The Christian Century in Japan, 1549-1650

On 23 September 1548, a boat carrying two Portuguese merchants was blown ashore on the south-westerly tip of Japan. Thus by chance they discovered the fabled country reported by Marco Polo. In 1549 St Francis Xavier started a Jesuit mission in Japan. Christianity flourished; by the end of the "Christian Century" there were some 300,000 converts. Then the Shoguns rose to absolute power, the missionaries were expelled and Christians persecuted. Two centuries later, when Commodore Perry forced Japan to open its ports, thousands of Christians declared themselves. This classic study of a remarkable but little-known period of Japanese history was first published in 1951. This edition is illustrated with the works of art produced in that fruitful century of cultural cross-fertilisation.