Christianity in Japan

Japanese history has been strongly influenced by foreign ideas and beliefs. In addition to the Chinese writing system, Chinese structure of government and Buddhism, Christianity is a significant import that changed Japan. The Jesuit Francis Xavier introduced Christianity into Japan in 1549. The introduction of Christianity caused many political implications such as the use of Christianity by Jesuit monks to gain influence in Japan, which significantly changed Japanese policy and society.
The introduction of Christianity to Japan was directly connected with Portuguese merchants. In the year 1542 a Portuguese merchant ship was blown to the island of Japan as a result of a typhoon. This event was a landmark event because it led to the introduction of any European nation into Japan. Francis Xavier was a founding member of the Jesuit Order. The Jesuits were an order of Catholics who were highly educated, disciplined, and intelligent who were able to preach their faith in tough areas due to high versatility . The first interaction between the Japanese and Portuguese merchants was historic because it opened the door to European ideas that were new to Asia. The Jesuits were not a passive group of Europeans; rather they were a group with a mission to convert and to spread their culture. In a letter Xavier wrote concerning Japan he describes the Japanese as a heathen population who were prime for his religion. During the time Xavier first discovered Japan, the Christian church was a highly capable organization who wanted to spread their dogma all over the world. The goal of spreading revelation to a new culture of people unaccustomed to European ways was an incredibly ambitious and arduous task. Xavier’s ambitions and enthusiasm led to other Jesuits to come to Japan. In 1551, Xavier left Japan to return to Goa, India leaving behind a small but dedicated group of missionaries including Alexander Valignano, who later played a large role in the Christian influence in Japan.

The first significant form of political power gained by the Christians was the patronage of provincial warlords who supported the Jesuits and offered them protection. The reason for the offering of protection was the ambition of the Japanese lords who wanted to establish trading connections with Europeans. If a warlord established connections with a European power that gave them an edge over their Japanese rivals and an exclusive percent of profits that were gained through trade. Another reason for the warlord’s interest was a way to weaken enemies who were Buddhists. Before the Christians fully understood the impact that religion played in politics and power, the Japanese knew from the beginning. The province of Kyushu was a place where the Jesuits gained the most support. When the Portuguese and Christians arrived in Japan, both southern and northern Kyushu were in states of turmoil and conflict between competing warlords. The conflict between different lords and the overload was a key factor in getting the Christians accepted into Japan. The reason why this conflict was significant was that there was not a central authority. Japan during the late 16th century was broken up into many provinces. The missionaries who came to Japan were accepted because the ruling class thought it would help them establish trade ties with the Europeans. An example of turmoil can be seen in southern Kyushu, when the provincial lord daimyo Shimazu Takahisa (1514-71) asserted his independence from the overload. The daimyo Shimazu Takahisa’s support is solely based on the fact that he thought patronage of the Christians would provide him with connections with the European merchants and he thought that the connection would bring Portuguese ships to his harbor. Unfortunately for the Shimazu Takahisa, the Portuguese decided to use a different harbor resulting in a ban on any future Christian conversions in his province. This actions shows that Christianity was a means to a profitable ends to Japanese rulers, rather than a purly religious element. The action of Shimazu Takahisa shows how important the Christian mission in Japan was so directly associated with European business. At the beginning of the Christian enterprise the Jesuits were not well received because of the nature of their message, which was new and complicated . The Jesuits learned religion could be used as a tool to gaining favor with the Europeans. Later the Christians would learn the lesson that the key to success was political influence and power.

The Christians began to understand the potential assistance a patron would supply in the spread of Christianity after the failure with the lord Shimazu Takahisa. When considered, the Jesuits determined that the power lies with provincial, not national authorities. The Jesuits took this lesson to heart and the next two patrons were vital in the success of the Jesuits. The first important patron was Ouchi Yoshitaka. When Xavier investigated the politics of Japan he realized that provincial authorities had more power than national authorities. Xavier knew that in addition to a message one had to have gifts and credential to succeed in Japan. Xavier wished to gain patronage from Ouchi Yoshitaka because Xavier understood that Ouchi was the most powerful prince in Japan. Xavier spent four months with Ouchi Yoshitaka, ending in April 1551. The visit went well because Xavier, being the intelligent missionary that he was, came with credentials from the highest authority in Portuguese India: letters of recommendation, exotic gifts and dressed in a beautiful costume. Xavier’s suavity paid off and Ouchi Yoshitaka was greatly impressed.

