Iyeyoshi’s face darkened. “Woroto is a believer in the accursed sect!”
“Your Highness is mistaken,” I replied. “The sect denounced by your laws is that body of Christians which acknowledges the rule of the Pope of Rome. There are many Christian sects which reject the Pope.”
“All Christian sects seek to subvert filial piety and the reverent worship of the august ancestors, upon which rest the foundations of morality and order.”
“Your Highness,” I ventured, “whatever may be the foundations of order and morality, the life of nations depends either upon the power to meet force with force or the wisdom to avoid conflict. For generations Dai Nippon has been safe owing to her isolation from the lands beyond the wide seas. But now the tojin peoples have attained to a power inconceivable to one who has not seen. Their warships cover the seas.”
“So also did the war junks of Kublai Khan,” he rejoined.
“The fleet of Kublai Khan was destroyed off the shores of Nippon by the great storm no less than by the valor of Nippon’s samurais,” I replied. “But the warships of the tojins move without sails against the greatest of typhoons, and their cannon shoot far. Your Highness may have heard of Chinese arrogance. The tojins said, ‘Trade with us.’ The Chinese spat at them and called them ‘foreign devils.’ The tojins said, ‘Trade with us.’ They attacked the tojins. The tojin warships came to them in anger. Now they trade with the tojins in many open ports. The tojin trade is a rising tide that is sweeping its way around the world. Your Highness knows that the Government of my country is sending a very great official honorably to request that the ports of Dai Nippon be unblocked before the rising tide.”
“Earthquake waves have rolled up on our coasts, destroying thousands. The waters have ever receded, and Dai Nippon still stands.”
“The tide of tojin trade has never receded from wherever it has flowed. Tojin power is far beyond the knowledge of Your Highness. Do not judge by the Dutch. They are now a very little people in the tojin world. In the august name of Minamoto Iyeyasu and in the name of Anjin Sama, his counsellor, I ask Minamoto Iyeyoshi to receive and ponder on the memorial of Yoritomo Sama.”
“The prayer of Woroto will be considered,” replied the Shogun, and with this half concession, he touched a small gong that stood beside him on an elbow rest.