A
Summer Storm
In late July of 1587, the dictator
Hideyoshi clamped a ban on Christ in Japan.
Having just finished his conquest of Kyushu, he was relaxing in Hakata
with Toku-un, his private quack and trusted advisor, and overindulging in
draining the cask of Portuguese port wine he had been given that very evening
by Padre Coelho, the Jesuit Vice-Provincial, the senior clergyman in Japan.
Earlier that day Hideyoshi had inspected
the Padre’s sailing-ship—well gunned to protect herself against the pirates
prowling Japan’s sea lanes—and had left in an apparent fit of joy; a Japanese
Catholic observer had, however, warned Padre Coelho that he must offer the ship
to Hideyoshi at once, for this man could see (unlike the Europeans, not so
steeped in the subtleties of unspoken Japanese communication) that the dictator
was jealous. Sadly for Christendom in
Japan, the Padre did not heed that prophetic warning.
He learned its truth in the wee hours of
the night: Hideyoshi’s
sheriff came to the dock, demanding that the Vice-Provincial debark to hear the
dictator’s charges, presumably written up by Toku-un in the depths of the ruler’s
drunken revel.
(to
be continued)
Website: Kirishtan.com
Website: Kirishtan.com
