At the time of the first introduction of Christianity into Japan, it spread very rapidly throughout the empire, receiving no check until the arrogance and intolerance of the missionaries provoked the anger of Hideyoshi and induced him to issue an edict forbidding the propagandism of the foreign faith. This law, however, was not rigorously enforced, and moreover official attention was shortly afterward diverted to the war with Korea. When Iyeyasu came to power, as has been shown, he expelled the foreign missionaries from Japan and deputed Buddhist priests to reconvert the Japanese who had embraced the Christian creed, the efforts of these priests being reinforced by an edict that all who refused to abjure Christianity should be either exiled or put to death. But it appeared that many of the Japanese Christians had adopted the new faith with sincerity and devotion which neither teaching nor threats could alter. In the provinces of Bungo and Hizen, in Kiushū, where even the feudal barons themselves had become converts to the Western creed, a great majority of the population was Christian, and from them issued the forces of propagandism which made themselves felt elsewhere. Shimabara, in Hizen, was especially regarded as the headquarters of the foreign faith, and the shōgun accordingly nominated as feudal chief of that place Matsukura Shigemasa, a bitter foe to Christianity. The latter issued proclamations against the profession of the faith, and inflicted most cruel punishments on its votaries. The people suffered in silence, for Shigemasa's military following was so great that resistance was hopeless.