ABSTRACT
As a result of the battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600), the great Tokugawa Iyeyasu became the real ruler of Japan, and was enabled to continue the task of bringing the various warring provinces under the absolute control of the central government-a work which had been begun and temporarily achieved by his predecessor, the Taikō Hideyoshi. But although the fight on the “Moor of the Barrier” had disposed of the adherents of Hideyoshi’s infant son Hideyori for some time to come, and had thereby cleared the ground for the unification of the country under the rule of Iyeyasu, there still remained another problem to be solved. This was the vexed question of foreign, and especially missionary, intercourse with Japan. In order to appreciate the situation which confronted the Japanese authorities, it is necessary to give a brief survey of the political situation in the Far East at that time.
