 Statue of Juan Goto (by Teruo Konno, 1953) Roman Catholic Church Mizusawa |
In
the early seventeenth century, Juan Goto (?1577-?1638), was the
Christian lord
of Fukuwara (literally the "God-Blessed Field") in the western part of
Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City, Iwate.
According to Ginosuke Kanno, the most famous researcher of
Juan Goto, he was born as Matagoro (as called in his childhood), the
third son of Hidenobu Iwabuchi, the lord of Fujisawa-jo Castle, County
Higashi-Iwai, Iwate.
His family suddenly declined after Hideyoshi Toyotomi
accused their master, Great Lord Kasai of not campaigning for Toyotomi
at Battle of Odawara in 1590 and confiscated their
dominions.
Although his elder brother Nobutoki died in the battle, Matagoro
managed to escape danger and went to Nagasaki and took ship for Ukujima
Island of the Goto Islands to be baptized a Christian. He
was given his Latin Christian name "Juan" and renamed himself as Juan
Goto in c.1596.
He used two Chinese characters for "Juan," meaning "(a)
happy hermitage." He hoped that he could live long
comfortably with other Christians here in Fukuwara. He
invited many Christian missionaries who were eager to proselytize
the local farmers and iron-workers, etc. It is said that 500
to 1,000 Christians lived here for a time in the early seventeenth
century. In 1623, however, the Christian faith was prohibited by the Tokugawa Shogunate government. Fukuwara the God-blessed land could not exist under the strict prohibition: it was a never-never land for Juan Goto. Before leaving Fukuwara, while eluding arrest for keeping his faith, he developed irrigation canals for growing rice. Thanks to "Juan-zeki" (Juan's canals) this land (the southwest part of Oshu City) has become a prosperous grain belt. |
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| The Historical Background |
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Since the first Jesuit Francisco Javier (St. Francis Xavier: 1506-1552) came to Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan on August 15, 1549 and spent two years and three months to propagandize Christianity (Catholicism) in several towns in Western Japan such as Kagoshima, Hirado and Yamaguchi until November 15, 1551, many Christian missionaries (Jesuits and Franciscans) came to Japan under the guardianship of some Japanese lords, Sorin Otomo, Ukon Takayama, Tadaoki Hosokawa, Masamune Date, etc. Nobunaga Oda (1534-1582), the most powerful lord at the time allowed the Jesuit missionaries to propagandize Christianity and employed Rev. Luis Frois (Jesuit, 1532-1597) as an adviser to antagonize Hongwan-ji Temple, the headquarters of the Jodo Shin-shu sect of Buddhism, trying to get information abroad from him. It is also noted that the Portuguese superior Jesuit Francisco Cabral (1529-1609) who had a strong contempt for Asians, strictly denied the possibility of any Japanese formally becoming a Catholic priest, while the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606) firmly insisted the necessity of training Japanese Christians for the priesthood and also proposed to send the Japanese missionary or envoys to Rome and other European countries. The Japanese Christian lords of the Kyushu District, Sorin Otomo, Harunobu Arima and Sumitada Omura sent four boys coming of good samurai families and studying at the Japanese Jesuit school "Seminario nella citta d' Arima, nel Giappone" plus other three Japanese boys accompanied with four Jesuits to Pope of Rome Gregorius XIII (r.1572-1585) in 1582. It is later called "the Tensho-Ken-o-Shonen-Shisetsu" (Boys' Envoys to Europe of the Tensho Era [1582-1590]). Although attracted by the tremendous profits from trading with Western countries at first, the Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1537-1598), the successor of Oda, suddenly promulgated a deportation order to "Bateren" (Port. "padre") missionaries and banned Christianity on July 24, 1587. The fact warrants Hideyoshi's statement. During battles of Kyushu, a Portuguese Jesuit (a Marrano) Gasper Coelho (1530-1590), the first chief of the Japan Branch of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), proudly showed Hideyoshi his battleships of the newest European type. By that time, Hideyoshi had already noticed that the Jesuits, with the Spanish Invincible Armada's overwhelming naval power, planned to bring Japan and China into subjection by colonialism. (European Propagandism , to say the least, in the Grand Age de la Navigation between fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, was inwardly linked to exploitation and colonialism as world history proves.) Hideyoshi also