e known for the first time to men themselves
usually conspicuous for tolerance of heresy and for receptivity of
instruction. They had had little previous experience of humanity in
the garb of an Otomo of Bungo, who, in the words of Crasset, Svent to
the chase of the bonzes as to that of wild beasts, and made it his
singular pleasure to exterminate them from his states.'"*

*Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by Brinkley.

JAPANESE EMBASSY TO EUROPE

Another important result of the coming of Valegnani to Japan was
that, in 1582, an embassy sailed from Nagasaki for Europe. It
consisted of four young men, representing the fiefs of Arima, Omura,
and Bungo, and it is related that at Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome they
were received with an elaborate show of dazzling magnificence, so
that they carried back to their island home a vivid impression of the
might and wealth of Western countries.

KYOTO AND CHRISTIANITY

It has already been shown that the visit to Kyoto by Xavier and
Fernandez was wholly unsuccessful. Such was not the case, however,
when another visit was made to the same city by Vilela, in the year
1559. This eminent missionary had been invited to Kyoto by the abbot
of the celebrated Buddhist monastery of Hiei-zan, who desired to
investigate the Christian doctrine. It is to be noted that, at this
time, Christian propagandism in Kyushu had not yet begun to be
disfigured by acts of violence. Vilela carried letters of
introduction from the Bungo feudatory, but before he reached the
capital the Buddhist abbot of Hiei-zan had died, and his successor
did not show the same liberal spirit of inquiry. Still, Vilela was
permitted to expound his doctrines in the presence of a gathering of
priests in the great monastery, and afterwards the good offices of
one of these bonzes, supplemented by the letter of the Bungo
feudatory, procured for the Jesuit father the honour of being
received by the shogun, Yoshiteru, who treated him with much
consideration and assigned a house for his residence.

Vilela does not seem to have allowed himself to be influenced in any
degree by the aid that he received on this occasion from his Buddhist
friend, who is described as "one of the most respected men in the
city." The Jesuit father seized the first opportunity to denounce
Buddhism and its followers in unmeasured terms, and soon the bonzes
began to intrigue with corresponding vehemence for the expulsion of
the foreign pr