On
one occasion, at Osaka, in 1839,[20] a rebellion broke out which was
believed, though without evidence, to have been instigated in some way
by men with Christian ideas, and was certainly led by Oshio, the bitter
opponent of Buddhism, of Tokugawa, and of the prevalent Confucianism.
Possibly, the uprising was aided by refugees from Korea. Those
implicated were, after speedy trial, crucified or beheaded. In the
southern part of the country the ceremony of Ebumi or trampling on the
cross,[21] was long performed. Thousands of people were made to pass
through a wicket, beneath which and on the ground lay a copper plate
engraved with the image of the Christ and the cross. In this way it was
hoped to utterly eradicate the very memory of Christianity, which, to
the common people, had become the synonym for sorcery.
But besides the seeking after God by earnest souls and the protest of
philosophers, there was, amid the prevailing immorality and the
agnosticism and scepticism bred by decayed Buddhism and the
materialistic philosophy based on Confucius, some earnest struggles for
the purification of morals and the spiritual improvement of the people.
The Shingaku Movement.
One of the most remarkable of the movements to this end was that of the
Shingaku or New Learning.
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