got the information that the Portuguese deceived and kidnapped as many as 500,000 baptized Japanese (especially beautiful girls) to sell them in Europe and Latin America after 1543 when the Portuguese first introduced European firearms to Japan. Later, the Christian boys' group called "the Tensho-Ken-o-Shonen-Shisetsu" (Boys' Envoys to Europe of the Tensho Era [1582-1590]) and Tsunenaga Hasekura's group (gKeicho-Ken-o-Shisetsuh [The Embassy to Europe of the Keicho Era] 1613-1620) were greatly shocked and disappointed to see Japanese slaves (especially half-naked beautiful Japanese girls in chains) in ships and other occasions on the way to Europe and in Latin America. Of course, such an inhumane action was impossible without some Christian Japanese lords' influence, especially in Kyushu where many Japanese Buddhist monks and Shinto priests were cruelly murdered in the name of Christianity and numerous Christian churches were built in the sites of demolished Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. The most powerful Christian lord was Sorin Otomo who "traded" in medicines, pepper, gunpowder, slaves etc. with Luis de Almeida (1525-1583) and other Jesuits, which had made a huge amount of money for Portugal and the Roman Catholic Church for years. Almeida was also known as the person who built the first Western-style hospital in Bungo-Funai (Lγ{ΰ; now Oita City) and started medical training for Japanese in Oita in 1558. As the "Tensho-Ken-o-Shonen-Shisetsu"' report tells: "Everywhere we go, so many Japanese women can be seen. They say that the total number of Japanese slavery women in Europe is as many as about 500,000. We cannot bear to look at the fact that fair-complexioned, beautiful Japanese girls are in chains, exposing their sexual organs, falling prey to men's lust, and finally to be resold to another proslavery country. Of course we have long felt massive anger against the White people who set leg irons to our fellow country people to sell them to such far countries. They also belong to the same European cultural group. Why do they enslave women from our country? Fathers of Portuguese churches exchange Japanese women with saltpeter and gunpowder in India and Africa." (Excerpted and Translated from Hideaki Onizuka's Japanese Emperor's Rosary, vol. II [SΛGΊ wVcΜUI Ίx] (2006), pp.96-97 ; the original source: the first edition of Soho Tokutomi's Hsitory of Modern Japanese People: The Toyotomi Era 2nd volume [Ώxhτwί’ϊ{―j Lbγ³Ρx] (1918-1952), pp.337-387; cf. also Meiko Yamada's Dowan-Hon-Chao (Soul-Wrenching Bridge) the "Rabbits" Crossed [RcΏq wETM½ΏͺnΑ½f°΄x] (1995), 2 vols.) (*Opinion is divided on the reliability of this report.) As Tokutomi notes, the Japanese girls were exchanged with saltpeter at the rate of 50 girls per one barrel. It is difficult to tell to what degree and how many of the Jesuits got involved with the slave trade. However, witnessing the dark side of what they called "missionaries," the Japanese Christian envoys naturally distrusted Christianity itself and some apostatized from the belief when they returned from Europe. Around this time, the antagonism of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) against the late comer Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) became severe in Japan. In 1587, Hideyoshi Toyotomi called Gasper Coelho to command to stop slave trade of Japanese and bring back all the Japanese immediately, etc. Coelho persistently wrote for the Invincible Armada and prepared for war with Japan in vain. To save the country Hideyoshi immediately promulgated the "Bateren-tsuiho-rei" (the Purge Directive Order to the Jesuits) on July 24, 1587 (June 19 in the 15th year of Tensho era). It consists of 11 articles and one of them is: "No. 10. Do not sell Japanese people to the Namban [Portuguese]." Finally in 1596, the Jesuit fathers prohibited slave trade in and outside Japan. Hideyoshi also strictly ordered all the Japanese Christian lords to apostatize from their Christian faith and most of them obeyed to keep their feudal statuses and dominions. However, there were a few lords who did not obey the order and lost their statuses like Ukon Takayama (Dom Justo Takayama, 1552-1615) who was held in high esteem with his many abilities and natural virtue by other lords. He chose to abdicate his feudal status and dominion in Akashi [now a part of Hyogo]. Justo lived under the protection of his friends for several decades, but following the 1614 prohibition of Christianity by Tokugawa Shogunate,, he was expelled from Japan. On November 8, 1614, together with 300 Japanese Christians he left Japan from Nagasaki. They arrived at Manila on December 21 and was greeted warmly by the Spanish Jesuits and the local Filipinos there. The Spanish Philippines offered their assistance in overthrowing the Japanese government by an invasion to protect Japanese Catholics. However, Ukon declined to take part in the plot and died of illness just 40 days after his arrival. It is reported that the Spanish government respectfully interred him in Philippine soil in a Christian manner. Thus all the Christians over Japan were gradually subjected to the suppression. