いのちのことば社・フォレストブックス
『聖書を読んだサムライたち』で定評のある著者のシリーズ第６弾。大分を拠点に活動したザビエルが天皇への謁見を目指したことから始まり、大分ゆかりのキリスト者、大友宗麟、ペテロ岐部などを追いながら、日本とキリスト教の歴史を垣間見る。
著者・訳者など：守部喜雅
ISBN：978-4-264-03317-2
ｻﾞﾋﾞｴﾙﾄﾃﾝﾉｳ
Francis Xavier and the Emperor of Japan
(Zabieru to Tennoh)
Yoshimasa Moribe
Portuguese Jesuit Francis Xavier arrived in Japan in 1549. His goal was to convince the emperor to allow preaching of Christianity in Japan with the hope of converting the nation. He travelled to Kyoto and tried to meet the emperor but was unable to. Later he learned the emperor did not really have any power and the shogun who ruled in his name did not control all of Japan. So he concentrated on Oita and the samurai lords (daimyo) of the southern regions. He preached to Daimyo Ohtomo Sohrin who responded favorably, was eventually baptized in 1578 and sent a delegation to Europe. The author sketches the history of the spread of Christianity in this period until the banning of Christianity in 1600 under Tokugawa and the crushing of the Christian-led Shimabara Peasant Rebellion in 1638. He then moves to the 20th century and describes the influence of the Bible and Christianity on the family of Emperor Hirohito (Showa) and the present Emperor Akihito. As a boy after WW2, Akihito studied the Bible under his Quaker tutor, Elizabeth Vining, and as a commoner the Empress Michiko went through Catholic schools. He urges readers to consider this. Forest Books. B6* size, 112 pp.
