Ep3 Portuguese Missionaries in Japan

Welcome to Echoes of History a Ubisoft podcast and the place to
Explore the rich stories from the past
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I'm Matt Lewis
The next 6 episodes continue our exciting Adventure Into the Heart of an era
that has shaped Legends
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Was released recently
And we can see that it situates itself in feudal Japan
A Time renowned for ninja and Samurai
A Time rich in history
Culture
And Stories
Over the next few weeks
We'll navigate the
The intricate landscape of power
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In Assassin's Creed shadows
I will introduce you to the figures who dominated
and dared to defy
From the Warring States of the sengoku period
To the unification of Japan
We've explored a period in time
That continues to fascinate
Next week we'll take a closer look at the remarkable story of one of the two playable characters in Assassin's Creed
Shadows
Yasuke
the first
black samurai
But today we continue our Epic Journey Through The Contours of time
Focusing on Japan's first encounters with Portuguese missionaries
I'm joined by Frederick Cryns
Professor of Japanese history
At the international Research Center for Japanese studies in kyoto
To discover how Europeans first reach Japanese Shores and
Uncover the momentous impact
These missionaries
had on feudal Japanese
Society and culture
Welcome to Echoes of History Frederick it's wonderful to have you here
Thank you for having me
It's an absolute pleasure I can't wait to talk
About this aspect of Japanese medieval life and it sort of their first
Real contact with Europeans
Can you tell us a little bit about when Portuguese missionaries first arrived in Japan when does that contact begin
that begins in the middle of the 16th century
In 1549 to be correct
The Portuguese to the east
From the 15th century on
And in 1498 I think they
Establish the sea routes
To India
And they went even further and
in the beginning of the 16th century
??????????? in Malacca
But then it still took some time for them to reach
Japan
It was in 1542 or 1543
Is it still being
Disputed
That the first Portuguese merchants reached Japan
And at the same time you had
the Society of Jesus
Which started in 1540
And soon after
the papal bull
was ordained
Francis Xavier
Who was a Jesuit and one of the founding members
of the Jesuit
He was asked
To travel to Asia to begin doing
Missionary work there
He was asked especially by King John the Third of
Portugal because
He was very keen
I'm trying to get as many
Asians
Adhering to the Christian religion
So Xavier had quite a correspondence
with King John about
What he did in Asia and it wasn't
What he expected
In 1542 he came to India but
he didn't get good results so
He tried to go to Malacca
But they also there was not much interest for his propagating of the faith
And there he
met with the Japanese called
Anjirō
Probably his real name is Yajirō
And he told him about Japan and also some Portuguese Merchants who had gone to
Japan told him that
That will be the country
Where are you really are going to get a lot of
People converted to
Christianity so he has a lot of expectations for Japan
And in 1549 he finally
set foot on Japan
So that was really the first time that the Jesuits
Arrived in Japan only 6 or 7 years
After the first portuguese came
So very soon
So the initial contact is really about Merchants looking for places
to trade
But it very quickly turns into a religious mission
And there seems to be an element there that
Japan was identified as somewhere that might be sort of ripe
for christianization that there might be a will there to be converted
to Christianity which would have been a draw presumably for the Jesuits
Yes so
the Jesuits
Thought and it was true of course that the Japanese were very intellectual
People
Because Xavier
first met with Anjirō
And this guy could speak Portuguese and he learned a lot of languages
He went to the seminario in Goa
So he became very proficient in the Christian faith
So he had very high
Expectations of Japan
When he came in Japan
He first thought that the Japanese religion
Which was Buddhism was
a kind
Christianity
Because the Jesuits and Europeans thought
in earlier times ?????????????? and all those people went to Asia
And established Christianity there so
They thought that in Japan they would find the sort of ancient form of Christianity
And he met people from the Shingon sect
Which esoteric Buddhist sect
Which adhere to Dainichi Nyorai
Which is a cosmic sort
of Buddha
So Xavier himself
He preached Christianity and talked about
The Christian God
as Dainichi
Of course after the time he found out that this was not
