Mena, Diego R.

May 10, 2012

Japans Hidden Christians:
Within the history of the Christian religion, there have been myriad forms and
permutations adopted as it passed from region to region and age to age. Many of these have
been sparked by shism or heresy, as !ith the mainline "rthodo# and $rotestant denominations.
%hese ma&or branhes differ '!ith varying degrees of severity( on several !orldly and
theologial issues, suh as the dates on a hurh alendar or the Catholi devotion to the )lessed
*irgin. "thers have been muh more obsure and partiular, often invoking synreti praties
to reonile ompeting beliefs. + brief survey of *oudoun pratie in ,e! "rleans, -ouisiana
or the .anta Muerte movement in Me#io City/s %epito barrio an reveal a mi#ture of both
Catholi and animisti religious traditions.
0istorially, many of these movements have been limited to ountries !here Christianity
!as a ma&or fore for oloni1ation2 as seen in the +merias and +fria, this synretism an be a
means of preserving indigenous religion and making the bitter pill of olonial onversion easier
to s!allo!. 0o!ever, one suh permutation took refuge in the arhipelago of 3apan !here it
adapted to survive in a ountry that instituted a state4mandated perseution of Christians. Most
unusually, a splinter of the Catholi Churh originally founded by 3esuit missionaries 'and one4
tolerated in 3apan( !ent underground in 3apanese soiety to outlast nearly three enturies of
oppression and fear. %oday, the Churh has its arhdioeses and its formal standing, but as
reently as 1567 all forms of Christianity and Christian ions !ere illegal in 3apan. 8#amining
this loaked reli of 3apanese ounter4ulture helps to illustrate the intersetions bet!een
orthodo#y, orthopra#y, and politial theology !ithin the onte#t of oppression and the use of
synretism as a means of survival.
A Brief History of Christianity in Japan
%he first $ortuguese missionaries arrived on 3apan/s south!estern oast at the ity of
9agoshima in the mid 1:
th
entury. %hey !ere 3esuits, unompromising and undaunted by a
signifiant language barrier and the urrent politial situation of the islands. ;rom the time the
Catholi missionaries arrived until about 1:00, 3apan !as loked in state of ivil !ar. %he
3esuits arrived at the tail4end of the .engoku, or, Warring .tates period. %hey arrived to find a
ountry in the grip of !arlords and nobles vying for po!er.
%he ountry had dissolved into feuding fiefdoms around 1<:6 and no lear steps to!ard
unifiation !ere taken until 1=52 !hen a very po!erful and ambitious noble from entral 3apan
named "da ,obunaga gre! strong enough to sei1e ontrol of muh of the ountry out of the
haos had onsumed it over the past entury. "da ,obunaga has something of a reputation !ith
the 3apanese people for the often larger4than4life portrayal of his figure in historial 'and not so
historial( adaptations of this period in history. 0e !as e>ually reviled and admired in his o!n
time and this is true to an e#tent, even today. 0e is, ho!ever, almost al!ays mentioned
favorably in Christian history of 3apan2 "da ,obunaga is remembered for his uriosity to!ard
Western ulture, tehnology, and fashion. "da and his northern ontemporary Date Masamune
are espeially noted for their prediletions to!ard readily adopting the Western imports from the
far south of the ountry. '"da himself !as said to have been the first 3apanese man to !ear
Western lothes.(
More importantly, "da ,obunaga !as espeially noted for his onsiderable tolerane
to!ard the Christians !ho traded in the south. +lthough he himself never onverted, he did not
attempt to restrit the missionaries in their efforts to onvert the southern regions, though most
suspet this !as out of a desire to a>uire more foreign goods for his house and his on>uest.
%his !as benefiial to the missionaries, !ho had made little progress other!ise in onverting the
southern 3apanese.
