Two Empires in JapanTwo Empires in Japan by John ML Young and The Christian Confrontation with Shinto Nationalism by Kun Sam Lee are 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 everyone bow in Kyujo-yohai, (worshiping the Imperial Household from afar); 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 old Shintoism and early Christian missionaries. The following essay will focus on the conflicting ideologies in Japan between 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 violent storm found two Portuguese sailors shipwrecked on the southern island of Tanegashima. The Japanese accepted the Roman syncretism of the Gospel, but were more interested in the goods and technology provided by the Roman Catholic missionaries who arrived in 1549. The priests' attempts to proselytize were not very difficult; the spirit in which their efforts were received is well demonstrated: “The images of Buddha, with a light application of the chisel, served as images of Christ. Each Buddhist saint found his counterpart in Roman Christianity; and roadside shrines to Kannon, the goddess of mercy, were rededicated to Mary. Temples, altars, bells, holy water vessels, 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 priests were driven out of Japan in 1587 by decree. by Hideyoshi the Great. Unfortunately, Japan went more than 400 years without the influence of true religion on the entire country. Until the arrival of two Presbyterian missionaries, Dr. and Mrs. JC Hepburn in 1859. As the new missionaries became established, they began to open missionary schools for children in which 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 more than 2 million samurai renouncing their sword and status), Japan's indigenous religion, Shinto, regained a revitalized hold on the masses..