Hayashi Razans redeployment

of anti-Christian discourse:
the fabrication of Haiyaso
K I R I PA R A M O R E

Abstract: Haiyaso, a short text found in the collected works of the early
Tokugawa Confucian Hayashi Razan (15831657), purports to be a record of
a debate held in 1606 between Razan and the famous Japanese Jesuit scholastic Habian (15851621). The debate is presented in the text as a confrontation
between Confucianism and Christianity. In the modern period, right up to the
present, the text has been used prolifically to present a conflict between Western thought and East Asian intellectual systems as one of the central stories of
the intellectual history of early seventeenth-century Japan. In this sense, the text
has been used to justify the imposition of fashionable modern dichotomies between East and West and rational and religious onto the intellectual history of
Tokugawa Japan. This outlook has been supported by an inaccurate representation of Habians Jesuit period treatise Myotei mondo as some kind of introduction
to Western thought. In fact, Myotei mondo is a much more complex work which,
among other things, shows the clear influence of Confucian and Neo-Confucian
humanism.
This article goes back to the extant source documents of indigenous Japanese
Jesuit thought, and the attacks on it in the early seventeenth century. Through
examining the ideas of Habian in contrast with other Japanese and Chinese Jesuit
texts, and by analysing the context within which Haiyaso sits in Hayashi Razans
collected documents, the paper demonstrates that Haiyaso was a fabrication, in
the sense that it is a work of propaganda probably written well after Habians
death, and imputing to Habian views that he clearly did not hold.
Keywords: Tokugawa Confucianism, Kirishitan thought, Christianity in Japan,
early modern intellectual history, comparative philosophy

The anti-Christian discourse of Tokugawa Japan has traditionally been presented

as the rhetorical element in an early seventeenth-century story of persecution,
torture and extermination in which ended Japans so-called Christian century.
That is, it has been presented primarily in terms of the historic period that is
Japan Forum 18(2) 2006: 185206
C 2006 BAJS
Copyright

ISSN: 09555803 print/1469932X online

DOI: 10.1080/09555800600731106

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

its subject matter, rather than in terms of the historic period of its production.
It has therefore ended up as part of histories of Christianity in Japan and of socalled East-West interaction. Recently, however, scholars of Japanese intellectual
history have begun to look at anti-Christian discourse more in terms of its role
in the development of political thought throughout the Tokugawa period. The
image of Christianity contained within anti-Christian discourses has come to be
discussed in terms of its role as a representation of the other over the course of
the Tokugawa period, that is, as an imagined rather than real projection of what
was alien to the consciousness of order, a necessary demon, an oppositional figure
against which the early modern Japanese order was established (Kurozumi 2003:
158).
This kind of analysis looks towards what role anti-Christian discourses and
images of Christianity may have played in the formation of ideas of intellectual
orthodoxy, national identity and other politically relevant constructs through the
course of the Tokugawa regime and immediately thereafter the seventeenth,
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. References to Christianity, or at least images
of Christianity formulated as part of anti-Christian discourses, appear all through
these three centuries, surfacing in the writings of figures and movements as significant as Hayashi Razan, Suzuki Shosan,

Kumazawa Banzan, Arai Hakuseki,

Miura Baien, Mitogaku and Inoue Tetsujiro.

This article, however, seeks to look at nothing more than one small moment, be
it nevertheless an arguably formative moment, in the creation of one of the most
important early Tokugawa anti-Christian discourses: Hayashi Razans projection
of an image of a figure referred to as Fukansai Habian, Hapiyan, Habiyan or
Fukan, a figure who, on the one hand, was once one of the most highly regarded
Japanese Jesuit intellectuals and yet who, conversely, ended up becoming not only
the author of one anti-Christian text, but moreover the farcical main character in
at least two others.1
Often referred to in English histories as Fukan Fabian, Habian (15851621)
the historical figure stands as arguably the most important Japanese intellectual of
the so-called Christian period of late sixteenth-, early seventeenth-century Japan.
As a Jesuit scholastic Habian wrote Myotei mondo, which was completed in 1605
and soon became the most generally referenced Christian text in Japan.2 In 1620,
well after Habians resignation from the Jesuits in 1608 and the beginning of the
governments active persecution of Christians from 1613, Habian wrote Hadaius,
which went on to become one of the most famous anti-Christian texts.
Through employment of this dramatic about turn, Habians life and his ideas,
during both his Jesuit and his anti-Jesuit periods, have been historicized in
terms of an anti-Christian discourse created during the Tokugawa period which
sought to locate Christian and anti-Christian thought in the context of an intellectual and political conflict between Nanban and Nihon. This developed
into a discourse which sought to set up a polemic between Japaneseness and
Non-Japaneseness.3

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187

The fact that most twentieth-century research on Habian deals with him in
terms of the parameters of this discourse is one of the more fascinating aspects
of the research in this field. Nearly all the research on Habian, while rating his
Jesuit period treatise Myotei mondo as one of the more important texts of the
period, values it in terms of its role in introducing Western thought to Japan,
and in contrast with traditional Japanese thought (Ebisawa 1964: 117). In this
way research on Habian, whether viewing the Jesuit venture in Japan positively, as
Ebisawa does, or negatively, as Elison (1991) does, sees Habians Jesuit-period role
as representative of a Christian Western side in a conflict with something viewed as
Japanese and traditional.4 His turning away from the Jesuits and Christianity and
his alignment with the anti-Christian forces is then inescapably analysed in terms
of this framework of ideological competition between two opposed civilizations
a clash of cultures.5
One of the key anti-Christian texts used to support this discourse has been
Haiyaso. Haiyaso, a text which purports to be a record of a debate between Habian
and the early Tokugawa Confucian Hayashi Razan held around 1606, is found only
a collection of Razans documents compiled by Razans
in Hayashi Razan bunshu,
son Hayashi Gaho and published in 1662. Haiyaso has always been viewed as an
authentic document, and particularly significant in that it shows Habian during
his Jesuit period through the eyes of those opposed to the Jesuits, in this case
government-aligned Confucians.
Yet, while even in modern histories Haiyaso has been accepted fairly much at
face value, the authenticity of Haiyaso as a true record of a conversation between
Habian and Razan has never been proven. While Jesuit documents seem to indicate
that such a debate may have occurred around 1606,6 there is no proof that the
document published in 1662 by Gaho is a true record of that debate. Fukan,
as Habian is called in Haiyaso, is pictured in that text, as he is in most other
anti-Christian literature which refers to him, as a standard bearer of a singular
religious-philosophical system called Yaso or Tenshukyo (Christianity, Catholicism
or Jesuitry).7 Habians ideas are portrayed as fitting into a singular system which
supports homogeneous images of Nanban and Yaso.
This article considers whether that portrayal fits with the true nature of Habians
ideas as expressed by him during his Jesuit period by, first, re-examining the contents of Habians only philosophical work during that time, Myotei mondo, and
then analysing it in the context of other Christian texts read in the Japan of that
time, both those originating from Japan-based Jesuits and those written by Matteo
Ricci in China. Through examining the contextualized philosophical content of
Myotei mondo, and the content and contextual setting of Haiyaso within Razans
other writings, a further understanding can be reached of 1) what Jesuit-inspired
thought in Japan had actually become by the start of the Tokugawa period (as
represented in the Jesuit-period writing of Habian), 2) the nature of one particularly pervasive early Tokugawa anti-Christian discourse (Razans projection of
an image of Habian) and 3) the nature of the relationship between the two. The

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

re-examination of Haiyaso thereby offers up an opportunity to take a close look

at the reality of Japanese Christian-aligned thought in the first decade of the seventeenth century, and to see how the anti-Christian discourse engages with and
emerges from that.

