the outrage merits the
most extreme punishment, wishing nevertheless to show them mercy, we
order them under pain of death to quit Japan within twenty days.
During that space no harm or hurt will be done, to them. But at the
expiration of that term, we order that if any of them be found in our
estates, they should be seized and punished as the greatest
criminals. As for the Portuguese merchants, we permit them to enter
our ports, there to continue their accustomed trade, and to remain in
our estates provided our affairs need this. But we forbid them to
bring any foreign priests into the country, under the penalty of the
confiscation of their ships and goods.'"*

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

How are we to account for this seemingly rapid change of mood on
Hideyoshi's part? A comparison of dates furnishes some assistance in
replying to that question. The Kyushu campaign took place in 1587,
and it was in 1586 that Hideyoshi commenced the construction of the
colossal image of Buddha in Kyoto. The Taiko was by no means a
religious man. That is amply shown by the stories told in the
previous pages. But his political sagacity taught him that to
continue Nobunaga's crusade against Buddhism would not be wise
statesmanship, and that if the bonzes could be disarmed and diverted
from military pursuits, they would become useful agents of
intellectual and moral progress. His idea of setting up a gigantic
idol in the capital marked his final substitution of a conciliatory
programme for the fiercely destructive methods of Nobunaga. Of
necessity he had, then, to reconsider his demeanour towards
Christianity, and it is on record that before leaving Osaka for
Kyushu he publicly stated, "I fear much that all the virtue of the
European priests is merely a mask of hypocrisy and serves only to
conceal pernicious designs against the empire." Then, in Kyushu, two
things influenced him strongly. One was that he now saw with his own
eyes what militant Christianity really meant--ruined temples,
overthrown idols, and coerced converts. Such excesses had not
disgraced Christian propagandism in Kyoto or in the metropolitan
provinces, but in Kyushu the unsightly story was forced upon
Hideyoshi's attention. The second special feature of the situation in
Kyushu was that relations of an altogether exceptional character were
established between Hideyoshi and Kennyo, abbot of the Shin sect. By
the contrivance o