It was The Travels of Marco Polo that introduced the Eastern island country of Japan to the Western world. Marco Polo was born into a noble Venetian family, was brought along with his father and uncle to travel the Silk Road, and had an audience with Kublai Khan during the Yuan dynasty in 1275. They received a warm welcome from Kublai Kahn and stayed with him for 17 years serving the Yuan court. Afterwards, Marco Polo returned home and wrote The Travels of Marco Polo which records what he saw and heard along his journey as well as his stay at the Yuan court. Within this book, Japan is introduced as Chipangu in the following manner:

Chipangu (Japan) is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the Continent; and a very great Island it is. The people are white, civilized, and well-favoured. They are Idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in their own Islands... They also have pearls in abundance, which are of rose colour, but fine, big, and round, and quite as valuable as the white ones... They have also quantities of other precious stones.⁽¹⁾

In this way, Japan was introduced as a country rich in gold, pearls, and precious stones. The reason that Columbus also decided to set out west along the Atlantic Ocean to reach Asia was because he read The Travels of Marco Polo and wanted to see "Chinpangu, The Country of Gold."

Now, one thing that I want to touch upon here is jus patronatus, or "right of patronage," which was important in Roman Catholic world missions. In the Middle Ages, the Pope gave jus patronatus to both the kings of Spain and Portugal, giving them the right to evangelize in lands they took over. Jus patronatus is a system in which the Pope would support the two kings financially, and in return, the kings were given power from the Pope to appoint bishops and priests in the lands they took over, and were also required to send out missionaries. Jus patronatus was an influential component in Portugal and Spain's colonial expansion in the 15^th and 16^th centuries during the Age of Discovery.

Antipope Alexander V in particular decreed an imperial order in 1493 which split the sovereignty of the New World between the two countries, giving the new continent to Spain, and Asia and Africa to Portugal. However, some special cases were allowed, and Brazil was given to Portugal and the Philippines to Spain. Moreover, in 1514, Pope Leo X expanded jus patronatus to not only the existing lands that had been taken over, but also to any lands that were to be taken over in the future as well. So, Japan fell under the king of Portugal's jurisdiction. The Jesuits then received support from the king in their missions to Japan.

In this way, these missions carried out in Japan were not done out of purely religious motives to evangelize, but as a means used by the king to colonize and trade with the nation. The Dominican Order, the Franciscans, and other religious orders alike used jus patronatus to its full potential, expanding their evangelistic reach among the lands with the new continent at the center. Moreover, the Jesuits mentioned hereafter took great advantage of this power during the Counter-Reformation, playing a vital role in the Catholic Church's missions to the New World.

The Jesuit Order is an all-male religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola along with six other men including Francis Xavier. Loyola was born to a Basque noble family in 1491. He eventually became a soldier and was severely injured in battle. Afterwards, he wrote Spiritual Exercises, a result of his spiritual training which became a manual for the Jesuits.⁽²⁾

Different from other religious orders that focused on meditation and being content with little wealth, the Jesuits were a die-hard order, swearing complete obedience to the Pope, willing to go to the ends of the earth to evangelize to the whole world. They were against the Protestant Reformation, being quite likely the most powerful force in the Roman Catholic's Counter-Reformation efforts after losing ground to the Protestants. Their motto was For the greater glory of God, and they fought against all atheistic and anti-Catholic ideas, aiming to convert the world and its culture to Roman Catholicism.

The following two verses of Scripture served as the driving force for the Jesuits' missionary efforts. The first is Matthew 16:26. "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (NIV). The second is Mark 16:15. "He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'"

The way the Jesuits carried out missions varied greatly depending on who they were evangelizing to. They were very forceful with people whose culture they deemed wasn't as advanced as theirs, such as locals in India and the indigenous peoples of the New World. According to the words of the Jesuits themselves, "Our method is to not consider the previously existing culture, but to change it to a Christian one."⁽³⁾ With this strategy together with jus patronatus from the kings of Spain and Portugal, they expanded their missionary reach to different parts of the world such as the new continent, India, and Africa in a very short amount of time.

On the other hand, if they deemed the people to have an advanced culture, they would respect it along with their customs, adopting more of a syncretic policy for making converts. This was known as accomodatio.⁽⁴⁾ China and Japan are two examples of this.

