33 The Flower Ornament Sūtra is said to preach directly the content of the Enlightenment of the Buddha to sentient beings without adapting to their more or less accurate faculties so that the beings stayed astonished by it unable to understand it, as if they were «deaf and dumb». The immediacy of Enlightenment is a common characteristic of this sūtra and of Chan (Zen) currents, which locates the truth beyond language, common sense and the ordinary understanding of men so that it was necessary for the preachers of Buddhism against Christianity to have a more intelligible and notional, language to have successful results in their work.

34 Ōkuwa, op. cit., p.405.

35 Ibidem, pp.367–369.

36 Girard, "Discours bouddhiques face au christianisme", pp.177–180. Ōkuwa, op. cit., p.368.

philosophy of the *Right Middle* (*Zhongyong, Chūyō* 中庸) concerning an innate nature (*tenmeinosei* 天命の性) identified as the Clear Vitue (*meitoku* 明徳), and then by Chinese Buddhism but without lineage. He lived a long time in Nagasaki and is considered the founder of the No-Birth Zen, Fushōzen 不生禪 – No-Born is an abbreviation of No-Born and No-Disparition (*fushō fumetsu* 不生不滅) but as Bankei could not say "No-Disparition", which is synonymous to the Christian Eternity of Soul, he was obliged to say only No-Born, which has the same meaning as Eternity but is not a heretic. He advocates an innate spirit – no-born is synonymous with innate nature in most cases for him –, *reimei* 靈明, *reisei* 靈性, which is the true self of man. Bankei cannot be said to have been acquainted with Christianity but he was accused of heresy of Christianity by his contemporaries: maybe it was only a kind of joke or sally, but this term may also have an origin in the particularity of his doctrines to assert an unchanging spiritual principle which was rather strange for a Buddhist thinker, though it was sustained in the Chan tradition.37 In fact, his Spirit is very close to the Immortal Soul of Christianity in its descriptions and modalities, inasmuch as no-born is synonymous with no-destroyed. Bankei also uses frequently the concept of *jiyū* 自由 or *jizai* 自在 in the sense of liberty for whoever has realized the No-Born state of mind, like Christians, and advocates a kind of meditation of Amida's Commemoration, *Nenbutsu zanmai* 念仏三昧 aiming at salvation in the next life, exactly like Suzuki Shōsan.38 He is in complete opposition and struggles against the idea that women cannot attain Buddhahood in this very life.39

### Paradise

The yearning and request of a Paradise is an integrating part of the Buddhist creed since it appeared in the Mahāyānic currents. The predication of missionaries including the promise of rebirth in Paradise for the men of good will, it was necessary for the Buddhist monks to bring in contrast in full light the Amidic Pure Land faith to seduce the Japanese followers of Christianity, in preference to other doctrines or faith elements. In this regard, three unprecedented phenomena deserve attention.

A. The doctrine of Pure Land strengthened its own positions in parallel to Zen during the Christian Century. From the middle of Middle Ages, and especially from the Muromachi Period (1338–1573), Zen and Nenbutsu were practiced in parallel: for instance, the Zen by men and Nenbutsu by women, as in the case of the Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji by the Ashikaga in Kyōto. During the Tokugawa period, the Pure Land doctrine became the official doctrine of the ruling family and aimed to clearly and firmly distinguish itself from the Pure Land

37 Akao, *Bankei* 盤珪: *Bankei zenji zenshū*, 盤珪禅師全集 (*Complete works of the Dhyāna master Bankei*). Tōkyō: Daizō Shuppan 大蔵出版, 1976 (new edition, 1987), p.18.

38 Ibidem, pp.28–29.

39 Ibidem, pp.48, 74–75, 128, 285.

doctrine of Shinran and Rennyo, the Shinshū. This fact appears when Sessō identified the Christian believers as Pure Land followers, in 1647 as recorded in his *Kōfukuji hikki* 興福寺筆記, the *Records of Kōfukuji*: the prefect of Nagasaki rebuked him for his confusion of Christianity with all the followers of Pure Land, Jōdo and Jōdoshin; he ordered him to have training course and guidance in the Edo Castle on this doctrinal question, in the Tokugawa's Library. When he returned to Nagasaki the next year, he distinguished Jōdo and Jōdoshin by identifying Christianity with the latter for his laxity in morality and doctrines (*Taiji jashūron* 對治邪執論, *Treatise on the refutation of fallacious doctrine* of 1648).

B. In the *Spiritual Exercises* of Ignatius Loyola (1491*–*1556), a passage alludes to the conquest of non-believers by the army's military action, maybe it is only a metaphoric expression, for Ignacio was originally a warrior. We find in a series of *Precepts of the Tokugawa family*, 徳川氏家訓、徳川家遺訓, edited by professor Ōkuwa Hitoshi, the strange idea that Ieyasu was himself an epiphanization of the Tathāgata Amida and received his power and the legitimation of his reign as a Shōgoun by the transmission of the sacred sword by the same Tathāgata Amida: "Ieyasu appeared as the great deity of the East-illuminating Palace, Tōshōgū, who has epiphanized from the inner realization uniting the inceptive Awakening of the newly born and the fundamental Awakening of the authentic sapience. One must realize that this epiphanic deity is the Tathāgata Amida". (*Chronicle inaugurating the destiny of the Matsudaira, Matsudairashi keiunki* 松平氏啓運記); and:

I tentatively preached that only the sword quickly determined salvation in the Pure Land. Thus, there is a large population in the empire but we can extract from it the four states of warrior nobility, peasants, artisans and traders. All that this population of the four categories does is the practice of Awakening. In any case, [this category of warriors] saves the three other categories, and if another category saves the three others, all help each other. Among them, the warriors represent the supreme category among the four. Concerning the warriors, the practices of bodhisattva consist first in making use of the culture to regulate the world and to make use of the weapons when it is in disorder. The culture that regulates the world is not at all only reading books and learning to write. It consists of taking as models the conduct of the famous sovereigns and sages of antiquity and putting them into practice. This will naturally put the empire in order. Since there are bad people who hurt many men, killing a man saves many others. This is the practice of bodhisattva.

(*Chronicle inaugurating the destiny of the Matsudaira cult*, *Matsudaira sūshū kaiunroku* 松平崇宗開運録).

And also:

There is this vow [of Amida] that whoever recites his name will receive protection from all good deities. How much more, if you take the empire with this aim, is it certain that the whole population will necessarily take refuge in the invocation of the Buddha [Nenbutsu]. How could not all devas and good deities protect the rulers? The Tathāgata Amida in his high benevolence [katajike naku] vowed to go to welcome the beings when they were born [in the Pure Land], but in the wars that take place day and night, he misses the men (*hitohima nari*). While Amida's own vow is ineffective, if you now seize the empire, you must convert it to the Invocation of the Buddha that unifies and regulates everything (*ittō no nenbutsu*). Since there is the vow that all devas and good divinities will protect [the land] by the invocation of the Buddha, you have to observe it. If you rely heavily on the 'Buddha Amida Veneration', which enemy will not you defeat? There is no reason for an enemy not to fall under Amida's honed sword. This is what is called using warlike force in times of disorder (*Chronicle inaugurating the destiny of the Matsudaira*).40

This sacred sword is an allusion to one of the Three Regalia of the imperial family yielded to the shogunate succeeding families but this paradoxical association of a military element with the Buddha of compassion can be explained as a necessity of the new times.

C. It has been noticed by historian Tsuda Sōkichi and others, that the doctrine of the Celestial Way, Tentō 天道, had a renewal of success from the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries. It was conceived at the time as a kind of Providence and a principle of retribution of rewards and punishments for good and bad actions, superior even to the decisions of the rulers. The translation of "Deus" by terms including Heaven, *ten* 天, as *tenshu* 天主 and *tendō* 天道, were used for some time but were ultimately discontinued in Japan, but not in China. The reason for this was the close similitude of the two concepts, but this betrays also a kind of influence of the idea of a divine Providence on a cosmic and moral principle superior to the human realm. By which other way the sudden and great success of this concept can be explained exactly during the Christian Century and after, in the predication of the Mind or the Intimate Sense School (Shingaku 心學) of Ishida Baigan, where the Tentō is Amida, Vairocana, Amaterasu and the supreme reality of Confucianism?

### The Liberation and the Liberty

The quest for human salvation is identified with the purchase and mastery of liberty and control of oneself, *jiyū jizai* 自由自在. This term is used in Japan to translate the notion of liberation and liberty, first translated g*edatsu* 解脱, in the Buddhist sense of Vimokṣa, the liberation from Saṃsāra. But gradually it was used to translate the notion of the Omnipotence and Omniscience of God. In Buddhist texts, *jizai* 自在 is used as a common noun to express the supreme self-masteries of a Buddha acquired when he has attained the supreme Bodhi. It is also used as

40 Belonging to an oracle of the National Master Zonnō 存應國師 (1544–1622) of Jōdoshū, of Zōjōji 増上寺 temple. Hirano; Ōkuwa, op. cit*.*

178 Frédéric GIRARD

a proper name to refer to the deity Iśvara or Maheśvara. In their refutations of Christianity, Buddhist monks did not hesitate to point out that the Christian *Deus* could not have omniscience nor omnipotence worthy of a supreme God insomuch as it was submitted to torture by Christ and denied by the evil actions of Satan. Like Iśvara, he is not eternal nor a universally ruling king, and he is only a deity enslaved by the Saṃsāra; God is finally a pallid imitation of Iśvara. The concept of Christian liberation and liberty could not be properly understood in this Buddhist context. In this regard, two points have to be stressed:

### Repentance

The development of oral and verbal expression is a particularity of the *Spiritual Exercises* of Ignatius Loyola. Through them, the practitioner is invited not to comment indefinitely on the sacred words of Christ and apostles, but to speak directly

41 See Girard, "Discours bouddhiques face au christianisme", pp.180–189.

to them, as if they were equal to them and at the same level of intimacy. Jules Michelet (1798*–*1874) defined the *Spiritual Exercises* as representative of a Noble and Warrior becoming a Bourgeois and trying to express his individuality that he discovers himself by his self-reflection: conscious of his inalienable and irreducible individuality, the practitioner is facing himself and others.42 Is this attitude, new in the history of ideas, not in some way akin to the Zen training of dialogues between master and disciple, and in the confession practice which was abandoned and became disused in Medieval Times?

### New Thematics: The Creation Belonging to Takuan

The predication and the activities of Buddhist monks is changing in their thematics.

We can give the example of the Zen monk Takuan, belonging to Myōshinji's rather heterodox tradition, though he became intimate with the third *shōgun* Tokugawa Iemitsu (r.1623*–*1651), who asks new questions: what is the origin of things, who created them, for what reason are they as they are, what is the relation between the individual, sole existing, and the species, which does not actually exist but is necessary to explain the existence of beings?44

The question of the species is known in Buddhism, in the Abhidharmic treatises, as an important one, but it was not treated in the Sino-Japanese currents as such. We wonder if there is not a Christian influence on this problem as is explained in detail in the *Compendium of Philosophy* of 1595.

42 Michelet, *Précis de l'histoire de France jusqu'à la révolution française.* Paris: L. Hachette, 1833; Idem, *Des Jésuites*. Paris: Hachette & Paulin, 1843.

43 Ōkuwa, op. cit., pp.387–392.

44 I have treated of his case in an article, "Âme et esprit dans le Compendium philosophique de Pedro Gómez (1595) et ses échos éventuels chez les moines zen de la région de Nagasaki". Pierre Bonneels; Baudoin Decharneux (Dir.), *Philosophie de la religion et spiritualité japonaise*. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2019, pp.31–62.

The act of creation in the Christian conception is not so well understood by Japanese adepts: creation is beyond time conceived as perennial and is not identical with a beginning in temporality. This point has been imperfectly taught by Jesuits or maybe has not been taught at all. This doctrine is nonetheless sensed or hinted at. The term *zōka* 造化, which translates this notion, is used in Japanese, by thinkers like Matsuo Bashō 松尾芭蕉 (1644*–*1694), in the meaning of natural process, transformation action in nature, and is synonymous with the Taoist notion of *shizen* 自然, which also has the meaning of creation but in the specific sense of a spontaneous generation, a generation without any cause. Natural process and spontaneous generation were the two poles between how the notion of creation was understood in the Christian Century, so that its understanding deviated in the way of a grasp of Nature as it appears to human eyes.

Takuan engages a long discourse about the question of what we call the "Creation". For him, there is no transcendental principle explaining things and their nature, as the origin of their existence and characteristics. This principle, named the Heaven or the Way of Heaven, is not creative but a manifesting or a growing principle of beings eventually explaining their nature but not their existence. Takuan explains the things and beings, which are reproducing themselves by seeds or germs, under the guidance of Heaven or the Way of Heaven who watches over their growth and harmonious development.45

For Takuan, beings and things have in themselves their own principle of existence and reproduction. He explains clearly that a genus cannot be produced by something different from its genus, a man cannot be borne by something else than mankind, as the Heaven, the Way of Heaven, not Earth and Heaven. At the time, Heaven and Way of Heaven are terms derived from the Christian vocabulary for God. They were no longer in use at the Takuan time for they were prohibited and avoided in Christian translations, but their semantic import in Japanese thought is obvious.46

A plum tree fathers a plum tree and a chestnut tree fathers a chestnut tree, and never something else. These things and beings father themselves in their genus and this way of being that Takuan names a "Principle". On the other hand, Heaven or the Way of Heaven allow the development and growth of beings in a general harmony extending to all beings, by the principle of nutrition and growth, principle specific to each genus. This principle is said to "make" and "produce" (*koshiraheru, tsukuru*), not to "create". He says:

"It is obvious that all things are developing themselves by evolving and maturing" (*kaiku ryūkō shite banbutsu seisei suru koto wa mokuzen nari*).

