Christian Missionaries: The Vanguard of Western Imperialism-I

Whenever they seek to take over a country, they employ the same method. By trading with that nation, they learn about its geography and defenses. If they be weak, they dispatch troops to invade the nation; if strong, they propagate Christianity to subvert it from within. Once our people’s hearts and minds are captivated by Christianity, they will greet the barbarian host with open arms, and we would be powerless to stop them. Our people would consider it an honor and a privilege to die for this foreign god, and this willingness to die, this fearlessness, would make them fit for battle. Our people would gladly cast their riches into the sacrificial coffers of this foreign god, and those riches would finance barbarian campaigns. The barbarians believe it their god’s will that they seduce other peoples into subverting their respective homelands; they borrow the slogan “universal love” to achieve their desired ends. Barbarian armies seek only plunder, but do so in the name of their god. They employ this tactic in all lands they annex or conquer.

– Shinron (New Theses) by Aizawa Seishisai, 1825 CE

First the Bible, then the trading station, then the cannon

– Prithvi Narayan Shah, founder of the Hindu Rajya of Nepal & expeller of Christian missionaries

Separated by time and space the words of the two heathens should give one pause for thought for they seem to be saying the same in regards to missionaries acting as the vanguard for European imperialism. This is an image at odds with the one cultivated by the Indian movie industry which involves loving padre’s and missionaries like the late Theresa who were supposedly serving us while the “evil” Hindu pujari’s are merely salivating over their expected offerings. The astute of course know that the record of Christian missionaries in general has been one of destruction, genocide, and acting as the vanguard of Western imperialism. In this article we focus on some examples of missionaries acting as spies, subversives, and destroyers of native culture all over the world. We will focus on examples from around the world, not so much on India specifically (though we will briefly touch on India in part II) because we wish to demonstrate that this is a global phenomenon hardly unique to India and part of a time-tested Western strategy for conquest.

“Let us invade Japan for Christ”

In 1587 Hideyoshi after taking control of most of Japan passed the first anti-Christian edicts banishing missionaries. Hideyoshi’s reasons included destruction of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, selling Japanese into slavery, and forcible conversions of the populace by Christian daimyo (warlords).

The Jesuit response was led by one Gaspar Coelho, the Vice-Provincial of the Jesuits in Japan and is summarized by the following quote:

Daft Coelho in the meantime brewed the plan to take up arms, stand a siege in Nagasaki, and wait for aid from abroad. 52

52. See Boxer, Christian Century, p. 149: Coelho “endeavored to get Arima to induce the other Christian daimyo to unite in armed resistance against the expulsion edict. In this he failed, so he fell back on a more temporizing policy. But he still had not learned his lesson entirely, since he wrote to Manila, Macao, and Goa begging for two or three hundred soldiers and firearms wherewith to stiffen the Christian daimyo. The Spanish authorities contented themselves with referring his request to Madrid, and the Jesuit Superior at Manila sent him a severe reprimand for his imprudence. The Portuguese sent him some weapons but no troops.”

The precise nature of Coelho’s plans is unclear; and Matsuda Kiichi laments (Taiko to gaiko, p. 86) that although the existence and place of repose of voluminous Jesuit correspondence on the topic are known the material’s confidential nature has kept it from publication.

– Deus Destroyed The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan by George Elison, p. 133

Note the fact that even after 400+ years the Jesuits were hiding records of these events at the time this book was published in the 1970’s. Indeed considering that the Vatican is the longest operating and largest crime syndicate in history, this is not very surprising. We hold that the secret archives of the Vatican if they are ever cracked open will reveal far more shocking details than Wikileaks.

To get back to the issue at hand, this was hardly the first time that Coelho had proposed such schemes. In 1584 & 1585 he addressed the following pleas:

That the Jesuits had their military adventurist faction is all too well established. Gaspar Coelho was one of its members. In 1584 he had addressed to the Spaniards in the Philippines a plea for the dispatch of “four ships laden with men, artillery, and food . . . to succor the Christians of Japan that are pressed by the heathen,”

– Deus Destroyed The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan by George Elison, p. 115

In 1585, Gaspar Coelho had already requested a Spanish fleet to ‘evangelize’ East Asia…

– When Pre-Westphalian Europe Meets Sinocentric Order: The Jesuit Order, Christian Samurai, and the Imjin War (1592-1598) by Myongsob KIM

http://www.wiscnetwork.org/ljubljana2008/papers/WISC_2008-134.pdf

To his credit Alessandro Valignano his higher up in Japan condemned his actions and secretely disposed off the arms the Portuguese sent. But his condemnation seemed more motivated by the reprisals it would bring on the Christians if Hideyoshi found out and less by any moral objections. It must be remembered that Pope Alexander VI himself divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal with the Treaty of Tordesillas on 7^th June, 1494 CE.

Finally it must be mentioned that in 1614 the Spanish seemed to have planned another invasion of Japan from Spanish Manila to save the Japanese Christians, though this never seem to have got off the ground and we can’t find much details about this proposal.