Another prominent factor to the Jesuits' missionary policy was an emphasis on education. They believed that educating the youth was essential to converting the world to Catholicism, and they built schools for them called colegios and seminarios in both their home countries and on missionary fields. Seminarios were preliminary educational institutions for people seeking to become teachers, whereas colegios were institutions of higher education for those who finished their studies at a seminario. The well-known Sophia University in modern-day Japan is run by the Jesuits. When looking at the grand scope of their missionary efforts in Japan, you can see that the positive effects of their work bore fruit.

Francis Xavier was born in 1506 to a Basque noble family in the Castle of Xavier in the Kingdom of Navarre which neighbored Spain. During his studies at the University of Paris, he met and became good friends with Ignatius of Loyola. Then, in 1534 in a church on the outskirts of Paris in Montmartre, seven like-minded men with Loyola at the center made a pledge to devote themselves to the work of the Lord, building the foundation for the establishment of the Jesuits.

Upon receiving a request from John III of Portugal, Xavier landed in Goa, India in 1542 and evangelized fervently in the area. As a result, there was a remarkable number of converts among the indigenous people. However, their understanding of Christian doctrine was shallow, and the differences between European and Indian culture proved to be very large. Also, the friction caused by Portugal's colonial policy to simply appropriate the nation could not be ignored.

As Xavier eventually hit a wall in his missionary efforts to the indigenous people of India, he met a Japanese man named Yajirō in Portuguese Malacca in 1547 and was deeply impressed by his intelligence. Yajirō, a low-ranking samurai from the Kagoshima Prefecture, was the first Japanese Catholic believer and had murdered someone when he was younger. Due to this he had no place where he could settle down, and would often hide himself in temples. Later he escaped to Malacca City on a Portuguese ship that was staying in Kagoshima. While on the ship, he learned about Christianity from the captain. They suggested that he meet with Xavier, a priest, to do confession to be freed from the guilt of the murder he committed. Xavier wrote about his encounter with Yajirō in a letter to the Jesuits in Rome:

If all the Japanese people have a thirst for knowledge like Yajirō does, then their thirst is the deepest compared to all of the other lands that have been discovered... He asked me many questions. He has a burning desire for knowledge which is a sign that he will progress quickly and, in a short amount of time, come to a knowledge of the truth.⁽⁵⁾

After praising the intellect of the Japanese people, he wrote about the possibility of evangelizing Japan in an interview with Yajirō. When Yajirō asked him if the Japanese people will become believers, he replied saying they probably won't immediately upon hearing the Gospel, but if they're given satisfactory answers to their questions and if Xavier himself acts above reproach, it's possible to decide if both leaders and commoners alike will believe.⁽⁶⁾

Also, in his report to the Portuguese captain who suggested Yajirō to him, he speaks of the deep thirst the Japanese people have for knowledge, stating, "The Japanese people can reason well, and they will serve the Lord God greater than the Indian unbelievers." As a result, he became firmer in his decision to send either himself or someone else from the Jesuits to spread the Gospel in Japan.

During about a year and a half after meeting Yajirō, he mulled over his plans to evangelize to Japan although he was busy serving in India. Two more Japanese people met up with them and came to faith. They studied Christian doctrine, Portuguese, and were baptized. Yajirō was given the baptism name of "Paulo." Yajirō then worked together with Lancilotto, the principal of the College of Saint Paul, to write a report about Japan's religious and political state, among other things.⁽⁷⁾ This report describes Japan in great detail, and Xavier conceptualized his strategy for spreading the Gospel as he prepared to arrive after reading the report. At the time of his arrival, Japan was at the end of the Sengoku Period, a time of warlord rivalries and subordinates subjugating their superiors. It was a time of continuous battle, full of the birth pangs of the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.

Xavier and his party arrived to Yajirō's hometown of Kagoshima, Japan on August 15^th, 1549 after a difficult journey. For the Catholics, this fell on the Assumption of Mary, a holiday in which they doubly felt God's grace.⁽⁸⁾ There were two other Jesuits along with them, Torres and Fernández, three Japanese people including Yajirō, and two other people from the East, eight people in total. They started off well and were welcomed by the Shimazu family of feudal lords, Yajirō's relatives, and others.

