Some attempts were made at organizing the Shinto religion which had almost been absorbed into Buddhism. Chikafusa (died in 1354), the patriotic court noble, tried to combine Japanese mythology with Buddhist cosmology and in that way to explain and confirm the divinity of the sovereigns. He became, in this latter respect, a forerunner of the nationalistic Shintoists of the 19th century. A family of diviners, Urabe by name, and its chief repre sentatives in the 16th century founded a school of Shinto, called the Unitarian Sect in antithesis to the syncretic or double Shinto. But in reality it was a combination of Buddhism with several alien ingredients. In their writings, profound philosophical sayings are found side by side with curious explanations of mystic practices. Another branch of Shinto was found in the 16th century, though its com pletion dates from the next century. It is named the Geku-Shinto, having been organized by the priests of the temple Geku, a counter part of the shrine dedicated to' the Heaven Shining Deity. The system was much imbued with Confucianistic elements, not in moral teachings but in cosmolqgy and divination' All of these priests who formulated doctrines were voluminous writers, but their influence was not great.
The agitation was increased by the unex pected arrival of the Jesuit fathers in the middle of the 16th century and by their amazing success, which was partly due to the •fire-arms which their countrymen imported. Some feudal lords got the new fighting instruments 'to with their new faith. They fought their neighbors with the help of the rifles ; temples and shrines were devastated. The rise of the' Jesuit propaganda culminated in the establishment of a central cathedral in the capital (in 1560 under the patronage Nobunaga, a feudal lord who then ruled in the capital. Nobunaga was a mortal foe of the Buddhist soldier bonzes and fought them incessantly. It was his re ligious policy to welcome the new religion. The converts numbered at that time nearly 300.000, among whom there were not 'a few feudal lords. But the turn of their fate ;began with the death of their patron in 1582. His suc cessors endeavored to expel the missionaries and the obstinate converts from the country. The last blood of the martyrs was shed in 1638, when the stronghold of the Christian in surgents was crushed. Unexpected as was their arrival and amazing as was their success, the Jesuit fathers disappeared from the country like a comet. Their name corrupted into Jap anese (Christian Padres) alone remained, inspiring something awful in the minds of the people even until recent times. Nevertheless, a group of humble fishermen. near Nagasaki have remained attached to their Christian faith in secret, through over 200 years of strict inquisition. Their faith has been revealed since the revisiting of the Catholic Fathers in the 19th century.
The period which had a glorious start of religious awakening ended thus in a miserable absorption of religion into politics and battles. Nevertheless the 'beliefs sown in the heart of the nation still remain and may grow up again, IV. Peace and Stagnation (1600-1868)0- The complete extinction of Christianity Was synchronous with the firm establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The new regime put an end to the age of warfares, both feudal and ecclesiastical. The policy of the new govern ment in regard to religion was to keep, strictly, the status quo of the various branches of Bud dhism and to guard against any rise of Chris tianity by means of the religious census trusted to Buddhist priests. Each Buddhist body was allowed self-management but no change of area of jurisdiction was The state churches, so to speak, were richly patronized by the authorities. Stagnation began in case.
Another remarkable feature of the state management was the establishment of an ortho dox Confucianism as a system of moral in struction apart from ecclesiastical The orthodoxy was founded upon the writings of Chu-hi, a Chinese philosopher of the 12th century. Obedience was the first and last of his teaching, and this was the best suited to the intention not only of the central govern ment, but of the feudal states, all of them now eagerly seeking to keep peace and to establish order. The Samurai (comprising the warrior and ruling class) were trained in the orthodox moral teaching. The morality of faithfulness, stern justice and rigorous self-discipline com bined with the code of honor, which had been fostered among the Samurai during the long Age of Wars. These made up the Bushido, the way of the Samurai. See THE SAMURAI.
The establishment of the orthodox teaching had two kinds of consequences. One was the general indifference of the Samurai class to ward religion, and a feeling of antipathy toward Buddhism. Though Confucianism was not destitute of cosmological and philosophical speculations, its centre of gravity fell on prac tical morality. Self-discipline, domestic man agement and state government were the cardinal interests of its teachings that were now adapted to the orthodox teaching current among the Samurai. A positivism and a Stoicism like this is necessarily an opponent of religious faith. Thus Confucianism, which had been trans mitted chiefly by Buddhists, now became their opponent. Buddhism incurred an antagonism for the first time in the history of its exist ence in japan, from an orthodox Confucianist in the middle of the•17th century. His example was followed by nearly every Confucianist of subsequent years. This tend ency among the Samurai class raised its voice most at the time of the Restoration and is felt even to-day.