The patronage of Ouchi Yoshitaka was a milestone in the success of Christianity through political ties. Yoshitaka publicly gave permission to the Jesuits to preach to the Japanese people and encourage them to embrace the new religion. Yoshitaka had control over ten domains in Japan stretching from the east at Bingo to the west at Hizen. This patronage was very influential because it was the first time a Japanese official publicly accepted the outsiders into their country. According to historical accounts, Yoshitaka himself was a very enlightened and intellectual man. The openness of Yoshitaka signified the influence the Jesuits would soon have in Japan. The patronage ended, however, when Ouchi Yoshitaka committed suicide in September 1551 during an internal conflict over power. Due to the success the Jesuit missionaries had with the patronage of Ouchi Yoshitaka, it was clear that Christian success depended on future patronage from important daimyo.

Otomo Yoshishige was the next daimyo who was a great patron to the Jesuit missionaries. Yoshishige, also known as Sorin, was like Yoshitaka in his intellectual pursuits and cultural pursuits. Sorin’s purpose in giving patronage to the Jesuits was a way to establish himself and spread his influence within Japan with his ties to the European powers. Sorin desperately wanted to forge a strong relationship between himself and Portugal, which can be seen in letters that Sorin wrote to the European country even after Portuguese ships stopped using his ports. Finally in 1578, Sorin was baptized into the Christian faith and provided the missionaries with a refuge at Funai. Funai became the headquarters of Christian missionaries in Japan. The support of Sorin spread the Jesuit’s message and legitimacy as far as Kyoto, the new capital of Japan. Sorin’s patronage led to the shogunate to accept the Jesuits.

An example of the Jesuits success in politics was the acquirement of the colony of Nagasaki. The Christians had been involved the area since 1968, but in the year 1573 a new Christian city grew up around the Jesuit stronghold. The city was also a political tool for the Christians in their goal of Christianizing Japan. A famous Jesuit Dom Bartolomeu ordered that all inhabitants of the city become Christians and be baptized into the faith or leave. The political hand was enforced in 1574 when Buddhist shrines and Buddhist temples were destroyed. During this show of the Christian strength, sixty- thousand people converted to the Christian faith. The Jesuit province of Nagasaki caused a political firestorm between the Christians and their Japanese rivals. Ultimately, the Jesuits maintained control based on their favor with local lords. The significance of Nagasaki is not the fact that ultimately the Christians were still dependent on the local rulers, but the fact that the area was given to them officially. The colony of Nagasaki was proof of the political power the Christians were able to gain in Japan, which led to anti-Christian sentiments.

The first political adversary of the Christians was Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi was on a campaign to consolidate his power. On April 8, 1587, Hideyoshi set out on his Kyushu Expedition. This expedition was a campaign to gain all of southwestern Japan under his control. On July 24, 1587, Hideyoshi issued his first anti-Christian edict renouncing and condemning the religion called Tensho 15.6.19. The edict states that “Japan is the Land of the Gods” which was a strong stance against the monotheistic doctrine of Christianity. Hideyoshi states that he believes the Christians were stirring up the lower classes by the Jesuits and ordered the missionaries out of Japan within twenty days. This edict was the first national doctrine denoucing Christianity. The motives of Hideyoshi are mixed. Some historians stress the edicts as a pragmatic approach to gaining his own political power. A possible motive for the edict was his wish for a unified state under a central authority. Hideyoshi had fought against Pure Land Buddhist rivals as well as the Jesuit Christians in his quest for power.

Another motivation for his edict was his concern and disapproval over forced conversions to Christianity. Hideyoshi declared the day before the edict “That enfeoffed recipients of provinces, districts, and estates should force the peasants of Buddhist temples (jian no hykusho), as well as others of their tenantry, against their will into the ranks of the sectarians of the Bateren (padres) is unreasonable beyond words and is outrageous” shows his disdain for the Christian practices. Hideyoshi’s statement implies that he was simply disturbed by this foreign religion forcing his countrymen to convert. A third motivation in the anti-Christian edict may have been that many lords of his own class rank were converting to Christianity. There were many converts of upperclass citizens in Kyushu including daiymo Dom Justo Takayama. Takayama was famous for his forced conversions in the Kansai area and his relentless destruction of native Japanese cultural practices and symbols.