It is by flourishing that flowers manifest their vitality and by falling down that leaves return to their roots. All things are done so as to begin again in spring. Such are

45 Ibidem, pp.47–59.

46 See Girard, "Discours bouddhiques face au christianisme", pp.169, 177-180.

men also. Birds, land animals, insects, and creepy-crawlers all are growing. In such conditions, all beings in the Universe can be said to have been done by Heaven. Nevertheless, it is impossible for Heaven to father a chestnut tree, a kaki tree, which would have not to be planted, to all fruits, like plums or peaches, if their seeds would not to have been sowed. Nothing that has not been sown can be born. In these conditions, if only chestnut fathers chestnut and kaki fathers kaki, it will not be Heaven who fathers them. Heaven only proceeds to the growing of things.

This kind of explanation and speculation about things in nature is not ignored by Buddhist thought. For instance, in the philosophical theoretical treatises of Abhidharma, there are long developments about what is called *sabhāgatā*, the participation of beings in their species or genus, *sattvasāmyam*, common points between beings of the same genus, translated as *dōbun* 同分, *shudōbun* 衆同分, community, participation, *dōruishō* 同類性, living beings of the same nature.47 However, these concepts are infrequently used in discussions. During the socalled "Christian Century," it had become necessary for Buddhist preachers to explain the existence of things in their specificity against the Creation theory of missionaries. Though there is no explicit proof of an influence of Christianity in Takuan's thought, it is obvious that as he lived in Kyōto monasteries Daitokuji and Myōshinji, he had some acquaintance with it: it is difficult to explain in another way why Takuan has developed so extensively in works devoted to Confucian theories about the nature of things, his conception of the world of Nature. Though it cannot be proven, the hypothesis I propose is that, under the fear of the Christian faith expansion, Takuan, like others, made an effort to rationally explain the order of the universe with Confucian theories in the frame of the Buddhist faith.

Heaven and Earth may have their revolution, if one does not show anything, nothing will arise. Without a seed planted in the land, nothing will grow with only Heaven and Earth. Heaven does not create anything. Therefore, if from the times without beginning a plant or a tree becomes for the first time a chestnut, it is because there is a principle belonging which it will become a chestnut and, till the end of time, if one sows a chestnut seed, it will never become kaki, and if one sows a plum seed it will not become a peach.

Here Takuan uses the Buddhist concept of karmic induction, of karma inducted by causality (*ingō* 引業), and of karmic completion by which the causality of an individual entity is implied in a larger field of causality (*mangō* 滿業), a kind of pre-established harmony.

Everything, by induction of its karma, is such that a plum is a plum and a peach is a peach. Such is every being animate or inanimate. Inasmuch as every being constituted itself by the induction of its own karma, we speak of karmic induction. All

47 See Girard, *Vocabulaire du bouddhisme japonais.* 2 Vols.: Tome I: A-K; Tome II: L-Z. Genève: Droz, 2008. s.v. *dōbun*. Also: *tōbun* 等分, *jibun* 自分, *ubun* 有分.

beings, organized in parallelism, constitute a completion. The karmic induction is said of every being in its singularity, though karmic completion is said of all beings considered together as a globality.48

This course of things is explained in Confucianism by the principle of Nature (*shizen*) belonging, at the time, to Buddhism and Christians.49 Here, does Takuan refer to discussions with Christians? Though we cannot answer this question, due to a lack of documents, the problematics and the way Takuan answers the questions suggest a polemical context of discussion with Christians. When he says that Heaven does not create things and beings but only sustains and grows them is a refutation that Heaven would proceed to a kind of continuous creation, as Malebranche would have said. Every being is responsible for its own production and Heaven plays the role of a helping element. Did Takuan, in this polemical context, replace God with Heaven?

In Confucianism, all things are the transformation of unique energy (*ikki*). It says that Heaven has created and manifested them and that such is the Nature (*shizen/jinen*). If one says that surely Heaven has created and manifested them, does a plum tree or a peach tree that has not been sowed arise now under our eyes? […] Does Nature mean that, by planting a plum tree, a peach tree will arise? Obviously, a plum tree or a peach tree becomes a plum tree or a peach tree by karmic induction. Heaven only proceeds to their growing. Plum tree and peach tree have created themselves; it is not Heaven who created them. If there exists another principle, I would like to know it! Dear disciples, teach me it!50

### Hayashi Razan and Matsunaga Teitoku

For a Confucianist like Hayashi Razan 林羅山 (1583*–*1657), there exists one unique nature, *sei* 性, sustained by Confucianism and robbed by Buddhism under the term of Buddha nature.51 The constitution of a new current of Buddhism, which in fact can be reduced to Confucianism, is the characteristic of heresy. His adversary of the Nichiren sect, Matsunaga Teitoku 松永貞徳 (1571*–*1654), denies these allegations of robbery and heresy but Razan, who refuted Christianity represented by Fukan Fabian 不干ハビアン (1565*–*1621) in 1606, may have put in one sole set Nichiren, Jōdoshin, Zen and Christianity as variations of the same thing. For him,

48 All these quotations of Takuan are from this same work: *Takuan Osho ̄ zenshū* 澤庵 和尚全集 *(Complete works of Master Takuan).* vol. 5, *Tôkai yawa* 東海夜話. [Takuan Osho ̄ Zenshū Kanko ̄kai 澤庵和尚全集刊行会] To ̄kyo ̄, n.p., 1928–1930, pp.7–9.

49 Ibidem, p.13.

50 Idem, pp.69–10.

51 For Neo-Confucianist thinkers, the Buddhists were said to have taken the concept of nature from Confucianists to forge the notion of Buddha-nature in Buddhism. It is a very usual way to reduce a quia a rival, in Eastern religions.

the explanation of things by causality is fallacious: there is a nature at the very beginning and all which occurs is a transformation of it. This nature, identified as Principle, *ri* 理, has been elevated to the status of an invisible and imperceptible Principle, equivalent to the "Great Tope without Top" (*mukyoku no taikyoku* 無 極之太極) so as to argue with the invisible and imperceptible God of Christians. Nature, identified with the Principle of things - invisible and escaping perception - was thus elevated to the status of the Supreme Faith without Faith *(wuji zhi taiji, jap. mukyoku no taikyoku*) with the aim of putting it in parallel with the invisible God of the Christians, while avoiding the overall perception of the Christians.52

### Why a Reformation Movement in the Seventeenth Century?

The criticism of Christianity by monks led them to a reformation of the Buddhist community from the inside. In former times, it occurred that external criticism from the imperial court, the shogunate authorities or rival currents, religious or profane, led to a reformation of the order: such was the case when disciplinary rules were not followed so that monks were compelled to restore them in their order, for instance at the beginning of Kamakura period with Yōjōbō Yōsai 葉上 房栄西 (1141*–*1215), Jōkei 貞慶 (1155*–*1213), Myōe 明恵 (1173*–*1232) or Gyōnen 凝然 (1240*–*1321) and Eison 叡尊 (1201*–*1290). As the criticism came from secular authorities and also from religious authorities, the reformation bore the two aspects of a reformation on the State level of the so-called *New Sōniryō* (*Rules for monks and nuns*) issued from the shogunate in 1332 (*Goseibai shikimoku* 御成敗式 目) and the monastic communities themselves, a threefold system of plain rules (*gusokukai* 具足戒) delivered by Tōdaiji and Kanzeonji, of spiritual bodhisattvic rules oriented not only on interdictions and selfish rules but also and above all on altruist conduct, and then on rules specific to each sect: ointment or unction (*kanjō*) for esoteric Buddhism, invisible rules (*musōkai*) for Zen, purely formal recognition in the case of Pure Land doctrines, who admitted the lay status of monks. The State and Monastic levels referred to were in any case in a specific relationship: the Buddhist Law was subordinated to the Prince Law, so that the reformation operated on the two levels.

However, from the Middle Ages, some Buddhist communities, Sōtō of Dōgen, Hokkeshū of Nichiren, Shinshū or Ikkōshū of Shinran and Rennyo, settled the Buddhist Law as superior to the Prince Law so that the latter had to be submitted to the former. Though it was not the totality of these three currents that required the

52 Girard, "Dialogues on Confucianism and Buddhism, Jubutsu mondō, Les Dialogues sur le confucianisme et le bouddhisme (Jubutsu mondō): ou la critique du bouddhisme par Hayashi Razan face à Teitoku". *Japon Pluriel 5, Actes du cinquième colloque de la Société française des études japonaises*. Paris: Éditions Philippe Picquier, 2004, pp.83– 93.

Prince to obey and submit himself to the Buddha's Law, their number was sufficient to cause disorders in the Empire. For those, who were put outside the clerical ordination system, a reformation from outside was unacceptable or compelled by force. One way to escape the secular power was for the followers of Jōdoshinshū to have a quite strange use of the Two Truths theory: the profane truth has to lead to the authentic truth by using skill means (*hōben*); to have a child understand the doctrine of the One Vehicle or the Vacuity, to lie to him is allowed as a way to pass from the common or conditioned order to the unconditioned one. But adepts of Shinshū used the profane truth as a mean to follow the Prince law in appearance and the authentic truth as the true creed: it was preconized to make a salutation to Amaterasu or the Buddha Vairocana of his own master but in fact to think in one's own mind of the Buddha Amida. This habit was introduced in one passage concerning the definition of the Soul in the *Compendium of Philosophy*: "What is the Soul? The man, led astray by the disorders of his misery (*zaigō*, sins), is profoundly falling prey to error. Consequently, he is not able to discern even the tangible body, which belongs to the profane truth. Moreover, he cannot discern the authentic truth of the Soul [which cannot be perceived]!"53 It has been developed in a long passage concerning the idolatry of the *Compendium Catholicae Veritatis*, in the Japanese version of the text (1595): the servant, when he is catholic, has to follow his master in shrines and temples, to prostrate himself in appearance before the idols of Shinto and Buddhism but to revere in fact, in his inner mind, the Christ, Maria and God.

53 The Latin states: "The nature of man is so pitiful that he cannot know his most inner interiority if not in the obscurity. In consequence, the soul, for it is for us what is the most interior thing, is difficult to know. Nevertheless, I shall state on it in saying what it is through clear truths, which will not be an obstacle to shed in light its potentials and its operations. Aristotle defines the soul in these terms: the soul is the first act of natural things possessing the life".

The Japanese translate with more details not included in the Latin version: "The man, disturbed by the disorders of his misery (litt. his sinfull or fautive acts, *zaigō* 罪業 a Buddhist term) is profoundly immersed in error. Consequently, he is no longer able to discern the sensible things belonging to the profane truth. How could he have discernment concerning the authentic truth to which the soul belongs! However, we shall state now in this treatise about the account of Aristotle about the soul, by recording every point of his interpretations. In particular, we shall discuss the nature of the soul and, then, of its functions and operations. Aristotle defines what is the soul, in the second chapter of his treatise, in the following way: *Anima est actus primus substantialis corporis physici seu naturalis organici potentia vitam habentis [The soul is the first act of the substance of physical corpses, which has the potentiality of the life]*. This means that the soul is an organ, for it provides the operations of the life in itself, and that it is the foundation of all the natural body which possesses its own instruments".

*Compendium catholicae veritatis*. Kirishitan Bunko Library, Sophia University (Ed.). Tōkyō: Ōzorasha 大空社 Co. Ltd., 1997, Tome 1, p.42; tome 2, p.365.

This custom was at the origin of a kind of religious practice, which prevailed to have Shinshū and Christianity becoming very similar faiths in their external manifestations, on one side, and to make an assimilation between Amida and God as an absolute and unique object of their creed, on the other side. This assimilation was put forward in the middle of the seventeenth century and Sessō mingled the two credos in his mind and his predication. The two could hardly be distinguished by the authorities and the common people. From this viewpoint also, a reformation of the Buddhist clergy urged the authorities, from outside, and for the monks themselves, from inside.

When we read the account of Luís Fróis (1532*–*1597) on Buddhism, 42 items concerning monks, 30 items relating to temples, images and cult, it is clear that a reformation of the Buddhist order was required.

### The Monks and Their Customs

The Tokugawa shogunate ordered a series of measures concerning shrines and temples, first by sects (1601*–*1616) and gradually for the totality of clergy (1665), conceived and issued by Ishin Sūden 以心崇伝 (1569*–*1633), the same Zen monk who wrote the edicts of interdiction of Christianity in 1613*–*1614: the two facts were in an important part linked for the almighty Zen counsellor of the Tokugawa family. These rules aimed to have no more trouble nor disorder in the monastic communities, in particular by their "wild ordinations," that is the ordination of monks who did not have the qualification to manage a monastery in due form. The system of ordination specific to each sect was an important cause of this state of things and the worst thing that governmental authorities feared at all times. The Shogunate measures tried to stop and control the monastic communities by appointing monks to pacific and cultural activities, a compilation of treatises and historical genealogies proving the orthodoxy of their own sect, of encyclopaedias defining the accurate meaning of Buddhist key-terminology and central concepts. Apart from the stimulation in the intellectual life that these measures gave to the Buddhist currents, and also though it is connected with these official measures, it is worth noticing that an inner reformation movement was brought to light during the seventeenth century by monks mostly belonging to Zen sects. Inner reformation is here synonymous with a spontaneous movement which aroused from itself and, it is notable, directly or indirectly in the contact of Christianity. Two of these leaders were preachers, appointed by the shogunate, working at Amakusa to struggle against Christian followers and to convert them again to Buddhism: Suzuki Shōsan and Sessō Sōsai. The other names associated with this movement were the master in Vinaya Genshun 玄俊 of Kōyasan, that is of Shingon esoterism but related to Hōryūji temple of Nara in the Vinaya tradition, and Isshin Monshu 一糸 文守 (1608*–*1646) of Yōgenji 永源寺 at Ōmi, a disciple of Takuan who advocated a Disciplinary Zen. Then, the Zen monks of the non-orthodox tradition (Rinke 林下) of Myōshinji 妙心寺, unamenable to the shogunate, Taigu Sōchiku 大愚宗築 (1584*–* 1669), who inherited the tradition of the founder of Myōshinji 妙心寺, Kanzan Egen 關山慧玄 (1277*–*1361), Ungo Kiyō 雲居希膺 (1582*–*1659) – who practised a Nenbutsu Zen and converted the Lord Date Masamune 伊達政宗 (1567*–*1636) in the North, in Zuiganji 瑞巌寺 of Matsushima – and Myōseki 明關 or Shidō Bunan profane ethics. These Zen monks criticized the way of only making consultations to one master in an intimate and excessively confidential way (*mitsusanzen* 密参 禪) and joined a "coalition of practitioners of a universal consultation" (*ketsumei henzan* 結盟遍參) in 1606. They travelled across the country to consult masters in provinces: this new way of practice restored the spirit of early Chan Buddhism practices but may have been suggested also by the activities of missionaries in Japan. It had also as a common aim the attainment of Satori (Enlightenment) which was forgotten by the former currents of Zen in compromising with secular authorities. To these names, we can add the Sōtō monk Ryūkei Sōsen 龍溪宗潜 (1602*–*1670) of Myōshinji, Ban.an Eishu 萬安英種 (1591*–*1654) of Kōshōji 興聖寺 in Uji, Kenshun Ryōei 賢俊良永 of the Shingon-Vinaya sect of the Saimyōji 西明 寺 in Makinoo 槙槇尾, Joshū 恕周 of Sennyūji 仙遊寺 Shingon-Vinaya sect: this Shingon-Vinaya current has as a particularity the fact that its Vinayic behaviour is oriented towards the social activities and the salvation of the population by concrete deeds, like the construction of roads, bridges, cutting wood, clearing of paddy fields and lands, which were appreciated in these times of scarcity.54 A special case was Fukan Fabian, who was first a Zen monk before becoming a Jesuit and return to his Zen faith.

