CHAPTER XII
Recapitulation—Extent of the Japanese Empire—Valignani arrives at Nagasaki—Progress hitherto of the Catholic Faith—The Emperor’s Projects against China—Valignani’s Visit to the Emperor at Miyako—Ukondono—The returned Japanese Ambassadors—Audience given to Valignani—The Viceroy’s Letter—The Interpreter Rodriguez—A. D. 1588-1593.
The Japanese islands had been found by Xavier and his successors divided into numerous principalities, which, though they acknowledged a nominal subordination to one imperial head, were substantially independent, and engaged in perpetual wars with each other. The superior abilities of two successive military usurpers,—Nobunaga, who ruled from 1567 to 1582, and Hashiba Hideyoshi, who took first the title of Kwambacudono, and subsequently that of Taikō-Sama—had consolidated these numerous states into a real empire, embracing then as now the three principal islands of Nippon, Shimo (or Kiūshiū), and Shikoku, with many smaller ones, and some claims also of authority over parts, at least, of the large northerly island of Matsumaye, or Yezo, the latter the aboriginal name.
Among the dependencies, at present, of the Japanese empire, are reckoned at the north, besides this island, the southern half of the large island or peninsula of Sakhalin, called by the Japanese Oku Yezo (upper Jeso), or, as Siebold says, Karafuto, and the three smaller Kurile islands, Kunajiri, Etoropu, and Uruppu, numbered on the Russian charts as the 20th, 19th, and 18th Kurile islands, and the two latter called by the Dutch State’s Island and Company’s Island. On the south, the Lew Chew Islands form, or did form (for the Japanese seem lately to have renounced their claim of sovereignty), a dependency of the kingdom of Satsuma. But all these are of comparatively recent acquisition, subsequent to the accession of Hashiba. It is said, indeed, on Japanese authority, that Yezo was first invaded in 1443 by the Japanese family of Matsumae; but it is apparent from missionary letters that in 1620 it was a recent settlement. The Japanese annals date the conquest of the Lew Chew Islands from the year 1610; and, according to Golownin, the Japanese settlements on Sakhalin have been subsequent to the voyage of La Perouse in 1782.
Of Nippon, at least equal in extent to Great Britain, and with a population nearer, it would seem, to that of Great Britain now than to what that island could boast in the reign of Elizabeth, the missionaries were as yet acquainted only with the southwestern part—their establishments being confined to the kingdom of Nagato, at its western extremity, where it is separated from Shimo by a narrow strait, and to the great cities of Miyako, Ōsaka, and Sakai, situated towards the middle of the southern coast. Many princes, nobles, and large landed proprietors had fallen under the influence of the Jesuits, and had professed the new faith; but it does not appear that either in Nippon or in the adjoining island of Shikoku (about equal in extent to Sicily) any considerable progress had been made in converting the rural population. It was in the island of Shimo, the westernmost in situation and the second in size (two-thirds as large as Ireland), that the new religion had taken the firmest root. The kingdom of Bungo, indeed almost the whole of the eastern portion of that island, was thoroughly indoctrinated with the new faith; and such was still more the case with the kingdom of Arima and the principality of Ōmura, embracing that great southwestern peninsula itself, divided into three smaller peninsulas by two deep bays, one opening to the south and the other to the west, at the head of the latter of which is situated the city of Nagasaki.
Painting of Taikō Sama
Founded in 1579 by converts to the new faith, and made the centre of the Portuguese trade to Japan, as well as of the Jesuit missions, Nagasaki had grown up with great rapidity; nor was any other worship practised in it except that of the new religion. It had become the largest and most important town in Shimo; and, since the recent subjection of that island to the imperial authority, according to the new policy of weakening the local princes, the emperor had assumed the appointment of its governor,—Nagasaki being placed, along with Miyako, Ōsaka, and Sakai in the list of imperial towns.
At the date of the edict, so unexpectedly issued in 1587, for the banishment of the Jesuits, there were in Japan three hundred members of the company, a novitiate, a college, two preparatory seminaries for the education of young nobles designed for the church, two hundred and fifty churches, and a number of converts, amounting, probably, to between two and three hundred thousand, though the estimate of the Jesuits was much larger. Notwithstanding the apostasy of Yoshimune, the young king of Bungo (whose father, Civan, had died just before the emperor’s edict had appeared), the numerous converts in that kingdom remained firm in the faith. That zealous Catholic, the prince of Ōmura, had also lately deceased; but the young prince, his only son and successor, who had been educated by the Jesuits, was hardly less zealous than his father had been. The king of Arima also continued steady in the faith. It was this king who, along with the deceased king of Bungo and the deceased prince of Ōmura, had sent the ambassadors to the Pope, of whose visit to Europe an account has been given in a preceding chapter, and whom the last chapter left at Macao, on their return to Japan, in company with Father Valignani, who had been deputed by the viceroy of Goa as his ambassador to the emperor.