As a side note, it might interest Hindus know that according to Ishwar Sharan, this same Gaspar Coelho was also involved in perpetrating the “St.” Thomas fraud in India (http://ishwarsharan.wordpress.com/chapters/chapter-eighteen/)

“Let us colonize Ming China for Jesus”

While Padre Coelho was proposing his hare-brained schemes to invade Japan, the Spanish who had meanwhile colonized parts of what is now Philippines began to put forward a scheme to invade and colonize the weakened Ming empire. The scheme itself was idiotic and had little chance of success but more interesting are the reasons given. The following quotes summarize the issue:

 At precisely the time of Coelho’s arrival in Sakai (April 1586) Padre Alonso Sanchez SJ was in Manila submitting his project for the conquest of China, of which C. R. Boxer has to say: “The report has to be read to be believed.”10 The Padre, “a person of very holy life, much learning, prudence, and excellent judgement” (as he was touted to Philip II) envisioned that the modest objective would be obtained easily enough, with a motley force of Spaniards, Filipinos, and Japanese auxiliaries conducted by “the fathers of the Society of Jesus, who are to act as guides.” It would be interesting to know whether Coelho was aware of the project (or, better yet, Hideyoshi).

– Deus Destroyed The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan by George Elison, p. 115

But the cause of conquest was far from lost. The change back to a military stance was largely inspired by a strong and determined Jesuit, Alonso Sánchez, who set off for what he called the “kingdoms of China” in March 1582. When he returned to Manila he reported that it was impossible to preach the gospel in China without military backing. He talked constantly of the startling benefits which the enactment of the “China project” would yield Spain. But he thought that his predecessors in the debate had probably underestimated the numbers of combatants necessary. He, in fact, thought that 10,000 men would be needed to complete the conquest though a mere 200 would be adequate for the capture of Canton.

– Spain and the Conquest of China by Hugh Thomas, March 2012

http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/4344/full

While this was ongoing, the Coelho fellow seems to have been brighter than the Spanish in Manila and proposed the following plan:

In 1585, Gaspar Coelho had already requested a Spanish fleet to ‘evangelize’ East Asia. He argued that when the 66 states of Japan had been converted to Christianity, “King Philip could use the sharp and aggressive Japanese army to easily conquer China.” This Jesuit missionary estimated China could be easily conquered for four reasons. “First, the people are idle and effeminate, especially the aristocracy. Second, there is not a single musket in the whole country. Third, the government has forbidden the people from arming themselves out of a fear of revolts. Fourth, the conditions are ripe for revolts due to harsh rule.

 – When Pre-Westphalian Europe Meets Sinocentric Order: The Jesuit Order, Christian Samurai, and the Imjin War (1592-1598) by Myongsob KIM

 http://www.wiscnetwork.org/ljubljana2008/papers/WISC_2008-134.pdf

It must be emphasized that the Japanese armies’ of this time were some of the best in the world thanks to nearly 100 years of civil war which made the Samurai a disciplined and lethal fighting force on land. The Japanese had mastered the mass production of arquebus’ introduced by the Portuguese and even made some improvements allowing them to fire in rain & implementing standardization. They also figured out the technique of volley fire, first implemented on a large scale by Oda Nobunaga at the Battle of Nagashino (depicted here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIs3ibPgosE). All these factors came into play in the performance of the Japanese army during the two massive invasions of Hideyoshi into Korea (known as the Imjin War), a prelude to his ambition to conquer Beijing. More often than not, the Japanese simply overwhelmed the combined forces of the Chinese & Koreans with their superior firepower and discipline on land. The weakest points of the invasion force were inferior cannon and ships which combined with the brilliance of Korean Admiral Yi Sun ultimately doomed Hideyoshi’s plans. Why do we narrate all this you ask?

Consider Coelho’s scheme & imagine that Japan had indeed been converted, and then imagine the massive Christian army from Japan augmented by Spanish-Portuguese naval power & cannon. Then it is not unlikely that the Spanish mleccha’s would have had some success regarding their China scheme, a nightmare for all heathens.

Fast-forwarding a few centuries, in 1825 the brilliant Japanese heathen political thinker Aizawa Seishisai penned his magnum opus Shinron (New Theses). Shinron was to have an explosive impact on the men behind Meiji restoration and beyond. Therein he claimed:

Russia and Britain then would subvert Japan proper by Christianizing its “stupid commoners,” and would beguile a new generation of “Japanese raiders” (wako) into attacking and weakening China. With the Ch’ing thus crippled, Russia, could deliver the coup de grace from the north.