54 Ōkuwa, op. cit., p.316.

## Conclusion

Based on concrete and practical experience, the new movements and currents of Buddhism born more or less in touch with the Christian faith are characterized by several facts in contrast to former practices:

For these renewal movements of Buddhism, influences from Ōbaku Zen with Ingen Ryūki 隠元隆琦 (1592*–*1673) arrived in 1654, the syncretic Integrism of Zenshinkyō 全眞教, the New Confucian currents imported from China by Shu Shunsui 朱舜 水 (1600*–*1682) arrived in 1659, are pointed out, for textual and material data are obvious. Christianity must not be forgotten because it had a subterranean and boomerang influence, with limits that are difficult to define.

# Part II Interactions between Buddhist and Missionary Material, Musical and Visual Culture

### Rie ARIMURA

# The Adaptation of Vernacular Sacred Spaces in the Catholic Architecture of Early Modern Japan

### Introduction

The Catholic architecture in the century of evangelization before the ban on Christianity and the expulsion of the Portuguese and Spaniards in early modern Japan (i.e., 1549*–*1639) was the product of diverse adaptation strategies by the missionaries. Thus, lands to plant churches were selected according to varied criteria and, likewise, existing buildings, such as native temples, grounds within walled enclosures of feudal castles, and houses of lords or native converts were reused. This paper focuses on the adaptation of native sacred spaces. Firstly, I will approach the missionary context in Japan, comparing it to that of the Portuguese and Spanish dominated territories in order to elucidate and contrast the features of the Japanese case. Then, I will show different measures applied by both Jesuits and mendicant friars in adapting Buddhist spaces. It bears mentioning that the analysis of mendicant architecture will be limited to the Franciscan and Dominican orders, since to date, the data on the Augustinians in Japan is too scant to reconstruct the architecture carried out by this order.

### The Context of Catholic Architecture in Japan

The Catholic architecture in early modern Japan was characterized by its great adaptability and ephemeral nature. The Japanese specificity of missionary architecture can be explained by the lack of control by the missionaries over native authorities, and the hardships to carry out missionary work. Indeed, in Japan the missionaries faced much greater obstacles than in the territories conquered by the Iberians. There evangelical work was directly associated to the colonial policy of 'congregation' of native villages. The policy of congregation consisted in establishing a centralized administrative system and implementing state socialeconomic development plans, including urban planning and infrastructure. Thus, in colonial America, churches were built at strategic locations. In Japan, on the contrary, the missionaries rarely enjoyed the privilege to freely choose lands to erect churches. There, apostolic activities depended on permissions granted by native civil authorities. Thus, most of the Catholic churches in Japan were built with personal permission granted by the *daimyō* of each feudal domain, without a central government's agreement.1 So the feudal lords' support and donations from

1 In this regard, it is worth mentioning that a centralized regime had not yet been consolidated before Hideyoshi conquered Kyūshū region in 1587. Therefore, most

native Christians and from Portuguese traders were key factors for the establishment of churches.

Since the missionary work in Japan depended entirely on local circumstances, it was also deeply affected by the political and social instability of the country. Thus, the destruction and burning of church buildings, furniture and liturgical objects, as well as the relocation or closure of churches and seminaries were frequent phenomena. These setbacks were not only due to anti-Christian policies implemented by Japanese feudal lords and governors at different stages, but also to political instability at the local level. In fact, the constant civil wars affecting the Japanese Archipelago caused continuous interruptions in the missionary work and the destruction of a large number of churches and outbuildings. Such circumstances limited missionary work, but, at the same time, it pushed missionaries to adapt to the local environment and to find innovative solutions for their own liturgical spaces.

A few factors define the features of Catholic buildings in Japan: their integration into the social and cultural context; the reuse of construction materials; a new symbolic significance of native sacred precincts; the availability of human and material resources; and the continuity of local architectural traditions.

It must be emphasized that the phenomenon of architectural adaptation was not a unique feature of the evangelization of Japan. Integration into the local circumstances, such as the use of existing buildings and modification of only their interior decoration, as well as construction works using perishable materials had been widely experienced in the missions of different geographical contexts. Thus, at the beginning of the evangelization of the New World, the friars provisionally conditioned the caciques' palaces as liturgical places and residences. Moreover, for the erection of permanent church buildings and monasteries they often took advantage of the platforms and construction materials belonging to pre-Hispanic temples. These spatial or material reuses had symbolic significance representing the triumph of the Roman Catholic Church over paganism.2 At the same time, primitive church buildings and 'visiting' chapels were often built with vernacular materials such as wood, straw and adobe to reduce costs. Besides, this solution did not require collaboration with craftsmen trained in Western building techniques.

churches at the early stage of the mission were planted only with the permission of the *daimyō* of each locality. But this situation never changed because Hideyoshi began the anti-Christian policy once the state's reunification was consummated. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the persecution of Christians was temporarily calmed and the number of churches remarkably grew. However, there were the only two churches had the official permission of Tokugawa Ieyasu: the Franciscan church in Edo and the Jesuit church in Kyōto. *Cfr*. Delgado García, *Fukusha Jacinto Orfanell, O.P. Shokan hōkoku* 福者ハシント・オルファネール O.P. 書簡・報告. Tadashi Sakuma 佐久間正 (Transl.). Tōkyō: Kirishitan bunka kenkyūkai, 1983, p.101.

2 Kubler, *Arquitectura mexicana del siglo XVI.* Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992, p.166.

In the Japanese mission, the above-mentioned solutions, which were 'provisional' for other missions, became constant practices throughout the century-long evangelization period. In Japan, provisional or ephemeral solutions were easy alternatives to local problems, such as lack of financial and human resources, as well as the constant persecution of Christians. The reuse of existing buildings without enforcing structural changes upon them was not limited to the first stages of the evangelization, but it was carried out under different circumstances, at different times and from different religious orders, thereby acquiring a lasting feature.

### Reuse of Buddhist Temples

The strategy of reutilisation and adaptation of native sacred places – which has been practiced throughout the history of Christianity – was implemented not only by the Jesuits missionaries, but also by mendicant frairs from the beginning of each of these missions in Japan. Buddhist temples and monasteries were ideal places to preach the Gospel and establish mission centres due to their large dimensions and symbolic meaning. The acquisition of Buddhist properties mainly depended on concession, donation, or purchase. There were also cases in which building materials from Buddhist temples were the subject of negotiation. Thus, as a consequence of successful negotiations, Buddhist buildings were dismantled, transported and transformed into churches.

It is worth noting that the majority of Buddhist temples reused by the missionaries did not belong to the elitist Zen sect, and were instead disused buildings or properties belonging to popular Buddhist schools, such as Hokkeshū, and Jōdo Shinshū. Exceptionally, Francis Xavier (1506*–*1552) used a Zen temple ground for preaching, when he began apostolic work in Satsuma feudal domain (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) in 1549. Shimazu Takahisa (1514*–*1571) welcomed and hosted him at his family temple Fukushōji 福昌寺 of Sōto Zen school. This was one of the greatest Buddhist monasteries of southern Kyūshū, and consisted of several ramps and terraces (Fig. 1). The Apostle of the East utilized the large penultimate walled enclosure, and preached from the porch which gave access to the main hall that stood at the end of the precincts, taking advantage of its high visibility.3 But this temporary use of Zen temple precinct was uncommon, probably due to the hospitality of the lord of Satsuma and the friendship with Ninshitsu, "chief priest" of Fukushōji.

3 BRAH (Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid), Jesuitas, leg. 9/7238, f. 31v.

Fig. 1. Fukushōji before the destruction caused by anti-Buddhist movement at the beginning of the Meiji era, from *Sankoku meisho zue* (1843). *Sankoku meisho zue* 三 國名勝図會*.* Torao Haraguchi 原口虎雄 (Ed.). Kumamoto: Seichosha, 1982, vol. I, pp.284–287.

The question of why Zen temples were not turned into churches deserves discussion. Firstly, the Zen sect was one of the strongest Buddhist schools in Japan at that time, as their main followers were members of the intellectual elite, the most influential feudal lords and their subjects. Moreover, from the time of Francis Xavier, the Jesuits had close contact with Zen monks, with whom they cultivated friendships and conducted dialogues and philosophical debates. So, while the Jesuits refuted Buddhist philosophy, they also admired the architecture and the intellectual and cultural heritage that is specific to the Zen sect. Therefore, they showed a great tolerance and understanding of Buddhist traditions.4 Far from attempting to destroy them, they tried to take advantage of them, such as with the tea ceremony called *chanoyu* that was used to approach and Christianize native lords.5

The abandonment or cession of Buddhist properties, this was a common phenomena due to the political and social instability of the Sengoku period (c. 1467*–* 1573). Powerful Buddhist institutions were also oppressed, as shown in the burning of Enryakuji, the main temple of the Tendai sect on Mount Hiei in 1571, carried out by Oda Nobunaga (1534*–*1582) to limit their power, as part of his strategy to unify and create a centralized regime in Japan. Similarly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537*–*1598) eliminated a community of Shingon monks known as Negoroshū 根

4 Cooper, "The Early Jesuits in Japan and Buddhism". Peter Milward (Ed.), *Portuguese Voyages to Asia and Japan in the Renaissance Period*. Tōkyō: Sophia University, The Renaissance Institute, 1994, p.55. (Renaissance Monographs, 20).

5 Hioki, "Tea Ceremony as Dialogical Space: The Jesuits and the Way of Tea in Early Modern Japan". *Comparative Theology. Engaging Particularities Conference papers*. Massachusetts: Boston College, 2008, (no pages).

来衆. 6 It was in order to escape religious oppression that the Buddhist monks sold their properties to the missionaries. The Jesuit Luís Fróis (1532*–*1597) noted this in 1577: "The reason why these monks sell their temples and monasteries where they live is because the King Nobunaga is gradually destroying and taking away their property. […] The monks sell what they have in order to get funds to live."7

The relationship between Catholic missions and popular Buddhist schools had different dimensions. Firstly, the two faiths shared their belief in one faith for salvation: the mercy of God for Christians and the compassion of Amida, or Amitābha, for believers of Jōdo Shinshū. Secondly, the organizational structure and preaching methods of the latter Buddhist school, particularly the Honganji branch known as Ikkōshū, were adapted in order to create a Catholic network in Japan. Indeed, the Japanese *confrarias* or confraternities were similar to the Buddhist lay groups or congregations knowns as *kō* 講. Thirdly, the missionaries also took advantage of the propaganda method begun by the Buddhist monk Ren'nyo (1415*–*85) by writing doctrines and teachings for members of the lower social strata in an epistolary style that used the *kana* syllabary.8

### *Attitudes of the Jesuits towards Native Sacred Spaces*

The Jesuit criteria for the utilization of native religious spaces in Japanese missions were diverse. The Jesuit theory of adaptation showed a marked contrast between two personalities, Francisco Cabral (1533*–*1609), Superior of the Jesuit mission in Japan from 1570 to 1581, and Alessandro Valignano (1539*–*1606), Visitor of the East Indies. The latter visited Japan on three different occasions – 1579*–*1582, 1590*–* 1592, and 1598*–*1603 – and set forth a theory of the mission based on humanist philosophy. In practice, however, different attitudes towards the adaptation to local society and culture coexisted during the 'rule' of the two figures.

Thus, dating to the time of Cabral, the missionary record shows that different measures were applied. According to a letter of 1575, new converts to Christianity went to a very old '*varela*',9 or 'temple of idols,' and they destroyed the temple

6 Biblioteca da Ajuda, Jesuitas na Ásia, Codex 49-IV-53, Alessandro Valignano, "Del principio y progresso de la Religion Christiana en Japon y de la especial Providencia de que n[uest]ro Señor vsa con aquella nueva Iglesia", 1601, Chapter 7, f.286.

7 ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Rome), Jap. Sin. 8-III, f.142, a letter from Luís Fróis, Usuki, 9.9.1577. This translation is mine.

8 Kawamura, "An Evaluation of Valignano's Decision-making from the Viewpoint of Japanese Society". *Integration and Division between Universalism and Localism in Jesuit Mission Reports and Histories: Sophia University International Colloquium 2005 Report*. Tōkyō: The Sophia University Research Group for Jesuit Mission Reports and Histories, 2006, pp.106–107.