It was at Macao that Valignani and his companions learned the news of the edict for the banishment of the Jesuits. It was said at Macao that the emperor was a good deal mollified, and seemed inclined to wink at the general disregard of his edict; yet as Valignani was himself a Jesuit, and had once already visited Japan in that character, he did not judge it best to proceed to Japan till he had first obtained express permission to do so. On the representations of the Christian princes, who put forward Valignani’s character as ambassdor, the emperor readily consented to receive him; and, accompanied by the returning Japanese envoys and some twenty Jesuits, he landed at Nagasaki, in June, 1590, where he was received with great affection by the converted princes of Shimo, and by Father Gomez, who, on the death of Cuello, had succeeded to the post of vice-provincial. The emperor, in the late redistribution of the kingdoms of that island, had liberally provided for Konishi Settsu-no-kami, the grand admiral, and for Kodera, his general of horse, both of whom, notwithstanding their continued adhesion to the new faith, still retained his favor. To Konishi he had given the kingdom of Higo, and to Kodera that of Buzen, so that almost the whole of the island of Shimo was now ruled by converted princes. Even the changeable Yoshimune, not finding his apostasy so advantageous as he had expected, soon sought and presently obtained a reconciliation to the church. The king of Hirado was not friendly, but he was kept in check by the number of converts among his subjects, especially by a very zealous converted wife, a sister of the prince of Ōmura—whom he complained of as having more influence over his kingdom than himself,—and also by his fear of driving off the Portuguese merchants, who still occasionally visited his island.
Notwithstanding the emperor’s edict of expulsion, there still remained in Japan a hundred and forty Jesuits, including those lately brought by Valignani. The seminary of nobles at Ōsaka had been broken up, most of the pupils retiring with their teachers; but the other seminary in the kingdom of Arima was still maintained, being, for greater security, removed to a retired spot surrounded with wood. The college and novitiate, for similar reasons, were transferred to the island of Amakusa. Besides these, the Jesuits had twenty other houses of residence. Those districts in which the missionaries had no settled establishments they supplied by frequent journeys, which they made secretly, and generally in disguise, being assisted also by a great number of adroit and zealous native catechists, who not only maintained the fervor of the old converts, but daily added new ones to the number. This employment of catechist was held in great honor in the church of Japan. None were admitted into it except persons of approved virtue, generally young men of family and promise, devoted by their parents from their infancy to a service upon which they entered for life, being ordained with much ceremony, and wearing a garb similar to that of the missionaries with whom they lived in community, observing the same rules. Conversions still continued to be made among the upper as well as among the lower classes, and the numerous adherents to the new faith, or favorers of it, in the court and household of the emperor, including even the empress, carefully watched and reported to the missionaries every word or hint dropped by him, from which his disposition and intentions might be conjectured.
At this moment the emperor’s thoughts seemed a good deal withdrawn from domestic affairs, being engrossed by a war, which he had determined to commence by invading Corea, a dependency of the Chinese empire, and the part of the continent of Asia nearest to Japan. For this purpose he was constructing a fleet at a port of Shimo, on the strait of Corea. Not long after Valignani’s arrival at Nagasaki, leave was obtained for him to visit the emperor’s court at Miyako; but his friends there advised that, instead of ecclesiastics, his retinue should be composed as much as possible of Portuguese merchants. The merchants at Nagasaki entered zealously into the affair, and not less than twenty-seven of them accompanied Valignani, in the style of great lords, sparing no expense to give magnificence to the ambassador’s train. He took with him also four priests, some young Japanese Jesuits not yet ordained, and the four returned youthful ambassadors. These ambassadors had learned to sing in the European style, and chanted church music tolerably well. They also had with them a great show of maps, globes, clocks, watches, and other European curiosities, which attracted much attention. Their description of what they had seen and heard made a deep impression upon the princes and nobles, who flocked from all quarters to see them. And there was ample leisure for this, as the approach of the ambassador to Miyako was delayed for more than two months by the death of the emperor’s only son.
In this interval Valignani had the pleasure of a visit from the disgraced Ukondono, whose face he was rejoiced to see lighted up with an air of content rarely seen among those on whom the favors of fortune are most prodigally showered. He protested that the happiest day in his life was that on which he had lost everything for Jesus Christ. He communicated to Father Valignani a design he had formed of quitting the world altogether, and consecrating himself entirety to the service of God; but besides that he had a wife and a numerous family, whom his retreat would have left without resource, the father considered that he was much younger than the emperor; that if reëstablished in his offices and his possessions, he might render much greater services to the church by remaining in the world than by quitting it, and on that ground he advised Ukondono not to withdraw from that station in life in which Providence had placed him.
