Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation Part 16

--I regret not having been able, in preparing this essay, to avail myself of the very remarkable "History of j.a.pan during the Century of Early Foreign Intercourse (1542-1651),"--by James Murdoch and Isoh Yamagata,--which was published at Kobe last winter. This important work contains much doc.u.mentary material never before printed, and throws new light upon the religious history of the period. The authors are inclined to believe that, allowing for numerous apostasies, the total number of Christians in j.a.pan at no time much exceeded 300,000; and the reasons given for this opinion, if not conclusive, are at least very strong.

Perhaps the most interesting chapters are those dealing with the Machiavellian policy of Hideyos.h.i.+ in his att.i.tude to the foreign religion and its preachers, but there are few dull pages in the book. Help to a correct understanding of the history of the time is furnished by an excellent set of maps, showing the distribution of the great fiefs and the political part.i.tion of the country before and after the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Not the least merit of the work is its absolute freedom from religious bias of any sort.