Two and a half months after their arrival, Xavier wrote a lengthy letter to the Jesuits in Goa, India. His first impression of the Japanese people was as follows.

My first impression, according to the extent of my dealings with them, is that they are the most superior nation of those discovered thus far, and a nation better than them cannot found. They are easy to get along with, and are generally a people of good virtue who are void of ill-intent.⁽⁹⁾

Xavier praised the superiority and goodness of the Japanese people. However, he had other things to say about their sense of honor and pride.

They have a surprisingly strong sense of honor, which they esteem more important than anything else. That is to say, honor is far greater in their sight than riches... They are not the type to stay silent when insulted or despised.¹⁰

He saw that this sense of honor was especially present within the samurais. Also, in this letter, he criticized the depravity of the Buddhist monks (called bonzos) severely. Moreover, he displayed great hope and assurance concerning their missions there, stating, "This island nation of Japan is exceedingly well-equipped for spreading the holy faith. Also, if we can manage to learn the language, we are sure many people will become believers."

Xavier and the others carried out missions while staying in Kagoshima for about one year. Although they received permission from the Shimazu family to evangelize, the language barrier was severe, so Xavier was unable to evangelize to his full potential. Regardless, it is accepted that a few hundred people were converted by Yajirō's relatives.

Xavier's stay in Kagoshima served as a time to learn the Japanese language and culture. During this time, he translated the Declaration of the Articles of Faith with Yajirō's help. This document covers biblical information all the way from the creation account to Christ's life, His being raised up to Heaven, and the Final Judgment. He worked very hard to translate the text, but could not find a suitable translation for the word for God (Deus), and ended up translating it as Dainichi as Yajirō suggested. The reason for this was because Yarjirō used to be an adherent of Shingon Buddhism and assumed that the God of the Bible was the same as Dainichi Nyorai (or 'Vaironaca'), causing big issues later on.

Before arriving to Japan, Xavier already knew that it was ruled by an emperor and a shogun from the report written by Lancilotto and Yajirō. His plan was to make his way to the capital of Kyoto, have an audience with the emperor and the shogun, and get permission from them to do missions in Japan. Xavier and the others finally reached Kyoto after enduring a difficult journey in the frigid cold of winter. They arrived in the middle of January, 1551. However, what awaited them was a capital fraught with the scars of long, drawn-out wars, along with an emperor and shogun (Yoshiteru Ashikaga) who were void of power.

Fróis, a long-term Jesuit missionary in Japan who penned the valuable work Historia de Japam, wrote the following about Kyoto.

The priests arrived at the capital and saw that it wasn't in the state they expected a capital should be in. In other words, the place was riddled with war, and the Kubo (Yoshiteru Ashikaga) has escaped to the outskirts of the land with a few of his trusted senior vassals.⁽¹¹⁾

Xavier tried to have an audience with the emperor, but wasn't able to. The emperor of that time, Emperor Go-Nara, lived in a run-down home. Xavier's outer appearance was that of a poor man, so before having the audience, he was asked if he had brought any gifts with him. He had unfortunately left them in Hirado, Nagasaki, so he ultimately wasn't able to meet with the emperor.

Although disappointed, the owner of the place where he was staying told him that the current emperor has no power, and none of the peoples follow him. Before trying to meet with the emperor, he climbed Mount Hiei, debated with the Buddhist monks there, and tried to receive permission to evangelize from the head Buddhist priest. He found out that he needed to bring an expensive gift to meet with him, so he eventually gave up on the idea.

And so, Xavier gave up on his plan to evangelize in the larger Kyoto area after seeing the state the capital was in. He also believed that Ōuchi Yoshitaka, the Ōkuninushi of Yamaguchi where he temporarily stayed at on his way to Kyoto, was the greatest ruler in Japan at the time as the peoples claimed. They withdrew from Kyoto and set out to Yamaguchi once again, and Xavier visited Ōuchi, this time donning extravagant clothing as the delegate of the governor of India. He learned from previous experience that the Japanese people evaluated others based on their outward appearance. He brought literature from the governor of India, and thirteen rare gifts of high value to Ōuchi. He refused the gifts Ōuchi tried to give him in return, wishing only to receive permission to evangelize in Yamaguchi, which Ōuchi wholeheartedly agreed to.

