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Oratio Story (1)

The Arrival and Flourishing of Christianity

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History

1543 Introduction of firearms from Portugal. First contact of Japanese and Western cultures.
1549 Francis Xavier lands in Kagoshima.
1550 First Portuguese ship arrives in Hirado, launching the nanban trade. Christianity comes to the Nagasaki region.
1563 Ōmura Sumitada is baptized at Yokoseura.
1571 Port of Nagasaki opens.
1579 Alessandro Valignano comes to Japan.
1580 Nagasaki is ceded to the Jesuits.
1580 Arima Harunobu is baptized in Hinoe Castle.
1580 Seminary is established in Arima.
1582 The Tenshō embassy leaves Nagasaki.
1584 The Tenshō embassy has an audience with the King of Spain.
1584 Arima Harunobu donates Urakami to the Jesuits.
1585 Tenshō embassy has audiences with two popes.
1587 Edict to expel Christian fathers is issued.
1597 Twenty-six Catholics, including six foreign missionaries, are martyred.
1603 The Tokugawa shogunate takes power.
1614 The Tokugawa shogunate issues edict banning Christianity.
1637 The Shimabara Rebellion breaks out.
1644 The last missionary in Japan is martyred, leaving the country without any priests.

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  • Christianity Brings Japan and Europe Together

    Portugal began to project its power around the world in the mid-fifteenth century. By the end of that century, it had begun moving into Asia in search of bases for trade; it reached Southeast Asia around the middle of the sixteenth century.

    The Society of Jesus (founded with the approval of Pope Paul III in 1540) dispatched missionaries to India in response to a request from the King of Portugal. Their mission was to launch propagation efforts from their Goa base. Francis Xavier, one of the Jesuit missionaries, had a chance encounter with a Japanese man in Malacca, another Portuguese trading hub. Their conversations inspired Xavier to take his religious message to Japan, and he arrived at Kagoshima in 1549. This was the start of the relationship between Japan and Europe, centered around Christianity.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • Christianity Spreads in Hirado, Nagasaki and Arima

    Xavier made his way up from Kagoshima, where he had landed, to the capital, Kyō (modern-day Kyoto). On his way, he preached at Hirado and Yamaguchi, winning over many believers to his cause. A stream of missionaries were to follow him to Japan, leading to the spread of Christianity.

    Trade between Japan and Portugal—sometimes referred to as the nanban trade—got underway when a Portuguese vessel dropped anchor in Hirado in 1550. As the Nagasaki region served as Japan’s gateway to trade with East Asia, Portuguese ships started to arrive in increasing numbers, often bringing Jesuit missionaries along with their cargo. It was from the trading ports like Hirado, Nagasaki, and Arima that Christianity spread to other areas of Japan.

    The Japanese showed a keen interest in Western culture, which was so different from anything they had known before. As they learned more about Christian doctrines, they also developed a deeper grasp of the religion.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • Arima Flourishes as a Base for Christian Missionaries

    At the time, Japan was divided into multiple fiefdoms controlled by feudal lords known as daimyo. While many daimyo in and around the Kyushu region welcomed the missionaries because of the opportunities for commercial gain, others became stalwart believers in the new religion. Those feudal lords who converted to Christianity and did their best to help the missionaries with the work of propagation are referred to as Christian daimyo. The four best-known in Kyushu were Ōmura Sumitada, Arima Harunobu, Ōtomo Sōrin, and Konishi Yukinaga.

    When Father Alessandro Valignano, the Jesuit Visitor overseeing all the order’s activities in Asia, came to Japan for the first time in 1579, he met Arima Harunobu, the daimyo of the Nagasaki region. Valignano converted Harunobu and baptized him at Hinoe Castle, the seat of the Arima clan. Harunobu continued to welcome missionaries even after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 1587 edict to expel the Christian fathers, and the province of Arima prospered as a base for the propagation of Christianity.

