seem to have been too often the resorts of the lowest
class of adventurers. The result was uproars, broils and murders among
the foreigners, requiring ever and anon the intervention of the native
authorities.
Iyeyas was in all probability ignorant of all these circumstances,
which were effecting an indirect change upon those resorting to the
country. At the Roman Catholic party he had aimed an effectual blow
by putting the leading man of the party, Don Austin, out of the way
on grounds totally unconnected with his religion. And the foreign
priests do not seem to have given him personally much concern at
this time. In the neighborhood of Miako they did not dare of late to
make any public displays. In 1604 there were of the Jesuits 120 in
Japan. They flattered themselves that “as for religion, it flourished
everywhere, and made vast progress through all the kingdoms under so
easy and peaceable a government. Notwithstanding, two obstacles still
existed--the one Taikosama’s edict, and the other the vices of the
people. But what gave our religion most reputation was the gracious
reception the Cubo himself [Iyeyas] was pleased to give the fathers of
the Society.” The Jesuits had recently extended their mission to the
extreme north of Japan, and even into the islands of Yezo and Sado.
During this and the previous year the Jesuits were unfortunate,
inasmuch as the vessels bringing the yearly supplies, as well as the
large annual carrack from Macao to Japan, were taken by the Dutch
privateers; but Iyeyas, hearing of their loss, presented a donation to
the Society, by which means they “made a tolerable shift for the rest
of this year.”
Terasawa, Sima no kami, who had been governor of Nagasaki, irritated
by the influence brought to bear against him by the Roman Catholic
party at Miako, turned the weapons they had taught him to use against
themselves, and tried to force his subjects to renounce the new
doctrines. Part of the estates of Don Austin had fallen to his share.
Another part had fallen under the rule of Toronosuqui, who in the year
1602 “ravaged the vineyard of the Lord like a wild boar that thirsts
after nothing but blood. He began like a fox and ended like a lion.”
Thus it was in the part of the empire in which most intolerance had
been shown by Don Austin (under the instruction of foreign priests) to
his countrymen, and where they were obliged either to adopt the Roman
Catholic doctrines or leave the country, that the plan was retaliated
upon themselves.
Native accounts tell: “In 1608 a Dutch ship came to Hirado and asked
that Adams might be sent down from Yedo. He was sent. Iyeyas wrote
under the red seal that the English and Dutch might trade in any part
of Japan. Hide tada also allowed them to trade; but the padre sect
were not allowed to come to Japan. But the English traders said that
there was no profit to be made out of the trade as it was obliged to be
conducted, and said they could not come back; therefore the Dutch only
remained.”
About this time Iyeyas directed his attention to the internal economy
of the empire--improving the public roads, placing inns upon them, and
strengthening his castles at Yedo, Suraga, Miako, Osaka, and Kofu. He
was aided in this by the discovery of valuable gold-deposits in the
island of Sado, and the coin the koban was for the first time put into
circulation. During the year 1609 Shimadzu yoshi hissa, a relative of
the Prince of Satsuma, set out from Satsuma with a force of vessels and
troops to bring the King of the Liookioo Islands more completely under
the power of Japan, and succeeded in his object, receiving the islands
he had conquered as a gift from the hands of Iyeyas.
The designs of Iyeyas against Hideyori began to develop themselves.
Upon the occasion of the investiture of his son with the title of
Shiogoon, he expressed the thought that Hideyori ought to pay him a
visit to compliment him; but his mother refused to allow Hideyori to do
so, protesting she would rather cut his belly open with her own hand
than allow him to go, thus showing the extreme suspicion she had of the
intentions of Iyeyas.
At this time the Christians enjoyed a profound peace, which was
attributed in the Jesuit letters rather to the fear of this party
joining Hideyori than to any love for the doctrines promulgated. But
at the same time there were men in power not unfavorable to them, and
they were always able to keep anything obnoxious out of view. Such
were Kowotsuki no kami, the favorite of Iyeyas (called by the letters
Coxuquendono), and Itakura, governor of Miako.
In the year 1606 the Portuguese bishop, Cerqueria, visited Iyeyas at
Miako, and was received by him with the honors given to one of their
own bishops of royal blood. However, this favor did not seem to last
long. The mother of Hideyori, incensed at some of her ladies having
declared themselves Christians, appealed to Iyeyas. This was an
opportunity of pleasing her not to be missed, and he issued forthwith
the following proclamation:
“The Cubosama hearing that several of his subjects, contrary to the
late edict, have embraced the Christian religion, is highly offended.
