Hidden Christians of Japan

Came across this very interesting tidbit of (living) history as it relates to contemporary Japan (and elsewhere) earlier today:

The hidden Christian communities in Sotome and the Goto Islands, which have undergone disintegration in recent years, now find it all but impossible to faithfully observe the calendar of annual events. On Ikitsuki Island, however, the hidden Christians continue to observe an astounding number of traditional events. Still, in the communities that have ceased to have a permanent official executor of religious ceremonies, the meaning of traditional doctrines has been completely forgotten, and the faithful cling exclusively to the hollow rituals that have been made holy by virtue of the martyrdom of ancestors.

The faith of the kakure kirishitan, therefore, while exhibiting various features that are apparently Christian, is essentially a religion of Japanese nature that has been reabsorbed into the background of Japanese folk beliefs and now has little in common with the world-view of modern Christianity. This may be called the tragic result of the persecution of Japanese Christians by a heathen government, but from another point of view, it is the inevitable outcome of the attempt by a foreign religion to sink roots in Japan. It is clear that for a new culture, ideology, philosophy or religion to prosper in the hearts of the common people, it must harmonize and amalgamate with the existing cultural system, not destroy or ignore it.

Buddhism, which has become the religious mainstay of Japan, is a excellent case in point. Although a "foreign religion" originating in India, Buddhism lost no time in blending with Shintoism--the basic faith of the Japanese people--after its introduction to this country in the sixth century. In other words, by accepting ancestor worship it was able to sink roots and prosper in the hearts of the Japanese people. Needless to say, however, Japanese Buddhism now differs widely from the original form of the religion.

The history and customs of the hidden Christians of Nagasaki remain as another rare and invaluable example of the amalgamation of a foreign religion into the native culture of Japan and, in a larger sense, of the ever-difficult encounter between East and West.

Read more here.

Journeyman Pictures has a documentary (excerpted from a couple of years ago) here.

A book (or two; not by me) is forthcoming on this significant subject as well.