Vintage Porcelain Jesus Child Statue Figure by Art Japan

Japanese Christians who went into hiding during the Edo Period (1603–1868)

Kakure Kirishitan (Japanese: 隠れキリシタン, lit.'"hidden Christian"') is a modernistic term for a member of the Catholic Church building in Japan that went underground at the get-go of the Edo period in the early 17th century due to Christianity'south repression by the Tokugawa shogunate.^{[one] [2]}

History [edit]

A Dehua porcelain "Guanyin bringing kid" statue, interpreted to be "Maria Kannon" in connection with Christian worship. Nantoyōsō Drove, Japan.

The gion-mamori, crest of the Gion Shrine, was adopted by the kakure kirishitan as their crest under the Tokugawa shogunate^[iii]

Kakure Kirishitans are chosen the "hidden" Christians because they continued to do Christianity in hush-hush. They worshipped in hush-hush rooms in private homes. As fourth dimension went on, the figures of the saints and the Virgin Mary were transformed into figurines that looked like the traditional statues of the Buddha and bodhisattvas;^{[ citation needed ]} depictions of Mary modeled on the Buddhist deity Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), goddess of mercy, became common, and were known as "Maria Kannon".^[4] The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chant, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese, and Castilian. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, because printed works could be confiscated past regime.^[ane] Considering of the official expulsion of the Catholic clergy in the 17th century, the Kakure Christian community relied on lay leaders to lead the services.

In some cases, the communities drifted away from Christian teachings. They lost the meaning of the prayers and their religion became a version of the cult of ancestors, in which the ancestors happened to be their Christian martyrs.

Kakure Kirishitan was recognized past Bernard Petitjean, a Cosmic priest, when Ōura Church was built in Nagasaki in 1865. Approximately 30,000 secret Christians, some of whom had adopted these new ways of practicing Christianity, came out of hiding when religious freedom was re-established in 1873 afterward the Meiji Restoration. The Kakure Kirishitan became known as Mukashi Kirishitan ( 昔キリシタン ), or "ancient" Christians, and emerged not only from traditional Christian areas in Kyushu, just as well from other rural areas of Japan.^[1]

The majority of Kakure Kirishitan rejoined the Catholic Church after renouncing unorthodox, syncretic practices. Some Kakure Kirishitan did not rejoin the Catholic Church, and became known as the Hanare Kirishitan ( 離れキリシタン , separated Christians).^[1] Hanare Kirishitan are now primarily found in Urakami and on the Gotō Islands.^[ii]

Modern extinction of Hanare Kirishitan [edit]

Following the legalization of Christianity in the 1800s, many Hanare Kirishitan lineages ended abruptly. Traditionally, boys learned the rituals and prayers from their fathers; when boys were uninterested or moved away from their homes, no one was left to go on the lineage.

Until the 1980s, Hanare Kirishitans were thought to accept died out entirely because of the secretive nature of their practices. A grouping on Ikitsuki Isle in Nagasaki Prefecture, which had been overlooked past the Japanese government, made their beliefs public in the 1980s and now perform their rituals for audiences; however, these practices accept acquired some attributes of theatre, such as the telling of folktales and the use of statues and other images which most hole-and-corner Christians never used.

In the early 1990s, anthropologist Christal Whelan discovered some Hanare Kirishitans still living on the Gotō Islands where Kakure Kirishitans had in one case fled. There were only ii surviving priests on the islands, both of whom were over 90, and they would not talk to each other. The few surviving laity had also reached one-time age, and some of them no longer had whatsoever priests from their lineage and prayed lone. Although these Hanare Kirishitans had a stiff tradition of secrecy, they agreed to be filmed for Whelan'south documentary Otaiya.^[5]

In popular culture [edit]

