CHAPTER XXXVII

CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN

DISCOVERY OF JAPAN BY EUROPEANS

THE Portuguese discovered Japan in 1542 or 1543--the precise date is

not known. Three of them, travelling by junk from Spain to Macao,

were driven from their course and landed at Tanegashima, a small

island off the south of Kyushu. The strangers were hospitably

received by the Japanese, and great interest was excited by their

arquebuses, the first firearms ever seen in Japan. It was, of course,

out of the question to hold any oral direct conversation, but a

Chinese member of the junk's crew, by tracing ideographs upon the

sand, explained the circumstances of the case. Ultimately, the junk

was piloted to a convenient port, and very soon the armourers of the

local feudatory were busily engaged manufacturing arquebuses. News of

the discovery of Japan circulated quickly, and several expeditions

were fitted out by Portuguese settlements in the Orient to exploit

the new market. All steered for Kyushu, and thus the Island of the

Nine Provinces became the principal stage for European intercourse

during the second half of the sixteenth century.

THE JESUITS

There were, at that time, not a few Jesuits at Macao, Goa, and other

outposts of Western commerce in the Far East. But not until 1549 was

any attempt made to proselytize Japan. On August 15th of that year,

Francis Xavier, a Jesuit priest, landed at Kagoshima. Before his

coming, the Portuguese traders had penetrated as far as Kyoto, which

they reported to be a city of some ninety-six thousand houses, and

their experience of the people had been very favourable, especially

with regard to receptivity of instruction. Xavier was weary of

attempting to convert the Indians, whom he had found "barbarous,

vicious, and without inclination to virtue," and his mind had been

turned towards Japan by a message from a Japanese daimyo (whose

identity and reasons for inviting him have never been explained), and

by a personal appeal from a Japanese, whose name appears in

Portuguese annals as "Anjiro," and who, having committed a serious

crime in Japan, had taken refuge in a Portuguese vessel, whose master

advised him to repair to Malacca and confess his sins to Xavier.

This man, Anjiro, already possessed some knowledge of the Portuguese

language, and he soon became sufficiently proficient in it to act as

interpreter, thus constituting a valuable aid to the Portuguese

propagandists. Xavier, with two fellow countrymen and Anjiro,

repaired to Kagoshima, where the Satsuma baron gave them unqualified

permission to preach their doctrine. Not that he had any sympathy

with Christianity, about which he knew nothing, but solely because he

wished to secure a share in the oversea commerce which had brought so

much wealth to his fellow barons on the main island. He thought, in

short, that the Jesuits would be followed by merchant ships, and when

Portuguese trading vessels did actually appear in the Satsuma waters,

but, instead of making any stay there, passed on to the comparatively

petty principality of Hirado, Xavier and his comrades were quickly

ordered to leave Kagoshima. It seems, also, that Xavier's zeal had

outrun his discretion. The Buddhist priests in Kagoshima were ready

at first to listen respectfully to his doctrines, but were quickly

alienated by his aggressive intolerance. They urged upon the Satsuma

baron the dangers that attended such propagandism, and he, already

smarting from commercial disappointment, issued an edict, in 1550,

declaring it a capital offence to embrace Christianity. The edict was

not retrospective. About one hundred and fifty converts whom Xavier,

aided by Anjiro, had won during his two years' sojourn, were not

molested, but Xavier himself passed on to the island of Hirado, where

he was received by salvos of artillery from Portuguese vessels lying

in harbour. Matsuura, the Hirado baron, had already been captivated

by the commerce of the newcomers, and seeing the marked reverence

extended by them to Xavier, the baron issued orders that respectful

attention should be paid to the teaching of the foreign propagandist.

Doubtless owing in large part to these orders, one hundred converts

were made during the first ten days of Xavier's residence in Hirado.

It was, in fact, evident that the attitude of the official classes

towards the new-comers was mainly influenced by the prospect of

trade, and that the attitude of the non-official classes towards the

foreign religion depended largely on the mood of their superiors.

Xavier argued that "if the favour of such a small prince was so

potent for the conversion of his subjects, it would be quite another

thing if he (Xavier) could have the protection of the Emperor." He

therefore, resolved to visit Kyoto. His journey took him in the first

place to Yamaguchi, capital of the Choshu fief. This town lay on the

northern shore of Shimonoseki Strait, and had long been the principal

emporium of trade with China and Korea. But the ruler of the fief,

though courteous to the new-comers, evinced no disposition to show

any special cordiality towards humble missionaries unconnected with

commerce. Therefore, finding that their preaching produced little

effect, Xavier and his companion, Fernandez, continued their journey

to Kyoto, which they reached after travelling for nearly two months

on foot in the depth of winter. It happened, however, that the

capital was then suffering sharply from the effects of internecine

strife, and the two missionaries failed to obtain access to either

the sovereign or the shogun.

Nothing remained, therefore, but recourse to street preaching, and

for this they were ill equipped, for Xavier, constitutionally a bad

linguist, knew very little of the Japanese language, and his

companion, Fernandez, even less, while as for Anjiro, he had remained

in Kagoshima. After devoting a few days to this unproductive task,

Xavier returned to Yamaguchi. He had not made any converts in Kyoto,

but he had learned a useful lesson, namely, that religious

propagandism, to be successful in Japan, must be countenanced by the

ruling classes. He therefore caused his canonicals to be sent to him

from Hirado, together with his credentials from the viceroy of India,

the governor of Malacca, and the bishop of Goa. These documents he

submitted to the Choshu baron, accompanying them with certain rare

objects of European manufacture, including a clock and a harpsicord.

A permit to preach Christianity was now obtained without difficulty,

and the Yamaguchi officials went so far as to issue a proclamation

expressing approval of the Western religion and granting entire

liberty to embrace it. An empty Buddhist monastery was assigned as a

residence for Xavier and his companions, and the fact is certainly an

eloquent testimony to the magnanimity of the Buddhist priests.

Many converts were now made, and fresh proof was obtained that the

road to success lay in associating propagandism with commerce. It was

nearly a decade since the Portuguese had effected their first landing

on Tanegashima, and throughout that interval trade had flourished in

their hands. They had not sought any new markets on the main island;

first, because their ignorance of the coasts rendered navigation

risky; and, secondly, because internecine war raged throughout almost

the whole of the main island, whereas Kyushu enjoyed comparative

tranquillity. Xavier now took advantage of a Portuguese vessel which

called at Yamaguchi en route for Bungo, a province on the eastern

littoral of Kyushu. His intention was to return for a time to the

Indies, but on reaching Bungo he learned that its ruler, Otomo,

wielded exceptional power and showed a disposition to welcome the

Jesuit father.

This Otomo was destined ultimately to act a leading part on the stage

of Christianity in Japan. Xavier now had recourse to methods

suggested by his recent experiences. On a visit to Otomo he caused

himself to be escorted by a large number of the Portuguese crew, who

wore rich garments, carried arms, and flaunted banners. This

procedure seems to have weighed cogently with Otomo, who was keenly

desirous of attracting foreign traders and obtaining from them not

only wealth but also novel and effective weapons of war. Seeing that

Xavier was almost deified by the Portuguese, Otomo naturally applied

himself to win the good-will of the Jesuits, and for that purpose not

only accorded to them entire liberty to teach and to preach, but also

despatched a messenger to his younger brother (who had just succeeded

to the lordship of Yamaguchi), advising him to protect the two

Jesuits then residing there, namely, Torres and Fernandez. Xavier

remained four months in Bungo and then set sail for Goa in February,

1552. He died in December of the same year, and thus his intention of

returning to Japan was defeated. His stay in Japan had lasted

twenty-seven months, and in that interval he and his comrades had won

some 760 converts.

RESULTS OF PROPAGANDISM

It is worth while to recapitulate here the main events during this

first epoch of Christian propagandism in Japan. It has been shown

that in more than a year's labours in Kagoshima, Xavier, with the

assistance of Anjiro as an interpreter, obtained 150 believers. Now,

"no language lends itself with greater difficulty than Japanese to

the discussion of theological questions. The terms necessary for such

a purpose are not current among laymen, and only by special study,

which, it need scarcely be said, must be preluded by accurate

acquaintance with the tongue itself, can a man hope to become duly

equipped for the task of exposition and dissertation. It is open to

grave doubt whether any foreigner has ever attained the requisite

proficiency. Leaving Anjiro in Kagoshima, to care for the converts

made there, Xavier pushed on to Hirado, where he baptized a hundred

Japanese in a few days. Now, we have it on the authority of Xavier

himself that, in this Hirado campaign, 'none of us knew Japanese.'

How, then, did they proceed? 'By reciting a semi-japanese volume' (a

translation made by Anjiro of a treatise from Xavier's pen) 'and by

delivering sermons, we brought several over to the Christian cult.'

"Sermons preached in Portuguese or Latin to a Japanese audience on

the island of Hirado in the year 1550 can scarcely have attracted

intelligent interest. On his first visit to Yamaguchi, Xavier's means

of access to the understanding of his hearers was confined to the

rudimentary knowledge of Japanese which Fernandez had been able to

acquire in fourteen months, a period of study which, in modern times

with all the aids now procurable, would not suffice to carry a

student beyond the margin of the colloquial. No converts were won.

