Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Kakure Kirishitan: The Hidden Christians of Japan

Published by

Matt Stone

2008-09-10

If you are interested in the history of eastern Christianity then you are sure to enjoy my latest find, a site dedicated to the hidden Christians of Japan.

The creators write: “The purpose of this site is to provide a visual record of our studies of Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) in Japan. The site will display the photographs of artifacts, places, and people that put Kakure Kirishitans into a historical context of Christianity in Japan. The bulk of the photographs will be from historical sites in Nagasaki, Shimabara, the Goto Islands, Ikitsuki Island and other places within Kyushu. The rest will be from Yamaguchi, Tsuwano, and Tenri University. The photos give a visual record of our studies and help supplement the research of the other student fellows. In hopes of sparking more interest in our project, the photographs will provide brief information on the subject’s significance, date, location, and explanation of the unique aspects.”

Pictured above is a Christian being forced to step on a picture of Christ.

See more inside. Its awe inspiring.

Tags Art, Christian, Japanese

4 responses to “Kakure Kirishitan: The Hidden Christians of Japan”

Lucy J

2008-09-12

Hey, Matt! Thanks for being such an enthusiastic cyber-trawler, if I might coin such a term. This information on the traditions of Christianity in Japan explains a lot for me, as I have known several contemporary Christian missionaries to Japan and currently have some connections with a professional Christian dance company over there. I found the transcript of the interview on your link fascinating reading and will pass on the information to my colleagues. At this point in time, I don’t know anybody who is using Kabuki as a means of communicating Christianity, but after watching a very good TV programme on that particular theatre artform, I was struck with the similarity of some of the traditional moves with certain styles of contemporary dance and feel that there is certainly potential for creative evolution and creative evolution and spiritual revelation of a hitherto unexperienced revolutionary nature in Japan!

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Matt Stone

2008-09-15

Communicating Chrsitainity through Kabuki, that’s a fascinating idea. I’d love to see something like that. I would be interested in what your dance company friends have to say about this too.

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Scott R

2009-01-12

Thanks for the post. In reading the transcript, I found it revealing that Prof. Miyazaki felt that very few Japanese actually accepted Christianity because they believed in Jesus personally, but rather saw it as way to either get money for funding warfare, or simply because they believed that it would give them more earthly “blessings” than Buddhism or Shinto alone (which they still followed). And then their descendants continued it until recently because they thought that God would punish them if they don’t continue the rituals… kind of sad, huh?
But maybe there are redemptive analogies and art forms in Japanese culture (such as Kabuki mentioned above) that can better explain the meaning of Jesus’ teachings to them.

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Matt Stone

2009-01-13

Sadly I think the Australian situation is becoming more like the Japanese situation every day. Christianity is being reduced to a funarary cult in the spiritual marketplace, something to be drawn from only when there is a death or crisis in the family. But when Jesus is no longer hailed as Christ can it still be called Christianity?

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