_Louis Almeida—The Missionaries establish themselves at
Miyako (Kyōto)—Louis Froez—Princes converted in Shimo—Rise
of Nobunaga—Prosperity of the Missions—Noble and Princely
Converts—Nagasaki built—Nobunaga makes himself Emperor—A. D.
1557-1577_.
The loss of Pinto and Nugnes, and even that of Father Gago, who, three
or four years later, after a very zealous career as a missionary, grew
weary of the work, and obtained permission to return to Goa, was more
than made up for by the accession of William and Ruys Pereyra, two
of the catechists brought by Nugnes, and whom, before his departure,
he admitted into the order, and especially by that of Louis Almeida,
who had arrived in Japan as surgeon to a trading vessel, and who,
after amassing a large fortune, gave it all to pious uses,—of which a
hospital for abandoned infants was one,—and, joining the Jesuits, soon
became distinguished for his zeal and assiduity as a missionary.
The extension which, in the fluctuating condition of affairs, shortly
afterwards took place of the dominions of the king of Bungo over
the greater part of the island of Shimo, was very favorable to the
new religion. The prince of Hirado was obliged to pay him tribute,
and, notwithstanding the double-faced policy of that prince, the new
doctrine continued to spread in his territories, where some of the
members of the ruling family became converts. A new church was planted
at Hakata, and the old original one at Kagoshima was reëstablished.
Presently the new faith gained a footing also in the kingdoms of Arima
and Gotō, which, as well as Hirado, had been dissevered from the
ancient province of Hizen. The lord of Shimabara (afterwards famous
as the last stronghold of the Catholics) invited the missionaries
to his city. The king of Arima was also very friendly; he gave
the missionaries an establishment, first at Yokoseura, and, after
that city had been burned by the bonzes, at a port of his called
Kuchinotsu, on the southern coast of the southwestern peninsula of
Shimo. The prince of Ōmura, a dependency of Arima, and the prince of
the island of Tanegashima, the same at which Pinto had first landed,
then a dependency of Hirado, were both among the converts, and
exceedingly zealous to induce their subjects to follow their example;
and, notwithstanding the hostility of the bonzes, the frequent wars
between the princes, and repeated internal commotions, by which the
missionaries were often in danger, the new religion continued to spread
in all parts of Shimo, and in fact to be carried by native converts to
many parts of Nippon, which no missionary had yet reached. Meanwhile,
new establishments also had been gained on the island of Nippon, in
addition to that at Yamaguchi, at its western extremity. The fame of
the missionaries had induced an old Jūji, or superior of a Buddhist
monastery near Miyako (Kyōto), to send to Yamaguchi to ask information
about the new religion. Father Vilela was despatched, in 1559, for
his instruction, and though the Jūji died before the arrival of the
missionary, his successor and many of the bonzes listened with respect
to the words of Vilela. As none, however, were willing to receive
baptism, he departed for Miyako, where he found means to approach
Yoshiteru, the Kubō-Sama, and to obtain from him permission to preach.
Having secured the favor of Miyoshi, the emperor’s principal minister,
and presently that of Matsunaga, the chief judge, he converted many
bonzes and nobles, and built up a large and flourishing church.
An attack upon the emperor by Mōri Motonari, king of Nagato, who
forced the city of Miyako, and set it on fire, detained Vilela for
a while in the neighboring town of Sakai, the most commercial place
in Japan, which seems, at that time, to have been a free city, as it
were, with an independent government of its own; and there also a
church was planted. But the emperor soon reëstablished his affairs;
and although, from the hostility of Mōri, the church at Yamaguchi was
very much depressed, everything went on well at Miyako, where Vilela
was joined, in 1565, by Louis Almeida, and by a young missionary, Louis
Froez, lately arrived from Malacca. Of their journey from Kuchinotsu to
Miyako we have a detailed account in a long and very interesting letter
of Almeida’s. His visit to Miyako was only temporary. Froez remained
there, and from him we have a long series of letters, historical and
descriptive, as well as religious, which, for a period of thirty years
following, throw great light on the history and internal condition of
Japan.