The people of Yamaguchi probably admired the splendid faith and

devotion of these over-sea philosophers, but as for their doctrine,

it was unintelligible. In Kyoto, the same experience was repeated

with an addition of much physical hardship. But, when the Jesuits

returned to Yamaguchi in the early autumn of 1551, they baptized five

hundred persons, including several members of the military class.

Still Fernandez with his broken Japanese was the only medium for

communicating the profound doctrines of Christianity. It must be

concluded that the teachings of the missionaries produced much less

effect than the attitude of the local chieftain."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

But the Jesuits have not left any misgivings on record. They relate

that during Xavier's sojourn in Bungo he had numerous public

debates--one continuing for five days--with Buddhist priests, but

even Fernandez not being available as an interpreter, these debates

must have been either farcical or imaginary, though brilliant results

are claimed for them by the Church historians. That Xavier himself

was not satisfied is proved by his determination to transfer his

ministrations to China, for he said, "if the Chinese adopt the

Christian religion, the Japanese also will abandon the religions they

have introduced from China."

SECOND PERIOD OF PROPAGANDISM

Torres and Fernandez remained in Japan after Xavier's departure and

were there joined soon afterwards by three others. The new-comers

landed at Kagoshima and found that the Satsuma baron was as keen as

ever in welcoming foreign trade, although his attitude towards the

alien religion continued antipathetic. Bungo now became the

headquarters of the Jesuits in Japan. Local disturbances had

compelled them to leave Yamaguchi, where their disputes with Buddhist

priests had become so violent that an official proscription of the

Western religion was pronounced. In Funai, the capital of the

province of Bungo, they built their first church in Japan and also a

hospital. From that place, too, they began to send yearly reports

known as the Annual Letters to their generals in Rome, and these

Letters give an interesting insight into the conditions then existing

in Japan. The writers "describe a state of abject poverty among the

lower orders--poverty so cruel that the destruction of children by

their famishing parents was an every-day occurrence." This terrible

state of affairs was due to the civil wars which had entered their

most violent phase in the Onin era (1467-1468), and had continued

without intermission ever since. The trade carried on by the

Portuguese did not, however, suffer any interruption. Their vessels

repaired to Hirado as well as to Funai, and the masters and seamen of

the ships appear to have treated the missionaries with such

scrupulous respect that the Japanese formed an almost exaggerated

conception of the civil influence wielded by the religionists. It

further appears that in those early days the Portuguese seamen

refrained from the riotous excesses which had already won for them a

most unenviable reputation in China.

In fact, their good conduct constituted an object lesson in the

interests of Christianity. We learn, incidentally that, in 1557, two

of the fathers, visiting Hirado at the instance of some Portuguese

sailors who felt in want of religious ministrations, organized a kind

of propagandism which anticipated the methods of the Salvation Army.

They "sent brothers to parade the streets, ringing bells, and

chaunting litanies; they organized bands of boys for the same

purpose; they caused the converts, and even children, to flagellate

themselves at a model of Mount Calvary, and they worked miracles,

healing the sick by contact with scourges or with a booklet in which

Xavier had written litanies and prayers. It may well be imagined that

such doings attracted surprised attention in Japan. They were

supplemented by even more striking practices. For a sub-feudatory of

the Hirado chief, having been converted, showed his zeal by

destroying Buddhist temples and throwing down the idols, thus

inaugurating a campaign of violence destined to mark the progress of

Christianity throughout the greater part of its history in Japan.

There followed the overthrowing of a cross in the Christian cemetery,

the burning of a temple in the town of Hirado, and a street riot, the

sequel being that the Jesuit fathers were compelled to return once

more to Bungo."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

All this conveys an idea of the guise under which Christianity was

presented originally to the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Portuguese

traders did not allow their commerce to be interrupted by any

misfortunes which overtook the Jesuits. Hirado continued to be

frequented by Portuguese merchantmen, and news of the value of their

trade induced Sumitada, feudatory of Omura, to invite the Jesuits in

Bungo to his fief, offering them a free port for ten years, an

extensive tract of land, a residence for the missionaries, and other

privileges. This induced the Hirado feudatory to revoke the edict

which he had issued against the Jesuits, and they were preparing to

take advantage of his renewed hospitality when a Portuguese

merchantman entered Hirado. Its appearance convinced the local

chieftain that trade could be had without the accompaniment of

religion, towards which he renewed his hostility. When, however, this

change of demeanour was communicated to Funai, the Jesuit leader,

Torres, hastened thence to Hirado, and induced the master of the

merchantman to leave the port on the ground that he could not remain

in a country where they maltreated those who professed the same

religion as himself. Thereafter, for some years, Hirado remained

outside the pale of foreign trade. But ultimately three merchant

vessels appeared in the offing and announced their willingness to put

in provided that the anti-Christian ban was removed. This

remonstrance proved effective. A parallel case occurred a few years

later in the island of Amakusa. There a petty baron, avowedly for the

purpose of attracting foreign trade, embraced Christianity and

required all his vassals to follow his example. But when no

Portuguese ship arrived, he apostatized; ordered his vassals to

return to their old faith, and expelled the missionaries.

"In fact, the competition for the patronage of Portuguese traders was

so keen that the Hirado feudatory attempted to burn several of their

vessels because they frequented the territorial waters of his

neighbour and rival, Sumitada. The latter became a most stalwart

Christian when his wish was gratified. He set himself to eradicate

idolatry throughout his fief with the strong arm, and his fierce

intolerance provoked revolts which ended in the destruction of the

Christian town at the newly opened free port. Sumitada, however,

quickly reasserted his authority, and five years later (1567), he

took a step which had far-reaching consequences, namely, the building

of a church at Nagasaki, in order that Portuguese commerce might have

a centre and the Christians an assured asylum. Nagasaki was then a

little fishing village. In five years it grew to be a town of thirty

thousand inhabitants, and Sumitada became one of the richest of the

Kyushu feudatories."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

This baron appears to have been sincere in his adoption of the

foreign religion. "When in 1573, successful conflicts with

neighbouring fiefs brought him an access of territory, he declared

that he owed these victories to the influence of the Christian God,

and shortly afterwards he proclaimed banishment for all who would not

accept the foreign faith. There were then no Jesuits by his side, but

immediately two hastened to join him, and 'these accompanied by a

strong guard, but yet not without danger of their lives, went round

causing the churches of the Gentiles, with their idols, to be thrown

down to the ground, while three Japanese Christians went preaching

the law of God everywhere.'" They further record that three fathers

who were in the neighbouring fief "all withdrew therefrom to work in

this abundant harvest, and in the space of seven months twenty

thousand persons were baptized, including the bonzes of about sixty

monasteries."* The Jesuit vice-provincial (Francis Cabral), relating

these events, speaks with marked satisfaction of the abasement of the

Buddhist priests, and adds, "That these should now come to such a

humility that they throw themselves on the ground before two ragged

members of the Company is one of the miracles worked by the Divine

Majesty."

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

In Funai things were by no means so satisfactory. The Jesuits, as

stated above, had a hospital there, which had been built at the

charges of a devout Portuguese. But Francis Cabral, writing from

Bungo, in 1576, said: "Down to this hour the Christians have been so

abject and vile that they have shown no desire to acknowledge

themselves, partly from being few in the midst of so many Gentiles,

partly because the said Christianity began in the hospital where we

cure the people of low condition and those suffering from contagious

diseases, like the French evil and such others. Whence the Gospel

came to be of such little reputation that no man of position would

dare to accept it (although it seemed good and true to him) merely

lest he should be confounded with this rabble (con quella plebe). And

although we gave much edification with such works, the thing

nevertheless was a great obstacle to the spread of the holy faith.

And thus, during the twenty years we have had a residence in Funai,

one gentleman became a Christian, and this after having been cured of

the said evil in his house; but as soon as he was cured he afterwards

thought it shame to acknowledge his Christianity in the presence of

others."

This most disheartening record underwent a complete change in 1576,

when the son of the Bungo feudatory, a youth of some sixteen years,

and, two years later, the feudatory himself, Otomo, embraced the

Christian faith. In the first Annual Letter sent to Rome after these

events a striking admission is made: "It is Otomo, next to God, whom

the Jesuits have to thank for their success in Japan." This

appreciation looks somewhat exaggerated when placed side by side with

the incidents that occurred in Sumitada's fief, as related above.

Nevertheless, Otomo certainly did render powerful aid, not within his

own fief alone but also through his influence elsewhere. Thus, he did

not hesitate to have recourse to arms in order to obtain for the

Jesuits access to the island of Amakusa, where one of the local

barons, tempted originally by tradal prospects and afterwards urged

by his wife, called upon his vassals to choose between conversion or

exile, and issued an order that any Buddhist priests refusing to

accept Christianity would have their property confiscated and their

persons banished.