9 The old Portuguese word "*varela*" or "*varella*", which means "temple of idols", often appears in documentary sources. See also Dalgado, *Glossário Luso-Asiático* [Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1919]. 2 Vols. Hamburg: Buske, 1982, vol. 2: M-Z.

and pagodas, turning them into firewood, as if they had been Christians for many years.10 Nevertheless, at the same time, there were also more peaceful measures. On the one hand, it was common practice to negotiate prices of Buddhist properties or to obtain the monks' consent for dismantling native temples and reusing their materials to construct Catholic buildings, such as the case of the church of Tamba,11 erected in 1573 by using building materials from a Buddhist temple of Kyōto, which though small, was one of the best and richest buildings of that city.12 On the other hand, there were also instances in which non-Christian temples were reused without any architectural modification. Thus, a *varela* donated in 1576 by Arima Yoshisada (1521*–*1576/77) was reused as a church without any changes, taking advantage of the expanse of the buildings.13 Meanwhile, the lack of tolerance, such as the burning of Buddhist images continued even in the time of Valignano. In Arima, for instance, at the beginning of 1584 several idols were brought to the church and were publicly burned in a bonfire, together with an ornament of a Buddhist monk, who was among them.14

Such violent measures were often undertaken with the agreement and support of the local Christian lords. Thus, the missionaries "took down temples and pagodas and erected, in their place, churches and crosses", as happened in 1575 in Nagasaki.15 Similarly, the most important Buddhist temple of Hizen Ōmura was dismantled to leave free space for a Catholic church at the behest of Ōmura Sumitada (1533*–*1587). The same ruler also commanded all non-Christians to attend the site and hear the word of God.16 With the passage of time, however, the Christian *daimyō* themselves realized that destructive actions of native religious buildings and idols went against the apostolic zeal, besides leading to conflicts with local Buddhist authorities.17 The missionaries, for their part, handled this matter differently depending on the situation. Catholic figures realized that violent and destructive actions of Buddhist statues among non-Christian populations could cause hatred towards Christianity, so they recommended the eradication of local religious beliefs through dialogue with wisdom and tolerance. Yet, among those who had been baptized and thus instructed not to hold on to 'superstitions,' the missionaries were more severe and did approve more severe measures such as the destruction of 'idols'.18

10 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 99v, a letter from Miguel Vaz, Nagasaki, 3.8.1575.

11 The old province of Tamba comprises the central part of modern Kyōto Prefecture and the north-eastern part of Hyogo Prefecture.

12 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 90v, a letter from Luís Fróis, Kyōto, 17.6.1573.

13 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 122v, a letter from Alonso González, Arima, 24.9.1576.

14 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 407v-408, a letter from Damian Marin, Arima, 27.12.1584.

15 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 98, a letter from Miguel Vaz, Nagasaki, 3.8.1575.

16 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 98v.

17 Matsuda, *Namban shiryō no hakken. Yomigaeru Nobunaga jidai* 南蛮史料の発見 よ みがえる信長時代. Tōkyō: Chūō Kōronsha, 1991, p.145.

18 Acosta, *De procuranda indorum salute* [Salmanticae, 1588]. 2 Vols. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1987, vol. II, pp. 259–275.

Sources also report cases wherein new Christian buildings were erected "with much dispatch" in the place of Buddhist monasteries that had been erased.19 Additionally, it was also customary to recycle materials from Buddhist temples. These practices derived from ancient Japanese architectural tradition. The wooden structure of most Japanese buildings was composed simply of columns, beams and a sloping roof, a system that facilitates the extension of the space or the restoration of damaged parts, as well as more far-reaching measures such as dismantling and reconstruction. Thus, the Jesuit João Rodrigues 'Tçuzu' (c.1561/2*–*1633), who lived in Japan from 1577 to 1610, stated that "They [The Japanese] seem to build neither with stones nor bricks because of the many earthquakes, or because it is more difficult, while wooden buildings can be transported elsewhere. This is a daily occurrence".20

Valignano, during his first stay in Japan, set forth building rules in the Chapter 7 of his *Advertimentos e avisos acerca dos costumes e catangues de Jappão* (1581): "*Do modo que se ha de ter en fabricar nosas cassas e igrejas em Jappão*" (The way of proceeding in building our houses and churches in Japan).21 The architectural adaptation policies were not Valignano's own, and the visitor simply codified practices existing prior to his arrival.22 Valignano defended local architectural traditions and customs as well as the employment of native builders, and he pointed out the importance of seeking the advice of master builders.23

Yet, the Jesuits were concerned in distinguishing their churches from the Buddhist temples, as they repeatedly wrote in their letters and reports. As Fróis pointed out, the height of the building was the feature that distinguished Jesuit buildings from the Japanese ones, which tended to be single-storied ones.24 Moreover, building 'in our way' (*no nosso modo*) with Christian liturgical ornaments on

19 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 99v, a letter from Miguel Vaz, Nagasaki, 3.8.1575.

20 Rodrigues, *História da igreja do Japão (1620*–*1633).* 2 Vols. Transcription of the Codex 49-IV-53 (f. 1–181) of the Biblioteca do Palácio da Ajuda, Lisboa. João do Amaral Abranches Pinto (Ed.). Lisboa: Notícias de Macau, 1954, vol. I, pp.197–198. This translation is mine.

21 Valignano, *Il Cerimoniale per i missionari del Giappone. «Advertimentos e Avisos acerca dos Costumes e Catangues de Jappão».* Josef Franz Schütte, S.J. (Ed.). Roma: Edizioni di «Storia e Letterature», 1946, pp.270–281 and Valignano, *Nihon Iezusukai reihō shishin* 日本イエズス会礼法指針 (*Advertimentos e avisos acerca dos costumes e catangues de Jappão*). Toshihiko Yazawa 矢沢利彦; Suna Tsutsui 筒井砂 (Transl.). Tōkyō: Kirishitan bunka kenkyūkai, 1970, pp.109–114.

22 Yamaguchi, *Nihon ni okeru seiyō kenchiku no dōnyū katei no kenkyū* 日本におけ る西洋建築導入過程の研究. Doctoral dissertation in Engineering, University of Tōkyō, 1970, pp. 54–55.

23 Valignano, *Il cerimoniale per i missionari del Giappone*, p.271, Articles 146 and 147.

24 Miyamoto, *Kinsei Nihon kenchiku ni hisomu seiyō shuhō no nazo: "Kirishitan kenchiku" ron josetsu* 近世日本建築にひそむ西洋手法の謎「キリシタン」建築 論序説. Tōkyō: Shōkokusha, 1996, p.100.

198 Rie ARIMURA

display was essential to catching the eye of the stranger.25 The *Annuae del Iapon* of 1607 reported that the church of Hakata was "…strong and well built with a floor plan that was very new to Japan and very different from their temples and varellas…"26 The phrase 'a floor plan that was very new to Japan' (*traça tan nova em Japão*) suggests the use of a European architectural plan. The design of Buddhist monasteries thus became the reference point that helped the Jesuits to determine their own architectural forms in Japan. The introduction of Western architectural elements was crucial in establishing a contrast with local religious architecture, and assering a distinctive Catholic identity.

Concerning the concepts '*no nosso modo*' or '*traça tan nova*,' Valignano indicated: "…churches will be constructed in such a manner as observed in our European custom, having a longer nave, and not the same width as the Japanese do in erecting their temples."27 Valignano proposed the use of such a longitudinal plan to contrast with Buddhist temple floors. Moreover, the Catholic houses were to have appropriate spaces to receive Japanese visitors according to their social status. Yet, in practice, the enforcement of these rules was limited. Indeed, only the major churches were built with a longitudinal floor plan, such as was the case with the church of Arima, which was built in 1581 reusing wood from several Buddhist temples, and had a basilical floor plan, composed of three naves (or one nave and two aisles).28 Meanwhile, native Christians continued to reuse their own houses as places of worship.

### *The Mendicant Missions and Their Adaptation Criteria*

The mendicant orders belatedly undertook missionary work in Japan. Initially, papal bulls claimed the monopoly of the Society of Jesus on these lands and thus imposed a number of obstacles and limitations on the participation of the mendicant orders in evangelical works in that country. The first official arrivals of the friars in Japan did not have an apostolic, but a diplomatic purpose. Thus, in 1592, Manila Governor Don Luis Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas (from May or June 1, 1590 to October 25, 1593) sent the Dominican Juan Cobo (c.1546*–*1592) as ambassador, and the following year he sent the Franciscan Pedro Bautista Blásquez (1542*–*1597) under the same duties. The aim was to meet with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Since then, the Franciscans managed to settle in Japanese territory through negotiations conducted by Pedro Bautista with that minister, while the Augustinians and Dominicans did not join in evangelical work until 1602.

25 ARSI, Jap. Sin. 55, f. 298, "Annuae Iapon de Outubro do anno de 1605 ate o mesmo do anno de 1606", João Rodrigues Giram, Nagasaki, 15.2.1607.

26 ARSI, Jap. Sin. 55, f. 334v.

27 Valignano, *Il cerimoniale per i missionari del Giappone*, p.279. This translation is mine.

28 ARSI, Jap. Sin. 45-II, f. 34v, "Annua del Japon", Gaspar Coello, Nagasaki, 15.2.1582; BRAH, Cortes, 9/2663, f. 257v; Valignano, *Sumario de las cosas de Japón (1583) Adiciones del sumario de Japón (1592)*. José Luis Alvarez-Taladriz (Ed.). Tōkyō: Sophia University, 1954, V. I, p.84 n.

The historiography of the Catholic Mission of Japan tends to contrast the Jesuit missionary policies with the mendicant ones, stressing differences and rivalries between them. But it is also true that the mendicant missions in Japan began to support the Jesuits. The chronicler Francisco Colin (1592*–*1660), for instance, reported that Gaspar Coelho (1531*–*1590), Vice-Provincial Father of the Company of Jesus in Japan, wrote to the governor and the bishop of Manila two letters in 1584 and 1585 requesting that the Franciscans were to assist them in apostolic tasks.29 There are also documents issued in Manila in 1587 indicating the need to send brothers to Japan in order to make up for the lack of missionaries in that country.30 Therefore, it was not by chance that the Franciscans began their work establishing their convents in Kyōto, Nagasaki and Ōsaka, where the number of Christian population had increased owing to the previous work of the Jesuits. This fact is even comparable to the apostolic work undertaken by the Franciscans and Dominicans in the thirteenth century in Europe: "The ideal of going to the missions could be rarely done, so that they made no effort to penetrate lands of heathens, but they set about transforming the infrastructure of existing Christian communities."31

Similarly, according to the mission theory of the Dominicans, they aimed to establish their religious houses "...in those realms where there were no other congregations in order to be more profitable for the Gentiles and to avoid overlapping of works."32 But this does not mean that the Dominicans always were engaged in an entirely new territory. In fact, they often took advantage of the work previously performed by the Jesuits and Franciscans. For example, for establishing a church in Fukahori, Hizen, the Dominicans repaired a 'church of another religion,' namely a building used by another Catholic order.33

29 Colín*, Labor evangélica, ministerios apostólicos de los obreros de la Compañía de Iesvs, fundación, y progressos de su provincia en las islas Filipinas* [Madrid: Ioseph Fernandez de Buendia, 1663]. P. Pablo Pastells, S.J. (Ed.). Barcelona: Imprenta y Litografía de Henrich y Compañía, 190, p.357; Pérez, "Origen de las misiones franciscanas en el Extremo Oriente: II. Primera expedición de los franciscanos de Filipinas a la China, India Oriental y Japón". *Archivo Ibero-Americano*, T. I, 1914, p.331.

30 "Información que recibió el obispo del estado que tienen las cosas del Japón", Manila, 4.7.1587, published in Alvarez-Taladriz, "Notas para la historia de la entrada en Japón de los franciscanos". *España en Extremo Oriente: Filipinas, China, Japón. Presencia franciscana, 1578*–*1978*. Víctor Sánchez; Cayetano Sánchez Fuertes (Ed.). Madrid: Cisneros, 1979, p.16; "Petición de los japones al obispo del envío de Religiosos de San Francisco y Santo Domingo a Japón", Manila, 26.9.1587, published in Alvarez-Taladriz, Ibidem, p.20.

31 Braunfels, *Arquitectura monacal en Occidente*. Barcelona: Barral, 1975, p.193. This translation is mine.

32 Muñoz, *Los dominicos españoles en Japón (siglo XVII)*, offprint from *Missionalia Hispánica*, no. 64–65. Madrid: Raycar, 1965, p.25.

33 Orfanell, *Historia ecclesiastica de los sucesos de la christiandad de Iapon, desde el año de 1602, qve entro en el la Orden de Predicadores, hasta el de 1620*. Madrid: viuda de Alonso Martin, 1633, f. 3v.

#### 200 Rie ARIMURA

In short, since the mendicant orders were established, the friars made effective use of advances in missionary work carried out in former times. So common evangelical strategies and methods went beyond geographical and institutional differences. As the historian García Ros puts it, the Franciscan friars "accommodated to what they found in each region, conforming to the physical conditions of the area, financial resources, the will of benefactors, the personal style of master builders, materials and construction techniques of the place, in short, to the local customs."34 In the case of Japan, in addition to similarities between the ways in which religious orders accommodated themselves to the local circumstances, there were connections and continuity between the previous work of the Jesuits and that of the friars. Furthermore, because of a peculiar Japanese social context characterized by constant civil wars and persecutions against the Christians, the missionaries practiced the mutual support and solidarity between the different orders. Particularly, in the context of severe persecution of Christianity, modest local buildings, e.g. 'small shacks, or cells covered with branches, and mountain herbs' which were completed rapidly, became increasingly important to the different orders as places of worship and abodes of the missionaries and followers.35

#### Order of Friars Minor

As mentioned above, while the first Franciscan churches and convents were established in Kyōto (1594), Nagasaki (1594), and Ōsaka (1596),36 the Franciscans contributed later to undertaking missionary work in the northeastern region of Japan (present-day Kanto and Tohoku). Their incursion into new lands responded to the change of the political regime in Japan in 1603 with the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in the new capital of Edo. Thus, Gerónimo de Jesús (n.d.–1601) founded the church of Our Lady of the Rosary in that city with the permission of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543*–* 1616).37 Similarly, Luis de Sotelo (1574*–*1624) established a church in Uraga, a strategically located port at the entrance to the Tōkyō Bay.38 These churches were destroyed after the edict banning Christianity in 1612 and 1613.39

34 García Ros, *Los franciscanos y la arquitectura: de san Francisco a la exclaustración*. Valencia: Asís, 2000, p.105.

35 Orfanell, op. cit., f. 51v, 92.

36 Schilling, "Le missioni dei francescani spagnuoli nel Giappone: primo periodo (1593–1597)". *Il pensiero missionario*, vol. IX, 1937, pp.294–296; Uyttenbroeck, *The Franciscans in the Land of the Rising Sun: Fifty Years After Their Return*. Tōkyō: St. Joseph Friary, 1957, pp.3–4; Uyttenbroeck, *Duo generosi apostolatus saecula in Japonia (1549*–*1650; 1844*–*1945)*. Tōkyō: Seminarium St. Antonii, 1945, p.75.

