Japan

by Walter G. Dickson

A meeting was held in Firando in August, 1587, at which the heads of the church decided that the proclamation of Taikosama was not to be obeyed, but that prayers were to be offered up, and that Christians were to keep quiet, in the hope that the storm might blow over.

The following character of Taikosama is given by one of the Jesuit writers: “He reigned in profound peace, and to conserve it he observed these rules in his government. First, After subduing his enemies, and an act of pardon, he never put any one to death, as Nobu nanga, his predecessor, had done, who never spared any of the great ones, which rendered his government odious and cruel; but Taikosama not only spared their lives, but further assigned them sufficient pensions to live on, which made them easy and well content.

“Secondly, He forbade all quarrels and private heats, on grievous penalties, and whoever were found transgressing in this kind were punished with death. If any of these fled, they punished the relations in his place; and in default of relations, his domestics; and in default of these his next neighbors, who were all crucified for not preventing the disorder. No doubt great injustice was committed by this means, and several innocent people suffered. But yet the fear of death made all zealous and careful to stifle these animosities and heats in their very birth, and forced them to live quiet.

“Thirdly, Though he was a tyrant, he would have justice done immediately on all criminals, without regard to birth, quality, services or any alliance whatever; and the party, upon the first conviction of his crime, was put to death out of hand, though he were one of his own relations and of the very blood-royal itself. He was most lewdly addicted to women, nevertheless he pretended that none had a right to use these debauches but himself, and expressly forbade any of his subjects to keep a concubine.

“Another means of preventing troubles was to keep both soldiers and gentry busy employed; for he put them upon building palaces, raising fortresses, etc., knowing very well that the humor of the great ones is always restless and unquiet if their thoughts are not taken up about other business. As for the soldiers, lest idleness should effeminate them, he kept them always employed about his works.

“Moreover, besides the pensions allowed them for life, he also maintained them in the field, which kept them in submission and dependence. As for kings, lords and governors, he made frequent alterations and changes to break their measures, and hinder them from growing popular. Above all, he studied the humor and genius of his subjects; and if any were found to be of a turbulent nature, he secured them, and by that put them out of the possibility of revolt in his absence.

“In fine, what rendered his government so peaceable, was his immense treasures; for by these riches he bound all his subjects tight to his interest, keeping all in hopes, though he never intended them any favors. These were his principal ways and means of maintaining peace in his governments.”

A very little consideration of the position in which Taikosama, as ruler of Japan, was standing to these foreigners must lead to the conclusion that he could take no other step than that which he had taken. They had come to the country uninvited. They had found the country in the possession, so to speak, of a religion which had never shown a persecuting spirit. They had come in their own vessels. From the very outset they had displayed a hard, persecuting spirit, with a tendency to re-embroil the country in war, out of which it was only now emerging. They had insisted on every one coming into subjection to them, with the alternative of leaving house and home in case of refusal. They were, as usual, now calling in the assistance of the temporal power to force the yoke of their priestly supremacy on the people of Japan. Had Taikosama been able to send them away in vessels of the country, he would no doubt have done so. But having no vessels, he gave them the alternative of living peaceably in the country, or of leaving it. They forced the ruling powers of Japan, by their encroachments and persecuting system, to retaliate upon themselves, and then gloried in considering themselves martyrs. They were, in short, constituting themselves and their flocks, over whom they, as priests, had no political authority, an imperium in imperio. They were teaching them to be rebels to their own government, and the priests themselves were obliged to end in the spirit in which they ought to have commenced—a spirit of meekness among their enemies. It would seem, from old as well as from recent experience, that, for Christians to live among heathens, it is necessary to have an “exterritoriality” power; but that is equivalent to saying simply that the Christian power is the strongest, and it means to enforce what it thinks right.

According to the resolutions of the meeting at Firando, the Roman Catholics kept quiet and in retirement in the several provinces in which they were settled.

The first of the line of Owotomo began as personal servant of Yoritomo; and a portion of Satsuma’s territory was given to him, after which the family rose to greatness during the wars between the Emperors of the North and South. About 1374 they acquired a large territory in the northeast of the island of Kiusiu, covering the whole of Boongo and parts of Boozen and the adjoining provinces—Tsikugo and Tsikuzen. In the middle of the sixteenth century this territory included nearly one-half of the island. The family was ruined in the persecution of the Roman Catholics. The principality of Arima covered, at one time, the greater part of the province of Fizen. The territory, as was often the case with small proprietors in feudal times, was at different times enlarged and contracted. Latterly, it seems to have included only the peninsula on which the town of Simabarra stands, and but little more.