    Many people living in the domains of the Christian daimyo followed in their masters’ footsteps and converted to Christianity. Many churches were built in the Nagasaki region; seminaries and colleges opened in Arima and Nagasaki, Urakami, and Amakusa; and European culture, in the form of painting, music and printing, began to spread.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • The Four Members of the Tenshō Embassy Have an Audience with the Pope

    The Jesuit Visitor Alessandro Valignano came up with the idea of sending a mission from Japan to Europe. In 1582, the Tenshō embassy, which consisted of four young students from a seminary in Arima, set out from Nagasaki. Traveling via Macao, Goa, and the Cape of Good Hope, the embassy eventually arrived in Lisbon and went on to meet with Philip II, the king of Spain, and two popes, Gregory XIII and Sixtus V.

    After 1571, there were many European merchants and missionaries living in Nagasaki, which had become a hub thanks to the trade brought by Portuguese ships. In 1580, the Christian daimyo Ōmura Sumitada ceded Nagasaki to the Jesuits, who administered the city for the next seven years. More than 10 churches were built in the center of the city at this time.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • Creating an Organizational Structure to Spread the New Faith

    The missionaries’ preferred method for securing converts worked like this: First, they would expound the teachings of Christianity to the local daimyo and get him to convert; then, through him, they would get his retainers and the general populace to convert en masse. If the daimyo proved unwilling, the missionaries would shower him with gifts from Europe until they secured permission to proselytize in his domain.

    The missionaries active in Kyushu, Yamaguchi, and Kinai (territories in the vicinity of the capital), would select a small number of people from the most influential residents of the towns and villages where they preached and appoint them as leaders of the faith. In this way, they were able to create a self-sustaining organization that could keep the faith going without their presence. These local groups were known as misericordia, and they continued to operate even after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s 1587 edict to expel the Christian fathers. In the provinces of Arima, Ōmura, and Amakusa, brotherhoods known as confraria were also set up to maintain and reinforce the faith.

    Thanks to these vigorous efforts, Valignano was able to detach the operations of the Society of Jesus from the Goa missionary district, making Japan into a quasi-ecclesiastical province divided into the three dioceses of Ximo (present-day Arima and Nagasaki), Bungo (present-day Beppu and Ōita), and Miaco (present day Kyoto). With this system, the Jesuits were able to compile detailed reports, not just on the spread of Christianity but on Japanese politics and society, which were dispatched every year to the order’s headquarters in Rome.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • The Edict Banning Christianity and the Shimabara Rebellion

    In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the effective ruler of Japan, promulgated edicts to expel the Christian fathers and limit the propagation of Christianity. At the same time, he took direct control of Nagasaki, which Ōmura Sumitada had ceded to the Jesuits in 1580. In 1597, Hideyoshi ordered the crucifixion of 26 Catholics, including six foreign missionaries, at Nishizaka in Nagasaki. Those killed are now known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan. Despite all this, Hideyoshi’s eagerness to keep trading with the Europeans, meant that his ban on Christianity was never implemented very thoroughly, and the Europeans’ missionary work continued.

    After Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, the number of Japanese Catholics started to increase. His successor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo-based Tokugawa shogunate, also started out by tolerating Christianity in a bid to keep trade going. It is reckoned that at its peak there were more than 300,000 Catholics in Japan.

    When establishing the shogunate’s feudal system, however, Ieyasu came out with his own edict banning Christianity in 1614. The missionaries were driven out of Japan to Macao and Manila, churches were destroyed, and a wave of repression led many Japanese Catholics to renounce their faith. But even after the missionaries had left the country, there remained people who secretly kept the faith.

    This was the backdrop for the 1637 Shimabara Rebellion, when the people of Shimabara and Amakusa, driven by famine and the tyrannical behavior of their local lord, revolted. Hara Castle was the final battleground, where more than 20,000 rebels stood against a shogunate force of some 120,000 men. Eventually, the shogun’s forces exterminated the rebels and demolished Hara Castle. Excavations at the site have unearthed many medals and crosses that belonged to the Christians in the rebel force. The shogunal authorities saw the uprising as a Christian rebellion, and ratcheted up the level of repression. Christianity in Japan was about to enter a dark era.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

  • Despite Forced Conversion to Buddhism, Many Hidden Christians Maintain Their Faith

    The Shimabara Rebellion was a shock to the shogunate. In 1639, it adopted a policy of isolation, completely banning Portuguese ships from Japanese ports. The Protestant Dutch, who were hostile to the Catholics, replaced the Portuguese as Japan’s trading partners, though they were made to relocate their trading post from Hirado to Dejima, a man-made island in Nagasaki, in 1641.

