Chapter 73: State of Religion in Japan
Among all the powers it interacted with in Europe and Asia, Oda Japan stood out as a relatively agnostic realm when it came to the overlap of religion and politics. The emperor held a symbolic role and a direct connection to Shinto mythology, compared by many European chroniclers in the 16th and 17th centuries to the pope, and the imperial court as well as the Oda clan to some extent patronized Buddhist temples. However, the Oda rulers generally had a hands off approach when it came to religious affairs, especially Nobunaga and Nobutomo, and only intervened to suppress signs of organized religion they saw as a threat to their political authority. This could be seen with the war against Ishiyama Honganji during Nobunaga’s quest towards Japanese unification and the violent ban on Roman Catholicism during the Iberian-Japanese War. Aside from symbolic participation in Shinto-Buddhist rites and ceremonies as the highest ranking subject of the Japanese emperor and modest patronage of shrines and temples, the only significant action taken was the legitimization of the Yamato Church to help stamp out Catholicism from the realm. However, local lords and daimyo were more religiously involved within their own domains. This was particularly true of those either of Christian faith or ruling over populations with large Christian minorities. Before the ban on Catholicism, for example, Catholic daimyo heavily patronized the faith and in certain parts of Kyushu even incorporated Jesuits and Franciscans into their administrations. After the implementation of the ban, many daimyo in Kyushu and others with large Catholic populations would support the Yamato Church on the local level in converting ex-Catholics with varying levels of success. In southern Kyushu, meanwhile, the growing number of Calvinist merchants, samurai, and even commoners saw the faith and Dutch interests in general loom large in Shimazu clan politics.
It was within this context of modest political-religious admixture that Yamato Christianity grew into the void left by the Oda suppression of Roman Catholicism. Its founding from the official split of several Kirishitan churches from the Roman Catholic umbrella meant that outside of independence from Rome, the theology of the church stayed the same similarly to the new Church of England just after its separation from Rome in 1536. It developed a new priestly hierarchy centered around a patriarchal authority in Azuchi and 4 archdioceses in Nagasaki, Yamaguchi, Musashino, and Aparri, and 1 diocese in Iriebashi. Unlike the Church of England which underwent an internal Protestant Reformation within 15 years, the Church of Yamato did not alter its theology through Protestant influences, its leadership outright rejecting Dutch Calvinism. However, some of the church’s recent converts were open to Shinto-Buddhist and other native Japanese influences and would be fiercely active in the Yamato Church’s first major controversy, the “Communion Heresy”. When the Roman Catholic Church still operated in the realm, the wine used during Mass to represent the blood of Christ was either purchased at reduced rates from Spanish and Portuguese merchants or for free from the Iberian priesthood. Outside of religious functions, however, wine was a seldomly consumed luxury beverage. Thus, with the expulsion of Spanish-Portuguese merchants and priests from the country, the Church of Yamato found it more difficult to acquire wine for ceremonial usage without forking more money. As a result, some newly established churches in the countryside began to substitute wine with sake or tea. When this became known, a huge debate broke out between the “orthodox” (正統派) and “universal” (全般派) factions, resulting in the Council of 1638 in Azuchi. The former stressed the need to follow ceremonial tradition as practiced by every other church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church that the new church had split from. By contrast, the latter argued on the theory that drinks like sake were acceptable in place of wine as wine was drunk in the last supper by Jesus Christ and his followers due to it being a primary alcoholic drink of the region. According to the “universal” argument, material differences in the churches across different parts of the globe were not only acceptable but expected as Jesus Christ died for the sins of all humanity, not just occidental humanity. After a heated discussion between the bishops and other important figures in the church, the orthodox position won out.
Art of the church complex in Azuchi prior to the ban on Catholicism and the rise of Yamato Christianity
This controversy would, however, have two other long term outcomes. Firstly, the Church of Yamato would look into solutions and deals to overcome the high cost of imported wines, ultimately investing in creating church-run vineyards in the realm itself and birthing Japan’s own wine industry. These first vineyards would spring up around Hyogo in Settsu province and in Hikone (彦根) in Oumi province. Secondly, the 1638 Council elevated the universal faction and their theological arguments within the church despite their loss on the “Communion Heresy''. Their arguments opened the door for native cultural influences and although the theology did not fundamentally change, the concept of wabisabi would gradually be incorporated aesthetically and develop an austere simplicity in the appearance and style of the Yamato Church compared to the greater grandeur of Roman Catholicism. This small but significant admixture of Christian and native concepts would also set a precedent and eventually lead to the creation of a new faith down the line: Kyuusei-kyo (救世教) or Salvationism.