Practically the whole population became converts under the pressure

of these edicts, and it is thus seen that Christianity owed much of

its success in Kyushu to methods which recall Islam and the

Inquisition. Another illustration of this is furnished by the Arima

fief, which adjoined that of Omura where Sumitada ruled. The heads of

these two fiefs were brothers, and thus when Sumitada embraced

Christianity the Jesuits received an invitation to visit Arima at the

ports of Kuchinotsu and Shimabara, where from that time Portuguese

ships repaired frequently. In 1576, the Arima baron, seeing the

prosperity and power which had followed the conversion of his brother

Sumitada, accepted baptism and became the "Prince Andrew" of

missionary records. In those records we read that "the first thing

Prince Andrew did after his baptism was to convert the chief temple

of his capital into a church, its revenues being assigned for the

maintenance of the building and the support of the missionaries. He

then took measures to have the same thing done in the other towns of

his fief, and he seconded the preachers of the Gospel so well in

everything else that he could flatter himself that he soon would not

have one single idolater in his states." This fanatical "Prince

Andrew" survived his baptism by two years only, but during that time

twenty thousand converts were made in Arima. His successor, however,

was a believer in Buddhism. He caused the Christian churches to be

destroyed and the crosses to be thrown down; he ordered the Jesuits

to quit his dominions, and he required the converts to return to

Buddhism. Under this pressure about one-half of the converts

apostatized, but the rest threatened to leave Kuchinotsu en masse.

However this would have meant the loss of foreign trade, and as a

result of this circumstance the anti-Christian edicts were radically

modified.

Just at that time, also, a fortunate incident occurred. It had become

the custom for a large vessel from Macao to visit Japan every year,

and the advent of this ship had great importance from a commercial

point of view. It chanced that she made the port of Kuchinotsu her

place of call in 1578, and her presence suggested such a pleasing

outcome that the feudatory embraced Christianity and allowed his

vassals to do the same. By this "great ship from Macao" the Jesuit

vice-general, Valegnani was a passenger. A statesman as well as a

preacher, this astute politician made such a clever use of the

opportunity that, in 1580, "all the city was made Christian, and the

people burned their idols and destroyed forty temples, reserving some

materials to build churches."

RESULTS OF THE FIRST THREE DECADES OF PROPAGANDISM

The record achieved by the Christian propagandists up to this time

was distinctly satisfactory. In the Annual Letter of 1582 we find it

stated that, at the close of 1581, that is to say, thirty-two years

after Xavier's landing in Japan there were about 150,000 converts. Of

these some 125,000 were in Kyushu; the remainder in Yamaguchi, Kyoto,

and the vicinity of the latter city. As for the Jesuits in Japan,

they then numbered seventy-five, but down to the year 1563 there had

never been more than nine. "The harvest was certainly great in

proportion to the number of sowers. But it was a harvest mainly of

artificial growth, forced by despotic insistence of feudal chiefs who

possessed the power of life and death over their vassals, and were

influenced by a desire to attract foreign trade."

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY

"To the Buddhist priests this movement of Christian propagandism had

brought an experience hitherto almost unknown in Japan--persecution

solely on account of creed. They had suffered for interfering in

politics, but the cruel vehemence of the Christian fanatic may be

said to have now become known for the first time to men themselves

usually conspicuous for tolerance of heresy and for receptivity of

instruction. They had had little previous experience of humanity in

the garb of an Otomo of Bungo, who, in the words of Crasset, Svent to

the chase of the bonzes as to that of wild beasts, and made it his

singular pleasure to exterminate them from his states.'"*

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

JAPANESE EMBASSY TO EUROPE

Another important result of the coming of Valegnani to Japan was

that, in 1582, an embassy sailed from Nagasaki for Europe. It

consisted of four young men, representing the fiefs of Arima, Omura,

and Bungo, and it is related that at Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome they

were received with an elaborate show of dazzling magnificence, so

that they carried back to their island home a vivid impression of the

might and wealth of Western countries.

KYOTO AND CHRISTIANITY

It has already been shown that the visit to Kyoto by Xavier and

Fernandez was wholly unsuccessful. Such was not the case, however,

when another visit was made to the same city by Vilela, in the year

1559. This eminent missionary had been invited to Kyoto by the abbot

of the celebrated Buddhist monastery of Hiei-zan, who desired to

investigate the Christian doctrine. It is to be noted that, at this

time, Christian propagandism in Kyushu had not yet begun to be

disfigured by acts of violence. Vilela carried letters of

introduction from the Bungo feudatory, but before he reached the

capital the Buddhist abbot of Hiei-zan had died, and his successor

did not show the same liberal spirit of inquiry. Still, Vilela was

permitted to expound his doctrines in the presence of a gathering of

priests in the great monastery, and afterwards the good offices of

one of these bonzes, supplemented by the letter of the Bungo

feudatory, procured for the Jesuit father the honour of being

received by the shogun, Yoshiteru, who treated him with much

consideration and assigned a house for his residence.

Vilela does not seem to have allowed himself to be influenced in any

degree by the aid that he received on this occasion from his Buddhist

friend, who is described as "one of the most respected men in the

city." The Jesuit father seized the first opportunity to denounce

Buddhism and its followers in unmeasured terms, and soon the bonzes

began to intrigue with corresponding vehemence for the expulsion of

the foreign propagandists. But the shogun extended his protection to

Vilela, by issuing a decree which made it a capital punishment to

injure the missionaries or obstruct their work. The times, however,

were very troublous, so that Vilela and his fellow workers had to

encounter much difficulty and no little danger. Nothing, however,

damped their ardour, and five years after their arrival in Kyoto they

had not only obtained many converts but had organized churches in

five towns within a radius of fifty miles from the capital. Two

incidents may be specially mentioned illustrating the loyal spirit

with which the Japanese of that time approached controversy. Among

Vilela's converts were two Buddhist priests who had been nominated

officially to investigate and report upon the novel doctrines, and

who, in the sequel of their investigation, openly embraced

Christianity though they had originally been vehemently opposed to

it. The second incident was the conversion of a petty feudatory,

Takayama, whose fief lay at Takatsuki in the vicinity of the capital.

He challenged Vilela to a public discussion of the merits of the two

creeds, and being vanquished, he frankly acknowledged his defeat,

adopted Christianity, and invited his vassals as well as his family

to follow his example. His son, Yusho, became one of the most loyal

supporters of Christianity in all Japan. He is the "Don Justo

Ukondono" of the Jesuits' annals.

NOBUNAGA AND CHRISTIANITY

At the time of Vilela's visit to Kyoto civil war was raging. It led

to the death of the shogun, Yoshiteru, and to the issue of an

Imperial decree proscribing Christianity, Vilela and his two comrades

were obliged to take refuge in the town of Sakai, and they remained

there during three years, when they were invited to an interview with

Oda Nobunaga, who, at this time, had risen almost to the pinnacle of

his immense power. Had Nobunaga shown himself hostile to

Christianity, the latter's fate in Japan would have been quickly

sealed; but not only was he a man of wide and liberal views, but also

he harboured a strong antipathy against the Buddhists, whose armed

interference in politics had caused him much embarrassment. He

welcomed Christianity largely as an opponent of Buddhism, and when

Takayama conducted Froez from Sakai to Nobunaga's presence, the

Jesuit received a cordial welcome. Thenceforth, during the fourteen

remaining years of his life, Nobunaga steadily befriended the

missionaries in particular and foreign visitors to Japan in general.

He stood between the Jesuits and the Throne when, in reply to an

appeal from Buddhist priests, the Emperor Okimachi, for the second

time, issued an anti-Christian decree (1568); he granted a site for a

church and a residence at Azuchi on Lake Biwa, where his new castle

stood; he addressed to various powerful feudatories letters

signifying a desire for the spread of Christianity; he frequently

made handsome presents to the fathers, and whenever they visited him

he showed himself accessible and gracious. The Jesuits said of him:

"This man seems to have been chosen by God to open and prepare the

way for our faith. In proportion to the intensity of his enmity to

the bonzes and their sects is his good-will towards our fathers who

preach the law of God, whence he has shown them so many favours that

his subjects are amazed and unable to divine what he is aiming at in

this. I will only say that, humanly speaking, what has above all

given great credit and reputation to the fathers is the great favour

Nobunaga has shown for the Company." It is not to be supposed,

however, that Nobunaga's attitude towards the Jesuits signified any

belief in their doctrines. In 1579, he took a step which showed

plainly that policy as a statesman ranked much higher in his

estimation than duty towards religion. For, in order to ensure the

armed assistance of a certain feudatory, a professing Christian,

Nobunaga seized the Jesuits in Kyoto, and threatened to ban their

religion altogether unless they persuaded the feudatory to adopt

Nobunaga's side. Nevertheless, that Christianity benefited much by

his patronage there can be no dissentient opinion.

HIDEYOSHI AND CHRISTIANITY

After Nobunaga's death, in 1582, the supreme power fell into the

hands of Hideyoshi, and had he chosen to exercise it, he could have

easily undone the whole work hitherto achieved by the Jesuits at the

cost of much effort and devotion. But, at first, Hideyoshi followed

Nobunaga's example. He not only accorded a friendly audience to

Father Organtino, as representative of the fathers, but also he went

in person to assign to the Company a site for a church and a

residence in Osaka. At this time, "many Christian converts were

serving in high positions, and in 1584, the Jesuits placed it on

record that 'Hideyoshi was not only not opposed to the things of God,

but he even showed that he made much account of them (the fathers)

and preferred them to all the sects of the bonzes. . . He is

entrusting to Christians his treasures, his secrets, and his

fortresses of most importance, and he shows himself well pleased that

the sons of the great lords about him should adopt our customs and

our law.' Two years later in Osaka he received with every mark of

cordiality and favour a Jesuit mission which had come from Nagasaki

seeking audience, and on that occasion his visitors recorded that he

spoke of an intention of christianizing one half of Japan." Nor did

he confine himself to licensing the missionaries to preach throughout

all Japan: he exempted not only churches from the billeting of

soldiers but also the priests themselves from local burdens.

