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Nevertheless he received from Ieyasu a charter so liberal that it plainly displayed the mood of the Tokugawa shogun towards foreign trade: " The ship that has now come for the first time from England over the sea to Japan may carry on trade of all kinds without hindrance. " With regard to the cargoes of ships, requisition will be made by list according to the requirements of the shogunate.
Mitsuhide, well aware of the Tokugawa baron's unfriendliness, made strenuous efforts to waylay Ieyasu on the way, and with great difficulty the journey eastward was accomplished by avoiding all the highroads. Nobunaga perished at the age of forty-nine.
Some annalists have endeavoured to prove that Hideyoshi assumed the attitude of a suppliant, while others have attributed that demeanour to the Tokugawa chieftain. The situation, however, presents one feature which is very significant.
The year of the former's accession to the shogunate had seen the re-issue of anti-Christian decrees and the martyrdom of some five hundred Christians within the Tokugawa domains, whither the tide of persecution now flowed for the first time. From that period onwards official attempts to eradicate Christianity in Japan were unceasing.
Throughout a period of two years immediately following the issue of the anti-Christian edict of 1614, the attention of Ieyasu, and indeed of the whole Japanese nation, was concentrated on the struggle which took place between the adherents of the Tokugawa and the supporters of Hideyori.
They were re-enacted by each shogun in succession on assuming office. The custom was to summon all the daimyo to Yedo, and to require their attendance at the Tokugawa palace, where, in the presence of the incoming shogun, they listened with faces bowed on the mats to the reading of the laws.
It is possible for us to see now that these early Japanese scholars idealized their ancient history, and assigned to the Emperor a place in ancient times which in all probability he has seldom held. But, however that may be, they thought their view correct, and held that the Emperor was being deprived of his rightful rule by the Tokugawa family.
According to a recognized historical authority, writing in the Tokugawa Jidaishi, such marriages were inspired by one or more of the following motives: that the bride or bridegroom should serve as a hostage; that the wedding should contribute to cement an alliance between the families of the bride and the bridegroom; that the wedding should become a means of spying into the affairs of one of the families; that it should be an instrument for sowing seeds of enmity between the two families.
The enthusiasm and the intolerance showed by the disciples of Chinese philosophy produced a reaction in Japan, and this culminated in the revival of Shinto, during which process the anomalous position occupied by the shogun towards the sovereign was clearly demonstrated, and the fact contributed materially to the downfall of the Tokugawa.
These architects never came, and the trade that resulted from the Tokugawa chief's overtures was paltry in comparison with the number of friars that accompanied it to Japan. It has been suggested that Ieyasu designed these Spanish monks to serve as a counterpoise to the influence of the Jesuits.
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