Kirishtan Holocaust?

[Dante]

Hello everyone,

I just thought this was interesting and was wondering if anyone else had heard anything else about it. In my Japanese history class we were told on video about the entire Japanese history. Included in this video was a short segment concerning the early spread of Christianity in Japan. The video went on to say that the padres found "original Christians" on the island that apparently predated the arrival of westerns. These were reffered to as Kirishtans. However the video later went on to say that with the closure of Japan to the west Christianity was banned and that a massive persecution of Christians ensued. This reached a peak according to the video with a massive slaughter at Nagasaki.

Curious I decided to investigate further but could find few sources at ASU's library, (I was considering making a research paper for the class final project about it). In the few rescources from the web and the library that I could find I was told that this actually culminated with an uprising called the Shimabara Rebellion when villagers revolted and rose pictures of the Jesus, Mary and Joseph as well as saints if I remember correctly as their banner and took over an abandoned castle. Unfortunately the castle was laid to siege and the dutch were orderded by the Shoganate to open fire on the castle with their cannons or face being kicked out the of the country. Saddly the dutch complied instead of helping their fellow brothren... . In the end some websites state that nearly one million Kirishtans were killed during the closure of Japan. But this is all from a small internet source and I can't be sure of its accuracy. Has anyone else heard about this, where did the original Kirishtans come from? By the way the website that I found was,

<http://www.keikyo.com/keikyo/>

Just curious,
Pascal

[Hitokiri]

I have also read into this. Actually, near the end of the Kyoto Arc in Rurouni Kenshin. They have the Shimbara Arc or "Christian" Arc about Christian being repressed. of course, the bad guy is one of these Christians who calls himself Son of God -_-;;;

It's sad but in reality, Christians are still bieing persecuted for thier beliefs. In violent ways and not violent ways. Look at society today and all the laws they make against Christian doctine.

[Technomancer]

The novels "Silence" and "The Samurai" by Endo Shusako cover this time period, and are well worth reading.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

christians are still persecuted today in large parts of asia, such as China, as we speak they are being starved and beatened to death, but alas... remain faithful, thats all that matters

[ChristianKitsune]

yah, but in the rurouni kenshin series, that was only fiction..

but i have heard that christians were once persecuted in Japan, but i dont think they are now.. i think that Japan is now a democracy and allows lots of religions..

However, it is sad that even in our own country (for those of us in america) that we are even persecuted to a point.

The fact is that the entire world is going down the tubes and life will only get harder for Christians.. which really stinks..

[Dante]

Thanks for the comments everyone, I think I'll check into those novels. Once again thank you,
Pascal

[Roy Mustang]

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the one to fully tried to extinction Christianity in Japan.

Info fromJapan Guide

In the year 1542, the first Europeans from Portugal landed on Kyushu in Western Japan. The two historically most important things they imported to Japan were gunpowder and Christianity. The Japanese barons on Kyushu welcomed foreign trade especially because of the new weapons, and, therefore, tolerated the Jesuit missionaries. The missionaires were successful in converting quite large numbers of people in Western Japan including members of the ruling class. In 1550, Francis Xavier also undertook a mission to the capital Kyoto.

Towards the end of the 16th century, the Jesuits lost their monopoly position in Japan when Franciscan missionaries arrived in Kyoto despite a first banning edict by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1597, Hideyoshi proclaimed a more serious banning edict and executed 26 Franciscans in Nagasaki as a warning. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his successors continued the persecution of Christianity in several further edicts.

The main reason which led to the complete extinction of Christianity in Japan by 1638 were the government's intentions to excert absolute control over its people. This would not have been possible with the interference of an aggressive and intolerant foreign religion like Christianity of that time.

In 1873 after the Meiji restoration, freedom of religion was promulgated, and especially since World War II the number of Japanese Christians is slowly increasing again.

Christianity in Japan

Wingzero22

[Kat Walker]

That is sad, but absolutely fascinating. There ought to be more resources on the subject. I will look into the books that technomancer reccommended.

And keep them in my prayers as well.

EDIT --> Some more elaborated history at:

http://www2.biglobe.ne.jp/~remnant/keikyo.htm

[CobaltAngel]

Yeah, I read a book called "Ghost at the Takaito Inn" (forget who its by) where one of the main characters turned out to be a Kirishtan who'd had his entire family killed. It had some interesting facts regarding Kirishtans in Japan. I agree with Kat, as horrible as it is, it is extremely interesting.

[Dante]

Wow Kat Walker, I had never heard of that before. Especially many of the different links to many places in history. The same goes for Wing Zero's statement about Ieyasu Tokugawa, whom I originally believed wasn't the start of the trouble. As one of the commanders under him was Mesumune Date or one-eyed dragon (also the final blade gained in Chrono Cross ). (He had one eye I believe) whose main force was advanced calvery and used primarily gun tactics suggesting great amounts of trading with westerners and therefore a higher probability of being favorable with Christianity still this is very interesting.

[mitsuki lover]

It should be pointed out that the majority of Christians that were singled out for
persecution in Japan during the Shogunate era were Catholic.It should also be noted that Japan continued doing buisness with Holland and through the Dutch other
European Protestants.

[Pent]

I think I have read the sequel to that book Cobaltangel. It was called Demon in the Teahouse.

As for this topic that is very interesting.

[Technomancer]

It should be pointed out that the majority of Christians that were singled out for
persecution in Japan during the Shogunate era were Catholic.It should also be noted that Japan continued doing buisness with Holland and through the Dutch other
European Protestants.

Yes, on the condition that they not evangelize

[mitsuki lover]

Yes, on the condition that they not evangelize

They were also supposed to stay within their own colony when not doing
buisness.
I just pointed out the fact that it was the Catholics that got the brunt of the
persecution since the majority of Japanese converts were indeed Catholics and the Shogunate felt that they threatened their authority because of the way the RCs were growing in the early days among the Japanese.
I think the History Channel did a show about the Shogunate awhile back and one of the ironies that was pointed out was that the Right Hand Man for one of the early Shoguns happened to be either an English or Dutch Protestant.