"This was in 1586, on the eve of his great military enterprise, the

invasion of Kyushu. . . He carried that difficult campaign to

completion by the middle of 1587, and throughout its course he

maintained a uniformly friendly demeanour toward the Jesuits. But

suddenly, when on the return journey he reached Hakata in the north

of the island, his policy underwent a radical metamorphosis. Five

questions were by his orders propounded to the vice-provincial of the

Jesuits: 'Why and by what authority he and his fellow propagandists

had constrained Japanese subjects to become Christians? Why they had

induced their disciples and their sectaries to overthrow temples? Why

they persecuted the bonzes? Why they and other Portuguese ate animals

useful to men, such as oxen and cows? Why the vice-provincial allowed

merchants of his nation to buy Japanese and make slaves of them in

the Indies?' To these queries Coelho, the vice-provincial, made

answer that the missionaries had never themselves resorted, or

incited, to violence in their propagandism, or persecuted bonzes;

that if their eating of beef was considered inadvisable, they would

give up the practice, and that they were powerless to prevent or

restrain the outrages perpetrated by their countrymen. Hideyoshi read

the vice-provincial's reply and, without comment, sent him word to

retire to Hirado, assemble all his followers there, and quit the

country within six months. On the next day (July 25, 1587) the

following edict was published:

'Having learned from our faithful councillors that foreign priests

have come into our estates, where they preach a law contrary to that

of Japan, and that they have even had the audacity to destroy temples

dedicated to our Kami and Hotoke; although the outrage merits the

most extreme punishment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, we

order them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days.

During that space no harm or hurt will be done, to them. But at the

expiration of that term, we order that if any of them be found in our

estates, they should be seized and punished as the greatest

criminals. As for the Portuguese merchants, we permit them to enter

our ports, there to continue their accustomed trade, and to remain in

our estates provided our affairs need this. But we forbid them to

bring any foreign priests into the country, under the penalty of the

confiscation of their ships and goods.'"*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

How are we to account for this seemingly rapid change of mood on

Hideyoshi's part? A comparison of dates furnishes some assistance in

replying to that question. The Kyushu campaign took place in 1587,

and it was in 1586 that Hideyoshi commenced the construction of the

colossal image of Buddha in Kyoto. The Taiko was by no means a

religious man. That is amply shown by the stories told in the

previous pages. But his political sagacity taught him that to

continue Nobunaga's crusade against Buddhism would not be wise

statesmanship, and that if the bonzes could be disarmed and diverted

from military pursuits, they would become useful agents of

intellectual and moral progress. His idea of setting up a gigantic

idol in the capital marked his final substitution of a conciliatory

programme for the fiercely destructive methods of Nobunaga. Of

necessity he had, then, to reconsider his demeanour towards

Christianity, and it is on record that before leaving Osaka for

Kyushu he publicly stated, "I fear much that all the virtue of the

European priests is merely a mask of hypocrisy and serves only to

conceal pernicious designs against the empire." Then, in Kyushu, two

things influenced him strongly. One was that he now saw with his own

eyes what militant Christianity really meant--ruined temples,

overthrown idols, and coerced converts. Such excesses had not

disgraced Christian propagandism in Kyoto or in the metropolitan

provinces, but in Kyushu the unsightly story was forced upon

Hideyoshi's attention. The second special feature of the situation in

Kyushu was that relations of an altogether exceptional character were

established between Hideyoshi and Kennyo, abbot of the Shin sect. By

the contrivance of that prelate, Hideyoshi's troops were enabled to

follow a secret road to the stronghold of the Satsuma baron, and in

return for such valuable services Hideyoshi may well have been

persuaded to proscribe Christianity.

Some importance, though probably of a less degree, attaches also to

the last of the five questions propounded by Hideyoshi to the

vice-provincial--why the priests allowed merchants of their nation to

buy Japanese subjects and carry them into slavery in the Indies. It

was in Kyushu only that these abuses were perpetrated. With respect

to this matter the following passage appears in the archives of the

Academy of History at Madrid: "Even the Lascars and scullions of the

Portuguese purchase and carry slaves away. Hence it happens that many

of them die on the voyage, because they are heaped up one upon the

other, and if their master fall sick (these masters are sometimes

Kaffirs and the negroes of the Portuguese), the slaves are not cared

for. It even often happens that the Kaffirs cannot procure the

necessary food for them. I here omit the excesses committed in the

lands of pagans where the Portuguese spread themselves to recruit

youth and girls, and where they live in such a fashion that the

pagans themselves are stupefied at it." Nevertheless, the fact that

the Taiko specially exempted the Portuguese merchants from his decree

of banishment indicates that he did not attach cardinal importance to

their evil doings in the matter of slaves. It seems rather to have

been against the Jesuits that his resentment was directed, for he did

not fail to perceive that, whereas they could and did exact the

utmost deference from their country's sailors and traders when the

ends of Christian propagandism were served thereby, they professed

themselves powerless to dissuade these same traders and sailors from

outrages which would have disgraced any religion. He cannot but have

concluded that if these Portuguese merchants and seamen were to be

regarded as specimens of the products of Christianity, then, indeed,

that creed had not much to recommend it. All these things seem amply

sufficient to account for the change that manifested itself in

Hideyoshi's attitude towards Christianity at the close of the Kyushu

campaign.

SEQUEL OF THE EDICT OF BANISHMENT

The Jesuits, of whom it must be said that they never consulted their

own safety when the cause of their faith could be advanced by

self-sacrifice, paid no attention to the Taiko's edict. They did

indeed assemble at Hirado to the number of 120, but when they

received orders to embark at once, they decided that only those

needed for service in China should leave Japan. The rest remained and

continued to perform their religious duties as usual, under the

protection of the converted feudatories. The latter also appear to

have concluded that it was not necessary to follow Hideyoshi's

injunctions strictly concerning the expulsion of the priests. It

seemed, at first, as though nothing short of extermination was

contemplated by the Taiko. He caused all the churches in Kyoto,

Osaka, and Sakai to be pulled down, and he sent troops to raze the

Christian places of worship in Kyushu. But the troops accepted gifts

offered to them by the feudatories and left the churches standing,

while Hideyoshi not only failed to enforce his edict, but also

allowed himself in the following year, 1588, to be convinced by a

Portuguese envoy that unless the missionaries were suffered to

remain, oversea trade could not possibly be carried on in a peaceful

and orderly manner. For the sake of that trade, Hideyoshi agreed to

tolerate the Christian propagandists, and, for a time, the foreign

faith continued to flourish in Kyushu and found a favourable field

even in Kyoto.

At this time, in response to a message from the Jesuits, the viceroy

of the Indies sent an ambassador to thank Hideyoshi for the favours

he had hitherto bestowed upon the missionaries, and in the train of

this nominally secular embassy came a number of fresh Jesuits to

labour in the Japanese field. The ambassador was Valegnani, a man of

profound tact. Acting upon the Taiko's unequivocal hints, Valegnani

caused the missionaries to divest their work of all ostentatious

features and to comport themselves with the utmost circumspection, so

that official attention should not be attracted by any salient

evidences of Christian propagandism. Indeed, at this very time, as

stated above, Hideyoshi took a step which plainly showed that he

valued the continuance of trade much more highly than the extirpation

of Christianity. "Being assured that Portuguese merchants could not

frequent Japan unless they found Christian priests there, he

consented to sanction the presence of a limited number of Jesuits,"

though he was far too shrewd to imagine that their services could be

limited to men of their own nationality, and too clever to forget

that these very Portuguese, who professed to attach so much

importance to religious ministrations, were the same men whose

flagrant outrages the fathers declared themselves powerless to check.

If any further evidence were needed of Hideyoshi's discrimination

between trade and religion, it is furnished by his despatches to the

viceroy of the Indies written in 1591:--

The fathers of the Company, as they are called, have come to these

islands to teach another religion here; but as that of the Kami is

too surely founded to be abolished, this new law can serve only to

introduce into Japan a diversity of cults prejudicial to the welfare

of the State. It is for this reason that, by Imperial edict, I have

forbidden these foreign doctors to continue to preach their doctrine.

I have even ordered them to quit Japan, and I am resolved no longer

to allow any one of them to come here to spread new opinions. I

nevertheless desire that trade between you and us should always be on

the same footing [as before]. I shall have every care that the ways

are free by sea and land: I have freed them from all pirates and

brigands. The Portuguese will be able to traffic with my subjects,

and I will in no wise suffer any one to do them the least wrong.

The statistics of 1595 showed that there were then in Japan 137

Jesuit fathers with 300,000 native converts, including seventeen

feudal chiefs and not a few bonzes.

HIDEYOSHI'S FINAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY

For ten years after the issue of his anti-Christian decree at Hakata,

Hideyoshi maintained a tolerant demeanour. But in 1597, his

forbearance was changed to a mood of uncompromising severity. Various

explanations have been given of this change, but the reasons are

obscure. "Up to 1593 the Portuguese had possessed a monopoly of

religious propagandism and oversea commerce in Japan. The privilege

was secured to them by agreement between Spain and Portugal and by a

papal bull. But the Spaniards in Manila had long looked with somewhat

jealous eyes on this Jesuit reservation, and when news of the

anti-Christian decree of 1587 reached the Philippines, the Dominicans

and Franciscans residing there were fired with zeal to enter an arena

where the crown of martyrdom seemed to be the least reward within

reach. The papal bull, however, demanded obedience, and to overcome

that difficulty a ruse was necessary: the governor of Manila agreed

to send a party of Franciscans as ambassadors to Hideyoshi. In that

guise, the friars, being neither traders nor propagandists,

considered that they did not violate either the treaty or the bull.