37 Delgado García, *Fukusha José de San Jacinto Salvanés, O.P. Shokan hōkoku* 福者ホ セ・デ・サン・ハシント・サルバネス O.P. 書簡・報告, Tadashi Sakuma 佐久 間正 (Transl.). Tōkyō: Kirishitan bunka kenkyūkai, 1976, p.56.

38 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2666, f. 88, 92; Diego de San Francisco 1971, pp.24–25.

39 Delgado García, *Fukusha José de San Jacinto Salvanés, O.P. Shokan hōkoku*, p.56*.*

The Franciscan friars adapted their architecture to local conditions much as the Jesuits had done before them, and they frequently reused existing buildings from small houses to large properties. The friars mainly used two different architectural styles depending on the functions. According to Juan de Santa María (1551*–*1622), the Franciscan convent of Ōsaka was built 'in our way,'40 while hospitals and schools in Kyōto made 'by way of Japan.'41 This suggests that non-religious buildings properly followed the local tradition.

There are very few historical records referring to the reuse of Buddhist temple precincts done by the Franciscans. But one of the most striking examples was the first Franciscan establishment in Japan, namely the convent complex of Saint Mary of the Angels in Kyōto. The complex was established by Pedro Bautista, who had entered into negotiations with Hideyoshi in 1593 to obtain a residence permit for the Franciscans. Hideyoshi not only granted permission to found the convent, but also for the friars to live in their own way and exercise apostolic ministry.42 He ordered the governor "Guêni foin" (Gen'ihōin 玄以法印 or Maeda Gen'i 前田玄以, 1539–1602) to allow the friars to choose a site and amount of land necessary for them in a large field of wheat, in the city. However, the governor, observing that the land they wanted was very large, and also knowing that the friars aimed to build their church, did not want to give them the estate requested, although the friars insisted that their aim was to build a hospital to cure the poor, and a small house right next to it to lodge them. The governor eventually complied on condition that they lease the site, not purchase it. Furthermore, he insisted, the friars should not spread the faith nor assemble Christian brethren in their house. A few days later, however, the friars began to erect on that site a convent and a church, both in the manner of those of Spain.43

According to Fróis, this place belonged to the 'Foricaua mionaji yaxiqi,'44 i.e., Myōmanji 妙満寺, head temple of the Lotus sect, which had to be moved to Teramachi Nijō by order of Hideyoshi. This temple precinct stood on the bank of

40 Juan de Santa María, *Chronica de la provincia de San Joseph de los descalços de la orden de los menores de nuestro seraphico padre san Francisco*. 2 Vols. Madrid: Imprenta Real, 1618, vol. II, p.182.

41 Ribadeneira, *Historia de las islas del archipiélago filipino y reinos de la gran China, Tartaria, Cochinchina, Malaca, Siam, Cambodge y Japón* [Barcelona, 1601]. P. Juan R. de Legísima (Ed.). Madrid: La editorial católica, 1947, p. 355; Juan de Santa María, op. cit., 1618, vol. II, p.51.

42 A report written by Pedro Bautista, 1.1.1596, quoted by Pérez, "Cartas y relaciones del Japón II Relaciones e informes sobre el proceder de los franciscanos antes de la persecución de 1596". *Extract of Archivo Ibero-Americano* XXV, XXVI, XXVIII, XXXII–XXXIII. Imprenta de G. López del Horno, 1920, p.37.

43 BRAH, Cortes, 9/2666, f. 11v.

44 Luís Fróis, *Historia de Japam*, cited by José Luis Alvarez-Taladriz in Ascensión; Rivadeneira, *Documentos franciscanos de la cristiandad de Japón (1593–1597). Relaciones e informes*. José Luis Alvarez-Taladriz (Ed.). Ōsaka: [Eikodo], 1973, p.176, note 37.

the river Horikawa. Although it was situated in the city, there were no neighbours.45 The estate was 'very wide and with large capacity,' since it occupied an area of some 16,000 square meters.46

A letter sent by Pedro Bautista to the governor of Manila Don Luis Pérez Dasmariñas (1539*–*1593) on 13 October 1594, i.e., a few days after performing the first Mass in the Franciscan church of Kyōto, provides the following information.47 The building materials were wood, 'cane' (strong, slender stems of bamboo) and clay. This indicates that the mendicants adapted to local materials and architectural traditions for their buildings. Bautista also refers to a Christian '*hidalgo*' (man of the lower nobility), term indicating here *samurai*, called Cosme as the builder and main benefactor. In order to complete the building works, Pedro Bautista had to apply for funding from Pérez Dasmariñas.48

Pedro Bautista described in that letter a 'poor' convent with its church, while in the same site, another more spacious and lavish church was completed by February 1595. This extension work aroused suspicion among the Jesuits. The Jesuit Pedro Gómez (1533/35*–*1600) sent a letter to Claudio Acquaviva (1543–1615), the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, to inform him of discord between Jesuits and Discalced Franciscans: "...The friars of Miaco built a large church with a choir and three altars; […] These [sumptuous] works would make him [Hideyoshi] think that all Christianity despised his authority. Therefore, he might [be angry and] destroy the Christianity that we strive to sustain."49

The Franciscan chronicler Ribadeneira described it in detail:

The church was built in a public place, and the building was so high that it stood out very much. It was greatly praised by the Japanese who saw it and admired its shape of floor plan, which they had never seen there. [Because of this] all kinds of people came to see it, even before the friars moved into [and settled themselves] in their [new] church. The convent had high and low cloisters, offices and cells, and the church had three altars, and a choir, in the manner of the convents of the Discalced Friars in Castile.50

45 Ribadeneira, op. cit., p.342.

46 Ascensión; Rivadeneira, op. cit., p.97, note 238.

47 The first Mass was held on 4 October 1594. See Ascensión; Rivadeneira, op. cit., p.176, note 39.

48 BNM (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid), Ms. fols. 98r-102v, "Letter to Don Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, which gives account of the result of the embassy that arrived in Japan in 1594, as well as requests an offering to complete the convent and church of Kyōto" (fray Pedro Bautista, Kyōto, 13.10.1594), quoted by Pérez, "Cartas y relaciones del Japón". *Archivo Ibero-Americano*, T. VI (1916), p.216.

49 ARSI, Jap. Sin. 12-II, f. 242, a letter from Pedro Gómez to Claudio Aquaviva, Nagasaki, 3.2.1595. This translation is mine.

50 Ribadeneira, op. cit., p.342. This translation is mine.

First, the church of Kyōto was remarkable for its height. It is worth adding that the height was an essential feature of Franciscan as well as Jesuit architecture in Japan. The missionaries intentionally sought architectural verticality in order to distinguish their buildings from the Buddhist temples and draw the public's attention.51

Second, how was that floor plan, 'which they had never seen there'? Franciscan chroniclers Ribadeneira and Martínez stated that there was a rood screen inside the church, which separated the '*crucero*,' i.e., transept from the nave of the temple in accordance with the 'Discalced style.'52 This building must have been composed of a Latin cross plan, although this shape was not common for contemporaneous mendicant architecture, and the vast majority of sixteenth-century mendicant churches were characterized by a single nave floor plan.

The presbytery of the Franciscan convent church of Kyōto was raised by six steps and bounded by a rood screen. The church had three altars. An oil painting altarpiece and a tabernacle were placed on a high altar topped by a cross, while the altarpiece on the Epistle side displayed an image of Saint Francis. A choir loft was located over the narthex, at the end of the nave.53 This arrangement of the choir had been common in Franciscan churches for some centuries. Single-nave and low-rise churches began to be built in the Iberian Peninsula from the late fourteenth century; after that date, a choir loft was added over the segmental arch of the narthex.54 This architectural pattern of the mendicant churches spread worldwide from the sixteenth century.

The Franciscan convent complex comprised two hospitals called Saint Joseph and Saint Anne respectively. These buildings were located on either side of the church and 'seemed like two bell towers' according to Juan Pobre writing in 1596. The convent was composed of upper and lower cloisters "...and one walks around them, since they were made in the manner of Castile..."55 This suggests the existence of corridors in the cloisters, to be expected as this convent followed Spanish convent architecture. On the ground floor, there were a refectory, a chapter room and three rooms used for catechism, while the upstairs space had cells and a library. The description given by Ribadeneira in 1601 contrasts with that of Pedro Bautista, who in 1594, referred to 'a poor convent of wood, cane and clay.' The convent complex evidently underwent a complete transformation within 6 or 7 years.

51 Miyamoto, op. cit., p.100.

52 Ribadeneira, op. cit., p.347; Martínez, *Compendio histórico de la apostólica provincia de San Gregorio de Philipinas de religiosos menores descalzos de N. P. San Francisco, en que se declaran sus heroycas empressas, para la dilatación de nuestra santa fé por varios reynos, y provincias del Assia: con las vidas, martyrios, y hechos en comun, y en particular de sus venerables hijos, correspondientes a la sucesión de los trienios, missiones, desde su fundación, hasta los años del Señor de mil setecientos y ocho.* Madrid: viuda de Manuel Fernández y del Supremo Consejo de la Inquisición, 1756, pp.29–30.

53 Ascensión; Rivadeneira, op. cit., pp.176–177, note 39.

54 García Ros, op. cit., p. 142.

55 Ribadeneira, op. cit., p.98, note 245.

Ribadeneira testified to the improvement of buildings, and pointing out the outstanding need for 'a well decorated room':

…sometimes Japanese Christians suggested that the convent should be equipped with at least a well decorated room to receive the honoured pagans who came to visit and hear Mass and sermons. Encouraged to achieve major benefit of missionary objectives, [the friars] ordered the building of a reception room. This room was conformed with [Franciscan rule of] Holy Poverty and complied with the demands, but did not exceed the [policy of] austerity by which they were bound…56

Clearly, the Franciscans were heeding the suggestions of the faithful that they adapt to the circumstances in which they found themselves. It is also worth noting that the presence of a reception room coincided with the Jesuit building code, as shown in Valignano's *Advertimento*. 57

Before the Tokugawa shogunate enacted the Edicts banning Christianity in 1613, the Discalced Franciscan buildings in Japan did not strictly follow the traditional architectural rules of poverty and narrowness. The major establishments, e.g. the convent of Kyōto and the church of Saint Francis of Nagasaki were regarded as 'very sumptuous.' The architectural model for large-scale construction projects was Spanish Discalced Franciscan buildings. In fact, the convent complex of Kyōto was described by Ribadeneira '…like the convents of the Discalced Friars in Castile,'58 while Juan de Santa María wrote that all was '…in accordance with the floor plan and measurements of the convents of the Discalced Friars of St. Joseph in Spain.'59

#### Order of Preachers

Even though the first Dominican Juan Cobo arrived in Japan in 1592, it took a decade for the Dominicans to undertake evangelical work in the country. The beginning of the Dominican mission dates to 1601, when Francisco Morales (1567– 1622), Provincial Father of the Order of Preachers in Manila, met some Japanese from Satsuma and sent through them a letter to the *daimyō* Shimazu Yoshihiro (1535–1619) asking for permission to enlighten the natives in his fiefdom. After obtaining an affirmative response, a group of five missionaries, headed by Father Morales,60 left Manila in June 1602 and landed in the island of Koshiki, Satsuma

56 Ibidem, p.347. This translation is mine.

57 Valignano, *Nihon Iezusukai reihō shishin*, p.111.

58 Ribadeneira, op. cit., p.342.

59 Juan de Santa María, op. cit, vol. II, p.41.

60 ARMSTA (Archivo del Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás, Ávila, old documentary collection of the Archives of Holy Rosary Province in Manila), Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 85v, "El principio q tuvo la orden de nro Pe Sto Domo para venir a Japon. Por el Pe Morales". I am grateful to Father Renzo de Luca, former director of the 26 Martyrs Museum of Nagasaki for this reference.

in accordance with the *daimyō*'s instruction on the third day of the following month.61 The Dominicans initially engaged mission work on the island of Koshiki, in the peripheral and isolated village of Satsuma. Yet, with the passage of time, they would manage to extend their mission territory. Later, important Dominican missionary centres will be the fiefdoms of Kyūshū: Satsuma (1602–1609), Hizen (1606– 1613),62 and Nagasaki (1610–1614). Moreover, they will succeed in establishing the church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Kyōto63 and that of Saint Dominic in Ōsaka in 1610, although these churches persisted only for a few years, until April 1612, because of the anti-Christian policy.64

Various records witness the contacts between the Dominicans and the Buddhist priests or institutions. The utilization of native religious spaces and furniture was also carried out from the outset. Thus, as soon as the friars arrived in Koshiki, Satsuma, they were hosted at the home of a Buddhist monk, because his house was the best in the area, and then the friars put a beautiful image of Our Lady on the altar of 'abominable idols,' i.e., Buddhist images.65 According to Juan de la Badía (c.1580–1627) and Francisco Morales, the said image –which was possibly the Virgin of the Rosary, whose devotion was widely promoted by the Dominicans– was a painting in a large square format, and allegedly caused admiration among the Japanese because of her beauty.66

Nevertheless, the Dominicans could not start apostolic work immediately after arriving in Koshiki in July 1602, but had to wait until late November of the same year, after the lord of Satsuma granted permission to establish their church on the island. The first church was located in Nagahama, Koshiki. Ground conditions of this site were not favourable because it was in a 'difficult terrain between rocks (so that there was barely room for some vegetable).'67 According to Badía, the lord of

61 ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 85–86v; Boxer and Cummins, "The Domenican Mission in Japan (1602–1622) and Lope de Vega". *Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum*, vol. XXXIII (1963), p.7.

