Changes

The Jesuits took great pains to adapt to Japanese culture, including learning to sit in a Japanese style, to speak [[Japanese language|Japanese]], and even to properly formally entertain guests with [[tea ceremony]]. They struggled to some extent with the Japanese custom of daily baths, due not only to European beliefs at the time associating bathing with the danger of illness, but also because of religious or cultural associations drawn between dirt and lice and the monastic vow of poverty.

The Jesuits took great pains to adapt to Japanese culture, including learning to sit in a Japanese style, to speak [[Japanese language|Japanese]], and even to properly formally entertain guests with [[tea ceremony]]. They struggled to some extent with the Japanese custom of daily baths, due not only to European beliefs at the time associating bathing with the danger of illness, but also because of religious or cultural associations drawn between dirt and lice and the monastic vow of poverty.

The Jesuits gained allies relatively quickly among the ''daimyô'' and other prominent figures in Kyushu, including winning a number of converts among the Kyushu elite. They had difficulties, however, explaining the differences which separated their religion from Buddhism, with many potential converts confusing or conflating the Christian God and/or Jesus with [[Dainichi]] (Vairocana, the cosmic Buddha), and the Christian Heaven with the Buddhist [[Jodo-shu|Pure Land]]. Some Jesuit missionaries even wrote that the Devil himself "had deliberately fashioned Buddhism to resemble the true faith so as to confound and confuse the people."<ref>Schirokauer, et al., 122.</ref>

The Jesuits gained allies relatively quickly among the ''daimyô'' and other prominent figures in Kyushu, including winning a number of converts among the Kyushu elite. Christianity suited samurai lords well, as missionaries emphasized sacrificing oneself for the Lord – and with the ''daimyô'' himself as divinely mandated, loyalty to God became intertwined with loyalty to one’s earthly lord. The Jesuits had difficulties, however, explaining the differences which separated their religion from Buddhism, with many potential converts confusing or conflating the Christian God and/or Jesus with [[Dainichi]] (Vairocana, the cosmic Buddha), and the Christian Heaven with the Buddhist [[Jodo-shu|Pure Land]]. Some Jesuit missionaries even wrote that the Devil himself "had deliberately fashioned Buddhism to resemble the true faith so as to confound and confuse the people."<ref>Schirokauer, et al., 122.</ref>

Their first successful ''daimyô'' convert was [[Omura Sumitada|Ômura Sumitada]], in [[1563]]; in [[1580]], he ceded the Society the port of [[Nagasaki]], including the power of judicial authority within that space. [[Otomo Sorin|Ôtomo Sôrin]] welcomed the Jesuits into his domain ([[Bungo province]]) as guests, and allowed them to establish a mission there in [[1551]] (along with a hospital in [[1557]]), though he did not himself choose to be baptized until [[1578]].

Their first successful ''daimyô'' convert was [[Omura Sumitada|Ômura Sumitada]], in [[1563]]; in [[1580]], he ceded the Society the port of [[Nagasaki]], including the power of judicial authority within that space. [[Otomo Sorin|Ôtomo Sôrin]] welcomed the Jesuits into his domain ([[Bungo province]]) as guests, and allowed them to establish a mission there in [[1551]] (along with a hospital in [[1557]]), though he did not himself choose to be baptized until [[1578]].