Myotei
mondo
Before examining Haiyaso, however, it is first necessary to provide a solid contextualized analysis of what Habians Jesuit period ideas were, as expressed in his
main extant text Myotei mondo. Previous research on Myotei mondo has tended
to concentrate on its criticism of non-Christian religious traditions. In terms of
Myotei mondos approach to Christianity itself, previous research has tended to
note Myotei mondos explanation of creation and its employment of scholastic philosophy, and stopped there. While differences between Myotei mondo and other
contemporary Christian texts have been pointed out, these have been referred
to in terms of Habians lack of faith and consequent inability to grasp the basic tenants of Christian doctrine (Ebisawa 1993: 512). Such analysis of Habian,
however, is clearly based less on an attempt to see his thought as a whole within
its contemporaneous social context and more on attempts to compare Habian
against an imagined universal standard of Catholic doctrine.
One effect of this kind of approach to Habian has been to obscure the integrated
nature of the humanistic perspective offered in Myotei mondo. For, in addition
to a theory of creation, Myotei mondo also puts forward a very particular view
of humanity. The oft-quoted theory of creation, which explains the origins of
heaven and earth, all things, and humanity itself, is complemented by a particular
conception of humanity, which suggests how human beings should react to this
created world.
Myotei mondos theory of creation, which is initially explicated as a base for
critiquing what Habian sees as flaws in the Buddhist and Confucian conceptions
of creation, contains an Aristotelian categorization of anima which defines the
human species in terms of its possession of anima rationalis.8 Anima rationalis is
posited as what both distinguishes human beings from other living things,9 and
what also gives human beings the potential to attain the afterlife.
The reason why anima rationalis gives humans the capacity to attain the afterlife
is explained in terms of the logic of anima categorization. Anima is categorized
basically in terms of the nature of a given object. In Myotei mondo, however, the
nature of things is furthermore seen to be closely related to their function: It
is applicable to all things that the changes in their natures are known by their
functions (Habian 1993: 397).10
In other words, we can know whether a thing has the possibility of attaining
the afterlife or not depending on its function. The reason why anima sensitiva, the
category closest to anima rationalis, does not have the ability to attain the afterlife
is explained as follows: Looking at the category of birds, beasts and insects, we see

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189

that the function of their capacity for thought is limited solely to physical matters
(Habian 1993: 399). Because the function of animals does not go beyond physical
or flesh-like objects their lives are also limited to that physical dimension of the
current world.
This all sounds pretty familiar. But things get more interesting when Habian
goes on to explain the difference between the function of humans and animals.
Human beings also drink and eat, wake and sleep, and copulate. These are all
functions. If one looks at where these functions reside, it is clear that they are of
the person. Does that then mean that this is the only function which should be
associated with the person? Another function is that which discerns the principle
of things, enacts the true intention of the principle of benevolence, justice,
custom, knowledge and faith, and considers how ones name will be thought
of after ones death. Praying for a life after this one in heaven, discerning right
from wrong and good from evil, these are now this other function I speak of.
This function cannot but spring from ones nature.
(Habian 1993: 399400)
For Habian, the function particular to human beings is that which transcends the
physical and engages with abstract concepts such as principle, right and wrong,
good and evil, heaven, and the Confucian set of benevolence, justice, custom,
knowledge and faith. In addition, as can be seen from the above quote, anima
rationalis is not only associated with transcending the physical sphere, it is also
singular that knowing knowledge is what is seen as giving human beings access
to the world of abstract concepts. When Habian first defines the difference between
anima sensitiva and anima rationalis he states of sensitiva, there is knowledge and
sensibility, but there is not understanding of principle; of rationalis he states, it
includes knowing the principle of things and having the wisdom to discern right
and wrong (Habian 1993: 395).
So even though Habian criticizes Confucianism for locating the cause of the
difference between humans and animals in matter (Jp. ki Ch. qi) not nature (Jp. sei
Ch. xing) (Habian 1993: 366), on the other hand he ultimately bases his definition
of the difference between the two on their function (Jp. yo Ch. yong). In this way,
the underlying logic of his position actually mirrors that which can be seen in
Sung Confucian texts favoured by Confucian contemporaries of Habian such as
Fujiwara Seika.11
Habian emphasizes not only the nature of Gods creation, but more importantly
human function, the role of human agency in discerning principle, good, bad,
right and wrong. This emphasis can be seen throughout Myotei mondo. While the
Confucian phrase benevolence, justice, custom, knowledge and faith is used on
several occasions, it is the use of phrases like know the principle and discern
right and wrong, good and evil, which are repeated constantly through all three
sections of Myotei mondo, which brings home at every point of the treatise Habians
emphasis on the human agency of discernment.

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

In the third section of Myotei mondo, where the creation theory is methodically
laid out, knowledge is represented as the key point of differentiation between
sensitiva and rationalis. According to Habian, humans as agents, through anima
rationalis, should know principle, right, wrong, good and bad. This is the function of human beings, the purpose of the human category, the way human beings
should live (Habian 1993: 400). This is the core of Habians concept of humanity. Furthermore, as will be discussed below, this concept of humanity, and the
important role knowledge plays within it, is significantly different from that seen
in most other Christian texts in Japan.

Kirishitan and Tenshukyo

The difference between the ideas expressed by Habian in Myotei mondo and those
found in other Japanese Kirishitan texts has been noted previously by so-called
Kirishitan history scholars. Those scholars, however, have tended to refer to the
differences between Habian and others in terms of Habians misunderstanding,
lack of knowledge or mistaken interpretation of Christian doctrine (Ebisawa
1964: 117; Ide 1995: 205). Rather than judging Habians ideas as mistakes or
otherwise, however, perhaps it might be more helpful to further consider the
nature of the differences between Habian and other Japanese Christian texts and
the intellectual implications of those differences. In addition to looking at these
Japanese Jesuit texts, it might also be instructive to consider the ideas expressed
in Myotei mondo in comparison with those seen in Matteo Riccis Tianzhu shiyi.
For not only was Tianzhu shiyi produced only two or three years before Myotei
mondo, it also went on to become one of the most widely distributed Jesuit texts
in early Tokugawa Japan. Yet, seemingly inexplicably, it has never been seriously
examined comparatively with Myotei mondo.

Japanese Kirishitan texts

From the late 1500s and into the first decade of the seventeenth century the Jesuits
oversaw the production of a number of texts in Japanese. Particularly suitable for
comparison with Myotei mondo is Dochirina kirishitan, a text which both stylistically
and functionally is similar to Myotei mondo and which vies with it for the position of
one of the most widely referenced Japanese Kirishitan texts. In addition, Dochirina
kirishitan, both in terms of its contents compared to contemporaneous Japanese
Kirishitan texts and in terms of the fact that its initial production was overseen by
Jesuit Visiting Inspector Alexandro Valignano, stands as a useful representation
of an orthodox Japanese Christian missionary text of the period.
Dochirina kirishitan differs from Myotei mondo importantly in terms of the following three attributes: 1) an emphasis on the role of faith and a correspondingly
negative view of knowledge; 2) linking attainment of the afterlife to an interventionist role for God in the world post-creation; 3) an inherently negative world view.

