[11] That is, Yedo; then, as now (but with the modern name Tokiô), the capital of the Japanese empire. The Castle of Yedo, first built in 1456–57, was the abode of the Tokugawa Shôguns from 1591—when it was assigned to Iyéyasu, who greatly enlarged it—until the close of that dynasty in 1868. See historical and descriptive account of this edifice, by T.R.H. McClatchie, in Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi (Tokyo, ed. 1888), pp. 119–154.
[12] The daimiôs constituted, under the old feudal organization of Japan, a class of territorial nobility, who numbered about two hundred and fifty. Under Iyemidzu (1623–51) the daimiôs were obliged to live in Yedo half the time with their families; and, before this, those nobles had been in the habit of visiting the reigning monarch at the capital. For account of the daimiôs and their vassals, the samurai, see Rein’s Japan, pp. 318–328; and Griffis’s Mikado’s Empire, pp. 217, 321, 322.
[13] For a narrative of the persecutions of Christians in Japan and the suppression of that religion there, with the causes of that action on the part of Japan’s rulers—Iyéyasu, Hidetada, and Iyemidzu, 1600–1650—see Rein’s Japan, pp. 304–311; Griffis’s Mikado’s Empire, pp. 252–259; and J.H. Gubbins’s “Introduction of Christianity into China and Japan,” in Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi (Tokyo, ed. 1888); pp. 1–38—with supplementary information thereon by E.M. Satow (who reproduces Iyéyasu’s celebrated proclamation of 1614), pp. 43–62.
[14] Cf. the account of these episodes (the maltreatment of Englishmen by the Dutch, and the loss of the Dutch ship) given by Richard Cocks in his Diary, pp. 51–76.
[15] Probably alluding to one of the two Franciscans captured by the Moros nearly two years before (Montero y Vidal’s Hist. piratería, i, p. 154), but afterward ransomed by the Spaniards—Fray Domingo de los Mártires and Fray Alonso de la Soledad.
[16] Apparently a reference to the beri-beri, a disease common in India and other lands of Southern Asia. A similar or identical disease, prevalent in Japan, is there known as kak’ké; see William Anderson’s account of this disease in Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. vi (Tokyo, ed. 1888), pp. 155–181.
[17] In the text this is a curious double play upon words, which cannot be exactly reproduced in translation. The Spanish reads, y que multos por dar en el clavo an de dar en la herradura—literally, “many in striking the nail will strike the horseshoe,” clavo meaning both “nail” and “clove.”—Trans.
[18] Cocks mentions in his Diary (i, p. 268) the arrival of French ships at Bantam in 1617.
[19] Spanish, amplitud ortiva, meaning an angle measured on the eastern horizon. The term amplitude, thus used (by English writers also), is an old one in astronomical terminology. In the description of the second comet, al pie refers apparently to the head of the comet, which is here called its foot because sometimes this point was nearer to the horizon.—Rev. Jose Algue, S.J. (director of Manila Observatory).
[20] Referring to the ancient astronomical notion that a comet was an exhalation.—Harry T. Benedict (professor of astronomy, University of Texas).