62 Orfanell, op. cit., f. 4; Delgado García, *Fukusha Alonso de Mena O.P. Shokan hōkoku* 福者アロンソ・デ・メーナ O.P. 書簡・報告, Tadashi Sakuma 佐久間正 (Transl.). Tōkyō: Kirishitan bunka kenkyūkai, p. 26; Delgado García, *Fukusha Jacinto Orfanell, O.P. Shokan hōkoku* 福者ハシント・オルファネール O.P. 書簡・報告. Tadashi Sakuma 佐久間正 (Transl.). Tōkyō: Kirishitan bunka kenkyūkai, 1983, p.104; Delgado García, "Beato Alonso de Mena, O.P. Misionero y mártir del Japón (s. XVII)". *Archivo Dominicano*, T. IX, 1988, p.220.

63 Delgado García, *Fukusha Jacinto Orfanell, O.P. Shokan hōkoku,* p.102.

64 Muñoz, op. cit., p.28.

65 ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 85v.

66 Delgado García, *Fr. Juan de la Badía, O.P., misionero del Japón y Bto. Domingo Castellet, O.P., misionero mártir del Japón*. Madrid: Instituto Pontificio de Teología / Misionología, 1986 (Cuadernos de misionología, 2), p.16; ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 86v.

67 Orfanell, op. cit., f. 1v.

Satsuma promised to provide them with the materials and human resources necessary for construction work. But, a record of the former Provincial Archive of the Holy Rosary in Manila reported that the church in question "...was built by purchasing timber from a Buddhist temple, and all cost only eight pesos, which were paid not by the *tono* [i.e., feudal lord] but by the captain."68 This source suggests that the reuse of materials from native temples was due to practical reasons, namely its ease of acquisition and low costs.

Badía describes this primitive church in Nagahama as follows:

They slept on the ground because the house had no floor, but only a few sticks and canes, and mat that served as a mattress. [...] In that year, it was very cold and snowed intensively. Since the house was made of reeds and straws, the snow got inside with the wind for many nights. When they woke up in the morning, the snow was all over their clothes. To shake it off, they were going to pray. They did not go very far because everything was at close reach, the oratory and bedroom…69

This report shows that the building was 'a poor shack' as Orfanell stated.70 Furthermore, strips of wood from a Buddhist temple, which cost eight pesos, must have been used for the structure, while the walls were covered with reeds and the roof was thatched.

Unlike the first church in Nagahama, in the construction work that the lord of Satsuma sponsored a few years later in the same island of Koshiki, the church and house were separate buildings. This donation aimed at encouraging the friars to bring ships to the fiefdom of Satsuma, and the church was blessed on August 15, 1605. However, two weeks after it was destroyed by a typhoon. As a result, Mena requested the *daimyō* to move to the mainland. Thus, in 1606 the Dominicans settled in Kyodomari, a small port at the delta of the River Sendai. They first built a house and then a church, which was consecrated on July 2, 1606.71 It is interesting to note its location, about which Orfanell stated below:

This site was very good on a little hill outside the village at the entrance of the port, with very peaceful view. However, the friars had very despicable neighbourhood, because the church was between two temples of pagan bonzes. One was in front of the door, very close, and the other was right next to the church, so that they were hindered at the time of prayer.72

68 Delgado García, *Fr. Juan de la Badía, O.P., misionero del Japón y Bto. Domingo Castellet, O.P., misionero mártir del Japón*, p.17n.

69 Delgado García, Ibidem, pp.17–18. This translation is mine.

70 Orfanell, op. cit., f. 1.

71 Delgado García, "Beato Alonso de Mena, O.P. Misionero y mártir del Japón (s. XVII)", pp.214–215; Delgado García, *Fukusha Alonso de Mena O.P. Shokan hōkoku*, p. 26.

72 Orfanell, op. cit., f. 1v-2. The original reference is the following: "Era este sitio muy bueno en vn montezito fuera del lugar a la entrada del Puerto, con muy apazible vista: pero tenía muy ruin vecindad, porque estava la Iglesia de los Padres entre dos

The Dominican church adjoined two Buddhist temples of different sects, 'Tendayxú' (Tendai-shū) and 'Ienxús' (Zen-shū).73 The Tendai and Zen sects also used to be sit on a hill, since the former practiced esoteric rituals and exercises, while the latter was engaged in meditation to reach the stage of spiritual awakening. In short, there was a certain similarity between the criteria for Buddhist and Christian monastic establishments. Since the Dominican church was very close to Buddhist temples, the friars competed against the bonzes instead of interacting with native priests. This shows a primary difference between the Jesuit and mendicant attitudes towards the native priests or institutions.

The church of Kyodomari endured only 3 years, and in April or May of 1609 the Dominicans were forced to leave the site due to the anti-Christian policy in Satsuma.74 There were three main reasons for the expulsion: the increase of converts within their district; the suggestion of Buddhist monks who were not in favour of the presence of the missionaries; and the Dominicans' failed attempt to bring ships from Manila.75 As a result, the human and material resources of the church of Kyodomari were sent to other Dominican missions. Thus, from the three friars living in Kyodomari at that time, Jacinto Orfanell (1578–1622) was sent to Hizen to assist Father Juan de los Ángeles, while José San Jacinto went to Kyōto, where he established a church within a short span of time. Meanwhile, Father Morales remained in Kyodomari to dispatch some pending work. He also sent images and ornaments to the house of Murayama Tōan 村山等安 (1566–1619), *daikan* 代官 (local governor) of Nagasaki, and ordered that the friars' house and church, which were made of wood, be dismantled without leaving a stick. Construction materials were transported by boat to Nagasaki, and reused to build the Church of Saint Dominic in that city.76

The Dominican church of Nagasaki was located on a piece of land belonging to Tōan, in the current zone of Katsuyama-machi. According to documentary source, Father Morales "…ordered to frame the church which I conveyed from Satsuma…" after his arrival in Nagasaki; "…A house was built in a short time. Although small, the house was wealthy and had offices, dormitories and cloister, where processions were carried out as is usual in the convents."77 The phrase 'to frame the church' (*armar la yglesia*) suggests that the Dominicans tried to rebuild the church just like

de Bonços Gentiles; vna delante de la puerta alli muy cerca; y la otra al lado casi pegada, tanto que se estoruavan los vnos a los otros al tiempo del rezar."

73 Ibidem, f. 2v.

74 Delgado García, *Fukusha José de San Jacinto Salvanés, O.P. Shokan hōkoku*, p. 45; Boxer and Cummins, op. cit., p.10.

75 ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 89; ARMSTA, Ms. vol. 301, f. 110–32, reference quoted by Delgado García, *Fukusha Jacinto Orfanell, O.P. Shokan hōkoku*, p. 101.

76 ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 89; Delgado García 1972, p. 228; Delgado García 1985, pp. 22–24.

77 ARMSTA, Ms. Sección Japón, t. II, doc. 10, f. 89v.

they had in Kyodomari, although the building could be modified to some extent, either in the design or measure in the reconstruction process.

According to archaeological data from the excavation work conducted in 2000– 2001 in the former site of the Dominican church of Nagasaki, the cloister of this church was not surrounded by four corridors around an enclosed courtyard, in the way of mendicant convents in Europe and colonial Latin America. Instead, it just had stone pavements that connected the entrance to the property oriented towards the northwest with the church and outbuildings, as shown in the ground plan of the church drawn by Kenji Miyamoto (Fig. 2). Both the church and friars' house must have had a single nave, and the former was characterized by a longitudinal plan.

Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the church of Saint Dominic of Nagasaki (Miyamoto 2004). Miyamoto, "The Restoration of Santo Domingo Church in Nagasaki: the Study of Western Techniques Hidden in Early Modern Japanese Architecture, Part 15– 長崎サ ント・ドミンゴ教会の復元について―近世日本建築の意匠における西洋手法の 研究その15―". *Intercultural Studies* 国際文化研究. No. 8, 2004, p.66.

Moreover, artefacts unearthed in the same site include a number of roof tiles with floral cross. Their chemical components coincide with those of the tiles excavated from nearby areas of the same city (e.g. Manzai-machi, Kozen-machi).78 This shows that the tiles of the church of Saint Dominic were not transported from Kyodomari but were manufactured in Nagasaki. It is also worth mentioning that other fragments of tiles with floral crosses, unearthed in Bunchi-machi and Kozen-machi of the same city were located below the stratum corresponding to the Great Fire of 1601.79 This archaeological data suggests that before the arrival of the Dominicans in Japan, the local custom of showing heraldic symbols on the roof was adapted by the Jesuits. Indeed, the Seminary directed by the Jesuit painter Giovanni Niccolò (or Nicolao) (c.1558–1626), contributed to the dissemination of a floral cross design, since he integrated this motif into an illustration of the *Doctrina Christiana*, printed in Amakusa in 1592. Fróis reported in 1597 that by then, the rich merchants of Nagasaki emulated the lords and samurai, although in a less ostentatious way, and began to put the sign of the cross on their roofs.80 Thus, the use of tiles with floral crosses had spread before the beginning of the Dominican mission in Japan. The finding of numerous tiles with Fleur-de-lys crosses in the former site of Sanit Dominic of Nagasaki indicates a continuity of the work previously implemented by the Jesuits.

### Conclusions

Catholic missionary architecture in Japan has been traditionally interpreted by highlighting only the adaptation policies and practices of the Company of Jesus. Historical sources, however, show that both the Jesuits and the mendicant friars took advantage of local materials, skills and architectural traditions. Moreover, there were also connections and continuity between the previous work of the Jesuits and that of the friars.

Regarding the reuse of native sacred sites, the Jesuits as well as the Franciscan and Dominican friars utilized Buddhist temples from the beginning of their respective apostolic missions. Most native temples procured by the missionaries were disused buildings or properties belonging to popular Buddhist schools. The utilization of native temples was not only due to its symbolic meaning, but also in order to minimize costs.

78 *Katsuyama-machi iseki: Nagasaki-shi Sakura-machi shōgakkō shinsetsu ni tomonau maizō bunkazai hakkutsu chōsa* hōkokusho 勝山町遺跡—長崎市桜町小学校新設に 伴う埋蔵 文化財発掘調査報告書—. Nagasaki: Nagasaki-shi Kyōiku Iinkai, 2003, pp.87–88.

79 Pacheco, "Giovanni Cola, S.J. (Nicolao), El hombre que hizo florecer las piedras". *Temas de estética y arte*. No. XVII (2003), pp. 112, 116.

80 Pacheco, Ibidem, pp.110–12.

Adaptation criteria were diversified even within the same order. In the case of the Society of Jesus, different attitudes towards native sacred spaces coexisted from the time of Francisco Cabral. Violent measures such as the destruction of temples, pagodas and images were often undertaken with the tacit agreement and support of Christian lords. But at the same time, more peaceful measures were carried out, such as dismantling native temples and reusing their materials to build Catholic spaces of worship. Ultimately, Valignano would contribute to codifying adaptation practices already in place before his arrival in Japan.

Yet, the knowledge about Buddhism and their sects and traditions as well as the degree of interaction between the Jesuits and Buddhist monks were different than those shown by the mendicant orders. For the Jesuits, the architectural features of Buddhist temples became the starting point in determining Jesuit architectural forms in Japan, while for the friars, Buddhist institutions or priests were nothing but rivals.

Both the Jesuits and the friars used two different architectural styles depending on the functions. So, the churches were built 'in our way,' while non-liturgical buildings were made 'in the Japanese way.' Both Jesuit and mendicant churches were characterized by their height and longitudinal plan, in Contrast with Buddhist temples. However, for the Jesuits, *nosso modo* ('our way') was contrasted to local religious architecture, while the Franciscan concept *a nuestro modo* ('in our own way') referred to the architectural style of Spanish Discalced Franciscans.

### Kathryn BOSI MONTEATH

# European Music as Taught in Jesuit Seminaries in Japan: The case of four noble youths who visited the Pope in 1585

### Introduction

"...We have every good hope of converting this reign of Miaco, and we desire that Your Paternity help us with certain important matters... we know from experience that with the ceremonies ... of the divine cult as carried out in our church, millions will be converted. And if we use organs and other musical instruments with singers ... without doubt all this Miaco and Sacai will be converted within a year, and these are the two principal cities of Japan... ".1

On 10 August 1584, four Japanese youths of noble birth disembarked from the good ship *Santiago* in Cascais, the port of Lisbon, after a voyage from Japan which had lasted some two and a half years. Converted to Christianity, along with their families, by Jesuit missionaries in Japan, they had been sent as an embassy to Europe to bring the Pope in Rome the homage of three Christian *daimyō* of Japan, but also to witness, in person, the power and splendour of the Christian church in Europe, in order to be able to take back first-hand accounts to their countrymen in Japan. The *Visitatore* Father Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606), who conceived this remarkable diplomatic manoeuvre, deliberately chose boys of a tender age, precisely because their youth would enable them to better stand the hardships of a long, tedious and dangerous journey, while at the same time they would be particularly susceptible to the beauties and wonders of Europe, and would be longliving testimonies to these marvels once they had returned to their own country. Valignano hoped that the *ambasceria* would also raise financial support for the Jesuit missions in Japan, which were over-worked, under-staffed and underfinanced. This aim was in fact realised: both ecclesiastical and temporal authorities would shower the boys with valuable gifts, and the Pope, along with many others, provide generous financial support for the missions.2

1 Padre Organtino to the General in Rome, from Miyako, 27 September 1577 (see note 16).

2 On Valignano and the embassy, see in particular Volpi, *Il Visitatore. Alessandro Valignano: Un grande maestro italiano in Asia*. Milano: Spirali, 2011. See also *Alessandro Valignano S.I., Uomo del Rinascimento: Ponte tra Oriente e Occidente.* Adolfo Tamburello; M. Antoni J. Üçerler, S.J.; Marisa Di Russo (Ed.). Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2008. For his mission principles, see Schütte, *Valignano's*

The *Tenshō Shōnen Shisetsu*, as the enterprise was known then (and still today), was by any standards an early and extraordinary example of that phenomenon of cultural 'crossing of borders' which justly fascinates our modern minds.3 Four youthful students of the Seminary of Arima related to persons of high rank set forth in March of 1582 to see the wonders of Christianity in Europe, and returned safely to their families after more than eight years of travel.4 Fortunately, a detailed account of their European tour was published by Guido Gualtieri in Rome in 1586: the *Relationi della venuta degli ambasciatori giaponesi a Roma fino alla partita*

*Mission Principles for Japan.* vol. I: *From His Appointment as Visitor until His First Departure from Japan (1573*–*1582)*; Part II: *The Solution (1580*–*1582)*. St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1985. For a useful concise account of Valignano, see Fujita, *Japan's Encounter with Christianity. The Catholic Mission in Pre-modern Japan*. New York: Paulist Press, 1991, and Ross, *A Vision Betrayed: The Jesuits in Japan and China, 1542*–*1742*. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1994. See also Cooper, *The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582*–*1590: The Journey of Four Samurai Boys through Portugal, Spain and Italy*. Folkestone: Brill, 2005.

