Note 6 — Bañuelos y Carrillo’s Relation

A Vizcayan captain, named Sebastian,6 having sailed from the port of Acapulco for an island called Ricca doro,7 was blown by a heavy gale to the latitude of that island; and, not being able to anchor, put in at Japon, and with the curiosity of a seaman sounded the ports of that kingdom. That novel proceeding made the Japanese suspicious. They asked an Englishman who was then allied to them what could be the design of that Spaniard. He told them that the Spaniards were a warlike nation, who were aiming at universal monarchy; that they always commenced their conquest by means of the religious; that after the religious of that nation had been permitted to preach there, and to build churches, they considered the conquest of that kingdom as secure; that that vessel had come to reconnoiter the country, and the entrance of the ports, and that it would be followed by a great army, which would complete that design. At that juncture a tono8 or prominent lord of the country died. The emperor had formerly tried to buy from him a house built for recreation; but that lord, who was fond of that place, refused to sell it. He was a Catholic, and left it at his death to the Jesuits, whereupon the latter thought it best to pay their respects to the emperor by offering it to him. That prince reflected that what an emperor could not accomplish, the Jesuits his subjects had compassed. Putting that reflection with the advice of the Englishman, he determined to exterminate the Catholics. That resolution was so executed that there are no Christians in Japon, except only the Portuguese from Macao. I am too much ashamed to name the conditions to which they submit, in order that they may be received there.