Two Empires in Japan Two Empires in Japan by John ML Young and The Christian Confrontation with Shinto Nationalism by Kun Sam Lee were the two books I used for this topic. The first, an intimate chronicle of 100 years of persecution by the Asian government with its demands that all people bow in Kyujo-yohai (worship from afar of the Imperial House); and the struggle of Japanese Christians in times of compromise and triumph under such totalitarian pressure. The latter is a more detailed historical account of ancient Shinto and early Christian missionaries. The following essay will focus on the conflicting ideologies in Japan between the Shinto militarists and the Protestant missionary effort from its germination in 1859 until 1957. Young cites the entry of Christianity into Japan in 1542, when a ferocious storm found two Portuguese sailors shipwrecked on the the southern island of Tanegashima. The Japanese accepted the Roman syncretism of the Gospel, but were more interested in the goods and technology that came with the later Roman Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1549. The priests' attempts at proselytization were not very difficult; the spirit with which their efforts were received is well demonstrated: ³The images of Buddha, with a light application of the chisel, served as images for Christ. Every Buddhist saint found his counterpart in Roman Christianity; and the roadside shrines of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, were rededicated to Mary. Temples, altars, bells, stoups, censers and rosaries were all ready and could be easily adapted to the needs of the new religion. (Young, pp. 12)Oda Noyabunga welcomed the Roman missionaries, as he needed their advanced weapons to successfully defeat the Ashikaga shogunate. Shortly after his victory, Noyabunga was assassinated and all the priests were expelled from Japan in 1587 following a decree. by Hideyoshi the Great. Unfortunately, Japan has remained for more than 400 years without the influence of true religion throughout the country. Until the arrival of two Presbyterian missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Hepburn in 1859. As the new missionaries settled in, they began to start missionary schools for children where they could be trained in the way of the Gospel. However, after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 (which consisted of the demotion of 270 Daimyo and over 2 million samurai who renounced their sword and status), Japan's indigenous religion, Shinto, took a revitalized hold on the masses..