Christianity at all that this was a total different religion so
He changed into Deis
But still
He found and the other Jesuits
Who came after him
Found a lot of similarities
With Buddhism
In Japan so
They thought
If the Japanese knew about
The true faith
That those Japanese
With readily
convert to Christians
Their understanding of Buddhism made it feel like it would be an easy move to Christianity that might be quite
Easy sell
After failing in India
Yes
That was certainly one of the things they thought and
Also they had seen that
when Xavier came
In Japan
He landed in Satsuma Kagoshima which is in the southern
Part of Kyushu Island
And you had a warlord there Shimazu Takahisa
And he welcomed Xavier very much
Because he had a motive
If the Jesuits would come he thought
the Portuguese Merchants would follow so he treated Xavier
Very well and
He gave him permission to preach the
gospelin his
domains but after a year no Portuguese ship arrived
So then he prohibited
Christianity and
Xavier was compelled to go to another
domain which was the Hirado Domain of Matsura Takanobu and
Just at that time there was a Portuguese vessel there
And then the Portuguese saw the Jesuits
So Xavier and his companions
They greeted them with the utmost respect
And Takanobu saw that so
He thought okay I have to
Treat them also with respect
So that the Portuguese traders could come
Because those Portuguese Traders they
got a lot of products
one was weapons
Especially Arquebuses
So rifles that the Japanese could use
And they also had silk of China
Because Japan wasn't allowed
To trade with China directly
But the Portuguese
could purchase goods from China and
Send those goods to Japan and those silk goods
were Very in demand in Japan among the Samurai class so
Brought a very high Profits
It's interesting that the Japanese response was I guess fairly cynical they're willing to welcome the religious
People because they want the trade that they hope will follow
Willing to kick them out when that doesn't materialize but then for Xavier as well
when he moves on and this merchant ship
Anchors at the same time that he's arriving that must have felt to him like
Like a sign from God that he's in the right place and doing the right thing
probably yes
And he thought
If he goes to the Emperor in
Kyoto in the capital and
That the emperor would give him permission to preach in all of Japan and
That he would have a lot of success because he saw that
The Lord of a small domain
When he gave permission
He got the chance
to convert
A few people
If the upper lord
of the country
would giving permission
He thought
He would be in a good position to
Convert a lot of
Japanese
So he went to Kyoto but
That ???????? is not very well because kyoto at the time was in the midst of warfare
So he didn't have the chance to meet with the emperor nor with the Shogun
And he had made a mistake well a mistake not from his standpoint
He tried to look as frugal and simple as possible
To convey to the people that he was
A pure religious at heart
But the Japanese at the time they didn't like
Poor people so he was not treated very well on the way to kyoto
And he had the same experience when he was in Yamaguchi which was then a very thriving City on the
way to kyoto
Where he went to the Lord Ōuchi Yoshitaka
And this Lord didn't like him because of his poor appearance
So afterwards
He went back from kyoto He
Got back to Hirata where he put on very expensive clothes
And then went again to the court of Ōuchi
And then he was received very well
He also gave a lot of Presents
which he had brought from Portugal
and Ōuchi was very pleased with that
and gave permission for the Jesuits to preach the gospel in his
Domains
So there
Xavier saw
How he had to arrange the
The missionary
Work in Japan it was different from Europe
They have to appear like the Buddhist monks
which wore also
Expensive clothes
And in this way they have to impress
The Japanese
It's really interesting in those early contacts how they both seem to have their own motives and they're both willing to adapt
Their approaches
to fit with
Each other so the Japanese are willing to welcome
Christians because they think it'll bring trade
And the Jesuits are willing to portray themselves as something they wouldn't normally as wealthy men
Well dressed man in an effort to make sure they get in with the Japanese so there is this kind of trying to click and work together from
both sides
Yes I think that both were adapting to the other
Perhaps the Jesuits more than the Japanese
Because as you say when they saw that there was nothing to be gained
From relationship with the Jesuits
They just cut them out and
You also have problems for example in ???????????
