Miguel Chijiwa (1570-?)

Clergy of the Society of Jesus who worked in Japan. Born in Japan around 1570, he was the nephew of Omura Sumitada and cousin to Arima Harunobu. He was a member of the renowned delegation of Christian daimyos who visited Europe between 1584 and 1586. After his return to Japan, he was admitted into the Society, on 25 July, 1591, and completed the novitiate two years later. In 1598 he was still in the Society but did not travel to Macao in 1601, and his name is not listed in the catalogues for 1602/1603. The reasons for his departure are unclear, as Pedro Morejon suggests he left the Society for health reasons, while Diogo Mesquita criticized Francisco Pasio for not supporting Miguel enough and for not having sent him with the others to study Cases in Macao. Afonso Lucena, on the other hand, implies that Miguel´s apostasy only took place in 1606, at the same time as that of his cousin, Omura Yoshiaki, in whose house he had come to serve. Thus, there were two distinct events: the departure from the Society between 1601 and 1603 (eventually in open conflict with the Society or, at least, with some of the clergy) and the apostasy in 1606, when Yoshiaki cut off relations with the Church. Around that time, he was one of the nobility who received the Dominicans, Zumarraga and Mena, who later offered to replace the Jesuits, who had recently been expelled from the fiefdom. Later on, he cut off relations with Omura Yoshiaki, going on to serve under Arima Harunobu. On an unknown date, one of his servants attempted to assassinate him.

Bibliography: COSTA, João Paulo Oliveira e, O Cristianismo no Japão e o Episcopado de D. Luís de Cerqueira, dissertação de doutoramento em História apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1998 (texto fotocopiado).

Translated by: Maria João Pimentel