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191

The importance of faith and a dubious view of knowledge are expressed from
the very beginning of Dochirina: What we must believe in is a truth beyond the
reach of human knowledge and reason. A truth reached through the virtue of
faith (Anon 1993: 15).12 This contrast of faith against knowledge and negative
portrayal of human knowledge is a constant feature of Dochirina.
The logic behind such a contrast is revealed further in the explication of the concept of grace. Grace is referred to only fleetingly on one occasion in Myotei mondo,
but it plays a much larger role, not only in Dochirina, but also in other contemporaneous texts like Nihon no katekizumo, a text based on some of Valignanos lectures
(Valignano 1993: 245). As can be seen in the quote from Dochirina below, becoming a Christian, and thereby attaining salvation, is not something achieved simply
through ones own thought or action, or even simply through the help of other
people. It requires the direct intervention of God. This is why grace, representing this kind of intervention, is emphasized in Dochirina and absent from Myotei
mondo. It also explains Dochirinas emphasis on faith in relation to knowledge.
Master: Can we know what kind of persons works enable them to become a
Christian?
Disciple: Those with the Grace of God are the ones who become Christians.
Master: What does with the Grace of God mean?
Disciple: I do not yet fully understand that. Please teach me.
Master: With the Grace of God means that not by ourselves, not through the
power of this human form given us by our parents, but only in the mercy of
God through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ do we become Christians.
(Anon 1993: 17)
This difference in terms of the attainment of salvation also goes to what that salvation actually represents. In Myotei mondo salvation appears to simply be salvation
from death and the attainment of the afterlife. But in Dochirina Christians are
saved not simply from death but from toga (sin) and from tengu (the devil).
When the Devil stands there beside us is when we commit mortal sins. When
we escape the Devils presence is when we renounce sin. The Devil well knows
that we do this through the power of Jesus Christs death on the Cross. This is
why the Devil fears the Cross greatly.
(Anon 1993: 21)
Myotei mondo presents good and evil as abstracts to be discerned by people (Habian
1993: 400). But in Dochirina good and evil, represented by God and Satan, are
active players in the world competing for the souls of human beings.
In Dochirina this representation of the world is backed up by a clear idea of
original sin, which creates an imperative to see the created world, and humanity
in particular, in a negative light.13 Myotei mondo, which hedges on the idea of
original sin, is thereby less negative on the created world and in particular on the
nature of things.14

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

Myotei mondos resultant comparatively heavy emphasis on human action formulated by a nature which gives humans the ability to discern abstract values
in the created world contrasts with the emphasis on faith and negation of the
created world seen in Dochirina kirishitan and other Japanese missionary texts of
the period, such as Nihon no Katekizumo, Kirishitan kokoroesho and Sakuramenta
teiyofuroku.15

Tianzhu shiyi
Yet, through most of the seventeenth century and thereafter, the most commonly
quoted Christian text in Japan was not one of these texts produced by the Japanbased Jesuits, but Tianzhu shiyi, Matteo Riccis treatise written in China around
the same time as Myotei mondo and introduced to Japan soon thereafter.
Tianzhu shiyi shares a surprising number of characteristics with Myotei mondo.
It is written in a question and answer format, it devotes a significant proportion
of its argument to in-depth analysis of non-Christian religious traditions, it emphasizes philosophical theory, in particular Aristotelian metaphysics and it pays
comparatively little attention to more theological issues such as Christs role in
annulling original sin. Both texts, while agreeing in parts with Confucian ideas of
morality and humanism, virulently attack Sung neo-Confucian metaphysics.
Despite these significantly particular similarities, however, the two texts in the
end differ most singularly in terms of the way in which they develop the Aristotelian
category theory which they both use to oppose Sung neo-Confucian metaphysics.
Tianzhu shiyi emphasizes the importance of anima categories as follows.
There is no greater cause of the difference between humans and animals than
in their souls (anima). The soul is what discerns between right and wrong, and
tells the difference between truth and falsehood. It is difficult for the soul to be
deceived by something which has no reason.
(Ricci 1971: 41)
While Myotei mondo agrees with Tianzhu shiyi here in terms of the importance of
anima, the two texts disagree sharply in terms of the way they see anima being
imparted to human beings. Myotei mondo portrays anima as being imparted to
human beings in a single act by God during the reproductive process.
In the womb of the mother the fathers seed is received. It is within this physicality that God creates peoples anima rationalis. The anima rationalis then becomes
the master of this physicality (body) and directs the body in line with reason,
hoping to then live on into the afterlife.
(Habian 1993: 401)
In Tianzhu shiyi, however, the process through which God, human beings and
their souls are related is much more complex. As in Myotei mondo, the anima of
Tianzhu shiyi is given by an externalized God to an internalized human self. In

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193

Tianzhu shiyi, however, the external and internal are related through the use of
Aristotles doctrine of four causes.
If we are to speak of the causes of things we must see that there are four. What
are these four? There is maker, form, matter and end. The maker is what creates
the object, turning it into the thing it should be. The form shapes a thing, giving
it its fitting category, differentiating it from other kinds of things. Matter is the
substance that the object is made from. That which takes on the form. The end
is the determined function the object is made for. . . . Within the four, form and
matter, these two are internal to things. They are the basis of things, what is
called yin and yang. Maker and end, these two are external, they transcend the
original state of things.
(Ricci 1971: 434)
If we look at the problem of anima in terms of this interpretation of the doctrine
of four causes, we see that the creator is an externalized God and that the form is
an internalized soul (anima). As Ricci continues his explication of the doctrine of
four causes we can see that, unlike in Myotei mondo where after the reproductive
act anima rationalis acts independently of creation, in Tianzhu shiyi it remains tied
to God.
In terms of the four causes, there are those which are internal, like yin and
yang. There are also those which are external, like the maker category. Gods
creation of things therefore, as it is the Lordly Creation, is external. So these
things exist, but they are not part of God. They are related as things are related
to places where they belong. Like someones garden belonging to their house.
Or like how some objects have components to them. It is like how arms and legs
are of the body, or how people are made up of yin and yang. Dependent things
rely on something else which is autonomous to exist. Like how a white horse
is comprised of a horse which is white, and cold ice comprised of ice which is
cold. For a thing to exist something must precede its existence to cause it to
exist. The sunlight must shine to create refractions in a crystal, there must be
fire to make metal glow red.
(Ricci 1971: 151)
In other words, while God and soul are not the same, they are related in a relationship like the dependent and autonomous or the sun and reflected light.
The nature of this relationship is made clearer in the following quotation.
Like a crop which is grown by itself but which God uses, as an artisan uses a
tool. God is not originally those things he is employing. A stone mason is not a
chisel, a fisherman is not a net or a boat, likewise God is not such a thing.
(Ricci 1971: 148)
This idea of God employing or utilizing other things, pulling the strings which
are never cut, is the theoretical basis of the link in Tianzhu shiyi between Gods

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

creation of Heaven, Earth and all things and his periodic intervention in and
control of this created world (Ricci 1971: 44). In this way Tianzhu shiyi portrays
God as utilizing objects in the created world in a way not seen in Myotei mondo. In
many waysTianzhu shiyi and Myotei mondo are similar to each other, in particular
through their emphasis on the role of knowledge and their refusal to base their
explication of Christianity on a concept of faith reliant on Church authority.16
Despite these similarities, however, the two texts differ on the key issue of where
they see God acting in the universe.
In this way, while the Japanese Kirishitan texts like Dochirina kirishitan may differ
from Ricci markedly in terms of overall outlook, when lined up against Myotei
mondo these texts and Riccis differ from Myotei mondo on the same critical point:
the role of God in influencing human beings in the created world. In Myotei mondo
humanitys ability to attain the afterlife is made possible through the granting in
creation of anima rationalis to humans. But that potential afterlife can be realized
only by humans themselves living in accord with their anima rationalis, something
they discern autonomously. In the other texts, however, Gods interventionist
role in the process of human beings attaining salvation is not limited to creation.
Even in the most rational approaches seen in Matteo Ricci in China and Pedro
Gomez in Japan, God continues to act on the human soul after creation.
Within a reasonably diverse array of Christian associated thought in late
sixteenth- early seventeenth-century Japan, Habians ideas had a particular specificity to them which involved this key issue of what role God plays in the lives of
human beings.

