Yaso Taiji Baka Shinnyū (Extermination of the Christians: Infiltration of the Idiots)

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Yaso Taiji Baka Shinnyū ["Extermination of the Christians: Infiltration of the Idiots"]

Kato, Tomisaburō [edited by].

Ōsaka: Katō Tomisaburō, Meiji 14 [1881]. "New edition".

A mitate banzuke (sheet that ranks people and behaviours in a parody of a sumo ranking sheet) listing the behaviours of Japanese Christians the compiler considers "idiotic". While the point of the large (62.2 x 37.8 cm) banzuke is to ridicule the typical Japanese Christian by presenting them as hypocritical or lacking in patriotism, it is a valuable record of a fascinating range of behaviours associated with Christians in the Meiji period. Among the types of people ridiculed in the sheet, which ranks the behaviours from egregiously stupid (at the top) to mildly annoying, are those who claim that God is their parent and thus neglect their mother and father, those who claim there is only one God in the world and thus neglect Japan's gods, those who claim that one's sickness may be cured without medicine if one believes in Christ, those who stack Christian books on carts and sell them on main roads, those who believe in Christ and thus do not mourn the deaths of their ancestors, those who claim Kirishitan and Yaso are different, those who say it is a day of rest and then "play dead", and so on. One of the most interesting mentions in the banzuke is of "those who state that the professional storyteller Bakin is out of his mind". This is a reference to Matsui Bakin, an Osaka-based orator whose speeches reflected the anti-Christian sentiments prevalent in the Japanese population at the time. A note printed in the margin claims the banzuke was published "by the people of Japan" and states that if it sells well a second "series" will be published. Importantly, another note states clearly that the banzuke was produced to admonish the people of Japan (i.e. Japanese Christians and those tempted by Christian evangelism), not foreigners (who were assumed to be Christian). The publisher, Katō Tomisaburō, produced numerous banzuke and ephemeral materials in the Meiji period, most notably the five-volume collection of banzuke titled Kaika Naniwa Miyage (1880). Although one marginal note reads "new edition", no pre-1881 editions are recorded, suggesting that the print was published in the same year as the first edition or that the "new edition" statement was a simple marketing ploy. The banzuke was published a couple of years before the height of the popularity of the Yaso Taiji ("Extermination of Christianity") movement. A fascinating record of proselytisation methods and Japanese Christian beliefs, published just ten years after Christianity was legalised in Japan. No copies traced in OCLC.

One leaf, woodblock printed on one side, complete. Creases and light soiling. Occasional small holes to folds. Minor losses to extremities. Washi paper repairs to verso. Approximately 62.2 x 37.8 cm.

Yaso Taiji Baka Shinnyū (Extermination of the Christians: Infiltration of the Idiots)
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