Hidden Christians Research Articles

One Hundred Years of Echoes: The Influence of the Jesuit Aleni on the Spiritual Life of the Manchu Prince Depei

This paper reveals the interweaving of three traditions—Christian, Manchu, and Han Chinese—in the work of an unduly neglected figure in early modern China, Aisin-Gioro Depei 愛新覺羅·德沛 (1688–1752), who was a Manchu prince, neo-Confucian philosopher, and likely, a hidden Christian. The analysis demonstrates that Depei developed a particular syncretic philosophy based on the rational theology that he learned from the works of a significant Jesuit missionary, Giulio Aleni (1582–1649, 艾儒略), notably Aleni’s Xingxue cushu 性學觕述 (A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human Nature). Using resources from Christian and Confucian traditions, Depei puts forward an approach, which marks the continuation of the cross-cultural interpretation movement launched by the missionaries since the late Ming.

The Christian Idea in the Soviet Literature

Contrary to common belief, Russian literature of the Soviet period was never a “waste of time” for our culture. No socialist realism could tear it completely off from the Orthodox worldview and the classical Russian literature. As for the works of that period written with the hidden agenda, they have long since been duly forgotten. In the Soviet years, the reality of the so-called literary process appeared to be distorted: there were books that received prizes, and other books that people read and discussed. Time, however, straightens everything and puts things in their proper place. The works of writers who felt that they belonged to the great Russian literature stand out clearly from the political and social framework of this historical period. They are, in essence, a bridge from the pre-revolutionary Orthodox culture to our time. We can be fi rmly justifi ed in saying that the literature of the Soviet period was hardly the “bearer of the Christian message”. And yet, to call it entirely anti-Christian would be equally wrong. The author of the article researches this phenomenon through the works by Andrey Platonov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Nikolai Rubtsov and Vasily Shukshin. The article examines the works of these authors, and reveals their hidden Christian or close enough character, ideas, images and moods. In general, even taking into account the necessary reverence to the system, the Soviet literature in its best representation was a worthy continuation of the classic Russian one. Sadly, the current literature in our country has not yet managed to become even a remote successor of the Soviet literature.

From Pure Land to Hell: Introducing four culturally hybrid UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Gotō Archipelago

The islands in the Gotō region off Kyushu Island were refuges, mountains providing both terraces for growing potatoes and rice; and hideaways for clandestine religious practices; seas and bays providing fish and seaweed. Religious refugees arrived here in the 18th and 19th centuries, but had to contend with a harsh winter climate, the strong prejudices of indigenous inhabitants, and the long arms of the Nagasaki magistrate. This article locates a migrant people known variously as the senpuku, the kakure, kirishitan, or Hidden Christians (HC), and their descendants who acknowledge the natural world’s imprint on them: their characteristics and cultural heritage are shaped by the interstitial spaces of the islands in which they subside(d). World Heritage Cultural listings in 2018 included sites on the islands and were rightly acclaimed. Yet, here, as in other places, the World Heritage campaign was at times driven by shallow motivations reflecting exotic and unfounded prejudices and tourist-related economic aspirations. Even in the nomenclature, the World Heritage listing mentions the HC, but this group of people are not singular, and require more careful definition. This article seeks to demonstrate how by examining new sources of oral history, we stand to enrich our knowledge by a ‘deep’ engagement, taking account of both human and non-human processes, practices and awareness of place. Secondly, by focusing on this region we may re-orient our understanding of Japanese and East Asian History in a wider context than often understood, and inclusive of this coastal and marginal place. An analysis four of the sites of World Heritage ascribed by UNESCO on the Gotō Archipelago off Nagasaki Prefecture Japan alongside the historic documents and supported by oral history reveals a religious cultural hybridity integrated into a severe environment.

On Christian Martyrdom in Japan (1597-1658)

This essay deals with the collective episodes of Christian martyrdom that took place in Japan in the Early Modern Time. On February 5, 1597 six Spanish Franciscans, seventeen Japanese catechists and three Japanese Jesuits, a priest and two brothers were martyred by crucifixion on the Nishizaka Hill, Nagasaki. This episode of collective martyrdom of Christians was the first of many such episodes that occurred to a great extent during the so-called Christian Century or Namban Era (1549-1639). The formation of communities of Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) or Sempoku Kirishitan (Underground Christians) was a main consequence of these episodes. The Kirishitan communities developed a very syncretic religiosity marked by the veneration of their ancestors killed for their faith. In 1627 the martyrs of Nagasaki in 1597 were declared blessed, as an overall recognition of this episode within a time characterised by such gruesome episodes in Europe and beyond. The atomic bomb thrown over Nagasaki in 1945 revived the memory of past martyrdoms dating back to 1597 among the local Christian communities. In June 1962, the Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument built on the spot of their martyrdom on the Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, opened to commemorate the centenary of the canonization of these martyrs. The subject remains actual in the 21st century. Hundred and eighty-eight Kirishithan martyred for their faith, and who were mostly laypersons, were declared blessed in 2008. The film Silence directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the novel by Shisaku Endo opened the debate on the significance of Christianity and martyrdom in early modern Japan to the wide public in 2016.