• Shūsaku Endō's 1966 novel Silence draws from the oral history of the local Kirishitan communities pertaining to the fourth dimension of the hiding of the Christians, equally do certain of his brusk stories, including "Mothers" and "Unzen." The novel was adapted into picture show in 1971 (dir. Masahiro Shinoda) and 2016 (dir. Martin Scorsese).
• Mitsuharu Inoue'south 1960 short story The House of Hands centers on a community of descendants of Crypto-Christians on a modest Nagasaki island.
• Japanese composer Yasuhide Ito has written a work for symphonic band, called Gloriosa, that was inspired past the music of the Kakure Kirishitans.^{[six] [7] [viii]}
• Nagisa Oshima's 1962 film Amakusa Shirō Tokisada (The Rebels), virtually the Shimabara Rebellion, is named after the leader of the rebellion Amakusa Shirō.
• The anime serial Rurouni Kenshin featured a story arc inspired by the Kakure Kirishitan, whose lead antagonist claims to be the 2d coming of Amakusa.
• In the anime series Samurai Champloo, one of the totems on main character Fuu's short sword is somewhen revealed to be a disguised Christian amuse. Fuu'south search for her missing male parent, a participant in the Shimabara Rebellion, drives the plot of the anime.
• Hugger-mugger Christians in feudal Japan are too detailed in several issues of the Usagi Yojimbo comic series.^{[9] [10] [11]}
• The 2018 Japanese videogame "The Midnight Sanctuary", which touches on Christian persecution in Edo period Japan, utilizes a Maria Kannon statue as one of its narrative symbols.
• In the lite novel series A Certain Magical Index, the Amakusa Crossist Church descend from the Kakure Kirishitan.
• In the video game Kara no Shōjo: The Second Episode, the Hinna-sama cult is revealed to descend from the Kakure Kirishitan, although it became very distant from the original Christianity due to the isolation of its followers.

See besides [edit]

• Mozarabs
• Mozarabic art and architecture
• Ottoman Hungary
• Magyarab people
• Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region
• Kakure nenbutsu, a form of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism secretly practiced on the Japanese island of Kyushu, during a menses of religious persecution from 1555 to Meiji Restoration.
• Marrano/Anusim/Converso - comparable grouping of subconscious Jews in Espana and Portugal
• Nagasaki Prefecture

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "S". Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 56431036. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007.
2. ^ ^{a b} "隠れキリシタン" [Kakure Kirishitan]. Dijitaru Daijisen (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 56431036. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007.
3. ^ Boxer, C.R. (1951). The Christian Century in Japan: 1549–1650. Academy of California Press. p. vi.
4. ^ Schumacher, Mark. "Virgin Mary & Kannon, Two Merciful Mothers". A to Z Photo Lexicon: Japanese Buddhist Statuary . Retrieved xi May 2016.
5. ^ "Kakure Kirishtan". 4 February 2000. Archived from the original on fourteen Apr 2021. Retrieved 2 Feb 2022.
6. ^ "Yasuhide Ito". Bravo music . Retrieved 2 December 2007.
7. ^ "Review". Wasbe. Sep 2001. Archived from the original on thirteen May 2008.
8. ^ "Yasuhide Ito". Composers' Corner. Combo winds. Archived from the original on xx September 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
9. ^ Usagi Yojimbo Vol.3 #76: "Contraband"
10. ^ Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden miniseries #1-vii (Dark Horse, 2018)
11. ^ Innovation & Tech Today: "Comic Creator Stan Sakai on the Inspiration for Usagi Yojimbo". June 4, 2018.

External links [edit]

• "Japan – Hidden Christians": Foreign Correspondent documentary
• "Ikitsuki Journal; Once Banned, Christianity Withers in an One-time Stronghold", The New York Times, 25 December 2003 .
• "Lack of Oppression Hurts Christianity in Japan", The New York Times, Sam Sloan, 3 Apr 1997, archived from the original on 27 September 2007 .
• "Japan's Crypto-Christians", Time Magazine, archived from the original on July 21, 2008 .
• 2008 Beatification of Japanese Martyrs, Cosmic Church Archdiocese of TOKYO .
• Orasho, "Website of Churches and Christian Historical and Cultural Heritage of Nagasaki", operated for the Nagasaki Prefecture.
• Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region, Nagasaki Prefectural World Heritage Division
• Hidden Christians: Part 1 (Television product). Japanology Plus. NHK. 2019-02-nineteen. Includes a descendant of the Kakure Kirishitan reciting the Orasho.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakure_Kirishitan

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