They were both religions aiming
at the achievement of holiness by renunciation of the world. They both
ignored politics and government and wealth, for which they substituted
the future life as what was of real importance. They were both religions
of peace, teaching gentleness and non-resistance. But both had to
undergo great transformations in adapting themselves to the instincts of
warlike barbarians. In Japan, a multitude of sects arose, teaching
doctrines which differed in many ways from Mahayana orthodoxy. Buddhism
became national and militaristic; the abbots of great monasteries became
important feudal chieftains, whose monks constituted an army which was
ready to fight on the slightest provocation. Sieges of monasteries and
battles with monks are of constant occurrence in Japanese history.
The Japanese, as every one knows, decided, after about 100 years'
experience of Western missionaries and merchants, to close their country
completely to foreigners, with the exception of a very restricted and
closely supervised commerce with the Dutch. The first arrival of the
Portuguese in Japan was in or about the year 1543, and their final
expulsion was in the year 1639. What happened between these two dates is
instructive for the understanding of Japan. The first Portuguese brought
with them Christianity and fire-arms, of which the Japanese tolerated
the former for the sake of the latter.
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