3 10 PORTUGUESE, DUTCFl, AND ENGLISH IN JAPAN. 



tbrthconiing from the same source, which may lead to 

 the restoration of a pure and simple faith, as taught by 

 Buddha himself, by means of translations into Japanese, 

 direct from Sanscrit and Pali. 



Japan had been a sealed countiy until 154.3. when 

 the Portuguese landed on the coast and were per- 

 mitted to ojDen a factory at Decima, a small island in 

 the hai'bour of Nagasaki. They wei-e the first pioneers 

 of European trade in the East, and introduced Chris- 

 tianity through the famous Jesuit, Fi-ancis Xavier. 

 They were, however, finallv expelled in 1637, in 

 consequence of their own greed, intolerance, and 

 perpetual quarrels amongst theii- different orders, and 

 Christianity again became a dead lettei" in Japan. 

 In the meantime the Dutch had landed on the same 

 coast in 1608, and, according to Captain Pei'ry's 

 account, in 1639 lent their assistance to- the wholesale 

 murder of the Japanese Christians, or more likely, 

 from sheei" impotency, acquiesced in the inevitable by 

 their silence, which resulted in their being allowed to 

 occupy Decima, in their tui-n, for purposes of trade 

 only ; here they were ti*eated more like prisoners, 

 and not permitted to move beyond the narrow limits 

 allotted to them. The only other European power 

 that had landed in Japan in those early days were 