It was a technical subterfuge very unworthy of the object

contemplated, and the friars supplemented it by swearing to Hideyoshi

that the Philippines would submit to his sway. Thus they obtained

permission to visit Kyoto, Osaka, and Fushimi, but with the explicit

proviso that they must not preach."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

How far they observed the terms and the spirit of this arrangement

may be gathered from the facts that "very soon they had built a

church in Kyoto, consecrated it with the utmost pomp, and were

preaching sermons and chaunting litanies there in flagrant defiance

of Hideyoshi's veto. Presently, their number received an access of

three friars who came bearing gifts from the governor of Manila, and

now they not only established a convent in Osaka, but also seized a

Jesuit church in Nagasaki and converted the circumspect worship

hitherto conducted there by the fathers into services of the most

public character. Officially checked in Nagasaki, they charged the

Jesuits in Kyoto with having intrigued to impede them, and they

further vaunted the courageous openness of their own ministrations as

compared with the clandestine timidity of the methods which wise

prudence had induced the Jesuits to adopt. Retribution would have

followed quickly had not Hideyoshi's attention been engrossed by an

attempt to invade China through Korea. At this stage, however, a

memorable incident occurred. Driven out of her course by a storm, a

great and richly laden Spanish galleon, bound for Acapulco from

Manila, drifted to the coast of Tosa province, and running--or being

purposely run--on a sand-bank as she was towed into port by Japanese

boats, broke her back. She carried goods to the value of some six

hundred thousand crowns, and certain officials urged Hideyoshi to

confiscate her as derelict, conveying to him, at the same time, a

detailed account of the doings of the Franciscans and their open

flouting of his orders. Hideyoshi, much incensed, commanded the

arrest of the Franciscans and despatched officers to Tosa to

confiscate the San Felipe. The pilot of the galleon sought to

intimidate these officers by showing them, on a map of the world, the

vast extent of Spain's dominions, and being asked how one country had

acquired such wide sway, replied,* 'Our kings begin by sending into

the countries they wish to conquer missionaries who induce the people

to embrace our religion, and when they have made considerable

progress, troops are sent who combine with the new Christians, and

then our kings have not much trouble in accomplishing the rest.'"**

*Charlevoix, referring to this incident, says, "This unfortunate

statement inflicted a wound on religion which is bleeding still after

a century and a half."

**Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN JAPAN

The words of the San Felipe's master were immediately reported to

Hideyoshi. They roused him to hot anger. He is reported to have

cried: "What! my States are filled with traitors, and their numbers

increase every day. I have proscribed the foreign doctors, but out of

compassion for the age and infirmity of some among them, I have

allowed their remaining in Japan. I shut my eyes to the presence of

several others because I fancied them to be quiet and incapable of

forming bad designs, and they are serpents I have been cherishing in

my bosom. The traitors are entirely employed in making me enemies

among my own subjects and perhaps in my own family. But they will

learn what it is to play with me... I am not anxious for myself. So

long as the breath of life remains, I defy all the powers of the

earth to attack me. But I am perhaps to leave the empire to a child,

and how can he maintain himself against so many foes, domestic and

foreign, if I do not provide for everything incessantly?"

Then, finally, the Franciscans were arrested and condemned to have

their noses and ears cut off;* to be promenaded through Kyoto, Osaka,

and Sakai, and to be crucified at Nagasaki. "I have ordered these

foreigners to be treated thus," Hideyoshi is recorded to have stated,

"because they have come from the Philippines to Japan, calling

themselves ambassadors, although they were not so; because they have

remained here for long without my permission; because in defiance of

my prohibition they have built churches, preached their religion, and

caused disorders." These men were the first martyrs in Japan.

*The mutilation was confined to the lobe of one ear.

They numbered twenty-six, namely, six Franciscans, three Jesuits, and

seventeen native Christians who were chiefly domestic servants of the

Franciscans. They met their fate with noble fortitude. Hideyoshi did

not stop there. He took measures to have his edict of 1587 converted

into a stern reality. The governor of Nagasaki received orders to

send away all the Jesuits, permitting only two or three to remain for

the service of Portuguese merchants.

The Jesuits, however, were not to be deterred by personal peril.

There were 125 of them in Japan at that time, and of these only

eleven left Nagasaki by sea in October, 1597, though the same vessel

carried a number of pretended Jesuits who were, in reality, disguised

sailors. This deception was necessarily known to the local

authorities; but their sympathies being with the Jesuits, they kept

silence until early the following year, when, owing to a rumour that

Hideyoshi himself contemplated a visit to Kyushu, they took really

efficient measures to expel all the fathers. No less than 137

churches throughout Kyushu were thrown down, as well as several

seminaries and residences of the fathers, and, at Nagasaki, all the

Jesuits in Japan were assembled for deportation to Macao in the

following year when the "great ship" was expected to visit that port.

But before her arrival Hideyoshi died, and a respite was thus gained

for the Jesuits.

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY

It has been confidently stated that Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded

Christian nations and Christian propagandists with distrust not less

profound than that harboured by Hideyoshi. But facts are opposed to

that view. Within less than three months of the Taiko's death, the

Tokugawa chief had his first interview with a Christian priest. The

man was a Franciscan, by name Jerome de Jesus. He had been a member

of the fictitious embassy from Manila, and his story illustrates the

zeal and courage that inspired the Christian fathers in those days.

"Barely escaping the doom of crucifixion which overtook his

companions, he had been deported from Japan to Manila at a time when

death seem to be the certain penalty of remaining. But no sooner had

he been landed in Manila than he took passage in a Chinese junk, and,

returning to Nagasaki, made his way secretly from the far south of

Japan to the province of Kii. There arrested, he was brought into the

presence of Ieyasu, and his own record of what ensued is given in a

letter subsequently sent to Manila:

"'When the Prince saw me he asked how I managed to escape the previous

persecution. I answered him that at that date God had delivered me in

order that I might go to Manila and bring back new colleagues from

there--preachers of the divine law--and that I had returned from

Manila to encourage the Christians, cherishing the desire to die on

the cross in order to go to enjoy eternal glory like my former

colleagues. On hearing these words the Emperor began to smile,

whether in his quality of a pagan of the sect of Shaka which teaches

that there is no future life, or whether from the thought that I was

frightened at having to be put to death. Then, looking at me kindly,

he said, "Be no longer afraid and no longer conceal yourself and no

longer change your habit, for I wish you well; and as for the

Christians who every year pass within sight of Kwanto where my

domains are, when they go to Mexico with their ships, I have a keen

desire for them to visit the harbours of this island, to refresh

themselves there, and to take what they wish, to trade with my

vassals, and to teach them how to develop silver mines; and that my

intentions may be accomplished before my death, I wish you to

indicate to me the means to take to realize them."

"'I answered that it was necessary that Spanish pilots should take the

soundings of his harbours, so that ships might not be lost in future

as the San Felipe had been, and that he should solicit this service

from the governor of the Philippines. The Prince approved of my

advice, and accordingly he has sent a Japanese gentleman, a native of

Sakai, the bearer of this message.... It is essential to oppose no

obstacle to the complete liberty offered by the Emperor to the

Spaniards and to our holy order, for the preaching of the holy

gospel. ... The same Prince (who is about to visit the Kwanto)

invites me to accompany him to make choice of a house, and to visit

the harbour which he promises to open to us; his desires in this

respect are keener than I can express.'"*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

Subsequent events confirm the accuracy of the above story. Father

Jerome was allowed to build the first Christian church in Yedo and to

officiate there. Moreover, Ieyasu sent "three embassies in succession

to the Philippines, proposing reciprocal freedom of commerce,

offering to open ports in the Kwanto, and asking for competent naval

architects." These architects never came, and the trade that resulted

from the Tokugawa chief's overtures was paltry in comparison with the

number of friars that accompanied it to Japan. It has been suggested

that Ieyasu designed these Spanish monks to serve as a counterpoise

to the influence of the Jesuits. For he must have known that the

Franciscans opened their mission in Yedo by "declaiming with violence

against the fathers of the Company of Jesus," and he must have

understood that the Spanish monks assumed towards the Jesuits in

Japan the same intolerent and abusive tone that the Jesuits

themselves had previously assumed towards Buddhism.

ENGRAVING: ANJIN-ZUKA, NEAR YOKOSUKA, THE TOMB OF WILL ADAMS

WILL ADAMS

At about this time a Dutch merchant ship named the Liefde arrived in

Japan. In 1598, a squadron of five ships sailed from Holland to

exploit the sources of Portuguese commerce in the Orient, and of the

five vessels only one, the Liefde, was ever heard of again. She

reached Japan in the spring of 1600, with only four and twenty

survivors of her original crew, numbering 110. Towed into the harbour

of Funai, she was visited by Jesuits, who, on discovering her

nationality, denounced her to the local authorities as a pirate. On

board the Liefde, serving in the capacity of pilot major was an

Englishman, Will Adams, of Gillingham in Kent. Ieyasu summoned him to

Osaka, and between the rough English sailor and the Tokugawa chief

there commenced a curiously friendly intercourse which was not

interrupted until the death of Adams, twenty years later.

