May 6th

May 6th is the date on which Sebastian Rodrigues and Francisco Garrpe, having left Macao eight days earlier, face their first severe storm at sea. The event occurs during their clandestine voyage to Japan, a journey undertaken to investigate the fate of their former teacher Christovao Ferreira and to minister to the persecuted Christians. The storm is a pivotal moment that exposes the physical and spiritual fragility of the travelers, particularly the cowardice of their guide Kichijiro, and sets the tone for the hardships that will define their mission.

The Storm and Its Immediate Aftermath

On May 6th, a strong wind began to blow from the southeast, forcing the experienced Chinese sailors to take down the main sail and replace it with a smaller one at the front of the ship. As night fell, the crew could do nothing but abandon the vessel to the winds and waves. A great rift opened in the front of the ship, and water began to pour in. For almost the entire night, Rodrigues, Garrpe, and the sailors worked frantically, stuffing cloth into the breach and bailing out water. Just as dawn was breaking, the storm ceased, leaving everyone in utter exhaustion. Rodrigues and Garrpe threw themselves down between the bales of luggage, staring up at the thick black rainclouds floating off to the east. In that moment of calm, Rodrigues thought of Saint Francis Xavier, who must have looked up at a similar milky sky after such a storm, and then of the countless missionaries who had sailed this same route over the preceding eighty years—Bishop Cerqueira, Organtino, Gomes, Lopez, Gregorio, and many others, some of whom, like Gil de Mata, had died in sinking ships with their eyes fixed on Japan.

Kichijiro's Cowardice and the Revelation of His Faith

During the storm, Kichijiro made almost no attempt to help the sailors. Afterward, he lay wretchedly pale between the baggage, surrounded by white vomit, muttering something in Japanese. As Rodrigues and Garrpe looked at him with contempt, they caught, jumbled among his stammering, the words 'gratia' and 'Santa Maria.' This discovery astonished them: could this coward, who had been a nuisance throughout the journey, possibly be a Christian? When Garrpe pressed him directly, Kichijiro shook his head vigorously and denied it. The Chinese sailors watched with a mixture of curiosity and contempt. Rodrigues speculated that Kichijiro's fear of being handed over to the Japanese officials upon return might explain his concealment, but the incident deepened the mystery surrounding the man upon whom their entire mission depended.

Significance and Foreshadowing

The storm of May 6th serves as a microcosm of the larger ordeal awaiting Rodrigues and Garrpe in Japan. It strips away pretense, revealing Kichijiro's fundamental weakness and the priests' own capacity for endurance. The event also connects Rodrigues to the long line of missionaries who preceded him, reinforcing his sense of vocation even as it underscores the peril of his undertaking. The calm after the storm, with its milky clouds and the memory of Xavier, offers a brief respite, but the violence of the night foreshadows the physical and spiritual storms that will ultimately overwhelm the mission. The image of Kichijiro, face buried in his own vomit yet uttering the names of grace and the Virgin, prefigures his repeated betrayals and his paradoxical, persistent faith—a faith that, like the storm itself, is both destructive and revealing.