Haiyaso
Having established this specific nature of Habians thought within his historical
context, we are now forced to consider how it has come to be that, from the
early Tokugawa period right up until the present, these clearly very particular
ideas of Habians have been virtually ignored, and that his Jesuit-period ideas
have rather come to be characterized as almost a stereotype of Western-ness and
un-Japaneseness. A key text used to justify this latter image of Habian, seemingly irreconcilable with our examination of Myotei mondo, has been Haiyaso.17
Indeed, the image of Habian offered up in Haiyaso seems to be the one which has
historically stuck. Despite Haiyaso having been used constantly right up until the
present to deliver this kind of image of Habian, however, there is good reason to
believe that the lines attributed to Habian in this text were never spoken by him.
As mentioned earlier, the authenticity of Haiyaso as a record of a conversation
between Razan and Habian has never been proven.
Turning to the contents of Haiyaso, we see that Habians comments as recorded
in Haiyaso tend to go along with the generalized image of Jesuit thought in Japan:
foreign, homogeneous, doctrinally orthodox. The original ideas of Habian seen
in Myotei mondo are completely absent from Haiyaso, the intellectual content of

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195

Myotei mondo never being touched upon during the course of the discussion. The
only brief reference to Myotei mondo is a disparaging remark about the Japanese
language usage (Hayashi 1977: 673), with no reference to actual content or any
other evidence that Razan (or Gaho)
had ever even seen the text.
Rather than discussing any issues raised in Myotei mondo, the discussion
recorded in Haiyaso restricts itself to two main subjects: a discussion on whether
the earth is round or not and a discussion on part of Riccis creation theory. Both
these discussions refer directly to texts produced by Matteo Ricci as part of his
efforts to communicate with the educated elite in China. The discussion referring to Riccis explanation of creation and metaphysics quite clearly begins with
a quote from Tianzhu shiyi.
Razan says: Matteo Ricci the Jesuit writes, Heaven and Earth, Spirits, and the
Souls of Men have a beginning but no end. I do not believe this. If there is a
beginning, there must be an end.
(Hayashi 1977: 673)
This discussion not only begins with a quotation from Ricci, but in the contents
of the discussion itself the comments of Fukan (as Habian is called in Haiyaso)
do not agree with Habians creation theory. As noted in our discussion of Myotei
mondo, Habians creation theory develops through anima categories and is closely
related to a particular view of humanity. Neither of these elements is present in
Haiyaso. Furthermore, and more singularly, as the discussion of creation develops in Haiyaso, comments which directly contradict basic tenets in Myotei mondo
emerge.
Fukan, not gathering what had been said, states, The occurrence of an idea
which creates an implement is what enables principle. Before the occurrence of
the idea there exists an unsentient unthinking substance. So substance precedes
principle.
(Hayashi 1977: 673)
In this argument Fukan posits God as the creator of all things as substance
and therefore argues that substance precedes all else. This agrees with Myotei
mondo. The characteristics of God outlined here, however, are problematic. In
Myotei mondo Habian criticizes the Buddhist concept of Muso munen (unsentient
unthinking) and contrasts it with Deus Ittai (God the One Substance), who, he
yutoku

emphasizes, is yuchi
(knowing and virtuous). In Myotei mondo, in Habians
criticism of Buddhism, Confucianism and Shinto, he interprets Buddhist ku and
Confucian and Shinto yin and yang as scholastic materia prima, making a theme
of contrasting the unsentient unthinking materia prima against the knowing and
virtuous God (Habian 1993: 393). The characteristic of God as being sentient
and virtuous, not simply a value-free, unthinking substance like materia prima,
provides the basis for Habians attack on Buddhism, Confucianism and Shinto.18 It
is also the launching pad for Habians explication of creation and anima categories

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

(Habian 1993: 396400). The fact that such a key idea in Myotei mondo, indeed
the underpinning of the bulk of its argument, is contradicted by Fukan in Haiyaso
is suspect to say the least.
Looking at the other argument present in the text, about the world being round,
it is also fairly clear that Razan is referring to Ricci texts. Myotei mondo mentions
geography only fleetingly in its introduction, but Haiyaso does not touch on that
discussion. Rather Haiyaso refers to a map which it appears is Riccis Wanguo
Yutu.19
Moreover, in discussion on both of the above topics, indeed throughout Haiyaso,
Fukan uses completely different language from that used by Habian in Myotei
mondo. Habians use of the word Deus for God is not only replaced by Tenshu (Ch.
Tianzhu) (used by Ricci and the Chinese Jesuits for God), but a whole range of
other words represented by katakana versions of Latin words in Myotei mondo fail
to appear in Haiyaso.20
The Fukan of Haiyaso seems markedly different from the Habian who advances
a humanistic position based on a creation theory outlined in scholastic Latin
language terms in Myotei mondo. Not only Habians language, but his core ideas
are all absent from Haiyaso. Conversely, a number of the ideas expressed by Fukan
in Haiyaso are clearly and directly contradictory to ideas expressed by Habian only
one year before the time this debate is supposed to have taken place. The Fukan
of Haiyaso uses Chinese words to advance an image of an interventionist God
couched in Confucian terms.

Hayashi Razan bunshu

If this is what analysis of the content of Haiyaso yields, what about the textual
context within which Haiyaso is located? How does Haiyaso fit within the extant
texts of Hayashi Razan, and in particular Hayashi Razan bunshu where Haiyaso is
found? If we look beyond Haiyaso to the other contents of Hayashi Razan bunshu
we can discern a characteristic often noted in Razans thought, and indeed in a lot
of other Tokugawa Confucian writing that followed: careful delineation between
a conception of orthodoxy and one of heterodoxy. Of course, the existence of an
orthodoxy is reliant on the creation of a heterodoxy by which it can define itself.
regardless of what kind of
Heterodoxy as presented in Hayashi Razan bunshu,
religious-philosophical tradition it actually comes from, is often labelled as Yaso
or Tenshukyo. Even when philosophy which Razan regards as heterodox is not
in any way Christian, the use of words like Yaso as rhetorical devices plays an
important role in Razans (and indeed Gahos)
endeavour to create a discourse
of orthodoxy. In a famous example often quoted in research on Nakae Toju
and
Kumazawa Banzan, Razan at one stage in Bunshu labels Xinxue Confucianism as
a variation on Christianity (yaso no hen) (Hayashi 1977: 94). In another text,
Sozoku