Wherefore let all officers of his court be careful to see his orders
observed. Moreover, he thinks it necessary, for the good of the state,
that none should embrace that new doctrine; and for such as have
already done so, let them change immediately upon notice hereof.--24th
of the 4th moon” (1606).
No immediate action appears to have been taken upon this proclamation.
In the year 1607, Iyeyas expressed a desire to see the Father
Provincial. He accordingly set out for Kofu, a castle in the province
of Kahi, where Iyeyas was residing, and here he was received with much
kindness. In their notice of Yedo the fathers say that Iyeyas employed
during the previous year above 300,000 hands in the works about the
castle of Yedo. The towers of the castle were nine stories high and
gilt at the top, together with delicious gardens, terraces, galleries,
courts, and magnificent works. By these fathers the mountain Fusiyama
is mentioned as an active volcano, “a mountain of fire, famed for its
beauty, height, and whirling flames.” Even at this time it is to be
noticed that all the “kings of Japan” had their palaces there.
In this tour a slight notice is given to Kamakura (Cumamura, as it
is called by the fathers), “where the Cubos and Xogoones formerly
kept their courts. It is currently reported that there were upward of
200,000 houses in that town alone; but when these fathers went that way
they were reduced to near 500.”
Notwithstanding these slight appearances of returning favor to the
Jesuit fathers, the opposition to conversion increased as the profits
from trade decreased. The ruling powers in the island of Kiusiu were
now more or less against the Romish priests, who inculcated a line of
conduct which was incompatible with living at peace with a neighbor,
if holding a different view of religion. Nagasaki was in 1607 said to
be entirely converted to the Christian religion. It was divided into
five parishes. “There were two confraternities--a house of mercy and a
hospital--which diffused a sweet odor of sanctity all over Japan.” But
this odor did not extend to the Portuguese who frequented the port,
and, in consequence of some act of misconduct, Iyeyas ordered Arima
(Don Protase, as he is called by the Roman Catholic writers) to burn
a large Portuguese vessel then lying in the harbor. The consequence
was that the captain left the place. He was pursued by an overwhelming
force, and, overtaken during a calm, was forced to blow up his ship.
During the year 1611, Iyeyas seems to have made up his mind that, to
settle the country upon a sure basis, some definite understanding
must be come to with Hideyori and his mother. Of what his designs
really were there are probably no proofs, as he was not generally
communicative before action. He marched from Soonpu to Miako at the
head of upward of 70,000 men. The general suspicions of his countrymen
pointed to Hideyori as the cause of a movement on so large a scale.
Arrived at Miako, he insisted upon an interview with the young man,
then twenty-three years of age. After much delay and show of suspicion,
this was agreed to, and he arrived at the capital with a splendid
retinue. Here he was received with the utmost deference and kindness by
Iyeyas, who shed tears over the remembrance of his father’s kindness.
The visit was returned in a few days, presents were interchanged, and
the prince returned to his mother at Osaka overjoyed with his reception.
The Jesuit writers notice that during the same year died Canzugedono,
King of Fingo (Toronosuqui), the persecutor of the Christians; “and, as
Heaven would have it, he was seized with an apoplexy on the very day he
was intending to renew the persecution against the faithful.” Native
accounts attribute his death to poison administered by order of Iyeyas
at Fusimi. He had thrown out some seditious and rebellions threats
against Iyeyas. Among other things stated against him, he refused,
when ordered, to shave off his whiskers at court. He was, as has been
stated above, canonized in the Japanese calendar by the title of Say
sho go sama--probably on account of his opposition to foreigners, and
the zeal with which he tried to root out Christianity. To this day
the mark of his hand upon paper is used as a charm placed over the
door to drive away evil spirits. Since the admission of foreigners in
1858, his character as a saint worthy of worship has risen in national
estimation, and his temples have been rebuilt. One in Yokohama is more
largely patronized than any other temple in the place. Processions
in his honor are among the most prominent indications of religious
feeling, and the sect to which he belonged, the Nitchi ren shioo, has
profited largely by excitement and enthusiasm.
During the year, at Nagasaki, notwithstanding the proclamations which
had been issued by government against such exhibitions, upon the
beatification of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Society of Jesuits made a
solemn procession through the streets, when forty priests assisted in
copes, besides religious of St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Austin,
who then resided in the town. The next day the bishop officiated _in
pontificalibus_, and the ceremony concluded with illuminations of joy.
