Popular/superstitiousLecture 14 Christianity in Japan Japan didn’t take easily to Christianity; Christianity mostly only took some root in southern Japan, e.g. Nagasaki. Even today, there isn’t much Christian influence in Japan. The Portuguese brought Christianity with trade. “Yajiro” was fleeing overseas from manslaughter charges when he converted to Christianity, and met Saint Francis Xavier. He told St. Francis about the possibility of evangelizing in Japan. - Xavier sought an audience with the emperor to request permission to set up a mission. The emperor couldn’t do much, as he wasn’t very powerful in the 16th century. - Xavier wasn’t having much luck, so he decided to go proselytize in China, since he knew the Japanese looked up to the Chinese (and not to the emperor). Others had more luck later, in Nagasaki; even some daimyo converted, and brought others into Christianity. Oda Nobunaga granted concessions to the Christians, but he was playing them off the powerful Buddhist sects for political reasons. Christianity came to its peak under Hideyoshi, but after seeing how much power they’d gained, he gave the expulsion order. The order didn’t affect them much, however. Sinking of Spanish ship set off acrimonious dispute among friars, priests and Hideyoshi over the gold, which Hideyoshi seized. In response, condemned Kyoto Christians to death. Executed 6 Franciscans, 3 Jesuits and 17 laymen. Warning to Christians. No further action. Known as the 26 martyrs. When the Dutch and English arrived, they broke the Portuguese monopoly. With Tokugawa’s expulsion order, most of the missionaries left. Covert Christianity persisted; Christians were forced to flee to rural areas due to manhunts and other torments in the cities. “Hidden Christians” were discovered in the 1800s, in the Meiji era (opening to the West), who turned out to have developed a Shinto-flavored Catholicism. The Catholic Church offered to bring them into the Catholic Church and show them “real” or “pure” Catholicism, but they refused. (There were about 60,000 around the Nagasaki area.) Three levels of spirituality (and which texts/films fit under which categories): High Theory / Aesthetics (“a different kind of elite”) Zen readings Buddhism/Zen/Amida Secular “Buddhist” sentiments (“elite”) AccountRikyu (a little fuzzy; also fits a little bit under the “aesthetics” category) Basho Popular/superstitious Onibaba Ugetsu Setsuwa Companion Tales Christianity readings This categorization might help with the paper that’s due soon. [finished