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This article discusses the way the Jesuits introduced the sacrament of marriage in Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the wake of the major reforms enacted at the Council of Trent. Rigorous implementation of the Church’s regulations was impractical in a society in which the institution of marriage was far removed from the Christian ideal and where Christians were a vulnerable minority. Concerned about the negative impact on conversions, the Japanese mission initiated a genuine dialogue with several Iberian theologians and with Rome. The article analyses the exchanges of questions and answers, showing how the various actors managed to somehow reconcile the Rome’s concern to impose its rules globally with the Jesuit mission’s pragmatic approach, in keeping with its policy of accommodation.