The same order was observed at Arima.
During the following year the Shiogoon Hide tada, the son of Iyeyas,
married the sister of Kita Mandocoro, wife of Taikosama, mother of
Hideyori, and niece of Nobu nanga.
Hideyori had still many adherents, who were attached to him and to
his father’s memory. Iyeyas had been afraid of acting against the
Christians so severely as to compel them to throw their weight into
the opposite scale; but he began to see that he could keep all the
advantages of trade through the Dutch, and get rid of the political
dangers which threatened Japan through the foreign priesthood. The
Jesuits allege that the Dutch encouraged him in these views, explaining
how the Society had been driven out of their countries by the princes
of Germany and Holland as disturbers of the public peace.
In 1612 he determined to get rid of these ever-disquieting agents,
the more excited thereto by finding himself in the meshes of a net
out of which he could only break his way by force. He found that the
Prince of Arima, one of the warmest and most devoted to the cause of
Christianity (whose son had married the granddaughter of Iyeyas), had
been intriguing with the officers at court, to win their good offices
by bribery, in gaining for him large additions to his territory. He
now, for the first time, acted with severity against some of the
native Christians about the court. Fourteen were condemned to death,
but the sentence was commuted to perpetual banishment and confiscation
of their estates. This action on the part of Iyeyas himself at once
brought out into bolder relief the two parties. Those officers who had
hitherto winked at the Christians, and had permitted them to carry on
their worship and preaching undisturbed, now saw which way the wind
was blowing, and acted accordingly. This severity was carried into the
heart of the court--one of the concubines of Iyeyas being confined and
banished to the island of Oshima, and thence to the smaller island of
Nishima, and thence to a rock, Cozu shima, upon which seven or eight
fishermen lived in straw huts, subsisting on what they caught; and
these men were ordered to keep this lady.
Shortly after this, Don Protase of Arima suffered. His son Michael,
who had been brought up as a Christian, fearing to lose possession of
his father’s dominions, informed against him, accusing him of crimes,
and suborning witnesses against him. Upon the proof offered he was
beheaded. This Christian’s son Michael, who had divorced a Christian
lady to marry the granddaughter of Iyeyas, then turned apostate,
and began a persecution within his territories of all who professed
Christianity. He began, in order to please Iyeyas, by putting to death
two boys, his own nephews. Here again, where the Jesuits had been
most intolerant, the tables were turned upon them. In the province of
Boongo, at one time the stronghold of the Roman Catholics, the same
action was being taken; and about this time, in Yedo, the Shiogoon,
on the representation of informers, put to death some natives who had
built a new church, and banished the father out of the country.
In 1613, Don Michael of Arima was pressed by his wife and others to
renew his severities, and eight Christians were burned near his castle
by slow fires.
In 1614, Iyeyas was stimulated by the opponents of Christianity to take
action against those who professed it. With the advice of his council
he issued orders that all religious, European and Japanese, should be
sent out of the country, that the churches should be pulled down, and
the Christian members be forced to renounce their faith. To carry out
these orders, all foreign priests and natives, members of the Jesuit
Society, were ordered to leave Miako, Osaka and Fusimi, and retire to
Nagasaki. Hojo Segami no kami was ordered to see that this order was
executed; but he was chosen, perhaps, from a desire to remove him out
of the way, as well as to take the opportunity of seizing his estate.
Accordingly, while he was so engaged, he was accused of some crime,
and his estates confiscated. The native Christians were banished to
Tsoongaru, at the northern extremity of the island. At Kanesawa, in
Kanga, Justo Ookon dono Takayama was ordered to leave with the others.
Still further to make sure of the success of his projects, Iyeyas
dispatched to the island of Kiusiu upward of 10,000 men, under three
leaders, for the purpose of overawing the Christians and putting down
any attempts to rise in that quarter. In Kiusiu the new doctrines had
first taken root, and had flourished with greater luxuriance than on
the main island of Nippon. The lordships were smaller, and therefore
the advantages of trade were proportionably greater in the eyes of
the proprietors. But as in the outset these lesser lords had favored
what seemed to them a source of revenue, when things turned against
the religion they distinguished themselves by zeal in putting down
what in the end threatened to deprive them of everything. In them the
government found the most active and zealous assistants. Many of these
lords or their parents had been baptized. The Jesuits had there most
sway, and had used it with the most intolerance; and Iyeyas determined,
before striking a blow at Hideyori in Osaka, to remove any chance of
a diversion being made in his favor on the part of the Christians in
this distant part of the empire. But if we believe the letters of the
fathers, the fortitude and courage with which martyrdom was endured
by professing natives must be looked on with admiration. The better
classes lost everything--lands, position, comforts, in many cases their
wives and children, and, last of all, their lives--in the cause of
their faith. The poorer gave up their lives, all they had to give, with
zeal, fortitude, and even joy.
