A Failing Mission? Salvation in the Jesuit Mission in Japan Under Francisco Cabral

Abstract

This book examines how sixteenth century Japan rejected the political, societal, and cultural pressures of evangelization by Jesuit missionaries.

            A case study of the militant and militarized leadership of Francisco Cabral, SJ (1529 - 1609) a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary who arrived in Japan in 1570, indicates that some fellow Jesuits argued that a more conciliatory, flexible approach was needed to win over the Japanese public. Yet the Catholic church preferred the leadership of Cabral to these progressive views, even though his efforts would eventually fail.

            Details such as whether Jesuits in Japan should wear silk garments in imitation of Buddhist monks, to declare their identity to the public, were subjects of ardent debate.

            Likewise, the extent to which evangelizing Christians should learn the Japanese language, eat Japanese food, and follow other local customs, was a matter of disagreement amongst Jesuit superiors.

            Ultimately, the most estranged and despising view of Japan, Cabral’s, was allowed to dominate, with tragic results for Christianity in Japan over the next decades, when martyrdoms and other violence occurred.