Some Japanese became Christian
They became quite aggressive against the Buddhist
So you got internal
strife in the Hirado domain and that was the reason why
Takanobu
Prohibited Christianity
from then on so
You have very different motives from both sides
And probably
A stronger position from the Japanese than the jesuits
So they were really encouraged to change some of their Western methods
To better please the Japanese
And given that Japanese
Cynicism I guess about wanting the Christians there because it will bring trade
What do we know about what the Japanese thought of those early arrivals from Europe what did they make of European people
Well I think that
At the time
You have some words like Nanbanjin which means
Southern barbarians so
They saw perhaps the Portuguese more as barbarians then as equals
But still as a whole I think they really loved
New things in Japan like they do now
New knowledge new rare objects and so on
they really like those stuffs
Because they have a long tradition from importing a lot of things
From China Korea and so on so this was a new culture presented to them
With new artifacts
All kinds of Christian artifacts
Like paintings and
Crosses
and statues and so
I think they got the liking for the exoticism
That those Western objects brought them
And the century's called
The Christian Century
in Japan
Because they adopted so much
in their culture at
the time
So I think they were positively disposed
Towards those
Jesuits and Portuguese or Western culture as a whole
It's interesting in calling them Southern Barbarian
It does suggest that the Japanese felt
That they were exploiting
the Europeans
that they were just getting from the Europeans rather than working with them that it was an
unequal partnership from the Japanese point of view
Yes I think that's how it's really awesome exoticism
But you have
The strange effect that
When they
became Christians
And that is something
That the Jesuits wrote in their
reports about Japan
It was quite different from for example in India
If you Convert an Indian to Christianity
It had to be done with a lot of force and when they became Christians they were
not that faithful
While the Japanese
When they became Christian
They attended Church and the sermons
And some of them really became very fervent Christians
In a sense when they get used to this new culture to those new
People
Some became very close
You have for example
Ōtomo Yoshishige
Who became
A christian after a long time
But he was very well disposed
against the jesuits
You have other people like
Takayama Ukon
Who became a very fervent Christian and all
His Samurai also
So they were very fond of them and they listened
To the jesuits
They asked them a lot about politics
How do you could manage this or that issue
so the jesuits had
a lot of influence with some warlords
And also
with a lot of
The Peasants and the lower class people
So they really had some success
Success that they didn't
Experience in other countries
It's an interesting
View on Japan I think
We often view it's quite a closed Society
But they were clearly willing to welcome a lot of these things in
Who else during this period were important missionaries we've talked a lot about
Xavier is the first to arrive there were there other important Portuguese missionaries
that followed him
We have a lot of colorful figures
Among the Jesuits
Xavier left in 1551 but
soon came more and more jesuits I think Gaspar Vilela is one who stands out
He was a very keen propagator of
the Christian faith and he
could convert
some more warlords to Christianity
One of them was Omura Sumitada
Who eventually would gift a port to the Jesuits
Which was called
Nagasaki
You have Almeida [this is Luis de Almeida, missionary]
Almeida was a merchant and a surgeon
And he came to Japan in connection with the silk trade
between China and Japan
he was very wealthy
But in 1555 after
3 years in Japan
He decided to become a jesuit himself
And so he gave all his wealth
To the church
And he was also instrumental in
Establishing
a hospital and an orphanage in Funai [this is now Ōita]
Which was the capital of Bungo
Which was the domain of Ōtomo Yoshishige
A very powerful warlord in Kyushu
So a lot of
Jesuits who
cared about their faith
Who really did a very good job
In charity in converting a lot of
Japanese to
Christianity
And then you have of course Valignano
Which was the visitor as he was called
to the orient
Give us the head
of all the actions in the orient and he spent a lot of time in Japan because
Japan was the place
where the Jesuits though they would have the best
Results
Fróis was another one Luís Fróis
He was the historian of the Jesuits
He wrote all the lengthy reports
about Japan every year
The Jesuits wrote to report about
What they had done in Japan
About the political
Situation of
Japan in all the
Christian communities in all the places
Especially in Kyushu
And that was a very lengthy report it was mostly over 100 pages every year
And those reports are very valuable
Because Fróis wrote
Too much for the liking of his superiors
they always said that it's too much you
have to Make it more compact
But because of all those reports we have vivid
impressions of what Japan was like at the time
And also all kinds of political
Developments
Within Japan
It's interesting that his superiors were probably thinking this is a meeting that could have been an email but we have to be grateful I guess that he does give
us all of this color
And all of this additional information that we otherwise wouldn't have
Indeed and That information was used by the Jesuits in Europe
For propaganda
So they published
After some censorship
Luís Fróis and ??????????