"The Englishman became master-shipbuilder to the Yedo Government; was

employed as diplomatic agent when other traders from his own country

and from Holland arrived in Japan, received in perpetual gift a

substantial estate, and from first to last possessed the implicit

confidence of the shogun. Ieyasu quickly discerned the man's honesty;

perceived that whatever benefits foreign commerce might confer would

be increased by encouraging competition among the foreigners, and

realized that English and Dutch trade presented the wholesome feature

of complete dissociation from religious propagandism. On the other

hand, he showed no intolerance to either Spaniards or Portuguese. He

issued (1601) two official patents sanctioning the residence of the

fathers in Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki; he employed Father Rodriguez

as interpreter at the Court in Yedo, and, in 1603 he gave munificent

succour to the Jesuits who were reduced to dire straits owing to the

capture of the great ship from Macao by the Dutch and the consequent

loss of several years' supplies for the mission in Japan."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

ULTIMATE ATTITUDE OF IEYASU TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN

INTERCOURSE

From what has been written above it will have been evident that each

of Japan's great trio of sixteenth century statesmen--Nobunaga,

Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu--adopted originally a tolerant demeanour

towards Christianity, and an emphatically favourable attitude towards

foreign commerce. The causes of Hideyoshi's change of mood are

tolerably clear, but it is not possible to analyse the case of Ieyasu

with certainty. That the Tokugawa baron strongly patronized Buddhism

might be regarded as a sufficient explanation of his ultimate

hostility to the foreign faith, but cannot be reconciled with his

amicable attitude at the outset. The more credible explanation is

that he was guided by intelligence obtained direct from Europe. He

sent thither at the end of the sixteenth century an emissary whose

instructions were to observe closely the social and political

conditions in the home of Christianity. The better to accomplish his

purpose this envoy embraced the Christian faith, and was thus enabled

to carry on his observations from within as well as from without.

It may be easily conceived that the state of affairs in Europe at

that time, when recounted to Ieyasu, could scarcely fail to shock and

astonish the ruler of a country where freedom of conscience may be

said to have always existed. The Inquisition and the stake; wholesale

aggressions in the name of the Cross; a head of the Church whose

authority extended to confiscation of the realms of heretical

sovereigns; religious wars, and profound fanaticism--these were the

elements of the story told to Ieyasu by his returned envoy. The

details could not fail to produce an evil impression. Already his own

observation had disclosed to the Tokugawa chief abundant evidence of

the spirit of strife engendered by Christian dogma in those times. No

sooner had the Franciscans and the Dominicans arrived in Japan than a

fierce quarrel broke out between them and the Jesuits--a quarrel

which even community of suffering could not compose. "Not less

repellent was an attempt on the part of the Spaniards to dictate to

Ieyasu the expulsion of all Hollanders from Japan, and an attempt on

the part of the Jesuits to dictate the expulsion of the Spaniards.

The former proposal, couched almost in the form of a demand, was

twice formulated, and accompanied on the second occasion by a

scarcely less insulting offer, namely, that Spanish men-of-war would

be sent to Japan to burn all Dutch ships found in the ports of the

empire. If in the face of proposals so contumelious of his authority

Ieyasu preserved a calm and dignified mein, merely replying that his

country was open to all comers, and that, if other nations had

quarrels among themselves, they must not take Japan for

battle-ground, it is nevertheless unimaginable that he did not

strongly resent such interference with his own independent foreign

policy, and that he did not interpret it as foreshadowing a

disturbance of the realm's peace by sectarian quarrels among

Christians."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

The repellent aspects under which Christianity thus presented itself

to Ieyasu were supplemented by an act of fraud and forgery

perpetrated in the interest of a Christian feudatory by a trusted

official, himself a Christian. This experience persuaded the Tokugawa

ruler that it was unsafe to employ Christians at his Court. He not

only dismissed all those so employed, but also banished them from

Yedo and forbade any feudal chief to harbour them. Another incident,

not without influence, was connected with the survey of the Japanese

coast by a Spanish mariner and a Franciscan friar. An envoy from New

Spain (Mexico) had obtained permission for this survey, but "when the

mariner (Sebastian) and the friar (Sotelo) hastened to carry out the

project, Ieyasu asked Will Adams to explain this display of industry.

The Englishman replied that such a proceeding would be regarded in

Europe as an act of hostility, especially on the part of the

Spaniards or Portuguese, whose aggressions were notorious. He added,

in reply to further questions, that 'the Roman priesthood had been

expelled from many parts of Germany, from Sweden, Norway, Denmark,

Holland, and England, and that, although his own country preserved

the pure form of the Christian faith from which Spain and Portugal

had deviated, yet neither English nor Dutch considered that that fact

afforded them any reason to war with, or to annex, States which were

not Christian solely for the reason that they were non-Christian.'"*

Hearing these things from Will Adams, Ieyasu is said to have

remarked, "If the sovereigns of Europe do not tolerate these priests,

I do them no wrong if I refuse to tolerate them."

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by

Brinkley.

Another incident, too complicated to describe in detail, may be

summed up by saying that some Japanese Christians were discovered to

have conspired for the overthrow of the Tokugawa Government by the

aid of foreign troops. It was not an extensive plot, but it helped to

demonstrate that the sympathy of the priests and their converts was

plainly with the enemies of Tokugawa's supremacy. Ieyasu, however,

abstained from extreme measures in the case of any of the foreign

priests, and he might have been equally tolerant towards native

Christians, also, had not the Tokugawa authority been openly defied

in Yedo itself by a Franciscan father--the Sotelo mentioned above.

"Then (1613) the first execution of Japanese converts took place,

though the monk himself was released after a short incarceration. At

that time... insignificant differences of custom sometimes induced

serious misconceptions. A Christian who had violated a secular law

was crucified in Nagasaki. Many of his fellow-believers kneeled

around his cross and prayed for the peace of his soul. A party of

converts were afterwards burnt to death in the same place for

refusing to apostatize, and their Christian friends crowded to carry

off portions of their bodies as holy relics. When these things were

reported to Ieyasu, he said, 'Without doubt that must be a diabolic

faith which persuades people not only to worship criminals condemned

to death for their crimes, but also to honour those who have been

burned or cut to pieces by the order of their lord.'"*

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

SUPPRESSION OF CHRISTIANITY

The first prohibition of Christianity was issued by Ieyasu in

September, 1612, and was followed by another in April, 1613; but both

bore the character of warnings rather than of punitive regulations.

It was on the 27th of January, 1614--that is to say, fifty-four years

and five months after the landing of Xavier at Kagoshima--that an

edict appeared ordering that all the foreign priests should be

collected in Nagasaki preparatory to removal from Japan; that all

churches should be pulled down, and that all converts should be

compelled to abjure Christianity. There were then in Japan 156

ministers of Christianity, namely, 122 Jesuits, 14 Franciscans, 9

Dominicans, 4 Augustinians, and 7 secular priests. It is virtually

certain that if these men had obeyed the orders of the Japanese

Government by leaving the country finally, not so much as one

foreigner would have suffered for his faith in Japan, except the six

Franciscans executed on the "Martyrs' Mount" at Nagasaki by

Hideyoshi's order, in 1597. But the missionaries did not obey.

Suffering or even death counted for nothing with these men as against

the possibility of saving souls. "Forty-seven of them evaded the

edict, some by concealing themselves at the time of its issue, the

rest by leaving their ships when the latter had passed out of sight

of the shore of Japan, and returning by boats to the scene of their

former labours. Moreover, in a few months, those that had actually

crossed the sea re-crossed it in various disguises."* The Japanese

Government had then to consider whether it would suffer its authority

to be thus defied by foreign visitors or whether it would resort to

extreme measures.

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO 1613

Throughout a period of two years immediately following the issue of

the anti-Christian edict of 1614, the attention of Ieyasu, and indeed

of the whole Japanese nation, was concentrated on the struggle which

took place between the adherents of the Tokugawa and the supporters

of Hideyori. That struggle culminated in an assault on the castle of

Osaka, and fresh fuel was added to the fire of anti-Christian

resentment inasmuch as many Christian converts espoused Hideyori's

cause, and in one part of the field the troops of Ieyasu had to fight

against a foe whose banners were emblazoned with a cross and with

images of Christ and of St. James, the patron saint of Spain.

Nevertheless, the Christian converts possessed the sympathy of so

many of the feudal chiefs that much reluctance was shown to inflict

the extreme penalty of the law on men and women whose only crime was

the adoption of an alien religion. Some of the feudal chiefs, even at

the risk of losing their estates, gave asylum to the converts; others

falsely reported a complete absence of Christians in their dominions,

and some endeavoured earnestly to protect the fanatics; while, as to

the people at large, their liberal spirit is shown in the fact that

five priests who were in Osaka Castle at the time of its capture were

able to make their way to distant refuges without any risk of

betrayal.

