PART 2: WITCHES Preface to Part 2

Part 2 shifts its focus to women leaders in esoteric Shinto-Buddhist traditions who resisted Jesuit proselytization. The following four chapters examine the case of Queen Ōtomo-Nata “Jezebel,” whose husband King Ōtomo Sōrin Francisco gave the Jesuits patronage in his realm of Bungo. Jezebel was a slanderous nickname given to her by the Jesuits and the Kirishitans, in reference to the biblical character Jezebel. No Japanese sources recorded her birth date or name. She was a daughter of the high priest of the prestigious Nata Hachiman Shrine. She also gave patronage to Bungo’s traditional religion of Kumano and protected its yamabushi monks and bikuni.