The European missionaries who came to Japan in the 16^th century found themselves faced with values very different from those they had grown used to in their home countries.This was especially the case with the Japanese views on marriage, which stood diametrically opposed to the Catholic idea that marriage was a one-time, unbreakable bond. The Catholic Church took the position that the marriage institution was linked to ideas on the cases of conscience and that questions concerning it fromed an important subfield of the theology of morality. In this paper, based on materials left by the Society of Jesus, the author discusses the process by which missionaries, groping for a solution to the problem of reconciling Church law with the actual practices of Japanese society, established a marriage doctrine for Japan. In 1592, Visitor Alessandro Valignano asked the famous Spanish theologist Gabriel Vazquez about his ideas on marriage; and in 1595, Vazquez' response was offered. However, as the historical examples of marriages show, the Jesuit missionaries had already arrived at and practiced some of their own ideas concerning marriage before they were instructed by Vazquez. In order to facilitate the propagation of Christianity, they recognized the possibility of divorce and tacitly allowed marriages between Christians and nonChristians. Moreover, they even wished to avoid applying to Japan the rulings of the Council of Trient concerning marriage. The marriage policy of the Society of Jesus for propagating Christianity in Japan provoked harsh criticism both from within and without the Society. In response to this, when Valignano asked leading theologians and even the Pope for a clear endorsement of his policies, Vazquez obliged. His response, endorsed in turn by by the Jesuit General and the Pope himself, became the foundation for countering criticism directed at the Jesuits' marriage policies in Japan. Afterwards, the views on marriage of the Society of Jesus became the norm in Japan, and they were included in Bishop Luiz de Cerqueira's Manuale ad Sacramenta Ecclesiae Ministranda, [Nagasaki, 1605].This solution to the problems connected with marriage policies, however, soon became moot by the promulgation of the interdiction of Christianity and the inevitable suspension of the activities of the Church in Japan.
抄録全体を表示