3634510

Early Japanese Isolationism
Author(s): Gustav Voss

Source: Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1945), pp. 13-35
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3634510
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EarlyJapaneseIsolationism
GUSTAV VOSS, S.J.
"THE LEITMOTIVOfnearlyall writingon Japan fordecades was a note of breath-
into a modernstate
less wonderat the 'miracle' of Japan's transformation
decadeof
and societyin fifty
years."'Europeanslivingin Japanduringthefirst
the seventeenthcenturycould and did admirea similarlyastonishingtransformation.They wereimpressedby theeagernessand skillwithwhichJapan
years.
adoptedWesternideas and techniquesin thesameshortperiodof fifty
The pace, of course,was not so rapid as in the last century,and the results
achievedlook small in modem perspective.They were not small,however,
if seen againstthe backgroundof sixteenthcenturyFar Eastern-Occidental
relations.Japaneseintercoursewiththe West was limitedto a fewseafaring
countriesand was severelyhamperedby theirambitiouscolonialpoliciesand
unscrupulousmethodsofcutthroatcompetitionforthe lucrativeFar Eastern
trade.Furthermore,
travelwas slow and hazardous,and only relativelyfew
on themarket.But in spite
commoditiesand industrialproductswereoffered
of thesehandicapsJapanwas well on herwayto becomea "modernstateand
society"whenshe suddenlyturnedagainsttheWest and choseseclusionand
nationalisolation.
What were her motivesand her reasons?The past is said to explain the
present.And thereis no wayoftellingwhichcoursepresent-day
Japanmight
choose.Of course,she will neveragain returnto thesamerigidisolationthat
retarded,as sherealizestoday,real progressformorethantwohundredyears.
She cannotgo back. Politically,and especiallyeconomically,
Japanis dependenton theworldaroundher.But themotivesand reasonsthatled to theselfimposedseclusionand isolationin 1639 are not altogetherrelicsof the past.
They are still operativetodayand may easilyinfluenceher futuredealings
withtheWest.
The law ofseclusionpassedin 1639 wasJapan'slastand mostdrasticmeasure
of her fightagainstthe Christianmissions.She broke offnearlyall foreign
relationsso as to put a stop to everycontactwithChristianity.
That was the
reason.
But
the
still
remains:
What
induced
her
to go to such
only
question
extremes?
Weremerepoliticalconsiderations
thedecisivemotive,or religious
convictions,or perhapssomethingstillmorefundamental,
somethingclosely
bound up with traditionalideologiesand, consequently,with the national
characterand mentality
ofthepeople?But thenationalcharacterand thementalityofthepeople todayare basicallythesameas in theseventeenth
century,
and thesameideologies,as a strongundercurrent
ofhernationaland cultural
1
Nathaniel Peffer,Basis forPeace in theFar East (New York, 1942), pp. 143f.
['3]
14
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
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life,still influenceand oftendetermine the course of eventsin Japan. The proposed question about the motives for the seclusion, therefore,is quite timely.
It resolves itself,it is true, into a question about the motives for the persecution of Christianity,but the problem, because of its ulterior implications, is
of vital interestboth to the student of profane historyand international relations and to the missiologistand church historian.
The problem is not new. There has been much discussion about the principal causes that led to the persecution of Christianity.Many reasons have been
advanced, forinstance: fear of a militaryinvasion that would reduce Japan to
the stateof a colony; the constantinterminglingof trade,politics,and religion,
an inevitable by-productof the Patronado system; the wily competition for
Japanese markets between the Protestant Netherlands and England on one
side, and the Catholic kingdoms of Spain and Portugal on the other; in addition to this, the rivalry between Portugal and Spain, and even among the
missionaries of the differentorders; and, last but not least, the never-ceasing
enmitybetween Catholicism and the ancient religions of the empire that rallied all theirresourcesin theirfierceand antagonisticfightagainst the intruder
fromabroad.2
FROM JAPANESE SOURCES
In this connection it will be interestingto ascertain what contemporaryJapanese writingshave to say about the question of guilt. Dr. Masaharu Anesaki,
in introducing some semipopular writingscompiled mostlyin the seventeenth
and eighteenthcenturies,points out that
it
.. in the age of national seclusionconsequentupon theShimabarainsurrection,
bothin theofficial
circlesand among
became a dogmatizedimpressionor sentiment,
the people that the Kirishitanreligion was an evil doctrineand its propaganda
nothingbut a meansof conquest.Anycriticismof thispublic sentimentwould have
been regardedalmostas an act of treason,and the dogma was more and more induratedduringthesubsequenttwocenturies."
Dr. Anesaki calls attentionto the harsh sentimentsagainst Christianitythen
prevalent in Japan and explicitly warns against rathercommon exaggerations
2Cf. Ludwig Riess, "Die Ursachen der Vertreibung der Portugiesen aus Japan, 1614-1639,"
Mittheilungender Deutschen GesellschaftfiirNatur und Vilkerkunde Ostasiens,VII (TOkyo,1898),
1-52, hereaftercited as MDGO. Likewise, M. Steichen, The Christian Daimyos [trans. Francis
McCullagh], Tokyt [1904], 277-285; LUon Pages, Histoire de la religion chrdtienneau Japon (Paris,
1869-1870),Vol. II, Nos. 22, 23, 24, 26 (pp. Lo01ff.).
8 Masaharu Anesaki, "Exaggerations in the Japanese Accounts of the Kirishitan Propaganda,"
Proceedingsof the Imperial Academy,IV (T6ky6, 1928), 85. Kirishitan is the Japanese approximation of the Portuguese Christan (Christam).The Chinese charactersare merelyphonetic without
implyingany particular meaning. At first,Kirishitan was used to designate both the Catholic religion and its followers;later, during the persecution,it was used to conveyall kinds of abhorrent
associations.Today it is the usual expression,also in non-Japanesewritings,to cover the Christian
mission, converts,and religion during the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
15
in the writingsof those times,yet in the passage just quoted he sees fitto single
out two reasons for the dislike and hatred of Christianity.First, Christianity
was considered an "evil religion" and, second, its propaganda was thought to
be only a means forsubduing and conquering Japan. In giving these two reasons nothing new is said regarding the question of guilt. Both are repeatedly
mentioned in European records.Yet it is interestingto findthem verifiedand
confirmedby Japanese sources.
The documentation for this twofoldaccusation will formthe main body of
the presentarticle. The material is taken,forthe most part, fromofficialdocuments compiled by the Japanese Inquisition. Among them the Kirishito-ki
(Records of Christians,or, Records of the Christian religion) ranks first.'It is
perhaps the most valuable source material on the mission historyof the seventeenth century extant in Japanese. All its documents are closely connected
with the history and activities of the Inquisition Office (Sh?imon-aratameyaku), erected at Edo (now Toky6) in 1640. This officewas to centralize,
supervise and direct the fightagainst the foreign religion for the whole of
Japan by a persecution which could not easily be surpassed in thoroughness
and methodical procedure. Therefore, the officialsof thisofficehad, as a matter
of fact,the best insightinto the whole situation. Here merged all the channels
of the most accurate informationof what was actually going on. Here the plans
were made which were to be carried out in every province of the country."
Here also, it can be assumed, we will find the most reliable sources for the
motivesand causes leading to a persecution which demanded the greatestsacrificesfromthe whole nation.
The date of the compilation of the Kirishito-kicannot be accurately fixed.
Most of its documents were drawn up, as is evident fromthe text,about 1658.
Some furtherentries have been added, the last however not later than 1670.
This was the period when the violence of the persecution once more reached
itszenith.However,it is notso muchthetimein whichthesedocumentswere
compiled, but rather their author who gives them their unusual significance;
for most of them were writtenpersonally by, or at least under the direct surveillance of, Inoue Chikugo-no-kami,the organizer and firstchief of the Inquisition Office."We can have no better testimony asserting the motives,
inclinations, and aims of the officialJapanese circles regarding Christianity
and foreignpolicy.
4 The referencesin this article to the Kirishito-kiare to the German translation,in Kirishito-ki
und Say6-yoroku,Japanische Dokumente zur Missionsgeschichtedes 17. Jahrhunderts,by Gustav
Voss, S.J.,and Hubert Cieslik, S.J.,Monumenta Nipponica Monographs (Thky6, 1940).
6 Cf. Voss-Cieslik,op. cit., pp. 4 f.; M. Anesaki, "Prosecution of Kirishitansafter the Shimabara
Insurrection,"Monumenta Nipponica, I (T6kyb, 1938), 295 f.,hereaftercited as MN.
6 M. Anesaki, Kirishitan shitmonno hakugai to senpuku (The Exterminationof Kirishitansand
Their Survival) (Taky6, 1926),pp. 39 f.
16
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
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What, then, do we learn from these documents? What were the causes responsible for the persecution and the subsequent policy of seclusion? Several
are mentioned, some veryexplicitlyand in unambiguous terms,others,rather
by implication, the forceof which can be fullygrasped only froman accurate
knowledge of the cultural and social settingof Japanese feudalism at the beginning of the Tokugawa era.
THE
PADRES
CONFESS
Written by the very men who outlawed Christianity,the Kirishito-ki states

