The collection

File A2 consists of documents that Marega took out of his collection and organized for inclusion in Zoku Bungo Kirishitan shiryō 続豊後切支丹史料 (Historical Documents Regarding Bungo Christians) (vol. 1). The file is comprised of four major sub-files (A2.1 to A2.4). There are forty-nine smaller files in envelopes in these sub-files. In the envelopes, there are documents collected by Marega as well as Italian memos and Japanese Roman alphabet memos, copyist manuscripts, and other related materials. Marega wrote on the front side of almost all of the envelopes the Marega Numbers of the documents inside of them, numbers in circles, Italian-language memos, and so on.

Next let us consider the relationship between the structure of this file and that of volume one of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō. To do so, the numbers written in circles (1 to 29) on the envelopes are useful. Volume 1 of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō is comprised of sixteen chapters if one includes the introduction and supplement. As can be seen by the below table, the circled numbers (1 to 29) indicate the order of the envelope’s documents in Bungo Kirishitan shiryō. (Based on these numbers it can be seen that the order of the A2.2 to A2.4 subfiles do not correspond to the chapter order of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō; originally they were in the following order: A2.2, A2.4, A2.3. This is due to priority being given to their current state when they were being photographed. Them being out of order does not have any structural significance or meaning). Furthermore, on thirty envelopes one also finds numbers such as “pag.7,” “pag.8” (A2.2.2.0.1). These numbers are the page numbers (pagina) of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō (vol. 1) on which the documents in these envelopes are reprinted. This indicates that this file was organized sometime after the 1942 (Shōwa 17) publication of volume 1 of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō while referring to it.

Next, based on the document catalogue I have written brief summaries of the content of the individual A2.1 to A2.4 subfiles.

A2.1: Records relating to the 1637( Kan’ei 14) Shimabara Rebellion and the 1867 (Keiō 3) crackdown on Christians called the Urakami Yoban Kuzure 浦上四番崩れ.
A2.2: Documents relating to the uncovering of Christians in 1668 (Kanbun 8) and the following year.
A2.3: In addition to documents relating to the uncovering of Christians in Kanbun 8 (like A2.2), documents relating to martyrs, surveys of relatives of former Christians in the Usuki Domain, the control of relatives of former Christians in the Saiki Domain, and religious inquisitions.
A2.4: In addition to documents regarding religious inquisitions (like A2.3), documents relating to the control of relatives of former Christians and fumie, as well as laws prohibiting Christianity.

In light of these subfiles’ overlapping content, it appears that they are not categorized based on their content. Marega probably grouped documents together in this way for convenience when organizing and storing them.

As described above, this file is a group of documents that were used for volume 1 of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō. However, all of the documents in this file are not included in this work: documents with the same content, voluminous records, etc. were completely left out, only included in part, and so on. Also, there are documents in this book that are not found in this file: the two in Chapter 14 (texts relating to the banishment of Catholic priests in 1587), two of the four in Chapter 9 (oaths renouncing Christianity), and three of the five in Chapter 13 (documents banning Christianity). While the reasons for this are not immediately apparent, the Italian memo written on the envelope of A2.4.3.1.0 might provide us with a hint: “743 dato al Papa nel 1947.” In other words, in 1947 (Shōwa 22; after the publication of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō) a document in this file (Marega Number 743) was presented (dato) by Marega to the Pope (Papa). Thus there is the possibility that documents in addition to Marega Number Document 743 were removed from this file by Marega himself for some reason. In fact, while not documents included in Bungo Kirishitan shiryō, there are cases in this file (Marega Number 779, 780, etc.) in which only a wrapper for a document remains (A2.4.3.4.1, A2.4.3.4.2). On the envelope in which these wrappers are found (A2.4.3.1.0) Buste (envelope / box) is written regarding 779 and 780, unlike the c’è (“there is [in this envelope]”) written regarding the other documents contained therein. From this we can gather that they were probably moved to another envelope or document box. It thus appears that the documents in Bungo Kirishitan shiryō not found in this file were most likely not lost by accident but purposely removed by Marega. While Silvio Vita has discussed Marega presenting to the Pope Bungo Kirishitan shiryō (vols. 1 and 2) as well as a woodblock print book related to the Shimabara Rebellion (“Bungo Kirishitan no ato o tadoru Mario Marega shinpu: Marega bunshogun no seiritsu katei to sono haikei” 豊後キリシタンの跡をたどるマリオ・マレガ神父―マレガ文書群の成立過程とその背景― [Father Mario Marega in the Tracks of Early Christians in Bungo: The Formation of the Marega Collection and its Background], Kokubungaku kenkyū shiryōkan kiyō ākaibuzu kenkyū hen 国文学研究資料館紀要 アーカイブズ研究篇 [The Bulletin of the National Institute of Japanese Literature] 12 [2016], p. 163), the above shows that he also presented the Pope with an original text.