Modern day privately operated winery near Hyogo, formerly owned by the Church of Yamato
In its first 15-20 years of existence, the Church of Yamato easily brought over Kirishitans in most of the realm, particularly in the Kinki region and large urban centers where Japanese priests had already begun to take on a major role compared to Spanish-Portuguese Jesuits and Franciscans. However, the brutal crackdown of the banned faith in Kyushu disillusioned many ex-Catholics, especially peasants in the rural areas, from the faith and many institutions in general. The initial establishment of a Yamato Christian church in Nagasaki was even met with a deluge of hateful graffiti by anonymous ex-Catholics. Those Kirishitans who didn’t join the new native Christian church either continued their “true faith” underground and passed down their beliefs to new generations as kakure katoriku (隠れカトリック) [1] until the eventual legalization of Roman Catholicism 2 centuries later or joined local Pure Land and Nichiren Buddhist (日蓮宗）temples. As a result, the Yamato Church could claim 7% of the population in the home islands by 1650, less than the 10% Roman Catholicism achieved at its apex in 1630. The Church of Yamato could claim 10% of Bireitou as its adherents, however, and it would find greater success in the new province of Luson where newly settled Japanese Kirishitans and Catholic Filipinos would join it from its outset and make it among the biggest faiths in Luson province.
Buddhism also saw changes and developments after the consolidation of the Oda regime. After the destruction of Ishiyama Honganji in 1580 following the truce between the temple and Nobunaga, Kennyo (顕如) withdrew to Honganji’s Saginomoribetsu-in (本願寺鷺森別院) in Kii province and his many followers remained rudderless. Despite his efforts, he would fail to re-establish a new Honganji in his lifetime [2]. After his death, local support for its re-establishment was suppressed by Nobunaga and his son Nobutada and it was only under the rule of Oda Nobunori and his inspector general Saito Yoshioki that a new Honganji was permitted to be re-established in the Sakai exurb of Osaka with Kennyo’s second son Junnyo (准如) as its helm in 1614. However, Honganji and Jodo Shin-shu in general would never achieve the popularity and strength it had accumulated in the 15th and 16th centuries, although Junnyo’s successor Ryounyo (良如) would find some success in increasing the sect’s followers in de-Catholicized rural Kyushu. The void left by Honganji’s long absence would be filled by Jodo-shu temples and other branches of Jodo Shin-shu, most notably its Takada subsect (真宗高田派).
Meanwhile, Buddhist schools preferred by merchants and samurai like Zen, Tendai (天台宗), and Nichiren would take hold in both Bireitou and Luson alongside Catholicism and later Yamato Christianity in the former. Zen and its Chinese progenitor, Chan Buddhism, would end up predominating in Bireitou, with Chinese immigrants to the island followed by monks from the mainland and the indigenous Bireitoans finding the faith most ingratiating with their animist traditions. One Chinese monk in particular, Yinyuan Longqi, would rise to prominence and eventually be patronized by many local lords and chieftains after his arrival to the island in 1637 [3]. It was there that he founded the Oubaku school of Zen (黄檗宗) in 1646 [4], one that would eventually become the most prominent school of Buddhism on the island. Oubaku-shu characteristically melded many Chinese and Japanese elements of Chan/Zen Buddhism together, with the traditional Zen concepts of zazen (座禅) and koan (公案) emphasized alongside rituals like the recitation of nenbutsu, a practice chiefly associated with Pure Land Buddhism. The school would eventually spread to Luson province as well but would find little headway in the home island themselves outside of ports with large numbers of Chinese merchants. Meanwhile, temples aligned with other schools of Zen as well as Tendai-shu would be limited in reach in Luson outside of Japanese samurai and merchants, with only Nichiren Buddhism successfully breaking into the lower classes and the Filipino population alongside Yamato Christianity.
Portrait of Yinyuan Longqi
Finally, interactions and dialogue with Buddhist monks from Siam and other countries would lead to the beginning of the tradition of pilgrimage to the holy sites of the Buddha in India, known as the Busei-junrei (仏生巡礼). After trips by Japanese Buddhist monks to other Buddhist realms like Siam gave them a taste of oceangoing travel outside Japan and a few Japanese merchants began to operate on the eastern coast of India, a Shingon-shu (真言宗)monk named Sonzen (尊然) made the first pilgrimage to all the holy sites of the Buddha in 1635 in the subcontinent, including the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha was said to have achieved enlightenment, and was the first Japanese eyewitness to local society and culture in that area. After he returned to Kyoto in 1638, he recounted his experience in his writings that came to be known as the Buseiki (仏生記). The Busseiki quickly circulated in Kyoto and beyond and in the 1640s, temples and sects sponsored numerous pilgrimages of groups of monks. Although still an uncommon and expensive phenomenon by 1650, the Bussei-junrei would enshrine itself in Japanese culture as yet another tradition and more importantly a link to the wider world.
[1]: Inspired by OTL’s kakure kirishitan
[2]: IOTL, Kennyo is permitted to re-establish Honganji in Kyoto, the present day Nishi Honganji (西本願寺), in 1591 with the permission of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
[3]: Yinyuan Longqi left China in 1654 on the invitation of Chinese merchants in Nagasaki.
[4]: Oubaku-shu was founded 15 years earlier than IOTL.
