Note 2 — Events in Filipinas, 1630–32

Apparently a corrupt Spanish pronunciation of the Japanese Jōdō (also written Jíôdo, and Jodo), the name of one of the Buddhist sects which flourish in Japan. It was founded in 1174 A.D.—by one Hōnen, according to Griffis; by Genku, according to Rein. Iyeyasu and his successors were adherents and benefactors of this sect. “Its priests strictly insisted upon celibacy, and abhorred the eating of flesh. They taught that the health of the soul depends less upon virtue and moral perfection than upon the strict observance of pious practices” (Rein). See Griffis’s account of Buddhism in Japan, in his Mikado’s Empire, pp. 158–175; and the chapter on religious systems in Rein’s Japan, pp. 442–464.