The Jesuits in Japan
Today is the memorial of Jesuit St. Paul Miki and Companions.
Paul Miki is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Japan in 1564 or 1565. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1580 and was the first Japanese member of any Catholic religious order. He died one year before his ordination to the Catholic priesthood. Paul Miki and the Jesuits were responsible for preaching the Christian gospel to many people in Japan. During the persecution of Christians under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Jesuits in the country refused to leave or cease preaching. Paul Miki was crucified together with twenty five other Catholics, both laymen, priests and friars, in the city of Nagasaki on February 5, 1597 ... - Wikipedia
Reading about Paul Miki reminded of the most well known Jesuit missionary to Japan - Francis Xavier - but I was also reminded of the novel/movie Shogun, and the portrayal of the Jesuits therein. As the story is told from the POV of Blackthorne, an Englishman and a Protestant (and based on real life sailor William Adams), it isn't surprising that the Jesuits are portrayed as somewhat mysterious and machiavellian. I was impressed by the character of Fr. Alvito SJ, and was intrigued to learn that he was based on a real Jesuit missionary in Japan ... João Rodrigues
João Rodrigues was a Portuguese who traveled to the East as a boy of fifteen. Shortly after his arrival in Japan in 1577, he joined the Society of Jesus and resided there until 1610. He spent the rest of his life in Macao and mainland China. Until his death in 1633 in Macao he worked on a history of the Jesuits in Japan ....
Undoubtedly the most remarkable aspect of Rodrigues’ career was his mastery of the Japanese language and the special relationship with key Japanese leaders deriving from the linguistic skills. He was present in Japan during the period of civil war and eventual consolidation of power with Tokugawa Ieyesu as Shogun. This period also witnessed the expansion of Portuguese presence in Japan and the arrival of the first Englishman, Wil Adams.
Rodriques’ language skills also led to the publishing of the monumental Arte da lingoa Iapam which along with Vocabulario da lingoa de Iapan served to train subsequent arrivals in the country. This extraordinary facility with the language made him invaluable to the Japanese authorities as well as the senior Jesuit hierarchy, and he must have been present at many critical meetings over the years. He was forced to leave Japan permanently in 1610 as a result of the incident of the Portuguese ship, Madre de Deus, which became the cause of a diplomatic crisis between the Japanese and the Portuguese. The ship had been involved in a dispute in Macao the year before in which Japanese sailors were killed. After her return visit to Nagasaki, Japanese authorities attempted to board her and arrest the captain. The ship burned and sank while attempting to exit Nagasaki harbor, and the ill feelings this incident generated necessitated the expulsion of someone. That someone was Rodrigues ... - link
Some pics of Fr. Alvito from the movie ...
- Fr. Alvito is in the orange silk robe
- the sailor Blackthorne and the Jesuit, Fr. Alvito
Read about the Jesuit Mission to Japan and see some cool stamps here
Read more about Portuguese and Spanish missionaries to Japan - link
Paul Miki is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Japan in 1564 or 1565. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1580 and was the first Japanese member of any Catholic religious order. He died one year before his ordination to the Catholic priesthood. Paul Miki and the Jesuits were responsible for preaching the Christian gospel to many people in Japan. During the persecution of Christians under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Jesuits in the country refused to leave or cease preaching. Paul Miki was crucified together with twenty five other Catholics, both laymen, priests and friars, in the city of Nagasaki on February 5, 1597 ... - Wikipedia
Reading about Paul Miki reminded of the most well known Jesuit missionary to Japan - Francis Xavier - but I was also reminded of the novel/movie Shogun, and the portrayal of the Jesuits therein. As the story is told from the POV of Blackthorne, an Englishman and a Protestant (and based on real life sailor William Adams), it isn't surprising that the Jesuits are portrayed as somewhat mysterious and machiavellian. I was impressed by the character of Fr. Alvito SJ, and was intrigued to learn that he was based on a real Jesuit missionary in Japan ... João Rodrigues
João Rodrigues was a Portuguese who traveled to the East as a boy of fifteen. Shortly after his arrival in Japan in 1577, he joined the Society of Jesus and resided there until 1610. He spent the rest of his life in Macao and mainland China. Until his death in 1633 in Macao he worked on a history of the Jesuits in Japan ....
Undoubtedly the most remarkable aspect of Rodrigues’ career was his mastery of the Japanese language and the special relationship with key Japanese leaders deriving from the linguistic skills. He was present in Japan during the period of civil war and eventual consolidation of power with Tokugawa Ieyesu as Shogun. This period also witnessed the expansion of Portuguese presence in Japan and the arrival of the first Englishman, Wil Adams.
Rodriques’ language skills also led to the publishing of the monumental Arte da lingoa Iapam which along with Vocabulario da lingoa de Iapan served to train subsequent arrivals in the country. This extraordinary facility with the language made him invaluable to the Japanese authorities as well as the senior Jesuit hierarchy, and he must have been present at many critical meetings over the years. He was forced to leave Japan permanently in 1610 as a result of the incident of the Portuguese ship, Madre de Deus, which became the cause of a diplomatic crisis between the Japanese and the Portuguese. The ship had been involved in a dispute in Macao the year before in which Japanese sailors were killed. After her return visit to Nagasaki, Japanese authorities attempted to board her and arrest the captain. The ship burned and sank while attempting to exit Nagasaki harbor, and the ill feelings this incident generated necessitated the expulsion of someone. That someone was Rodrigues ... - link
Some pics of Fr. Alvito from the movie ...
- Fr. Alvito is in the orange silk robe
- the sailor Blackthorne and the Jesuit, Fr. Alvito
Read about the Jesuit Mission to Japan and see some cool stamps here
Read more about Portuguese and Spanish missionaries to Japan - link
posted by crystal | 1:24 AM
3 Comments:
I own a book containing the letters that Francis Xavier wrote to Ignatius Loyola and Nicholas Bobadilla from Goa (India) and from Japan. I was a little bit taken back by what a hardass he was. He was no-nonsense and all business about his mission. Extremely single-minded. He was always demanding that one guy or another be drummed out of the Society for not being up to snuff. Big change in the tenor of the letters when he got to Japan. He was a great admirer of the Japanese people.
I thought James Clavell did a great job in Shogun of outlining the rivalry in the Far East between the Jesuits and the Franciscans.
Have you ever read Shusaku Endo's novel Silence, about this period in history? Great book.
Jeff,
no I've never read that - I'll have to check it out. I liked Clavell's books too and also read Tai-Pan about Hong Kong just after the Opium Wars in the 1800's.
I've got to read more about Francis Xavier - I heard he kept his letters from Ignatius in a pocket by his heart.
Tai Pan was good. So was King Rat. Everything else he wrote, like Noble House and Whirlwind, are too bloody long...
A couple of poignant things about Xavier's letters.
One was that he was well aware that he wasn't likely to ever return to Europe alive. He would often sign off his letters to Ignatius with the observation that he didn't expect to see him in this life again.
The other is that his Japanese converts desperately wanted to be told by him that their beloved ancestors were in Heaven, but that he couldn't tell them that.
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