Persecuted as Christians (History cont.)

"The exact motives for the persecution of the Christians are a little difficult to fathom. In part, the position of the Jesuits had been weakened by the arrival of the Franciscans and Dominicans from Manila, and by the manifest lack of unity among the missionaries themselves, still more by the arrival of the 'red heads', the Dutch and British, who lost no opportunity of carrying forward in Japan the feuds which divided their nations in Europe. The most remarkable of the British, Will Adams, who arrived in 1600, lived for many years in Japan and was employed by the shogun as the builder of his fleet. The Jesuits roundly blamed the Spanish Franciscans for the violent reaction against Christianity, and there is reason to think that the rash talk of the latter did suggest to the sensitive Japanese that they were there as forerunners of an army of conquest, and that Christian infiltration would be followed by political occupation. But, when all is said and done, Christians were persecuted because they were Christians and had introduced into Japan a law which turned the world upside down." (136-7)

Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. London: Penguin Books, 1990.