ane, not a land better
gouerned in the world by ciuill policie. The people be verie
superstitious in their religion, and are of diuers
opinions."--Will Adams, October 22, 1611.

"A critical history of Japan remains to be written ... We should
know next to nothing of what may be termed the Catholic episode
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had we access to
none but the official Japanese sources. How can we trust those
sources when they deal with times yet more remote?"--Chamberlain.

"The annals of the primitive Church furnish no instances of
sacrifice or heroic constancy, in the Coliseum or the Roman
arenas, that were not paralleled on the dry river-beds or
execution-grounds of Japan."

"They ... rest from their labors; and their works do follow
them. "--Revelation.

CHAPTER XI - A CENTURY OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY

Darkest Japan.

The story of the first introduction and propagation of Roman
Christianity in Japan, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
has been told by many writers, both old and new, and in many languages.
Recent research upon the soil,[1] both natives and foreigners making
contributions, has illustrated the subject afresh. Relics and memorials
found in various churches, monasteries and palaces, on both sides of the
Pacific and the Atlantic, have cast new light upon the fascinating
theme. Both Christian and non-Christian Japanese of to-day, in their
travels in the Philippines, China, Formosa, Mexico, Spain, Portugal and
Italy, being keenly alert for memorials of their countrymen, have met
with interesting trovers. The descendants of the Japanese martyrs and
confessors now recognize their own ancestors, in the picture galleries
of Italian nobles, and in Christian churches see lettered tombs bearing
familiar names, or in western museums discern far-eastern works of art
brought over as presents or curiosities, centuries ago.

Roughly speaking, Japanese Christianity lasted phenomenally nearly a
century, or more exactly from 1542 to 1637, During this time, embassies
or missions crossed the seas not only of Chinese and Peninsular Asia,
circumnavigating Africa and thus reaching Europe, but also sailed across
the Pacific, and visited papal Christendom by way of Mexico and the
Atlantic Ocean.

This century of Southern Christianity and of commerce with Europe
enabled Japan, which had previously been almost unheard of, except
thr