The closing days of the Ashikaga shōgunate are also noted for the opening of Japan's relations with the Europeans. Merchantmen of Portugal arrived for the first time, in 1542, at the Island of Tanegashima, off the coast of Ōsumi. They subsequently visited Kagoshima, and thence proceeded to Bungo, where their captains concluded with the nobleman Ōtomo Sōrin a convention opening commercial intercourse. Thenceforth Portuguese vessels frequently visited Kiushū for purposes of trade, the people competing with each other to purchase the rare and valuable articles offered by the strangers. It was then that firearms were for the first time introduced into Japan, and the military class, fully appreciating the advantages of such a weapon, set themselves eagerly to learn the method of handling and manufacturing it. With trade and weapons came also religious teaching. In 1548 Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary, with two disciples, arrived at Nagasaki, and by permission of the Shimazu family, began to preach Christianity throughout the provinces of Kiushū. This was the first time since the introduction of Buddhism that the tenets of a foreign religion were laid before the Japanese people. The alien creed soon began to spread in the island, as also in the neighborhood of Kyōto, and afterward in Kwantō, Mutsu, and Dewa. The largest number of converts were found in Kiushū, where the people built chapels for the purpose of Christian worship. The great noble Ōtomo Sōrin was an earnest believer, while Ōuchi Yoshitaka, as well as the Shōgun Yoshiteru, were also converted. So successful was Christian propagandism in those early days, that in 1581 the Ōmura and Arima families of Hizen sent envoys to Rome with letters and articles of Japanese production for presentation to the Pope. Thus in religion, as in piracy and trade, this period was characterized by a certain unconscious freedom, which stands in great contrast with the policy of restriction and exclusion which was adopted by the Japanese rulers of later ages.