– Anti-foreignism and Western Learning in Early-modern Japan: The New Theses of 1825 by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, p. 112

http://tinyurl.com/ky76wlb

Thus he anticipated the time-tested strategy of the Leukosphere in using the converted rabble of ex-heathen nations as cannon fodder to advance the cause of Jesus and their imperial interests into new territories. Douglas MacArthur and the American mlecchas would later try to repeat this project in trying to Christianize post-war Japan (failed), South Korea (success), and Vietnam (remember the self-immolation Bauddha monk Thich Quang Duc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYsXH00kcaw & persecution of the majority Bauddhas by the US backed Catholic Diem regime? Also see: http://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/6384/). One can substitute Spain for Russia and Ming for Ch’ing in Aizawa’s words and it would be a recapitulation of Coelho’s plan centuries earlier. We doubt Aizawa had any inkling about Coelho’s plans and he seems to have come upon this idea independently thanks to his own brilliance and intuition about the evils of the Jesus cult and its primary custodians.

Finally, it may well be likely that Lafcadio Hearn writing some 80 years later after Aizawa in the Meiji era had these Jesuit conspiracies in mind, when he commented thus on the failure of the effort to Christianize Japan:

Yet this religion, for which thousands vainly died, had brought to Japan nothing but evil disorders, persecutions, revolts, political troubles, and war. Even those virtues of the people which had been evolved at unutterable cost for the protection and conservation of society, – their self-denial, their faith, their loyalty, their constancy and courage, – were by this black creed distorted, diverted, and transformed into forces directed to the destruction of that society. Could that destruction have been accomplished, and a new Roman Catholic empire have been founded upon the ruins, the forces of that empire would have been used for the further extension of priestly tyranny, the spread of the Inquisition, the perpetual Jesuit warfare against freedom of conscience and human progress. Well may we pity the victims of this pitiless faith, and justly admire their useless courage: yet who can regret that their cause was lost? … Viewed from another standpoint than that of religious bias, and simply judged by its results, the Jesuit effort to Christianize Japan must be regarded as a crime against humanity, a labour of devastation, a calamity comparable only, – by reason of the misery and destruction which it wrought, – to an earthquake, a tidal-wave, a volcanic eruption.

– Japan An Attempt at Interpretation by Lafcadio Hearn, 1904 CE

http://explorion.net/japan-attempt-interpretation/jesuit-peril?page=8

We could not agree more.

In part II, we hope to explore Jesuit industrial espionage in India & Qing Empire, their spying for the Russian empire against the Qing empire (they saw the Russians as fellow Christians as against the heathen Manchu & Han) their role in the colonization of what is now Zimbabwe, the genocide of natives in Guam, and more.

How Japan dealt with the Christian Threat

We have touched on the topic before (https://vajrin.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/japans-defeat-of-christianity-lessons-for-hindus/) & advise people to read that piece first before reading this one. We hope to briefly cover the actual measures that the Tokugawa Shogunate employed to suppress Christianity. The Japanese employed a range of measures for this because they correctly saw Christianity as a very serious threat intent on destroying their civilization. The following list covers each method only briefly and those interested may look up more information in the relevant books.

The below are the various methods that were utilized by the Japanese government to wipe out Christianity from Japan before the Christians could destroy Japan. Naturally some of this may seem cruel & Christian propagandists have tried their best to exaggerate their suffering & paint themselves as victims. But it must be remembered that the Christians were the aggressors who used forcible conversion (when a daimyo converted he imposed Christianity on the populace under his rule), destruction of Shinto shrines & Buddhist temples, and even armed struggle (Shimabara uprising) to take over Japan. All this was done after taking advantage of the openness & religious tolerance of the Japanese, and the ongoing civil war in Japan. In fact the Christians were warned by Hideyoshi in his proclamation banning missionaries not to indulge in such tactics while continuing them to permit to trade. But far from listening to his warning they even upped the ante & started interfering in local politics, fighting among themselves (the Spanish Franciscans vs. Portuguese Jesuits with the former surpassing the latter in their fanaticism), and were even rumored to be laying the groundwork for the invasion of Japan by a Spanish Armada. Considering all this, it is no surprise that the Japanese reacted as they did. The only surprise is that they tolerated this nonsense for 90 years though the civil war may have been one reason for this delay. Lafcadio Hearn commented as follows on these events:

With the massacre of Shimabara ends the real history of the Portuguese and Spanish missions. After that event, Christianity was slowly, steadily, implacably stamped out of visible existence. It had been tolerated, or half-tolerated, for only sixty-five years: the entire history of its propagation and destruction occupies a period of scarcely ninety years. People of nearly every rank, from prince to pauper, suffered for it; thousands endured tortures for its sake – tortures so frightful that even three of those Jesuits who sent multitudes to useless martyrdom were forced to deny their faith under the infliction;* and tender women, sentenced to, the stake, carried their little ones with them into the fire, rather than utter the words that would have saved both mother and child. Yet this religion, for which thousands vainly died, had brought to Japan nothing but evil disorders, persecutions, revolts, political troubles, and war. Even those virtues of the people which had been evolved at unutterable cost for the protection and conservation of society, – their self-denial, their faith, their loyalty, their constancy and courage, – were by this black creed distorted, diverted, and transformed into forces directed to the destruction of that society. Could that destruction have been accomplished, and a new Roman Catholic empire have been founded upon the ruins, the forces of that empire would have been used for the further extension of priestly tyranny, the spread of the Inquisition, the perpetual Jesuit warfare against freedom of conscience and human progress. Well may we pity the victims of this pitiless faith, and justly admire their useless courage: yet who can regret that their cause was lost? … Viewed from another standpoint than that of religious bias, and simply judged by its results, the Jesuit effort to Christianize Japan must be regarded as a crime against humanity, a labour of devastation, a calamity comparable only, – by reason of the misery and destruction which it wrought, – to an earthquake, a tidal-wave, a volcanic eruption.