The Authenticity of the Hidden Christians’ Villages in Nagasaki: Issues in Evaluation of Cultural Landscapes

Located in the north-western part of Kyushu, “Hidden Christians Sites in the Nagasaki Region” were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. This serial property consists of twelve sites, including the Christian villages that bear unique testimony to a cultural tradition nurtured under a long period of religious prohibition. Based on fieldwork research at Kirishitan villages in Hirado City, this paper shows how the global conservation strategies affect the local people and the sustainability of their cultural tradition. Comparing UNESCO and Japanese cultural landscape protection policies, I argue that the evaluation and selection of sites that begin at the local authorities and stakeholders’ level, is eventually reduced to tangible properties ready-made for tourist consumption. Here, the evaluation subsides under the UNESCO authenticity criteria and narrow governmental interests towards the cultural tradition it is supposed to protect. Therefore, for the protection of cultural landscapes and the living traditions, the decisions by cultural heritage protection authorities should be carefully made, based on scientific research of a cultural tradition, and in the interest of the tradition’s living successors.

Silences: The Catholics, the Untouchables and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb

ABSTRACT Almost 75 years since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Catholic and the nearby burakumin (an ostracised community of “untouchables”) experiences of the bombing have been little reported. This article draws on recent oral history interviews and new sources to reveal important evidence about the shared experiences of these two communities. In particular, we focus on these collective silences and their location where the impact of the bomb was most devastating. We explore the many layers of this silence to uncover a tangled montage, which when revealed sheds light on a complexity of experience. The recent emergence of discourse from previously silent individuals and communities reveals how the many imbrications of historical division, structural denial and repression, and the complexity of emotions have contributed to the long silence. Further, we posit that this silence has resulted in limited understanding of the history of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. As the descendants of the burakumin and Kirishitan (hidden Christian) communities have begun to understand their shared history, today there are new opportunities for reconciliation and for breaking down past silences. This research adds insight and sheds light on a crucial aspect of this history and its aftermath.

潜伏キリシタンは何を語るか : 「長崎の教会群」をめぐる世界遺産登録とツーリズム

潜伏キリシタンは何を語るか : 「長崎の教会群」をめぐる世界遺産登録とツーリズム

Do Hidden Christian’s Faiths Exemplify the Acculturation?

Do Hidden Christian’s Faiths Exemplify the Acculturation?

Shakespeare in Chinese as Christian Literature: Isaac Mason and Ha Zhidao’s Translation of Tales from Shakespeare

The introduction of Shakespeare to China was through the Chinese translation of Mary and Charles Lamb’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays, Tales from Shakespeare. The Western missionaries’ Chinese translations of the Lambs’ adaptation have rarely been studied. Isaac Mason and his assistant Ha Zhidao’s 1918 translation of the Lambs’ book, entitled Haiguo Quyu (Interesting Tales from Overseas Countries), is one of the earliest Chinese versions translated by Christian missionaries. Although Mason was a Christian missionary and his translation was published by The Christian Literature Society for China, Mason adopted an indirect way to propagate Christian thoughts and rewrote some parts that are related to Christian belief. The rewriting is manifested in several aspects, including the use of four-character titles with Confucian ethical tendencies, rewriting paragraphs with hidden Christian ideas and highlighting themes closely related to Christian ethics, such as mercy, forgiveness and justice. While unique in its time, such a strategy of using the Chinese translation of Shakespeare for indirect missionary work had an impact on subsequent missionary translations.

“One in many: Sounding of the heart”: The meaning of divine revelation in the kakure kirishitan land

The question to be explored is that of how far a Christian identity can be stretched and yet still remain “Christian” and who determines the limits and for what reasons. This question is explored in light of the kakure kirishitan (hidden Christians) studies in Japan. More precisely, the question is that of how the historically singular epistemology embodied in the “one-God” understandings of Christianity has played out in multiple readings of reality, a “many gods” epistemology, in Japan. This is an exploration of the “meaning of divine revelation of Christ” set within the context of ecclesia semper reformanda. I would claim that the “character of love” as defined by Ernst Troeltsch’s notion of the revelation of Christ (“In our earthly experiences the Divine Life is not One, but Many. But to apprehend the One in the Many constitutes the special character of love”), which is a distinct Christian faith paradigm, contrary to the popular paradigm in the academic and civic discourse of “one in many,” takes on the character of “the sounding of the heart.” Even when the historical identity of Christ is extensively eroded, the “sounding” speaks to people beyond the difference of the worlds with a language that is so intimate that it profoundly grasps the heart.

In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians: A Story of Suppression, Secrecy & Survival. By JohnDougill. Pp. xx, 234, London,SPCK, 2016, $13.05/$8.77.

The Heythrop JournalVolume 59, Issue 2 p. 395-396 BOOK REVIEW In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians: A Story of Suppression, Secrecy & Survival. By John Dougill. Pp. xx, 234, London, SPCK, 2016, $13.05/$8.77. Patrick Madigan, Patrick Madigan Heythrop CollegeSearch for more papers by this author Patrick Madigan, Patrick Madigan Heythrop CollegeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 20 February 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12918Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume59, Issue2March 2018Pages 395-396 RelatedInformation

The Hidden Christians of Japan

The Hidden Christians of Japan

The beginning of heaven and Earth: the sacred book of Japan's hidden Christians

The beginning of heaven and Earth: the sacred book of Japan's hidden Christians

The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan's Hidden Christians

The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan's Hidden Christians

The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan's Hidden Christians.