zenki koki,

he even directly links Banzan personally to Christianity using

a similar phrase (Hayashi 1803).21

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197

It is interesting to note that the documents that these Xinxue references come

from, letters to Ishikawa Jozan

contained in Book 7 of Hayashi Razan bunshu,

and Sozoku zenki koki, are also considered the main examples of Razans
anti-Christian writings. Hori Isao refers to these documents as Razans late
period anti-Christian writings, and identifies documents Razan penned on behalf of the Tokugawa government for diplomatic use between 1625 and 1641,22
together with Haiyaso and one other document, Nagasaki itsuji (Hayashi 1977:
2468), as Razans early period anti-Christian writings (Hori 1964: 384). As
the documents penned on behalf of the government represent the government
position on Christianity for foreign (usually Chinese or Korean) consumption,
rather than Razans personal views, they are of little use in assessing Razans own
approach to Christian thought.
This leaves Nagasaki Itsuji and Haiyaso as the only other documents which deal
with Christianity at all before 1625, and the only ones which purport to show
Razans personal approach to Christianity before the 1650s. The more significant issue, however, and one until now seemingly not noted, is that these two
documents do not seem to be compatible with one another. As discussed above,
Haiyaso purports to be a record of a debate between Habian and Razan dating
from 1606. Nagasaki Itsuji is a 1610 record of a trip made to Nagasaki where Razan
remarks upon the profiteering motivation of Japanese who convert to Christianity.
Nagasaki Itsuji is interesting in comparison with Haiyaso in that it mentions Christianity in a much more removed, descriptive and disengaged style than that seen in
Haiyaso. In Nagasaki Itsuji Razan describes Christianity almost anthropologically.
They [the barbarians] make a religion of worshipping Heaven. They call it Yaso,
it has also been called Tenshu. Their book is written horizontally and bound
Japanese style. Their teachings are to do with karma, life and death. I wonder
if perhaps they might not be a kind of Mohammedan folk.
(Hayashi 1977: 246)
This descriptive and rather detached report in the 1610 Nagasaki Itsuji seems
rather strange if indeed Razan had, as is indicated in Haiyaso, read Myotei mondo
and Tianzhu shiyi fully and debated a Jesuit scholastic by 1606. Haiyaso suggests
Razan to be a 24-year-old Confucian in Kyoto who had read both these very recent
and rather strange books and been given the opportunity to debate a much older
and at the time extremely senior and busy Habian. Given the dates from which
these books were available in Japan, however, it seems unlikely, if nevertheless
possible, that they would have been generally available in Kyoto by this time.23
This is further cause for doubt as to whether Razan would have read both books
by this time, but it is not proof that he did not.
Nagasaki itsuji, on the other hand, presents a 28-year-old Razan who does not
seem to have become an expert on Christianity. On a trip to Nagasaki he makes
a few simple and casual observations about this strange Christian religion, and
that is all. The voice of the 28-year-old Razan in Nagasaki Itsuji is not the voice

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

of a man who had read Ricci and Habian and debated issues of astronomy and
religion with the latter at the age of 24. The two representations do not match.
So which is true? The case against Haiyaso and in favour of Nagasaki Itsujis
authenticity is strengthened when we look at their relative positions in Hayashi

Razan bunshu.
Nagasaki Itsuji appears within Hayashi Razan bunshu in a fairly natural location
in a kiji section in Book 22 after a document written in 1607 (Togyo nichiroku) and
before a note on the availability of Sunpu nikki (a document which was supposed
to have been composed in 1614 and would have included entries for 1610). In
other words, it appears among other similar genres of document written around
the same time.
however, is rather more
The placement of Haiyaso in Hayashi Razan bunshu,
suspicious. Haiyaso appears towards the end of Hayashi Razan bunshu in a zatsu
section, Book 56. Zatsu (miscellaneous) sections of bunshu (collected documents),
as the name suggests, usually comprise a range of writings on a variety of topics.
But, if we look to the kind of Chinese prototype upon which Hayashi Razan
bunshu may have been based, we can see a big difference between the zatsu genre
as it stands in Zhu Xi Wenji, for instance, and as it is conceived in Hayashi Razan
In Zhu Xi Wenji the zatsu sections contain a variety of essays, but nearly all
bunshu.
zatsu
on key philosophical issues (Zhu Xi 1996: 22637). Hayashi Razan bunshus
sections, however, are comprised predominantly of polemical factional assaults
on non-Confucian philosophical and religious traditions competing with Razan.
Haiyaso appears in Hayashi Razan bunshu in a context where the three documents appearing directly before it are also similar diatribes against non-Confucian
traditions. The text directly before Haiyaso, entitled Sannin wo satosu, attacks Buddhist metaphysics. The text before that one, Zento wo tsugu, derides the (lack of)
ethics of Buddhist monks. The text before it, Shakuro, attacks Buddhist and Taoist
asceticism (Hayashi 1977: 2426). In other words, much of the zatsu section is
clearly conceived as a platform on which to attack religious practice and ideas
which Razan regarded as heterodox.
In this sense, the zatsu section overall fits into the kind of discourse we see established in documents like the letters to Ishikawa Jozan

and Sozoku zenki koki,

a discourse which blames disorder on the existence of heterodox ideas, and bad
ethics on the bad ethical practice of people who had come under the sway of these
ideas. It is a discourse which begins as simply anti-Buddhist pro-Confucian, but
develops, especially through the 1650s, a careful delineation between heterodox
and orthodox ideas within non-Buddhist thought a delineation which increasingly targets heigaku thought24 and Xinxue Confucianism, and which increasingly
uses rhetoric that links these movements to Christianity. It is interesting to note
that this discourse, which begins to employ anti-Christian imagery against nonBuddhist heterodoxies like Xinxue, was established during the 1650s, well after
the complete suppression of Christianity. It is therefore clear that Razans increasing use of the anti-Christian image at this time was not part of any real attempt
to control Christians in Japan.25

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199

In terms of the position of Nagasaki Itsuji in Hayashi Razan bunshu, and its tone
in terms of the surrounding context, there are no problems. Haiyaso, conversely,
is positioned in the Bunshu in a highly unorthodox manner, in a context not
dictated by period or style, but rather to position it around other texts also clearly
designed to attack other non-Confucian traditions seen as heterodox. In other
words, Haiyaso appears in the context of an attack on heterodoxy. Yet the main
documents which establish this kind of use of an anti-Christian discourse to attack
heterodoxy (the letters to Ishikawa and Sozoku zenki koki) were all produced after
the 1640s. Haiyaso is thereby left standing as the only document before the 1650s
in which this kind of approach to Christianity is taken, and we are to believe that
the document dates to 1606, even though the Christian documents Razan was
supposed to have read had at that time existed in Japan for at best less than a year.

Conclusion
Taking into account the issues relating to the content of the document alone, never
mind the supporting contextual evidence, it seems clear that Haiyaso is undoubtedly a fabrication; that is, that, while as an historical document it may stand as an
excellent example of mid-seventeenth-century anti-Christian discourse, it does
not seem to represent an attack on any Christian reality of the early seventeenth
century, because the text does not represent anything like what Habian was likely
to have said if he indeed ever did meet Razan in 1606. Therefore, even if we admit
the possibility that such a meeting occurred and that the text represents Razans
recollection of what happened there, which is a big assumption to begin with, it
seems highly unlikely that the document was written at that time.
As the earlier examination of the contents of Haiyaso showed, the text refers
to arguments from Riccis Tianzhu shiyi rather than to any ideas expressed by
Habian.26 In other words, Haiyaso, rather than being criticism of Habians ideas
in 1606, seems more likely to have been conceived of after Riccis Tianzhu shiyi
had become the text most commonly associated with Christianity: after the 1630s,
and after the near complete eradication of Christianity in Japan. In 1606 Tianzhu
shiyi may not even have reached Kyoto, yet from the 1630s onwards it is more
often referred to and reached a wider readership than any of the Japanese texts.
The comparative popularity of the Ricci text over Japanese-produced texts and
the employment of anti-Christian discourse by Razan to combat heterodoxy both
date from after the 1630s at the earliest.
Further, going beyond the issue of Habian, the contextual placement of the
among attacks on other non-Confucian traditions,
text in Hayashi Razan bunshu,
and the fact that the most reliable Razan sources mentioning Christianity also do
so in the context of attacks on other heterodoxies, and in a period well after the
near complete suppression of Christianity, make it difficult not to suspect, given
the other facts, that Haiyaso was not conceived of in that context. Therefore,
whether it indeed was composed by Razan, or, as the style seems to suggest,
someone else, it seems unlikely it was produced close enough to 1606 to bear

