Murayama Tōan Antonio (村山等安)Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, João Paulo Oliveira e Costa p.7

/ref> was a 17th-century Japanese magistrate of the city of Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Nagasaki (''Nagasaki daikan'', 長崎代官). He was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

from a humble background,Boxer, Charles. R. (1951). ''The Christian Century in Japan,'' p. 273. and he was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

.Jansen, Marius B. (1992). He played an important role in the handling of "

Nanban trade or the was a period in the history of Japan from the arrival of Europeans in 1543 to the first ''Sakoku'' Seclusion Edicts of isolationism in 1614. is a Japanese word borrowed from Chinese ''Nanman'', which had been used to designate people fr ...

" in Nagasaki with Christian powers, and led an invasion to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, before being executed by the shogunate's administration for his Christian faith.

Career in Nagasaki

Murayama went to Nagasaki as a youth and was baptized there, receiving the name "Antonio". He was highly successful in various commercial ventures and became very rich. He also became a famous amateur of European food (南蛮料理, "Nanban-Ryori", lit. "Southern Barbarian Cuisine") Murayama became very influential in Nagasaki, and was nominated as delegate from the municipal council to

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

in 1592. Hideyoshi took a liking to him, and even changed his first name to "Tōan" because he could not pronounce "Antonio" easily. Hideyoshi nominated Murayama as the local tax farmer. Murayama had very close connections with the Jesuits. He had one of his sons, Francisco, ordinated as parish priest of Nagasaki in 1602.Boxer, p. 274. In 1603-1604 Murayama became Magistrate of Nagasaki in place of

Terazawa Hirotaka (1563 – May 18, 1633) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. He was a retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and was the builder of Karatsu Castle. Life Hirotaka became lord of Karatsu in 1595. In 1598, he abandoned his original cast ...

, following disputes on the price of the silk being provided by the Portuguese. Murayama managed to regulate the silk trade with the Portuguese through the introduction of the "bulk-purchase" ''pancada'' system (''ito-wappu'' for the Japanese). Murayama and his colleague Hasegawa Sahioye Fujihiro got into various disputes with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and started accusing them of pride and arrogance, of abusive extraterritorial powers in Nagasaki, and of concealing the best silks from Ieyasu. Murayama advocated for the development of direct trading relations between Japan and China, and for the expansion of the Red seal ship system to carry the silk trade.

Taiwan expedition

In 1616, Murayama Tōan was directed by the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

to invade Taiwan.Taiwan Government
This followed a first exploratory mission by Arima Harunobu in 1609. The objective was to establish a base for the direct supply of silk from China, instead of having to supply it from Portuguese-controlled

Macao Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...

or Spanish-controlled

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

.Boxer, p. 298. Murayama had a fleet of 13 ships and around 4,000 men, under the command of one of his sons. They left Nagasaki on 15 May 1616. The invasion attempt ended in failure however. A

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

dispersed the fleet and put an early end to the invasion effort. The king of

Ryukyu The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

Sho Nei Sho, Shō or SHO may refer to: Music * ''Shō'' (instrument) (笙), a Japanese wind instrument * ''Kane'' (instrument) (鉦), a Japanese percussion instrument * Sho?, a Dubai rock band People * Shō (given name), including ''Sho'' * Shō (su ...

had warned

Ming China The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

of the Japanese intentions to capture the island and to use it as a trading base with China, but in any case only one ship managed to reach the island and it was repelled by local forces.''Recent Trends in Scholarship on the History of Ryukyu’s Relations with China and Japan''

Gregory Smits Gregory James Smits (born 1960) is an American historian, academic, writer and Japanologist. He is a professor of Japanese history at Pennsylvania State University.Pennsylvania State University "Gregory James Smits"; retrieved 2013-3-22. Early l ...

, Pennsylvania State University, p.1

The single ship was ambushed in a Formosan creek, and all her crew committed suicide ("

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

") to avoid capture. Several ships diverted themselves to plunder the Chinese coast and are reported "to have killed above 1,200 Chinese, and taken all the barkes or junks they met withal, throwing the people overboard".

Death

In 1618 Murayama Tōan got into a dispute with the Japanese Christian trader Suetsugu Heizō (末次平蔵). Toan first accused Heizo of concealing Jesuits despite the official interdiction, and Heizo accused him of having killed 17 or 18 Japanese from a family who resisted giving him a bride.Boxer, p. 333. Heizo apostatized and at the same time accused Murayama of harbouring Spanish priests and his own clerical sons. Murayama Tōan was finally found to be guilty by the

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

and executed in 1619 along with most of his family. Murayama Toan's eldest son was Murayama Tokuan Andres.

Notes

References

* Boxer, Charles. R. (1951). ''The Christian Century in Japan.'' Berkeley: University of California Press
OCLC 318190
* Jansen, Marius B. (1992). ''China in the Tokugawa World.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 24908621
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toan, Murayama Japanese Roman Catholics 1619 deaths Year of birth unknown Japan–Taiwan military relations Invasions of Taiwan