“8. And that, without further passport, they shall and may set out upon the discovery of Yezo[94], or any other part in and about our empire[95].”
The letter from the emperor to the king of England did not differ very materially from that to the prince of Orange, already given. [See Appendix, Note 1.]
In the original draught of the Privileges, there had been an additional article, to the effect that, as the Chinese had refused to trade with the English, in case the English should capture any Chinese ships, they might be allowed the privilege of selling such prizes in the Japanese ports; but this article, upon consideration, the emperor refused to grant.
While these documents were under consideration, a Spanish ambassador from the Philippines had arrived at Suruga with the request that such Portuguese and Spaniards as were in the emperor’s territories without authority from the king of Spain might be delivered up to be transported to the Philippines—a request occasioned by the great want of men to defend the Spanish posts in the Moluccas against the Dutch, who were then preparing to make an absolute conquest of the whole of those islands. But to this demand the emperor replied that his country was a free country, and nobody should be forced out of it; but if the ambassador could persuade any of his countrymen to go, they should not be prevented; whereupon the ambassador departed, not a little discontented.
The day after receiving the emperor’s letter and the Privileges, being the 9th of October, Captain Saris and his company set out by land for Miyako, where the presents were to be delivered to him, over the same road by which they had travelled from Ōsaka to Suruga; but, owing to the heavy rains and the rising of the river, their progress was much delayed.
Miyako they found to be the greatest and most commercial city of Japan. Here, too, was the largest hotoke, or temple, in the whole country, built of freestone, begun by the late emperor, and just finished by the present one, as long, they estimated, as the part of St. Paul’s, in London, westerly from the choir, being as high-arched, and borne upon pillars like that[96]. This temple was attended upon by a great many bonzes or priests, who thus obtained their living, being supported by the produce of an altar, on which the worshippers offered rice and small pieces of money, and near which was a colossal copper image, like that already described, but much larger, reaching to the very arch of the temple, which itself stood on the top of a hill, having an avenue of approach on either side of fifty stone pillars, ten paces apart, on each of which was suspended a lantern, lighted every night[97].
Here, also, the Jesuits had a very stately college, in which many of them reside, both Portuguese and natives, and in which many children were trained up in the Christian religion according to the Romish church. In this city alone there were not less than five or six thousand professing Christians[98].
But already that persecution was commenced which ended in the banishment of the Jesuits from Japan, and, indeed, in the exclusion of all Europeans, with a slight exception in favor of the Dutch. Following up an edict of the previous year, against the Franciscans, the emperor had issued a proclamation, about a month before Captain Saris’ arrival at Suruga, that no church should stand, nor mass be sung, within ten leagues of his court, upon pain of death.
Having at length received the emperor’s presents for the king of England, being ten byōbu [screen] or “large pictures to hang a chamber with,” they proceeded the same day to Fushimi and the next to Ōsaka, where they reëmbarked in the galley which had been waiting for them, and returned to Hirado, having spent just three months on the tour.
Captain Saris found that, during his absence, seven of his crew had run away to Nagasaki, where they had complained to the Portuguese of having been used more like dogs than men. Others, seduced by drink and women, and sailor boarding-house keepers,—just the same in Japan as elsewhere,—had committed great irregularities, quarrelling with the natives and among themselves, even to wounding, and maiming, and death. What with these troubles, added to a “tuffon,” [typhoon]—a violent storm,—which did a good deal of damage (though the ship rode it out with five anchors down), and alarms of conflagration, founded on oracles of the bonzes, and numerous festivals and entertainments, at which Cocks had been called upon to assist,—one of which was a great feast, lasting three days and three nights, to which the Japanese invited their dead kindred, banqueting and making merry all night at their graves[99],—but little progress had been made in trade. The cargo consisted largely of broadcloths, which the Dutch had been selling, before the English came, at seventeen dollars the yard. Captain Saris wished to arrange with them to keep up the price, but the head of their factory immediately sent off to the principal places of sale large quantities, which he disposed of at very low prices, in order to spoil the market. The natives, also, were the more backward to buy, because they saw that the English, though very forward to recommend their cloth, did not much wear it themselves, the officers being clothed in silks, and the men in fustians. So the goods were left in charge of the factory, which was appointed to consist of eight English, including Cocks and Adams (who was taken into the service of the East India Company on a salary of one hundred pounds a year), three Japanese interpreters, and two servants, with charge, against the coming of the next ships, to search all the neighboring coasts to see what trade might be had with any of them.