send other let
In Italy
And they were also Translated
into several languages like Latin German
French and so on
For the Catholic
Reformation in Europe
They would say see what
we can do
In Asia and especially in Japan
We probably have
England
But we have gained another Island
In the form of Japan
So they did a lot of propaganda
Which gave them additional financial resources and many European Jesuits who wanted
To join the efforts in Japan
Which was good for them for a Time but could work
as a double-edged sword
And you mentioned that
The Japanese partly welcome the Portuguese because they bought
New things they bought access to Silk that they couldn't get from China because trade there was barred
Did the Portuguese and that contact with Europeans
Bring anything to Japan that really
changed Japanese Society
First of all I think faith
Christian religion they
converted
Probably the most
In the fast
Time it was probably 200,000 or 300,000 Japanese which is a phenomenal figure
So those Christian Japanese became quite a force to be reconed with
They also brought in firearms which were
copied Right away
which became a crucial
Factor in Samurai warfare
So probably those two were the most important
things that the Portuguese
brought to Japan that change history you
see Ōtomo Yoshishige you see ???????????????
in Kyoto
you see Oda Nobunaga
Incorporating those firearms in
Their armies
And I think
Before that
You really had more one on one combat
with the samurai
But with the introduction of those firearms
it Became more of
Outstanding armies
Shooting at each other
From a distance
So the way of Warfare
of the samurai really changed a lot through that introduction
I guess reflects the way Warfare was changing in Europe at the time as well where there is much more of a move towards the gun and away from the sword
Contact with the Portuguese maybe brings that to Japan at roughly the same sort of time too
Yes I think so too
How did the missionaries sort of operate in Japan where are they holding sort of big scale baptisms
Were they establishing churches or was it much more quiet than that
They would first establish a church
And you have to think of the church as a Buddhist temple
Because they didn't import
Western architecture so they had to do what was available for them
At first they would use abundant
Buddhist temples
And afterwards they would
build their own temples but those temples would be
in the same style as the Buddhist temples
With the only difference that they put
Put the cross on top of the roof
Also the interior was quite the same but
They put a lot of Western
Furniture
But that was really the only difference with the Buddhist churches so they
first started to teach the Japanese
Christian religion
And they did that most
Through the help of
The Japanese so they had a lot of Japanese lay brothers
Translate as
People who lunched with them
Or were a guest with them
And those people were
Aspirant priests
So Japanese who wanted to become
Jesuit priests
Which was something that the Jesuits didn't like very much
They really hesitated to
Ordain
Japanese as priests
I think around 1600 there were 2
Japanese who were ???????????
