Why did the Japanese ruler Hideyoshi outlaw Christianity in his country?

A:The Catholic missionary, Francis Xavier arrived in western Japan with his confreres Torres and Fernandez in 1549, following close after Portuguese traders. The Jesuit missionary monopoly was broken in 1593 with arrival in Japan of the first Spanish Franciscans. Whereas the Jesuits had worked with Japan's leaders, the Franciscan friars began to proselytise among the poor and criticise the Jesuit policy of accommodation. Dutch and English traders arrived in the early 1600s. This proliferation and the ensuing competition and intrigue amongst the foreigners alarmed Japanese leaders.

The shogun Ieyasu (1542-1616), who had at first had been friendly to the Christians, soon turned against them. In 1606 Christianity was declared illegal, and on 27 January 1614 the famous edict against Christianity was published, which included the following passage:

The Kirishitan [Christian] band have come to Japan, not only sending their merchant vessels to exchange commodities, but also longing to disseminate an evil law, to overthrow true doctrine, so that they may change the government of the country and obtain possession of the land. This is the germ of great disaster, and must be crushed.

Christianity came to be seen as potentially subversive, not only of the political order, but of the basic social structure, for it challenged accepted values and beliefs.