+part from the aforementioned language barrier, the missionaries had trouble onverting
the 3apanese on theologial grounds. Most of the people !ere staunhly )uddhist or .hinto and
initially mistook the missionaries as foreign )uddhists preahing a ne! path. %he 3esuits,
ho!ever, spoke out fre>uently against moral issues they sa! in the 3apanese, suh as idolatry
and homose#uality. .uh proselyti1ing aused many 3apanese to rebuke the 3esuits. Many
3apanese also took e#eption !ith the theologial problems of reoniling a loving ?od !ith the
nature of evil and ho! to deal !ith the onept of 0ell. %he native )uddhist monks !armed to
the 3esuits at first, thinking the foreigners !ere talking about obsure )uddhist teahings. %hey
too, beame skeptial !hen they found the missionaries/ religion foreign in both language and
theology.
When suh divisions beame lear, the missionaries turned to!ard the nobles !ith offers
of trade to help s!eeten the theologial promise of baptism. Many southern nobles, inluding
those of the "tomo and .hima1u lans, onverted, eager for an opportunity to gain $ortuguese
goods suh as guns for their o!n purposes. With the indution of the upper lass, the ommon
folk of the region onverted more >uikly. +t the height of their !ork, the 3esuits laimed more
than 100,000 onverts and the ity of ,agasaki.
%his period of onversion !ould last until 1=52 !hen "da ,obunaga ommitted suiide
during the @nident at 0onno %emple, an attempt at po!er by "da ,obunaga/s retainer +kehi
Mitsuhide. @n 1=56, a ne! !arlord named %oyotomi 0ideyoshi began to regard the Christians
to!ard the south !arily. %oyotomi, a ommoner by birth, had only reently onsolidated po!er
in the lands formerly in turmoil and ould only look !ith horror to see ho! the Catholis had
garrisoned the ity of ,agasaki. Conerned that this !ould lead to another uprising similar to
the )uddhist temples that resisted ,obunaga before him, %oyotomi began to take steps to!ard
e#ising the foreign threat.
%he most drasti step began in 1=A6, !hen the %!enty .i# Martyrs of 3apan !ere
ruified outside the ity of ,agasaki as an e#ample to their ountrymen. +mong them !as .t.
$aul Miki, !hom Catholis no! laim as the patron saint of 3apan. Conditions for 3apanese
Christians !ould only gro! !orse !hen %oyotomi 0ideyoshi perished in 1=A5 and his
suessor, %okuga!a @eyasu laimed po!er as .hogun in the aftermath of the )attle of
.ekigahara in 1:00.
Christianity in Hiding
%he ne! %okuga!a .hogunate !ould beome the last to rule 3apan, but !ould do so
from 1:07 to 15:5. @n this time, the belief, pratie, and ionography of Christianity !ould
beome illegal. +ll nobility and their samurai retainers !ho onverted to Catholiism !ere
ordered to renoune their faith, and the Catholi lergy they kept among them !ere e#pelled
from the ountry. 3apan !as to be unified under the %okuga!a and there !as no room in the
agenda for the Catholis, !ho !ere deemed subversive. ;aed !ith a no!4institutionali1ed
perseution from the government seat of the ity of 8do 'modern4day %okyo(, 3apanese
Christians !ere fored into hiding from the %okuga!a .hogunate and from Catholi Christianity
at large.
"ver the ourse of the ne#t t!o enturies, the Christian remnants, mostly from the
southern regions of the ountry, hanneled their adopted faith into a method they ould pratie
in seret. .ine the trappings of the religion had beome illegal, they modified them to better
suit seret !orship and a ounterultural movement simultaneously. %hey adopted their o!n
ions as !ell2 small signs, suh as a hidden rest in the roof tiles of a home to denote that the
family !as pratiing in seret. %hey had beome Kakure Kirishitan, 3apanese for B0idden
Christian.C
Dnder the !athful eye of the la!, 3apanese Christianity began a radial shift in pratieE
%he )ible passed into oral tradition, for fear of the te#t being onfisated and used as evidene.