over and over again that the work of the foreignmissionaries was considered
a threatto the safetyof the nation and a clever disguise fora political scheme.
This is, at firstglance, the mostemphatic accusation. A rathereloquent account
about the Japanese conception of this threatcan be found in the twelfthchapter which contains some of the "confessions" allegedly made and actually
signed by some of the missionarieswho were the last to come to Japan in 1643:
are buildingshipsand sendingthemall over theworld.In
They [theforeigners]
case theirstrength
is no matchfora certaincountry,theygo and lease one partofit.
They... menace the people and the peasants.As soon as suitable places are found
to live in, theybegin to build fortresses
and send silver,rice, and moneyto their
home-countries.
Finally theylay wastetheland in a waywhichcannotbe described.
Or theybringabout war,kill the people, and conquer the country.Thus theydo
not only intendto spread Catholicism,but also to conquer foreigncountries.And
all thesethingsare carriedout by the orderof the Pope.'
Inoue Chikugo-no-kami,the firstInquistor, sums up in a special Memorandum some of these "confessions," apparently only those which are of a
more political nature. In this paper, writtenin all probability for the higher
authorities,the point in question is brought out more explicitly:
The Pope, thehead of theChristianreligion,livesin Rome, a cityin thecountry
ofItaly.He sendsthepadresout into thewhole worldto spreadChristianity.
When
the convertedcountriesobey the Pope, he finallysendsgovernorsto take over the
administration.In this way he took possessionof New Spain, Lugon, and many
othercountries.Since Japan, too, cannot be conqueredeasilyby means of war,he
sendsthepadresto teachChristianity,
a religionreferring
alwaysto thelifeto come.
As soon, however,as Christianitywill have gained a sufficient
foothold,theywill
forman armyand fightagainstthe otherJapanesereligions,so as to subjugateall
to thePope.8
"ConfessionsWhich Inoue Chikugo-no-kamiMade the Padres Write and Deliver," Voss-Cieslik,
op. cit.,p. 948Memorandum about the Confessionsof the Captured Padres, Lay Brothers,and Catechists.This
is a document complete in itself,dated October 20, 1643; it was obtained fromthe Sokkyo-hen,a
compilation of Japanese writingsconcerningthe Christian era made by historiansof the famous
Mitogaku (Mito school) in 1860. The Sokkyo-henwas never printed as a whole, though some parts
have been published in othercollections.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
17
The Inquisition, moreover, was interested in learning how these schemes

were to be financed, and Inoue, in his Memorandum, reports the following
information:
The expensesof the different
sectsare all enteredin a book. As soon as Japan
will be subjectedto the Pope, thoughmanyhundredyearsmay pass by,theabovementionedexpenditureswill be collectedbyorderoftheheads ofthedifferent
sects.
As long as the world exists,theyare firmly
resolvedto go on sendingmissionaries
so as to propagateChristianityand conquer Japan."
The statementsin these pretended "confessions" are clear in every detail.
They certainly were an ideal weapon in the hand of the Inquisition. What,
however,is theirorigin?
ORIGIN OF THE "CONFESSIONS"
At the end of June, 1643, the last group of missionaries to come to Japan was
captured the very moment it set foot on Japanese soil. It was led by Father
Pedro Marquez, of the Societyof Jesus,and consistedof himselfand fourother
Jesuits and five catechists. The somewhat spectacular arrest took place in
Kajime-Oshima, a small island in the northof Kyfishfi.
They were soon brought
to Fukuoka and fromthere by way of Nagasaki to Edo, a journey which took
exactly two months. In Edo they were handed over to the Inquisitor, Inoue
Chikugo-no-kami,who personally subjected them to searching examinations.
The sad, though extremelyinterestinghistoryof this last missionarygroup
cannot be told here. Did theyapostatize, as some of the Japanese sources, including the Kirishito-ki,would have us believe? Other Japanese documents
seem to throwdoubt upon theirapostasy; but all do relate, and this is certain,
that some of them lived in prison foryearsand died a lonesome death, the last
of the priestsin 1685.10
Why were the prisonersbrought fromthe farsouthwestcorner of Japan all
the way up to Edo? The Kirishito-kigives the answer. It statesthat up to the
9 Voss-Cieslik,op. cit.,p. 190. The different
religious ordersdoing missionarywork in Japan were,
sects.The same mistakewas made in chapter 13
by a misunderstandingof Inoue, taken fordifferent
of the Kirishito-ki.
10 The interestingcircumstancesof the arrestare told by Kaibara Ekken in Chikuzenkokuzokuffodoki(Second Seriesof the Historyof the Natural Features of the Provinceof Chikuzen),published
in Ekken Zenshi (T6ky6, 1910-1911), p. 363. A similar account is contained in the Sokkyo-hen,Vol.
IV, 4-7. The account given by Pierre Fr. X. de Charlevoix,S.J.,in Histoire du Japon (Paris, 1754),
Vol. V, 368, which has been repeated numberlesstimesby writersdealing with the Japanese mission
history,accordingto which this group of missionarieswas captured in the northof Japan, cannot be
substantiated.Sir ErnestSatow was the firstto draw attentionto the tragedyof this last missionary
group to reach Japan. His account is printed as an appendix to and commentaryupon an article
by J. H. Gubbins, "Introductionof Christianityinto China and Japan," Transactionsof the Asiatic
Societyof Japan, First Series,VI (1878), 1-38. Satow's briefand sketchyaccount (pp. 55-62) aroused
much controversy,
e.g., the article by H. Thurston, S.J.,"The Mysteryof the Five Last Jesuitsin
Japan," The Month, CV (1905), 505-525; also Luis Delplace, S.J.,Le Catholicismeau Japon (Brus-
sels, 1909-1910),
Vol. II, 236 fif.
18
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
time of Sh6gun Hidetada and Sh6gun Iemitsu the captured priests were, as
a rule, burned alive. "Since however the padres who came to Japan were
burned alive, killed in the pit, or beheaded, and since this was done without
any critical inquiry into the Christian doctrine itself,many other priests followed them [to this country].""'
The obvious implication of this statementis that the measures taken thus
far had been wholly insufficient.They had made martyrs,but had not extinguished Christianity.Tortures and death penalties had failed, because they
had been inflictedblindly on an enemy whose nature and strengththe officials
did notknowand had not in anywayendeavoredto learn.Inoue would do it
differently.He would trya more "scientific"procedure and employ methods