*di Lisbona. Con le accoglienze fatte loro da tutti i Principi Christiani per dove sono passati.*5 Another account was published in Macao in 1590, in the form of a dialogue between the four Japanese youths and two interlocutors: the *De missione Legatorum Japonensium.* This work, thought to be based on the detailed accounts of their experiences which the youths had been requested to keep, was compiled by Valignano himself, although published under the name of Duarte (Eduardo) de Sande (1547–1599), who had translated the work into Latin.6 A third significant source of information is a *Tratado* compiled by the Jesuit Father Luís Fróis (1532–1597)*,* again based on the notes of the voyagers, which has been edited from two manuscript sources.7 Moreover, many local archives contain a great deal of

5 A fourth account by Luís de Guzmán clearly derives from Gualtieri, so we do not take it into account in this article. See Guzmán, *Historia de las missiones que han hecho los religiosos de la Compañia de Iesus para predicar el sancto Euangelio en los reynos de Iapon / compuesta por el padre Luis de Guzman*... En Alcalá: por la Biuda de Iuan Gracian, 1601, vol. 2: Segunda parte, Libro nono, pp.125–297.

6 Known to have been prepared by Valignano in Spanish and then translated into Latin by Duarte de Sande. Valignano's Spanish version has been lost. On this subject, see Moran, "The Real Author of the *De missione legatorum Iaponensium ad Romanam Curiam*… *Dialogus*. A Reconsideration". *Bulletin of Portuguese-Japanese Studies*, vol. 2 (June 2001), pp.7–21. Father Mesquita, the Portuguese father who accompanied the embassy to Europe, also kept copious notes on the voyage, and it is thought that his notes made a fundamental contribution to this publication. Valignano intended that the work be used as a textbook for both teaching the Latin language and for informing the Japanese of the wonders of Europe (and for this reason he naturally wished it to be translated into Japanese, but this did not eventuate). Thus, the scope of his dialogues goes well beyond the notes of the travellers, by including lengthy geographic, architectural and sociological descriptions of individual countries and cities. A splendid English translation by J. F. Moran of the *De missione* has been edited and annotated, with an extensive introduction, by Derek Massarella in Massarella (Ed.); Moran, (Transl.), *Japanese Travellers in Sixteenth-Century Europe: A Dialogue Concerning the Mission of the Japanese Ambassadors to the Roman Curia (1590)*. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2012. In his introduction (p.22), Massarella notes that, amongst others, Valignano draws on the works of Damião de Góis for Lisbon, Palladio for Rome, and Sansovino for Venice. He says that Valignano also incorporated into the *De missione* the notes of a certain Alessandro Leni, who had been requested by the Jesuit authorities in Rome to accompany the boys. Following them as far as India, on his arrival in that country Leni was able to give Valignano first hand information about the tour. All citations from the *De missione* in this article refer to Massarella (Ed.); Moran, (Transl.), *Japanese Travellers in Sixteenth-Century Europe: A Dialogue Concerning the Mission of the Japanese Ambassadors to the Roman Curia (1590)*, unless otherwise specified.

7 Pinto; Okamoto; Bernard (Ed.), *La Première Ambassade du Japon en Europe 1582*–*1592*. Première Partie: *Le Traité du Père Frois (texte portugais)*. Tōkyō: Sophia University, 1942. When referring generically to the source, as opposed to the modern edition, we cite Fróis, *Tratado*.

documentary information about their visits to individual courts and cities, so that all in all, those interested in this event can learn a great deal about the places they visited, the personages they met, what they saw, how they were received, and what, in particular, pleased and impressed them.

Our three major accounts (Gualtieri, *De missione* and Fróis), together with a vast number of brief *resoconti* published in Italy and elsewhere,8 contain a huge amount of information about the triumphal progress of the four youths from Portugal to Spain and Italy, then back to Portugal, whence they departed for Japan. Gualtieri's *Relationi,* in particular, is a valuable and perhaps insufficiently known source for contemporary information about costume, religion, ritual, courtly reception, travel, music, the perception of the exotic, and (most exceptionally) the Japanese way of life. But some of the documentation regarding musical events within the sources raises questions for the attentive reader. We are told by Fróis, for example, that in the city of Évora, on their way to Spain, two of the delegates – Mâncio Itō (c.1570–1612) and Miguel Chijiwa (1569–1633) – played the splendid organ of the cathedral to a large audience, to the wonder and satisfaction of the Archbishop and all those present.9 Moreover, when the boys were staying in Vila Viçosa, the Duke of Bragança, D. Teodósio II (1568–1630), knowing that they were musicians, sent a harpsichord and *viole* to their rooms, and everyone admired and were astonished by their performance on these instruments.10 A report on their arrival in Italy published in Venice in 1585 informs us that "they know how to play the *cembalo*, the *chitarra* and the *lira*, and they keep these instruments in their rooms".11 And two of the three sources cited

8 See Boscaro, *Sixteenth Century European Printed Works on the First Japanese Mission to Europe: A Descriptive Bibliography*. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973.

9 Pinto; Okamoto; Bernard (Ed.), op. cit., p.43: "... His Excellency ... took them to the choir of the cathedral, where they found some of the finest organs they had seen until that moment: besides being very large, by playing a single keyboard three keyboards played automatically, corresponding to three tonalities of the organ, which produced a harmonious sound. Since it was a day of jubilation, there were a great many people in the church. Don Mâncio and Don Michele played [the organs] very well indeed, which gave great satisfaction to his Excellency, as well as to the greater part of those who listened". See Appendix 2 for the original text.

10 Ibidem, p.53: "e sabendo o Duque, q[ue] os Senhores Japões tangião, mandou vir alli cravo, e violas a sua camara; m.to se admirarão todos de os ver tanger, e descantar cõ viola, e cravo".

11 "Sanno sonare di cimbalo, di chitara, di lira, e tengono questi istromenti in casa": *Relatione del viaggio et arrivo in Evropa et Roma de' principi giapponesi: venuti à dare obedienza à Sua Santità l'anno MDLXXXV all'Eccell. Sig. Girolamo Mercvriale*. In Venetia: Appresso Paolo Meietto, MDLXXXV [1585], p.14. The instruments are almost certainly the harpsichord or spinet, lute, and viola da gamba. The guitar was principally used in this period for the performance of dance music, or to accompany secular solo song, so it seems a most unlikely instrument for the boys to have learnt in a Seminary. And we can read elsewhere that they played the lute.

above12 relate in detail their fascination, in Italy, with an ingenious keyboard instrument which, through the use of several registers, allowed them to hear the sound of a great variety of instruments, simply by adjusting *operculae* controlling the passsage of air. What are the implications of these remarks? Were the youths really able to play a magnificent European organ? Could they indeed play a variety of instruments? Did they take such an informed interest in an innovative European keyboard instrument, that they would leave for posterity a highly detailed description? Might these have been simply textual stragegies designed to impress the reader, or was there instead some concrete foundation for such statements?

There was indeed a basis for such statements. Annual letters from Jesuit missionaries in Japan to their superiors in Rome have left us a great deal of information about the teaching of European music to Japanese youths within Jesuit Seminaries in Japan in the second half of the sixteenth century. While some of this material has been published in recent studies, it has been reported in a somewhat chaotic manner, and very often without a precise citation of the source or a complete transcription of the original material.13 This article offers a select anthology of the sources regarding European music as brought to Japan by Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth century, and as taught to Japanese youths in the Jesuit Seminaries. But we will also cite evidence of the performance by our youthful ambassadors

12 Massarella (Ed.); Moran, (Transl.), op. cit., p.270; Pinto; Okamoto; Bernard (Ed.), op. cit., pp.137–138.

13 Harich-Schneider, in *A History of Japanese Music*. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, offers a contribution to the subject in the chapter "The first introduction of European music (1549–1638)", pp.445–486, but while presenting much relevant information, the citation of Harich-Schneider's sources leaves a great deal to be desired. Some fundamental errors regarding the Italian tour, such as the fact that the youths travelled through Murcia between Florence and Siena, and that the Duke of Ferrara was an eminent composer (*recte* the Duke of Mantua), suggest that this source of information should be used with great caution. Her article published contemporaneously – "Renaissance Europe through Japanese eyes: Record of a strange triumphal journey", pp.19–25 – is excerpted from this chapter, and contains the same defects. A more recent article by Sestili, "La prima introduzione della musica europea in Giappone tra Cinque e Seicento". A. Boscaro; M. Bossi (Ed.), *Firenze, il Giappone e l'Asia orientale. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Firenze, 25*–*27 marzo 1999)*. Firenze: L. S. Olschki, 2001, pp.56–65 is a basic introduction to the subject, but again the writer does not provide references for the sources of his material. The most informative source, for those who can read Portuguese, is Waterhouse, "Música dos bárbaros do Sul no Japão". Salwa el-Shawan Castelo-Branco (Ed.), *Portugal e o mundo: o encontro de culturas na música / Portugal and the world: the encounter of cultures in music*. Lisboa: Publicações Dom Quixote, 1997, pp.323–349. This article is often cited in bibliographies with the English title "Southern barbarian music in Japan". I have not been able to locate the English version. For those who can read Japanese, see Ebisawa, *Yōgaku denraishi: Kirishitan jidai kara Bakumatsu made*. Tōkyō: Nihon Kirisutokyōdan Shuppankyoku, 1983.

on European instruments while on their European tour, and a reportage of their performance on European musical instruments on returning to their own country.

### European Music as a Tool for Conversion in Sixteenth-Century Japan

The following documentation deriving from letters from the Jesuit missionaries in Japan to their authorities in Rome will bring many a surprise to the uninitiated reader. The basis of the education offered to Japanese youths in the Jesuit Seminaries was, naturally, a study of the Christian doctrine, Latin, and for strategic reasons, Japanese language and literature (these latter taught, obviously, by Japanese fathers); but often, for the more talented students, these subjects were also flanked by the study of European music, painting and engraving. Our selected anthology of sources offers citations regarding the education offered by the Jesuit Seminaries in the sixteenth century, with particular reference to music, which Jesuit missionaries quite clearly considered a useful tool for conversion. We will cite material regarding the presence of European musical instruments in Japan, and the teaching – or performance – of European music found in letters by Jesuit missionaries to their superiors in Europe (from both printed and manuscript sources), which we hope may provide a useful point of departure for further studies. We offer transcriptions rather than the summaries or brief references to be found in many extant studies, and will also provide the precise sources for these documents, which unfortunately are often lacking in otherwise excellent and comprehensive studies of the Christian century in Japan.14

We begin with the most fascinating and revealing document regarding the use of European music as an instrument for conversion of the Gentiles15 by the Jesuits in sixteenth-century Japan: a letter sent from Padre Organtino Gnecchi-Soldo (1532–1609) from Japan, to Padre Everardo Mercuriano (1514–1580), *Preposito Generale della Compagnia di Giesù* in Rome, on 29 September 1577:

"We have every good hope of converting this reign of Miaco, and we desire that Your Paternity help us with certain important matters, because these parts of Japan are like Rome in Europe, where science, discretion and cleanliness are more to be found than in other places; nor should Your Paternity think that they are barbarians, because

14 Very often we do not know whether the information comes from Gualtieri, *Relationi della venvta de gli ambasciatori giaponesi à Roma, sino alla partita di Lisbona. Con vna descrittione del lor paese, e costumi, e con le accoglienze fatte loro da tutti i prencipi christiani per doue sono passati. Raccolte da Guido Gvaltieri*. In Venetia. In Venetia apresso i Gioliti MDLXXXVI [1586]; Sande, *De missione legatorum Iaponensium ad Romanam curiam, rebusq; in Europa, ac toto itinere animaduersis dialogus... / ab Eduardo de Sande Sacerdote Societatis Iesu*. In Macaensi portu: in domo Societatis Iesu, 1590; Fróis's *Tratado*, or letters from Jesuits in Japan to their higher authority in Rome, whether in manuscript or in print.

