ABSTRACT
Japan was in a long period of upheaval when the Portuguese arrived. Local lords (daimyo), with their samurai armies, vied for regional and national dominance. For fifty years, the Portuguese were the sole Europeans in Japan. A number of Jesuits learnt Japanese and adopted Japanese ways, to achieve their mission. The Jesuits viewed the Buddhist priests as an evil influence on the Japanese who, while they differed from Europeans in many ways, were viewed as “ready” for Christianity. This appeared to be the case when some of the daimyo converted to Christianity (called “Christian kings” in the Jesuit letters to Europe), the port of Nagasaki was donated to the Jesuits and an embassy of four Christian Japanese boys entranced Catholic Europe. However, the dominant warlord, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, learnt that Christian conversion was elsewhere a precursor to an Iberian conquest and banned Christianity. The arrival of the Protestant English and Dutch in 1600 supported the view of the malign (Catholic) Iberians. Now Christian Japanese who did not apostatize faced torture and death. Finally, with the Tokugawa clan gaining control of all Japan, under Ieyasu Tokugawa, Europeans were banned from Japan, except a small Dutch trading station in Nagasaki harbour.