http://explorion.net/japan-attempt-interpretation/jesuit-peril?page=8

It would also be helpful to imagine the scenario in reverse i.e. Shinto missionaries landing up in 16^th century Europe, preaching that only Shinto was the true faith, destroying churches, telling the native converts their first loyalty to should be to the Emperor in Kyoto not the Pope in Rome or their King. The scenario is farfetched (for a start because Shinto is neither intrinsically evil like Christianity nor missionary oriented) but if it did happen, imagine the reaction of the European Christians who were busy slaughtering each other over sectarian squabbles. But this is exactly what the Christians did in Japan (as they did/are doing now in India) and they have the audacity to portray themselves as victims!

In a subsequent post we shall do a comparitive analysis about the response of Hindus, Japanese, Romans, & Chinese to the Christian threat which will show why the Japanese were by far superior in their response.

1) Deportation

The Shogunate deported many missionaries foreign & domestic, prominent native converts, and mixed children to Portuguese controlled Macau or Spanish Manila. This was to deprive Christians of prominent leaders such as the daimyo (warlord) Takayama Ukon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Justo_Takayama). The mixed children (products of marriages between the Spanish/Portuguese & Japanese Xtians) were dreaded. Lafcadio Hearn provides an explanation for this measure:

The policy of isolation, – of shutting off Japan from the rest of the world, – as adopted by Hidetada and maintained by his successors, sufficiently indicates the fear that religious intrigues had inspired. Not only were all foreigners, excepting the Dutch traders, expelled from the country; all half-breed children of Portuguese or Spanish blood were also expatriated, Japanese families being forbidden to adopt or conceal any of them, under penalties to be visited upon all the members of the household disobeying. In 1636 two hundred and eighty-seven half-breed children were shipped to Macao. It is possible that the capacity of half-breed children to act as interpreters was particularly dreaded; but there can be little doubt that, at the time when this ordinance was issued, race-hatred had been fully aroused by religious antagonism. After the Shimabara episode all Western foreigners, without exception, were regarded with unconcealed distrust.

http://explorion.net/japan-attempt-interpretation/jesuit-peril?page=8

2) Torture

If words did not work then torture was the next preferred method and was used extensively with great success. Initially the Japanese started executing the Christians but they soon realized that Christians have a fetish for martyrs and would go to great lengths to worship their relics. Therefore they switched to torture for the following reason:

As mentioned before, the preferred result was when Christians were captured was that they would renounce their faith and live their lives as Buddhists. According to George Elison, Inoue Chikugo-no-Kami Masashige “wants not martyrs, but apostates. Apostates better than martyrs attest the impotence of a religion, especially when those apostates had been apostles of the faith and priests.” After they renounced their faith, priests were forced to take wives as part of their new lives and were constantly monitored by the authorities. If renunciation was not forthcoming through torture, however, the final act would be execution.

Source: The Sakoku Edicts and the Politics of Tokugawa Hegemony By Michael S. Laver

http://tinyurl.com/l4kx8cy

Most Christians simply became apostates under torture and the most famous catch of this program was the Jesuit missionary Cristovao Ferreira (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crist%C3%B3v%C3%A3o_Ferreira) whose five hour ordeal not only cured him of a lifetime of Christian delusion but also seems to have spurred him into warning others against the deadly poison known as Christianity. He not only became an apostate but also wrote a tract exposing Christianity & took part in the trials of other captured Jesuits.

The tortures used covered a whole range from beatings to having boiling water poured on them at hot springs to standing in freezing water during winter. The most famous torture was tsurushi (this was what Ferreira was subjected to for five hours) which is described here:

At last they found a more hellish and exquisite way of torturing than before; they hung these sufferers by the heels, their heads in pits, which to give the blood some vent, they slasht lightly cross-waies, (but they do that now no more), and in this posture they live several daies, ten or twelve, and speak sensibly to the very last: The greatness of this torment surpasseth all other, being beyond all humaine strength to suffer and be undergone; but by such who are extraordinarilie strengthened from above. This extremitie hath indeed (by reason of its continuance) forced many to renounce their religion; and some of them who had hung two or three daies, assured me that the pains they endured were wholly unsufferable, no fire nor no torture equalling their langour and violence.

