A deep foundation

Christian roots in Japan are much deeper than most of us realize, but God knows them all. He knows his children! As I have lived in Nagasaki Prefecture since 1981, the history of Catholic missions in Japan has been rather inescapable for me.

The Christian century

Jesuit priest Francis Xavier found his interest in Japan aroused when he met a Japanese in Malacca, Malaysia who quickly became a Christian. In 1549, Xavier entered Japan at Kagoshima. The feudal lord of that area gave Xavier permission to preach. The priest was impressed by the Japanese, saying they were “a people of very good will, very sociable, and very desirous of knowledge; they are very fond of knowing the things of God, chiefly when they understand them.” He did not think he would find “another race equal to the Japanese. They are a people of very good manners, good in general, and not malicious; they are men of honor to a marvel”.¹

Xavier’s arrival marked the beginning of what has been called the Christian Century in Japan. Xavier soon went on to Nagasaki, and Lord Omura Sumitada was very receptive. He was the first daimyo to openly become a Christian, but he was soon followed by Otomo Sorin (in Oita, as well as Arima Harunobu in Shimabara City, east of Nagasaki City).

In 1580, 17 years after he became a Christian, Sumitada gave the Port of Nagasaki to the Jesuits, and trade blossomed. In 1582, Sumitada sent four boys to Europe on a Portuguese ship, and they were welcomed, marveled at, and treated as princes. They were faithful to what they saw as their commission and returned to Sumitada. However, by the time they returned, Sumitada had died, and the Edo government was cracking down on all things Christian. Of the four, one became apostate, one died in exile in Macao, and the other two were martyred in Nagasaki.

Martyred

Of course, when you speak of Nagasaki and martyrs, the 26 martyrs come to mind. Most of them had been marched down from Kyoto, though one 13-year-old was from Nagasaki. They were a mix of European missionaries, Japanese priests, and Japanese laymen. They became famous and were canonized in 1862, however, they were far from the last to be killed for their faith.

The Portuguese were expelled from Nagasaki by Tokugawa Ieyasu. But the Dutch were allowed in because they were not subject to the Pope and had agreed not to proselytize. In the meantime, Christians were hunted down all over, as portrayed in the novel Silence by Endo Shusaku. As the book related, the Unzen hot springs were a favored execution site, where people were literally boiled to death. Various other “creative” methods of execution were also employed.

Naturally, as many people as possible escaped to nearby areas. Sumitada’s son Yoshiaki formally apostasized, but it is my strong impression he did it only to protect his people from the Edo government. His own sister had become a nun, after all! As Yoshiaki conducted various delaying tactics, dedicated believers escaped as best they could, creating the bulk of what were later called hidden Christians.

But not everyone escaped. In 1657, a group of Christians were discovered in the upstream area of the Kori River, currently part of Omura City, north-east of Nagasaki City. A young man of the group had received the gift of healing and prayed for many people. Rumors of that reached the government office in Nagasaki (which had been taken over from the Jesuits by the Edo government), and they investigated. As a result, 406 were decapitated—all on the same day. The government wanted the word to go out as broadly as possible that this religion was deadly!

The bodies of those executed in Omura were buried in one pit; the heads were salted and displayed on spikes for a month and then buried in another pit several hundred meters away from the bodies. The government had heard of the Christian teaching of resurrection, and given the obviously supernatural nature of the healings that had exposed the believers, they wanted to take no chances with these people coming back to life and giving them trouble.

Hidden and waiting

The hidden Christians remained as faithful as they could, but they didn’t share their faith with anyone but their own children. Over the years, syncretism with Buddhism occurred to the point that when Christianity was again permitted, not all of the hidden Christians rejoined the Catholic Church from which they had sprung. A major problem was that the only Scriptures they had, if they had any, were in Latin, and the ability to read and understand Latin was lost as the years went on. However, they instituted a system of rotating elders and hung on as best they knew how.²

And that brings us to today. For many years now, the church where I serve, Shinsei no Sato Christian Church in Omura, has had this vision: “To know Christ and make Him known, changing Japan one person at a time, that the City of Omura would again be the foremost Christian city in Japan, actively advancing the Kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.” How that will be fulfilled is God’s business because we certainly can’t accomplish it on our own! However, as Gabriel told Mary, with God all things are possible.

The question remains of the fruit of those faithful, persecuted believers. Several years ago, I met the head of the Tasaki Pearl Company at a formal dinner. He was originally from Omura and had been a classmate of the honoree at the dinner. He learned that I was a pastor and came over to speak to me.

What he said left an indelible impression: “My ancestors were from Hirado and were Christians. When the persecution came, they switched to Nichiren Buddhism on the surface but remained Christians in their hearts. I too am a Christian in my heart.” To say that I was blown out of the water would be putting it mildly! How many more like him are there?

I have a friend who attended my English Bible class faithfully for several years; her father and two of her brothers were Buddhist priests. She said that when they were cleaning the koi pond at the temple, they discovered one of the Kwannon with Child statues that were widely used by hidden Christians as a “Madonna with Child” image, and she said it was a family treasure. However, she stopped coming to my Bible class because she said that if she continued, she would have to formally become a Christian, and with her family connections, she couldn’t do that.

So where does this leave us? The stories of both my student and the head of Tasaki gave me a new glimpse of God’s old, ongoing work. As we pray for revival in Japan, we need to trust that God has already laid the foundation and that he will bring it to pass in his right time for his glory alone.

1. Herbert E. Plutschow, Historical Nagasaki (Tokyo, The Japan Times, 1983), 5. The quotes were translated by C. R. Boxer.
2. The information on the Hidden Christians in this paragraph is largely based on the author’s recollection of the museum devoted to them on the island of Ikitsuki.
Photo submitted by author: Members of three Omura churches after an Easter Sunrise Service at the Hokobaru Martyrdom Site, where 131 believers were decapitated in 1657