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

much resemblance to any factual event that may or may not have occurred. The
use of this document, therefore, to reconstruct an historical image of Habian, as
it has been used extensively in previous research, is highly problematic.
Examination of Myotei mondo in its contemporaneous context revealed a Habian
who, while taking a critical stance against a number of other religious traditions
which existed in the Japan of his day, also adopted and employed some of the
intellectual frameworks and linguistic structures of those same traditions to create
a unique, unorthodox interpretation of the Christian thought which had emerged
in the Japanese archipelago of his time. That interpretation is noteworthy in that
it differs significantly from the Catholic doctrine of the time, and from many
other Japanese Christian texts, in its humanistic tendencies, and in particular in
its emphasis on the role of human discernment and comparative lack of emphasis
on any interventionist role for God.
This alone would seem to suggest that a real understanding of late Jesuit-inspired
thought in Japan may need to involve going beyond the image of Christian-aligned
thought there as being an unoriginal translation of Catholic doctrine, and rather
accepting the diversity within that thought, particularly that standing at odds
with contemporary Catholic doctrine. As we have seen through comparing Myotei
mondo with contemporaneous Japanese and Chinese Christian texts, Habians
intellectual legacy would be better described in terms of his unusual interpretation
of scholastic philosophy and integration of Confucian philosophy than it would be
in terms of hackneyed ideas like the introduction of Western thought to Japan.
Indeed, instead of an example of one monolithic homogeneous side in a clash
of cultures, Habians Jesuit-period work might rather be regarded as expressive
of the heterogeneous and comprehensive nature of a multi-faceted intellectual
environment where various forms of Buddhism, new trends in Confucianism,
Shinto and a variety of interpretations of scholastic and Christian thought briefly
co-existed in late sixteenth-, early seventeenth-century western Japan.
The image of Habian projected by Razan and others from the 1650s onwards,
however, is considerably different. That image sought to portray both the Japanese
and Chinese Jesuit traditions, including Habian, as representing a single homogeneous ideological religious worldview. Such a monolithic image of the alien
opponent was what was useful for the kind of job Razan and others employed
the Christian image for: attacking non-Christian heterodox Confucian and other
opponents. The Hayashi factions rhetorical imperatives were to fit Habian into
an anti-Christian rhetoric which combined the general Yaso image, an image already well established as dangerous and foreign, with Riccis early seventeenthcentury thought, which in late seventeenth-century Japan was becoming not only
the Christian text people were more likely to see, but also one which used similar Chinese terms to the heterodox enemies within (like the Xinxue Confucians)
who were the real targets of Razans attacks. The Fukan we see in Haiyaso is a
reconstruction of Habian, a fabrication to fit that rhetorical imperative.

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201

But so what if Razan, or his followers, did invent the Fukan we see in Haiyaso?
So what if things were bent to fit into Razans rhetoric? After all, one of the
main currents of the post-Maruyama rewriting of Tokugawa intellectual history
over the last thirty or more years has been to point out how uninfluential Razan,
and indeed Confucianism in general, was in early Tokugawa Japan. If Razan had
comparatively so little influence, who really cares what his views on Christianity
may or may not have been?
Yet one of the surprising things a study of Tokugawa anti-Christian discourse reveals is how influential Razan and other early Tokugawa Confucian discourses on
Christianity were later in the period. Of course, as the post-Maruyama historians
have rightly pointed out, Razan certainly did not establish a guiding doctrine of
governance in the Tokugawa period (Bito 1961: 27780; Watanabe 1985: 23). But
what nowadays, in the flurry of Maruyama bashing, can sometimes be overlooked
is that Razan, even in his own time, had been able to project an image of himself as
the representative of Confucian orthodoxy.27 His followers enhanced and further
utilized that image until, by the late Tokugawa period, his influence on political thought in Japan was significant.28 In the development of the anti-Christian
discourse of the late Tokugawa period, that influence is particularly palpable.
Anti-Christian Mitogaku and even Buddhist compilations of the late nineteenth
century not only included Razans anti-Christian writings in pride of place, they
moreover employed discourses which utilized the same categories established in
Razans attempt to delineate a concept of orthodoxy.29
Twentieth-century historians of the Christian period and its suppression, particularly those so-called Kirishitan history scholars like Ebisawa, who have produced
the bulk of quality research on this period, sought to invert the categories inherent in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century nationalist conceptions of East
and West in Japan, conceptions heavily informed by the Mitogaku tradition. The
likes of Elison then again inverted this inversion of categories. But neither actually overcame the invented fiction of an essential opposition between a Christian
West and something called traditional East Asia.
Yet, whether we look at Habians employment of Confucian concepts and
silent rejection of Catholic doctrine in his Jesuit period texts, or the brutal reality of the Dutch shelling of the rebel-held Hara Castle during the Christian
rebellion at Shimabara, it is clear that the real divisions were not as simple as
East and West, or Christian and traditional East Asian. The conflicts inherent in these events were anything but cultural. The cultural essentialism so
influential in the way both these events have been historicized did not begin in
the nature of the events themselves, but in the way they were spun thereafter.
The significance of the fabrication of Haiyaso, and of the discourse it represents, is its historical endurance, and the power of its influence on later political
thinking.
Leiden University

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Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

