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.
CHAPTER XIII
New Troubles of the Missionaries from their own Countrymen—The Emperor claims Homage of the Governor of the Philippines—Mutual Jealousies of the Portuguese and Spaniards—Spanish Adventurers in Japan—The Emperor’s Suspicions excited—His Reply to the Viceroy of Goa.—A. D. 1591-1592.
Valignani’s gracious reception greatly raised the hopes of the Japanese converts. But much annoyance was soon experienced from two pagan lords, who had been appointed joint governors of Nagasaki. Nor was it pagan hostility alone which the Jesuits had to dread. Enemies even more dangerous were found among their own countrymen in Japan, many of whom had ceased to exhibit that zeal for the faith, at first so universal. The irregular conduct of certain Portuguese merchants, in frequenting ports where there were no missionaries, and where they could freely follow their own devices, had greatly troubled the Jesuit fathers. A Japanese adventurer, by name Harada Kiyemon, having gone to the Philippines to trade, had taken it into his head to suggest to the emperor of Japan to require the Spanish governor of those islands to acknowledge him as sovereign. This idea, conveyed to the emperor through a Japanese courtier with whom Harada was intimate, was eagerly caught at by a prince rendered vain by the elevation to which he had attained, and whose head was filled with schemes for still further extending his empire. He wrote an imperious letter to the governor of the Philippines, demanding his homage, and despatched it by the hand of Harada, who applied to Father Valignani, to write to the Jesuits at Manila, and to the Spanish governor, in furtherance of this project. Valignani refused to write any such letters, alleging as an ostensible reason, that he had no acquaintance with the governor of the Philippines, nor authority over the Jesuits of Manila; and, in consequence of this refusal, Harada did not venture to carry the letter himself, but sent it by another hand. Valignani wrote, however, by a simultaneous opportunity, to the Jesuits of Manila, informing them of this affair, suggesting its delicate character, and the expediency, while due care was had of the honor of the Spanish crown, of not giving to the emperor of Japan any pretence for renewing his persecution of the missionaries.
Notwithstanding the union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal upon the head of Philip II, a very fierce jealousy and hatred continued to exist between the two nations; and this feeling was particularly violent at Manila, which city, founded in 1572, was almost contemporaneous in its origin with Nagasaki, and whose merchants looked very enviously at the monopoly of the trade to Japan secured to the Portuguese, and to the city of Macao, by the terms of the union between the two crowns.[54] This express exclusion of all Spanish merchants from Japan had been indeed already broken through, in at least two instances, by the arrival of one Jean de Solis from Peru, by way of Macao, and of another Spanish merchant from the Philippines, both of whom, after various adventures, and receiving aid and services from the Jesuit missionaries, had reached Nagasaki. Solis soon after proceeded to Satsuma on the southern coast of Shimo, where he commenced building a vessel in which to trade to China and thence to Peru,—a project in which he was presently joined by the other Spaniard. But to carry out this scheme it became necessary for Solis to get back a sum of money which he had been compelled to deposit in the hands of the Portuguese, at Nagasaki, as security for certain debts which he had contracted at Macao; and because Father Valignani would not help them in this matter, the two Spaniards threatened to give information to the emperor of the large number of Jesuits still in Japan, in violation of his edict, and to denounce the princes who gave them shelter.