[34] Juan García Lacalle entered the Dominican order at Manila, in 1602; he spent many years in the Cagayán missions.
[35] Apparently a misprint for 1611. Sanchez remained in the Cagayán missions until his death, which must have occurred about 1640. The missionaries brought by him in 1626 numbered sixteen, sketches of whom are given in Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 375–381.
[36] A play upon words, the Spanish hierro (“iron”) having almost the same pronunciation as yerro (“error”).
[37] Both these missionaries came to Manila in the mission of 1609. Fray Francisco labored in the villages of Balete and Polo—the former being originally a village of Japanese, formed in 1601 by Tello from that of Dilao, near Manila, but again restored to Dilao in 1626. Fray Francisco went to Japan in 1623, and was burned at the stake on August 17, 1627. Fray Bartolomé served in a hospital (probably that at Los Baños), went to Japan in 1623, and met the same fate as befell Fray Francisco. See Huerta’s Estado, pp. 395, 557.
[38] He had come to Manila in 1618, and labored in the Cagayán missions and the Babuyanes.
[39] In this band were twenty friars; for sketches of their lives, see Reseña biográfica, i, pp. 381–390.
[40] Spanish, castillo (“little castle”); apparently an imitation of the castillo de fuego, a contrivance built of wood in the shape of a castle, to which are attached various fireworks.
[41] The reference in our text is to Go-Midzuno-o, who was mikado from 1611 to 1630; in the latter year he abdicated that dignity, forced to this step by petty persecutions and interference by the shôgun Hidetada, and lived in retirement for the rest of his life, dying in 1680. The statement as to cutting off his hair is hardly accurate in regard to its rarity, as it was then the custom for potentates of various degrees to abdicate their office at an early period therein, and retire into a Buddhist monastery, on which occasion the head of the candidate was shaved. Dairi is merely one of the appellations bestowed upon the mikado of Japan (see Vol. XIX, p. 51). The term mikado is practically the equivalent of “Sublime Porte;” the first to bear this name was Jimmu-Tennô (660–585 B. C.), and his dynasty has continued to the present day. After the conquest of Korea (202 A. D.) Chinese influences began to affect Japan; and the mikado’s authority was gradually diminished by powerful chiefs and lords, until the dignity of shôgun—a military title of honor—was conferred (1192) upon Yoritomo, and made hereditary in his family. From that time dates the dual monarchy which ruled Japan—the mikado being but the nominal sovereign—until 1868; the revolution of that year suppressed the shôgunate, and restored to the mikado his rightful authority. The mikado’s residence was established at Kiôto in 793, where it remained until 1868, being then transferred to Yedo (now Tôkiô). The comparison of the mikado to a pope arose from his possessing certain prerogatives in religious matters, and because a sort of divine character was ascribed to him from the claim of the first mikado that he was a descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. See Rein’s Japan, pp. 214, 224, 315–317; also Murdoch and Yamagata’s Hist. Japan, chap. i, and pp. 697–700.
[42] A variant form of Alcarazo, as the name is spelled elsewhere. These variations, which occur in numerous cases, may be due to additions made by Aduarte’s editor; or possibly to his employing more than one amanuensis.
[43] The modern province of Nueva Vizcaya.