Page "Edo period" Paragraph 13

The " Christian problem " was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans.

By 1612, the shogun's retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity.

More restrictions came in 1616 ( the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū ), 1622 ( the execution of 120 missionaries and converts ), 1624 ( the expulsion of the Spanish ), and 1629 ( the execution of thousands of Christians ).

Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from traveling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning.

In 1636 the Dutch were restricted to Dejima, a small artificial island — and thus, not true Japanese soil — in Nagasaki's harbor.