Contemplation on the Persecution of Christianity in Japan
Like all the colonial powers Portugal pursued riches and dominion in Asia. Particularly important were missionaries. The arrival of these missionaries marked a significant change in European influence across the region and became important parts Portugal’s colonial agenda and strategy.
The Portuguese through mandates from the Pope were instructed to being the slave trade. This started after advancements in ships allowed the Iberians to travel further south and the profitable outposts there returned the first slaves. In response the Pope instructed the King Alfonso V to reduce the pagans of Africa to perpetual slavery.
The Doctrine of Discovery in 1493 instructed Christian nations that any land not inhabited by Christians was to be discovered and claimed. In 1543 the first Europeans which were also the first Portuguese set foot on Japan after being blown off course in a storm. In 1549 Francis Xavier arrived in Japan and began spreading the Christian faith. Soon after the city of Nagasaki was granted to the Portuguese by Japanese rulers that had been previously converted to Christianity.
Matchlock guns and other technologies were traded to the Japanese and by the 1590s there were roughly 300,000-500,000 Japanese Christians. The Japanese knew that the Portuguese delt with slaves elsewhere in its empire but rumors had spread that the Portuguese were starting to take Asian slaves. Hideyoshi grew concerned of the belief system of Christianity being so closely entangled with foreign powers. The leaders of Japan were ready to get rid of Christianity and the foreigners that brought it in order to dispel the political threat they brought to the Japanese state.
In 1587 Hideyoshi, after unifying Japan and fearing powers outside his own control, passed an edict to expel Christian missionaries. After his death, his successor, Ieyasu, initially kept Christians around in order to keep the trade lanes open with Portugal. After conflict with Christian daimyo, Ieyasu forbade Christian worship and soon after in 1614 declared Christianity illegal and expelled the remaining Christian missionaries. Ieyasu feared the power of Christianity.
The prosecution of Christians by Tokugawa had an enduring national impact. Japan cut itself off from the world in part to prevent Christian influence. Christians only survived in small hidden sects. These crackdowns could be considered barbaric but I think it was ultimately a smart move to maintain Japan’s cultural and political sovereignty. When Commodore Perry arrived in the 1850s and Japan was forced to open up, suddenly these hidden sects were rediscovered. Even today Christianity is an extremely niche religion and it could be suggested that this distrust and fear of Christian led to the increasingly radical militarism and nationalism in the Meiji era.
Citations:
· https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2298.html
· https://omf.org/history-of-christianity-in-japan/
· https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/doctrine-discovery-1493