Japan’s Hidden Christians, 1549-1999: Open Christianity in Japan, 1549-1639 edited by Stephen R. Turnbull

http://tinyurl.com/mp4rhob

3) Death penalty

The death penalty was a last resort after torture failed to secure apostasy and various means were employed from simple beheading to crucifixion to being beaten to death. Once the Japanese learned of Christian martyr mongering they also began to clean up the mess and dump everything into the sea so that none of the Christians would go collect bones & other artifacts from the dead as relics which they could worship.

4) Establishment of the Inquisitor’s office

In 1639-40 a new office was established, whose sole duty was to remove the Christian threat from Japan. The man in charge was Inoue Chikugo-no-Kami Masashige an ex-Christian who became very famous for his zeal in hunting down Christians and getting them to become apostates through torture. For this purpose he seems to have refined the torture and psy op techniques to keep the Christians alive as he preferred apostates to dead Christians. He knew the Christian fetish for martyrdom and he didn’t want to give them that satisfaction, and besides apostates better than dead Christians demonstrated the impotence of Jesus to the Christian sheep on the streets. He kept records of his days in the office which as far as we know haven’t yet been translated into English. This office seems to have functioned as late as the year 1792.

5) Domestic surveillance

Initially apostate Christians were expected to prove their loyalty by becoming a danka (parishioner) of a Buddhist temple and later this was extended to the entire Japanese population in 1635 to catch crypto Christians. The Buddhist priest would conduct an inspection and issue a certificate that the person was not a Christian.

In addition to this the population was divided into groupings of five families responsible for mutual surveillance regarding transgressions against the law. This was known as the gonin-gumi system and was also designed to catch hidden Christians.

Finally financial rewards were established for anyone in the public who could inform the authorities about Christians:

“The sending of Japanese ships to foreign countries is strictly forbidden.”

“Japanese must not be sent to other countries. If any try to go secretly, they shall be punished by death.”

“Rewards to those informing against Christians shall be as follows; – For religious teachers, three hundred or two hundred pieces of silver according to their rank. In other cases, as previously provided.”

“Foreigners who progagate the religion of the Fathers, and likewise persons of evil reputation, shall as before be sent to prison in Omura.”

“Descendants of the Portuguese must not be allowed to remain in the country. Any who retain them contrary to the law shall be put to death, and their relatives shall be punished according to the degree of the offense.”

A History of Christianity in Japan: Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox missions by Otis Cary & F. H. Revell, 1909

http://tiny.cc/0yiiex

6) Isolation/Closed country

In 1639 after crushing the massive Shimabara Christian uprising, the third Shogun Iemitsu decided to close Japan to the West for good with the exception of the Dutch who had assisted in crushing the rebellion by providing cannon fire. They were allowed limited trade but with severe restrictions. The Portuguese and Spaniards were expelled, ocean going ships broken up, and strict border control established. Any Japanese who tried to defy this and leave Japan was to be put to death as was any Japanese returning from abroad. This was known as sakoku (closed country) and would last until 1853 when Commodore Perry forced Japan to open up at gunpoint.

Iemitsu was very serious about this as he demonstrated a few years later when a Portuguese embassy arrived trying to revive the past trade. He had the entire crew except those required to sail the ship back to Macau beheaded & issued a warning saying that even if their Jesus himself showed up defying him, he would meet the same fate.

7) Information gathering

We know that this was a basic policy scrupulously followed from various sources. For a start when Christianity was still a significant threat we know that Ieyasu got hold of the English sailor William Adams who reached Japan and asked him in detail about conditions in Europe, the difference between Protestantism (Adams’ religion) and Catholicism. He honored Adams and made him into a Samurai (the first foreign Samurai) and these interviews must have played a role in his conviction that Christianity was a deadly threat when he finally decided to ban it. In addition to this Japanese sources claim that Ieyasu sent a tea ceremony master by the name of Nishi Soshin to Europe as a spy to learn all he could about Christianity and report back to him (in reality he went to spy in Spanish Manila, learnt Spanish & spied). It is said that Soshin became an outward Christian, lived in there for 3 years, came back to Japan and reported everything he learnt such as the wars between Catholics & Protestants, the fanaticism engendered by Christianity etc (on a side note we know of no Hindu ruler who sent a spy to Europe to gather intelligence on the enemy even as the Christians were rampaging on our land during the Goan Inquisiton). We also know that future European sailors that were ship wrecked long after Christianity was wiped out were always thoroughly interrogated. The case of the missionary Giovanni Sidotti is a case in point and is described as part of the “border control” policy. Finally here is how Michael S. Laver describes official policy in gathering information from the Dutch:

Therefore, from the time Ieyasu definitively banned Christianity, the bugyo of Nagasaki played an important role in the attempt to extinguish the foreign religion in Japan – even though as noted earlier, there had already been an official since around 1640 whose primary responsibility was to stamp out the Catholic faith…