He stayed in Yamaguchi for about half a year, evangelizing fervently in the region. At first, the Shingon Buddhist monks accepted his teaching about Dainichi gladly. Xavier, confused, started to speculate if Christianity had been spread in Japan before. He thought that perhaps the Gospel that the apostle Thomas shared in India had passed through China, eventually reaching Japan.⁽¹²⁾

However after a few days, when he asked the Shingon Buddhist monks about the teaching of the Trinity and about Christ's substitutionary atonement on the cross, they didn't know anything about it and thought it all to be a myth. In a book that Xavier wrote after arriving back home from Japan, he states that "I thought that God and knowledge about Christ had previously been spread in Japan and I took many lengths to research the topic, but I could not find any definitive evidence showing knowledge about God in any texts or traditions."⁽¹³⁾

Xavier's intention for teaching the people in Yamaguchi to worship Dainichi was, in his mind, the same as saying "Worship the one true God, the Christ." But to the monks and the peoples, this Dainichi was the Dainichi Nyorai which they had already believed in. Xavier eventually found out that this Danichi they believed in was not the same as the God of Christianity, and moreover, the name Dainichi itself carried a hidden meaning of something vulgar*, so he changed from telling them to worship Dainichi to not worship Dainichi. After this painful lesson, he avoided using Japanese words for the term "God" and only used the Latin word "Deus" instead. This word was used in latter translations of the Bible, but this shows just how hard it was to find a suitable translation for Japanese people who didn't have an understanding of the concept of the one and only God.

*Note from the translator: I could not find any information as to what this "vulgar" name could be, and the author does not clearly give an indication as to what it means either. One could speculate based on the kanji, but I could not find any definitive information, so I have translated the text here as-is.

The Yamaguchi missions resulted in about 500 baptisms and proved to be a fruitful endeavor. One significant event was the conversion and baptism of Biwa hōshi, a blind Buddhist priest who was given the baptism name of Lorenzo. Later on he too evangelized in Japan. Xavier accepted an invitation from Yoshishige Ōtomo to go to the Bungo Province (modern-day Ōita) in Kyūshū after he brought a Jesuit named Torres on board to take his place in Yamaguchi. Xavier stayed in Bungo for about two months, but he was only able to go as far as planting the seeds of the Gospel. Later on, Yoshishige Ōtomo became a Christian daimyo.

Xavier departed from Japan on November 15, 1551. After an incredibly trying but also very fruitful two years and three months, his missionary journey in Japan finally came to an end. His hair was white at the age of 45 after having endured the hardships of missions, but his zeal to evangelize was still burning brightly. He still felt a burden for the people of Japan after he left, but his important position as the Regional Superintendent of Goa which extended to the entirety of the Eastern world would not allow him to stay in just one country. Moreover, another big motive for leaving was because, through his experience in Japan, he learned the hard way that China had a large influence on the culture and thought of the Japanese people. That is to say, he believed that China needed to be evangelized first for Japan to accept the Gospel.

After coming back to India, he wrote the following in a letter to Loyola, the Superior General of the Jesuits, about further missions to Japan.

Japan is a country that is essentially perfect for increasing lasting believers in Christianity, so any hard work to bring them to the faith will have its reward. From the bottom of my heart I implore you to send pious men there, because out of all the countries in the Indian region that have been discovered, even though the Japanese people are in a difficult position, they are capable of keeping the Christian faith for a long time.⁽¹⁴⁾

In this manner, Xavier spoke passionately about the hopeful expectations of missionary work in Japan. In addition to the spiritual character a person must have, he suggested that the missionaries should be able to endure various hardships and poverty along with the persecution of the Buddhist monks, stating that "they must have extensive experience and strong self-awareness, being educated enough to answer the endless questions of the Japanese people." Moreover, he asserted that "They must be good at philosophy, excel in dialect, and must be able to immediately point out contradictions in debates with the monks." Xavier was looking for elite missionaries who were superior in character and academia. He also explicitly stated that, due to the cold winters in Japan, that Germans and people from Flanders were fit for the position.

