Japan

Summary

[When he writes about Japan, Bayle intentionally makes comparisons with public life in Europe. Most Europeans were merely entertained by travellers' tales from the East, but scholars of human behaviour could see in these writings the evidence of similar dispositions and similar political and religious institutions. In Remark (E), Bayle condemns the recent bloody slaughter perpetrated by soldiers and missionaries upon indigenous peoples of the East and in the Americas, which he contrasts to the mildness of the Christianity of the first three centuries. When he assesses a work by a Jesuit missionary concerning the expulsion of Christianity from Japan, he remarks that he would like to see such a history written from the Japanese point of view.]

Japan. This is the name of a great country situated to the east of China and divided into many islands. It is treated so amply in Moréri's Dictionary that few things remain for me to observe. Nor will I add anything that he has omitted, but I will confine myself instead to certain aspects of the theology of those islanders.

The monarchy of Japan is divided into two estates, the ecclesiastical and the secular. The first is composed of the bonzes and the second of the nobility and the people. The name of bonze is given to all those ministers who are dedicated to the service of the Japanese Gods. […]