the slightly hollowed eyes …I began to wonder if he had mingled with these destitute Japanese Christians in the same way as he had with us students, putting his hand on their shoulders with the same friendly warmth.
Quite deliberately I asked a pointed question: ‘Was the father of a severe nature?’
One of the old men looked up at me and earnestly shook his head in disagreement. ‘No, no, no, I have never met such a kind and gentle person in my life’, was what his trembling lips seemed to say.
Before returning to Tomogi I instructed these people as to how to form the organization I have already described to you. I mean the one that the people of Tomogi had devised secretly when they were completely deprived of priests. So I taught them how to choose their Jiisama and to make their Tossama. In their present circumstances this is the only way they can continue to teach catechism to their young people and to their children. Indeed, they take to this method with great enthusiasm, and when they come to decide on their Jiisama and Tossama they begin to wrangle with one another like the people of Lisbon at election time. Amongst them, of course, Kichijirō keeps stubbornly putting himself forward for any post of honor.
One more interesting point. The peasants here, just like those at Tomogi, kept pressing me for a small crucifix or medal or holy picture or some such thing. And when I replied that I had left all these things behind, they looked quite crushed. Finally, I had to take my rosary and, unfastening the beads, give one to each of them. I suppose it is not a bad thing that the Japanese Christians should reverence such things; but somehow their whole attitude makes me uneasy. I keep asking myself if there is not some error in their outlook.
Six days later, in the evening, I once again secretly boarded the little ship and we rowed our way back through the dark sea in the night. I listened to the monotonous sound of the oars plied through the water and to the sea as it washed the sides of the ship, while Kichijirō stood in the stern singing softly to himself. Five days previously, when I had crossed over to the island in this same ship, an inexplicable fear had suddenly seized me; and now as I recalled this foolish panic I could not help smiling. Anyhow, all was well now. Such were my thoughts.
In fact, since coming to Japan everything had worked out beyond my wildest expectations. We had not been obliged to undertake any dangerous adventure; we had succeeded in finding new groups of Christians; to date the officials knew nothing of our existence. I went so far as to think that Father Valignano in Macao had been altogether too afraid of persecution from the Japanese. Feelings of joy and happiness suddenly filled my breast: the feeling that my life was of value and that it was accomplishing something. I am of some use to the people of this country at the ends of the earth, I reflected—a people and a country which you can never understand.
Perhaps it was because of this feeling of well-being that the return journey seemed so much shorter than the journey out. So when the ship grated on the shore I could scarcely believe that we had already reached Tomogi.
Hiding on the shore I waited alone for Mokichi and his friend. Even this precaution, I felt suddenly, was quite meaningless; and I kept reflecting on the night when Garrpe and I had arrived in this country.
Footsteps on the shore. ‘Father. …’
Overcome with joy I jumped up to clasp the other with my sand-covered hand.
‘Father, flee! Quickly, quickly, go away!’ Mokichi spoke with great rapidity, pushing me in front of him. ‘The guards are in the village.’
‘The guards. …?’
‘Yes, father, the guards. The news has reached them.’
‘And they know about us?’
Mokichi shook his head quickly. ‘They haven’t noticed yet that we have been keeping you in hiding.’
And so I ran in the opposite direction, away from the district, with
Quite deliberately I asked a pointed question: ‘Was the father of a severe nature?’
One of the old men looked up at me and earnestly shook his head in disagreement. ‘No, no, no, I have never met such a kind and gentle person in my life’, was what his trembling lips seemed to say.
Before returning to Tomogi I instructed these people as to how to form the organization I have already described to you. I mean the one that the people of Tomogi had devised secretly when they were completely deprived of priests. So I taught them how to choose their Jiisama and to make their Tossama. In their present circumstances this is the only way they can continue to teach catechism to their young people and to their children. Indeed, they take to this method with great enthusiasm, and when they come to decide on their Jiisama and Tossama they begin to wrangle with one another like the people of Lisbon at election time. Amongst them, of course, Kichijirō keeps stubbornly putting himself forward for any post of honor.
One more interesting point. The peasants here, just like those at Tomogi, kept pressing me for a small crucifix or medal or holy picture or some such thing. And when I replied that I had left all these things behind, they looked quite crushed. Finally, I had to take my rosary and, unfastening the beads, give one to each of them. I suppose it is not a bad thing that the Japanese Christians should reverence such things; but somehow their whole attitude makes me uneasy. I keep asking myself if there is not some error in their outlook.
Six days later, in the evening, I once again secretly boarded the little ship and we rowed our way back through the dark sea in the night. I listened to the monotonous sound of the oars plied through the water and to the sea as it washed the sides of the ship, while Kichijirō stood in the stern singing softly to himself. Five days previously, when I had crossed over to the island in this same ship, an inexplicable fear had suddenly seized me; and now as I recalled this foolish panic I could not help smiling. Anyhow, all was well now. Such were my thoughts.
In fact, since coming to Japan everything had worked out beyond my wildest expectations. We had not been obliged to undertake any dangerous adventure; we had succeeded in finding new groups of Christians; to date the officials knew nothing of our existence. I went so far as to think that Father Valignano in Macao had been altogether too afraid of persecution from the Japanese. Feelings of joy and happiness suddenly filled my breast: the feeling that my life was of value and that it was accomplishing something. I am of some use to the people of this country at the ends of the earth, I reflected—a people and a country which you can never understand.
Perhaps it was because of this feeling of well-being that the return journey seemed so much shorter than the journey out. So when the ship grated on the shore I could scarcely believe that we had already reached Tomogi.
Hiding on the shore I waited alone for Mokichi and his friend. Even this precaution, I felt suddenly, was quite meaningless; and I kept reflecting on the night when Garrpe and I had arrived in this country.
Footsteps on the shore. ‘Father. …’
Overcome with joy I jumped up to clasp the other with my sand-covered hand.
‘Father, flee! Quickly, quickly, go away!’ Mokichi spoke with great rapidity, pushing me in front of him. ‘The guards are in the village.’
‘The guards. …?’
‘Yes, father, the guards. The news has reached them.’
‘And they know about us?’
Mokichi shook his head quickly. ‘They haven’t noticed yet that we have been keeping you in hiding.’
And so I ran in the opposite direction, away from the district, with
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