that were as rigid and cruel as before,but moderatelytemperedby psychology.
Torments were to be inflictedonly afterall other means of persuasion and of
obtaining informationhad failed. The death penaltywas to be the last resort."
Two outstanding subjects needed attention. First of all, the Christian doctrine had never been examined. But how can an opponent be defeated as long
as no one knows anythingabout him! Inoue used the firstopportunitywhich
offereditself to make up for the neglect in this matter. He summoned the
captured priestsfromKyfishi to Edo. They were the men to furnishall the informationhe wanted. The knowledge gained he intended to use against the
prieststhemselvesand, still more,against the uneducated lay Christians.Then,
there was still the other topic which needed clarification:What was the ultimate reason forthe missionaries' coming to Japan? To one familiar only with
the religious and ethical doctrinesof Buddha and Confucius, the life and attitude of the foreignpriestswas one big perplexing problem. The only plausible
explanation was that theywere sent to prepare the way fora militaryinvasion.
Therefore, what the Inquisitor wanted was some information or evidence
" Voss-Cieslik,op. cit.,p. 78. The Japanese name forthe tortureof the "pit" is tsurushi,"hanging,"
or anatsurushi,"hanging in the pit," less frequentlyalso called sakasa-tsurushi,"hanging upside
down." All early missionaryrecordsunanimouslydescribe this tortureas one in which the victim,
tightlybound, was hung fromthe gallows head downward into a pit. Over the opening of the pit
boards were fittedaround the victim'swaist so as to exclude all light and air fromthe hole. At times,
one hand of the victimwas fastenedto his side, while the otherwas leftfreeto enable him to manifesthis willingnessto apostatize. Cf. L. Pages, op. cit.,Vol. I, 785 f. These reportsare confirmedby
Francois Caaron, A True Description of the MightyKingdoms of Japan and Siam, reprintedfrom
the English edition of 1663 by C. R. Boxer (London, 1935),p. 45. There is likewise a contemporary
drawing showing details of this cruel torture.Caaron was head of the Dutch factoryat Deshima
forseveral yearsand must have been in a position to learn the truthin considerabledetail. M. Anesaki explains this tortureas consisting"in the buryingof the body at the bottom of a pit so that
only the head protruded." Unfortunately,he gives no referencesto substantiatehis views. Cf. his
article,"PsychologicalObservationson the Persecutionof the Catholics in Japan," Harvard Journal
of Asiatic Studies,I (1936), 23.
" Cf. chapters5 and 7 of the Kirishito-ki,which give detailed instructionsas to how the judicial
process of the Inquisition should be carried out. See Edward Hagemann, "The Persecutionof the
Christiansin Japan in the Middle of the SeventeenthCentury,"PacificHistorical Review, XI (June,
1942), 151-160.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
19
about the designs which the Catholic countries were fosteringwith regard to
Japan.
In this connection a passing but interestingremark is found in the Daghregisterdes Comptoir Nangasacque, a reliable Dutch source. Therein is contained a ratherelaborate account, writtenby Pieter Anthonius Overtwater,of
the capture of the ten missionaries. Under the date of July 27, 1643, he makes
en entryin the diary that on this day all the prisonerswere sent to Edo, accompanied by a well-knownapostate, Juan. He then goes on:
The interpreter
informedus whythe apostate had to accompanythem.Juan is
supposed to give evidence that the Pope has given the authorizationto dethrone
non-Catholickings.And he is to narrate,as an example generallyknownby everybody,the storyof Queen Elizabeth of England and otherfacts,At the same timehe
has to prove that the Pope does not at all possesssuch a power.It is thisquestion
more than anythingelse whichworriesthe Japaneseofficials."
It would be too much to say that this account is to be taken word forword.
There cannot be any doubt, however, that it reflectsthe general opinion then
prevalent in Nagasaki as to why the prisoners were summoned to Edo. The
officialaccount of the Inquisition Officeaffirms,
though not in so many words,
this conclusion:
erecteda prisonin his own mansion.Here thefourpadreswere
Chikugo-no-kami
confined.They were frequentlysummonedbeforehim and examined again and
again as to the designsentertainedin Europe and Lugon, whence the padres had
come. He questioned them also about ships and about the Christiandoctrine."'
The priests did not undergo just one trial, but were repeatedly brought
before the court. At each appearance the same two crucial questions seem to
have come up for furtherinvestigation,namely, the Christian doctrine and
the secretdesigns of the Catholic countries regardingJapan. That these secret
designs were thought to be political as well as religious is evident, for the
Jesuitshad just come from Manila and, therefore,ought to know something
of such plans if any existed. These were to be revealed, if necessaryby the use
of the rack, as the Kirishito-kiopenly states:
They were all kept inside a stone wall. Frequentlyand insistentlyquestioned,
theyhad to give informationabout the Christiandoctrinesand the designsof the
foreigncountriesupon Japan. Should theyrefusesuch informationtheywere to
be tortured."
1
Voss-Cieslik,op. cit.,p. 171.
1 Ibid., p. 80.
1 Ibid., pp. 81 f. The report on the Christian doctrinehas been preserved.In chapter 13 of the
Kirishito-kiis found a "Summaryof the ChristianDoctrine,"which,thoughbriefand disconnected,
is a substantiallycorrectcompendiumof numerousarticlesof faithand a fairaccount regardingsome
religiouspractices.There cannot be any doubt that thissummaryultimatelygoes back to the reports
given by the missionaries.It is too orthodox to have been compiled by a non-Catholicand yet too
amateurishto have been writtenby one of the priests.
PACIFIC
20
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
It was by cruel torture,the same document admits furtheron, that the padres
were whipped into submission. They finally"gave a detailed account in writing about the plans which the foreign countries intended to carry out with
regard to the propagation of Christianityin Japan.""
Such is the origin of the "confessions." No detailed examination of their
genuineness can be given here. Sufficeit to say that,because of the absurdityof
many of the statementscontained in them, no Catholic priest or missionary
could have made them. It is beyond any doubt that the officersof the Inquisition wrote these "confessions" themselvesand then made the prisonerssign
them, as is evident fromthe arrangementof the document. But however sad
the tragedyconnected with these "confessions" may be, the factstands that the
officialshad no doubt that the "confessions"revealed the full truth.
CHRISTIANITY
A POLITICAL
MENACE
It is easy to understand why and how the Japanese rulers conceived the idea
that the missionaries were only the advance guard of an armed force which
was supposed to invade Japan as soon as the way would be sufficiently
prepared.
The commercial and colonial activities of the European nations filled them
with apprehensions. India, New Spain, and the Philippines had been conquered. Once independent countries, they had been reduced to the state of
mere tributarycolonies. A letter by Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, the Spanish
governorof Manila, to Hideyoshi, dated June 6, 1592, gives a long, impressive
list of all the nations and territorieswhich were paying homage to the Spanish
crown. Boastfully Dasmarinas enumerates the multitudinous titlesof his sovereign, Don Felipe II,
... king of Castilla, Le6n, Arag6n,the two Sicilies,Jerusalem,Portugal,Navarra,
Granada, Cerdefia,Corcega, Murnia,Jaen, the Algarves,Aljecira, Jibraltar,the
Eastern and WesternYndias, and the islands and mainland of the Ocean Sea;
archduke of Austria; duke of Borgofia,Bravante,and Milan; count of Abspurg,
Flandes,Bretafia,Tirol, etc [sic]."
Hideyoshi must have been impressed. But had not the tradersand missionaries in many of these conquests played an importantrole?
Furthermore,by the firstquarter of the seventeenthcentury,Western intercourse withJapan had undergone a radical change. It was no longer missionary
endeavors but power politics that loomed largest. All the great maritime
powers-Portugal, Spain, England, and Holland-were deep in nationalistic
and economic rivalryforpolitical as well as commercial advantages. They used
everyimaginable means to outwit and outrace each other in theirmad rush for
the riches of Japan. The Dutch merchants,forinstance, envious of the profits
16Voss-Cieslik,op.
17
cit.,p. 89.
E. H. Blair and J.A. Robertson,The Philippine Islands (Cleveland, 190o3),Vol. VIII, 263 f.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
21
made by the Portugueseand Spaniards,helped to prejudicetheJapaneseauthoritiesagainst their Catholic rivals. Repeatedlytheyrepresentedto the
had but one intention,thatofturningJapaninto
Sh6gunthatthemissionaries
thestateofa colonyunderthecloakofChristianity.
Yoshi S. Kuno says:
themotivesof Christian
They tookadvantageof Japan'ssuspicionsregarding
priestsand herfearsofpossibleplotsbyChristiannationswhichmightendanger
The Dutchtraders,
in codperation
withtheirhomegovernment
herindependence.
in Europe,presented
of assertedintrigues
evidenceto theshogunate
government
and schemesbyChristian
nations,and byChristian
priestsand Japaneseconverts,
and trustoftheshogunandhisadvisors."
gainingtheconfidence
thereby
The Portuguese,in turn,used the verysame weapons. Don Rodrigo de
Vivero,the retiredgovernorof the Philippineswho was shipwreckedoffthe
coastofJapanand stayedin thecountryforabout a year,made thefollowing
statement
and request:
The Dutch tradersin Japanare,in fact,pirates.The Dutchpeople are both
traitors
to and nationalenemiesof theKingofSpain.The GreatRulerofJapan
inJapanshould
shouldnotprotect
all Dutchtraders
Therefore,
piratesandrobbers.
be immediately
expelled."9
Such mutualaccusationsand calumniesseemto have been quite in accord
withthetradepracticesofthosetimes.The conventionalrulesof commercial
fairplay were oftendisregarded.Calumny,forgery,
graftof all kinds,even
robberyand piracywere commonlyacceptedmethodsto furtherone's own
and harm the other'strade.No considerationsof abstractjustice were permittedto interfere
withtheruthlesscompetitionforeconomicand imperialisticaggression.In Japan,thereligiousoppositionbetweenthe Catholicand
Protestant
partiesmade thesituationstillworse.Tolerance,in theseventeenth
of
century,was an unknownwordand concept.That, added to thebitterness
feelingon both sides,had made themall the moredeterminedto poison the
mindsof thealwayssuspiciousJapaneseagainsteach other.They did thisfor
reasonsoftrade,notofreligion,exceptthattradewas a religionfortheroving
Dutch and English.But "the Spaniardsand to a less extentthe Portuguese
sharedtheirdevotionin thismatter,ifin no other.Credoin Commercium
was
a universalfaith.""Japanesetradewas the prize theyall were fighting
for.
They werebickeringand plottingand vyingwitheach otherto secureexclusive commercialrights."
18Yoshi S. Kuno, Japanese Expansion on the Asiatic Continent (Berkeley,1940), II, 91.
This request was made by Rodrigo de Vivero,not SebastiAnVizcaino, as Kuno states.