The initial result of Hideyoshi’s edict was a lack of action. Hideyoshi did not enforce his edict. The missionaries were allowed to carry out their mission and were not made to leave the country. At the beginning, some churches were destroyed but nothing drastic happened. Ironically, the reason for the edict is what may have helped the Jesuits maintain their position in Japan for some time. The power the Jesuits had as intermediaries between Portuguese traders and the Japanese was not lost on Hideyoshi.

The event that pushed anti-Christian action in Japan further was the arrival of another Christian group called the Franciscans. Like before, a ship brought these new missions to Japan. In October of 1596, the San Felipe, a Spanish ship was shipwrecked off the coast of Shikoku. The introduction of the new Christians brought on a new wave of rivalries for both Japanese lords and the Jesuits themselves. The rivalry between Spain and Portugal was played out between the Jesuits and Franciscans in Japan because the crown of their mother country sponsored each group. At the beginning of their induction to Japan the rivalry between the two was manifested by the Franciscans in the form of a devout enthusiasm to convert the Japanese people. When the San Felipe shipwrecked it caused Hideyoshi to take further action against all Christians and executed six Franciscans missionaries, three Jesuits, and seventeen Japanese people. In February of 1597 Hideyoshi persecuted more Christians marking the first of the Christian martyrs in Japan.

Hideyoshi’s edicts were carried out by his successor to power daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa period Japan is known as the most difficult time in Japan for Christians. This period was when the first large-scale general persecution of Christians took place. Many Christians defied the bakafu and tried to keep Christianity alive. Forty-seven missionaries, including twenty-seven Jesuits, refused to leave Japan. Many of these Christians evaded the authority and worked underground. On January 27, 1614 Ieyasu officially ordered an edict banning Christianity in Japan. Everyone in Japan was required to a ember of one of the major Buddhist sects and records were kept of peoples’ religious affiliation. It is believed that there were from 300,000 to 700,000 Christians in Japan when the edict was issued. Those who did not leave the country or renounce Christianity as their religion were burned to death.

The Christian influence would soon be halted even more when the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu came to power. Iemitsu came to power in 1623, and was an even more cold blooded than anyone before him often holding Christian torture sessions himself. Iemitsu used various forms of torture on the Christians ranging from water, fire, mutilation, and hanging into a pit, head first. Those Christians who refused to renounce their faith were executed . Often before execution, they we put in jail where they had to suffer hunger, diseases, and filth among many other hardships. Iemitsu perfected his anti-Christian bakafu system during this time. On the inside, the bakafu asserted its supremacy by erasing all forms of Christianity as a way to assert their social control over the country. Priests were hunted down and Portuguese traders who sympathized with the Christians were banned from the country.

The climax of the anti-Christian campaign was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-1638, involving Christians from Shimbara Peninsula and surrounding areas to stand up against the tortuous hands of the Tokugawa regime. It started out as a rebellion against taxes but soon took on a religious hue. The rebellion spread to other areas and gained support form local lords. The participants of the rebellions seiged the outside of the bakafu’s cattle’s but were driven to starvation and then killed. The most important thing about the Shimabara Rebellions was its consequences. The rebellion led to restrictions with the outside world, Japanese could no longer go abroad and the Europeans who could come into Japan were severely limited. All books from the west were banned to prevent Christian ideas from coming into the country. The closing of Japan was important because the country remained closed until the arrival of Europeans two and a half centuries later.

The massive political upheavals and actions against the Christians were a result of the influence they had on the Japanese society. The influence the Jesuits gained was through intelligent and controversial connections with provincial warlords. Later in the century, the Jesuits had done such a good job of converting as many people to Christianity and gaining political control, they were persecuted as treacherous. Christianity when used as a tool of conversion and political strength in Japan were strong enough to cause the national authority to start a campaign against them. It is ironic that the Jesuits, and later the Franciscans, were so effective that it was a block in their mission.