This file also includes multiple documents from which one can get a fragmented glimpse into its formation and the work carried out to compile volume 1 of Bungo Kirishitan shiryō. For example, on a slip of paper with a document entitled “Survey Results as of Twentieth Day of the Twelfth Month of Shōtoku 1 [1711] Year of the Rabbit” (Marega No. B315; A2.4.7.1) there is a Japanese handwritten memo which translates to “Investigation into Living Former Christians, People Born to a Christian Before Their Renunciation of Christianity, and Relatives of a Former Christian: ¥5.” This shows that part of the file was purchased. In other files (such as A1) there is evidence that Marega acquired the documents therein by purchasing them. Satō Akihiro has written about how they were purchased at Hareruya Shoten ハレルヤ書店 (Hallelujah Bookstore), which was in Ōita City’s Horikawa–chō (“Marega purojekuto ni kakawaru heisei ni jū go nendo gaiyō chōsa” マレガ・ブロジェクトに係る平成二五年度概要調査 [2013 Academic Year Marega Project–Related General Survey], Ōita kenritsu sentetsu shiryōkan shiryōkan kenkyū kiyō 大分県立先哲史料館　史料館研究紀要 [Research Bulletin of the Oita Prefecture Ancient Sages Historical Archives] 19 [2015], pp. 39–40). Besides the item mentioned above, a slip of paper with Marega Number Document B315 (A2.4.9.2) has a ¥3 Hareruya Shoten price tag attached to it. This also indicates that this bookstore played a role in the formation of this collection. Furthermore, in this file there are postcards informing Marega about corrections to the reprints of the many document copyist manuscripts included in this file (A2.2.4.1, A2.2.9.2). They were sent by Imamura Kōji 今村孝次 (1875 / Meiji 8 – 1941 / Shōwa 16) and Takayama Hideaki 高山英明 (1872 / Meiji 5 – 1954 / Meiji 29). Imamura was an educator who worked in the 1920s and 1930s as the principal of the Shōwa Jissen Jogakkō 昭和実践女学校 (Shōwa Practical Girl’s School; currently Beppu Daigaku Fuzoku Kōtō Gakkō 別府大学附属高等学校 / Beppu University Senior High School). He was also a local historian who was commissioned to compile Ōitaken-shi 大分県史 (Oita Prefectural History) and wrote many articles (see Satō Yoshiaki 佐藤義詮, “Kōki” 後記 [Postscript], in Imamura Kōji, Nihō jinbunshi 二豊人文志 [Humanities Chronicle of Buzen and Bungo] [Hōbundō, 1943]). Takayama was a politician who served as the mayor of Ōita City from 1929 (Shōwa 4) to 1932 (Shōwa 7). He also was active in the recognizing and preserving the history of Ōita, such as that related to Ōtomo Sōrin 大友宗麟 (Yoshida Toyoharu 吉田豊治, “Takayama Hideaki” 高山英明, in Ōitaken rekishi jinbutsu jiten [Dictionary of Ōita Prefecture Historical Figures], ed. by Ōita Gōdō Shinbunsha 大分合同新聞社編 [Ōita Gōdō Shinbunsha, 1996]). We can see that in the background to the compilation and publication of Marega’s Bungo Kirishitan shiryō was the cooperation of these local individuals.