Japanese judgment and the accusations against Adams

Some Spanish accounts blamed Adams and Joosten for persuading Ieyasu that missionaries had ulterior motives. A different interpretation gives more weight to the missionaries' own conduct. Attempts to secure Adams's execution and visible efforts at religious conversion gave Japanese rulers reasons to assess their intentions independently. Conversion affected established practices and relationships within Japan. Adams could point to those activities, but treating him as the sole source of suspicion understates Japanese political judgment. The disagreement concerns how to explain that suspicion, rather than whether Adams participated in the dispute.