$rayers, verses, and rites passed similarly, altered to sound like )uddhist hant or suh similar
veneration2 !ith no lergy to lead them, the laity took over as offiiators of the faith. @n order to
get around the la!s on ions, the 3apanese adopted and modified )uddhist ions of the
bodhisattva 9annon to serve as a substitute for the Madonna and Child. %he religion beame
almost entirely personal in nature, !ith families passing do!n the faith as a sort of inheritane to
be pratied in utmost serey. +s the deades !ent by, the religion lost muh of its fous and
meaning. %he message behind the verses gre! obsured and the landestine faith began to
inorporate aspets of anestor !orship into itself. With no onnetion to Rome or another
Catholi ountry, the rypto4Christianity of the 3apanese had beome its o!n entity.
@ndeed, to an untrained eye, suh a permutation of the Christian faith !ould sarely
resemble Christianity at all. +fter nearly three enturies of synreti mutation, the Catholi faith
that arrived in 9agoshima in the mid 1=<0s had adopted so muh of the native 3apanese religions
that it had beome something not >uite seen before. What it beame flies in the fae of both
standard Catholi orthodo#y and orthopra#y, but its adoption reflets adherene to basi
Christian pratie in spite of ulture that atively perseuted it. %radition demanded that the faith
be kept, but the government demanded that the faith be banished from the ountry. Dnable to
obey both demands, 3apan/s hidden Christians hose to obey the higher of the t!o ommands
and pratied a highly modified, unorthodo# variant of Catholiism to preserve their beliefs in
seret. %o those !ho kept their faith in the fae of oppression, an unorthodo#, even heretial
form of Christianity !as preferable to no Christianity at all.
When the %okuga!a .hogunate !as dissolved in 15:5 during the Mei&i Restoration of
the 8mperor, Christianity in southern 3apan slo!ly gre! out of hiding. +lthough it !ould not be
until 1567 that Christianity !ould beome legal again, pressure from the +merian and 8uropean
ambassadors to 3apan helped to fore the la! off the books. %he reemergene of the Kakure
Christians astounded the ne!ly returned lergy !ho found, in spite of the numerous hanges to
the religious pratie, a remarkably !ell4preserved splinter of Catholiism in the ;ar 8ast that
had survived a full government4sponsored perseution for nearly three enturies.
+s the Christians reemerged from hiding, many re&oined !ith the -atin Rite and beame
members of the Churh in 3apan. + small population, ho!ever, preferred to retain their synreti
praties and beame Hanare 'separated( Christians. %hey never &oined the Churh and
preferred to stay far to the south on islands near 9yushu, !hih fre>uently frustrated the old
.hogunate !ith its noted independene and un!illingness to obey edits from the apital. )oth
Hanare and Kakure Christians are onsidered relis of 3apan/s history2 there are barely any left
at all, and the fe! that remain are unlikely to pass on !hat remains of their praties given their
advaned age and lak of support.
8thnographially speaking, this is one of the fe! oasions in history !here a ma&or
religion adopted native praties to stay alive in a hostile ountry, as opposed to the use of a
native pratie using Christian ionography to stay alive during the proess of oloni1ation. @t
also defies normal pereptions of orthodo#y and orthopra#y, preferring to sarifie true
authentiity in the interest of self4preservation2 this is not unreasonable, as this model of
Christian pratie allo!s for its tradition to be kept alive, even if the faith strays from the path.
;urthermore, it is !orth mentioning !hile this !as not the first attempt from synretism
to preserve a religion fading from memory and out of pratie, it is one of the fe! that !as
suessful. Whether or not the Kakure Christians intended for the *atian to re4establish ties
!ith the 3apanese @slands, they !ere intent on leaving to their faith or 'failing that( !hat !as
left of it.
The Mandate of Edo
%he perseution of 3apanese Christians reflets an atypial response to the spread of
Christianity. @nstead of taking root, Christianity never found a strong enough foothold in 3apan
to maintain permaneny and legitimay in a re4unified ountry of fiefdoms. %he three unifiers,
"da, %oyotomi, and %okuga!a, !ere !orldly men and more onerned !ith territory,
unifiation, and politis than religion. +ll three intended to reate one realm under heaven and
under their rule. Due to their guns, the Christians !ere a means to this end. "da did not give
muh thought to the gun4traders to the south, but his suessors did. +s a result, the %oyotomi
and %okuga!a instigated a poliy of oppression to better ontain !hat they sa! as a foreign
threat to their ne!ly4onsolidated po!er, and nothing more.