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867) was also fascinated by the profits from trading with Western countries at the start, but they gradually came to fear that Japan might have been colonized by Spain and Portugal like other Asian countries if Japan continued to trade with them and allowed their Christian (mostly Catholic, esp. Jesuit) missionaries to Japanese people. The Shogunate also feared that their favored order of Neo-Confucianism (the teachings of Chu Hsi, Southern Sung) might have been destroyed by Christianity. So in 1639 (until 1854), they closed its door to foreigners (except China, Korea [through the lord of Tsushima] and the Netherlands): no foreigners (except licensed Dutch merchants, etc.) were officially admitted into Japan and no Japanese could go abroad. Under the seclusion policy, the Shogunate and some chartered merchants enjoyed the monopoly of trading silk, japan (lacquer ware), etc. with the licensed Chinese, Korean and Dutch merchants. It was only through the medium of the Dutch at Nagasaki that the exclusive Japan learned about the Western World. |
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Before the Tokugawa Shogunate's seclusion and prohibition Masamue Date's foreign policy was literally admirable: he invited Rev. Luis Sotelo (Spanish-born Franciscan, 1574-1624) from Edo and allowed him to build a Catholic church and propagandize Catholicism in his huge dominions. According to some local historical record, the missionaries propagandized about 30,000 only in the Date dominions (the southern part of Iwate and the northern part of Miyagi [now Fujisawa-cho and Tome City]). In c.1611 when Juan Goto worked in Kyoto as a missionary, he contracted a friendship with Katsusuke Tanaka who, at Ieyasu Tokugawa's command, accompanied Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco (Mexco-born Spanish governor-general to the Philippines: ?-1636) to Mexico in 1610. Velasco, on his return trip to Mexico, was overtaken by a storm and cast ashore in Iwawada, Kazusa (now Chiba). Next year (1611) Tanaka came back to Japan boarding on the Spanish ship of Sebastian Viscaino (1551-1615). Masamune Date dreamed of the commercial intercourse with Mexico and Spain at that time. So he sent Tsunenaga Hasekura (1571-1622), a veteran of the invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597, to Tanaka to hear the status quo of the world. Tanaka introduced Goto to Hasekura as a man conversant with foreign affairs. With Hasekura's recommendation, Goto won Masamune Date's favor and was given dominion over Fukuwara (now southern part of Mizusawa, Oshu City, Iwate) in 1612, one year before Hasekura, Sebastian Viscaino and Rev. Luis Sotelo left the port of Tsukinoura (now Ojika Peninsula, Miyagi) at Lord Date's command for Spain and Rome via Mexico boarding on "San Juan Bautista" (St. John the Baptist), the first Japanese ship crossing the Pacific Ocean, on October 28, 1613 [the Keicho Envoys to Europe 1613-1620]. It was, however, it was the year when Ieyasu Tokugawa announced the strict ban on Christian mission over Japan. Three months after departure, they arrived at the port of Acapulco, Mexico. The missions were permitted to take passage in a warship of the Spanish Armada for Spain on June 10, 1614. During their journey to Europe, the situations were dramatically changed. But they did not know that they were driven to the wall where Lord Date left them in the lurch when they came back to Sendai on August 26, 1620. The diplomatic mission had two purposes: 1. to meet King of Spain to gain his permission of directly trading with Mexico; 2. to meet Pope of Rome to ask to send missionaries to Sendai. Lord Date trusted them with two correspondences: one for King of Spain and the other for Pope of Rome which was translated into Latin). In Madrid, Hasekura met King of Spain Felipe III (Philip III: 1578-1621; reign 1598-1621) on January 30, 1615 and gave him Lord Date's correspondence and was baptized before King of Spain and Anne of Austria (1601-1666; daughter of Felipe III; later Queen of France and mother of Louis XIV). But they could not receive a good answer from King of Spain