Note 8 — The Second Embassy to Japan
Reading edition
The Christian religion was first introduced into Japan by the preaching of the great Jesuit St. Francis Xavier, in 1549. Favored Page 38nby the Japanese ruler Nobunaga, the Jesuit missions rapidly increased; and by 1581 “they reckoned nearly one hundred and fifty thousand adherents in all classes of society, and over two hundred churches.” (Rein's Japan, pp. 265–271.)