Kirishitan
Kirishitan (吉利"丹, 切"丹) meant
Christian(s) in
Japanese and is today used as a historiographic term for Christians in
Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. This article overviews Christianity in Japan at the time.
The propagation activities of
Catholicism in Japan were started in
1549 and exclusively performed by
Portugal-sponsored
Jesuits until
Spain-sponsored
mendicant orders gained access to Japan. Christianity was prohibited several times by the government and ceased to exist publicly in the 17th century.
The propagation activities of Roman Catholicism were sponsored by the Iberian kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. Proselytizing was an integral part of expanding their territories or influence. By the permission of the
Pope, they divided the non-Christian world between themselves.
Portugal and Spain disputed about the attribution of Japan. Since neither could colonize it, the exclusive right to propagate Christianity in Japan meant the exclusive right to trade with Japan. Portugal-sponsored Jesuits took a lead in proselytizing in Japan over Spaniards. The fait accompli was approved
Pope Gregory XIII's
papal bull of 1575, which decided that Japan belonged to the Portuguese diocese of
Macao. In 1588 the diocese of Funai (
Nagasaki) was founded under the protection of the Portuguese king. Thus the Portuguese saw Japan as a "province that belonged to the conquest of the Portuguese."
In rivalry with Jesuits, Spain-sponsored mendicant orders sneaked into Japan via
Manila. While criticizing Jesuit activities, they actively lobbied the Pope. Their campaigns resulted in
Pope Clement VIII's decree of 1600 that allowed Spanish
friars to enter Japan via the Portuguese Indies, and
Pope Paul V's decree of 1608 that abolished the restrictions on the route. The Portuguese accused Spanish Jesuits of working for their homeland instead of the patron. The power struggle between Jesuits and mendicant orders caused a
schism within the diocese of Funai. Furthermore mendicant orders tried in vain to establish a diocese on the
Tohoku region that was to be independent from the Portuguese one.
The Roman Catholic world order was challenged by the
Netherlands and
England. Theoretically, it was repudiated by
Grotius's
Mare Liberum. In the early 17th century, Japan built trade relations with the Netherlands and England. Although England withdrew from the operations in ten years due to lack of profitability, the Netherlands continued to trade with Japan and became the only European country that maintained trade relations with Japan until the 19th century. As trade competitors, the Protestant countries engaged in a negative campaign against Catholicism, and it affected
shogunate policies toward the Iberian kingdoms.
Portugal and Spain's colonial policies were also challenged by the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican founded the
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1622 and attempted to separate churches from the influence of the Iberian kingdoms. But it was too late for Japan. The organization failed to establish staging points in Japan.
Jesuits believed that it was very effective to seek to influence people in power and to pass the religion down to the commoners. At least they needed to gain permission from local rulers to propagate Catholicism within their domains. It is confirmed that as feudal lords converted to Catholicism, the number of believers in their territories was drastically increased. Thus historians presume forced conversion although Christians would claim that massive conversion resulted from influence of their lords' "exemplary behavior", not from forced conversion. The degree of their religious sincerity became clear when their rulers gave up the religion or were overthrown. Although some Jesuits focused the spotlight on exceptional rulers like
Takayama Ukon and many
martyrs, the vast majority of superficial Christians abandoned Catholicism.
The Jesuits in Japan had to maintain economic self-sufficiency because they could not expect stable and sufficient payment from their patron, the King of Portugal. Alternatively, the king allowed Jesuits to engage in Portuguese trade with Japan. Such economic activity can be found in
Francis Xavier, the pioneer of Catholic missions in Japan. He covered the cost of missionary work by selling pepper obtained in
Malacca. From 1550s to 70s, Jesuits covered all necessary expense with trade profits and bought land in
India.
Their officially recognized commercial activity was a fixed-amount entry into the Portuguese silk trade between Macau and Nagasaki. They financed to a certain amount a trade association of Macau which purchased raw silk in Canton and sold it in
Nagasaki. They did not confine their commercial activity to the official one but expanded into unauthorized markets. For the Macau-Nagasaki trade, they dealt silk fabrics, gold, musk and other goods. Sometimes they even got involved in Spanish trade, which was prohibited by the king of Spain and Portugal, and antagonized Portuguese traders.