because he knew through other correspondents what happened to the missionaries and that Masamune Date was just a lord, not the king of Japan. So the mission went to Rome and met Pope of Rome Paulus V (Camillo Borghese, the 233rd pope; 1605-1621) on November 3, 1615. Hasekura was raised to the peerage and the eight Japanese including him were given citizenship of Rome. After Paulus V promised him to send missionaries to Sendai, the mission went back to Madrid, but they could not stay so long this time and go to Sevilla where Hasekura and Sotelo remained to negotiate with King Felipe III in vain. They left Europe for Acapulco on July 4, 1617, then boarding on "San Juan Bautista" they went to Manila, the Philippines where they had to stay for two years. With their broken hearts, the mission returned to Sendai on August 26, 1620 when the Sendai clan had already set forth the prohibition against Christianity following the Tokugawa Shogunate's policy. Hasekura soon debriefed their journey to Masamune Date who later submitted the report to the Shogunate. spent the sad evening of his life in obscurity and died in Sendai only two years after his return. Hasekura and the mission brought so many things from abroad but almost everything was safekept as Christian-related under the strict prohibition for about 250 years until Tomomi Iwakura discovered Hasekura's record in Venice in 1873. *Masamune's legitimate wife Mego-hime (€P, 1568-1653), and their first daughter Iroha-hime (άYͺP, 1594-1661) who married Ieyasu Tokugawa's 6th son Tadateru Matsudaira (Ό½P, 1592-1683), were Catholic (at least for a while). Although Masamune was not baptized, he reportedly walked, wearing white and carrying a gilded cross, in the city centre of Kyoto toward Jyurakudai (γΪyζ), Hideyoshi Toyotomi's Kyoto residence in late 1591 or (19th year of Tensho [V³19N]). Masamune was then under suspicion about agitating the Kasai-Osaki-ikki (Όεθκ), the revolt of the former retainers of the Kasai clan (Ό) and the Osaki clan (εθ) who were deprived of their fiefdoms in the present northern Miyagi and southern Iwate for the simple reason that they did not participate in Hideyoshi's attack against the Hojo clan (kπ) in Odawara (now Kanagawa Prefecture). Masamune's Christ-like labors (together with other practical ingenuities) were crowned with success to dispel suspicion. |
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Returning to the story of Fukuwara, Juan Goto reemployed old retainers of the Iwabuchi family scattering over Fujisawa. He made a 600-meter main street lying east and west and allocated the both sides of the road to his retainers. His small castle was built in the western edge of the road. He converted his retainers to Christianity and made a Catholic church off the street. He and his retainers were very proficient in construction. They developed irrigation canals from River Isawa for growing rice, which, even now standing, made Goto's name immortal in this region. Commanding his men as the chief of Date's gun regiment, he went campaigning for the Tokugawa Shogunate at the two battles of Osaka in winter 1614 with 60 men, and in summer 1615 with 100 men. Lord Date treated Goto as a precious man of wisdom, and tried to protect Goto against the Tokugawa Shogunate's prohibition. In early 1623 Lord Date denounced the prohibition all over his dominion but he secretly passed the following three restrictions to Goto: 1. Do not invite a Christian priest to thy castle, even for a moment. 2. Do not convert anyone to Christianity. 3. If thou makest a pledge for the above two, only thou canst keep Christian faith; however, by God, thou shalt not tell it to anyone. But Goto refused Masamune Date's lenity, saying, "Most humbly and with proper formalities, I am filled with gratitude for my Lord's favor, but Jesus Christ's favor is far more immense than my Lord's. I will not be able to please your lordship this time." As Lord Date recognized Goto's will, the crackdown was approaching to Fukuwara. In the last Christmas in Fukuwara in 1623, Goto was titled "Brother" as a person who had done many years of meritorious services by Rev. Diego Carvalho (Jesuit; b. in Coimbra, Portugal, 1578 - Feb. 22, 1624). Soon Goto left Fukuwara with only several retainers. After the last Christmas in Fukuwara, Rev. Diego Carvalho was captured in Sengenbara, upper River Isawa (27 km west of Fukuwara), immediately sent to Sendai in spite of heavy snow and water- tortured to death by the Date retainers in the bank of River Hirose, Sendai on February 22 (January 4 in the Lunar Calendar), 1624. Some people might think it was a brutal persecution against a Western priest, but it