    Between 1617 and 1644, 75 missionaries and more than 1,000 Japanese Catholics were executed. Repression was intensifying all the time, with the shogunate working to uncover believers by forcing them to trample on religious pictures, medals, and other articles of devotion (a practice known as efumi or ebumi). Another method of control was forcing them to convert to Buddhism and registering their names in religious census books, so temples would have to manage them. Despite this, many continued to believe in secret.

    With the ban being enforced ever more strictly, 10 missionaries who had slipped into Japan were captured in 1642 and 1643. When Konishi Mansho—supposedly the last Catholic priest in the country—was martyred in 1644, the contact between missionaries and the Japanese people that Xavier had initiated finally came to an end. Thanks, however, to the Hidden Christians secretly continuing with their faith, the flame he had lit was never completely extinguished, and the European influence lingered on.

    © Shoji Yoshitaka

Related persons and terms（By hovering your mouse pointer over an item, explanation of the item are displayed.）

Arima Harunobu

［Arima Harunobu］ Arima Harunobu, the feudal lord of the Hizen Arima clan, succeeded to head of the family in 1571 and resided at Hinoe Castle. In 1580, he was baptized by Valignano and became a Kirishitan Daimyo (Christian feudal lord.) In 1582, he sent his cousin Chijiwa Miguel as a member of the first Japanese embassy to Europe, known as the Tensho embassy. In 1587, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi proclaimed the expulsion of Christian priests, Harunobu protected missionaries in his territory.

Society of Jesus

［Society of Jesus］ The Society of Jesus is a Catholic order approved by the Pope. It was founded by Francis Xavier and companions in 1534.

Alessandro Valignano

［Alessandro Valignano］ Alessandro Valignano, as the Visitator General for all the Eastern missions of the Society of Jesus, led the early Christian community in Japan. He visited Japan three times from 1579. On his second visit to Japan in 1590 as an official Ambassador of the Viceroy of India, he had an audience with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, accompanied by the Tensho Embassy (the first Japanese embassy to Europe) which returned to Japan. In his mission to Japan, he showed innovative policies including adapting to Japanese customs and establishing educational institutions such as seminaries.

Efumi

［Efumi］ E-Bumi is a method used to search for suspected Kirishitans (Christians), and force them to apostatize, by stepping on holy images, medals, crosses, etc., during the period of the ban on Christianity. The pictures or images stepped on were called Fumi-e (tread pictures.)

Otomo Sorin

［Otomo Sorin］ Otomo Sorin, the feudal lord of the Bungo province, protected Kirishitans (Christians), after having met with Francis Xavier during his visit to Japan in 1551. In 1559, Sorin was appointed as Kyushu Tandai, the local commissioner having jurisdiction and command authority ofover the Kyushu region. In 1578, he was baptized and became a Kirishitan Daimyo (Christian feudal lord.)

Omura Sumitada

［Omura Sumitada］ Omura Sumitada, the feudal lord of the Omura clan in the Hizen province, was adopted from the Arima family and succeeded to head of the Omura family in 1550. In 1561, he opened Yokoseura port in his territory to Portuguese ships. He was baptized and became the first Kirishitan Daimyo (Christian feudal lord) in Japan.

Konishi Yukinaga

［Konishi Yukinaga］ Konishi Yukinaga, born in Sakai, was baptized at an early age. After serving the Ukita clan, he became a direct vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. As Marshal of the Ships, he controlled the navy and was the most potent Kirishitan Daimyo (Christian feudal lord.) He was on the front line during the invasions of Korea, but was defeated and executed at the Battle of Sekigahara after returning to Japan.

Collegio

［Collegio］ The Collegio refers to a school for the training of clergy, founded by Valignano, the Visitator General of the Society of Jesus. It offered higher education in theology, religious studies, philosophy, natural sciences, Latin and others.

Confraria

［Confraria］ Confraria was a group or association formed by believers in each community before the ban on Christianity. They devoted their lives to strengthening their faith and providing services. During the hidden period, the underground organizations of Kirishitans were based on these groups or associations.

Francis Xavier

［Francis Xavier］ Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, landed in Kagoshima in 1549. He introduced Christianity to Japan for the first time. The following year, he arrived in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture.