%oday, it is !orth noting that something of a degree of onfusion surrounds the 3apanese
response to this period in their history. @n partiular, this faet is often glossed over or muddled
further in more asual disussions of history and religion in 3apan. %his has not stopped it from
gaining notoriety, though. %he .engoku period has famously been portrayed in numerous visual
media, inluding animation, omis, and video games. Despite its onurreny, the Christian
history of 3apan is often left out in favor of more popular aspets of the era, suh as the
individual !arlords themselves. Most famously, the Sengoku Basara 'Warring-States Fury(
series of video games features the 9yushu onverts as a playable fation set to on>uer the
islands. %o preserve the games/ more genial tone to!ard this point in 3apanese history, ho!ever,
the onverts instead follo! a ult of personality around a man named Favi 'represented in4game
by a brash, orpulent 3esuit meant as an open but slightly moking portrayal of .t. ;ranis
Favier(.
Morality aside, ho!ever, the reasons for the perseution are evident. %he 3apanese
Christians !ere seen as ounter4produtive to the ne! order the latter t!o unifiers had built for
themselves. %he Christians !ere dangerous, or so the .hogunate argued, to the 3apanese people
at4large beause their faith !as seen as an affront to the ne! la! of the land. %he Christians may
have been 3apanese by birth, but they !ere not 3apanese by faith. %his, oupled !ith their
!orship of a foreign ?od unheard of before in 3apan, made the leaders gro! uneasy at the
thought of having to ontrol a people they sa! as influened by an ever4inreasing Western
onept.
@n order to better ontrol the populae through faith, a kind of ounter4theology 'more
heavily grounded in politis than religion( !as used to restrain the remaining 3apanese
Christians. %he plan used )uddhist and .hinto sites as a means of establishing national identity
through !hat !ere seen as native, proper 3apanese religions. +tual temple attendane and
shrine !orship by the populae !ere seen as seondary2 !hat mattered !as that families ould
prove alignment and registration !ith loal, established, religious authorities to, by e#tent, prove
that they !ere not subversive Catholis.
%his politial theology !as heavily ouhed in orthodo#y, as it demanded adherene to
traditional 3apanese beliefs 'even if only superfiially( to preserve the ne!ly4unified nation. )ut,
onfusingly, it !as instated by a government that ared little for how or what religion !as
pratied !ithin its borders as muh as it meant to e#ise the one it did not want. .ine 'a(
native religion's( !as seen as the best effort to unite the people, foreign religion !as to be
outla!ed, purely for a safe and seure soiety/s sake.
%his is suh a radial departure from ho! a government mandates a politial theology,
that it must be seen from a 3apanese point of vie!. $olitial theology is often ereted to provide
the one, true religion for the people to obey !ithin a state. Religion is the fore for unity, and for
politial solidarity. %he %okuga!a !as only onerned !ith the one, true law for the people to
obey2 their religion didn/t matter as long as it !asn/t Christian, the only faith deemed antithetial
to the la!. %he .hogunate !as determined to keep the ountry together through any and all
means possible, and !as onvined that only a 3apanese religion ould help aomplish suh a
feat. + foreign religion !ould only lead to disord and disunity. + native religion ould lead to
national homogeny, !hih the .hogunate sa! as entral to the ontinued e#istene of the state.
Sources:
.eretariat, ?eneral '2006(. G+, "*8R*@8W "; %08 0@.%"RH "; %08 C+%0"-@C
C0DRC0 @, 3+$+,, 1=<741A<<G. Catholi )ishopsI Conferene of 3apan.
;u&ita, ,eil '1AA1(. Japans Encounter with Christianity !he Catholic "ission in #re-$odern
Japan. ,e! Hork, $aulist $ress.
,oso, $eter '1AA7(. G.erey and the %ransmission of %radition, @ssues in the .tudy of the
IDnderground ChristiansG. 3apanese 3ournal of Religious .tudies 20 '1(E 7J70.
3ansen, Marius '2000(. !he "aking o% "odern Japan. 0arvard Dniversity $ress