The placards that were posted to inform the public of the shogun’s orders and policies often carried the stipulation of a reward for those informing on Catholics. As late as the eighteenth century, these placards were still being erected regularly, even though serious instances of Christian apprehensions were extremely rare after the third quarter of the sixteenth century. It is striking that historical memory was so pervasive among the ruling shogunal class of Japan. The Dutch noted that they were continually pressed to reveal details of Catholic activities in Asia and were continually exhorted to keep the shogun informed should they learn of any Catholic plots. Long after a century had passed with no real instance of Christian subversion or any real Christian presence in public life, the shogunate was still concerned with the Christian “threat”…

The Sakoku Edicts and the Politics of Tokugawa Hegemony by Michael S. Laver

8) Public awareness

Public awareness of the evils of Christianity was an important policy which can be considered as a sort of vaccination/immunization program to ward it off in the future. To our knowledge no other pagan civilization took public awareness as seriously as the Japanese and this is one of the factors which sets them apart. Awareness was achieved either through popular anti Christian tracts such as Kirishitan Monogatari (Tales of the Christians) & more importantly by public boards erected by the government throughout all the areas where Christianity had spread. We know that these boards were being erected into the 1860’s long after Christianity had ceased to be a serious threat (indeed the first Western missionaries allowed in after Japan was again forced open report seeing these boards). The following provides a brief description:

References to the hated religion were not permitted in books, and its very name might have been almost forgotten were it not written so prominently on the public proclamation-boards of every town. As soon as a child could read, he saw upon the boards that the KIRISHITAN JASHU-MON (Evil Sect of Christianity) was strictly prohibited, and when he asked what this meant, he was told by his parents about the wily scheme of the barbarian nations that sought to gain possession of Japan by means of a religion that was a strange compound of foolish doctrines and powerful magic.

A History of Christianity in Japan: Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox missions by Otis Cary & F. H. Revell, 1909

9) Border control

The government was not content to just close Japan to Westerners on paper but also made sure to implement strict border control by establishing posts all along the coast as look outs for any strange ships and this was kept up for a long time after the Christian threat had receded into the background. We know this because of the famous case of the Sicilian Jesuit Giovanni Sidotti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Sidotti) who in 1708 attempted to sneak into Japan. He was captured soon after he landed on Yakushima Island, a small outlying island and not one of the four main islands of Japan. Giovanni was taken to Nagasaki and imprisoned in the Kirishitan Yashiki (Christian Mansion) specifically built to house captured missionaries in 1646. He was then interrogated by Arai Hakuseki a government official & Confucian thinker on a wide variety of issues from geography to sciences to religion. Arai then wrote up his observations in a report that would come of use later to others & Giovanni died in the same mansion in 1714.

It must be kept in mind that the last public Christians had already died out in the 1630’s and nearly 70 years had passed since then but the Japanese never relaxed their vigilance and caught him as soon as he landed on a minor outlying island and also gathered whatever useful information they could. Part of the Japanese worry came from rumors that the Jesuits were training the Japanese Christians descendants who were deported to Macau to become missionaries and infiltrate back into Japan.

10) Monitoring of apostates & their descendants

This policy is described here:

Because the Kirishitan faith was transmitted through family lines, there began during the Kan’ei era (1624-1643) an examination of Kirishitan families (ruizoku aratame). All relatives of the discovered Kirishitan were carefully monitored for the rest of their lives. After the examination was fully institutionalized in 1687, direct descendants of discovered Kirishitan were carefully supervised for seven generations for men and four generations for women. Records for this examination usually list more than twenty relatives for each Kirishitan examined. In case of Hyoemon in Katsuragi village, in the Bungo domain, for example, a total of thirty-three of his relatives were inspected, including his (deceased) parents, three sons, one daughter, nine grand children, and eighteen relatives.

– Christianity in Early Modern Japan: Kirishitan Belief and Practice By Ikuo Higashibaba

11) Book censorship

Initially all Western books were prohibited but later on Dutch books that strictly dealt with western science and medical matters were allowed to be imported and translated to obtain useful knowledge. They were subject to strict scrutiny to make sure that they contained no references to Christianity.

All Japanese books aimed at promoting Christianity were also destroyed.

12) Isolation & monitoring of the Dutch

The Dutch being Protestants were seen as not being as terrible as the Catholics but the Japanese knew they were still Christians at the end of the day, so they were subject to very strict restrictions. For a start they were confined to a tiny island called Deshima off Nagasaki where only prostitutes were allowed to visit them. In addition to this, the ships were always thoroughly searched for any Christian related stuff and the Dutch were required to hand over their Bibles to the Japanese upon landing. The Japanese were so incensed at anything related to Christianity that the Dutch were forbidden to use the Christian calendar in trade related contracts.

