Father Martin Alvito judges and expels Uraga-noh-Tadamasa (Brother Joseph)

Father Martin Alvito judges and expels Uraga-noh-Tadamasa, known as Brother Joseph, in a confrontation that exposes the distance between Jesuit authority and the Japanese brothers it trains. Alvito enforces the Society’s vows and sacramental discipline, yet Joseph’s expulsion makes visible a deeper grievance: the brothers have been educated and sent to preach without being ordained. Alvito’s later remorse does not reverse the sentence; instead, it complicates his authority by showing that he recognizes his own part in Joseph’s departure.

Their Unequal Place in the Society

Alvito enters the confrontation as a Jesuit priest responsible for judging a Japanese acolyte, while Joseph has served among the Jesuits since he was eight. At thirty, Joseph is still not ordained. He says that Japanese brothers are not professed priests, cannot take the Society’s fourth vow, and are excluded from ordination even after years of learning, prayer, preaching, and waiting. His complaint places their personal bond inside a sharp institutional inequality: Alvito can command and punish as a priest, while Joseph’s service has not brought him the standing he believes was promised.

That disparity does not erase the immediate breach. Joseph admits that he has violated chastity and says that the first lapse occurred four nights earlier in Mishima; he has now failed again. His earlier confession and reception of the Eucharist while conscious of the mortal sin deepen the matter for Alvito, who understands the offense not simply as sexual misconduct but as a violation of the vows and sacramental order governing the Society. The two men therefore confront different, overlapping claims: Alvito insists on obedience to religious discipline, while Joseph challenges the authority of an institution that demands obedience without granting its Japanese brothers the status of full priests.

Judgment and Expulsion

Alvito is already distressed when he confronts Joseph, and the other Brothers watch from around the small room. He reminds Joseph that the Jesuit vows require chastity, poverty, and obedience, and orders him to stop arguing. Joseph answers by asking whose time will determine when the Japanese brothers are ordained. That question turns a confession into an open dispute over the Society’s promises and the limits of its authority.

The confrontation becomes physical in its threat, though not in a completed attack. Alvito raises his cross and threatens excommunication, ordering the others to seize and strip Joseph. Joseph springs to his feet with a knife drawn from under his robes and backs against the wall. Brother Michael approaches calmly and asks him to surrender it; Alvito then orders Michael to leave him alone. With Joseph still armed, Alvito pronounces him excommunicated and tells him to go. Joseph responds by renouncing the Christian God, declaring himself Japanese and Shinto, and claiming his soul as his own. The judgment meant to enforce religious membership ends with Joseph rejecting that membership outright.

Remorse and the Limits of Authority

Later that evening, Alvito meets Toranaga while carrying a confidential message from his superior. Toranaga first asks about Alvito himself, and the priest admits that he wants to set aside his earthly duties and withdraw to pray. He describes his own failure to show humility and acknowledges that, although Joseph’s offense was grave, he acted with haste, anger, and stupidity. He believes his conduct helped make Joseph an outcast who might be lost forever, and he calls the loss of a Brother terrible. His remorse does not deny Joseph’s violation; it recognizes that punishment and the manner of administering it are separate responsibilities.

Alvito also asks Toranaga to show Joseph mercy, and means the appeal sincerely. Yet he knows Toranaga is unlikely to abandon a course already chosen. Alvito wishes that the Society possessed its own secular authority to arrest and punish apostates, as it did elsewhere, but says that this proposal has been rejected both in Japan and by the General of the Order in Rome. The episode thus shows the limits of his power: he can excommunicate Joseph, but cannot personally compel his return or impose the further discipline he thinks the Society needs.

Toranaga’s Intervention and the Relationship’s Aftermath

Toranaga responds to Alvito’s account by ordering a guard to find the renegade Christian and bring him to the ruler at noon the next day. This order moves the conflict beyond the Jesuits’ internal jurisdiction. Alvito has asked for mercy, yet Joseph is now subject to Toranaga’s authority as well; the evidence does not establish what happens when the guard finds him or whether Alvito’s appeal changes the outcome.

Their relationship is left at a point of rupture rather than reconciliation. Alvito’s regret shows that he has not reduced Joseph to his offense, but Joseph has rejected the faith and authority Alvito represents. The contrast between the priest’s belated plea and the ruler’s immediate order makes the episode a collision of religious discipline and political power. Alvito’s judgment closes Joseph’s place in the Society, while his later confession of fault preserves the possibility that responsibility for the break belongs not only to the expelled brother but also to the institution and the superior who judged him.