ABSTRACT
The history of the introduction and early development of the Christian faith in Japan is part of a pattern of singular, sustained contact, which resonates with the broader history of the action of the Society of Jesus in the wider Pacific region. The Jesuits were not only the sole founders of the Japanese mission, but also, for decades, the only missionaries working in the territory. Even when other religious orders began to work in the area, thus breaking the established monopoly, the Company’s contingent was by far the most numerous.1