It was mainly procurators who brokered Portuguese trade. They resided in Macau and Nagasaki, and accepted purchase commitment by Japanese customers such as the shogunate,
daimyo and wealthy merchants. By brokerage, Jesuits could expect not only rebates but also favorable treatments from the authorities. For this reason procurator became an important post amongst Jesuits in Japan. Although trade activities by Jesuits ate into Portuguese trade interests, procurators continued brokerage utilizing the authority of the Christian Church. At the same time, Portuguese merchants required procurators who were familiar with Japanese
customs as they established no permanent trading post in Japan. Probably the most notable procurator was
Joao Rodrigues, who approached
Toyotomi Hideyoshi and
Tokugawa Ieyasu and even participated in the administration of Nagasaki.
Such commercial activities were contrary to the idea of honorable poverty priests held. But some Jesuits at this time placed expansion of the society's influence before the ideal.
Mendicant orders fiercely accused Jesuits of being corrupt and even considered their activity as the primary reason of Japan's ban on Catholicism. But it does not mean that mendicant orders were completely unrelated to commercial activities although due to the lack of
primary sources it is difficult to reveal their economic situation.
Missionaries were not reluctant to take a military action if they considered it an effective way to Christianize Japan.
They often associated military action against Japan with the conquest of China. They thought that well-trained Japanese soldiers who had experienced long civil wars would help their countries conquer China. For example,
Alessandro Valignano said to the Philippine Governor that it was impossible to conquer Japan because the Japanese were very brave and always received military training but that Japan would benefit them when they would conquer China.
Francisco Cabral also reported to the King of Spain that priests were able to send to China two or three thousand Japanese Christian soldiers who were brave and were expected to serve the king with little pay.
The Jesuits provided various kinds of support including military support to Kirishitan
daimyo when they were threatened by non-Kirishitan daimyo. Most notable was their support for
Omura Sumitada and
Arima Harunobu, who fought against the anti-Catholic
Ryuzoji clan. In 1580s Valignano believed in the effectiveness of military actions and fortified Nagasaki and
Mogi. In 1585
Gaspar Coelho asked the Spanish Philippines to send a fleet but the plan was rejected due to shortness of its military capability.
When
Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the first ban on Catholicism in 1587, the Jesuits in Japan, led by Coelho, planned armed resistance. At first they sought help from Kirishitan daimyo but the daimyo refused. Then they called for a deployment of reinforcements from their homeland and colonies. But this plan was abolished by Valignano. Like Kirishitan daimyo, he realized that a military campaign against the powerful ruler would bring catastrophe to Catholicism in Japan. Valignano survived the crisis by laying all the blame on Coelho. In 1590 the Jesuits decided to stop intervening in struggles between daimyo, and to disarm themselves. They only approved secret food and financial aid for Kirishitan daimyo.
It seems that the Jesuits had no military plan during the
Edo period since they realized that the Tokugawa shogunate was much stronger and more stable than Toyotomi Hideyoshi's administration. In contrast, mendicant orders relatively openly discussed military options. In 1615 a
Franciscan emissary of the Viceroy of
New Spain asked the shogun for land to build a Spanish fortress and deepened Japan's suspicion against Catholicism, and the Iberian colonial powers behind it.
When the Jesuit priest Francis Xavier arrived, Japan was experiencing a nationwide civil war. Neither the emperor nor the Ashikaga shogun could exercise power over the nation. At first Xavier planned to gain permission for building a mission from the emperor but was disappointed with the devastation of the imperial residence. The Jesuits approached daimyo in southwestern Japan and succeeded in converting some of these daimyo. One reason for their conversion may have been the Portuguese trade in which the Jesuits acted as brokers. The Jesuits recognized this and approached local rulers with trade and exotic gifts.
 |
Monument to Kirishitan martyrs in Nagasaki |
The Jesuits attempted to expand their activity to
Kyoto and the surrounding regions. In 1559 Gaspar Vilela obtained permission from
Ashikaga Yoshiteru to teach Christianity. This license was the same as those given to
Buddhist temples, so we cannot confirm special treatment to Jesuits. On the other hand,
Emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568. Anyway, the orders of the emperor and the shogun were not influential.
Christians refer positively to
Oda Nobunaga, who died in the middle of reunification of Japan. He favored the Jesuit missionary
Luis Frois and generally tolerated Christianity. But overall he undertook no remarkable policies toward Catholicism. Actually, Catholic power in his domain was trivial as he did not conquer western Japan, where the Jesuits were based.