was impossible for Date clan to blink at him under the strict prohibition all over Japan. Masamune Date and his retainers did not want to persecute or kill Goto and his retainers as well as the other Christians who greatly underpropped the development of Date clan with their Western-styled techniques of iron-making and construction: so Kojyuro Katakura, the sniper Masamune sent to Juan Goto, was said to spent a whole month purposely to go to Fukuwara (normally within a few days), which helped the Goto group's flight. After Masamune's death in 1636, more than 300 Christians were executed only in Date dominion in 1639-1640; the crackdown against Christians extended to the iron-industrial area, Okago and Osawagara (now Fujisawa-cho, County Higashi-Iwai, Iwate), also known as Christian communities, but some people miraculously lived as crypto-Christians over the Edo Period; some crypto-Christians prayed for Jesus and Maria in a cave (now known as "Okarasawa-doya"). It was said that Goto and his men wandered in the Nambu dominions where the anti-Christian suppression was not so severe. Toshinao Nambu, the chief lord of the Nambu clan, was a good friend of Ujisato Gamo of the Aizu-jo Castle, the greatest Christian lord of Japan who owned 120 million goku at that time: His younger sister was Toshinao's wife. Naturally Toshinao understood what is Christianity and was sympathetic to Christians. As some researchers have been trying to prove, it was Isenokami Akisuke Kashiyama who mainly sheltered Juan Goto in the Nambu dominion. He was the lord of Iwasaki-jo Castle, Waga close to the dominion border. He was the former lord of Obayashi-jo Castle on the Date clan's side. He was said to have become a Christian under the influence of Juan Goto when he was the lord of Obayashi-jo Castle, Isawa. Under Isenokami's protection, Juan Goto could find some lurking places to continue to preach the gospel not only in Iwasaki but also in Hanamaki, Morioka and even Tono. In 1636, however, the third Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu strictly ordered Toshinao Nambu to prohibit Christianity in his dominions. Soon Isenokami was summoned to Hanamaki-jo Castle on the occasion of Toshinao's visit and treated some poisonous food and drink: Isenokami and the lord of Hanamaki-jo Castle Masanao Nambu, an illegitimate child of Toshinao and a good Christian friend of Isenokami, were poisoned. In fact, there lived many Christians in their dominions, which probably threatened Toshinao so much. What happened to Juan Goto after Isenokami's death is under investigation. In March 1951, however, a grave inscribed with the name of "Don Juan Gotoo 1565-1626" was discovered by an editorial staff of the History of Miyagi Prefecture in Nishikamizawa, Yonekawa, Towa-cho, Tome City, Miyagi, adjoining to Fujisawa-cho. However, the biographical dates inscribed on the grave is quite doubtful. |
| IMAGE |
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(Monday 16 August) Juan Goto Memorial Hall (γ‘υΑ_°), Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Monday 16
August) Latin script of Juan Goto
Memorial, Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City: it can be roughly
translated: Juan Goto was a vassal of Masamune Date [the great lord of Sendai]. He had his dominions over Fukuwara of Miwake and held a fief yielding 1,200 koku of rice [1 koku = 47.654 U.S. gallons; 5.119 U.S. bushels]. He always met his people with benignity and saved them at his own expense and even by borrowing some money from others when he found a person in straitened circumstances. In 1615 he began to toil his way at making irrigation canals flumed from River Isawa and finally reclaimed a big field after years. Since then, the rice field belt enlarged over the southern part of County Isawa. Thanks to the canals, the peasants did not have to worry about irrigating the fields even in the long drought. In 1924 the Japanese government made a posthumous praise to him creating "Jyu-Go-i" [the junior grade of the fifth court rank] for him. Juan Goto profoundly embraced Christianity and built a church in his dominion Fukuwara and invited foreign missionaries to evangelize people. He wrote a reply to Pope of Rome Paulus V's epistle uttering expiation of sins as the representative of Christians in the two fiefdoms of the Tohoku District. In 1623, however, when the Tokugawa Shogunate government issued orders forbidding Christianity, Masamune Date racked his brains about Goto's conversion. But Goto refused it and abandoned his status, defecting to the Nambu territory to finish his life as a Christian. Now those who work for the good of the local water-utilization association have argued about praising his virtue and erected this monument to posterity Juan Goto's great achievements. Scribed by Ginosuke Kanno on October 13, 1931: translated from Japanese into Latin by R.P.S. Candau (English trans. Eishiro Ito) |
