New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-25
, ,,og1y IyTEREsrrva FROM JAPAN.
FOOTPRINTS oFxAvIER.

,,.,,s n,ore than three centuries ago, Francis
x.-,;sr The opposite Of the Indies" the com
-.n;on and friend Of Ignatius Loyols landed on
~. .ho,es Of Japan. He was one Of the worlds
.,ns.t heroes. one Of the Churchs hottest saints.
p.sapt Of every personal danger, patient OF al
. -.T.r;nv he had borne the cross to India and the
= y.l.. az the See, planting churches and winning
.o,,orts where the seldom daunted spirit OF the
= Portuguese trader had not dared to venture. run
~ yeaI aspiring after fresh triumphs and, perhaps
sovetous Of that chefest glory dear to the Saints Of
That act--the crown of mar$yrdom-he lett
60 in April. l549 for the Islands Of Japan
3 He landed at KangOsima in Kiu-siu, in August
: cf the same year. The success that had
attended his labors in India, followed him
4 In Japan. Princes aud MOBILES were eager to
listen to the words of this new and strange faith and,
persuaded as much by the purity and sef-denial OF
xayiers life "a by the eloquence of his preaching,
became the early fruits of his labOrs. The middle
and humble classes of Society aocked by thousands
70 the standard Of the Cross For nearly century
the Church thus planted fourished and increased
till success lead to private corruption, Puonc u.s.
sensions and finally to an outbreak with the Go.
sernment. Then came the days Of persecution and
the sword. With what unfinching consistency the
native converts held to their faith the annallsts
of the Romish Church have told us. Under the
walls of Simabara Christianity made Its final stand
cannon of Protestant Holanders assisted to It's
oyerthrow. Then followed the days of relent-
Less persec,Ition from house to house, rlvahng
the DAYS of Bloody Mary. Over the grave OF the
MARTYRS was set up the impiOus imperial edict,
& :" So long as the sun shall warm the eartn let no
- Christian be so bold as to come to Japan; and
.let al know that the King of Spain hmseli or the
~Cbristians' God OF the great God of all if he vo-
q. lates this command shall pay for it with his
"head." Thus, less than century witnessed the
establishment and overthrow both OF the foreign
church and the Portuguese and Spanish trade, ana
the confinement of the Dutch to Desima. Since
that nearly every trace of the Catholic Church IN
Jansn has been obliterated. Various unsuccessful
aftImnts have been made BY the Church of Rome,
down as late as the opening of the eighteenth Gen.
trv 10 ascertain the fate of the native converts.
The Dutch chrOncleTs are silent as to any vestges
of the lost faith. 1t was lnsmory they well might
he Indifferent to keep alive; and besides they were
mot likely. after the affair Of Simabara, to be the
repositories of any confidence from any Of the pro-
scTlbed rehg0nlsts.
Few inquiries. therefore, can be more interesting
10 the modern traveller to Japan or to the public at
large than the inquiry for any remaining traces OF
q the lost Church. Nor are later visitors TO Japan
able as vet to satisfy these inquiries Of all the
fruits Of Xayiers mission to this people, to deliver
s'whose precious souls from the tyranny of sim he
s declared was his nOurishment, sleep, yea life it
! "self," nothing is now apparent. Every church
edifce has been destroyed by fire, every Christian
burial-place Oberated every cross, book, picture
or symbol sedulOusly destroyed. The names of it's
X rites symbols and ceremOnials are lost from the
language So thorough and complete have been the
unremitted efforts of the Government from the days
of Iycyas or 0gosho-sama, till the present time,
that the memory of this faith only remains as the
dimmest Of dim traditions.
In 1854, the Russian frigate Diana lay in the har-
Dor of SmOda, where she was afterward wrecked.
At the dead of night boat from ashore came along
side. Its sole occupant was Japanese. 1t was
evident, from his manner, that he had come off in
some important errand. He was taken aboard and
into the cabin. First looking carefully about the
cabin, lest he might be overheard of some
hidden person, he produced from the folds of his
dress an ancient and weil-worn crucifix. His man.
per, as he did so, full of the most trembling
anxiety. He said tbel0nged to his family, and had
: been handed down from one generation 10 another
ms a precious relic. He knew little of its import
beyond the fact that its possession was dangerous,
and that its original pOssessOrs had fallen under the
dispeasure of the Emperor. He attached to it some
vague feeling of being committed by Its possesOnt to
the faith it indicated. All he knew of that was
that he must not worship IDOLS and he could speak
the names of Jesus aud Mary. The Russian insig
MIA of the Greek Cross had emboldened him thus to
declare himself. His case illustrates the severity
and faithfulDess with which the old decree had been
executed. In this family, so jealousy watched had
they been, so impossible had it been either openly
secretly 10 preserve IlUcs Vi pIOsCilpcu
religion that its memory had faded out to the last
possible degree, and yet be alive Should the story
of the Dianas midnight visitor ever reach Japanese
ears am glad to say that be Is secure beyond the
reach of discovery or harm.
The imperial edicts are promulgated in this man.
ner: At suitable distances along the great tho
roughfares, prOclamation-places are established.
tiled roof supported by two or four posts. Under
this roof inscribed on wooden tablets protected
from the weather are the edicts of the Emperor.
/ was walking, not long since, into the country,
with Dr. H. of the Presbyterian Mission. We had
wandered some miles along pleasant country road,
bordered by hedge-rows, trees and cultivated fields
We were skirting the edge of a narrow valley, in
which was a small hamlet, when he called my at
tentiOn TO a series Of imperial tablets, put up and
protected in the usual manner at the fork OF two
dive, ging roads, One edict forbade the of fire.
arms; another prohibited the barbOring Of ugitiyes
from justice; another required the return of the
EmperOr's stray hawks. There was yet another Of
more interest than these. 1t offered reward of
money equivalent to three hundred dollars for
information Of the whereabouts of any "Keris-
"taD Iromain or Brutteran." Here, then, was
one of the old proclamatiOns respecting the
prescribed faith daily read by people who
could scarcely any longer comprehend to what it
alluded. These tablets, as often as they are de-
faced by time or tempest, are carefully renewed.
This particular tablet, our intOrmants said was two
or three hundred years old. Keristan is the old
word to signify the Catholics and is still thus used
at the present day. The other two names are no
longer distinctly recognized. There can be no
doubt that ROmanists are intended by the word IrO
MAN. BrutteTan at once reminds us of the word
Brethren, or the Dutch brOederen but it is difficult
to know who should have used this term to indicate