In the other parts of Kiusiu, in Tsikuzen and Figo, and in the remote
islands of Xequi or Kossiki, the same spirit was shown toward the
Christians; and upon October 25, 1614, three hundred persons--in a
word, all the Jesuits, except eighteen fathers and nine brothers, with
a few cathechists (who lay hid in the country for the help of the
faithful)--were shipped off out of the country by a Portuguese vessel.
This mode of dealing with persons in the position assumed by these
foreigners and their adherents seems to have been at once lenient, yet
determined, and mercenary without being severe. The party had assumed
a political aspect threatening to the state. The very ladies of his
household had been supported by these foreigners in opposition to
the Kubosama himself. And as it was intended to be a final political
step, and not a religious persecution, any foreigner found thereafter
spreading such intolerant doctrines would be treated as a political
partisan. Justo was put on board a Chinese vessel with some Spanish
priests and some Japonian clerks, and set sail for Manila, where he
died shortly after his arrival.
The step of removing from the capital and its neighborhood all the
foreign fathers was, in its results, of the utmost importance to the
cause of religion. During the rule of Nobu nanga and Taikosama, Father
Rodriguez, the interpreter, a man evidently well acquainted with the
language and with the court, was invited or allowed to remain in the
capital. From the accounts sent thence it is evident that by tact and
judgment Father Rodriguez had maintained his place, that he was in
communication with the highest officers at court, and exercised an
unseen but potent power in behalf of his brethren. With such a person
at court, opposition cannot so easily gain head. Evil reports are
warded off, occasional words in favor can be thrown in; but with the
withdrawal of such a power from the court the foreign cause becomes
powerless. Every one is ready to abuse, and to chime in to please his
superior. There is no possibility of warding off the blows aimed. It
is impossible to know whether the highest power knows anything of the
edicts put out in his name. The Buddhists, a powerful body, would
be ready to press down upon and thrust out opponents who had borne
themselves so proudly in the day of their prosperity. Their own tactics
recoiled upon the fathers; and when they were turned out of court,
without friends or advocates, their cause became hopeless, and with
their downfall the position of all other foreigners in the country was
involved.
It is, perhaps, not a good defense of the policy adopted in Japan,
to remember that it was nearly identical with that which England was
compelled to adopt at the same time, and under similar circumstances.
In both countries the change was conducted by the government, and
in both the spirit of the people rose against the interference of a
foreign priesthood with the national concerns. The truth is, that
the doctrine of the Papal supremacy is an “exterritoriality clause”
of itself, which, operating in a country professing another faith,
creates an _imperium in imperio_, which becomes very embarrassing to
a government, whether it be Japan or England. The confiscation of
abbey-lands in England may be compared with, or was analogous to, the
confiscation of the lands of the lords of Japan, while informers in
each were rewarded by a gift of the property belonging to offenders of
less note. The difficulty with which Japan had to cope was, that there
was no mode of escape from persecution by going into exile into other
countries until the storm had blown over.