At this time the entire empire, since and at present so stable, was
the scene of constant revolutions. Very shortly after Froez’s arrival
Miyoshi and Matsunaga conspired against their patron (_i. e._ the
Shōgun Yoshiteru), dethroned him, and drove him to cut himself open,
as did great numbers of his relatives and partisans. These nobles,
hitherto favorable to the missionaries, now published an edict against
them, probably to secure the favor of the bonzes; and Vilela and
Froez were thus again driven to take refuge at Sakai, where they had
a few converts. But the believers at Miyako stood firm, and a new
revolution soon occurred, headed by a noble called Wada Iga-no-kami,
and by Nobunaga (Oda Nobunaga), king of Owari,—which province adjoined
the emperor’s special territory on the east, a prince whose military
prowess had already made him from a petty noble the master of eighteen
provinces in the eastern part of Nippon.
In 1566 Wada and Nobunaga proclaimed as emperor a brother of the late
one—a bonze who had escaped from the rebels. Miyako was regained,
and the new emperor established there A. D. 1567. All real authority
remained, however, with Nobunaga, who showed himself very hostile to
the Buddhist bonzes, they having generally taken the side of the late
rebels. He even destroyed many of their temples, using the idols which
they contained as materials for a new palace. He easily granted to
Wada, who was himself a sort of half convert, the reëstablishment of
the missionaries at Miyako, which was soon confirmed by an imperial
edict, issued in 1568; and, in spite of an attempt at interference on
the part of the Dairi, the new religion, under the protection of Wada,
who was appointed governor of Miyako, soon reached a very flourishing
condition.
[Illustration: IMAGE OF ODA NOBUNAGA
From Dening’s _New Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi_]
To this prosperity at Miyako a strong contrast was, however,
presented by the state of things at Yamaguchi, whence the missionaries
were expelled by the king of Nagato, though the church there was still
kept alive by the zeal and constancy of some of the converts. In the
island of Shimo the new religion continued to spread. Indeed, the
baptized prince of Ōmura, not content with hacking idols to pieces, and
refusing to join in the old national festivals, wished also to prohibit
all the old ceremonies, and to compel his subjects to adopt the new
ones,—an excess of zeal which, by displaying the intolerant spirit of
the new sect, fostered a union of all the old ones against it, such as
at last occasioned its destruction.
This prince had allowed certain Portuguese merchants to establish
themselves at Nagasaki, then a mere fishing village, but having a
capacious harbor, the port of Japan nearest to China and the Indies,
at the head of a deep bay, opening to the west. Presently he built
a church there, and, A. D. 1568, invited the missionaries to make
it their headquarters, with a promise that no religion but theirs
should be allowed. This invitation was accepted; many converts flocked
thither, and Nagasaki soon became a considerable city. Fathers de
Torres and Vilela both died in 1570,[43] worn out with years and
labors, the latter being succeeded as head of the mission by Father
Cabral, sent out from Goa as vice-provincial of the order, and
accompanied by Father Gnecchi, who soon became an efficient laborer.
Meanwhile, an insurrection in the imperial provinces, on the part of
the old rebels, which it cost the life of Wada to suppress, so provoked
Nobunaga that he wreaked his vengeance anew upon the bonzes (who had
again aided the insurgents), by destroying a great number of their
monasteries on the famous mountain of Japan (Hieizan), and putting
the inmates to death. This occurrence took place A. D. 1571, as the
missionaries remarked, on the day of St. Michael, whom Xavier had
named the patron saint of Japan. Cabral, the vice-provincial, having
made a visit to Miyako, was very graciously received by Nobunaga.
Shortly after the titular Kubō-Sama made a vain attempt to regain
the exercise of authority. The defeated prince was still left in
possession of his title, but Nobunaga was thenceforth regarded as,
in fact, himself the emperor. This was in 1573. In 1576 the church
received new and important accessions in Shimo. The king of Bungo,
though from the beginning favorable to the missionaries, had, from
reasons of policy, and through the influence of his wife, who was very
hostile to the new religion, declined baptism; none of the courtiers
had submitted to it, and the converts in that kingdom had consisted as
yet of an inferior class. But the second son of the king having taken
the resolution to be baptized, in spite of the violent opposition of
the queen, his mother,—who had great influence over Yoshimune, the
king’s eldest son, associated, according to a usual Japanese custom,
in the government,—his example was followed by many persons of rank in
the kingdom of Bungo, and even by the neighboring king of Arima, who
died, however, shortly after, leaving his kingdom to an unbelieving
successor.[44]