lligible. In Kyoto, the same experience was repeated
with an addition of much physical hardship. But, when the Jesuits
returned to Yamaguchi in the early autumn of 1551, they baptized five
hundred persons, including several members of the military class.
Still Fernandez with his broken Japanese was the only medium for
communicating the profound doctrines of Christianity. It must be
concluded that the teachings of the missionaries produced much less
effect than the attitude of the local chieftain."*

*Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition; article "Japan," by
Brinkley.

But the Jesuits have not left any misgivings on record. They relate
that during Xavier's sojourn in Bungo he had numerous public
debates--one continuing for five days--with Buddhist priests, but
even Fernandez not being available as an interpreter, these debates
must have been either farcical or imaginary, though brilliant results
are claimed for them by the Church historians. That Xavier himself
was not satisfied is proved by his determination to transfer his
ministrations to China, for he said, "if the Chinese adopt the
Christian religion, the Japanese also will abandon the religions they
have introduced from China."

SECOND PERIOD OF PROPAGANDISM

Torres and Fernandez remained in Japan after Xavier's departure and
were there joined soon afterwards by three others. The new-comers
landed at Kagoshima and found that the Satsuma baron was as keen as
ever in welcoming foreign trade, although his attitude towards the
alien religion continued antipathetic. Bungo now became the
headquarters of the Jesuits in Japan. Local disturbances had
compelled them to leave Yamaguchi, where their disputes with Buddhist
priests had become so violent that an official proscription of the
Western religion was pronounced. In Funai, the capital of the
province of Bungo, they built their first church in Japan and also a
hospital. From that place, too, they began to send yearly reports
known as the Annual Letters to their generals in Rome, and these
Letters give an interesting insight into the conditions then existing
in Japan. The writers "describe a state of abject poverty among the
lower orders--poverty so cruel that the destruction of children by
their famishing parents was an every-day occurrence." This terrible
state of affairs was due to the civil wars which had entered their
most violent phase in the Onin era (1467-1468), and had continued
without intermission ever