1 Ibid., p. g39.
Cf. Ichir6 Tokutomi, Kinsei Nippon kokumin-shi(A History of the Japanese People in Modern
Times) (Tokyo, 1924),XIII, 283.
Brodrick,"Japanese and English in the SeventeenthCentury,"The Month, CLXXVIII (1942),
S"J.
116.
nCf. Harold M. Vinacke, A Historyof the Far East in Modern Times (2d ed., New York, 1936),
PP. 79 f.
22
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
The missionaries-this must have been the impression of Japanese statesmen-seemed to take an active part in it. And theymade no attemptto disguise
it. When the firstSpanish Franciscans from the Philippine Islands were sent
to Japan in 1593, theywent in the political capacity of ambassadors, and one
of their leading motives was to break the Portuguese trade monopoly." What
was to come afterthat?The Spaniards themselvesmade remarkswhich,on one
occasion at least, were highlyimprudent and fatal in their results.
This is what happened. In October, 1596, the San Felipe, a Spanish ship
fromManila, was stranded in Urado, a port in the districtof Tosa. Hideyoshi,
called Taikosama in the European recordsof those years,sent at once a special
messenger,Ximonojo, who can be identifiedfromJapanese sources as Masuda
Nagamori, to investigate the incident. We have an accurate account with
numerous details regarding the fateful disaster, written by Dr. Antonio de
Morga, a royal official.In his book, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, published in
Mexico as early as 16o9, he relates that the Japanese counselors and favorites
at the court of Miyako tried to set Hideyoshi against the Spaniards, by questioning the nonpolitical motives and aims of the missionaries. The captain
of the San Felipe, Francisco de Sanda, unknowingly lent a helping hand to
the agitatorsin Miyako. He showed a map of the world to Masuda
... in whichcould be seen all thecountrieswhichhad been discovered,and Espafia
and the otherkingdomspossessedby his Majesty,among which were Piru [Peru]
and Nueva Espafia.When thefavoriteXimonojo askedhow thesedistantkingdoms
had been gained,the pilot replied thatthereligioushad enteredfirstand preached
theirreligion,and thenthesoldiershad followedand subdued them.It is truethat
thesaid pilot imprudently
gave thosereasonswhichXimonojo notedwell and kept
in mind, in order to relate them to Taicosama whenevera suitable opportunity
should presentitself,whichhe now [October,1596] did.n
Quite naturally, these words were likely to make Hideyoshi suspicious of
some ulterior purposes of the Kirishitan missions..Whetherhe fullybelieved
them or not, it is certain that Masuda's reportwas at least partiallyresponsible
forthe firstexecution of Christianswhich took place on February 5, 1597. Six
Franciscans, threeJesuits,and seventeenJapanese Christianswere crucifiedat
Nagasaki. Hideyoshi had given the order.
Japan was on her guard. The "Report of the Council of the Indias" to Felipe
III, dated Valladolid, May 3o, 16o6, states explicitly that Tokugawa Ieyasu
"continues in the same suspicion that the predecessorhad of the Spaniards, ...
that they are people looking for conquests.'""' In the course of years, further
'
Henri Bernard, S.J., "Les debuts des relations diplomatiques entre le Japon et les Espagnols
des Iles Philippines,"MN, I (1938), 1a22ff.
23 Blair and Robertson, op. cit., XV, sao f. The incident is well authenticatedand can hardly be
called "rumor," as E. H. Wildes does; cf. Aliens in the East, A New History of Japanese Foreign
Intercourse(Philadelphia, 1937),PP. 29 f.
'
Blair and Robertson, op. cit., XIV, 218 f.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
23
incidents occurred which could well be interpretedas threatsagainst the union

and independence of the nation. There is, for instance, the embassy of Date
Masamune to the king of Spain and to Pope Paul V (1613-1620). Though
Date was acting, it seems, with the knowledge of the central government,he
had his own ulterior motives in asking for the friendshipand trade of Spain.
The Sh6gun, to say the least, was suspicious of Date." Further,to mention only
one other incident which caused a flood of literature, the insurrection of
Shimabara was almost exclusively blamed on the Christians. Wrongly so, because, in the beginning, this uprising was nothing but an economic rebellion.
It started as a peasant revolt, caused by extreme taxation and the outright
atrocities of the local ruler. Since Christianityhad been deeply rooted in the
districtof Kyushi for so many years, a great number of the insurgentshappened to be Christians. Others joined the armyof the discontented,Christians
and non-Christiansalike. Some of the latter may have been carried away, perhaps, by the hope of a successfulactive resistance against the bloody persecution. They were spurred on, moreover, by mysteriouspredictions regarding
the special divine protection and guidance of their youthful leader Masuda
Shiro. It was in this way that the at firstpurely agrarian rebellion became, to
outward appearances, a "Christian" revolt,all the more so when in the course
of the hostilities the commander in chief of the Shogunate army proclaimed
an amnesty for all non-Christian desertersof the rebellious forces,as well as
for all apostates fromChristianity.20
At the outset, the insurgentsdefied the large armies sent against them. This
they did, Professor Kuno claims, with the material assistance of the Portuguese.27Though thisconspiracyis a questionopen to discussion,the factremains that the Shimabara insurrectionwas used by the isolationists as a very
handy argument to keep the unpatriotic sentimentsof the Christian converts
before the eyes of the Japanese public. The writerof the Kirishito-kilays the
blame for the rebellion exclusively on the Christians. In commenting upon
the factthat in 1637 about threehundred Christian women and children from
Nagasaki were exiled to Macao, he remarksthat if the Shbgun "had not ban'5 Cf. the well-documentedaccount by G. Mitsukuri,"Ein Beitrag zur Geschichteder japanischen
Christenim 17. Jahrhundert,"HistorischeZeitschrift,
LXXXVII (1901), 194-223.Likewise,L. Pages,
op. cit., II, Nos. 37-39, PP. 132 ff.Y. S. Kuno, who bases his account (op. cit., II, 28-32) exclusively
on Japanese sources,fails to mention any evidence damaging to Date. His presentationof the embassy is novel, but not quite convincing.That Date met with suspicion is clearlyshown by L. Delff.In this connectionit is interestingto note that G. B. Sansom,Japan,A Short
place, op. cit.,II,
lo6
Cultural History(New
York, 1943),p. 534, calls explicit attentionto the fact"that therewere strong
reasons of domestic policy why the Tokugawa rulers should wish to close the country."It was a
question of protectingtheirnewlyestablishedauthorityagainst theirgreatfeudal rivals by preventing any possible alliance or even commercialintercoursewith the foreignersfromabroad.
mL. Riess, "Der Aufstand von Shimabara, 1637-1638,"MDGO, V (1889),
20o. Steichen, op. cit.,
pp. 329-342, gives a good summaryaccount of the insurrectionwhich is based on the recordsof the
missionariesand contemporaryJapanese sources.
n Kuno, op. cit.,pp. 65 f.; cf.also, Wildes, op. cit.,p. 43.
24
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
ished those threehundred, there would have been at the time of the insurrection of Shimabara a similar uprising also in Nagasaki.""' The Christians were
indiscriminatelybranded as revolutionists.Consequently, to meet any possible
emergencyfromwithinor without,the governmentdecreed the extermination
of the dangerous subjects and furthermoreenforced the law of seclusion.
One reason forthese extrememeasures was the factthat in thoseyearsmany
Japanese Christians were living abroad. This was well known. In the Memorandum mention is made that there were several Japanese padres at Manila,
and that in Macao, and in Manila as well, about seventeen or eighteen Japanese children were being trained for the priesthood." The Christians,therefore,seemed determined to return,and that at any cost.
Nothing in particular,however,was known about the exact time, nor about
the methods the missionaries might plan to use when reenteringthe country.
Every possible source of information,therefore,was taken advantage of by the
authorities to get something definite to work on. The Dutch merchants in
Nagasaki, the only Europeans who were allowed to continue trade with Japan,
were, as might be expected, a most promising bureau forall such news. Every
year the Dutch factoryof Deshima had to send an embassy to the court of Edo
to deliver the prescribed presentsof friendshipand to receive,as happened sev-
eral times,somenewchangeofcontract.In theKirishito-ki

thereis a detailed
accountof one of theseofficial
audiencesin thepalace of theSh6gunin 1659.
On thisoccasion,a special "Message of the Shbgun"was read to the Dutch
commander of the factory.Its second paragraph makes the stipulation that if

the Dutch traders want to continue their trade relations with Japan, "they
must report upon arriving at Nagasaki to the governor of that city whenever
they shall have learned anything new about the Catholic religion."" What
kind of news Japan was anxious to learn is clearly brought out in the instructions read on a similar occasion two yearslater,in 1661:
Since we would like to know,whetherthe foreigners
have conquered new territoriesand whetherthesehave adopted theCatholicreligion,and sincewe moreover
would like to learn all that happened on the voyage[to Japan], a reportmustbe
deliveredto the governorof Nagasaki as to what has been seen or heard."81
The Dutch traders,the "eyes and ears" of Japan in regard to the affairsof
the outside world, were henceforwardthe sole agents of the isolated empire.
But since theytoo were Christians,theywere also suspected,just as the Portuguese and Spaniards had been. That was the main reason fortheirconfinement
on the tiny island of Deshima. They had to submit to the searching of their
ships for crucifixesor Bibles. Even the Christian observance of Sunday was
" Voss-Cieslik,op. cit.,p. 82; cf.pp. 85, 87.
" Ibid.,
p. 190o.
OIbid., p. 56.
31Ibid., p. 58.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
25
forbidden,and the residentsof Deshima were orderedto workon thatday.