Jihi-no-kumi (Misericordia)

［Jihi-no-kumi (Misericordia) ］ The Misericordia, also known as Jihi-no-kumi, was a sodality that served to help the sick and the poor in the spirit of Christianity. Its headquarters was in Nagasaki. In Japanese, it was called the Jihi-no-Kumi (Mercy Group) or Jihi-Ya (Mercy House.) The group was a forerunner of Japan's charitable programs.

Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion

［Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion］ The Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion was an uprising caused by an alliance of peasants in the southern part of Shimabara Peninsula and Amakusa Islands from 1637 to 1638. More than 20,000 people joined the rebel forces, with Amakusa Shiro as their commander-in-chief. They fought barricaded themselves in Hara Castle but were suppressed by the Shogunate forces.

Religious order

［Religious order］ A religious order is an association of people who have come together with the same goal of devoting their lives to God. There are men's and women's religious orders.

Martyrdom

［Martyrdom］ Martyrdom is the act of choosing death and giving one's life to God rather than abandoning Christian faith and morals.

Senpuku Kirishitan

［Senpuku Kirishitan］ Senpuku Kirishitan (hidden Christians) lived ostensibly as Buddhists during the ban on Christianity but secretly carried on their faith.

Baptism

［Baptism］ Baptism is a Christian rite of admission and adoption into Christianity, and receiving a baptismal name (Christian name) such as "Mary" or "Francis."

Oppression

［Oppression］ Repression is the suppression of an activity by a ruler through power. In the history of Christianity, repression refers to religious persecution using various means to compel people to quit or abandon their faith.

Dejima

［Dejima］ Dejima (exit island) was an artificial island built in Nagasaki harbor in 1636 to house the Portuguese who came to Japan for segregation. After the Portuguese were expelled in 1639, the Dutch trading post was relocated there from Hirado in 1641.

Tensho embassy to Europe

［Tensho embassy to Europe］ In 1582, four Japanese boys (Ito Mancio, Chijiwa Miguel, Nakaura Jurião, and Hara Martinho) were dispatched to Europe as the Tensho embassy on behalf of Omura Sumitada, Otomo Sorin, and Arima Harunobu, all Kirishitan Daimyos (Christian feudal lords.) Those boys had studied at the Arima Seminary, founded by an Italian priest, Father Valignano. They received a great welcome, including an audience with the Pope. They returned to Japan in 1590 after learning about Western music and printing techniques.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

［Tokugawa Ieyasu］ Tokugawa Ieyasu was born as the eldest son of the Matsudaira clan, the lords of Okazaki Castle. He allied with Oda Nobunaga and later became a vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Hideyoshi's death, he won the battle of Sekigahara and became the Shogun (a hereditary commander-in-chief in feudal Japan.) Although he was initially tolerant of Kirishitans (Christians), the Okamoto Daihachi Case in which Christians shook the feudal system led him to institute the policy banning on Christianity after 1612.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

［Toyotomi Hideyoshi］ Toyotomi Hideyoshi, born in Owari province, was a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga after his death and established a unified government in Japan. In 1587, he decreed Bateren Tsuihorei (Edict expelling Jesuit missionaries), but it was was incomplete because he allowed the Nanban boeki (trade among Japan, Europe, and East to South East Asia.) In 1597, six Franciscans and twenty Japanese Kirishitans (Christians) were executed at Nishizaka in Nagasaki (Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan.)

Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan

［Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan］ The Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan was the first martyrdom case in Japan. People were executed for their Christian faith by the authority of the time. Twenty-six believers were arrested in Kyoto, Osaka, and other cities; were made to walk to Nagasaki; and were executed at Nishizaka on February 5, 1597. The event caused a great sensation in Europe, and the twenty-six were later canonized as saints.

Bateren

［Bateren］ Bateren refers to the clergy, including priests and missionaries, when Christianity was introduced to Japan. The word is derived from the Portuguese word padre.

Order of Friars Minor

［Order of Friars Minor］ The Order of Friars Minor is a Catholic order approved by the Pope, founded in Italy in the 13th century by Saint Francis of Assisi and eleven of his comrades.

Médaille

［Médaille］ A médaille is a medal-like holy object that believers hold so as to be protected by the Virgin Mary and the saints.

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