When the Spaniards and the Portuguese arrived in Japan, they brought with them more than firearms and scientific knowledge alone. They brought Christianity. The priests managed to win over tens of thousands of converts to the Catholic Church. However, not everybody was equally happy with this new emergence of power in the country. By the end of the 16th century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), Japan’s de facto ruler at the time, began to issue decrees against the Christians. He hoped to break their power and, in the end, priests and Japanese Christians were killed or banned throughout the country. Eventually, Christianity was prohibited in Japan. The few remaining Christians had to profess their faith in the greatest secrecy.
1669<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1669-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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