Notes
1. Habian authored Hadaius (which can be found in the kirishitansho/haiyasho volume of Nihon
shiso taikei (Ebisawa 1970: 42347)) in 1620. He is also depicted as a character of ridicule in
the 1639 text Kirishitan monogatari (which can be found in Washio 1969b: 37986).
2. Other than an annotated edition of Heike monogatari (Kamei and Sakada 1966) and Buppo no
jidai ryakubatsusho (Ebisawa 1993: 41931), the intellectual content of which is fairly close to
the opening section of Myotei mondo, Myotei mondo itself stands as Habians only extant work
from his Jesuit period.
3. An excellent example of the employment of anti-Christian discourse in this manner is Sokkyohen (Tokugawa 1860), a collection of early and mid-Tokugawa anti-Christian works compiled
towards the end of the Tokugawa period by Mitogaku scholars during the time when the Mito
hanshu Tokugawa Nariaki was representing anti-foreign factions in political intrigues and Aizawa
Yasushi and other Mitogaku writers were producing a range of anti-foreign diatribes. Examples
of emphasis on the non-Japanese nature of Christians in early Tokugawa works included in
Sokkyohen are, for instance, the opening passages of Suzuki Shosans Hakirishitan (Ebisawa
1970: 450) and the line from Haiyaso itself where Fukan is quoted calling Portuguese vessels
our ships (Hayashi 1977: 672).
4. For instance, Elison (1991: 1656). Elisons argument throughout relies heavily on the establishment of a polarized relationship between the Jesuit and post-Jesuit Habians, mirroring a
conflict between traditional East Asian systems and Christianity. These arguments are based
on readings of Myotei mondo and Hadaius summarized by Elison (ibid.:166). Elison emphasizes
the fact that Hadaius directly addresses issues in Myotei mondo. He then uses these arguments
between the two texts as an analogy for the conflict between Christianity (by which he means
orthodox doctrinaire Catholicism) and traditional East Asian systems. One of the key points of
Hadaius, however, which Elison describes as criticism of the Christian dependence upon the
extra-terrestrial sphere of justification, is significantly not a criticism of anything in Myotei
mondo. On this point Myotei mondo and Hadaius are not actually in conflict. As is pointed out
below, Myotei mondo is significant among Jesuit-produced texts in that it does not emphasize
the role of God in the created world, rather placing the emphasis on human action. On this
point, Myotei mondo and Hadaius seem to agree. Elisons summary of Myotei mondos main
points is correct. It must be noted, however, that those points exclude certain key aspects of
Catholic doctrine which were particularly emphasized by European Jesuits in Japan, but ignored
by Habian. Therefore, while Myotei mondo can be said to be a good example of an indigenous
Christian text in the sense that it is Jesuit inspired and produced by someone who at the time
was a member of the Order, it definitely did not represent the European Catholic doctrinal
orthodoxy of the time. Elisons employment of Habian in his overall argument does not seem
to take account of this differentiation. Elison employs the elements of Myotei mondo which criticize non-Christian religions, but ignores the non-Christian elements of Myotei mondo itself. In
addition to Ebisawa and Elison, another good modern example of this kind of take on Habian is
Ide Katsumi, who describes Habian as a thinker who symbolizes the intellectual battle between
east and west (Ide 1995: 186).
5. For a detailed discussion on Habians anti-Christian work Hadaius, and a rejection of the thesis
that Myotei mondo and Hadaius are directly opposed to each other, see Paramore (2006: 808).
6. A letter from the senior Jesuit in Japan, P. Francisco Pasio SJ, dated October 1606 refers to
Habian debating Buddhist monks and other representatives of Japans various religious sects.
The letter does not, however, refer to any particular debate, or to Razan by name, or to any
other Confucians, nor indeed does it mention Confucianism. See Ide (1995: 189, 20910).
7. The differences between these terms as expressed in these three English words were not usually
differentiated by early Tokugawa era commentators.

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203

8. Habian sets up his explanation of creation and anima categorization in the early sections of
Myotei mondo within his critique of Buddhism and Confucianism. There he argues for the
need for an initial substance from which creation can first occur. In his initial comments on
Buddhism he repeatedly criticizes Buddhist theories on creation, saying that their ideas of an
initial substance from which creation could occur lack the notion of sentience which he claims
is necessary for the act of creation (Habian 1993: 301). Identifying substance as bussho or ku in
Buddhism, and as yin and yang in Confucianism and Shinto, Habian points out that these lack
sentience and a capacity for value judgement. He then suggests the idea of Deus as a sentient
first substance. When Habian later also identifies the distinguishing feature of humanity, anima
rationalis, as being defined through the function of the human intellect in its ability to conceive
of abstract values (Habian 1993: 393), he thereby, perhaps unwittingly, links his conceptions
of God and humanity. He creates a humanistic position which, while metaphysically positing
substance before principle, also defines substance in terms of function, thus presenting a system
emphasizing the role of human discernment and action rather than transcendent intervention.
For more detail on the relation between Habians definition of God and delineation of human
beings from animals on similar terms see Paramore (2004: 856).
9. Something Habian claims Confucianism does not do (Habian 1993: 3968).
10. Quotations from Myotei mondo are taken from the current standard printed version in Ebisawa
(1993). Myotei mondo was originally printed in 1605.
11. An instance from such a text favoured by Seika can be seen in Zhu Xis Mengzi Zhangju (Zhu
Xi 1983: 326) where, while at the same time emphasizing the universality of nature, Zhu Xi
also points out the innately human aspects of the human actions associated with nature and
principle. Habians criticism of Neo-Confucian metaphysics does criticize the Neo-Confucian
position on nature. However, in terms of the view of human action, and the practical definition
of humans in terms of that action (their function), Habian and the Neo-Confucian positions
are actually fairly close.
12. Quotes from Dochirina kirishitan are taken from the current standard printed version of the later
1600 version of the text in Ebisawa (1993).
13. This is made very clear in Dochirina in passages like: This first sin of Adam is continuously
handed down to us in the innately evil nature of our flesh at birth (Anon 1993: 24).
14. Myotei mondo brushes over the question of original sin. The paragraph which briefly mentions
Adams original sin summarizes Gods reaction as simply expelling Adam and his offspring
(humanity) from the earthly paradise and taking away their gift of endless life without aging.
The paragraph concludes with the rather vague but certainly not threatening sentence: So when
it is mentioned that some people are not helped in the afterlife, this is what that springs from
(Habian 1993: 4067).
15. The first two of these texts can be found in Ebisawa (1993) and the last in Ebisawa (1970). For
discussion on the similarities between these texts and Dochirina on the issues discussed above
see Paramore (2004: 8990). In addition to these texts, which like Myotei mondo were designed
primarily to be read at large outside the Order by potential and lay Christian Japanese, it is also
instructive to look at how these issues play out in Pedro Gomezs Kogi yoko sometimes referred to
by its Latin title Compendium, had a different target readership than the other texts in that it was
designed for the instruction of Japanese Jesuits themselves. It is therefore an important source as
it represents the most comprehensive extant explication of the theology that the Japanese Jesuits
were being taught at the time. In terms of the differences pointed out between Myotei mondo and
the other Japanese Jesuit texts of the time, it can be seen that Kogi yoko also emphasizes the role
of faith. As shown in the following quotation, Kogi yoko introduces faith to the anima categories,
thereby creating a hierarchy of life which, rather than being formulated to put humans at the top
in an order of nature as in Habian, places Christians at the top ahead of non-Christian human
beings in a ranking of humanity.

204

16.

17.
18.

19.
20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

Above the light of sensitiva there are those who, using the light of discernment (anima rationalis), turn their works to the path of righteousness. It can be said that these are good people
doing good works. Seneca and Plato can be counted in this category. Then there is a light above
this which is the light of faith. Those who pursue this light are Christians. Christians alone
receive the Grace of God. So we can see that there are 3 categories of light. Higher, middle and
lower. The highest is the light of faith. The middle is the light of discernment. The lowest is the
light of sensitiva (Gomez 1998: 2930).
For more on the particular nature of the concept of faith present in Japanese Christian texts
of this period, its political role at the time and the way this political role has been overlooked
and its significance misinterpreted in modern studies, see Paramore (2006: 334, 1578).
For an example of this kind of employment of Haiyaso, see for instance Ide (1995: 167).
The criticism of Buddhism, which comprises the first two-fifths of the text, is heavily based
on this argument (Habian 1993: 301). For a good example of this argument employed against
Confucianism and Shinto, see Habian (1993: 393).
What Razan refers to as an enbo no chizu (Hayashi 1977: 672).
In addition to this kind of substitution of vocabulary and terms, the meanings of certain key
words, like li and yong, principle and function, are subtly different. This can be observed for
instance by comparing Hayashi (1977: 416) with Habian (1993: 397).
The reference to Sozoku zenki koki is from a hand-copied manuscript in the Naikaku bunko,
Tokyo. The copy was made in 1803, thus the date in the reference. This is the earliest extant
copy of the document so far found. In the actual text of the document it is dated in 1651
(the first part) and 1652 (the second part). Page numbers are not given because the pages are
not numbered. Interestingly, Banzan himself also used the image of Christianity in a similar,
although significantly subtler, way in his criticism of Buddhism. Maruyama Masao discusses
this issue together with Razans use of the Christian image against Banzan in Sozoku zenki
koki (Maruyama 2000: 11416). In the same 1966 lecture notes Maruyama likens the kind
of discourse seen in Sozoku zenki koki to McCarthyism and also discusses anti-communist
repression in the 1930s and anti-Christian repression during the Tokugawa period together in
a study of the idea of tolerance (Maruyama 2000: 11619).
These include an array of documents in Book 58 of Hayashi Razan Bunshu (Hayashi 1977:
6903), as well as Daimin fukken totoku ni kotau, contained in Book 12 of same (Hayashi 1977:
1367).
Myotei mondo had been produced only a year before the date of the alleged debate. Tianzhu
shiyi was first imported into Nagasaki from China at around the same time. Indeed there is no
evidence that any copies of Tianzhu shiyi had got to Kyoto by 1606.
Also referred to as gungaku and related to the bingfa tradition in Chinese thought, which is most
famously identified with the Chinese Warring States period thought of Sunzi. The Japanese
heigaku tradition popular in the early Tokugawa period was heavily influenced by the classic
Chinese tradition, but developed significant new trends and features, in particular through the
course of the Japanese Warring States period (by the sixteenth century the Chinese teachings
were only one component of Japanese heigaku, thus the decision here to use Japanese Romanization). A contemporary figure closely associated with heigaku was Yamaga Soko.
Kumazawa
Banzan was also both highly valued and feared a threat for his heigaku knowledge. In Sozoku