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(Monday 16 August) Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Monday 1 January) Stone monuments to the memory of local soldiers who rendered great services from the Meiji Restoration in 1867 to the Second World War II, northside of Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Cenotaph built in 1909 in memory of war victims, Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Cenotaph built in memory of war victims during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Triumphal monument dated September 13, 1886. Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Cenotaph built in memory of war victims at Battle of Shirakawa (now Fukushima prefecture) during the Boshin War (1868-1869), Juan Goto Memorial, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Monument for "O Inari-sama" (the god of harvests; the fox deity), Juan Goto Memorial Hall, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 16
August) A fake small shrine dedicated
to "Kannon" (Sk. Avalokitesvara; Ch. Kuan-Yin; the
Buddhist goddess of
Mercy), a remain of the crypto Christians, Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward,
Oshu City. Even
after the Christian lord Juan Goto's leaving Fukuwara, some people did
not apostatize from their Christian faith. Fukuwara had the
second largest Christian community of the Tohoku District next to
Sendai in the early seventeenth century. Under the Shogunate's prohibition against Christianity, they had to hide their faith and gave the image of Maria an appearance of "Kannon." An ancestor of the Kikuchi family who lived here secretly kept it enshrined as the image of "Kannon." However, in spring in 1754, Reizan, the 29th chief Buddhist priest of Choko-ji Temple, Mizusawa detected it and that put the Kikuchi family in very desperate straits. According to the prohibition, if the crypto-Christians found, in the most typical case, the officers put them behind bars and gave the final test using a copper tablet (or something) with a crucifix to be trodden on to prove themselves non-Christians: if they could not trod on, they were sentenced to be crucified. Knowing the state of things, Kiuemon Ito, the foreman, sent the image to Munemasa Gonnojo Nakagawa, the famous maker of Buddhist images, Kyoto to inscribe "Nyoirin-Kannon" (Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the form of Chintamanichakra) on it. Later the image was lost and somehow replaced with a wooden box (c.12 cm in width and c.30 cm in length) putting two Christian "Medai" (Port. medalha: medals) in it in 1782. Since then, the local crypto-Christians secretly continued to worship the box with the two Christian medals until the mid-nineteenth century when the Shogunate finally permitted Christianity. |
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(Monday 1 January) Annual New Year's Exposition of the treasured image of "Kannon" [which looks like that of the Virgin Mary] on the Day (from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day), the fake "Kannon" shrine, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Annual New Year's Exposition of the treasured image of "Kannon" [which looks like that of the Virgin Mary] on the Day (from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day), the fake "Kannon" shrine, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 1 January) Annual New Year's Exposition of the treasured image of "Kannon" [which looks like that of the Virgin Mary] on the Day (from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day), the fake "Kannon" shrine, Fukuwara |
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(Monday 16
August) "Bishamon-do" (Hall of
the Buddhist Guardian Deity
of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu
City. In this place
Juan Goto had built "Tenshu-do" or a Catholic church in the early
seventeenth century. Here had been the most important point for Christian missionaries in the early seventeenth century: Many Catholic priests, among them, Rev. Jeronimo Angeles (Jesuit; b. Sicily, 1568-1623), Rev. Calvarius (Jesuit; b. Portugal 1576-1624),* Rev. Paulo and Rev. Pedro were received and many Christians from other areas came in its golden age before the Shogunate's prohibition against Christianity. After Juan Goto's exodus, all the inhabitants remained here ostensibly promised apostasy but grudged the disposition of the image of Maria: they secretly enshrined it as "Kannon" (see above). Later people built this "Bishamon-do" in the the church site. Ginosuke Kanno, a scholar of Juan Goto, found a Christian "Medai" (medal) here around 1930. It is said that there were many Christian "Medai" treasured in this district in the early seventeenth century The Mass-day (feast day) of this hall is set on September 9 and organized by the hereditary members of the Takahashi family since early times. |