ENGRAVING: GREEN-ROOM OF A THEATRE (In the Middle of the Tokugawa

Period)

On the other hand, there were not wanting feudatories who, judging

that zeal in obeying the edict would prove a passport to official

reward, acted on that conviction. Notably was this true of Hasegawa,

who received the fief of Arima by way of recompense for barbarous

cruelty towards the Christians. Yet it is on record that when this

baron sent out a mixed force of Hizen and Satsuma troops to harry the

converts, these samurai warned the Christians to flee and then

reported that they were not to be found anywhere. During these events

the death of Ieyasu took place (June 1, 1616), and pending the

dedication of his mausoleum the anti-Christian crusade was virtually

suspended.

ENGLISH AND DUTCH INTRIGUES AGAINST SPANIARDS AND PORTUGUESE

It has been frequently alleged that if the Spaniards and the

Portuguese endeavoured to bring the Hollanders into bad odour, the

English and the Dutch intrigued equally against the Portuguese and

the Spaniards. The accusation cannot be rebutted. Cocks, the factor

of the English commercial mission to Japan, has himself left it on

record that, being at the Yedo Court in the fall of 1616, "I enformed

the two secretaries that yf they lookt out well about these two

Spanish shipps in Xaxama [Satsuma] full of men and treasure, they

would fynd that they were sent off purpose by the king of Spaine,

having knowledge of the death of the ould Emperour [Ieyasu], thinking

som papisticall tono [daimyo] might rise and rebell and so draw all

the papists to flock to them and take part, by which means they might

on a sudden seaz upon som strong place and keepe it till more succors

came, they not wanting money nor men for thackomplishing such a

strattgin." The two vessels in question were "greate shipps arrived

out of New Spaine, bound, as they said, for the Philippines, but

driven into that place per contrary wynd, both shipps being full of

souldiers, with great store of treasure, as it is said, above five

millions of pezos." It is true that a Spanish captain sent from these

vessels to pay respects to the Court in Yedo "gave it out that our

shipps and the Hollanders which were at Firando [Hirado] had taken

and robbed all the China junks, which was the occasion that very few

or non came into Japan this yeare," and therefore Cocks was somewhat

justified in saying "so in this sort I cried quittance with the

Spaniards." It appears, however, that the Spaniards were not

believed, whereas the Englishman could boast, "which speeches of myne

wrought so far that the Emperour sent to stay them, and had not the

greate shipp cut her cable in the hawse so as to escape, she had been

arrested." It was this same Cocks who told a Japanese "admirall" that

"My opinion was he might doe better to put it into the Emperour's

mynd to make a conquest of the Manillas, and drive those small crew

of Spaniards from thence."

In fact, none of the four Occidental nationalities then in Japan had

any monopoly of slandering its rivals. The accusation preferred by

Cocks, however, must have possessed special significance, confirming,

as it did, what the pilot of the San Felipe had said twenty years

previously as to the political uses to which the propagandists of

Christianity were put by the King of Spain, and what Will Adams had

said four years earlier as to the Imperial doctrine of Spain and

Portugal that the annexation of a non-Christian country was always

justifiable. The "greate shipps out of New Spaine," laden with

soldiers and treasure and under orders to combine with any Christian

converts willing to revolt against the Yedo Government, were concrete

evidence of the truth of the Spanish sailor's revelation and of the

English exile's charge. It has always to be remembered, too, that

Kyushu, the headquarters of Christianity in Japan, did not owe to the

Tokugawa shoguns the same degree of allegiance that it had been

forced to render to Hideyoshi. A colossal campaign such as the latter

had conducted against the southern island, in 1587, never commended

itself to the ambition of Ieyasu or to that of his comparatively

feeble successor, Hidetada. Hence, the presence of Spanish or

Portuguese ships in Satsuma suggested danger of an exceptional

degree.

In the very month (September, 1616) when Cocks "cried quittance with

the Spaniards," a new anti-Christian edict was promulgated by

Hidetada, son and successor of Ieyasu. It pronounced sentence of

exile against all Christian priests, not excluding even those whose

presence had been sanctioned for the purpose of ministering to the

Portuguese merchants; it forbade the Japanese, under penalty of being

burned alive and having all their property confiscated, to connect

themselves in any way with the Christian propagandists or with their

co-operators or servants, and above all, to show them any

hospitality. The same penalties were extended to women and children,

and to the five neighbours on both sides of a convert's abode, unless

these became informers. Every feudal chief was forbidden to keep

Christians in his service, and the edict was promulgated with more

than usual severity, although its enforcement was deferred until the

next year on account of the obsequies of Ieyasu. This edict of 1616

differed from that issued by Ieyasu in 1614, since the latter did not

explicitly prescribe the death-penalty for converts refusing to

apostatize. But both agreed in indicating expulsion as the sole

manner of dealing with the foreign priests. It, is also noteworthy

that, just as the edict of Ieyasu was immediately preceded by

statements from Will Adams about the claim of Spain and Portugal to

absorb all non-Christian countries, so the edict of Hidetada had for

preface Cock's attribution of aggressive designs to the Spanish ships

at Kagoshima in conjunction with Christian converts. Not without

justice, therefore, have the English been charged with some share of

responsibility for the terrible things that ultimately befell the

propagandists and the professors of Christianity in Japan. As for the

shogun, Hidetada, and his advisers, it is probable that they did not

foresee much occasion for actual recourse to violence. They knew that

a great majority of the converts had joined the Christian Church at

the instance, or by the command, of their local rulers, and nothing

can have seemed less likely than that a creed thus lightly embraced

would be adhered to in defiance of torture and death. The foreign

propagandists also might have escaped all peril by obeying the

official edict and leaving Japan. They suffered because they defied

the laws of the land.

Some fifty of them happened to be in Nagasaki at the time of

Hidetada's edict. Several of these were apprehended and deported, but

a number returned almost immediately. This happened under the

jurisdiction of Omura, who had been specially charged with the duty

of sending away the bateren (padres). He seems to have concluded that

a striking example must be furnished, and he therefore ordered the

seizure and decapitation of two fathers, De l'Assumpcion and Machado.

The result completely falsified his calculations, for so far from

proving a deterrent, the fate of the two fathers appealed widely to

the people's sense of heroism. Multitudes flocked to the grave in

which the two coffins were buried. The sick were carried thither to

be restored to health, and the Christian converts derived new courage

from the example of these martyrs. Numerous conversions and numerous

returns of apostates took place everywhere.

While this enthusiasm was at its height, Navarette, vice-provincial

of the Dominicans, and Ayala, vice-provincial of the Augustins,

emerged from hiding, and robed in their full canonicals, commenced an

open propaganda, heralding their approach by a letter addressed to

Omura and couched in the most defiant terms. Thus challenged, Omura

was obliged to act promptly, especially as Navarette declared that he

(Navarette) did not recognize the Emperor of Japan but only the

Emperor of Heaven. The two fanatics were seized, conveyed secretly to

the island of Takashima, and there decapitated; their coffins being

weighted with big stones and sunk in the sea, so as to prevent a

repetition of the scenes witnessed at the tomb of the fathers

mentioned above. Thereupon, the newly elected superior of the

Dominicans at once sent three of his priests to preach in Omura's

territories, and two of them, having been seized, were cast into

prison where they remained for five years. Even more directly defiant

was the attitude of the next martyred priest, an old Franciscan monk,

Juan de Santa Martha. He had for three years suffered all the horrors

of a medieval Japanese prison, yet when it was proposed to release

him and deport him to New Spain, his answer was that, if released, he

would stay in Japan and preach there. He laid his head on the block

in August, 1618.

Throughout the next four years, however, no other foreign missionary

was capitally punished in Japan, though many arrived and continued

their propagandism. During that interval, also, there occurred

another incident calculated to fix upon the Christians still deeper

suspicion of political designs. In a Portuguese ship, captured by the

Dutch, a letter was found instigating Japanese converts to revolt,

and promising that, when the number of disaffected became sufficient,

men-of-war would be sent from Portugal to aid them. Another factor

tending to invest the converts with political potentialities was the

writing of pamphlets by apostates, attributing the zeal of foreign

propagandists solely to traitorous motives. Further, the Spanish and

Portuguese propagandists were indicted in a despatch addressed to the

second Tokugawa shogun, in 1620, by the admiral in command of the

British and Dutch fleet of defence, then cruising in Oriental waters.

The admiral unreservedly charged the friars with treacherous

machinations, and warned the shogun against the aggressive designs of

Philip of Spain.

This cumulative evidence dispelled the last doubts of the Japanese,

and a time of sharp suffering ensued for the fathers and their

converts. There were many shocking episodes. Among them may be

mentioned the case of Zufliga, son of the marquis of Villamanrica. He

visited Japan as a Dominican in 1618, but the governor of Nagasaki

persuaded him to withdraw. Yielding for the moment, he returned two

years later, accompanied by Father Flores. They travelled in a vessel

commanded by a Japanese Christian, and off Formosa she was overhauled

by an English warship, which took off the two priests and handed them

over to the Dutch at Hirado. There they were tortured and held in

prison for sixteen months, when an armed attempt made by some

Japanese Christians to rescue them precipitated their fate. By order

from Yedo, Zuniga, Flores, and the Japanese master of the vessel

which had carried them, were roasted to death in Nagasaki on August

19, 1622. Thus the measures adopted against the missionaries are seen

to have gradually increased in severity. The first two fathers put to

death, De l'Assumpcion and Machado, were beheaded in 1617, not by the

common executioner but by one of the principal officers of the

daimyo. The next two, Navarette and Ayala, were decapitated by the

executioner. Then, in 1618, Juan de Santa Martha was executed like a

common criminal, his body being dismembered and his head exposed.