zenki koki,

Razan emphasizes that Yui Shosetsu,

one of the leaders of the Keian jiken coup plot,

was a gungaku teacher.
The cause of the noticeable expansion of Razans working conception of heterodoxy, in particular
his emphasis on attacks on xinxue and heigaku thinkers in the 1650s, is an interesting topic
of research the author hopes to discuss at further length in a forthcoming article. There is
material relevant to the issue in Toby (1984: 65, 219, 227) and McMullen (1999: 92-112,
11720).

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205

26. It is important, however, to note here that the lines attributed to Fukan in Haiyaso, like the one
quoted earlier about unsentient unthinking substance (musomunen), are not only inconsistent
with Habians position, but are also equally inconsistent with Riccis portrayal of God and
creation. While Razan addresses Ricci texts, his portrayal of the Christian ideas is inconsistent
with either Ricci or Habians real position.
27. As can be seen in Nakae Tojus

criticism of Razan, which includes a derisory reference to his

reputation as the father of Japanese Confucianism (Bito 1975: 13).
28. One of the main factors in the continual influence of Razan was the development of his school
into educational institutions which ultimately became the Shoheizaka gakumonjo (in relation to
the Shoheizaka gakumonjo and its influence see Wajima (1966)). Razans later influence, however,
did not stop at the undeniable influence the Shoheizaka gakumonjo, and the institutions which
preceded it, had in Confucian and bushi circles. There are also numerous examples of Shinto
and Buddhist writers quoting Razan in support of their arguments. For instance, the editors of

Jodoshu to nichirenshu shuron

no ki, a document in which the Shingon monk Reikei attacks Jodo

and Nichiren sect nenbutsu practices, include at the end of the document after Reikeis text a
short treatise on the subject by Razan (Reikei 1914: 139). The discussion in Hirata Atsutanes
Kokonyomiko also opens with a quote from Razan (Washio 1969a: 40).
29. See the Mitogaku compilation (Tokugawa 1860) and the Jodoshu

monk Kiyu Dojins

(Ugai
Tetsujo)
compilation (1861).

References
Anon (1993)Dochirina kirishitan, in Ebisawa Arimichi (ed.) Kirishitan Kyorisho, Kyobunkan.

Bito,
Masahide (1961) Nihon hoken shisoshi kenkyu, Aoki Shoten.
(1975) Nakae Toju: Nihon shiso taikei 29, Iwanami Shoten.
Ebisawa, Arimichi (1964) Nanbanji kohaiki, jakyo taii, myotei mondo, hadaiusu, Heibonsha.
(1970) Kirishitansho/haiyasho: Nihon shiso taikei 25, Iwanami shoten.
(1993) Kirishitan kyorisho, Kyobunkan.

Elison, George (1991) Deus Destroyed, Harvard University Press.

Gomez, Pedro (1998) Iezusukai nihon korejiyo no kogiyoko II, ed. Satoru Ohara, Kyobunkan.

Habian (1993) Myotei mondo, in Ebisawa Arimichi (ed.) Kirishitan kyorisho, Kyobunkan.

Hayashi, Razan (as Ro Yoshi)

(1803) Sozoku

zenki koki,

manuscript in Naikaku bunko, Tokyo.

Document number: 27689.
Perikansha.
(1977) Hayashi Razan bunshu,
Hori, Isao (1964) Hayashi Razan, Yoshikawa Kobunkan.

Ide, Katsumi (1995) Kirishitan shisoshi kenkyu josetsu, Perikansha.

Kamei, Takanori and Sakada, Yukiko (1966) Habiyan sho Kirishitan ban Heike monogatari, Yoshikawa
Kobunkan.

Kiyu,
Dojin

(Ugai Tetsujo)
(1861) Hekija kankenroku, manuscript in University of Tokyo Sog
o
toshokan bunko. Call number: C60:110.
Kurozumi, Makoto (2003) Kinsei nihon shakai to jukyo, Perikansha.
McMullen, James (1999) Idealism, Protest and the Tale of Genji: The Confucianism of Kumazawa
Banzan, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Maruyama, Masao (2000) Maruyama Masao kogiroku, Vol. 6, Toky
o Daigaku Shuppankai.
Paramore, Kiri (2004) Habian tai Fukan: 17 seiki shoto Nihon no shiso bunmyaku ni okeru Habian
shiso no imi to Haiyaso, Nihon Shisoshigaku 36: 8299.
(2006) Seiji shihai to Haiyaron: Tokugawa zenki ni okeru yasokyo
hihan gensetsu no seijiteki
kino,
PhD dissertation, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo.

Reikei (1914) Jodoshu to nichirenshu shuron

no ki, in Dainippon bukkyo zensho shuron
sosho, Bussho
Kankokai.

206

Hayashi Razans redeployment of anti-Christian discourse

Ricci, Matteo (1971) Tianzhu shiyi, in Goto Motomi Tenshu jitsugi, Meitoku Shuppansha.
Toby, Ronald P. (1984) State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan, Princeton University Press.
Tokugawa, Nariaki (ed.) (1860) Sokkyohen, manuscript in University of Tokyo Sog
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Valignano, Alexandro (1993) Nihon no katekizumo, in Ebisawa Arimichi (ed.) Kirishitan Kyorisho,
Kyobunkan.

Wajima, Yoshio (1966) Shoheiko to hangaku, Shibundo.

Washio, Junkyo (1969a)Nihon shiso toso shiryo, Vol. 9, Meichokankokai.

(1969b)Nihon shiso toso shiryo, Vol. 10, Meichokankokai.

Watanabe, Hiroshi (1985) Kinsei nihon shakai to sogaku. Toky

o Daigaku Shuppankai.
Zhu Xi (1983) Sishu zhangju jizhu, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chuban.
(1996) Zhu Xi Ji, Sichuan: Sichuan Jiaoyu Chubanshe.
Kiri Paramore recently earned his PhD from the University of Tokyo writing about the political
function of anti-Christian discourse in early modern Japan. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher
at Leiden University. His work on Tokugawa and Meiji intellectual history has been published in
He may be contacted at k.n.paramore@let.leidenuniv.nl.
Nihon Shisoshigaku and Shisoshi Kenkyu.