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The Jesuits
Luís Fróis
He was the historian of the Jesuits. He wrote all the lengthy reports about Japan. Every year, the Jesuits wrote a report about what they had done in Japan, about the political situation of Japan and all the Christian communities in all the places, especially in Kyushu. And that was a very lengthy report. It was mostly over 100 pages every year. And those reports are very valuable, because Fróis wrote too much for the liking of his superiors. He said, it's too much, you have to make it more compact. But because of all those reports, we have vivid impressions of what Japan was like at the time, and also all kinds of political developments within Japan.[1]
And they also had a problem that after a while you have [Francisco] Cabral, you have [Gaspar] Coelho, so two Jesuits who became the head of the Japan sector. And they weren't very keen to adopt Japanese customs. They wanted to be as strictly Jesuits as in Europe. So they already have a problem from the Jesuit side and many like Vilela or Fróis were more inclined to adopt Japanese customs. But the heads of the provincials, as they call them, were against that.[1]
So you had, for example, Oda Nobunaga, which showed great familiarity to the Christians, to for example, Fróis, who he invited in Kyoto in Gifu Castle and showed him around in the castle. So it was very positively inclined towards the Christians, but still he never adopted the Christian faith himself.[1]
Imperial Court
Michihito, Emperor Ōgimachi
I think that was one difference between Yoshiaki and say the imperial court, the Emperor Ogimachi at this time, it had been well established by this point that the Emperor was, you know, the head of the imperial court and the sovereign of the nation. But normal day to day political power was delegated to you know, some sort of warrior governing body, one of the previous shogunates or so forth. So that sort of conflict was not present with the imperial court.[2]
The Ikko-ikki finally surrenders through the agency of the Court, the court noble is sent by the emperor to broker a settlement and a surrender by the Ishiyama Hongan-ji, which ends that.[2]
So the Emperor [Michihito, Emperor Ōgimachi] was still rather broke. The Emperor throughout centuries was very often very poor, and very often just basically getting pocket money from whoever is in power, but still had respect and was still officially descended from the Sun Goddess, the most respected person in the entire land. So Nobunaga then gave the Emperor lots of money and furnished the Imperial Palace made it good. So he gave himself legitimacy as a ruler by helping out the Emperor.[3]
Jesuit relations
Anjirō
And there [India] he [Francis Xavier] met with a Japanese called Anjiro, probably his real name was Yajiro, and he told him about Japan and also some Portuguese merchants who had gone to Japan told him that that will be the country where you really are going to get a lot of people converted to Christianity.[1]
Xavier first met with Anjiro and this guy could speak Portuguese and he learned a lot of languages. He went to the Seminario in Goa, so he became very proficient in the Christian faith.[1]
So afterwards, he went back from Kyoto. He got back to Hirado, where he put on very expensive clothes and then went again to the court of Ōuchi. And then he was received very well. He also gave a lot of presents, which he had brought from Portugal. And Ōuchi was very policed with that and gave permission for the Jesuits to preach their gospel in his domains. So there, Xavier saw how he had to arrange the missionary work in Japan. [1]
Shimaze Takahisa
when Xavier came in Japan, he landed in Satsuma, Kagoshima, which is in the southern part of the Kyushu island, and you had a warlord there, Shimaze Takahisa, and he welcomed Xavier very much because he had a motive. If the Jesuits would come, he thought the Portuguese merchants would follow. So he treated Xavier very well and he gave him permission to preach the Gospel in his domains, but after a year, no Portuguese ship arrived, so then he prohibited Christianity and Xavier was compelled to go to another domain[1]
Matsura Takanobu
ut after a year, no Portuguese ship arrived, so then he prohibited Christianity and Xavier was compelled to go to another domain, which was the Hilado domain of Matsura Takanobu, and just at that time there was a Portuguese vessel there. And when the Portuguese saw the Jesuits, so Xavier and his companions, they greeted them with utmost respect. And Takanobu saw that, so he thought, okay, I have to treat them also with respect so that the Portuguese traders could come, because those Portuguese traders, they got a lot of products.[1]
in Hirado, when some Japanese became Christians, they became quite aggressive against the Buddhists. So you got internal strife in the Hirado domain, and that was the reason why Takanobu prohibited Christianity from then on.[1]
Ōuchi Yoshitaka
So afterwards, he went back from Kyoto. He got back to Hirado, where he put on very expensive clothes and then went again to the court of Ōuchi. And then he was received very well. He also gave a lot of presents, which he had brought from Portugal. And Ōuchi was very policed with that and gave permission for the Jesuits to preach their gospel in his domains.[1]
Ōtomo Yoshishige
You have, for example, Ōtomo Yoshishige, who became a Christian after a long time. But he was very well disposed against the Jesuits. You have other people like Takayama Ukon, who became a very fervent Christian and all his samurai also. So they were very fond of them, and they listened to the Jesuits. They asked them a lot about politics, how they could manage this or that issue. So the Jesuits got a lot of influence with some warlords and also with a lot of the peasants and the lower ranked people. So they really had some success, success that they didn't experience in other countries.[1]
And you had Otomo, which was a very powerful clan in the east of Kyushu. And then you had in the southwest, you had the Shimazu. And Otomo was losing against the Shimazu. So he asked Hideyoshi to intervene.[1]
Takayama Ukon
You have other people like Takayama Ukon, who became a very fervent Christian and all his samurai also. So they were very fond of them, and they listened to the Jesuits. They asked them a lot about politics, how they could manage this or that issue. So the Jesuits got a lot of influence with some warlords and also with a lot of the peasants and the lower ranked people. So they really had some success, success that they didn't experience in other countries.[1]
And at the same night [that Toyotomi banned the Jesuits], Takayama Ukon, who was a fervent Christian warlord, was deprived of all his domains and eventually banished.[1]
Ōmura Sumitada
Gaspar Vilela is one who stands out. He was a very keen propagator of the Christian faith, and he could convert some warlords to Christianity. One of them was Omura Sumitada, who eventually would give a port to the Jesuits, which was called Nagasaki.[1]
And a lot of Buddhist temples were destroyed, especially in Omura, which was the domain of Omura Sumitada, who was a fervent Christian. So he just lets the Christians do what they wanted. And some Japanese began to dislike the Christians. So he got more and more opposition when they became more and more Christians.[1]