Emperor Nobunanga Influence

The official arrival of Portuguese was recorded in 1543, the lead missionary Fr. Jerome de Angelis arrived in Japan for his Far East expeditions where he and his evangelist delegation prepared for their maiden Christian excursion in 1602 (Reischauer 215). Furthermore, Reischauer indicates that this was the beginning of the Christian spread into the ancient Japan expanding the religions to three main philosophies, Buddhism, Confucianism, and now the Christianity. However, towards the end of Toyotomi Hideyoshi period, Emperor Nobunanga is seen as one leader who allowed the most cultural exchange with the Europe in the entire Japanese history. The first mission was conducted in a modest way in which the Portuguese first learned the Japanese language
and used a Buddhist approach to simplify and execute their teachings. In Skin as a Metaphor: Early European Racial Views in Japan, Kower explains that the interest of trade is considered as the main factor that contributed this interreligious exchange between the two cultures. Trade flourished and six daimyo’s or feudal lords of the period fully converted into Christians (Kower 58). The relationship expanded, and one of the feudal lords offered to allocate the Nagasaki prefecture for full operation of the Portuguese to expand the silk trade that involved even the Chinese. In an article by Munson, The Opening, Closing and Re-opening of Japan?
Expansion of trade with the counterparts from Europe increased towards the end of 1580’s as evidenced by the arrival of English, Spanish and Holland expeditionary ships at the Japanese ports (Munson 49). They were called the Southern Barbarians because of the direction of their arrival, which was from the south. The southern barbarians were purely Christians, and their primary aim was the trade. Therefore, they brought with them firearms, tobacco, refined sugar, deep fried food, and bread among other trade items. The first contact was 1543 when the Portuguese ship was blown offshore by strong winds and upon their capture by the Japanese warlords, their assortment of firearms impressed the lords and they were welcomed (Munson 52). It is also noted that this is the time that the Japanese experienced a heightened warring nation with highly divided kingdoms. Again, according to Munson, because Japan was open to the outer world, the society welcomed and borrowed much of the European culture including religion. It is also estimated that nearly 500, 000 Japanese converted to Christianity during the Oda Nobunanga
period.
Tokugawa Shogunate and the Christian Conflict
The beginning of Tokugawa reign also acted as the start of the unification of a society that has been in war for many years.
Sadler has also indicated that Japan had been divided into hundreds of states with every emperor watching control over its territories; however, the next centuries of rule by the shoguns reunified them into a single and solid state (Sadler 163). The leadership was a military government that dictated every aspect of the society including the religious doctrines of Japan. For two and half centuries Japan was unified into a pure Buddhist society with orders of execution to any defiant people. This is also the time when the 50 Christian martyrs were brutally executed for their failure to change their denomination. The system prohibited international relations with missionaries and restricted all foreigners to pure commerce, or they are executed for suspicion of influencing the Japanese religion. The initially converted daimyo domains were ordered to convert and all their international relations prohibited, in essence, Christianity was outlawed and all the missionaries ordered to leave the country (Teather 73). The Shogun rule was the era known as the closed country
period. Beck, Roger & Holt, records the claim by the Shoguns that Christianity was a bad philosophy that was dividing the country by orchestrating wars among the states and inflicting a rebellious thinking among the people. The only punishment for failure to recant the faith was death, a decision that forced many missionaries to leave the country with few remaining but abolishing their Christian missionary mandate. Additionally, their research has shown that by the early 17th century, more than 3000 believers had been killed and hundreds of thousands undergone a torturous period of their life into recanting the Christian faith. Portuguese expedition was seen as the source of the Christian teachings that divided the unity of the people according to the shoguns. Therefore, their presence was terminated; besides, trade with them was suspended and their missionaries expelled out of Japan for wrong teachings. It was also discovered that the Protestant Dutch were allowed to trade after they agreed to separate trade and religion. In the Letters written by English Residents in Japan, 1611-1623, it is reported that, the ruler made it mandatory for the people to periodically step on the images of the Christian faith especially the one of Mary mother of Jesus. Further, the pictures were called the fumi-e in Japanese that also mean step on. The fumi-e was a move that ensured that all remaining Christians were uprooted from the mass since they would not step on the images due to their faith (Murakami 63). From all this turmoil, torture, and execution, the most significant question that, why would the Shogunates severely punish Christians? Research by scholars has indicated that, during the century of war and divided nation, the Christian faith was vertically flourishing, and many converts were recorded. However, the country was in a severe war. Therefore, other studies had suggested that when the military rule took over the county it had the mandate to unite the warring states into a single country (Anesaki 33). Christianity was thought to be an element of separation in contrary to the unifying element it was preaching.