13) Public testing

The following description of a shipwrecked Russian captive in the Japan of early 1800’s says it all about this policy:

The Japanese are not followers of foreign religions. They give, however, full liberty to a variety of sects, besides permitting the public profession of even the Kurile [Ainu] religion; but they are quiet intolerant to Christianity, on account of the troubles it has occasioned among them. The Catholic priests, who formerly lived in Japan & enjoyed every possible freedom, preached the Christian faith, & converted a great number of the natives; but, at last, the progress of the new religion gave rise to a dreadful civil war. For this reason after the complete extirpation of the Christians, the following inscription was placed at the head of the stone tablets of laws, which are fixed up in all public places, & even in the streets:- “Whoever knows any individual who has taught Christianity, & can convict him thereof, shall receive a reward of 500 silver pieces.” – There is, likewise, a law which prohibits masters from hiring servants, until they receive from them a written assurance of their not being Christians. In Nangasaky, where Christianity had made the greatest progress, there is a staircase, on the steps of which are laid various ornaments & utensils of the Catholic church, & on the first step a crucifix. On new-year’s day, all the inhabitants of Nangasaky are obliged to ascend these steps; &, as a proof that they are not Christians, trample on the articles. The interpreter assured us, that many Christians who live at Nangasaky comply with this regulation from interested motives.

– Narrative of my captivity in Japan during … 1811, 1812, and 1813 …: To which is added an account of voyages to the coasts of Japan and of negotiations … for the release of the author … by Captain Rikord, Volume 2 By Vasiliĭ Mikhaĭlovich Golovnin, Rikord (Captain), pg. 68

It is interesting to note that this public testing was being carried out as late as 1813 even though Christianity had been crushed for the most part by 1640.

14) Intellectual critiques of Christianity

The Japanese by and large focused less on the Christian doctrine and more on the doctrines social effects such as destruction of shrines, and shifting of the loyalty of the converts to Rome. The intellectuals by and large seem to have seen Christian doctrine as too absurd to even worth critiquing though there were a few exceptions such as Ha Kirishitan (Against Christianity) by the Zen monk Suzuki Soshan which demonstrated the hollowness of the doctrine. Another such critique was published by the Japanese Jesuit apostate Fabian Fukan who had earlier written a critique of Japanese religious practice from a Catholic viewpoint. This can be read here:

The Pro- and Anti-Christian Writings of Fukan Fabian (1565-1621)

http://japanese-religions.jp/publications/assets/JR33_a_Schrimpf.pdf

By and large the attitude of Japanese intellectuals to Christianity can be summed up by the following quote of Aizawa Seishisai in 1825 in his very influential Shinron (New Theses) which was to play a role in the establishment of state Shinto during the Meiji restoration to defend Japan again from the renewed Christian threat:

This, their [the Western barbarians’] so-called religious doctrine [Christianity], is both shallow and evil, and at its core not worthy of even discussing. However, its basis is simplistic, its vocabulary is vulgar, and that is why it easily beguiles the masses. With pretty words it pretends to respect Heaven by forcing [meaning on] Heaven. It pretends to represent human ethical enlightenment by forsaking the Way of humanity.

15) Construction of Christian prison

The authorities built a special prison called Kirishitan Yashiki where important captured missionaries and converts were kept and tortured. The Japanese seem to have been concerned about the evil of Christianity spreading to the general prison populace, so they constructed this special prison to interrogate Christians. The captured missionary Giovanni Sidotti was also housed in this building until he died.

 

Han Imperialism and Hindu response

Hindus seem to have lost their ability to do a strategic analysis of the global scenario and position themselves accordingly. Or rather, the Hindu masses are selecting such ‘leaders’ who certainly do not have any ability to do some critical thinking. It has become a vicious cycle – the masses select dumb, self serving ‘leaders’ who in turn ensure to keep the masses in their pockets by using various ‘schemes’ which are not about strengthening the nation but retaining the vote banks.

Such a democracy is keeping us weak and a large pumpkin ready to be divided by our neighbors. Independence in 1947 was the best opportunity for us to regain our pre-eminent position in the world. When the Mauryan empire was established, it was the largest empire of its times – both in terms of population and economy. It was spread over a landmass much larger than current day India. The aim of any defeated community must be to regain their past glory or better yet, even surpass it. Rather, our leaders from the time of Nehru have been involved in keeping us downtrodden, with no visions/dreams of grandeur.

The current geo-political scenario seems to be a treacherous sea which India is trying to sail across without a proper ship, compass or sailors. We wonder if the only reason the country is still holding together is due to some divine solace (despite our conviction that Gods should not be expected to intervene on our behalf).

The Hindu land is surrounded by adversaries. Islamic threat in the west and east – exacerbated by the presence of a sympathetic minority within the country, especially near the borders. Hans are in the north – supported by the Communists and Maoists within India. The Theravadins in Lanka have anti-Hindu strain – as established by their anti-vaidika activities during the invasions of Tamil land. There is a Han-Islam-Theravadin circle around the Hindu land. Our leaders have lost hold over Lanka which has now moved closer to the Hans. Our defense industries have failed to attain self-sufficiency in conventional weapons. Be it a battle tank or a fighter aircraft, we are still dependant on foreign supply – which is both costly as well as dangerous. To rely on foreign supplies during wartime is a nightmare. Any war will be fought in localized manner – use of excessive fire power with conventional weapons at the border and in strategic military locations to destroy the enemy forces. The presence of nuclear weapons and international pressure will provide deterrence against a complete conquer. But the presence of men who are sympathetic to the enemies could be leveraged to divide the nation using some local revolts by these communities – in localities where they are in majority. West Bengal and north-east will be easily lost as we have a huge population of Muslims and Communists in those regions. When Bangla Muslims revolt, our connection with Sikkim, Darjeeling and North-East will be severed. West Bengal and North East can be divided among themselves by China and Bangladesh.

