Then began a new era in the history of the empire, and then were laid by
Iyeyas[)u] the foundation-lines upon which the Japan best known to
Europe has existed for nearly three centuries. The creation of a central
executive government strong enough to rule the whole empire, and hold
down even the southern and southwestern daimi[=o]s, made it still worse
for the converts of the European teachers, because in the Land of the
Gods government is ever intensely pagan.
In adjusting the feudal relations of his vassals in Kiushiu, Iyeyas[)u]
made great changes, and thus the political status of the Christians was
profoundly altered. The new daimi[=o]s, carrying out the policy of their
predecessors who had been taught by the Jesuits, but reversing its
direction, began to persecute their Christian subjects, and to compel
them to renounce their faith. One of the leading opposers of the
Christians and their most cruel persecutor, was Kato, the zealous
Nichirenite. Like Brandt, the famous Iroquois Indian, who, in the Mohawk
Valley is execrated as a bloodthirsty brute, and on the Canadian side is
honored with a marble statue and considered not only as the translator
of the prayer-book but also as a saint; even also as Claverhouse, who,
in Scotland is looked upon as a murderous demon, but in England as a
conscientious and loyal patriot; so Kato, the _vir ter execrandus_ of
the Jesuits, is worshipped in his shrine at the Nichiren temple at
Ikegami, near T[=o]ki[=o],[13] and is praised by native historians as
learned, brave and true.
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