But lessfearwas feltofthem,because theyhad cometoJapanto makemoney,
notto Christianize.
CHRISTIANITY
A RELIGIOUS
MENACE
Judging from the material presented so far, one might be inclined to make
mere economic and political motives responsible for the bloody tragedy in
Japan. It might seem that "the foreign faith was proscribed primarily on
political, not religious grounds."" That Japan was concerned about the political menace is a fact. And she had good reasons to be concerned. If Spain
and Portugal had considered the conquest of Japan feasible or within the
bounds of possibility,theymighthave triedit." Such was the trendof the time.
The Japanese statesmenwere well aware of the danger, as the documents convincinglyshow. But the same documents also show the presence of other motives among which the strictlyreligious opposition to the imported religion
ranks first.In the eleventh chapter of the Kirishito-ki,for instance, the Buddhist and especially Confucian reaction against the new religion becomes
apparent. The whole chapter is devoted to "arguments" and "proofs" written
to defame Christianityby ridiculing its doctrines and casting aspersions on
its way of life. "In Japan there is no greatermischiefthan thisreligion.""' The
greater part of the "confessions" quoted above is an outrightattack on Christianityfrompurely philosophical and religious considerations."One can easily
see from universally known examples, that the evil teaching of Christianity
is a fabrication of lies.""'
That Christianitywas considered an "evil religion" (jakyd) was stated as
SAlbert Hyma, The Dutch in theFar East (Ann Arbor,1942),pp. 159 ff.
* Kenneth S. Latourette,The Development
ofJapan (4th ed., New York, 1941), p. 72.
SAs late as 161o, the retiredgovernorof the Philippines, Don Rodrigo de Vivero,who was shipwrecked near Japan, suggested to the king of Spain a militaryoccupation of Japan. In his letter,
dated Usuki, May 3, 161o,he discussesquite openly the advantageswhich the possessionof thisrich
countrywould have forSpain. This letterhas itsrepercussionseven today.Cf. the article"Orient and
Occident," by ProfessorTetsuz6 Tanikawa in the Novemberissue of Chu6-Karon (Central Review),
LIII (November,1938), 16 f.,as quoted by Cahiers d' Information,No. 3 (January,1939),3. Furthermore,to mentionone otherexample, thereis extant a detailed plan fora proposed Spanish conquest
of China which was to be launched from the Philippines. This plan was conceived at a general
assemblyof the various officialsand a numberof influentialcitizensof Manila. An officialstatement
was drawn up by Father Alonso SAnchez,S.J.,and on July26, 1586,it was signed by the governor,
the bishop, the superiorsof several religious houses, and other notables of the islands. In this proposal, which was sent to the king,explicit mentionis made of the Jesuitmissionariesin China, who
were to be withdrawnso "that they may give informationto the Spanish armies about what they
know of the country,its strength,and its militaryforcesand supplies, and whateverother dangers
or reasons for caution they have in mind. They will also serve as interpreters,and persuade the
Chinese to allow the Spaniards to enter in peace, and to hear and receive the preachers,and to
accept the religionsent to themby God...." Cf. Blair and Robertson,op. cit.,VII, 208 f.An incident
to illustratethe mixed "blessings"of the close associationbetweenmissionarywork and the colonizof Europe!
ing efforts
SVoss-Cieslik, op. cit.,p. 88.
"
Ibid., p. 89.
26
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
early as 1587 in the firstdecree of exile. This edict, promulgated by Hideyoshi

was the
upon the successful completion of his militarycampaign in Kyfishui,
outgrowthof an intense anti-Christianagitation especially by Buddhist groups
who were disturbed by their not infrequent defeats in religious disputations,
and still more by the factthat the followersof the new religion had impudently
presumed to destroythe sanctuaries of theirdeities. This Buddhist opposition
to Christianitydated back to the very days of St. Francis Xavier. During his
early stay in Kagoshima, the bonzes, in the name of the outraged deities of
Buddhism, called upon the prince of Satsuma to expel the foreigncreed. In
the pages of the Annual Letters and in other missionaryrecords, the neverceasing enmityof the bonzes was called, time and again, the source of all the
bitter h~atredagainst the work of the missionaries." Other considerations,no
doubt, entered into the decision of Hideyoshi henceforthto exclude the missionaries. It is possible that the fear of foreignmilitarydesign on Japan was
operative as early as 1587, but the religious motive may not be overlooked.
The pronouncement that Japan as the "land of the gods" should not accept
the evil religion of Kirishitan was put at the head of the document, and the
missionaries are openly accused of planning the destruction of Buddhism;
only those foreign traderswho will not infringeupon the Buddhist religion
will be allowed to carryon their business."
The idea that Japan is the nation of the Shintoistic deities and the land of
Buddha recurs in almost every subsequent pronouncement against Christianity. As Dr. Anesaki points out, "the restoration of national pride quickened by the Taik6's Korean expedition (1592-1598) aroused anew the belief
that Japan was the "Land of the Gods," a Shint6 belief diametricallyopposed
to the Christian conception of deity. In fact,his personal ambition was mainly
a manifestationof this general currentof the age."" Whether we can speak of
nach der Handschriftder Adjubibliothek
87Cf. Luis Frois,S.J.,Die GeschichteJapans (1549-1578),
in Lissabon tibersetztund kommentiertvon G. Schurhammerund E. A. Voretzsch(Leipzig, 1926),
pp. 89 ff.,129 f.,220o.
8 For the text of the decree see Ichir6 Tokutomi, op. cit.,Vol. V (T6ky5, 1925), pp. 392 f. Cf. also
H. Nagaoka, Histoire des relations du Japon avec l'Europe aux XVI. et XVIIe sitcles (Paris, 190o5),
pp. 95 f. In a reviewof the book, Kirishito-kiund Say6-yoroku,ProfessorK. S. Latouretteexpresses
his doubts of whetherat the inception of the persecution the motiveswere religious rather than
political. He writes: "There was an early assertion that Hideyoshi conceived his enmity partly
because of the unwillingnessof the Spanish rulers of the Philippines to acknowledgehim as overlord." He likewise calls attention to the serious proposal for the Spanish conquest of China made
in Manila in 1586. Cf. above, note 34. Both argumentsare frequentlyused to bolster the political
motives.But against this it may be stated that the earliestquasi-officialrelationsbetweenJapan and
the Philippines did not start before 1590, some years after Hideyoshi had "conceived his enmity"
and it is more than doubtfulwhetherthe proposal forthe conquest of China could have come to the
knowledgeof Hideyoshi. Both facts,however,may have had somethingto do with Hideyoshi'sdecision, some nine yearslater, to set an example by crucifyingthe firstChristianmartyrsof Nagasaki.
9 M. Anesaki,"PsychologicalObservationson the Persecutionof the Catholics in Japan," Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies, I (1936), 15. The Shintoisticmythologycan easily be discerned in the
followingstatementHideyoshi made in a letter to the king of Korea sometimetoward the end of
1590: "Although I was born to a familyof low rank,mymotherconceivedme immediatelyaftershe
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
27
Taik6 Hideyoshi's lifetime as the beginning of a Shint6 revival is a question