At last the emperor consented to admit Valignani to an audience, but only on condition that he should say nothing about religion or the revocation of the edict against the Jesuits. Through the care of Kodera, to whom that business had been entrusted, the embassy was received at Miyako with all honor, and was able to make a display which strongly impressed the inhabitants, and even the emperor in its favor. On the day of audience, Gon-dainagon Hidetsugu, the emperor’s nephew and presumptive heir, attended by a great number of lords, met the ambassador, and conducted him to the hall of audience. This hall, which opened upon a magnificent balcony, before which spread a parterre of great beauty, consisted of five several divisions, rising, like steps, one above the other. The first served as an antechamber, or hall of waiting, for the gentlemen in attendance. In the two next were assembled the lords of the court and the great officers of the empire, arranged in order, according to their rank. In the fourth, there were only two persons, a priest who held the first dignity in the household of the Dairi, and the chief counsellor of that same dignitary; by the side of whom Gon-dainagon also took his place, after introducing the ambassador to the fifth and highest apartment, in which the emperor was seated alone, on his heels, in the Japanese fashion upon an elevated throne, approached by steps on all sides. Father Valignani was preceded by one of the Portuguese gentlemen of his suite, bearing the letter of the Indies, written in gilded letters upon fine vellum, with a golden seal attached to it, the whole enclosed in a little box beautifully wrought. That letter was as follows:
LETTER OF THE VICEROY OF GOA TO THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.
“Most Serene Emperor: Though the great space that separates us has not hitherto allowed me much communication with your majesty, yet fame and the religious men who labor in your empire to make known the law of the true God to your subjects, have informed me of the great deeds done by you, and of the victories which have made you the greatest monarch who has reigned in Japan for ages; and I have therefore thought it my duty to congratulate your majesty on the happy successes with which the God of heaven has favored you. The same religious men, who are, for the most part, natural-born subjects of the great prince whom the Indies obey, and who go through the earth with a truly heroical courage to teach men to know and to adore the Author of nature, have also informed me of the distinguished favors with which your majesty has uniformly honored them, and have begged me to convey to you their thanks, which I willingly do, conjointly with my own; and that, indeed, is the particular object of this embassy, with which I have charged the Father Alexander Valignani, who has the honor to be already known to you. After rendering to your majesty his humblest thanks for your past favors, he will supplicate you, in my name, to vouchsafe to continue them; and I dare to assure your majesty that subjects for your favors cannot be found who will merit them better. Favors to them I shall esteem as favors to me, and shall take every opportunity to acknowledge them as such. I have charged my ambassador to present you with two Arabian genets, with their housings and harness, two swords, and two guns of a new fashion, two webs of tapestry embroidered with gold, and two complete suits of wrought steel armor, a dagger, which serves also as a pistol, and a tent for country excursions.
“At Goa, this year of Redemption, 1587.
Dom Edward de Menesez.”[51]
The presents seemed greatly to please the emperor, by whom they were carefully examined. A signal being given, Valignani was led up the steps of the throne to the emperor’s feet, whom, on bended knee, he saluted, after the European fashion, by kissing his hand,—a privilege to which all the members of his suite were admitted in succession, the ambassador being meanwhile seated in the third compartment among the grandees of the court. Tea was then served to the emperor in a gilded cup, which, after sipping from it a little, he sent to the ambassador, who, at the same time, received, by way of present, a hundred silver platters and four silk dresses. Presents were also distributed among the members of his suite. The emperor then retired, first directing his nephew to entertain the ambassador at dinner, which he did, but with more of ceremony than good cheer. The guests consisted of three members of the imperial family and eight other great lords, all eating, each from his own little table or salver, in profound silence, many persons of inferior rank standing about them. The ambassador’s suite were entertained at the same time in a separate apartment.
After dinner the emperor again made his appearance in undress, and, seating himself beside Father Valignani, conversed with him for some time. He also conversed freely with the four returned Japanese, and seemed much pleased at hearing them sing and play in the European fashion. He made great offers to one of them; but they had all made up their minds to enter the company of the Jesuits, which, in spite of a good deal of opposition on the part of their friends and relations, they presently did.[52] Passing into the hall where the ambassador’s suite had dined, the emperor addressed them with great familiarity, and they improved the opportunity to complain of some oppressions, on the part of the collector of the port of Nagasaki, which he promised should be redressed.[53] In the evening, Rodriguez, a young Portuguese Jesuit, who acted as one of Valignani’s interpreters, was sent for to show the emperor how to wind up a clock which the ambassador had presented to him. The emperor seemed much pleased with Rodriguez’s conversation, detaining him till late at night. On dismissing him he bade him say to Father Valignani that he was at liberty to remain at Miyako or wherever he pleased, till an answer to the viceroy’s letter was prepared, but that he must take care that the ecclesiastics who accompanied him comported themselves with discretion, so as not to drive him into striking disagreeable blows. Not long after Rodriguez was selected as the emperor’s interpreter, in which capacity he became attached to the court, and, by his access to the emperor and influence with him, had opportunities of rendering essential service to his order.