 so that's already
50 years after the Jesuits first came
So that's a long time
Why were they so reticent to do that because it would seem like the more Japanese priests you could get the easier it might be
I need to spread the religion why were they so cautious about
Because the Jesuits
needed a long
Period of Education
In Europe when you
wanted to become Jesuits
years and years and years that you had
To train in all facets
of Christianity
You had to learn latin
And So on
For the Japanese it wasn't possible to learn latin in
Japan so that was a stumbling block and
That made the Japanese
Very willing to serve
The Jesuits and to propagate
The Christian
As lay brothers as aspirant priests
And that was something that irritated the Japanese
This information
You can find in the letters for example of Valignano
but still the Jesuits weren't very eager to make them priests
I would say that most of the work was done by those
Japanese lay brothers
Because you had
the problem of the language and
the Jesuits themselves
they would also preach by themselves
Some would learn the Japanese language very well
But mostly they would be in charge
of teaching the Japanese
lay brothers
How they have to do it
It's an interesting sort of juxtaposition between the Jesuit desire to get there and convert as many people as possible
But also that kind of
cultural and spiritual break on the fact that
Hang on not everyone can be
A Jesuit priest so they're almost
Holding themselves back a little
Yes but really
the problem with that
 in Europe too so it wasn't easy
to become a Jesuit
In Europe itself so then for the Japanese to make them Jesuits
very easy
would have a backlash in Europe I think
So everything
Valignano and his fellows
Decided
Had to be
Send to Europe to be approved
So there they have a problem
And they also have a problem
That's after a while you have
Cabral [Francisco Cabral] you have Coelho [Gaspar Coelho]
Two Jesuits who became the head of the Japan sector
and they weren't very keen to adopt Japanese
Customs
They wanted to be a strictly Jesuit as in europe so they already have
A problem from the Jesuit side and many like Vilela or Fróis
were more inclined to
to adopt Japanese
Customs
but the heads of the
The provincials as they call them were against that
So a lot of problems within the Jesuit mission of
Which Way to go in Japan
And do we see many of the leading members of Japanese Society the daimyo for example
Do we see them converting to Christianity and if we do
Do we think that's genuine conversion or is it for a political or economic purposes to attach themselves to the
The trade
Well I think you have three or four warlords in kyushu who converted
 to Christianity and some of them were very fervent christians like Ōmura Sumitada
For example
Ōtomo Sōrin or Yoshishige
also in his later years
became a very fervent
Christian
you had other Lords who became Christian who weren't that fervent who just wanted to trade but still
Takayama Ukon was really an Ardent
Tough christian to say
So some really got into it But many
Didn't convert so you had for example
Oda Nobunaga who showed
great familiarity to the Christians to for example Fróis Who he invited
in Kyoto in Gifu castle and showed him around in the castle so
Was positively inclined towards the christians
But still he never adopted
the Christian faith himself
you also have his
Successor Hideyoshi
Which also was positively inclined in the earlier years
towards christianity but he too he didn't
Become a Christian
So you have the two opposites
And we talked a little bit about the challenges that the Jesuits faced from within their own movement about how they should interact
with the Japanese culture and comunnities
Did they face any challenges from Japan was there lots of resistance to the appearance of Christians
In the beginning not so much but
when they got more and more converts
They had a lot of opposition from the Buddhist monks
And the problem really was that
When they converted christians
They began to attack
The Buddhist monks
And the Buddhist temples
And a lot of Buddhist temples
were destroyed
Especially in Omura which was the
Domain of Ōmura Sumitada
Who was afervent Christian so he just let
the Christians do what they wanted and
Some Japanese
began to dislike
The Christians
So you got more and more opposition
When there became more and more Christians
Yes and I guess there's an element there of the Christians being victims of their own success
because as soon as you succeed you swell numbers
You become
A political threat
And a religious threat to other people and therefore you become a Target so they almost fall into a trap
Of their own success
indeed
And in terms of their relationship with
The government of
Japan
How did Christians get on because they seem to have that early success but
Then there seems to quite quickly be some persecution which will eventually lead to a ban on Christianity
Well Oda Nobunaga which is seen as the first unifier of Japan
Was very positively
inclined to
The Jesuits
And then you have
Hideyoshi
And hideyoshi was
Continuing the
Unification of Japan and there was one area
Which he had to ??????
