Prohibition of Christianity - Kinkyorei

The Edo Shogunate issued a decree banning Christianity. In the spring of 1612 (Keicho 17), a bribery scandal involving Okamoto Daihachi, a yoriki (police officer) of Honda Masazumi, and Arima Harunobu, a feudal lord in Hizen (Nagasaki Prefecture), was uncovered, and it was discovered that both men were Christians, and that there were also believers among Tokugawa Ieyasu's bannermen. The Okamoto Daihachi incident prompted the Shogunate to issue a nationwide decree on August 6 of the same year (September 1 of the solar calendar) banning Christianity, stating, "The followers of the missionaries are forbidden. If any of them betray the faith, they must flee and face punishment." Then, on December 23, 1600 (February 1, the following year in the Gregorian calendar), the monk Suden drafted a document banning Christianity, declaring the expulsion of Christians based on the "divine nation ideology" that was based on the idea of ​​unity of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Around the same time, preparations were made to expel missionaries and influential Christians such as Takayama Ukon, and in September 1600, Ukon and 148 others were exiled from Nagasaki to Macau and then to Manila, and the oppression of Christians began in various places. From then on, these two laws were considered the foundations of the policy of banning Christianity, and the policy of banning Christianity was promoted.

[Sanae Murai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸幕府によるキリスト教信仰禁止令。1612年（慶長17）春、本多正純(ほんだまさずみ)の与力(よりき)岡本大八と肥前（長崎県）の大名有馬晴信(ありまはるのぶ)の贈収賄事件が発覚し、両者がキリシタンであり、また徳川家康の旗本などにも信者がいることが判明した。この岡本大八事件を契機にして、幕府は同年8月6日（陽暦9月1日）、「伴天連(バテレン)門徒御制禁也。若有違背之族者忽不可遁其罪科事」と全国的にキリスト教信仰禁止を布告。続いて13年（慶長18）12月23日（陽暦翌年2月1日）、僧崇伝(すうでん)によって伴天連追放文が起草され、神道、仏教、儒教の三教一致思想を基礎とする「神国思想」によるキリスト教排撃が宣言された。これと前後して宣教師や有力信徒高山右近(うこん)らの追放が準備され、14年9月右近ら148名は長崎からマカオ、さらにマニラへ追放され、また各地でキリシタン弾圧が開始された。以後この両法令は、禁教政策の祖法とされ、キリシタン禁制政策が推進された。

［村井早苗］

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