The Beginning of Heaven and Earth: The Sacred Book of Japan's Hidden Christians.

Diversity or Apostasy? The Case of the Japanese ‘Hidden Christians’

When Christian missionaries returned to Japan in 1859, after having been excluded from that country for over two centuries, they hoped that there might be some possibility of making contact with descendants of Japan’s original evangelized communities, and locating some folk memory of the so-called ‘Christian Century’, which had ended with the expulsion of European priests in 1614, and the persecution of native Christians. None of the newly arrived missionaries, however, had been prepared for the discovery of active secret communities who had maintained the Christian faith as an underground church for seven generations. Yet this was the revelation experienced by Father Bernard Petitjean of the French Société des Missions Étrangères in the porch of the newly consecrated church at Õura in Nagasaki, on 17 March 1865: Urged no doubt by my guardian angel, I went up and opened the door. I had scarce time to say a Pater when three women between fifty and sixty years of age knelt down beside me and said in a low voice, placing their hands upon their hearts: ‘The hearts of all of us here do not differ from yours.’

Kakure Kirishitan: The Hidden or Secret Christians of Nagasaki

This article describes the typical Japanese changes in the belief system of a small group of descendants of Christians in the Nagasaki area of Japan who kept their faith in spite of the persecutions of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868). They are called Kakure-kirishitan: hidden Christians. The Kakure-kirishitan in a syncretistic way united Christian elements with Buddhist, Shinto and folklorist elements. In ascribing hundred forms to Deusu they even devised a new type to Buddhist monotheism and made him superior to Kannon in its 33 forms. In replacing three divine persons in God with three bodies they identified Deusu to other gods of the Shinto pantheon. In their rituals they added many Shinto and Buddhist elements to the original Christian sacraments.

Secrecy and the transmission of tradition: Issues in the study of the “underground” Christians

D uring the seventeenth century as many as 150,000 for the most part poorly catechized and ill-prepared Japanese Christians went “underground” in response to persecution by the Tokugawa state.1 The story of these people and their successors— the so-called kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians)—forms a colorful and oft-told part of the early history of Christianity in Japan.2 Perhaps as much as two per­ cent of the Japanese population had embraced the Christian faith by 1614，the year the religion was proscribed by the Tokugawa govern­ ment. Thousands of believers were martyred in the various persecu­ tions that preceded and followed this order, from the time that twentysix clergy and laypeople were crucified in Nagasaki in 1597 until the final closing of Japan in 1639.3 During the waning years of the Tokugawa period，“after seven generations and more than two-and-a* The author wishes to thank Professor Miyazaki Ken taro for his extremely helpful com­ ments on an earlier draft of this article.

The Veneration of the Martyrs of Ikitsuki (1609-1645) by the Japanese ‘Hidden Christians’

Christianity came to Japan in 1549 in the person of the ‘Apostle to the Indies’, St Francis Xavier, yet in spite of initial progress both in making converts and in becoming part of the Japanese religious milieu, within a century it had virtually disappeared, harried to its demise by savage persecutions from a government convinced that Christianity was a threat to its survival. The suppression of Christianity produced many martyrs, of whom the best known are the ‘Twenty-Six Martyrs of Nagasaki’, crucified in 1597 and canonized in 1862. Of the thousands of others who perished, many are known neither by name nor date of martyrdom, but in one unique case the martyrs of a particular island are remembered and honoured by one of the world’s most secretive Christian groups, the Kakure Kirishitan, or ‘Hidden Christians’ of Japan.

Shintoists in Restoration Japan (1868–1872): Towards a Reassessment

In April of 1868, the Restoration government issued an anti-Christian proscription—‘a fixed law for all ages’ it was styled. Christianity was declared a pernicious sect; rewards were offered for information leading to the discovery of Christians. In the name of the proscription, the government carried out a persecution which, in the first four years of the new era, resulted in the deaths of as many as 500 native Christians. These men, women and children died from torture, starvation or from sickness induced by the conditions in which they were kept. The native Christians were, of course, from the recently discovered hidden Christian communities around Nagasaki. The Nagasaki Christian affair is a fascinating one to which I shall return, but I mention it at the outset since it serves usefully to stress the climate of the times as far as Christianity was concerned. Given this climate, it is remarkable that there emerged by 1871, or thereabouts, a small number of enlightened intellectuals who criticized government policy on Christianity and went so far as to advocate religious freedom. The most famous of the few were Mori Arinori, Nakamura Keiu, Fukuzawa Yukichi and Nishi Amane—names known to anyone familiar with early Meiji intellectual history. There is, however, one other name that needs to be added to this short list. That is Fukuba Bisei. The little known Fukuba Bisei was, perhaps, the most remarkable of these men since he was an early Meiji Shintoist.