Kyushu so Kyushu wasn't conquered yet so you have
Otomo which was very powerful clan
in the east of Kyushu and then in southwest you have shimazu
And Otomo was losing against the shimazu
so he asked Hideyoshi to intervene
And sometime before hideyoshi marched towards kyushu he
met with Coelho
which was Then the head of The Christian Mission
In Japan
Together with Fróis
And he treated Coelho very
Just like Oda Nobunaga had done with Fróis
So Coelho Was really pleased with that
And then Hideyoshi asked him
I want to invade Korea
Can you provide 2 portuguese ships To help me with this invasion
And if I conquer Korea I will make it that a lot of churches being built
So Coelho said yes I will do that for you
And I will make sure that we have 2 Portuguese
The carrack ships as they were called by the English
Gigantic ships so Hideyoshi could very well use them for his invasion of Korea
And then he went to step further and he said
I will make sure that the Christian warlords in Kyushu
Will also support you
And I think at that moment that Hideyoshi that I was a ??????????? in his head that
Christians that the Jesuits had too much influence in Japan

If they could influence on Warlords
Then they posed danger to his reign
But he didn't
Mention that
And he marched into Kyushu
When he had conquered Kyushu
He again met with Coelho
On a Portuguese ship
and Coelho again said that we
support you in whatever endeavor you will take
But the night
suddenly he sent
A questionary to Coelho
Asking him why
They came to Japan why they are making so much converts
And why are they destroying the
Buddhist temples
Of course Coelho was really shocked with that
He was so
Well treated and suddenly
Everything changed overnight
So he gave his answer that well
They came to Japan
just to propagate their faith in good faith
That's it was not them who destroyed the
Buddhist temples but
The Japanese converts
To that answer the answer of hideyoshi was that he made a decree
that the Jesuits had to leave Japan in 20 days
So suddenly after so much success
The Jesuits now
Had to leave Japan immediately
And it sounds like the real reason behind that was that entanglement of
Religious success
Looking like
Political power so if they can provide ships to help him invade Korea and they can direct
The actions of some of the Japanese Warlords
Suddenly they're not religious missionaries they are political power which are a threat to hideous
indeed
And at the same night Takayama Ukon who was a fervent christian warlord was
deprived of all his domains And eventually banished so
That makes clear that hideyoshi was afraid of political Power of the Jesuits
But he didn't enforce
the order very strictly
And that was the same reason why the other Warlords welcomed the Jesuits
 because he didn't want to disrup the trade with the Portuguese
So he
promulgated that
Decree but afterwards the Jesuit State in Japan and still
Continued their mission ????????
So at that time
The Jesuits didn't have That much problems
But still it was an early warning
For what was to come
Yeah it should have an official warning shot across their bows to make them wary of what they were up to
I guess you mentioned that this is still called in Japan the Christian century
What is the legacy of this early contact with Christianity and with the Jesuits in Japan
Is that still felt today
Well in the beginning they had a lot of
Of influence in the arts
So you have Nanban ?????? nanban art or
Southern Barbarian art
Southern because
It came from the south of course To Japan
A lot of influence also in Technologies in surgery
in cosmology But afterwards
The successor of hideyoshi which was Tokugawa Ieyasu
He forbade Christianity totally
And all influence of the Jesuit was
Erased very Systematically from then on so in the Edo period
The long period of Tokugawa peace
There are not much remnants of
Christian faith in Japan have the hidden christians
the Kakure Kirishitan
Who continue
In secret
The devotion to Maria and Christ
but Apart from that you really
In the Edo period many Japanese who don't know anything About the Christian faith anymore
so that's How roughly the faith was erased
I've been to Hirado domain to search
the official documents of the Hirado domain and I haven't found anything related
the Christianity so
All of those documents were destroyed
and then in the same in the other domains
Yeah so it's kind of a little blip that goes away as quickly as it arrived
Yes ?????
absolute fascinating to talk about this early contact between Europeans and Japanese
People and their influence that they were both having over each other so thank you so much
Thanks for joining us
Thank you so much
And I would say as well if anyone wants to know a little bit more about this kind of period Frederick has a new book coming out called In the Service of the Shogun
Which examines early contact
between Europeans and Christians particularly in this case the first Englishman to reach Japan and I've been really really enjoying the book
Thank you very much
Thank you very much
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Echoes of History a ubisoft podcast
In the next episode
Will be taking a closer look at one of the two playable characters in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Yasuke
The first black samurai
Join us next week
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