open to discussion; but it is certain, as someone has said, that "the sacred fires
of the great Shintoistic tradition were far from being extinct." They smoldered beneath the ashes and helped to forge the weapons intended to erase
everythingChristian and Occidental fromthe face of Japan. Both Shintoism
and Buddhism, as well as the philosophy and ethics of Confucianism, played
their part in furnishingmotives and arguments for the rejection of Western
thought and religion.
As early as 1605, Ieyasu wrote to the governor of the Philippines, rejecting
Spanish requests for an officialauthorization of mission work in Japan:
This I cannot concede. For thisregionis called Xincocu (Shinkoku),or "dedicated to the idols" [Shintoisticdeities].These have been honoredwiththe highest
adoration fromthe timeof our ancestorsuntil now, and theiracts I alone cannot
undo or destroy.Consequently,it is not at all advisable thatyourreligionbe promulgatedand preached in Japon; and if yourLordship wishesto preservefriendship withthesekingdomsofJapon and withme,do whatI wish,and neverdo what
is displeasingto me.40
In 1612, writing to the viceroy of Mexico, Ieyasu was even more.explicit
and more emphatic:
Our country,Japan, is Shinkoku.... Since the foundingof our nation,we have
reveredour gods and worshipedthe Buddhistdeities.Under divineprotectionand
guidance, we have maintained due relationsbetween ruler and ruled, and have
followedthe teachingsof the doctrineof loyaltyand righteousness.... The divine
beings always keep watch over our nation. Under theirguidance and protection
we maintainour human relations,alwayspracticingbenevolence,justice,ceremoThe religiouslaws and teachingsof yourcountry
nials,wise conduct,and sincerity.
differentirelyfromours. They have absolutelyno relation or connectionwith
our national life and existence.... Thereforeyou may not consider as feasible
the propagationof your religiousteachingsin our country.It would be best for
you to abandon any plan to propagate them,because it will be foundwhollyimpracticable."'
The edict of expulsion promulgated soon after,in January,1614, followsthe
same line of reasoning. The opposition of the heretical and evil teaching of
the West to "the way of the gods" and "the true law" is set forthas the decisive
reason forthe absolute repudiation of the Western religion." That the foreigners also intended "to change the governmentof the countryand obtain possession of the land" findsmention in one shortphrase and is almost lost in the
had dreamed that the Sun had enteredinto her bosom. A physiognomistinterpretedthisdream and
predicted that I was destined to extend my authorityto all parts of the world whereverthe sun
shines." Kuno, op. cit.,I, 3o2. Cf. also p. 311.
40 Blair and Robertson,op. cit.,XVI, 48.
41 Kuno, op. cit., II, 304 f.
42 See an English translationby Sir Ernest Satow in Transactionsof the Asiatic Societyof Japan,
FirstSeries,VI (1878),46 f.
28
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
heated attackson Christianityand amid the superabundance of Buddhist and

Confucian quotations. This factcannot be explained away by saying that the
unctuous sermon styleof the decree and the many Buddhist citations are just
externals of the effusivechanceryor court style.They are not. On the contrary,
the unbiased reader will find in the edict an eloquent manifestationof the
long pent-up grievances of the religious opposition. In this connection it may
be noted that Ieyasu himself,quite unlike Hideyoshi, was a devout and zealous
Buddhist." Almost all of his advisers were Buddhist, Confucian, and Shint6
scholars, and the edict itselfwas drawn up by Suden, a well-known Buddhist
monk." These are important facts. In considering them, together with the
contents of the edict, it would seem that as late as 1614 religious rather than
political motives had the greaterweight.
However, as the persecution progressed, the political charges against the
missionaries came more and more to the fore. They were repeated time and
again, indeed so often and emphatically that the supposedly anti-Japanese
spirit of Catholicism and the military scheme behind the missionary work
seems to have been the main fear that haunted the rulers of Japan.
This fearwas not purelyimaginary,

as we have seen. Still,it does not lack
a certain incongruity."'Granted the imprudent remarksand measures of some

of the missionaries,grantedother political incidents likely to arouse suspicion,
all these were, after all, rather sporadic and only local affairs.Hideyoshi,
Ieyasu, and Iemitsu, the rulers of Japan in those days,were shrewd and keensighted statesmen.They had achieved the unity and had framed the political
structureof the countrywith the partial aid of these "unloyal and treacherous" Christians. Oda Nobunaga had trustedthem,and the troops that fought
in Korea (1592-1598) were in large numbers Christians." Christian daimy6s
with thousands of followersfoughtforIeyasu in the battle of Sekigahara (1600)
by which he secured the supreme power for his house."
However, the suspicion against Christianitymust have been rather widespread and of great concern to the leaders of the missionarywork. Contemporary Christian writings in Japanese openly and emphatically refuted the
allegation that the coming of Christianitywas responsible for the civil disturbances and discord in the country,and they denied that the propagation
" M. Anesaki,KirishitanDend6 no Kahai (Rise and Fall of the KirishitanMissions) (Toky6, 1930),
p. 265.
" Kuno, op. cit.,II, 39, 47.
45 In this connectionit is interestingto note that the well-knownJapanese scholarArai Haukuseki
(1656--1725)did not believe in thepolitical chargesagainstthe missionaries.In a reportto the ShOgun
about his investigationsof Father Sidotti,writtenabout 1710o,he statesthat the missionariesdid not
have the intentionof conqueringJapan; but he goes on to say that theirteachingwould inevitably
cause serious dangers to the state. This report is contained in an appendix to the Seiy6-kibun.
Cf. Arai Hakuseki Zenshit(The Complete Writingsof Arai Kakuseki) (TOky6, 1906), IV, 796.
SSteichen, op. cit.,pp. 158 ff.
'7 Ibid., pp. 223 f.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
29
of the faithwas a ruse devised by the Europeans as an easy means to get political
thattheapologeticwritersdeemedit neccontroloverJapan."It is significant

in writing.One pointofthedefenseis particularly
essaryto defendthemselves
Fabian
Fukan pointsout, in denyingall militaryor coloto
note.
interesting
nial intentionsof the Catholickingdomson Japan,whatthemissionariesare
doingforJapan: "They prayforthecouitryand thewelfareof itssovereign.
To filialpietyand obediencetheyassignthe firstplace. The greatones they
hold in respect,and the interestof the lowlytheyhave at heart.""49
Thus, in
and designs,loyaldevotedness
answeringthechargeofunpatrioticsentiments
ofthepersonalconduct
to countryand rulerare singledout as characteristics
as well as the teachingtenetsof the missionaries.On the faceof it,the statementmightseem quite ordinaryand of no particularimportance.But seen
againstthe ideologicaltraditionsof feudalistic(and modern)Japan,Fukan's
statementmaybe considereda definitedenial of the mostseriousaccusation
thatcould ever be made againstany religion:thatof neglectingloyaltyand
filial piety.
ANCIENT LOYALTIES versus CHRISTIANITY
It is a historical factthat the Christianswere accused of such criminal neglect.

In a recent article ProfessorArimichi Ebisawa contraststhe traditional Japanese ideology as crystallizedin Bushidd with the correspondingChristian virtues."?Differentcauses and circumstances,he states,were responsible for the
prohibition of Christianity. Yet what constitutes their undercurrent may
perhaps be reduced to the seeming clash between some of the fundamental
Christian doctrines and chik6, the Japanese national idea of loyalty(cht) to
state and ruler and of filial piety (k6) shown to one's ancestral deities and the
existing familyhead."
Such a clash was inevitable. Several Christian publications for instance, in
explaining the articles of faith to the Japanese converts,were, as might be
expected, uncompromising in their demands to place loyalty to God before
any other loyalty.
The Doctrina Christianastatesthat it is essentialforeveryChristiannever to
disobeythe will of God even at the sacrificeof his wealth,fame,parents,his own
' Fabian
Fukan, My3tei Mond6 (Questions and Answersof My6[-shu]and [Yu-]tei),a manuscript
dated about 1605. It is a Christian apology writtento give a betterunderstandingof Catholic docThe passages referredto
trineand, at the same time,to refutethe more commonmisunderstandings.
may be found in the French translationby Pierre Humberlaude, "Myotei Mond6," MN, II (1939),
261 f.,263 f.
49Ibid., p. 264.
Arimichi Ebisawa, "Bushid6 to Kirishitan to no rinri shisOtekik6sh6," Shigakku Zasshi (His50o
toricalReview), L (1939),289-325,478-515. A freeEnglish translation:"Relations betweenthe Ethics
of Bushido and Christianity,"appeared in Cultural Nippon, VII (November,1939), 1-32; (December,
1939), 9-42. Subsequent referencesare to the Japanese version since the English translation,
unfortunately,is in places ratherdefective.
* Ebisawa,
op. cit.,p. 295.
30
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
life,and so on. In the Guia do Pecador and ContemptusMundi we likewisefind

