Two Japanese Pirates
One of the most prominent Europeans the Japanese people are taught in schools even today is Francisco de Xavier
In August 1549, Francisco de Xavier (1506-1552) landed on Kagoshima, the most southern part of Kyusyu Island of mainland Japan.
Francis Xavier was a Roman Catholic missionary born in Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain), and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier
In January 1551 Xavier traveled to Kyoto where the emperor of Japan lived, though Japan was at the time in decades-long armed conflicts among feudal lords who occupied their own fiefs while the emperor had almost no territories except the palace in Kyoto. What was worse, the samurai shogun, a kind of king for all the samurai clans, had also lost his authority and political power at the time. So, Xavier stayed for only 11 days in Kyoto and returned to western Japan.
However a feudal lord who ruled the Yamaguchi region, the most western part of Honsyu Island, the largest island of mainland Japan, was very compassionate to Xavier. So, mostly around this region, Xavier was engaged in preaching. He could finally convert 700 Japanese to Christians. Then he left Japan for India where he had preached the gospel before coming to Japan.
However a feudal lord who ruled the Yamaguchi region, the most western part of Honsyu Island, the largest island of mainland Japan, was very compassionate to Xavier. So, mostly around this region, Xavier was engaged in preaching. He could finally convert 700 Japanese to Christians. Then he left Japan for India where he had preached the gospel before coming to Japan.
Xavier thought that in order to succeed in missionary work in Japan it was necessary to succeed in China, since China had strong influential power on Japan in terms of culture. (Buddhism was imported to Japan through China.) But Xavier died in 1552 in an island off the Chinese Continent. His dead body was sent to Goa, India, to be enshrined.
Then Francisco Cabral (1529-1609) came to Japan as the head of Catholic missionaries in Japan in 1570. He also preached in western Japan. When he tried to travel to Kyoto from the Yamaguchi region, he became ill at a port town, called Iwakuni, facing the Inland Sea. There was only one Christian family in the town, so that the Cabral band became at a loss. But a pirate came to help him. He took Cabral to his home and cared for the foreign priest for 20 days.
Cabral asked this kind pirate whether he would convert to Christianity. Then the pirate replied that when more and more Japanese came to believe in Christianity and the king of Japan permitted the religion, he would be a Christian.
So, when he recovered, Cabral and his group left for Kyoto on a ship piloted by the pirate. Cabral further traveled to the Gifu region where the then rising samurai lord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) governed. Nobunaga helped Western missionaries preach the gospel in Japan. Nobunaga also loved to buy and get Western goods from Portuguese and Spanish merchants.
Then a decade later Oda Nobunaga conquered one third of Japan as he made the best use of matchlock guns Portuguese merchants had brought into Japan in 1543. He even controlled the emperor who lived in Kyoto without military and administrative power. Now it was expected that Nobunaga would soon rule entire Japan even if he could not replace the emperor.
In 1579, Nobunaga built a big castle, called Azuchi-jyo on Lake Biwa, 20 km north of Kyoto. He allowed Christian missionaries to build a school in the town surrounding the castle. Nobunaga hated some factions of Buddhists and killed thousands of armed Buddhist monks in battles, which was one of reasons for his strong support for Western missionaries.
But in 1582 Nobunaga was assassinated at the Hon-no-ji Temple in Kyoto by one of his generals named Akechi Mitsuhide. Nobunaga then had only 100 samurais in the Temple where he temporarily stayed, but Mitsughide was leading 13,000 troops as he had been ordered by Nobunaga to march to western Japan and join battles against anti-Nobunaga samurai lords. This incident is called "Hon-no-ji no hen" in Japanese, since it is one of the biggest betrayal cases in the Japanese history. Anyway citizens and samurais living in Azuchi got into a panic. Samurai troops led by Mitsuhide were approaching Azuchi.
Christians and priests in the school of Azuchi were also driven by fear. They decided to flee to a small island in Lake Biwa. And conveniently a fisherman came to them offering help. He said he would take them to the island with his boat. But one priest found that this kind man was actually a pirate. He planned to rob Christians of money and assets on the boat.
Still luckily, one of Japanese Christians working in the school had a relative who was a friend of samurai general Mitsuhide. So, they asked help from samurais of the Akechi force coming into Azuchi. The pirate ran away and they were saved, though the great castle and the town of Azuchi were burnt down.
Finally after various incidents, Christianity was banned by the Tokugawa samurai shogun in the early 17th century. However it is estimated that those Western missionaries converted almost a million Japanese into Christianity in 60 years since Xavier landed on Kagoshima in 1549. Nonetheless, in the middle of the 17th century the official number of Japanese Christians dropped to zero due to the law to prohibit Christianity.
Then a decade later Oda Nobunaga conquered one third of Japan as he made the best use of matchlock guns Portuguese merchants had brought into Japan in 1543. He even controlled the emperor who lived in Kyoto without military and administrative power. Now it was expected that Nobunaga would soon rule entire Japan even if he could not replace the emperor.
In 1579, Nobunaga built a big castle, called Azuchi-jyo on Lake Biwa, 20 km north of Kyoto. He allowed Christian missionaries to build a school in the town surrounding the castle. Nobunaga hated some factions of Buddhists and killed thousands of armed Buddhist monks in battles, which was one of reasons for his strong support for Western missionaries.
But in 1582 Nobunaga was assassinated at the Hon-no-ji Temple in Kyoto by one of his generals named Akechi Mitsuhide. Nobunaga then had only 100 samurais in the Temple where he temporarily stayed, but Mitsughide was leading 13,000 troops as he had been ordered by Nobunaga to march to western Japan and join battles against anti-Nobunaga samurai lords. This incident is called "Hon-no-ji no hen" in Japanese, since it is one of the biggest betrayal cases in the Japanese history. Anyway citizens and samurais living in Azuchi got into a panic. Samurai troops led by Mitsuhide were approaching Azuchi.
Christians and priests in the school of Azuchi were also driven by fear. They decided to flee to a small island in Lake Biwa. And conveniently a fisherman came to them offering help. He said he would take them to the island with his boat. But one priest found that this kind man was actually a pirate. He planned to rob Christians of money and assets on the boat.
Still luckily, one of Japanese Christians working in the school had a relative who was a friend of samurai general Mitsuhide. So, they asked help from samurais of the Akechi force coming into Azuchi. The pirate ran away and they were saved, though the great castle and the town of Azuchi were burnt down.
Finally after various incidents, Christianity was banned by the Tokugawa samurai shogun in the early 17th century. However it is estimated that those Western missionaries converted almost a million Japanese into Christianity in 60 years since Xavier landed on Kagoshima in 1549. Nonetheless, in the middle of the 17th century the official number of Japanese Christians dropped to zero due to the law to prohibit Christianity.
In conclusion, whether or not Christianity prevailed in Japan, there were both a good pirate and a bad pirate. The issue at point might not be on so-called religion.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E5%9C%9F%E5%9F%8E
Azuchi Castle of Nobunaga
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Mt. Fuji Today, 100 km Far
Azuchi Castle of Nobunaga
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