The situation was changed when Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunified Japan. Once become the ruler of Japan, Hideyoshi start to pay attention to external threat, particularly the expansion of European power in East Asia. His suspicion were confirmed in San Felipe inicdent, when the captain of Spanish ship, San Felipe, in the heat of negotiation with Japanese official to regain cargo of his capsised ship, boasted that Spain's large territory is due to spread of Christianity and help of Christian missionaries. Moreover, numerous report of mistreatment of Japanese slave by Christian (i.e. Portugerease and Spanish) in inter Asian as well as trans pacific slave trade alarmed Hideyoshi. He attempted to curb Catholicism while he encouraged and wanted to regulate trade with Portugal and Spain who might provide military support to Christian Daimyo in the western Japan. In 1587 he banned the ruling class from converting to Catholicism as he was concerned that forced conversion by them made peasants dangerous rebels like the
ikko ikki sect of earlier years. At the same time he put Nagasaki under his direct control to control Portuguese trade. In
1597, 26 Kirishitan followers were executed in Nagasaki at Hideyoshi's order. He also abolished slavery in Japan and substituted with debt bondage.
After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death,
Tokugawa Ieyasu assumed hegemony over Japan in 1600. Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he disliked Christian activities in Japan but gave priority to trade with Portugal and Spain. He secured Portuguese trade in 1600. He negotiated with
Manila to establish trade with the Philippines. The trade promotion made his policies toward Catholicism inconsistent. At the same time, in attempt to wresthle control trade frmo Catholic counterpart, Dutch and British traders adviced Shogunate that Spanish indeed has territorial ambition and Catholicism is it's main tool. On the other hand, Dutch and British promissed that they will limit themselves to trading activities and will not conduct missionary activities in Japan.
The
Tokugawa shogunate finally decided to ban Catholicism in
1614. This marked the end of open Christianity in Japan. The immediate cause of the prohibition was a case of fraud involving Ieyasu's Catholic
vavasor but there were also other reasons behind it. The shogunate was concerned about possible invasion by Iberian colonial powers as they did in the New World and the Philippines. Domestically, the ban was closely related to measures against the
Toyotomi clan. On the other hand some Jesuits cited "reasons of state" as the key factor; they realized superiority of state politics over religion in Japan.
Although missionaries who actually worked in Japan left realistic and secular analyses, the Kirishitan history compiled by Catholics is based on a religious interpretation. They tend to ignore economic and political affairs. They set religious activities against secular affairs and even map them to good and evil. Traditionally, the "purified" church sources were used to study Kirishitan history. The situation has been improved drastically as a lot of primary sources became available to researchers.
Non-religious researchers find it difficult to treat martyrdom as history. Instead of giving detailed accounts, they just point out the rate of martyrdoms; there were a
thousand martyrs at most whereas the number of Christians at their peak is estimated at 500 thousand. In contrast, Christians attach a great importance to martyrdom probably due to the nature of Christianity.
The Japanese government used
Fumie to identify Catholics. Fumie were pictures of the
Virgin Mary and
Christ and the government officials made everybody trample on these pictures. People reluctant to step on the pictures were identified as Catholics and were sent to Nagasaki. The policy of Japanese government (Edo) was to turn them from their faith, Catholic. However, if the Catholics refused to change their religion, they were
tortured. But as many of them still refused to abandon their faith, they were killed by the government. Execution took place at
Nagasaki's
Mount Unzen where many were dumped into the
volcano.
The
Shimabara Rebellion, led by a young Christian boy named
Amakusa Shiro Tokisada took place in
1637. About 27,000 people joined the rebellion, but it was crushed by the shogunate. They are considered martyrs since they fought to protect their faith.
Many Japanese were deported to
Macau or to the Spanish
Philippines. Many
Macanese and Japanese
Mestizo are the mixed-race descendants of the deported Japanese Catholics. 400 were officially deported by the government to Macau and Manila, but thousands of Japanese were pressured into moving voluntarily. There were about 10,000 Macanese, and about 3,000 Japanese moved to Manila.
*
Kakure Kirishitan ("hidden Christian") were the Japanese communities that kept a rest of Christianity in spite of persecution. Their isolation led to drifting from the foreign version of the religion.
*
Nanban trade period*
Nippo jisho*
Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan*
Tomas Araki*
Japanese words of Portuguese origin*
History of the Japanese Catholic Church by the Daughters of St. Paul convent; Tokyo, Japan
*
Pilgrimage Sites and Churches in Nagasaki by TCA (Think Catholic Asia) Japan located inside
Nagasaki Catholic Center