remarksthat one should love and reverethe Lord Jesus Christmore than one's
beloved familyand relations.... The Christianconvertsmust have been greatly
embarrassedbecause of the conflicting
viewsregardingboth ancestorworshipand
filialpiety,especiallywhen theirparentsand the othermembersof the familyprofesseda different
faith.52
That theywere on this account disturbed and slow to embrace Christianity
was already observed by St. Francis Xavier. One of his sermon subjects, of
course, was the existence and eternityof hell. He met with opposition, as he
himself tells in his letterof January 29, 1552:
Beforetheirbaptism the convertsof Yamaguchi had seriousdoubts concerning
the greatgoodnessof God. They claimed thatGod could not be merciful,sinceHe
had not manifestedHimselfto thembeforeour arrival,especiallyif it were true
(as we preached)thatall who did notadore God weredoomedtogo tohell. It seemed
to themthatGod had no pityon theirancestors,sincehe let themgo to hell,without givingthemany knowledgeof Himself.This was one of the greatdifficulties
thatkeptthemfromworshippingGod....
We preachthatthosewho go to hell are irrevocablylost.About thistheJapanese
Christiansgrieveverymuch,and theydo so because of theirlove fortheirfathers
and mothers,wivesand children,and otherswho died beforethem.They have pity
forthem,and manyshow theirgriefby tears."
Though Xavier, as he himselfstates,gave a convincing explanation of the
perplexing problem, such doctrines naturally were a stumbling block to the
Japanese. There seemed to be no room in Christianityforancestor reverence,
not even forfilial piety. Consequently, the religion fromthe West was decried
as barbarous and radically opposed to the Japanese way of life. All the more
since the new converts by their deeds and actions seemed to prove their disregard for tradition. They desecrated, damaged, and destroyed temples and
shrines which were dedicated to the family gods and the ancestors of the
Japanese race, and "their acts were scathinglycriticised as prejudicial to the
national virtue of filial piety."" We remember that such acts of iconoclastic
violence were a contributing cause to the firstanti-Christiandecree of 1587.
In the Kirishito-ki,likewise, Christianityis represented as altogether lacking both in the national virtue of chakd and in the famous "fivehuman relations" (gorin), the practical norms of Confucian ethics that are supposed to
govern the social as well as the familylife. The officersof the Inquisition are
shocked to note that, according to the Christian teaching, "one can be saved
52Ibid., p. 488. The three books mentioned by Ebisawa are worksof the ancient Japanese Jesuit
Mission Press,published in 1592,1596,and 1599.For a detailed description,cf.JohannesLaures, S.J.,
Kirishitan Bunko. A Manual of Books and Documents on the Early ChristianMissions in Japan,
Monumenta Nipponica Monographs (T6kya, 1940), pp. 16 ff.,26 f.,34 ff."Monumenta Xaveriana, Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu (Madrid, 1899-1900oo),Vol. I,
686, 694.
" Ebisawa, op. cit.,p. 484. Cultural Nippon (December, 1939), 15.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
31
in the life to come, even thoughone should kill one's (sovereign)lord and
own parent"; that it is not a crime but rathera meritoriousact to do away with
pagans, "even though these should be one's own lord or parent."" This is
construed into a slashing argument against the existence and especially the
goodness of God:
It is said thatGod is theoriginalsourceofall good, theLord ofmercyand justice.
This is an extremelyperniciousand evil doctrine,merefraudand deceitby which
people are led intoerror;forthereare countries..,.whoseinhabitantsare likemonkeysin thisthattheyhave no knowledgeof the properrelationbetweenrulerand
subject; nor do theyhave theproperrespectof the child towarditsparent.In these
countriespeople look like men but theyact like animals.
Countriesthatdo not respectthe fundamentalrelationbetweenlord and vassal,
parent and child, husband and wife,and those betweenfriends,are brutishand
barbarous.... He who createdsuchmen mustbe a villain and mercilessbeing."
Reverence forsuch a being and worshipof the God of a strangecountrywere
thoughtincompatible with the Japanese national spirit.In other words,latria,
in the strict theological sense of the term as adoration of the one God and
supreme Lord and Creator of the universe, and chiik6, the highestexpression
of loyaltyand filial piety,seemed irreconcilable.
A strikingillustration of this view can be found in the propagandistic antiChristian treatise Ha-Deusu (Anti-God) which was compiled in 1620, when
the persecution had almost reached its peak. In dealing with the firstof the
Ten Commandments the writermakes the following observations:
The FirstCommandmentprescribesthatifanythingcontraryto God's will should
be demanded,one mustrefuseto obeyeven theordersof one's lord or father.It furtherenjoins thatone mustmake lightof one's lifeforthesake of faithin God. Such
the stateand
a commandment,at bottom,impliesa secretschemeof overthrowing
of ruiningBuddhismand the imperialregime,I wonder,therefore,
whytheJapanese did not immediatelyinflictpunishmentupon such a wicked-minded
people.n
Thus the Christians were attacked fornot being loyal because of their worship of God, who claims the firstright to obedience. Such an accusation was
bound to have its effects.A doctrine that placed loyaltyto God above loyalty
to the national ruler could easily be represented as revolutionary to a Japanese to whom Bushid6, the way of the knightlysamurai, was the all-inspiring
ideal of Nipponesemanhood,and who saw in chiik6and in the humanrelations of the gorin the loftiestexpression of his religious patriotism and the
55 Voss-Cieslik,op.
cit.,pp. 89, 91.

relapp. 86, 90. The enumerationof the gorin is incomplete,since the brother-to-brother
tion has been omitted.The close relationshipbetweengorin and chaik6is obvious.
M Ebisawa, op. cit.,p. 513. The complete textof the Ha-Deusu can be found in Zokuzoku Gunsho
Ruijis, Vol. XII. For the referencein question see p. 684. It is interestingto note that the author of
this violentlyanti-Christianpiece of literature,written 16wo,is the same Fabian Fukan who, in
1605,wrote the My6tei Mond6 in defenseof the faith.Cf. above, note 48. For a detailed account of
Fukan's life by Pierre Humberclaude, cf. MN, I (1938), 224-227.
* Ibid.,
32
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
perfectblend of the traditional virtues of the Japanese citizen." Christianity

seemed full of revolutionarytendencies and intrigues.
The traditional loyalties, it can be seen from the foregoingdiscussion, did
not constitutemerely a religious issue. They entered into the make-up of all
phases of Japanese social life and shaped-and that to a great extent-the political faith of the empire. The discussion about the causes leading to the
almost complete breakup in the seventeenthcenturyof Japanese-Occidental
relations receives new light from this consideration. To tryto reduce these
causes to one single factor,be it political or religious, would be an oversimplification.Such an attempt loses sightof the close interrelationof the religious,
social, economic, and political forcesthat were operative in feudalisticJapan.
Political reasons especially have been played up as mainly or even exclusively responsible for the persecution of Christianity and the seclusion of
Japan. It can easily be seen why they should be advanced in preference to
others. The political consequences of the anti-Christian and subsequently
anti-Occidental policy of the governmentwere of tremendous importance for
the new politico-socialstructureof the Tokugawa regime. They were so drastic
that they overshadowed everythingelse. It seems quite natural thereforeto
view the hermitic seclusion and rigid isolation and everythingthat led up
to it, exclusively in the light of political, military,and economic reasons. And
there is danger that one may be misled by the old familiar post hoc ergo
propter hoc fallacy.
It is true, the Japanese authorities themselveswere rather suspicious, even
afraid of the political and colonial implications of the Christian mission work.
But what were the reasons? Were they purely political and military,or, perhaps, did not religious and ideological considerationsenterinto the genesisalso
of the political suspicion and the political charges against Christianity?From
the material presented it would seem that doctrinal misunderstanding did
play a ratherimportantrole, in so faras Christianitywas thoughtto undermine
the religious, as well as political, foundations of a feudalistic Japan that saw
in the ancient loyalties the best guarantee for her national existence. Japan,
it must be remembered, was a feudalistic state through and through. Its conservation depended, the militarydictatorswere convinced, on unreservedand
blind loyalty to state and ruler. This was all the more important at a time
58 Leo Wieger, S.J., points out that Japanese Confucianism received its characteristictrait "by
exalting above all the others the last of the Confuciistvirtues,loyaltyexpanded into the meaning
of loyalism. He thus allied it with Shintoism. Under that form,Confuciismbecame the code of
Japanese chivalry,of the Samurai class,blindlydevoted to the honour of theirlord,ready to sacrifice
theirlife forhim at any moment.To adore a God would have appeared to those people an impropriety,to hope for happiness afterdeath would have appeared to them a shamefulhaggling .... It
was not the Buddhists,as has been generallybut quite wronglybelieved; it was the Confuciists,who
sent them to the stake." A History of the Religious Beliefs and Philosophical Opinions in China,
trans. E. Ch. Werner (Hsien Hsien, 1927), pp. 701ox
f.
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
33
when national unityand autonomy became the guiding principles of Japanese