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(Monday 16 August) A fake "Bishamon-do" (Hall of the Buddhist Guardian Deity of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Monday 1 January) Annual Exposition of the fake "Bishamon-do" (Hall of the Buddhist Guardian Deity of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara. From New Year's Eve to New Year's Day. No "Bishamon" image in this hall! |
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(Monday 1 January) Annual Exposition of the fake "Bishamon-do" (Hall of the Buddhist Guardian Deity of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara. From New Year's Eve to New Year's Day. |
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(Monday 1
January) Annual Exposition of the fake "Bishamon-do" (Hall of the
Buddhist Guardian Deity
of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara. From New
Year's Eve to New Year's Day.
I found this old picture of young women enshrined in a Shinto way. However, I do not have any memoir related to this picture yet. Were they Christians? |
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(Monday 1
January) Annual Exposition of the fake "Bishamon-do" (Hall of the
Buddhist Guardian Deity
of Warriors), a crypto-Christian remain, Fukuwara. From New
Year's Eve to New Year's Day.
I found this old picture of young women enshrined in a Shinto way. However, I do not have any memoir related to this picture yet. Were they Christians? |
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(Sunday 26 September) Roman Catholic Church Mizusawa, Kawabata, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Sunday 26 September) Statue of Juan Goto (by Teruo Konno, 1953), Roman Catholic Church Mizusawa, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Sunday 26 September) Statue of Juan Goto (by Teruo Konno, 1953), Roman Catholic Church Mizusawa, Fukuwara, Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Tuesday 28 September) Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Tuesday 28 September) Monument of Juan Goto, Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City: This is the place where Juan Goto made the first irrigation canal in the early seventeenth century. Even after Goto's leaving, people never forget what he tried to establish for them and still call it Juan's canal "Juan-zeki" (υΑ) with their respect. |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa-cho, Oshu City. Since Juan Goto made canals in the early seventeenth century, people irrigated the rice-fields from River Isawa. Because of the shortage of absolute quantity of water, however, there had been everlasting strife around this area. To solve the problem, the self-governing community employed this cylindrical diversion device in 1959. No one has been taking to complain about the distribution of water since then. |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
;) |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
;) |
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(Saturday 19 August) "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
;) |
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(Saturday 19 August) The irrigation canal from "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
;) |
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(Saturday 19 August) The small bridge over the irrigation canal from "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
;) |
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(Saturday 19 August) The irrigation canal from "Ento-bunsuiko" (Cylindrical Diversion Device), viewed from the bridge, Tokusui-en Park, Isawa Ward, Oshu City |
For
further information of the 16th-century Christian Mission Work and Juan Goto,
1. go to the "Mizusawa, Oshu City" page.
2. go to the "Ichinoseki City " page.
3. go to the "Tome City
" page.
4. go to the "Azuchi-cho, Omihachiman City" page.
5. go to the "Sakai City" page.
6. go to the "Shimonoseki City" page.
7. go to the "Yamaguchi City" page.
8. go to the "Hioki City" page.
9. go to the "Kagoshima City" page.
10. go to the "Nagasaki City" page.
11. go to the "Oita City" page.
12. go to the "Hagi City" page.
13. go to the "Tsuwano Town" page.