In 1615, after getting rid of these politically dangerous persons,
Iyeyas seemed to think that he might push things to extremities with
Hideyori and his mother. He ordered up all the troops in Kiusiu to
Osaka, and thither he repaired with a large force. He had endeavored
for some time to make Hideyori spend his revenues so freely as to
impoverish his exchequer. He had induced him to rebuild the large
temple of Buddha in Miako, and the day was fixed for the consecration;
but the suspicions of the mother were roused, and the solemnity was
postponed. The young man had presented a large bell to the temple,
upon which, it is said, that a wish was engraved that Yedo might be
destroyed. This bell is never struck. This was made a pretext for a
quarrel, and as the deserters from the castle reported that it was
unprovided, it was forthwith invested, and war entered upon. There
were many able commanders in the party of Hideyori, and the castle of
Osaka was defended so well that after some time Iyeyas was obliged to
retire and raise the siege, as he was losing prestige by delay, and men
by desertion. An armistice was agreed upon at the desire of Iyeyas;
but it seems to have been demanded only to give time. The surrounding
country was desolated, and before long hostilities were renewed; and as
a part of the army of Hideyori was encamped outside, a general battle
ensued on June 3, 1615. In the account of the Jesuits, two of whom were
present, the army of Iyeyas was on the point of defeat, when, probably
through treachery, the castle was set on fire, the troops of Hideyori
became panic-struck, and a total rout and general slaughter ensued. In
the relation by Trigautius it is stated that in no battle in Japanese
history did so much slaughter take place as in this. The populous
neighborhood, the density of the city, the lawlessness of the troops,
all combined to produce a fearful carnage. No certain information was
ever got of the death of Hideyori or his mother. In all probability
they committed suicide, and their bodies were destroyed in the
conflagration. Reports were circulated of their having fled--some said
to Koya, others to Satsuma; but as diligent search was made for six
months after, and no trace of them was discovered with certainty either
then or in after years, the common report is likely to be correct. His
natural son was taken and beheaded. After this decisive battle, Iyeyas,
having satisfied himself that he had made all things sure about Miako
and Osaka, returned to Soonpu, and his son to Yedo. However, Iyeyas
did not live long to gather the fruits of his sowing, or witness the
success of his schemes in the working of his laws. He died on March
8, 1616, at Soonpu, advising his sons to be kind to the nobles, and,
above all, to govern their subjects in the spirit of tenderness and
affection. He died not without suspicion of his having been poisoned by
his second son, Hideyas, the elder brother of Hidetada, the Shiogoon.
He was buried in the hills of Nikko, a short distance north of Yedo,
with great splendor. His posthumous title or name and rank is To sho,
Dai Gongen mia (Tung chau, Ta K’iuen hien kung) d’zo jo itchi-i, Dai jo
dai jin--The Eastern Light, the Illustrious Gem (a Buddhist title for a
deified being) of the first rank, Prime Minister. He is often spoken of
as To sho goo and Gongen sama, but this latter is a generic term, and
not specially applicable to any individual.
The East India Company endeavored, shortly before the death of Iyeyas,
to open a trade with Japan, and the letters of Captain Saris, Cocks,
and others, give an interesting account of the country at the time. In
answer to a letter from the King of Great Britain, Iyeyas granted to
his majesty’s subjects certain privileges of trade, and the settling
of a factory in Japan, and confirmed these under his broad seal for
the better determining thereof. This document, a fac-simile of the
original, is to be seen in Purchas. For sufficient reasons, the factory
was in no long time withdrawn, and the trade entirely ceased in 1621.
In 1619 some notice of the persecutions carried on against Christians
is given in Mr. Cocks’ letter, which corroborates the accounts received
through the Roman Catholic channels, and is worthy of note as being
written by one who evidently bore no great goodwill to that form of the
Christian religion, and will render it unnecessary to allude further to
the fearful particulars detailed by Trigautius and others:
“The persecution in this country, which before proceeded no further
than banishment and loss of civil and religious liberties, has since
(as this letter tells us) run up to all the severities of corporal
punishment. The Christians suffered as many sorts of deaths and
torments as those in the primitive persecutions; and such was their
constancy that their adversaries were sooner weary of inflicting
punishments than they of enduring the effects of their rage. Very few,
if any at all, renounced their profession; the most hideous forms in
which death appeared (by the contrivance of their adversaries) would
not scare them, nor all the terrors of a solemn execution overpower
that strength of mind with which they seemed to go through their
sufferings. They made their very children martyrs with them, and
carried them in their arms to the stake, choosing rather to resign them
to the flames than leave them to the bonzes to be educated in the pagan
religion. All the churches which the last storm left standing this had
entirely blown down and demolished, and heathen pagodas were erected
upon their ruins.”
Edict after edict emanated, or at least were said to emanate, from the
Shiogoon, ordering more and more severe action to be taken against the
Christians. There remained no power of verifying these edicts, no one
to speak a word at court for the unfortunate creatures; while they
were surrounded by hungry wolves, who might invent edicts in order to
profit by the confiscation of property, whose interest it was that the
infant heir should be destroyed with his father, and who were further
incited by the priests, or bozangs, who gnashed their teeth in the
hour of victory over enemies who had lorded it so proudly over them in
the short days of their prosperity. By such ferocity, combined with a
strict watch kept up on foreign vessels, the Christian religion was
nearly extirpated; but in the district of Arima, nearly the whole of
the inhabitants, having all their lives professed Christianity, at last
in desperation resolved rather to fight than submit to such a system of
persecution.