In the north, Ladakh and other Himalayan regions will be conquered by China. When the Muslims in Kashmir and Western UP revolt, it will make Pakistan’s thrust in the West easier. As catering to the minorities has become the norm in UP, the administration will not be in a position to quell any such traitorous revolt. Such a triangular war will be the death knell for Indian Union.

While the situation indeed appears dire, there are ways to overcome this tumultuous period. While China has allied with our enemies and is creating a ring of fire around us, the Hans have enemies on her borders. The Han view is expressed by the article which makes plans for six wars in the next few decades – in order to consolidate all the territories claimed by the Hans as theirs. Thus, Hans have enemy states on their borders. The Indian answer must be to create a counter ring of fire around China.

South Korea seems to be moving close towards her historical suzerain, China. We cannot expect any help from the Koreans. Japanese are waking up to the Chinese threat and are appearing to be re-arming themselves. Japan, Vietnam and Philippines are our natural allies against China. Taiwan, though anti-Communist, cannot be trusted as the Hans in Taiwan also have imperialistic notions of a greater China. China has trouble in its western borders as well. While the Chinese are suffering from Uighur unrest in Xinjiang, they have territorial claim in Central Asia, eastern Siberia, Mongolia, a few Japanese islands apart from India. Japan and Russia do not enjoy good relations. But India is in a unique position to be the go-between state for these two powers. India has no enemies in the Far East except China. We could leverage this position to forge an alliance with a majority of states in the ASEAN and Far East. The Mekong basin countries are afraid of Chinese attempts to divert waters from Mekong leading to drought and famine in Indo-China. They have a common cause against Chinese impunity which is a result of renewed Han imperialism. Mongolia fears Han expansion – a valid fear given that inner Mongolia has been swamped by Hans and has been made into a province of Han China.

India could play the role of a mediator/middle man. Cambodia and Thailand have border disputes. But both the countries have good relations with India. The fear of a rising China which has imperialist notions based on its historical view of ‘Middle Kingdom’ is spreading among the neighbors of China. An anti-China alliance is the need of the day. We cannot rely on the USA much. US is on a retreat mood now. They seem to be planning to withdraw from Far East. Americans cannot be expected to contain China singlehandedly anymore. With nearly 2.5 million strong military and another 2.5 million in reserves, China can field a force so large that Americans might back out due to sheer fear about casualties. Any anti-China alliance must be formed by the Asian neighbors of China.

But such an alliance is not enough. DRDO must be strengthened in India. The string of failures must be corrected. LCA, Arjun Tank, Trishul etc point to a systemic failure. The corrupt leadership seems to see gains in importing military assets. Thus, strengthening of our R&D efforts at DRDO has not been given due importance. Any country needs strong domestic military industry complex in order to fight wars. We cannot survive wars based on ammunition imported from Israel or Russia.

The Orthodox Russia has a negative relationship with West. Russia and China come together while facing the West. But Russians understand the Chinese threat in Eastern Siberia. Thus, they have begun to conduct war games in Siberia. The West has traditionally sided with even Muslims against the Orthodox (e.g. Crimean war). Even in Kosovo, we saw the NATO siding with Muslims against the Orthodox Serbs. In the case of China, the West fears China but they may still not be motivated to join any alliance against China – their traditional hatred for Russia holding them back.

We must start engaging the ASEAN Buddhist nations more vigorously and conduct joint military exercises with them. Malaysia and Indonesia may also join hands with us – but their distance from China (in the case of Indonesia) and a large Chinese minority (in the case of Malaysia) may keep them aloof. We must also try to get a greater foothold in Africa and Central Asia. While we may not be able to counter China’s economy singlehandedly, we can form joint ventures with other countries to take over the African assets that Chinese are interested in. To hold a strong grip over Chinese energy supply must be a primary aim of Hans’ adversaries.

The primary circle against China shall be the border states of China apart from those of the Mekong basin. The secondary line shall involve Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. The third line shall include the NATO and its allies.

An excessive crackdown on Uighurs can also be used to bring Islamic nations against Chinese. While Islam is our other major enemy (for the West and Russia as well), we can still work together to defang the Chinese giant.

Huntington rightly noted that India/Hindu civilization plays the role of a mere swing state in the current circumstance. Destruction / even a strong containment of Han imperialism will open the doors for a more prominent India much more easily as well. Containment of Hans must be a primary motive of the Hindus apart from defending against Islamic aggression. But will the Hindus ever wake up to this reality?