Even after he went back to India, he often spoke the praises of the Japanese people. Words about their intelligence, politeness, and goodness can be seen in various places in his writings. Yes, he did also speak about the shortcomings that they and their society had, and he severely critiqued the Buddhist monks. Even so, his view of the Japanese people was one full of love and high expectations for the future. In this way, Xavier built the foundations for Jesuit missions in Japan.

Afterwards, Xavier departed from Goa and set out to evangelize in China. He wrote a letter describing the goal of his missionary efforts in China to John III of Portugal.

We will travel to China to implore on God's behalf, in other words, to first implore of the king and all the people that he rules over to stop worshiping Satan, and to worship Jesus Christ, the savior who redeemed creation, instead.⁽¹⁵⁾

Xavier wrote about how dangerous this would be. Still, he displayed unwavering determination, stating, "We depart, trusting in God's infinite mercy." One can imagine how this strong trust in God helped sustain him during his missions in Japan.

However, he became sick at Shangchuan Island on his trip to China and passed away in November 1552. He left behind big footprints in his lifelong missionary work to the Eastern world, and is also rightfully known as the "Apostle of the East." He was canonized by the Catholic church as a saint along with Loyola in 1622.

Lastly, I would like to touch upon the relation between Xavier's missionary work in Japan and Portugal's colonial policy. Xavier evangelized to Japan primarily out of his own personal desire to do so, and he did not enact the colonial policy there. However, according to agreement laid out in the jus patronatus, Japan fell under Portugal's jurisdiction.

How did Xavier and his party procure the large amount of funds necessary to travel to and stay in Japan? According to a letter from Xavier, he received 300 barrels of pepper and many expensive gifts for the ruler of Japan from the governor of Malacca City by command of John III. It is believed that Xavier exchanged the pepper for cash and used to money to support them for the entirety of their trip. He wrote the following in a letter after arriving back to India from Japan.

Upon leaving, the king of Portugal ordered to give us over 1000 cruzados, so it was enough to support those of us who were sent to Japan for two and a half years.

Xavier's missionary endeavors in Japan received complete financial support from the king of Portugal. Xavier also expressed his desire to the governor of Malacca City to do his best to support trade between Japan and India. He proposed using Sakai as a gateway port city and placing a Portuguese trading post there. He also displayed great confidence concerning trade there, stating, "If your Honor would find me to be trustworthy and would entrust the commodities sent (to this region) to me, then I declare that I will increase its return by more than 100-fold. Profit is certain, and there will be no risk."⁽¹⁷⁾ Thereafter the Jesuits received an ample amount of funds for missionary work from the trade between Japan and Portugal. With all of these things considered, it is irrational to believe that Xavier's missionary efforts towards Japan were completely unrelated to Portugal's colonial policy.

Footnotes

1. 『東方見聞録』マルコ・ポーロ、愛宕松男訳注、東洋文庫一八三、平凡社、一九七一年、一三〇頁
2. 『霊操』イグナチウス・デ・ロヨラ、門脇佳吉訳、岩波書店、一九九五年
3. 『イエズス会---世界宣教の旅』フィリップ・レクリバン、鉢木宣明監修、創元社、一九九六年、四七頁
4. イエズス会の世界戦略』高橋祐史、講談社、二〇〇六年、一一八〜一一九頁
5. 『聖フランシスコ・ザビエル全書簡』河野純徳訳、平凡社、一九八五年、二七三頁
6. 同書、二七三〜二七四頁
7. 『聖フランシスコ・ザビエル全生涯』河野純徳、平凡社、一九九八年、一五六〜一六〇頁
8. 『日本史 六』ルイス・フロイス、中央公論社、一九七八年、四七頁
9. 『聖フランシスコ・ザビエル全書簡』四七一頁
10. 同書、四七一〜四七二頁
11. 『日本史 三』ルイス・フロイス、中央公論社、一九七八年、一九〜二〇頁
12. 『聖フランシスコ・ザビエル全生涯』二五二頁
13. 『聖フランシスコ・ザビエル全書簡』五三八頁
14. 同書、五五四頁
15. 同書、六二二頁
16. 同書、五四〇頁
17. 同書、五一六〜五一七頁