Finally, in 1622, Zuniga and Flores were burned alive.

The same year was marked by the "great martyrdom" at Nagasaki, when

nine foreign priests went to the stake together with nineteen

Japanese converts. Apprehension of a foreign invasion seems to have

greatly troubled the shogun at this time. He had sent an envoy to

Europe who, after seven years abroad, returned on the eve of the

"great martyrdom," and made a report thoroughly unfavourable to

Christianity. Hidetada therefore refused to give audience to the

Philippine embassy in 1624, and ordered that all Spaniards should be

deported from Japan. It was further decreed that no Japanese

Christians should thenceforth be allowed to go to sea in search of

commerce, and that although non-Christians or men who had apostatized

might travel freely, they must not visit the Philippines.

Thus ended all intercourse between Japan and Spain. The two countries

had been on friendly terms for thirty-two years, and during that time

a widespread conviction that Christianity was an instrument of

Spanish aggression had been engendered. Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, now

ruled in Yedo, though Hidetada himself remained "the power behind the

throne." The year (1623) of the former's accession to the shogunate

had seen the re-issue of anti-Christian decrees and the martyrdom of

some five hundred Christians within the Tokugawa domains, whither the

tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. From that period

onwards official attempts to eradicate Christianity in Japan were

unceasing. Conspicuously active in this cause were two governors of

Nagasaki, by name Mizuno and Takenaka, and the feudal chief of

Shimabara, by name Matsukura. To this last is to be credited the

terrible device of throwing converts into the solfataras at Unzen,

and under him, also, the punishment of the "fosse" was resorted to.

It consisted in suspension by the feet, head downwards in a pit until

death ensued. By many this latter torture was heroically endured to

the end, but in the case of a few the pains proved unendurable.

It is on record that the menace of a Spanish invasion seemed so

imminent to Matsukura and Takenaka that they proposed an attack on

the Philippines so as to deprive the Spaniards of their base in the

East. This bold measure failed to obtain approval in Yedo. In

proportion as the Christian converts proved invincible, the severity

of the repressive measures increased. There are no accurate

statistics showing the number of victims. Some annalists allege that

two hundred and eighty thousand perished up to the year 1635, but

that figure is probably exaggerated, for the converts do not seem to

have aggregated more than three hundred thousand at any time, and it

is probable that a majority of these, having embraced the alien creed

for light reasons, discarded it readily under menace of destruction.

"Every opportunity was given for apostatizing and for escaping death.

Immunity could be secured by pointing out a fellow convert, and when

it is observed that among the seven or eight feudatories who embraced

Christianity only two or three died in that faith, we must conclude

that not a few cases of recanting occurred among the vassals.

Remarkable fortitude, however, is said to have been displayed."

Caron, one of the Dutch traders of Hirado, writing in 1636, says:

At first the believers in Christ were only beheaded and afterwards

attached to a cross, which was considered as a sufficiently heavy

punishment. But when many of them were seen to die with emotions of

joy and pleasure, some even to go singing to the place of execution;

and when although thirty and sometimes one hundred were put to death

at a time, and it was found that their numbers did not appear to

diminish, it was then determined to use every exertion to change

their joy into grief and their songs into tears and groans of misery.

To effect this they were tied to stakes and burned alive; were

broiled on wooden gridirons, and thousands were thus wretchedly

destroyed. But as the number of Christians was not perceptibly

lessened by these cruel punishments, they became tired of putting

them to death, and attempts were then made to make the Christians

abandon their faith by the infliction of the most dreadful torments

which the most diabolical invention could suggest. The Japanese

Christians, however, endured these persecutions with a great deal of

steadiness and courage; very few, in comparison with those who

remained steadfast in the faith, were the number of those who fainted

under the trials and abjured their religion. It is true that these

people possess, on such occasions, a stoicism and an intrepidity of

which no examples are to be met with in the bulk of other nations.

Neither men nor women are afraid of death. Yet an uncommon

steadfastness in the faith must, at the same time, be requisite to

continue in these trying circumstances.

The intrepidity of the native converts was rivalled by the courage of

their foreign teachers. Again and again these latter defied the

Japanese authorities by visiting Japan--not for the first time but

occasionally even after having been deported. Contrary to the orders

of the governors of Macao and Manila, nay of the King of Spain

himself, the priests arrived, year after year, with the certainty of

being apprehended and sent to the stake after brief periods of

propagandism. In 1626, when the campaign of persecution was at its

height, more than three thousand converts were baptized by these

brave priests, of whom none is known to have escaped death except

those that apostatized under torture, and they were very few,

although not only could life be saved by abandoning the faith but

also ample allowances of money could be obtained from the

authorities. Anyone denouncing a propagandist received large reward,

and the people were required to prove their orthodoxy by trampling

upon a picture of Christ.

CONTINUATION OF THE FEUDS BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE PORTUGUESE

While the above events were in progress, the disputes between the

Dutch, the Portuguese, and the Spaniards went on without cessation.

In 1636, the Dutch discovered in a captured Portuguese vessel a

report written by the governor of Macao, describing a festival which

had just been held there in honour of Vieyra, who had been martyred

in Japan. The Dutch transmitted this document to the Japanese "in

order that his Majesty may see more clearly what great honour the

Portuguese pay to those he had forbidden his realm as traitors to the

State and to his crown." It does not appear that this accusation

added much to the resentment and distrust against the Portuguese. At

any rate, the Bakufu in Yedo took no step distinctly hostile to

Portuguese laymen until the following year (1637), when an edict was

issued forbidding "any foreigners to travel in the empire lest

Portuguese with passports bearing Dutch names might enter."

THE SHIMABARA REVOLT

At the close of 1637, there occurred a rebellion, historically known

as the "Christian Revolt of Shimabara," which put an end to Japan's

foreign intercourse for over two hundred years. The Gulf of Nagasaki

is bounded on the west by the island of Amakusa and by the promontory

of Shimabara. In the early years of Jesuit propagandism in Japan,

Shimabara and Amakusa had been the two most thoroughly Christianized

regions, and in later days they were naturally the scene of the

severest persecutions. Nevertheless, the people might have suffered

in silence, as did their fellow believers elsewhere, had they not

been taxed beyond endurance to supply funds for an extravagant

feudatory. Japanese annalists, however, relegate the taxation

grievance to an altogether secondary place, and attribute the revolt

solely to the instigation of five samurai who led a roving life to

avoid persecution for their adherence to Christianity. Whichever

version be correct, it is certain that the outbreak attracted all the

Christians from the surrounding regions, and was officially regarded

as a Christian rising. The Amakusa insurgents passed over from that

island to Shimabara, and on the 27th of January, 1638, the whole

body--numbering, according to some authorities, twenty thousand

fighting men with thirteen thousand women and children; according to

others, little more than one-half of these figures--took possession

of the dilapidated castle of Kara, which stood on a plateau with

three sides descending one hundred feet perpendicularly to the sea

and with a swamp on the fourth side.

The insurgents fought under flags inscribed with red crosses and

their battle cries were "Jesus," "Maria," and "St. Iago." They

defended the castle successfully against repeated assaults until the

12th of April, when, their provisions and their ammunition alike

being exhausted, they were overwhelmed and put to the sword, with the

exception of 105 prisoners. During this siege the Dutch gave

practical proof of their enmity to the Christianity of the Spaniards

and Portuguese. For, the guns in the possession of the besiegers

being too light to accomplish anything effective, application was

made to Koeckebacker, the Dutch factor at Hirado, to lend ships

carrying heavier metal. He complied by despatching the De Ryp, and

her twenty guns threw 426 shots into the castle in fifteen days.

There has been handed down a letter carried by an arrow from the

castle to the besiegers. It was not an appeal for mercy but a simple

enumeration of reasons:--

"For the sake of our people we have now resorted to this castle. You

will no doubt think that we have done this with the hope of taking

lands and houses. Such is by no means the case. It is simply because

Christianity is not tolerated as a distinct sect, which is well known

to you. Frequent prohibitions have been published by the shogun, to

our great distress. Some among us there are who consider the hope of

future life as of the highest importance. For these there is no

escape. Because they will not change their religion they incur

various kinds of severe punishments, being inhumanly subjected to

shame and extensive suffering, till at last for their devotion to the

Lord of Heaven, they are tortured to death. Others, even men of

resolution, solicitous for the sensitive body and dreading the

torture, have, while hiding their grief, obeyed the royal will and

recanted. Things continuing in this state, all the people have united

in an uprising in an unaccountable and miraculous manner. Should we

continue to live as heretofore and the above laws not be repealed, we

must incur all sorts of punishments hard to be endured; we must, our

bodies being weak and sensitive, sin against the infinite Lord of

Heaven and from solicitude for our brief lives incur the loss of what

we highly esteem. These things fill us with grief beyond endurance.

Hence we are in our present condition. It is not the result of a

corrupt doctrine."

It seems probable that of the remaining Japanese Christians the great

bulk perished at the massacre of Kara. Thenceforth there were few

martyrs, and though Christianity was not entirely extirpated in

Japan, it survived only in remote places and by stealth.

ENGRAVING: NANBAN BELL

ENGRAVING: THE "KAIYO KWAN," THE FIRST WARSHIP OF JAPAN (Built in

Holland for the Tokugawa Feudal Government)