politics." To place an invisible ruler beside the visible and to believe the invisible one superior was dangerous to the political and social order of the
nation. There was no room fora divided allegiance, be it to Spain or Portugal
or Rome, or to the God of a foreignland. A religion that preached a God who
would not submit to national traditions and ambitions, who was not content
witha subordinateplace in theNipponesepantheonof Shintoistickamiand
Buddhist incarnations and refusedto be absorbed by them,who, furthermore,

upset the traditional hierarchyof loyalties by claiming superiorityeven over
the state and ruler-such a religion was, to say the least, an extremelydangerous innovation. It could not expect toleration.
It can easily be seen that this was not exclusively a case of doctrinal misunderstanding. That loyalty and obedience to God should be incompatible
with true familyspirit,as well as with the Japanese citizen's loyal devotion to
his country,was indeed a misunderstandingand misrepresentationof Christian doctrine. But there was no misunderstanding as to the fact that this
Christian loyalty and devotion to God must take precedence over any claim
the family and state might arrogate to themselves in the event of conflict.
Friction was thus inevitable."
CONCLUSION
This articleis not intendedto givean apodicticand finalanswerwithrespect

to whichoftheseveralcausesthatled to theisolationofJapanwas thedecisive
one. Such an answercan at bestbe givenonlywhenotherimportantprimary
sources,not as yetaccessible,have been publishedand carefullyexamined."
But whateverthe verdictof historyin thisregardwill be, the variouscauses
werede factocloselyinterrelated.
each other.The politiThey complemented
cal motivecannotbe separatedfromthe religiousissuesinvolved,and both
the political and religious antagonismto Christianitywere on their part
influencedand strengthened
strongly
by thepartlyreligious,partlynationalisticideologiesthatwereheld sacredin theempire.
SCf. Mitsukuri,op. cit., pp. 196-208. Likewise Motoji Kurita, S6g6 Nippon-shi gaisetsu (A Brief
Synthesisof Japanese History) [T6ky6, 1929],I, 462 f.
" Tasuku Harada, a prominentProtestantleader of this century,had this to say about the obstacles Christianitymeets with in Japan: "One reason why the Japanese have opposed Christianity
is that theyhave mistakenlythoughtthat it makes light of the favorsand mercieswhich we receive
fromrulers and parents .... The most determinedopposition to Christianityhas sprung,strangeas
it may seem, fromdistrustof its ethical principles. For Japanese criticsassert that neitherloyalty
nor filial piety findsclear expression in Christianity;and since these two principles are the very
centralpillars of Japanese morality,a religion that slightsthemis considerednot only unsuited,but
a positive menace to the nation." The Faith of Japan (2d ed., New York, 1926), pp. 125, 152.
1 Recent
findingsin private and public libraries in Japan hold out hope for furthersource material. Besides, thereare still many unedited missionarylettersand reportsburied in the archivesof
the various missionaryorders, among them important old manuscriptsof comprehensiveworks
dealing with Japanese historyand culture of the centuriesin question.
34
PACIFIC
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
The same forcesare operative in present-dayJapan. Her attitude not only
to Christianity
but to the "West" in generalis determinedby similarif not
identicalconsiderations.
The last decadesespeciallyweremarkedby a growingoppositionto Westernthoughtand Westernliberalism.For a while,Japan
had respondedeagerlyto thenewidealsfromEurope and America.But as the
foreignfevergraduallyburned itselfaway,reactionariesbegan to voice the
question "whether,afterall, theycould not be betterservedby a returnto
theirold godswhich... theyhad forsaken."62
Needlessto say,thisopposition
will neveragain go so faras to exclude the materialand industrialbenefits
Japan knows she can derive only fromkeeping in close contact with Europe
and America. She will furtherwelcome Occidental civilization, especially its
material achievements. But she refuses to betray her own soul by sacrificing
her own indigenous culture and sacred tradition. It might well be said that
Japan is still afraid of foreign domination, afraid of being made a "spiritual
colony" of the West.
The old religious beliefs are largely responsible for this concern to regain
and purifyand safeguard the cultural attainments of the past. The ancient
religions, now as ever, have managed to keep a firmhold upon the people and
the spiritual trendsof the country.Shint6, as also (secondarily) Butsud6, "the
way of the gods and the way of Buddha," are still the way upon which the
empire will march toward spiritual, moral, and national greatness. The
Western way of life would lead Japan astray.That is the theme song of today.
This does not mean that Shintoism and Buddhism exert their influenceupon
Japanese thought and ideals by virtue of a genuinely religious appeal. They
are conscious of their internal weakness and watch with forebodings the
growing liberalism and religious indifferentismamong the more educated
Japanese. To stem this Western tide Shintoism as the national cult reduces
everythingto the exigencies of patriotism,and the various Buddhist sectshave
allied themselvesever more closely with the national and nationalistic ideologies. A flightinto the realm of myth! But the leaders of both Shintoism and
Buddhism know well that their great strengthis the strengthof tradition that
dates back to the early beginnings of the nation. They are strongbecause they
can claim to be the embodiment of a great past, the spiritual link binding
every son of Japan to his home and land and to the traditionsand virtues of
his ancestors and national heroes. Now, as in the time of the first"Christian
Century," they pose as the sole guardians of a sacred inheritance in which
alone the ancient loyalties can be preserved."
82
M. S. Kennedy,"The ReactionaryMovementof 1932," ContemporaryJapan, I (1932), 632.

It is needless to say that this presentsa rather delicate problem for Christianmissionarywork
in Japan. But the problem is not of recentorigin,nor is it restrictedexclusivelyto Japan. Cf. Gustav
Voss, S.J.,"MissionaryAccommodationand AncestralRites in the Far East," Theological Studies,
IV (1943), 525-560.
'
EARLY JAPANESE
ISOLATIONISM
35
The clash between the ideologies of East and West is aggravated by the fact
that government-inspiredtendencies seem to favor the apotheosis of the national spirit and even of the state and its ruler. The future development of
these politico-religious trends is unpredictable. But even though they might
become less extreme and return to proper proportions,theywill still be a very
decisive factorin Japanese-Occidental relations. Peaceful coiperation in the
futurewill call, therefore,not only foran elimination of frictionin the spheres
of politics and economics, but above all for a true cultural rapprochement.
However, this must be based on a mutual and benevolent understandingespecially of the differentideologies that underlie the Western and Eastern way
of life.
of life.
GUSTAV VOSS,S.J.
Universityof San Francisco

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Early Japanese Isolationism

Author(s): Gustav Voss

itszenith.However,it is notso muchthetimein whichthesedocumentswere

Written by the very men who outlawed Christianity,the Kirishito-ki states

The Inquisition, moreover, was interested in learning how these schemes

Vol. II, 236 fif.

did notknowand had not in anywayendeavoredto learn.Inoue would do it

differently.He would trya more "scientific"procedure and employ methods

Voss-Cieslik,op. cit.,p. 171.

This request was made by Rodrigo de Vivero,not SebastiAnVizcaino, as Kuno states.

Blair and Robertson, op. cit., XIV, 218 f.

incidents occurred which could well be interpretedas threatsagainst the union

eral times,somenewchangeofcontract.In theKirishito-ki

commander of the factory.Its second paragraph makes the stipulation that if

forbidden,and the residentsof Deshima were orderedto workon thatday.

early as 1587 in the firstdecree of exile. This edict, promulgated by Hideyoshi

Taik6 Hideyoshi's lifetime as the beginning of a Shint6 revival is a question

heated attackson Christianityand amid the superabundance of Buddhist and

This fearwas not purelyimaginary,

a certain incongruity."'Granted the imprudent remarksand measures of some

thattheapologeticwritersdeemedit neccontroloverJapan."It is significant

ANCIENT LOYALTIES versus CHRISTIANITY

It is a historical factthat the Christianswere accused of such criminal neglect.

life,and so on. In the Guia do Pecador and ContemptusMundi we likewisefind

cit.,pp. 89, 91.

perfectblend of the traditional virtues of the Japanese citizen." Christianity

when national unityand autonomy became the guiding principles of Japanese

witha subordinateplace in theNipponesepantheonof Shintoistickamiand

Buddhist incarnations and refusedto be absorbed by them,who, furthermore,

This articleis not intendedto givean apodicticand finalanswerwithrespect

The same forcesare operative in present-dayJapan. Her attitude not only

M. S. Kennedy,"The ReactionaryMovementof 1932," ContemporaryJapan, I (1932), 632.

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