＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
In Syria, the Islamic State (IS) is rampant, and the civil war between the Assad regime and rebel forces seems to be continuing. US President Trump decided to withdraw the troops, saying that the “operation to wipe out the Islamic State” had ended. I think he decided that if the US continued to stay indefinitely, criticism at home would grow and the country would end up repeating the “quagmire of the Vietnam War.”
First there was “Judaism” (whose scripture is the Old Testament), then Jesus gave it a new interpretation to become “Christianity” (whose scripture is the New Testament), and then Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula added a different interpretation and compiled it into a text called the Quran, which became “Islam.” In other words, these three religions have the same roots. Therefore, the “holy land” is also the same, Jerusalem.
I truly believe that religion is a tricky thing.
I previously wrote an article about the history of Buddhism in Japan, but this time I would like to look back on the history of tyranny of Christianity, which is widespread mainly in the West.
1. Crusades
The fundamental premise of Judaism is the idea of the chosen people (elites), that only those who sincerely believe in Judaism and faithfully follow its rules are loved by God. At the root of this is the hope that one day a savior will appear and make the world a better place.
It was Jesus who spoke out against the overly strict Judaism. To the poor people, Jesus was the long-awaited “Savior,” but to Judaism, he was a “heretic.”
At first, the Roman Empire and Judaism persecuted Christianity, but by the 4th century, Christianity had become so widespread that they were finally tolerant of it.
Meanwhile, Islam, which was born in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century, spread rapidly and established the “Islamic Empire.” They gained control of Jerusalem, a holy city for Judaism and Christianity.
So from the end of the 11th century to the end of the 13th century, the “Crusades” were launched with the aim of “recapturing the Holy Land,” but ultimately ended in failure.
2. Catholicism (Old Church) and Protestantism (New Church)
The Catholic Church, with the Pope at the helm, issues indulgences, claiming that buying them will cleanse people of their sins, and collects large amounts of money. Martin Luther (1483-1546) of Germany brought about the Protestant Reformation, which opposed this. They were called Protestants, and did not acknowledge the Pope or the hierarchy, and instead believed in the words of the Bible alone.
3. Religious trials, inquisitions, and witch trials
A “religious trial” is a judicial procedure based on the doctrine or views of a certain religion. Christian religious trials include the “inquisition” and the “witch trials.”
The “Inquisition” was a system established in the Catholic Church from the Middle Ages onwards to try those suspected of holding teachings contrary to orthodox faith (heretical).
“Witch hunts” refers to a series of persecutions, including prosecution, trial, punishment, and lynching without legal procedures, against suspects who were accused of being witches. The trial procedure in question was the “witch trial.”
Joan of Arc (1412-1431), known as the “Maid of Orléans,” was a farmer’s daughter, but after receiving “divine revelation,” she joined the French army and fought in important battles during the Hundred Years’ War with England, winning victories and contributing to the coronation of the future French king, Charles VII.
However, she was later captured by the Burgundian army and handed over to England in exchange for a ransom. She was put on trial for heresy by the Bishop of Beauvais, who was in contact with England, on suspicion of “disobedience and heresy,” and was burned at the stake at the age of 19.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) proved the Copernican theory of heliocentrism through his own observations and became a representative figure of the Scientific Revolution. However, he was accused of heresy and tried by the Inquisition twice, in 1616 and 1636. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
It was at this time that he is said to have uttered the famous words, “And yet the earth moves.” After this, the “Dark Ages,” in which science was suppressed by religion, came to an end, and the “Scientific Revolution” of the 17th century arrived. The “Renaissance” (rebirth, literary revival) that began in Italy in the 14th century blossomed throughout Western Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.