15 As the unconverted Japanese are called by the Jesuits in their letters to Rome.

apart from the faith, it is we who are for the most part inferior to them, and since beginning to understand their language I would judge there to be no other people so universally considerate and well disposed to our faith. It seems to me that no church could fail to receive advantage. Besides this, we know from our experience of them that with the ceremonies ... of the divine cult as carried out in our church, millions of them will be converted. And if we use organs and other musical instruments with singers ... without doubt all this Miaco and Sacai will be converted within a year, and these are the two principal cities of Japan (…)".16

A description of the following event, which took place some 5 years later, as described in a letter of 13 February 1582, from Gaspar Coelho (1531–1590), *Viceprincipale* in Nagasaki to the *Padre Generale* in Rome, is similarly remarkably revealing of Jesuit strategies:

"Some days after Padre Organtino had returned from accompanying the Padre Visitatore, a person from Nobunanga came unexpectedly to our house ... climbing up to the highest part, he requested that everyone else remain below; then he began to converse in a most familiar and affectionate manner with the Fathers and the Brothers. He went to see the clock; he also saw a harpsichord and a *viola*. 17 that we had in the house, and he requested that both be played, taking great pleasure from their sound, and praising both the youth who played the harpsichord, who was the son of the King of Fiu[n]ga, and the youth who played the *viola*. He went to see the bell, and other things that we keep in the house, which are necessary for alluring the Pagans, who being very curious come to see them, and we use them as a bait to make these people our own, and to have them come to hear our sermons, as we are every day able to ascertain. Amongst the things we have brought to Japan that they most enjoy, is the sound of the organs, harpsichords and *viole.* We have two pairs of organs: one in Anzuchyama, and the other in Bungo, and harpsichords in various places, which the youths learn to play; and in the Masses and other festivities we substitute these for our lack of singers and the other garnishments which are part of our festivities in

17 Almost certainly a member of the viola da gamba family (*vihuela de arco* in Spanish), but there is no way of knowing which. Portuguese letters in the *Cartas que os Padres e Irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreveram dos Reynos de Japão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India & Europa desdo anno de 1549 até o de 1580.* 2 Vols. Em Evora por Manoel de Lyra, Anno de MDXCVIII [1598] (henceforth: *Cartas*) mention the *viola d'arco* on a number of occasions (1562: pp110; 1563: p.135v; 1564: p.154; 1565: p.198; 1566: p.226; 1573: p.338v). An article kindly brought to my notice by Cristiano Contadin just as this article was going to print offers a fundamental study of this subject: see Yukimi Kambe, "Viols in Japan in the Sixteenth and early Seventeenth Centuries". *Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America*, vol. 37 (2000), pp.31–67.

16 Padre Organtino to the General in Rome, from Miyako, 27 September 1577, autograph letter, Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (hence ARSI), Jap. Sin.8-I, f. 178– 9. Summarised in Schütte, op. cit., pp.106, 116–117. I thank warmly Prof. Mauro Brunello for having kindly made available a copy of the original.

Europe, [being] necessary to convert these people, and to have them understand, to some degree, the glory and magnificence of our Divine Cult."18

The role of the Seminaries for the teaching of all disciplines, including that of music, was fundamental for conversion, as is made evident in the same letter, which reveals that in the Seminary of Arima there are twenty-six noble youths, and it gives the writer great joy to see "the progress they are making, in spirit and behaviour, as well as in learning ... and very often they supercede many youths of Europe in their memory and intellect ... and diligence, so that we believe they will learn Latin just as quickly, or even in less time than our youths are wont to take. They also learn polyphony,19 and have a good musical chapel, and can sing with facility a solemn Mass."20

18 *Lettera annale portata di novo dal Giapone da i signori ambasciatori delle cose iui successe l'anno MDLXXXII*. In Venetia appresso i Giolitti MDLXXXV [1585], p.82. In *Lettere del Giapone et della Cina de gl'anni MDLXXXIX & MDXC* [1589 & 1590]*. Scritte al R.P. General della Compagnia di Giesu*. In Venetia MDXCII Apresso Gio. Battista Ciotti Senese al segno della Minerua [1592], p.24 we read, regarding the death of a certain Don Stefano, brother of Don Paolo, that: "His funeral rites were sung with great pomp and solemnity, as was appropriate for a person of his rank, and as we must do in these places, since these Japanese are much moved by such charitable rites and ceremonies". The same concern for the effects of ceremony is evident here. 19 *Canto figurato* in the original text, undoubtably signifying polyphony, as opposed to *canto fermo*, or chant. Harich-Schneider, *A History of Japanese Music*, p.460, is adamant that European vocal polyphony was not performed in Japan, and that the

In the *Avvisi* of 1582, 1583 and 1584, we can read, moreover, that:

"One of the matters regarding Japan which can give us the greatest consolation and happiness today, and no less hope of an abundant future, as I have said to the Padre Visitatore, is to observe these youths whom the Padre Visitatore has brought to live in the Seminary in Arima. They have Padre Melchior [*recte* Belchior] di Mora as their Rector. They are almost all of noble birth; they live modestly, as befits *religiosi*; they are well behaved, much given to purity; and are no trouble to those who teach them: to the contrary, they are prompt to obey, observing carefully the way of life assigned to them by the Padre Vistitatore. Their hours of the day are organised in such a way that they do not lose time: they study literature and vocal and instrumental music.21 They are docile and intelligent. The establishment of these seminars has certainly been the work of Heaven, since there was no other feasible way to carry forth the work of the Evangelio".22

It was in this Seminary that the boys of the embassy were educated, as Coelho tells us:

"The results of this Seminary, apart from that I have already told you, you will understand ... since the four youths, whom the Padre Visitatore is taking with him ... along with our Brother who is accompanying them, are the fruit of this Seminary, so you can well see that the solution for Japan consists in these Seminaries... ".23

A letter sent to Rome some 4 years later (c.1588–89) notes, with reference to the Seminary at Yamaguchi (*Amagunci* in the source), that:

"These young Japanese are very well disposed, and of great intelligence, and they do very well with Latin, and similarly in all the sciences, since they are naturally conscientious. They are divided into three classes, and besides the lessons that they have in Latin, and in *canto*, they spend some hours each day studying their Japanese language and laws; even if it is some impediment to the progress they could make with Latin, it is no less important that they acquire a good knowledge of the literature and laws

21 Fujita, op. cit, pp.79–80 tells us that the schedule for the Seminary in Arima was as follows: 4.30 (summer) / 5.30 (winter), awakening, prayer and Mass; 6.00–9.00, Latin lesson; 9.00–11.00, meal and recreation; 11.00–14.00, Japanese lesson; 14.00–15.00, music lesson; 15.00–16.30, Latin lesson; 17.00–19.00, supper and recreation; 19.00– 20.00, Latin and Japanese lessons; 20.00: litany and bedtime.

22 *Avvisi del Giappone degli anni 1582, 1583 et 1584 con alcuni altri della Cina dell' a 1583 et 84. Cavati dalle lettere della Compagnia di Giesu: ricevute il mese di dicembre 1585*. Roma: 1586, p.32. This letter appears in a Portuguese version in the *Carta annua do Iapao do anno 1582 ... escrita po lo padre Luis Froes em Cochinoçù, aos 31 de outubro de 1581* published in *Cartas*, pp.50–51. Note that *canto figurato* is written in Portuguese here as *canto d'orgão,* reinforcing our argument in note 17.

23 *Lettera annale portata di novo dal Giapon da i signori ambasciatori delle cose iui successe l'anno MDLXXXII*, p. 17.

of Japan, so as to come to terms with the nation and convert it to Christ (which is what we intend), so we must allow them some hours for this study. Notwithstanding, a large part of them can already write with facility in Latin, and some even teach the lower classes ... They are modest, well disposed, given to purity, and so composed that they truly seem members of the clergy, and their ways and sentiments are by no means puerile.... Don Protasio, along with all the other noblemen of Arima, has a great opinion of these seminaries, and holds them dear".24

A detailed report of music-making in the Seminary of Fachirao, near Arima, comes from the annual letter from Father Pedro Gómez (1533/35–1600) of 1594:

"The seminarists [of Fachirao] have had this great advantage over the other seminaries. In these times of persecution the other houses cannot hold public liturgical ceremonies with the necessary dignity, whereas in this Seminary, because of its remote situation located amidst woods, with a great number of people therein studying music and learning to play a diversity of instruments, they have always been able to perform the liturgy with all due solemnity. Besides that which they perform during Holy Week, and on other Feast days, more or less every Sunday we have at least one sung Mass, sometimes in *canto fermo*, sometimes in *canto d'organi*, sometimes with *viole d'arco*, sometimes the harp or the lute, the *viola semplice*25 and the harpsichord, which instruments many of them play very well. Besides this they sing Vespers and Compline in the evening, and do everything in order to adorn the feast days, which cannot be done in the other houses. And this they do also to entertain the youths, and keep them in practice, capable, and knowledgeable about the liturgy."26

A report from Luís Fróis of 1596, describing the Seminary of Arie (or Arye) in Takaku, informs us that it is "...divided into four classes with a school for writing. In one of these they instruct matters concerning Japan to those who have already finished their studies of Latin, which is of great importance for both those who will preach, and those who will converse with the pagans: that is to say, the literature and sciences of Japan. The other three classes teach Latin. Other clerics are engaged in painting images both *à olio et à fresco*, with remarkable perfection and delicacy, as will have been seen by those images that in past years have been sent

24 *Lettere del Giapone et della Cina de gl'anni MDLXXXIX & MDXC* [1589 & 1590], pp. 30–32.

25 *Viola da braccio*?

26 *Lettera annva del Giapone dal Marzo del MDXCIII sino al Marzo del XCIV al molto R. in Christo P.N. il P. Clavdio Acqvaviva Preposito Generale della Compagnia di Giesu. Tradotta dal P. Gio. Battista Peruschi romano, delle medesima Compagnia*… In Roma apresso Luigi Zannetti MDXCVII [1597]. This passage is given in English in Harich-Schneider, *A History of Japanese Music*, p.472, as being translated from a Portuguese original, but without specifying its source. Harich-Schneider translates *canto d'organo* (*canto d'orgão* in the Portuguese original) as chant accompanied by organ at the unison, whereas it undoubtably refers to polyphony: see note 19.

to Vostro Padre, which is to say that they study engraving on copper, reproducing exceedingly well a number of images which have come from Europe.27 There are a great many in the Seminary who play a number of instruments with such grace and ease that they cause great wonder to those who hear them. Their daily routine is well organised, both for the study of *canto fermo* and for that of the organ; they celebrate the rites with great devotion, and pay great attention to the details of the divine cult..."28

A later report comes from Francesco Pasio (1554–1612) writing from Japan to Rome in 1601 on the Seminary of Nagasaki, with its more than a hundred pupils, says that "the said Seminary is of great use to this Christianity, because it is from here that come the musicians who serve in the Divine Offices which are celebrated in Nangasachi..."29

With regard to the Seminary of Arima, he tells us that:

"In the house of Arima we have had fifteen of our people this year, and eleven in the five Residences which belong to it.... Because of the war, fourteen *Doghici*30 have come to Arima; they occupy themselves with painting. They have a house set apart for them within the Seminary, and are taken care of by two of our people. One of these came from Rome some years ago, and he is now a priest, and he has produced such able pupils of painting that these churches of Japan are adorned with fine paintings ... and they can truly be considered to be on a par with European painters. With these, and other images printed in great quantities [now] belonging to many of the Christians, devotion and piety has been greatly increased. And through the industry of the same Father, a number of organs have been made, along with musical instruments for the

27 Some of these images were brought back by the four ambassadors, as Pedro Gómez tells us in the *Lettera annva del Giapone dal Marzo del MDXCIII sino al Marzo del XCIV al molto R. in Christo P.N. il P. Clavdio Acqvaviva Preposito Generale della Compagnia di Giesu* [1597].

28 *Lettera annva del Giappone dell'anno MDXCVI. Scritta dal P. Luigi Frois, al R.P. Clavdio Acqvaviva generale della Compagnia di Giesù. Tradotta in italiano dal P. Francesco Mercati romano della stessa compagnia*. In Roma, appresso Luigi Zannetti 1599, pp.78– 79.

29 *Lettera annua di Giappone Scritta nel 1601 e mandata dal P. Francesco Pasio V. Prouinciali. Al M.R.P. Claudio Acquaviva Generale della Compagnia di Giesù.* Venetia, MDCIII, Apresso Gio. Battista Ciotti Senese, All Aurora [1604], pp.44–45.

30 Deriving from the term *dōjuku* (from the ideogram 同宿, meaning "the same dwelling", for which information I thank warmly Naomi Kato), which according to Fujita, op. cit., p.74, was used by Buddhists to designate a novice who lived in the monks' quarters to serve them. He notes that the Christians adapted the term to indicate a lay acolyte who taught catechism and preached; he was not officially a member of the clergy, but was regarded as such because of his work for the missions, his celibacy and his appearance (tonsure and long black cassock). The *doghici* lived with the fathers and brothers, who strictly supervised their religious progress. Ross, op. cit, p.49, notes that they were almost apprentice clergy, but not clergy by canon law.

principal churches, and many mechanical clocks for the use of our [people], which give great pleasure to the Japanese". 31

There remains thus, through these annual letters, an ample documentation of the teaching and performance of European music in Jesuit Seminaries in Japan from 1577 until at least 1601. It was clearly a widespread practice, and moreover considered a vital element for the conversion of the Japanese, through the effects of the beauty and majesty (and undoubtedly, also the novelty) of the formal rites of the Christian church.32

### Valignano's Embassy visits Europe, 1584-1586

But let us return to our four ambassadors who are on their way to Europe. The boys reached Macao on 9 March 1582, the first stage of their journey. Here they were delayed by unfavourable winds for ten months. Michele, in one of the dialogues of the *De missione*, tells us, however, that "what with the various proper things to do, reading, writing, playing musical instruments, and so on, our time was not wasted".33 Similarly, the boys were delayed for another eight months in Cochin while waiting once again for favourable winds, and here, Gualtieri raccounts, they put their time to good use in studying Latin, and [European] instrumental and vocal music "as a pleasant way of passing the time, but also [*nota bene!*] because European music is greatly esteemed in Japan".34 The boys finally reached their European destination on 10 August 1584.

31 *Lettera annua di Giappone Scritta nel 1601 e mandata dal P. Francesco Pasio V. Prouinciali. Al M.R.P. Claudio Acquaviva Generale della Compagnia di Giesù* [1604], pp.44–45.